Book Club Report: Year Eight

Before beginning to compile this post, I rewound and read all the previous iterations of this annual series dating back to when the No Wine or Whiners book club finished its first full year. Before you say it, I acknowledge how self-referential that sounds. But isn't it fun from time to time to remind yourself of books that have moved you? It is for me. Added bonus: Those older posts also brought back some nice moments from discussions of the 80+ books my club has tackled since the club's inception in January 2017.  

Because of three extended trips away from home in 2024, this past year ended up having fewer meetings than in any year since the club began. In addition, my not-entirely-successful experiment with a book of non-fiction essays - breaking up our discussion of that book over three non-consecutive meetings - ended up further reducing our usual number of titles. But the club continues to attract new members, the charter group of six remains in place, and the conversations almost uniformly exceed my expectations. 

And in an unusual twist, last year's undisputed winner for most well-received novel - This is Happiness (2019) by Niall Williams - and undisputed winner for most well-received book of non-fiction - Say Nothing (2018) by Patrick Radden Keefe - were both recommended to me by the same person. I met this reading soulmate - who also happens to be an author - on our February trip to Africa. So far, every title he has recommended to me - both while we were travelling together and in subsequent e-mails - has been a winner. Gotta love that. 

Please share with me and others some highlights from your book club involvement. More than a few times, readers of my blog have directed me to gems that could have easily gotten by me. Thanks in advance. 

       

The Nasty Inner Critic

How recently did your nasty inner critic prevent you from putting yourself out there?

Barring erratic Internet service, if more than three days have elapsed between my blog posts, it's safe to assume the nasty inner critic has gotten the better of me. At seventy-five years old, you'd think I'd done enough battling with this demon to ignore the incessant negativity. I wish. 

It's only a few paragraphs. There is no money riding on it. There is always something of interest to reflect on that someone might find worthwhile. Besides, even if my reflection lands with a thud, aside from me, who will know? Put another way, what's the worst that can happen? What then - you might reasonably ask - can that nattering voice say to stop me from putting myself out there? What possible harm could come from recommending a good book or musing about a worthwhile or marginal movie? Why not riff on an arcane word, deconstruct an aphorism, share the essence of a conversation, muse about a recent or upcoming adventure? Those are some of the good questions I've asked myself these last few days. Here's what the nasty inner critic has screamed back:     

IT'S ALREADY BEEN DONE!! IT'S BEEN DONE BETTER!! If you've rarely had to confront either of those statements when deciding to put yourself out there - in whatever form - congratulations. You've been more successful than me keeping the nasty inner critic in its place. Happens that this latest encounter with my nemesis wasn't stymied by those two screaming statements. This particular unwelcome visit stopped me cold by asking What is the point, Pat? That eternal and existential question is a surefire, if temporary, showstopper. 

What strategies do you use to help silence the nasty inner critic?  

 

Woody Completism (Mea Culpa)

I checked Wikipedia and it's official. After watching Melinda and Melinda (2004) a few nights ago and Rifkin's Festival (2020) while in California over the holidays, I've now seen every movie Woody Allen has written and directed over his long career as a filmmaker. I realize that publicly declaring this dubious distinction opens me up for censure, given the significant controversy that has engulfed Allen for years. Why - many could reasonably ask - would anyone want to make this claim? My simple, if inadequate, answer: completism. 

Have you ever wanted to hear - perhaps even own - every recording by a favorite musical artist? Read everything ever published by a beloved author? Visit every National Park? Collect every Hummel figurine? I submit most of us - if we're honest - have either indulged in or thought about some form of completism at some point in our lives. Maybe your completism carries less baggage than confessing what I have here. But when you reached that end, e.g., you had a meal at every five-star restaurant in Boston, you set foot on every continent, you completed the NY Times crossword puzzle every Sunday for a year, didn't that give you a rush of satisfaction? Admit it, if for no other reason than to make me feel better. 

