It was the magical first Tuesday of the month which means it
was book club night. Tonight, there were six of us, which was a great
number. Three on each side of the table, everyone could hear everyone else. Minimal bobbing and weaving needed to see the others. The
conversation was interesting.
 |
| Book! |
We were split on the book (
How to Build a Boat, by Elaine
Feeney). Some liked it from the first page to the last. A few more took a while to warm
up to it. I had dragged myself to page 205 of the 295 page book, each day thinking,
“Oh, I’ve gotta read this book,” before I could finally relax and enjoy it.
The book was longlisted for The Booker Prize 2023, and like
many books I have read that have been nominated for awards, there
were several times when I felt too stupid to be reading it. Half the book sailed
right over my head while I sat there puzzling over how to pronounce a character’s
name that I’d already seen 200 times. Or in this specific book, the names of two
characters (Eoin and Tadgh) plus several other puzzling words because they are
Irish and this is a book by an Irish writer and set in Ireland.
But overall, it was a nice book with some characters to relate
to and a few others who were less likeable, and it’s nice to feel something
while reading a book, even if that feeling is mostly the urge to slap one of
the characters.
 |
| Beer! |
My beverage choice for Boozy Book Club was Honest Weight
Artisan Beer by Graves Landing out of Orange, MA. I didn’t even know there was
a brewery in Orange, MA, which is one reason I chose it. It was pretty good, so
I’ll probably choose it again. It’s always fun to discover new beers, and they
are often easier to understand than some award nominated books.
No comments:
Post a Comment