Books & Bars: Blog Vault 11/08

Hi, I’m Jeff Kamin, moderator of Books & Bars, the biggest book club in one of our nation’s most literate cities, Minneapolis. Books & Bars is not your typical book club. We provide a unique atmosphere for lively discussions of interesting authors. Every second Tuesday about 100 of us meet in a theater attached to a bowling alley in Uptown Minneapolis. We drink, eat and socialize before, during, and after the book discussion. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we do seriously get into discussing our books for an hour and half each meeting. (Tongues loosen with our liquid courage.) Our newsletter goes out to over 550 people each month. We’ve had regulars and newcomers the 55 times we’ve met in our 4 1/2 years together. An average crowd is made up of about 60-65 women and 35-40 men in their 20s-40s with some a few…wiser. We strive not to be the women’s only, Oprahesque, suburban group. We’re not your mother’s book club, but we welcome her, too.

Our latest pick was The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon. We gathered our own Frozen Chosen on the first snowy Minneapolis night of the season. 85-90 people braved the early winter weather to participate in our discussion, meet some new people, and have a few brews. The book was well received for the most part, but it had its detractors. We’re not much of a mystery-reading club, having done only a few standouts in our past like Case Histories by Kate Atkinson and Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. We probably posed as many questions as we did answers with this Yiddish puzzler.

Everyone loved Chabon’s rich characters and sparkling witty dialogue. Policemen and former couple Bina & Landsman had a playful Nick and Nora (The Thin Man) vibe. Perhaps the best character is actually Sitka, the territory. We had a few members on hand with Jewish backgrounds to help contextualize some of the customs and background for us. Apparently there is even a boundary maven working in one of our local suburbs. I even received e-mail from a club member with Yiddish phrases in it. Nu is the new buzzword to use. Try peppering your slang with some Yiddish. It’s fun. And our appetites were stirred for noodle kugel. Overall, it wasn’t the easiest read to get into, but fortunately the paperback version contains a Yiddish glossary among other interesting interviews and essays in the P.S. section.

Some felt the protagonist Landsman (an old nickname for a fellow Jew especially during the blacklist days) was redeemed through solving the Mendele case or with his relationship with Bina or the even stronger bromance with Berko. Other attendees who were more well-mystery-read (not just having a past with Encyclopedia Brown, like yours truly) felt that a detective is never really redeemed. Mystery fans argued that redemption equals retirement for a gumshoe. What do you think? Does a detective in a mystery ever get redemption? If they’re redeemed are they done as a detective? Can a mystery transcend the genre? Does it need to?

Chabon fans spoke of feeling his presence in the narrative, as per usual, but in a good way. There were the familiar themes of fathers and sons and also the prerequisite-closeted gay character. Chabon embraced his “fan fiction” theory of writing what he loves and paying homage to Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Chabon wears his influences on his sleeve, refreshingly so. The pie shop and dwarfish Willie Dick character seemed to be allusions to Twin Peaks.

We wondered why the book has been considered science fiction even winning awards for it. The counter-factual aspects of history were fascinating fun like JFK being married to Marilyn Monroe. They reminded us of our last book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, and its references to the Watcher and What If series by Marvel Comics. Chabon plays the Watcher here posing his what if Jewish theories post World War II. What do you think makes the book sci-fi?

Some members felt the book lost its way or even “jumped the shark” with the red heifer, conspiracy theories and government terrorists by the final third. The Mendele/Messiah aspect of the book seemed to get left behind with more government agents and old men pulling strings off camera. Speaking of which, we’re anticipating a very good film adaptation from our hometown heroes, the Coen Brothers. Casting ideas have been posted on our site. Some of our members even had the chance to be extras in the next Coen film, A Serious Man, shooting here this fall.

Overall, the detective mind seemed to be the writer’s mind and I think our mystery bone is being tickled for more cases. We enjoyed our time in Sitka with these characters and would recommend it with some reservations. I expect we’ll be doing more mysteries in the future.

Our next book is Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson on Dec 9th, an even more apropos book for Minnesnowta with its Norwegian roots. You’re welcome to join our discussion on our forum or even come to our event if in the Twin Cities.

Let me know what you think of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, mysteries, and more. Thanks for reading.