For the record, neither of the films above was great but spending time with even an average Woody Allen movie - his greatly tarnished reputation aside - is preferable to much of what is available most of the time. My Mt. Rushmore of Woody films? Another Woman (1988), Blue Jasmine (2013), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). The last time a movie of his really enchanted me was a recent re-watch of Cafe Society (2016). This time around it hit me that none of Woody's other doppelgangers - Kenneth Branaugh in Celebrity (1998), Larry David in Whatever Works (2009), even Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris (2011) - played him nearly as well as Jesse Eisenberg did in the later film. 

Final conflicted admission: I'll probably continue to re-watch selected Woody Allen films for the rest of my life. He's a flawed human being. Who isn't? He's also a great filmmaker and I love movies. I have no neat rationalization for my decision to continue supporting his art. Another of my flaws, I guess.  

Woody Allen filmography - Wikipedia  

Batting Four for Four: Elizabeth Strout

"This was the skin that protected you from the world - this loving of another person you shared your life with."

Yes, English teachers - many of us recall the rule about ending a sentence with a preposition. Who can be bothered with rules when captivated by a storyteller as skillful as Elizabeth Strout? Every one of the nine linked stories in Anything Is Possible (2017) is so nearly perfect that I'm unable to identify a favorite. The sentence opening this post - from Windmills - was the first of many I felt compelled to copy. Not pulled in yet? How about this?

"People could surprise you. Not just their kindness but also their sudden ability to express things the right way."

That's from The Hit Thumb Theory, arguably the most heartbreaking story in the book. But large parts of it still manage to sing with an unmistakable joy because of Strout's always-present capacious heart. I'm not at all sure how she does this but I'm so grateful to be witness to her exceptional gift. 

"She suffered from only the most common complaint of all: Life had simply not been what she thought it would be."  

And Strout is way too skillful to pummel you with any capital "E" epiphany. The hard-earned wisdom in the everyday lives of her characters - like in the sentence above from Dottie's Bed and Breakfast - comes to a reader without flourish. This is an author who never raises her voice but can be clearly heard at all times. Years back, right after finishing the deservedly praised Pulitzer prizewinner Olive Kitteridge (2008), I suspected Elizabeth Strout was a keeper for me. After now reading three more of her books, I'm totally smitten. What a blast.  

"Yes, there it was, the perfect knowledge: Anything was possible for anyone."  (from Gift)   

Practicing Gratitude

Soon after my wife's involvement with the Positive Psychology movement reignited my commitment to regularly documenting moments of gratitude in my journal, our daughter made a suggestion to us that she believed could take our gratitude practice to another level. And she was right.

It began in January 2020 when we placed a ready supply of post-it notes in several colors and a pen next to a large glass jar on our kitchen counter. Whenever either of us is reminded of something we are grateful for, we record the date and the thought, fold and then put the post-it into our jar. When we have guests at our home and we remember, we ask them if they'd like to contribute something. We've even begun taking a small supply of post-its with us during time away from home and asked both fellow travelers and family to join us if they'd like.

I've saved the best for last. On or near the first of the year, my wife and I turn the jar upside down and shuffle all the post-its we've collected. We then read them to one another - out of order - giving us an opportunity to re-live moments of gratitude from the past year. This tradition - now repeated five years running - has quickly become one of the undisputed highlights of our year. Each year we are reminded anew of both the richness of our lives and the power of practicing gratitude. How do you remind yourself to be grateful?       

Stop - Start - Continue: 2025

Among the once-each-year series I've created, Stop - Start - Continue, published on New Year's Day, has continually gotten some of the most positive feedback. I encourage you to join me here today - as some of you have in the past - and make a public commitment. There is substantial research indicating people are much more likely to follow through on public commitments than on ones they make only to themselves. 

In 2025, I will stop allowing closeness communication bias to get in my way when listening to people in my family of origin as well as with my wife and daughter. When I finished reading Kate Murphy's exceptional 2019 book You're Not Listening, it was clear that I'd fallen into the trap of frequently "thinking" I knew what people close to me we're going to say before they'd finished speaking. I'm now firmly committed to curbing this behavior. 

