2011.03.28 Meeting Notes

Rumors of Jack Reacher's demise have been greatly exaggerated! That was our conclusion at the March meeting. Apparently, Lee Child has a book out after 61 Hours and our favorite ex-military hunk appears in it. Phew! Now we just have to see what crazy explanation he has to show how he survived the explosion. I'm thinking we'll have to do our usual suspension of reality in order to swallow it. If he doesn't go to see that woman in Virginia, though, I'm going to be mad.
Great meeting last week. Kryss did an excellent job of leading and I especially liked her way of quizzing us for Lee Child/Jack Reacher info and giving out candy for correct answers! She also came up with some good questions, which she had to do on her own because Lee doesn't create discussion questions for his books. We didn't take a poll, but it seemed that most of us liked the book. Jennifer even took a copy to read after the fact (since she didn't get a chance before the meeting) so we must have talked it up.
We had a good discussion of the book and I seemed to be one of the few who took the red herring and ran with it up until it became impossible that he was the bad guy. I'm easily fooled, so that's my only excuse. There were a few Daisy moments. For me it was when Jack, instead of the chief, went to inform Peterson's wife that he was dead. Others seemed to think that was plausible, but I smelled Daisy all over that one. Dave found a Daisy too, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. Dave, you'll have to remind us.
Did you ever have a professor or teacher who would mention a question during class that was going to be on the test, just so that the people who showed up to class got it right and no one else did? Well, I am going to see how many of you actually read my babbling summary emails. I think a great Christmas Quiz question for this book might be "what is Jack's favorite book?"
It was interesting to discuss the military's actual use of drugs during war time. The orphanage bunker was a little Lord of the Flies, but I wouldn't have put it past our government to build it and then abandon it. You'd think they'd destroy the drugs first, though wouldn't you?
Next month we will move from everyone's favorite ex-military hunk to everyone's favorite serial killer, male category, and discuss Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay. Dave will lead AND bring snacks. Go Dave.
We will be choosing books for the second half of the year at the May meeting, so please email me authors and/or book titles you're interested in and I will scout library availability.
I'll leave you with the following words of wisdom: If you ever come into contact with a South American drug lord and he happens to be under 5' tall, DO NOT make a short joke.
Kerry