January Book Club

http://quickwitlitniks.blogspot.com/2011/11/joy-luck-club-by-amy-tan.html

January's book club book was The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.  Fewer people were able to get through this one because of the holidays, and some of those who did get through it seemed to find it kind of confusing and a little boring.  Personally, I really enjoyed it.  Amy Tan highlights the difficulty of mothers understanding daughters and vice versa through the separate but interwoven stories of eight different women.  I really liked learning about Chinese and Chinese American cultures, and I also liked the challenge of keeping all the stories straight.  I would highly recommend it.

For February, we had a few requests for something "romantic."  Since I couldn't reconcile with reading something of Nicholas Sparks's caliber, I consulted the Wall Street Journal's "Best Fiction of 2011" reading list.  There was only one novel that had anything to do with love, so that's the one I picked.  We will be reading The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright.  Here's a link to the New York Times Book Review of the book.  It looks intriguing and hopefully not too trashy.

If you're participating in book club from afar, feel free to comment on your opinion of the books thus far.