June Selection - Generation A

We're sure on a roll for picking books that no one really likes! Only two of us had finished the book and recommended that anyone who hadn't not bother. Generation A by Douglas Coupland has an interesting enough premise: all of the bees on earth disappeared five years ago when suddenly five young people spread all over the planet are stung by bees. Why did they disappear, where did these bees come from, and why these people? Linda found the characters somewhat charming but Lisa thought they were all awful people. Linda and Lisa agreed that the plot got very muddled as the book progressed and Coupland tried to answer the above questions. Ellen pointed out the book is shelved with the adult fiction but Lisa felt that the book struggled as an adult work, with the writing feeling much more like a young adult book, except there were too many things that were utterly inappropriate for young people. Still, Linda and Lisa agreed that it was good to try something different.

What really got us excited was the idea of a multi-generational book club month. We agreed that Unbroken by Laura Hildebrand would make a good choice for a book to share with our parents. This required some tweaking of the schedule to move Unbroken into our September slot and we'll need to find a weekend date for the meeting. Cheryl suggested we make it a tea party which should be fun; maybe Linda will make some cucumber sandwiches! See the list of books for the rest of the year for the changes.

May Meeting - So Much For That

That title pretty much sums it up. Three of us were at the meeting and none of us had finished the book. Lisa got the furthest but her copy had been thrown across the room repeatedly. Sure there is a lot to talk about in this book but mostly we talked about how little we liked it. Too much going on, too much whining, too much anger. Was Shriver trying to stir up emotion, to intentionally make her readers angry? Or did she really just not research her topics well enough to be accurate?

Glynnis' attitude as she dealt with cancer and treatments, while understandable, was hard to read. It made it hard to empathize. It also gave us a much greater appreciation for the grace and strength Eleanor showed throughout her own battle with cancer. Where Glynnis was unceasingly bitter and difficult to be around, Eleanor was truly an inspiration.