Yesterday we had a very interesting discussion of Anita Brookner's, A Private View.  I, myself, thoroughly enjoy the excitement when a book promotes such a diversity of opinions concerning the plot, characterization, and well....the likability of the book.  Sparks were flying (good sparks!) as participants illustrated their feelings about  the central character, George Bland.  George realizes, after his retirement, that he has wasted his entire life on "playing it safe."  When a new situation presents itself, George must decide to treat it in his usual manner by dismissing the intrusion into his world as quickly as possible, or stepping away from his predictable reaction to embrace something new...something that might wake him up to his life.

Half of the group felt the book was one big snore.  They couldn't get past the introspection and George's repeated self-admonishments that peppered the entire story.  Others felt that the book provided a melancholy journey of a man who desperately wanted to change, but was psychologically incapable of doing so- making this a heartbreaking cautionary tale.  The ending provides a glimmer of hope for George, and those who enjoyed the book grasped on to the  possibility with a vengeance.

Can you read between the lines and predict how I felt about the book?  That's right, a big thumbs up from me.  In my opinion, A Private View is not a quick snack.  It is a full course meal to be savored, digested and praised for the complexity and subtleties. I respect and defer to the opinions of my fellow book group members who would whole-heartedly disagree. 

How wonderful!!!!

Post Script: The discussion goes on!  One of our staffers commented that she continued to think about this book long after the book group meeting ended.  Her final thoughts on The Private View are as follows; " I think George never really decided what he wanted out of his life...and that is why he is so unhappy with himself."  (Some of us are rooting for you to take some action, George).

OK.  So I enjoyed the hook of the dog who can think like a human but really, the idea can't possible carry the whole convoluted storyline.  I was so frustrated by the ending, I had to read the reviews of the remaining books in the series to make some sense of where the author left the story.  As with many half-baked light mysteries, the entire story unfolds in the last couple of pages to "tie up" the loose ends.  Unfortunately, strands still hung from every page. 

I enjoyed Randolph and his escapades, which were well-drawn and entertaining...but that's all we got, nothing else held together (in my opinion).  

I would be interested to read what others have to say about this book- MUST we read the series to make the slightest sense of it all????

Keep the dog-scrap the rest and start over.

Post Script: I have been told that my posting seems a bit harsh.  In order to promote lively literary discussion and booklacious banter, I heartily encourage other mystery book discussion bloggers to chime in.  Differing viewpoints are welcome and celebrated.  We'll also be debating this book into oblivion at the next Murder by the Book Discussion Group meeting- Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 7:00p.m.

MAGNA CUM MURDER XVI
October 29 - 31, 2010

CHARLES TODD - Guest of Honor
J. STEVEN WHITE - Banquet Keynote Speaker
The Steam Pig by James McClure - One Festival One Book Selection

After a one-year hiatus, Magna cum Murder is back for the 16th annual McM Crime Writing Festival! Another amazing array of crime writers, readers, booksellers, and other publishing industry professionals will meet in Muncie, Indiana, for a weekend of panels, programs, interviews, and book signings with some of your favorite crime writers.

The Guest of Honor is internationally bestselling author, Charles Todd, best known for the extraordinary post World War I novels featuring Inspector Ian Rutledge, a returning shell-shocked veteran of the Great War. Washington Post Book World says, "Todd's Ian Rutledge mysteries are among the most intelligent and affecting being written these days," and The New York Times says, "If anyone can turn a simple village mystry into a brooding Greek tragedy, it's Charles Todd. Todd handles....grave issues with great compassion for his morally bewildered characters, who have had enough of guilt and retribution and long only for peace." Currently there are elevennovels in this critically acclaimed series.

Charles Todd, who is actually a mother and son writing team, Charles and Caroline Todd, have also written a stand-alone novel, The Murder Stone, featuring Francesca Hatton; and A Duty to the Dead, the first in the widely praised Bess Crawford series was released in 2009. The second in that series, An Impartial Witness will be released in August 2010, and the twelfth Ian Rutledge novel, A Lonely Death, will be released in January 2011.

Banquet keynote speaker, J. Steven White, has directed fight scenes for many actors ranging from Denzel Washington to Madonna. As a teacher for 24 years, he worked for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the American Conservatory Theatre, and the New York Shakespeaare Festival. He has directed fights in more than 100 professional productions for ballet, film and theatre. His fight direction for Broadway includes After the Fall (Peter Krause), Anthony and Cleopatra (Vanessa Redgrave), and Cymbeline (Live Shreiber and Michale Hall) among others. Currently, he also serves on the faculty of the Graduate Program at New York University's Tisch School of Arts and the Shakespeare Lab at the Public Theatre.

For full and partial registration details, visit www.magnacummurder.com.

Valkyrie is, in part, the story of the plot by German military officers to kill Hitler and von Boeselager's part in it. This story was also recently told in the Tom Cruise movie "Valkyrie." Von Boeselager, who died in 2008, was one of the last surviving conspirators.

 Valkyrie is also the story of von Boeselager and his older brother Georg, who were both Wehrmacht officers during WW2, and participated in the plot. Because they were stationed on the Russian Front, they were not directly able to be involved in the events of July 20, 1944, this book is also the story of their lives together. For this reason, details on events happening in Berlin is sometimes sketchy.

 It's a short book, the main text being less than 200 pages, but it's also a very fascinating book. It reads very much like a transcript from an interview or a handwritten memoir. While I didn't learn much about the details of the conspiracy, I did learn quite a lot about life in the German army during the war. It's a perspective you don't often get in this country, focusing as we do on our involvement in the war and its consequences.

