The first meeting was fab (of course!). Lots of time was spent getting to know each other better through our reading histories, and by discussing the book. Turns out The Babysitter's Club was highly influential reading - who knew? Many people had read, were reading, or wanted to read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up. And many of us have fond memories of reading The Chrysalids in high school - but it's not on the curriculum in Boston apparently.
Persian Chocolate cake, dates and bread, Swiss Chalet fries and sauce, Iranian kebabs, and pistachios were all foods with book connections. Time was spent discussing Ali as a character (how good or how evil was he really?), the concept of memoirs (limitations of seeing only through the writer's lens), major changes experienced in Iran during and after the Iranian Revolution, and the concept of choice (in both religion and feminism). Oh, and the takeaway questions to those still reading...."Did Marina process her experience enough before writing this memoir? Would the memoir have been more or less effective if she'd had alot of therapy FIRST? Does that fact that writing WAS therapy for Marina make the book more or less meaningful for you as a reader?"
Our next meeting will be at Sarah G.'s house on Friday October 14 at 7:30 pm. We will discuss Drown by Junot Diaz. It is a 1996 book of short stories by the Dominican-American author who later rose to wide acclaim with the 2008 Pulitzer prize winning novel The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. He is also the author of This is How You Lose Her.
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