Book Club Listings.

A Lesson Before Dying (Vintage Contemporaries) by Ernest J. Gaines. This is the story of a reluctant teacher taking on the difficult tasks of turning a kid on death row into a man before he is executed.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. NYT Times Bestseller - Now its in paperback so it is even cheaper.

Snow Falling on Cedar A story about subtle and not so subtle racism in the Pacific NW. Pen/Faulkner Award 1995 & Pacific Northwest Booksellers Assoc. Award!

Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan. A woman learns about herself as she learns about Aborigine culture on her walkabout in Australia.

Civil Action by Jonathon Harr. National Book Critics Circle Award!

Singing in the Comback Choir by Bebe Moore Campbell

A story about black professionals who choose to leave the suburbs to save their old neighborhood. You can also buy the audio tape.

Comments: We have been meeting every Thursday for almost six years, and during that time we have completed more than 100 books. We have eight or nine regular members in our club who show up every Thursday, and a few members who show up occassionally. Believe it or not, we have more men than women.

One book I would recommend to everyone is "The Bone People". A slow starter, but stay with it. It is defintely worth the read. One of the best books I have read recently. Though not everyone in our club agreed with me, I still highly recommend this book.

We are currently reading "Stones From The River". I'll let you know what we think when we finish.

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester "When the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary put out a call during the late 19th century pleading for 'men of letters' to provide help with their mammoth undertaking, hundreds of responses came forth. Some helpers, like Dr. W.C. Minor, provided literally thousands of entries to the editors. But Minor, an American expatriate in England and a Civil War veteran, was actually a certified lunatic who turned in his dictionary entries from the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum..."

Consilience : The Unity of Knowledge by Edward O. Wilson: This Harvard biologist has tried to bring the goals of science, social science, and the humanities together. Unfortunately, only one book club member read the entire book. However, enough had been read to stimulate lively discussions on topics including affirmative action.

The Perfect Storm : A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger Now this book is also available in paper back.

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Bay Area Women and Books.

Operation Fantasy Plan by Peter Gilboy (www.petergilboy.com), a former spy-handler. "We invited him to speak to our group, because our group is all women, and his book is a fact-fiction novel about how the CIA uses/exploits women to gain access to information apparently for national security reasons. It's a great book. Looks like a man's thriller, but is quite sensitive, and shows from the inside how espionage works, and women are used. The author's concern for covert activities which exploit women or any individual was quite clear. The story an odd love story where the protagonist is seduced by his own operation, called The Fantasy Plan, where the CIA uses a brothel to trap foreigners by offering them any fantasy they can imagine."
- Elaine Goodall