BOOK GROUP NEWSLETTER
APRIL 2023
Spring is finally here! (I think.) The daffodils are blooming at my neighbors. The grass is getting green. Potholes are sprouting on the roads. And books are popping up all over my apartment.  

Currently I seem to be in a book buying frenzy. Is that a spring thing? I've heard of spring flings and spring showers and even spring cleaning (well, not in my apartment). But spring book buying frenzy? Hmm. Maybe it's one of the symptoms of spring fever.  

During the past weeks I've purchased copies of TUCK EVERLASTING by Natalie Babbitt, MEMORIAL by Bryan Washington, TIN MAN by Sarah Winman, LILY AND THE OCTOPUS by Steven Rowley, TINKERS by Paul Harding, THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY by Brendan Slocumb, BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA by Katherine Patterson, BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh, TO DANCE WITH THE WHITE DOG by Terry Kay, and A YEAR OF MARVELOUS WAYS by Sarah Winman.

As I sit here writing this Introduction I realize that spring is not the only season I experience book buying frenzy. It's every season. Rain or shine. Hot or cold. And I wouldn't want this frenzy to ever be cured!  

Just a reminder that we're hosting the 10th Anniversary of Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday, April 29. Come for the fun and unleash your own book-buying frenzy.

I've chosen five books for you to consider for your reading group. I hope you enjoy them.



Happy Reading and Happy Spring!
Ken 
by Sarah Winman

We had such a great discussion of Sarah Winman's STILL LIFE in our afternoon reading group a few weeks ago that I decided to try another of her books. TIN MAN is a story of friendship, art and love. Ellis and Michel are twelve years old when they first meet, and for a long time it's just the two of them, cycling the streets of Oxford, teaching each other how to swim, discovering poetry, and dodging the fists of overbearing fathers. And then one day this closest of friendships grows into something much more. Many years later Ellis is married to Annie, and Michael is nowhere in sight. Which leads to the question: What happened in the years between? The New York Times Book Review says, "Winman has crafted something of a small miracle here...so much is contained in it. The complicated nature of love, the power of art to inspire and sustain, the half-life of grief and regret, the liberation of (French) travel, the grace found in small moments of kindness...It seems impossible that it all fits, yet the slow build of emotion and the cascade of quiet, well-earned tears are testament to how rich this meditation of love, art, loss and redemption truly is." Author Matt Haig says, "this is an astoundingly beautiful book. It drips with tenderness. It breaks your heart and warms it all at once." Author Steven Rowley says, "Each spare sentence is as delicate as a brush stroke; combined they paint a vibrant emotional work that will leave you enthralled. I was deeply moved."  I can't wait to read Sarah's other novels: WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT and A YEAR OF MARVELLOUS WAYS. What a great writer!
by Steven Rowley

When Steven Rowley's (THE GUNCLE, THE EDITOR) beloved dog died of cancer he wrote a short story of the experience to help process his grief. His boyfriend urged him to write more and it became his first novel LILY AND THE OCTOPUS. Rowley says, "I tried to write Lily's story with unflinching emotional honesty, and the connection that people seem to feel, despite the magical realism, is a testament to the power of the truth."  The relationship between Lily the Dachshund and Ted, her master, is a loving one. Rowley uses magical realism to create the octopus curled around Lily's head that causes her illness. Ted's constant battle with the octopus shows how people will do anything for their pets. We can all empathize with Ted's reaction to Lily's sickness, pet owners or not.  Publisher's Weekly says, "The intimacy of pet ownership is sweetly suffused throughout this heartwarming autobiographical fiction...in generous helpings of bittersweet humanity. Rowley has written an immensely poignant and touching relatable tale."  Author Garth Stein says the novel "isn't simply another 'boy and his dog' story. It is a profound exploration of grief---how we search for reason, how we sacrifice ourselves for our loved ones...in the magical hopeful world of LILY AND THE OCTOPUS, we will learn to live---and love---again." THE CELEBRANTS, Steven Rowley's latest novel, will be released on May 30. 
by Paul Harding

George Washington Crosby lay on his deathbed in the living room of his New England home surrounded by his family. His memory travels deep into his past where he reunites with his father, a notions salesman who travels in a wooden cart selling his wares. We spend the last eight days of George's existence as he contemplates his life from his childhood to his marriage to his teaching career and his skill at fixing clocks upon his retirement. Tinkering. Repairing. 
And realizing that he has a lot more in common with his father than he ever thought. George even thinks of his grandfather and the life he led.  Harding's prose is amazing throughout this graceful novel. TINKERS won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 2010 and was named one of the best novels of the year by NPR, The Library Journal, The New Yorker to name a few. Author Elizabeth McCracken says, "Paul Harding's TINKERS is not just a novel---though it's a brilliant novel. It's an instruction manual on how to look at nearly everything. Harding takes the back off to show you the miraculous ticking of the natural world, the world of clocks, generations of family, an epileptic brain, the human soul. In astounding language sometimes seemingly struck by lightning, sometimes as complicated as clockwork. Harding shows how enormous fiction can be, and how economical. Read this book and marvel." THIS OTHER EDEN, Paul Harding's latest novel, is on our shelves now. 
by Elizabeth Berg

