April Selection: Takashi Hiraide's The Guest Cat

Two years and I finally get posting power. HEYO!

Even though I'm a dog person, I've selected The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide as the April selection. Why? Because I read an NPR review titled "Even Dog Lovers Should Read 'The Guest Cat'" (and, apparently, a few million other people read it, too).

Honestly, I haven't started the book so I don't have much to tell you. It's about an unhappy couple who moves into a huge house and makes friends with a cat who lives nearby. And then something happens ...

It's gotten a lot of positive reviews, but there are some haters on Amazon.

It's short and sweet, so even I'll have it finished.

Karen Zings about the Circle

1. The Circle is a nice pick for The PBR Book Club.  (smile face)
2. It has great one liners that can be zinged. ( smile face) ( like)
3. Example “You’re like part human, part rainbow.”  ( Smile face) (followed by 100 likes). 

The Circle is at its best when it describes the workplace environment. For the main character, Mae, the Circle seems like a great place from the start; "My God, it's Heaven." It is clean, open to innovation, and has many amazing extra curricular activities and events on its campus.  People are hanging out on sunny days going to yoga and viewing Koyaanisqatsi.

Mae learns that working at The Circle is emotionally draining with long hours.  The memorization of the "isms" of the company are daunting. By the end of the book, employees in her department look and react to nine screens simultaneously. Each aspect of her job is rated by a competitive number system, and her work and personal life are relentlessly watched and maintained by superiors. Realistically, no one could maintain this workload.

The book's main point is not about the politics involved in working in a big corporation.  The Circle is a cautionary tale about privacy and social media issues. However, the second half of the book gets preachy on the topic. Perhaps the book should have ended midway.

My rating on a scale of 1-100?  The book needs more love.

March Selection: Dave Eggers' The Circle

PBR Book Club is getting dystopian in 2014 with a couple of our selections:  Dave Eggers' The Circle in March and Chang-Rae Lee's On Such a Full Sea in May.

The last time we read one of the heralded young literary hotshots (Chabon's Telegraph Avenue), most of PBR Book Club was not impressed, and some were downright hostile.  So how will a Twitter-loving book club react to Eggers' vision of social media dystopia?  Come join us at the end of March.  In the meantime, keep tweeting!

Margaret Atwood likes the book pretty well:

"Eggers treats his material with admirable inventiveness and gusto. The plot capers along, the trap doors open underfoot, the language ripples and morphs."


Read her NY-Times piece here.

A Real Good Friday

February Meeting: Transcendence by Chris McKitterick

It's SciFi month for PBR Book Club (too bad it's not SciFi month every month)! February's book selection was made by Nathan and Rose and it is the SciFi epic, Transcendence, by local author Chris McKitterick and published by Hadley Rille Books (publishing company of Rose's dad!).

We will be meeting intheflesh in the basement of the Taproom on Tuesday, Feb. 25th at 8pm. Joining us will be special guest Chris McKitterick, author of the book!!! We will get to pick his brain (unfortunately, without 3VRD) and maybe if we are nice, he will sign our copies of the book!

So crank up your revmetal, and get ready to see us on Tuesday!

-Nathan and Rose

PS - 3VRD is pronounced "three verd" (rhymes with freebird) :)

The Ethereal Beauty of Housekeeping

The Read Across Lawrence book, Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson, seemed like a strange pick. Written in 1980, it is not current fiction and is a little obscure.  However, the publishing date of this book is unimportant; events are ambiguous. The narrator relates to experiences as if describing a dream or fantasy. Place and time era are muddled and nailing down facts of people are elusive.

This intangible quality makes the book haunting, including description of memory and what memory means, and the inside and outside worlds of both character and physical environments.

Housekeeping has been on 100 greatest novels of all time lists including the Guardian Unlimited and Time.  I recommend this short and thoughtful read.

Newsy: Art Tile and Read Across Lawrence

Art Tile in Bathroom
Book clubbers are very excited to have the name of the PBR Book Club on an art tile that will be permanently installed in the family restroom of the children's area of the new Lawrence  Public Library.  We are making a unique contribution to our city's bathrooms as we participate in a speical fundraiser sponsored by the Library Foundation.  We will be a part of history! Karen will post pics of the tile after it is fired and installed.

 Pic of the design of the tile

Read Across Lawrence 2014
The Read Across Lawrence current book is Housekeeping by Marilynn Robinson.  Copies of the book are available for free at the the information desk of the Lawrence Public Library as well as for check-out.

Marilyn Robinson is coming to Lawrence to speak on Thursday, March 6 at 7 pm at Plymouth Congregational Church ( 725 Vermont Street). There is also a film screening of Housekeeping on March 4 at 7 pm at Woodruf Auditorium at the Kansas Union (cost is $5.00).   In addition, there are discussions about the book through the month.  Read more about the book and these events here: http://www.lawrence.lib.ks.us/news-events/read-across-lawrence13/read-across-lawrence-2014/

The book is also available on audio.

About Housekeeping
Housekeeping is the story of two sisters raised in isolated Fingerbone, Idaho.  The family is plagued by loss, and the sisters are raised by a series of family members culminating in their last hope, their aunt, who is a boxcar drifter.