A Different Kind of Book Club Posting for "Half of a Yellow Sun"...Before it Happens

So tonight we're reading Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It's an hour or so before we meet. Will I get one person like I did the first couple of months, or will this intrigue many and we'll get 12, our high point for Netherland?

The answer is likely somewhere in between. While we did cause a sales pop (we sold 20 copies this year of the book, compared to 4 for the Downer Avenue Schwartz last year), I fear that several regulars either had other engagements or didn't read the book.

It's a good book club book, right? If you get bored of talking about whether you liked the book, why the sisters had to be twins, were they different enough to make them fraternal in the end, did enough major characters die for a war story, and would the story have worked better if there was a major Hausa or Yoruba character (just about everyone of importance is Igbo or Caucasian)? Well, there is Mohammed, but what does it say about the story when his last appearance is in a letter, worrying about his polo game? Anyway, when the story is done, you can talk about the history. Or maybe, because the story is intertwined with history, you move back and forth.

I suspect most of my attendees (save two) would have been pro Biagran independence. But there's no question that Adichie's story does call attention to the Igbo excesses during the first coup, and the lack of enthusiasm for the Biafran leader by many of the characters.

So share my worry! I'm reading a bunch of reviews. Where's my insight? What's the legacy of the war in Nigeria today? What tribe were the folks in Little Bee?

December's worry--The Hakawati, on Monday, December 7th, 7 PM.

January's panic--The Post-Birthday World, by Lionel Shriver, Monday, January 4th, 7 PM. My sister Merrill will be so happy.

February's fear--Elmer Gantry, by Sinclair Lewis, Monday, February 1st. We're tieing in to the Florentine Opera performance.

South African Candles Inspire a Themed Display

One of my finds of the Chicago fall gift show were these South African tribal-inspired candles. They come in tapers, pillars and balls and in a variety of hues. We've got some Christmas and winter/Hanukkah themed candles ready to come out later, but for fall, these espresso-colored ones were just perfect to organize a display. Oh, they don't have a scent, but you can display them with a Smencil, if that's what you like.

I found some African-inspired dishes (made in India of course), monkey votives, and matching monkey bookends. I had lots and lots of book ideas, but alas, the table they wound up on is pretty small, at least for now.

But we've still got some interesting books that tie in. We're discussinng Half of a Yellow Sun at our in-store lit group on November 2nd, and the rejacketed Chinua Achebe books from Vintage are also a welcome addition. We've got the The Africa Book from Lonely Planet and pretty much the only pan-African cookbook I could find from a major publisher, The Africa Cookbook. Also, Oprah's current book club pick is Say You're One of Them, another Nigerian author. And I didn't even have room for Little Bee!

Since we're on the subject, why isn't Uwem Akpan's, Say You're One of Them working as Oprah's book club selection? We know the book is very good (I haven't read it sadly) , but there's very little word of mouth on the whole thing. Maybe it's just us, but I've noticed it is not topping the paperback bestseller lists. Maybe all of Oprah's fans are now using Kindles, being that she's such a big fan. Hachette doesn't like taking large returns, but unless his interview is amazing, I think they've got a chunk of books going back.

The fire extinguisher is not for sale.

On Reading "Driftless", which Nobody Guessed How Much I'd Like

In my experience, book clubs can choose their books in one of three ways:

a. The group votes on each selection

b. The group let's each member choose a title in some sort of order

c. The moderator chooses the book.

We have three in-store book clubs. Two groups choose using option a. When I tell folks that the group I run (first Monday of the month) chooses option c, I sometimes need to explain myself, even though there are certainly other clubs that use this method (like Oprah's!)

My explanation has two parts. One has to do with me whining and talking about how busy I am and how much I need to read, and how the only way I'm going to moderate this group is if I can choose the books.

And when I was at Schwartz, I occasionally tried to direct our in-store groups into coordinating selections with events, and I was almost always rebuffed. I want to sometimes coordinate our book club selection with an event (like this month's Driftless, or Elmer Gantry, which we're reading in February).

But there's another thing. It's my contention that I want my group to sometimes read outside our comfort zone. If books are chosen by groups, they sometimes fall into the trap of making things too comfortable. I'm not going to give examples, for fear of insulting someone. Heck, I do that enough elsewhere.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find that David Rhodes' Driftless was an almost classic Daniel book, filled with quirky characters, multiple intersecting plotlines, a straightforward but not drab storytelling style, and themes that touched to my core--place, identity, community, and the grayness of absolute judgment. I don't know what I was thinking. Perhaps there was too much focus on the rural setting, the militia, country music, making pies, Rhodes' backstory. When you take away the window dressing, Rhodes writes not too far from the territory of Michelle Huneven, that Blame and Jamesland author I have gone on about.

The structure of the story was clearly laid out somewhat in advance, and it's a concept that I didn't actually catch until towards the end. Some folks knew it going in and I'm sure that still made it a good read, but explaining the structure gives away what might be a twist to some readers, so at least here, I'm going to say little more. (I'm sure any number of traditional reviews gave it away in the first sentence). Let's just say it follows the life of July Montgomery, first written about in The Rock Island Line, many years later, as he's made peace with his life and settled down in the very small Words, Wisconsin. As it jumps between the dozen or so characters whose lives are profiled, you notice there is a bit of a continuing theme--there's a domino effect of grace, and how your good behavior really can affect someone else's life. There's also the continuing strand of how to make the best of a crappy childhood.

