Thank you, Dick, for your recent post to the BBGG Blog and for reminding me that I used to work a lot harder in providing some background and content for the Book Group "back before I retired."  I'll even forgive you some of the snark factor in the post as it's nothing we haven't heard before.

The blog has lain fallow for many years now. Looking at the timeline, it appears that the pandemic year may have put an end to it all.  I've taken the opportunity of updating our reading choices through North Woods. You can can find them here:  BBGG Reading List. 

Some observations on our reading history:

• A total of 112 titles over our 13+ years.
• Almost all fiction (14 non-fiction titles by my count.)
• 10 short story collections or works organized as stories.
•  25% of books by female authors (over 50% during the last 2 years.
• 9 repeat authors (only 1 was a mistake...)
• Despite ongoing commentary, only:
• Dystopian titles total 6
• Irish setting total 6 (only 3 during The Troubles)

 Take a look at the list.  Let me know what you think.

 While there are no new posts for a while the book group is still healthy, strong and opinionated in January 2026.  Routinely there are over 15 members providing support and criticism of the various books under discussion. Recently "Butter" was the book the group read; most of us found the novel almost incomprehensible; although, after a few members (who had worked in Japan for both American and Japanese companies) explained some of the behavioral and language customs, the translation from Japanese to English left much to be desired. 

Now that Bill has retired he has more time to read, so he has dragged the group into more challenging and esoteric books. "Possession" is a good example. A. S. Byatt literally wrote the novel in keeping with the Booker Prize guidelines to compete for the prize. This 550 page Romance novel heads deep into investigative research about an affair the fictional poet Randolph Ash may have had in the 1860's, inventing poems, songs, private letters, even language in the style of John Donne. I was a slog that proved too much for a number of dedicated readers who quit reading early into the novel.

Good heartedly and reacting to the groans of the book club members, Bill has watched back the difficulty and pomposity or "Possession" offering North Woods for February2026. Bill is nothing if not good hearted and ever suffering of the sometimes outrageous negative reviews...Cheers   

Updated Syllabus

 Updated BBGG Reading List

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

Cooper's Creek by Alan Moorehead

The New Confessions by William Boyd

A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers

Headlong by Michael Frayn

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway

The Son by Phillipp Meyer

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carre 

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

All That Is by James Salter 

Consider the Lobster  by David Foster Wallace

A Quiet Flame by Philip Kerr

Lucky Jim  by Kingsley Amis

Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

The Sisters Brothers  by Patrick DeWitt

Tenth of December by George Saunders

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

The Tsar of Love and Techno  by Anthony Marra

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan

The Harder They Come by TC Boyle

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki 

Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean 

The Whites by Richard Price

Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson 

The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
Atonement by Ian McEwan

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer 

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Red Notice by Bill Browder

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin 

Gringos by Charles Portis

Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta

The World is a Narrow Bridge by Aaron Thier 

Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross

The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks

Autumn by Ali Smith

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

Every Moment After by Joseph Moldover

Milkman by Anna Burns

We Begin Our Ascent by Joe Mungo Reed

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus

A Long Way from Home by Peter Carey

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

There There by Tommy Orange

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

The Nickle Boys by Colson Whitehead

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis

Country by Michael Hughes

The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

Deacon King Kong by James McBride

Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

Borges and Me by Jay Parini

The Anomaly by Herve Le Tellier

Agent Running in the Field by John Le Carre

The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Dubliners by James Joyce

Matrix by Lauren Groff

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Endurance by Alfred Lansing

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

Still Life by Sarah Winman

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra

London Fields by Martin Amis

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

Trust by Hernan Diaz

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner 

Birnham Wood: A Novel by Eleanor Catton

Horse: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks

The Candy House: A Novel by Jennifer Egan

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: A Novel by Gabrielle Zevin

Americanah: A Novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Just Until by Joseph Moldover

Orbital: A Novel by Samantha Harvey 

Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki 

Let Me Be Frank With You by Richard Ford 

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey 

You Dreamed of Empires: A Novel by Alvaro Enrigue

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert 

The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann 

Possession by A.S. Byatt 

North Woods: A Novel by Daniel Mason

 

Bill's Book Group (for Guys): Less, Moldover, and an Updated Syllabus

Barbarian Days, A Surfing Life

I just got back form vacation in Portugal witnessing some really great surfing in Cascais and Sarges. The World Champion Surfing Competition was just over but many of the surfers remained to ride the waves. It was very interesting to see surfers, and surfing families whose lives revolve around the next big wave and the next surfing location. Living in trailers, vans, station wagons, with all of their worldly possessions, eating on the fly, drying clothes and wet suits in the sun, constantly either surfing or studying the wave patters, the prevailing winds, the tides, the storm activity, the seasonal variations, sharing stories and secrets about propitious beaches...fascinating. Many of the surfers sported long dreadlocks, and a clear addiction for the waves. 

