August and September....

For August, we have chosen Wendy MacNaughton's Meanwhile in San Francisco: The City in its Own Words.. From the copy:

Take a stroll through the City by the Bay with renowned artist Wendy MacNaughton in this collection of illustrated documentaries. With her beloved city as a backdrop, a sketchbook in hand, and a natural sense of curiosity, MacNaughton spent months getting to know people in their own neighborhoods, drawing them and recording their words. Her street-smart graphic journalism is as diverse and beautiful as San Francisco itself, ranging from the vendors at the farmers' market to people combing the shelves at the public library, from MUNI drivers to the bison of Golden Gate Park, and much more. Meanwhile in San Francisco offers both lifelong residents and those just blowing through with the fog an opportunity to see the city with new eyes.

If you want to get a jump on September, we'll be reading The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco by Marilyn Chase.
 
As always, we will be meeting the last Wednesday of the month (August 26th and September 30th, respectively) from 6p-8p to drink $5 cocktails and have a rolling conversation, mostly about the book/books we love :-)

June and July

Hi all:  So the book club has thrown down a gauntlet in terms of cocktail production with June's book...Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West, by Ethan Rarick.

From the copy:

Drawing on fresh archaeological evidence, recent research on topics ranging from survival rates to snowfall totals, and heartbreaking letters and diaries made public by descendants a century-and-a-half after the tragedy, Ethan Rarick offers an intimate portrait of the Donner party and their unimaginable ordeal.

And for July, one of my all time favs: Isabel Allende's Daughter of Fortune.

Happy Reading!

M

March's Read (and a preview of April)

Hi all:

The short February caught me off guard (as it does every year - at least I am consistent!).  But here it is at last, the March read: Jonathan Letham's Gun, With Occasional Music. From the description:
 
Gumshoe Conrad Metcalf has problems-there's a rabbit in his waiting room and a trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. Near-future Oakland is a brave new world where evolved animals are members of society, the police monitor citizens by their karma levels, and mind-numbing drugs such as Forgettol and Acceptol are all the rage.

Metcalf has been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent doctor. Perhaps he's falling a little in love with her at the same time. When the doctor turns up dead, our amiable investigator finds himself caught in a crossfire between the boys from the Inquisitor's Office and gangsters who operate out of the back room of a bar called the Fickle Muse.

Mixing elements of sci-fi, noir, and mystery, this clever first novel from the author of Motherless Brooklyn is a wry, funny, and satiric look at all that the future may hold.

If you want to get a jump on April, we'll be reading Fae Myenne Ng's Steer Toward Rock.
 
As always, we meet from 6p-8p on the last Wednesday of the month.  (3/25 and 4/29 in this case).  Please join us for a $5 thematic cocktail and much discussion.
 
Happy Reading!