If You Want to Suggest a Book Respond to this Message

Besides focusing on the importance of randomness, Nassim Taleb in Black Swan says humans are made to love stories and not so much facts. Our last three books, Dreams of My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, Descartes Bones and The Johnstown Flood have been factual recounts which don't really rise to the level of novel in so many ways. So now I've been really wanting to read a good story.

If you know of a good story, respond to this post. If you want to make a suggestion for a novel to read for next year please make a note of that too.

Descartes' Bones by Russell Shorto

We will celebrate the holiday season reading a book by Shorto who explores the history of faith and reason in his book, Descartes' Bones on Thursday, December 17 at Janice Leppke's house 715 E. Cortland Avenue, Fresno, CA. We'll see you there!! Glenn 630-5016

The World Series of Book Conferences here in Fresno!!

The most prestigious conference for international children's books coming out of Basel, Switzerland called the International Board on Books for Young people (IBBY) will take place in Fresno in October 2011. That's like getting the olympics in your city for children's book people!

Here's the website http://www.ibby.org/
Next year's conference is in Spain http://www.ibbycompostela2010.org/?lang=en The call is Oct 30.

Also, Juan Felipe Herrera will give a poetry reading tomorrow night, Thursday, October 8, at 7 p.m. at the Henry Madden Library. There is no charge for admission. A reception follows the program.

So that's Margarita Engle two weeks ago, Francisco Jimenez last Friday, Juan Felipe Herrera tomorrow and Gary Soto (at Fresno City) November 4 (?). http://www.garysoto.com/museum.html

It's like is the Paris for Latino writers!!

Announcing the Books for 2009-2010

August 20 - Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
September 17 - White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
October 15- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
November 19 - Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
December 17 - Descartes' Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict between Faith and Reason by Russel Shorto
January 21 - The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough
February 18 - The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer
March 18 - Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
April 15 - The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
May 20 - A Separate Peace by John Knowles
June 17 - Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
July 15 - In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

Please let me know what books you want to read

We do have a list below and tonight we added Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Also if you want to post comments here describing why you think a book would be good or not so good, please do.

April to September Preview

April - The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Mary Ann can read whatever she wants as long as she reports on it.)
May - The Road by Cormac McCarthy
June -The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
July - We will not meet.
August - Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
September - White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Proposed titles for next year's readings

(Slumdog Millionare) or Q & A by Vikas Swarup is the book that is supposed to be even better than the movie!

Other books proposed at the March 19 meeting:
Descartes' Bone by Shorto
Peace Like a River
Skeletons at the Feast by Bohjslian
Dreams of my Father by Obama
A Separate Peace (Roxy loves this one)
Infidel by Ali
Books David likes like McCollough
The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner and Jackson J. Benson

More I'm thinking about:

Things Fall Apart (Nigeria before colonialism) by Chinua Achebe
The Darker Nations: People's History of the Third World by Vijay Prashad (Non-fiction)
The Life and Times of Rebel Journalist I. F. Stone by Myra MacPherson
A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
by Howard Zinn
The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America by Gary B. Nash
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon
Searching for Hassan by Terence Ward
In the Time of Butterfly by Julia Alvarez (Dominican history)
Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith by Nahai