Bill's Book Group (for Guys): TC Boyle Post Mortem

A Massachusetts State Police helicopter flies over the 120th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 18, 2016, in Newton, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

I had to chuckle this morning when, the day after the first Red Sox playoff game, the top trending article on the Boston Globe website is the story of an 81-year-old grandmother in Amherst who had her carefully concealed and well tended recreational marijuana plant seized from her garden after being spotted and radioed in from a National Guard helicopter. Her response: "I had been nursing this baby through a drought, and I was pretty pissed to tell the truth. This is a violation of the Fourth Amendment, I am a citizen of the United States of America. You have overstepped and I am not going to step aside." I found myself wondering if I'd stumbled upon a missing dialogue from TC Boyle's book or if the Sara character had recently relocated from Mendocino, Nevada, or where ever she settled at the end of the book.

Thanks, once again, for the overwhelming turnout and enthusiastic debate for The Harder They Come. Despite my protestations and cajoling to the contrary, I truly believe the discussions are more interesting when the views are mixed. I thought Wednesday night was a good balance of opinions. If you enjoyed the book and are looking to try another by Boyle, I would recommend Drop City, A Friend of the Earth, or The Tortilla Curtain.

As much as I appreciated the big turnout the other night, I believe we have reached a limit in terms of the number of participants we can accommodate under our current format. I like everyone to have an opportunity to speak and the back and forth discussion makes for a better evening. We lose that capability once we get much above 20 people. I will think about possible changes to the structure, but until then I'm going to cap the sign up sheet to 25 names (under the assumption that we will have our usual few no-shows.) That shouldn't lock anyone out, but to be safe please sign up early if you are planning on attending.

As I mentioned at the end of the evening, our next book will be A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki on Wednesday, November 30th, at 7pm. On the surface it has a lot in common with The Harder They Come. Ozeki is also a great storyteller, much of the plot is set in the Pacific Northwest, there are multiple narrative voices, and it centers around family relationships (father-daughter-grandmother in this case.) However, this book is much more finely observed and constructed, with interesting diversions into global environmental issues, zen buddhism, quantum physics, and Japanese war history. It should be a great discussion

Lastly, I had several requests at the end of the evening for an updated list of the books we've read since we started in 2014. You can always find the syllabus for Bill's Book Group for Guys under the "Events" tab on the Wellesley Books website. That said, I've attached the list below.

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