Book Club!

Book Club: Let’s Discuss “This is Where I Leave You”

As I mentioned before, this was my second reading of This is Where I Leave You. Luckily, I didn’t completely remember the ending, so — spoiler alert! — I kept wondering if Judd was going to end up back together with Jen or pursue Penny or what. Of course, we don’t know the answer to that. What do you think? I hope he and Jen don’t get back together, but remain friendly co-parents. I think Judd dates Penny briefly (again) and eventually embraces being alone, focusing on being a father and getting his life back together. He’ll find love again, but it will happen when he isn’t looking for it.

Other predictions: Alice becomes pregnant (baby conceived during the shiva, so she’ll never know who the father really is). Phillip remains a fuck-up forever. Wendy eventually divorces Barry, but stays on the west coast and spends her days lounging by her pool and driving her kids to and from different activities. The mom, whose name is escaping me (and I already returned the book to the library), stays with Linda for a long time — maybe even forever — but has numerous affairs with men, mostly widowed.

Other thoughts:

I’m so happy that Jen and Wade break up at the end. The thought of them together nauseated me.

I didn’t buy that someone like Tracy — successful, polished, sophisticated, has her shit together — would be dating a guy like Phillip. And I definitely didn’t buy that she’d just hand over her Porsche to him. WTF?

Penny gave me the sads and I wish we knew a little more about why her life turned out the way it did. I felt like her character/ storyline could have been developed a bit more.

And what did you think? Thumbs up or thumbs down? Was there anything you particularly loved or hated?

Oh! And I also liked that the house seemed almost dilapidated, but could be worth well over a million dollars. I felt like that was an interesting metaphor for this crazy family. There may be a lot of cracks in its foundation, but the love in there.

And don’t forget: This month we’re reading Fifty Shades of Grey, which you can buy here.

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by Wendy on May 2, 2012 · in Book Club!

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Book Club: May’s Selection

I hope those of you who are reading April’s book club selection, This is Where I Leave You, are enjoying the novel. I’m reading it for the second time and loving it still. We’ll discuss it next week when I get back from Austin (I hope to use travel time to finish it up and draft a few discussion questions). In the meantime, you can get a copy of May’s DW book club selection, which is Fifty Shades of Grey, the so-called “Mommy Porn” erotic fiction that has been burning your Facebook feed for the last few months.

I know, I know, it’s not exactly the type of novel one would normally read for a book club, but curiosity got the best of me and if I don’t make it a book club selection, I may never get around to reading it and thus, will not be able to poke fun at it fairly. So, who’s with me? You know you’ve been wanting to read it, too, and now you have an excuse. Come on, if we all read it together, we won’t feel so foolish. Or maybe we will, but who cares?

Get the paperback edition here, and the kindle edition here.

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by Wendy on April 24, 2012 · in Book Club!

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Book Club: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”

Um, so I haven’t finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks yet. It’s been difficult for me to get through, to be honest. It doesn’t have enough of a narrative to keep me interested and the first 3/4 of the book is too science-y/ fact-driven for my taste. I have about 40 pages to go and it’s getting a bit more interesting, but I wish it would have picked up earlier in the book so I could have finished by now. When my leisure/ reading time is limited, it’s hard to stick with a book that’s boring me while there are so many other things I could read.

All this is to say, I’m sorry! I can’t really lead a book club discussion on this one. But those of you who have read the book, please feel free to pose some discussion questions or comment on what stood out to you.

Fortunately, I’m very excited about next month’s book club selection, “This is Where I Leave You,” and I’m positive we’ll have a great discussion about it at the end of April. You can buy the paperback version of This is Where I Leave You here, and the kindle version here.

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by Wendy on March 29, 2012 · in Book Club!

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Book Club: April’s Selection

At the end of the month, we’ll discuss the March DearWendy book club selection, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, but in the meantime you can make your purchases or place your library holds on April’s selection — *drum roll, please* — This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. I stumbled upon TIWILY at an airport bookstore just after it was published in 2010. I can’t remember where I was flying to on that particular trip, but the novel has stayed with me ever since. In fact, I liked it so much, I have since read all of Tropper’s novels. Well, almost all of them. I’m still saving one for a rainy day.

At its core and on every page, This is Where I Leave You is a story about relationships. When a death in the family brings a cast of dysfunctional characters together under one roof again for the first time in a long while, they’re all faced with epiphanies about themselves and their lives (and of course, their relationships with each other). The novel is both heartbreakingly poignant and uproariously funny, and I bet you’ll recognize someone you know within its pages.

You can buy the paperback version of This is Where I Leave You here, and the kindle version here.