2012.04.23 Meeting Notes

I will start with the books we’ve chose for the second half of the year, our upcoming reading list is below. Also, note the change below to the regular meeting day for May.
*NOTE* The May meeting will be on TUESDAY, May 29th due to Memorial Day. We will discuss Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay. The meeting is still at the library at 6:30pm.
* June 25: The Snowman by Joe Nesbo (Meeting at Lorraine’s House)
* July 23: The Last Child by John Hart (Meeting at David’s House)
* Aug. 27: The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman (possibly meeting at Kim’s House)
* Sept. 24: The Watchman by Robert Crais
* Oct. 22: The Night Season by Chelsea Cain
* Nov. 26: Force of Nature by CJ Box
* Dec. 17: The Reversal by Michael Connelly
I will pass around a sign up sheet next month for volunteer leaders and snack makers.
You’ll notice that 3 of the upcoming meetings are offsite this summer due to the library’s scheduling conflict (we see how we rate, don’t we?). We will provide addresses and/or directions at the meeting the month before and I will repeat them in my monthly reminder email. Also note, the December party is the third Monday, not the 4th.
OK, that’s all of the upcoming information you should need. Now on to the April meeting where we discussed Heat Lightning by John Sandford. We kind of had a general consensus on the book, which wasn’t favorable, but then there were a few mixed reviews. You’ll understand what I mean when you read on.
Our rating scale had quite a range, with a low of 1 out of 10 and a high of 7.5 out of 10. This book was kind of weird, I think we had a lot of people who really wanted to like it, but just couldn’t. Many said that they like Virgil, and John Sandford, but didn’t like the book. It’s very clear that love of a character and/or author cannot carry the entire book and make it a pleasant reading experience. With that said, I didn’t hear anyone say they threw it across the room or wish they could get the 4 hours of their life that they spent reading the book back. So there is that.
Now let’s recap: as stated above, the good reviews generally stemmed from our interest in Virgil, but a handful of people did enjoy the plot and the action. Some comments were that it was a good story, people liked the twists (such as finding out Mai wasn’t who we thought she was) and the Vietnam background was interesting. Dave made a good point when he said that it was more of a dud book in a good series. (Those are of course my own words, rather than a direct quote. I can’t remember what I had for lunch today, let alone a direct quote from Dave, but I think I’m close.)
So that leads us to the bad reviews. Again, even some of the bad reviews had a disclaimer that the reader still liked Virgil. I think the main complaint was the end of the book. It dragged on and didn’t wrap up as quickly and cleanly as we would have liked. Some enjoyed the Homeland Security guys getting what was coming to them and some thought it unrealistic. The whole attempted takedown of the assassins and the crossing into Canada part dragged on for a lot of people and took away from their enjoyment. Others thought Mai’s phone call was unnecessary.
Most people are Flowered out for the time being (not to be confused with being Daisy’d), which is why Sandford’s 3rd installment wasn’t voted in. We discussed trying it next year if the library still has enough copies. I made the suggestion that rather than subject to torture those members who aren’t keen on reading another, we read it on our own and plan an evening at Starbucks to discuss it. Only those who want to read and discuss (or who are just caffeine addicts) need attend. I think I fall into both those categories, so I would be interested. Let me know what you think about that, email me if you’re interested and we’ll go from there.
So I guess it’s so long Virgil. Even though we won’t necessarily meet again soon, we will occasionally think about that F@*&$% Flowers when we see a tall guy with a ponytail, or a t-shirt with a strange saying on it. Therefore, I guess it’s not goodbye, but au revoir.
Kerry