 While von Boeselager doesn't dwell on the issues, it's clear from his writing that many in the army were at least peripherally aware, and disapproved, of the atrocities being committed by the government. This was one of the factors that led him and his brother to participate in the plot.

 This is a very readable book on an interesting topic. If you have any interest in WW2 or Germany's part in it, I can recommend this book as a good starting point. While it is written for an adult audience, young adults and older children with an interest would likely find it enjoyable, also.

On Tuesday, June 8 at 7:00 P.M., Nancy Jensen will be reading selections from her works Window (2009) and The Sisters (to be released in the Spring of 2011).

Nancy Jensen is a graduate of the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College. Her short stories and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Northwest Review, Other Voices, Under the Sun, ACM: Another Chicago Magazine, and The Louisville Review. Since 1994, she has taught writing and literature at University of the Cumberlands, where she has developed and implemented a highly successful mentoring model for courses in the undergraduate creative writing program.

Nancy Jensen lives in south central Kentucky with her ten rescued cats and one dog. She and her black Lab-mix, Gordy, work as a pet-therapy team with Pawsibilities Unleashed of Kentucky, visiting hospitals, nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, and daycare centers.

Dianne Aprile, author of Making a Heart for God: A Week Inside a Catholic Monastery, has said of Window:

In much the way Alice Munro's The View from Castle Rock mixed memoir with fiction in short takes, Nancy Jensen's brave and beautiful book blends the self-examining voice of the personal essay with the scalpel-like precision of the modern short story. In this collection, she writes with courage and honesty about the complexities of contemporary life: the inevitable betrayals and unanticipated redemptions, but also the painful, persistent process of coming to terms with our own shortcomings. Reading this collection illuminates the common tradition of storytelling that informs fiction and nonfiction alike; yet, it also underscores the very different expectations readers bring to the two genres. With artistry and humor, Nancy Jensen offers readers her unique spin on what I would call the Truth—as it is, and as she has imagined it.

Be sure to join Nancy Jensen on Tuesday, June 8th, at 7:00 P.M. in the Strassweg Auditorium for this very special event.

If you like audiobooks, and I know lots of people do, then Random House Audio has an offer for you. To promote their Car Share Program, they're offering 5 free audio downloads. All you have to do is sign up for their monthly newsletter on the website, and they'll email you a link to the downloads. Pretty easy. You don't get really weird titles, either.

• The Geometry of Sisters by Luanne Rice (10 hours 48 minutes)
• The Alibi Man by Tami Hoag (6 hours 2 minutes)
• "Percy Jackson and the Sword of Hades" from The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan (1 hour 17 minutes)
• "Including One Called Hell" from Fraud by David Rakoff (35 minutes), and
• "Mercy Watson to the Rescue" from The Mercy Watson Collection, Volume 1 by Kate DiCamillo (20 minutes).

Not bad for a little time. Thanks, Random House!

On March 17th at noon, we'll be discussing The Tender Bar by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer J.R. Moehringer. The Tender Bar is the author's memoir of growing up in a household of mostly women with an absent father. He tells about his search for a father in his life, and how the men of the neighborhood bar become surrogate fathers.

"The Tender Bar is a beautiful, gravelly love letter to [an] amorphous father, a melancholy romance between a boy and a corner saloon that's as smoky and heart-crackling as a Sinatra 78." - The New York Times Book Review

This best-selling and award-winning book is a fascinating, highly entertaining look at growing up with a big piece of your life missing. Come join us at noon on the 17th to learn more.

We have a great group involved with the Murder by the Book Mystery Discussion Group.  People vary from month to month, depending on their schedule- but we always have a core group who provide the foundation.  We've become friends over time and value each other's opinion and ideas.  We almost never agree on the books we read...that's the fun of it!  There are some very witty people in the group and once they get going, things can get pretty wacky. 

The great thing about book groups is that you get to read books that would have never crossed your path.  Some books you might even have liked to get out of the path!  Guess what happens?  After reading such a book, there is always something to take away with you...something to keep that you might not have ever come across.  Something that might change and expand your world.  You never know... where reading will take you.

Don't forget: at 7:00 P.M. we'll be in the Small Meeting Room to discuss Jame's Ellroy's Crime Wave: Reportage and Fiction from the Underside of L.A. Although two short fiction works from Ellroy are included, this is mostly nonfiction. Ellroy is a very popular writer, and this should be good.

A review from Publishers Weekly:

Ellroy's obsessions - Tinseltown tabloid sleaze and his mother's muder - have fueled his writing and provided readers with countless indelible images, reams of trademark stuttergun prose and at least two kill books, L.A. Confidential and My Dark Places. This collection of 11 pieces of fiction and reportage, all previously published in GQ magazine, isn't essential Ellroy, but newcomers contemplating a tentative first dip might find it a fine place to start. The powerfully frank "My Mother's Killer" evolved into My Dark Places, and "Body Dumps" and "Glamour Jungle" both explore LAPD investigations into crimes similar to the death of Ellroy's mother in 1958, when he was 10. Two tales feature the investigative reporting of Hush-Hush magazine, always dedicated to digging the dirt and awesomely addicted to alliteration. Real-life accordionist Dick Contino has several capers of his own and gets to ingest illegal drugs, whack a few lowlifes and hang with Sammy Davis Jr. Ellroy also tackles O.J. Simpson's case, his own high school reunion and the making of the film L.A. Confidential. For some reason, his editor at GQ balked at letting the "Demon Dog of American Literature" loose on Bill and Monica. We surely missed out on a whole sackful of sleazy stuff there. (Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Should be fun.

Here's a link to more information about Ellroy and his work:

Ellroy Confidential