Book Club and other reads IV

At last nights book club we had what I think might have been the biggest turn out in our little club's two and half year history: 8 people. And I have to say the old adage, "the more the merrier" really applies in this instance. We all sat under our hostess, Donna's carport in a big circle, munched on yummy finger food like deviled eggs, green olive spread, and bean quesadillas, (while the mosquitos munched on us)and chatted endlessly about the three Brendan O'Carrol books we read. Honestly, I think this is the most we have actually talked about a book in months. I was also pleased that I actually brought a new addition to the book club myself. Typically, my friend C does a great job of populating our group with her wonderful real estate clients but this time I was able to contribute to the group by coaxing my neighbor to join us. I think she enjoyed herself. At least, I hope she did. There are two other women in our area that are in the book club so we all car pooled together and I tried really hard not to talk too much about the book until we actually got to the meeting. The opinion about the books were kind of split amongst the members. Some people really loved them and like me some people really hated them. To be fair, I thought the second book was better than first but they still both annoyed me. The first one, The Mammy, was entirely too contrived, poorly written, and sentimental. Anything bad that might happen to this family is quickly resolved by something sweet and fairly implausible occurring just in time. Please don't think I am one of those people who just likes sad, miserable stories, I appreciate a nice happy ending on occasion. But that happy ending must be earned and believable. Needless to say, I can not recommend these books. That being said they may be fine books for young children. They are very simple to read and the message is wholesome and hopeful.
The upside to the sappy Irish books were they were such fast reads I was able to squeeze in a book I actually wanted to read this month. When we think of technology and all benefits it can bring us we must also consider the moral dillemas and responsibilities they also introduce. In fact, there have always been rumors that Einstein had many more ideas even greater than the theory of relativity and the thinking that led to the bomb , such as cloning. However, after Nagasaki and Hiroshima he refused to share those ideas because he felt human-kind wasn't ready for them. Now I am sure this is an apocryphal story but the book I just finished, Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro presents us with a world were cloning was developed and used for the eradication of disease. I won't go into the details because that does give away some of the beauty of the book and I think this is a book worth reading. However, I don't want to be misleading you will not be horrified with some appalling, sci-fi reality and big mysteries at the end. In fact, this book never mentions the details of the science and I think it only mentions the clone word once. What the author is more interested is more subtle questions about coping with loss, forming bonds and well essentially what does it mean to be human. If you choose to read this book I recommend reading this review
after because it beautifully explores what this book is about a lot better than I can. I have also been listening to the Teaching Company's lecture on the Great Ideas of Psychology. Fascinating stuff- oh I am such a nerd.
For next month's book club we are reading Collapse by Jared Diamond. Apparently this book explores why some civilizations through history collapsed while others thrived and apparently theorizes on the signs of a culture near collapse. I think we should get a good turn out for this book because it is an interesting topic and Jared Diamond is really popular right now. This will be my second Diamond book in one year. Luckily, I am getting on CD; it is like 50 billion pages long.
Happy Reading