2011.08.22 Meeting Notes

First of all, I want to welcome two new members to the group this month: Stacey and Raj. It was great to have you join us and we hope to see you again next month.
I also have to tell you that when I saw Terri the librarian out in the main area after the meeting, she commented that we must have had a fun meeting. Translation: we were loud. But I think we did have a fun meeting. At least it really was us making all the noise. I remember a time last year when a librarian told me that they heard a lot of noise coming from the meeting room and another said - oh, is the mystery book club meeting tonight? The worst part was - we WEREN'T. Yep, we're not the only ones.
I accredit most of the noise and fun to the fact that we were really split in opinion on the book. I think the meetings where everyone loves the book tend have the least amount of discussion. When that happens it's great that we got to read a good book, but people rarely want to go into depth about that. When we don't like a book (especially if we REALLY don't) I find that we want to pick it apart and point out all the things we hated. This makes for a great discussion and that's why I really enjoyed talking about Dark of the Moon by John Sandford.
We had a score of less than 1 on a scale of 1-10 and then we had some 8s. It was largely a love it or hate it book, but we did have some middle of the roads who just thought it was mildly entertaining. Some members are followers of Sandford and his Prey books, featuring Davenport, and have gone on to follow Virgil Flowers too. These people really liked Dark of the Moon, which would seem to follow. Maybe it helps to follow the writer and his characters and be invested in their lives. We definitely agreed that we got to know the characters in the book. Many people liked Virgil's character and personality, and no one seemed to particularly hate any of the other characters.
We had a comment about the sex scenes in the book, not something we usually discuss because most of the mysteries we read don't seem to contain a lot of sex. One member thought that the writing told a little too much. See, we had a lot to talk about with this book.
Here's a question to ponder and discuss at the next meeting: If you follow an author in a series, are you more willing to forgive a not-so-great book and keep reading? Or do you quit the author when a bad one comes out and never look back?
I think that's about all. If you missed the meeting, you missed a fun discussion. I've only got one lesson from this book, but I think it's enough:
Don't trust anyone with a moon tattoo!
Next month we will meet on Monday, Sept. 26th to discuss Michael Connolly's Lincoln Lawyer. David will be leading AND providing snacks. If you remember the knife cake, you are as excited as I am for the snack. No pressure, though, David.
We will also vote on which movie we choose for a movie night later in the year. It's between The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and The Lincoln Lawyer.
Kerry