Sharon (who also liked Driftless) and I agreed that it usually took one of the plotlines to really pull you into the book. For Sharon, it was the sisters Violet (the older caretaker) and Olivia (younger and wheelchair bound), particularly when Olivia started rebelling. For me, it was the subplot about the farmers Graham and Cora, who discover that the farmer's coop (one of the folks involved is named Forehouse, hint) is not only abusing the farmers, but also stealing from the government. Really? A coop can sometimes be bad? I thought all coops were intrinsically better than other businesses. It was quite an education.

Kurt, who had also read the book for another book group, told us that we should all read Rock Island Line, Rhodes' earlier novel about July Montgomery. It really adds to the Driftless experience. Fortunately Milkweed has reissued this book, as well as The Easter House.

Not everyone in the group liked the book. Some members got bogged down in the story, and weren't thrilled with the writing style. Sadly, however, the folks who told me they didn't like the book also didn't show up for the meeting. It's fun to argue it out--as long as folks don't get too personal.

Three related items:

1. David Rhodes is appearing at Boswell Book Company on Friday, October 9th, at 7 PM. This is the first event of the Milwaukee Book Festival. Here's more info on the festival.

2. Our next meeting of the In-Store Lit group at Boswell is Monday, November 2nd, at 7 PM. We're reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun, a novel about Biafra's attempt to form an independent republic in Nigeria.

3. Just announced! Our December meeting on Monday, December 7th selection is The Hakawati, by Rabih Alameddine, a Lebanese novelist whose book has won amazing raves from both critics and booksellers. We should be selling this better, and I need an excuse to read it. What better reason can one have to pick a book?

**

Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel was awarded the Man Booker. We had one enthusiastic hold on the book before it released next week. Won't that customer be excited, getting a first printing?

Herta Mueller wins the Nobel Prize for Literature. Our I-Page database lists no books distributed in the United States. I'm glad they addressed that Eurocentricity problem this year.

The Competing Philosophies of Book Clubs--Please 'em or Make 'em Sweat

When I was still planning to open Boswell Book Company, there were some programs I expected to work, and some I was concerned about. I have to admit I expected a bigger response to our storytimes than we've gotten. Though our customers seemed enthusiastic in theory, attendance has been spotty. No wonder at least one of our Schwartz stores stopped doing them. I haven't given up and the booksellers and I are going to revisit them and try to figure out how to make them better.

My initial attempt at an in-store book club also was a bit stop-start. Two of the clubs, Readers of the Lost Art, and In-Store Mystery, both came over from Shorewood pretty much without a hitch. Readers of the Lost Art, by the way, was the original in-store book club for Websters in the 80's, so in a sense, it just found its way home.

The club I started, alternately known as "In-store Fiction" or "In-Store Lit" (yes, I may rename it), had a shakey start. For the first few meetings, I had one attendee, and not the same attendee each month at that. I just told myself it needs time to find its bearings, and that I would give it a year.

I asked the knowledgeable Carla Coen at Washington's Politics and Prose (yes, I'm name dropping) what I should do. She was concerned that my selections were a bit outside the sweet spot, a little difficult to attract the most possible attendeees. My thought was that Readers of the Lost Art was hitting that sweet spot, and because they vote on their selections, I could do something different and impose them.

I know it's a little "enlightened despot", but honestly, if I have to spend time reading books that are not upcoming events or advanced reading copies that I'm supposed to get behind, the selection had better be something on my pile. Better than that, it should be a book that I'd find a little difficult, a little outside my comfort zone, so that I can get all my questions answered.

Then one month ago, for Netherland, we jumped from 3 to 12 attendees (I don't count myself). Almost too much! This month, for Man Gone Down, we had 7, which seemed just perfect.

Some folks liked the book, others did not. Everybody spoke, and had something to add to the conversation. Nancy was conversant in W.E.B. DuBois and Ralph Ellison, and pointed out the structural and thematic similarities to the book. Suzanne noticed a possible plot twist regarding the all-important golf game that the rest of us missed--I'm not sure if that was the author's intent, but it was interesting. Gloria had some interesting personal experiences that dovetailed with the story. Carolyn spotted some themes that had shown in the last three books we've read. And all of us took a crack at figuring out the allusions to The Odyssey.

All in all, this was just what a book club is supposed to be, because I think that even the folks who didn't like the book found the discussion enlightening. And it didn't even take a year to get there.

Our Upcoming Meetings:

Monday, October 5th

Driftless, by David Rhodes (he's appearing at the store on the 11th of October).

Monday, November 2nd

Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (she's not coming).

Since all the other book clubs we host are on Monday, it's my hope to have one of my booksellers start up a 2nd Monday book club, so that we are pretty much "Book Club Monday." I'm thinking speculative.... We'll let you know how things go.