Juliet Naked Review

Here's what the Guardian has to say about "Juliet Naked."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/aug/30/nick-hornby-juliet-naked-review

Reading the Reader

I stopped at a bookstore to pick up "Catcher in the Rye," which they didn't have and my eye fell on "The Reader" by Bernard Schlink so I bought that instead. I heard about Oprah selecting it, and about the movie, so I knew the story. Even so, I couldn't put it down. It made me think about what it is that makes a book compelling and readable. You know it when you encounter it, but its hard to pin down. There's something complete and perfect about the story and the writing. There isn't one superfluous word or scene. The main characters in this book aren't especially likeable (at least to me), but they are believable and you want to know what happens to them. Bernard Schlink will never be a favorite writer, for one thing, he has absolutely no sense of humor, but I can't think of any way this book could be better.
--holladay

The Appealing Hedgehog

I’m not sure what made “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” so appealing to French readers, but I think I’ve figured out why it struck a chord with me. It’s definitely not the story itself, in which the concierge of an exclusive apartment building, a 13 year-old girl from a wealthy family living in the building, and a Japanese widower become friends. There is virtually no plot and there are aspects to the story that don’t seem so plausible, such as the fact that just about every wealthy person in the book was a rude snob except for Mr. Ozu and one other lesser character (maybe in France that circumstance is perfectly believable). I’m also not sure about the ending; it almost seemed as if the author decided it was time for an end and selected the most efficient one she could think of. What I did find plausible and completely real was the way she captured that process where isolated people meet, discover shared sensibilities, become friends, and other differences just melt away.

(I just finished another book, Dance, Dance, Dance, by Haruki Murakami that also deals with isolation and a friendship between a teenager and an older character. Very different in feeling, but also a good read.)

--holladay

Interview with Muriel Barbery

Here's a link to a brief interview with the author of "The Elegance of the Hedgehog."

http://blog.timesunion.com/books/interview-with-muriel-barbery/1349/


--holladay

Kicking it Off

This blog was created so members (we know who we are) of the book club can exchange comments and news about books. I suggest signing our posts and comments otherwise I think blogspot will put in your user name or something like that. Let's get started! Oh...also...feel free to add images just to spruce it up a little.
--holladay