Reflections From The Bell Curve: Rescuing Ourselves

In 2025, I will start reading at least one well-regarded biography each year. My reading diet has been lacking in this particular protein for too long. I'm thinking of starting with a biography of Winston Churchill, a complicated, controversial, and critically pivotal twentieth century statesman.  

In 2025, I will continue to regularly attend open jazz jam sessions all across the area. This road has started out bumpy and I've had some demoralizing moments. But I'm driven to find my improvisational voice and to discovering more joy in what I'm able to do vs. being pre-occupied with what still eludes me. 

I look forward to learning what you plan to stop, start, and continue in 2025. If you have trouble with one or two, no worries. Commit to just one of the three. But be sure to tell me and others what that is, OK?  

Best of 2024

Considering the number of high points this year delivered, in order to keep this post a reasonable length, I'm forced to leave out several things that would easily have made earlier iterations in this series. No matter. Please share with me and others as many "best of" moments from 2024 as you wish, using either my headings or your own.

Best single moment: No contest here: On October 3 at 6:37 p.m., I became a grandfather. How I wish my new grandson lived right around the block vs. across the country. 

Best musical moments: The first few measures playing Body and Soul with just a pianist at an open jazz jam session at the Long Branch Distillery in March and then parts of my solo in Summertime at another session at the Chubby Pickle in Atlantic Highlands in September.  

Best vacation: The two-week trip across four countries in southern Africa we took in February was so exceptional, putting it in a "best of 2024" bucket is inadequate. That vacation might be the best my wife and I have taken together over our 47+ years.

Best documentary: Stamped from the Beginning, based on Ibram X. Kendi's eponymous book from 2016, was riveting start to finish. The segments featuring the fiercely intelligent Angela Davis are revelatory.

Best sign in a coffee shop: "We have no Wi-Fi. Pretend it's 1995 and talk to one another."

Best crow-eating discovery: Stumbling onto The Last Rung on the Ladder a 1978 short story by a young Stephen King. It's easy, if lazy, for reading snobs to bad mouth King, given his massive popularity and prodigious output. But this early story of his - no horror, mayhem, or vampires in sight - reminded this snob of his undeniable writing talent. The taste of crow remains fresh, many months later.

Please join me in celebrating 2024. And Happy New Year! 

Re-Visiting the Re-Cap

Reflections From The Bell Curve: Reading Re-Cap: 2024

Those of you who read the post above a week ago can't say you weren't warned. With the number of books finished during this extended time away from home rapidly approaching a monthly record, it was more than predictive that - before 2024 was over - I might still stumble across at least one solid novel worth recommending to people I've heard describe themselves as casual readers. 

"The women were talking about people, the men talking about things. It was why so many of the men prospered on Wall Street and in the big law firms, where things could be turned into money and people were interchangeable and even insignificant, and there were hardly any women running the show."   

Alternate Side (2018) is engaging and smart end-to-end. Anchored by Anna Quindlen's sturdy prose, well-etched characters, and storytelling skill, the book is filled with sharp insights touching on money, marriage, and messy New York City life. Not since finishing Amor Towles's debut novel Rules of Civility in 2011 have I read a novel that consistently captures NYC as well as Quindlen does here. 

"...some of their marriages were like balloons: a few went suddenly pop, but more often than not the air slowly leaked out until it was a sad wrinkled little thing with no lift to it anymore."

In addition, unlike some family novels, the emotional ending in this one struck me as both well-earned and authentic. "People go through life thinking they're making decisions when they're really just making plans, which is not the same thing at all." Put this on your list, casual or discerning readers.

p.s. I'll let you decide if you want to read my Goodreads review (link below) to learn of one quibble I have with the editing of Alternate Side. That quibble aside, let me be clear: I adore Anna Quindlen. 

Edit Review - Alternate Side | Goodreads