This lovely novel, first published in 2017, is one of Elizabeth's best. Her latest novel EARTH'S THE RIGHT PLACE FOR LOVE revisits Arthur as a young man. In this story Arthur Moses is 85 years old and lives alone. Everyday he tends to his rose garden and takes care of his cat Gordon. He rides the bus to the cemetery to have lunch with his beloved late wife Nola. It's a simple life. It's a quiet life. Until teenager Maddy Harris visits the cemetery to skip school. Somehow she and Arthur make friends. And Maddy begins calling him Truluv. Into this pairing comes Lucille, Arthur's lonely neighbor. The trio bands together and, through heartache and hardships, help one another rediscover their own potential to start anew. Author Fannie Flagg says, "Elizabeth Berg's characters jump right off the page and into your heart. I dare you to read this novel and not fall in love with Arthur Truluv. His story will make you laugh and cry, and will show you love that never ends, and what it means to be truly human." Author Richard Russo says, "I don't know if I've ever read a more affecting book about the natural affinity between the young and the elderly than Elizabeth Berg's THE STORY OF ARTHUR TRULUV. It makes the rest of us---strivers and preeners and malcontents---seem almost irrelevant."
by Terry Kay

Originally published in 1990, this magical novel is about love and grief. When Sam Peek's wife, Cora, of fifty seven years dies, his children begin worrying about him. How can he live alone on his farm? How can he drive his dilapidated truck to his fields to check on his pecan trees? But when Sam begins seeing a white dog on his property, it seems to be invisible to his children. They believe old age has taken its toll on him... Sam loves the white dog, feeds her and cares for her. But she always disappears when his children come to visit. Is the dog real or is it a product of Sam's loneliness?  Author Pat Conroy called the novel, "heartbreaking and memorable...TO DANCE WITH THE WHITE DOG is a sensitive portrait...Kay give us his old man --Sam Peek--with such clarity and familiarity that the story doesn't belong wholly to him, but to us, as well, and that is what writing is supposed to accomplish." The New York Times Book Review called the book, "Memorable...Terry Kay has created a tender and bracing tale...a deftly shaped and vivid book." A Hallmark Hall of Fame movie was made from the book starring Hume Cronyn as Sam and Jessica Tandy as Cora. I checked it out from my library. I suggest you read the book first and then watch the film. You won't be disappointed.  
BOOKS & COMPANY BOOK GROUPS
Open to the Public
Wednesday, April 19th*
1:00 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
by Brendan Slocumb
Registration required-
limited seating available
*note date change


Wednesday, May 24th
1:00 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
by Kathleen Rooney
Registration required-
limited seating available
LINK TO COME
Tuesday, April 25th
4:00 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
by Jean Hanff Korelitz



Tuesday, May 23rd
4:00 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
by Paraic O'Donnell



No registration required for Mystery book group meetings.
Wednesday, April 19th
6:30 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
by Carolyn Tara O'Neil


Wednesday, May 17th
6:00 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
by Elizabeth Wein


No registration required for PRADAS book group meetings.
Thursday, April 20th
6:00 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
by Susanne Pari


Thursday, May 18th
6:00 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
by Sosuke Natsukawa
link to come

Please register so we have a headcount for seating!
UPCOMING EVENTS!
Readings from Oconomowaukee

J. RYAN STRADAL

In Conversation with
Daniel Goldin, Lisa Baudoin,
and author Amy E. Reichert


Wednesday, April 26th
2:00 p.m.
Books & Company
Join us for lovely in person Readings From Oconomowaukee featuring author J. Ryan Stradal in conversation with author Amy E. Reichert for Stradal's new novel Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club- a story of a couple from two very different restaurant families in rustic Minnesota, and the legacy of love and tragedy, of hardship and hope, that unites and divides them.
 
 
BOSWELL BOOK COMPANY IS HOSTING AN EVENT WITH J. RYAN STRADAL AT 6:30 PM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26 AT BOSWELL BOOK COMPANY- CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THAT EVENT 


Readings from Oconomowaukee

Holly Goldberg Sloan

In Conversation with
Daniel Goldin and
Lisa Baudoin,


Wednesday, May 24th
2:00 p.m.
Via Zoom
Readings from Oconomowaukee presents an afternoon with Holly Goldberg Sloan, author of Pieces of Blue- a compelling and heartfelt novel for fans of Maria Semple and Emma Straub about a family trying to restore a ramshackle beachside motel--and their own lives. In conversation with Lisa Baudoin of Books & Company and Daniel Goldin of Boswell.