Laure and Edouard hosted our first real book club meeting, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that it was great fun! First, we found out that Laure was an amazing chef! I know Natalie particularly liked the surprise birthday cake. Major points go to the Luneaus for pulling this evening off!
Being literary geek (which we found out no longer bears a pejorative connotation), we also referred to and recommended numerous books and authors. I promised you the summarize those recommendations on this page, so here they are:
1) Laure is currently reading
Catherine Hermary-Vieille's trilogy titled Le Crepuscule des Rois, which is apparently an entertaining and easy-to-read historical fiction. The author won the Prix Femina in 1991, a prestigious French recognition awarded yearly by a female jury.
2) The Tamirs have just finished a book of short stories from
Haruki Murakami, After the Quake. They describe it as a dark, complex but rewarding read from one of the leading contemporary Japanese author.
3) As for myself, I just finished
Michael Chabon's Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. This epic novel was an exhaustive account of how 2 American Jews delt with the impact of WWII on their life. I am comfortable recommending it!
4) Amy is currently visiting our graveyard section, as she is reading Half of a Yellow Sun from
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This allows me to point you that section of the site, which is full of cool recommendation.
5) Or also introduced us to a few geeky fantasy books, insisting particularly on Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. It is a fantasy novel written in collaboration between
Terry Pratchett and
Neil Gaiman. Go check out their pictures on wikipedia!
6)
Jodi Picoult got double the air time with mentions for her books My Sisters Keepers and Plain Truth. They are probably her best books, since both books have been adapted into movies.
7) Finally, the Canadian author
Miriam Toews and her book A Complicated Kindness was mentioned by Natalie. It won the Governor General's Award in 2004, and spent more than a year on the bestseller list in Canada, for a resounding sales figure of 78 books.
Now, we also had the chance to discuss the brief wonderous life of our friend Oscar Wao, which was so rewarding that Or and I decided to meet up on Tuesday afternoon in a pub in London to continue the discussion. We concluded that Lola was a boring character. Sorry sister!
