Recap - Old God's Time

Thanks to all who attended last week's discussion of Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry - a large group and a great, fast moving discussion, as always when there are dissenting opinions around the table.  While everyone acknowledged the very difficult subject matter, for most the prose style and structure won the day in the debate. Perhaps our most unreliable narrator ever... I'm trying to remember Remains of the Day or Motherless Brooklyn. Several asked about exploring his other work and I did a quick survey and came back with 3 recommendations:

Days Without End (2016) – Often regarded as his masterpiece; Costa Book of the Year, a brutal and tender US Civil War–era love story that showcases his style at its best.

A Long Long Way (2005) – Haunting First World War novel, beautifully written and central to his ongoing project of revisiting Irish history from the margins.

The Secret Scripture (2008, McNulty cycle) – Major award-winner, set in a psychiatric hospital; a keystone novel for his long-running family constellation.

 

Our next book is The Art Thief by Michael Finkel and should offer a propulsive, true crime (non-fiction) palate cleanser for our next discussion.  We are meeting on Wednesday, April 22nd.  Hope to see you all there.

 

 

Before I go, I wanted to highlight that we will be hosting Joe Moldover's book launch on on Thursday April 30 at Wellesley Books with food, drinks, and his friend Edwin Hill. I am planning for Joe's book to be the selection for our May BBGG meeting so I hope many of you will attend the launch. You can register for the event here.  There is a $5 ticket fee that can be applied to the purchase of the book. To make it even easier, if you buy a ticket to Joe's event, I will forgo the usual $10 ticket for the May group meeting.  What a deal! Sign up now so we can get an early handle on numbers and show Joe out support!

 

"There is so much to love about this page turning mystery. Moldover, as always, is picture perfect in capturing the beauty, charm, and quirks of small town life in the Northeast. In this case, he layers on one of the finest depictions of a father/son relationship I’ve ever read. The ongoing repartee between Richard and Lukas, their mutual love for and exasperation with each other, is the real backbone of the story. I hated to see it end."

- Bill Kohli, owner, Wellesley Books 

 

 

North Woods Wrap-up

Thanks again to all those who attended last week's discussion of North Woods by Daniel Mason.  We had a large and enthusiastic turnout for the evening despite conflicts with the Boston Speaker Series, wrestling meets, and various injuries. Support for the book was overwhelmingly positive and we spent a lot of the evening comparing and contrasting with The History of Sound.  There were compelling arguments for both.  

That said, the overwhelming winner of the evening was the bourbon selection which received several shout outs over the course of the evening.  While I'm fairly well informed about single malt whisky, my bourbon knowledge is generally limited to the basics. And of course, I've been well trained to only bring Kentucky distilled and bottled selections.  For the first time I can remember, I have fielded numerous post meeting requests for the name of the whiskey (Bardstown). I've provided a link to the particular bottle below. 

Our next meeting is set for March 18th.  We are reading Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry.  One of the nice results of my revisit to our reading list is that it's opened up some venues that I thought we had shut down. So we are back to Ireland, a retired Dublin policeman living by the sea, dealing with a past he thought he'd left behind.  There should be some echoes of Say Nothing, Milkman, Night Boat to Tangiers, and maybe even a little Motherless Brooklyn.

 It's not a very long read, so shouldn't be a very heavy lift.  Hope to see you all there... 

Bardstown Origin Series High Wheat 

 

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