bookclub

My cousin Sara and I have been talking for months about starting a book club. Actually we have had one official meeting, the two of us, which was profoundly wonderful and which experience I hope to repeat in the near future. We exchanged a few books and talked about loads of stuff.

She loaned me two books by Mark Salzmann, an author I had never read before. It was a great experience; I read "Iron and Silk" about his experiences teaching English in China, and "Lying Awake", a novel so entirely unlike "Iron and Silk", and so simple, profound and moving.

I loaned her "Tam Lin" by Pamela Dean, a local SF&F author who I have adored for ages and ages. I met her, once, at a meeting of MNSTF (The Minnesota Science Fiction Society - don't ask how the "T" got into the acronym) and she was charming and self-deprecating. She is not a prolific writer, but every book of hers is informed by her deep love of literature and liberal arts education. "Tam Lin" is set in a small, midwestern liberal arts college modelled heavily on Carlton, and at least part of why I love it so is because she captures an experience that reminds me of my own. She does it well, with a prose that feels effortless.

Anyway, I started a bookclub blog as an accessory to my other blogging. So now there's a link, and I'm going to try to post at least a little about every book I read. Even if it's embarrassing. Like, I might not want everyone to know of my appreciation for a finely written young adult fantasy novel, but screw it, I'm going to post about it anyway.