For the truly dedicated there is no other life, but it is a lifestyle for the young, who realize that their wanderlust will end, as they fall in love and have families. They will live with the wives and husbands and young children in vans and trailers scraping by as long as possible, but the clock is ticking; the children will have to go to school. The gift these parents give to their children is a love of the ocean and the freedom of the surfing life, challenging the waves... each wave a unique monster with the potential to crush you to the shore, to smash you into your board, to throw you into the rocks, but the adrenaline rush and feeling of conquering the waves is too great to abandon. You will spend all day on the waves until it is too dark to see then sit but the sea with the rest of the addicted, transfixed by the limitless pull of the sea, eating soups and bread, trail mix and energy bars, like mountain climbers of the shores, the focus not on food but on the sea...just enough sustenance to keep going. Tomorrow you will get up very early and head south or north or whatever direction is necessary to catch that next wave.

Less, Moldover, and an Updated Syllabus

It was a big week for the Book Group last week and I want to thank everyone who made it to the store on Tuesday night for Joe's book launch party for Every Moment After or Wednesday for the discussion of Less.  I give a special shout to those of you (there were 14!) who made both nights. Joe and I both really appreciate the enthusiasm and support.  It was standing room only on Tuesday night including all the way up the stairs. I counted over 90 people in the room.  And now Joe hits the road for book promotion!

 

We had about 25 of you in for the discussion on Wednesday and I'm increasingly amazed at our ability to have a disciplined and cogent conversation over the course of  the two hours with the large group. I was just looking back and by my calculations, Less was the 50th meeting of Bill's Book Group for Guys.  (I've included an updated list of our reading selections below.)  Several of you have been with us since the beginning, but we've picked up some great friends along the way.  I want to express my sincere gratitude to all of you. For me personally, the conversations and friendships that have emerged through the Group are one of the best developments out of our purchase of the store a little over 8 years ago. 

All thumbs Up!

As you all should know by now, our next meeting is slated for Wednesday, May 22nd at 7pm.  We'll be reading Every Moment After with the author in attendance.....

Hope to see you all there!

Updated BBGG Reading List

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

Cooper's Creek by Alan Moorehead

The New Confessions by William Boyd

A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers

Headlong by Michael Frayn

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway

The Son by Phillipp Meyer

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carre 

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

All That Is by James Salter 

Consider the Lobster  by David Foster Wallace

A Quiet Flame by Philip Kerr

Lucky Jim  by Kingsley Amis

Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

The Sisters Brothers  by Patrick DeWitt

Tenth of December by George Saunders

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

The Tsar of Love and Techno  by Anthony Marra

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan

The Harder They Come by TC Boyle

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki 

Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean 

The Whites by Richard Price

Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson 

The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
Atonement by Ian McEwan

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer 

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Red Notice by Bill Browder

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin 

Gringos by Charles Portis

Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta

The World is a Narrow Bridge by Aaron Thier 

Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross

The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks

Autumn by Ali Smith

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

Every Moment After by Joseph Moldover

Shepherd's Life Check-in

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  I'm just back in town from a family gathering in California, myself. So I'm a little late, but I wanted to send out a reminder that we are scheduled to meet, this Wednesday at 7pm to discuss The Shepherd's Life.  As always, to help with room set up, please shoot me a quick note if you plan to attend.

Below, I've attached a couple of my own photos from a walking trip through the Lake District a few years back. However, if you really want to get into the mood, you'll want to check out the Herdy Shepherd  Instagram or Twitter feed.  Since the publication of his book, James Rebanks has become a social media phenom.

Herdwick sheep

Fells and ghyll above Windermere

Aaron Thier Tomorrow Night!

Just a quick reminder about Aaron Thier's event tomorrow night at 7pm. Hope you can make it....

Also, a little fun for all you book blurb aficionados out there.....