Have fun,
Jeff Kamin, Moderator, Books & Bars, jeff AT booksandbars DOT com

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David Benioff video interviews

Words & Wine? Hey! Sounds/looks familiar.

Awesome cable access quality here:

Don’t hate him because he’s married to Amanda Peet and the son of a former head of Goldman Sachs. And an incredibly successful screenwriter and talented novelist.

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Video Chat with author Laird Hunt – 2.23.10

Video Chat with author Laird Hunt – 2.23.10

Sorry a lot of you missed our very fun and enlightening meeting on Feb 23rd. Here’re a few video clips from our Skype-chat with author Laird Hunt discussing his wonderfully weird and wild, Ray of the Star. You should definitely read the book.

www.lairdhunt.net

The Inspiration for Ray of The Star

Poetic and Lyrical Style of Long Sentences

Talking Stinky Shoes

Advice for Writers

“Ladies, would you go out with a guy stalking you in a Yellow Submarine?”

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Charlie Brown adults have supper after crotch kicks and boob punches

Video highlight reel of some of our laughs from Ender’s Game discussion on Feb 9, 2010. Enjoy:

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Ender’s Game video: Crotch-kicks, supper, child geniuses, boob punches, control tools, Charlie Brown adults and more:

A video compilation of a few of the laughs we had on Feb 9, 2010. After 6 years, we’re still having fun with literature. Thanks to everyone who helped us get this far: Magers & Quinn esp. Mary Magers, Jay Peterson, and David Enyeart, Bryant Lake Bowl, The Onion esp. Katie Moen, Carissa Ptacek and Eric Jensen, Webmaster Michael Phenow, our many regulars who usually sit up front, Uptown Kickballers, and our faithful Forum contributors and readers. And especially my wife, Rachel, for putting up with my time consuming labor of love. Enjoy.

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Next meeting: Tue Feb 9th, 2010

We meet next Tuesday, Feb 9th to discuss Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. It’s also our 6th anniversary, or is birthday more appropriate? Lately the theater has been filling up by about 6:30-40pm. So please arrive early if you can.

If you don’t get in the theater for the discussion, please stick around and feel free to have a small group book chat in the bar/restaurant/bowling alley area. We will reopen the doors to the theater by 8:30 and you can come back in for more social time. Or we will join you in the bar. It’s a small consolation perhaps, but if you are there already and wish to discuss the book with others, please do so. We are doing our best to get everyone in, but the first 100 people are all the fire code will allow. That’s why we’ve been doing hand stamps and counting clickers at the door. And also one of the reasons I am experimenting with twice a month.

Another idea I had was to push back the start time a little bit, but am not sure that would help as many people. If you have other ideas, especially venue related, feel free to e-mail me.

Thanks for a great 6 years and here’s to many more.

Jeff Kamin
jeff@booksandbars.com
Moderator/Producer

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Jan 26, 2010 – The History of Love

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Hannah Tinti: “I will skype-drink with you anytime, Minneapolis.”

tintismile

Hannah Tinti was fun and informative in a rousing year end night at Books & Bars.
I was all set to blog it up and then saw her awesome status update (above) and blog post. So, let’s start with the author and read what she had to say about our event:

http://hannahtinti.com/2009/12/books-bars/

Brief video clip (shot on tiny camera whilst holding a microphone and moderating – anyone want to volunteer to shoot some B&B footage for me? Build your resume/portfolio? Let me know. Thanks)

Thanks to everyone who braved the snowstorm. Hope to see you many of you attempt our double reading winter challenge starting Jan 12th with The Road by Cormac McCarthy and then The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. We’ll try to do more Drink-Skypes soon. Or, as Elli (@lotaleesparkman) tweeted: “@jefe23 i think the correct term for that (because i made it up) is iDrink”

Happy New Year,

Jeff Kamin
Charming Moderator/Producer

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Stealing Time with Hannah Tinti

Exciting news: Hannah Tinti will be joining us for a Skype video chat during our next meeting on Tuesday, December 8th at 7pm. Bring your questions for her. We’ll have our regular book club discussion of The Good Thief after our interview.

If you missed our last video chat, check out the clips featuring Seth Grahame-Smith.

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