Hello Spirits. Dag where did the summer go? I mean its still as hot as George Kellogg's bones inside the giant, boiling vat of butter he got chucked into, but I'm not really referring to the weather. I mean since Chief and Boss are back in school, vacations are complete, I'm transitioning into making fall beers, and we're currently about 23 minutes from September, it feels to me like the immaculate summer wave I've been surfing has just crashed me onto the beach, completely unsympathetic to freshly open wounds filled with sand and shell fragments. After reading all the books from book club, that was my poor attempt at superb metaphorical prose. I'll be a writer one day Spirits, mark my words. Riiiiiiight.
"Who we talking about??" There was your movie quote, from Chicken Little. Chicken Little himself says that a couple times while confused, which seems rather appropriate for me since I spend a considerable amount of my time confused also.
Ok, let's get down to business...."to defeat... the huns!" There's a two-for for you all!! Two quotes in one blog, that one from Mulan. I am on fire today :-)
Okay, enough tom-foolery: to business, "You'll love Biz niss." Sorry, I just can't stop myself, that one was from Muppet Christmas Carol. The big, blue, serious, business bird said that. I've slapped myself on the wrist and now ready for......
Old Business:
"Shirts - Praise to Baron" I accept your praise spirits and any gifts that may follow...... :\ Yes, we now have club shirts folks! I think they turned out fairly well. I acknowledge that we decided on gray and I actually ordered white, but if you just sprinkle some charcoal in your eyes, squint and look at them at dusk, they will look pretty close to gray. We discussed the major cost difference between ordering white or any other color, so I made an executive decision to go with white. Of course, President Deuce may send the thought police in to haul me off to the Ministry of Love for some reconditioning. My greatest fear is not spiders, I promise.
Or maybe Deuce won't call in the thought police, because this meeting was uncommonly cordial and gracious. I don't think there were any chastisements if you can believe that! Maybe no one had the heart to tell me the shirts were slightly too transparent or my spinach dip looked and tasted more like something that rock guy from the Neverending Story would have enjoyed. So basically, it boils down to pity! The Spirits just couldn't bare to break me down anymore. Well I appreciate it Spirits, regardless of your motivation.
Indy agreed to swap out dates with JB and Cat for hosting the meetings. So the September meeting (September 11th to be exact) will be at JB and Cat's Mountain Retreat. I really hope I got that name right. For some reason I forget everyone's home names every single time! Even mine. Its pitiful I know. I have the memory of a jellyfish. Who we talking about? So Indy now hosts the October meeting at the Lodge.... is possibly its name.
Boss read THE PIGEON NEEDS A BATH which I personally found very entertaining. Those are a pretty good series of books, and Boss and Chief have always enjoyed them.
Confession time: As you all know, my soul is as pristine as an angel. I drink up whatever evil I see in this world and spew out virtue and goodness in return. I am a bad liar. The confession is that I read ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell. Yes its true. I feel like I just ended my grace period of no chastisements. I can't help it, I really like these dystopian, philosophical, political fictions. Perhaps I drink up the virtue and spew out evil. Sometimes I get them mixed up.
New Business:
20th Bookiversary!! Remember when I changed the blog theme and made you wait until the August post? Well here is the big reveal: Our next book ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is the 20th book the club has read! Cool right? I haven't been around for all 20 but all you original Novel Spirit veterans can toast a drink with pride tonight. And every one of the next 20 nights too, why not? We should celebrate. I have an idea: let's all get together, make good food, drink good wine and just have a good time? I like it. I think its a good idea. I am considering bringing a piniata to the next meeting but that might not be very polite to our hosts. But how fun would that be right?
And Archimedes found a very cool article that I linked below. Here's a hint: reading is good for our health!!
Read more, live longer
BTW, I've got a new batch of Kolsch beer aging in the bottles. I'll bring some to any beer lovers in the group.....(crickets chirping)
Have a good night Spirits, looking forward to our next meeting
Baron
Thursday, September 1, 2016
KING'S MOUNTAIN BOOK DISCUSSION
With this month's book we returned to a recurring theme in the Spirit's selection - a book with a local setting. The locations in King's Mountain spanned from Sycamore Shoals in Elizabethton, Tennessee to Abingdon, Virginia to the northwestern part of South Carolina. It really adds another layer of interest to the book to know the area the author is describing. And in this instance, we all got a little bit of a local history lesson. I have been amazed by how many local events surrounding the "overmountain men" and the march to the Battle of King's Mountain I have noticed since we read the book.
JB, who chose King's Mountain, noted that the battleground site at King's Mountain was worth a visit. He visited the site recently with his mom and sister, who has been doing some family history research. JB chose this book and author because of the in depth research of local history and lore the author conducts for each of her books. He highly recommended some of her other books, which are also set in the local area.
One of the things we liked best about the book was its nuanced presentation of characters. Particularly in "war" books, authors have a tendency to present characters on one side of the conflict as good and noble while presenting characters on the other as evil. Real life just isn't like that. I believe Deuce made the observation that it was easy to sympathize with characters in the book, like Virginia Sal, who were just trying to do what they could do survive the war, or others who felt loyalty to the crown. The characters were all believable and relatable characters. There were "rascals" and "heroes" on both sides.
A discussion ensued comparing the Battle of King's Mountain to Pickett's charge. I'm sure many good and thoughtful points were made, but somehow they didn't make it into my notes. Relatedly, we sorely missed Diesel's presence at the August meeting. What can I say, Spirits, battle strategy is not my jam.
One character that had many of the Spirits scratching their heads was Virginia Paul. I think she was a vehicle for tying in some of the local lore about banshees, but it was a little vague. Was she a banshee? Was she the same girl that young Ferguson met in the graveyard at the beginning of the book? I guess it is up to us to reach our own conclusions. Another somewhat supernatural element was the foreshadowing of the fates of Sevier and Ferguson.
We also contemplated whether the war would have turned out differently if Ferguson had taken the opportunity to shoot George Washington in the woods. The consensus was that it probably would have, simply because he was a unique person in a unique time.
There was also consensus that the hangings after the battle were completely arbitrary and offensive to the notion of justice. I will stop myself here or your eyes will glaze over as I launch into a legal diatribe. I will save it for the legal brief that I'll be working on all day tomorrow. :)
I think this may have been our highest rated book since Huck Finn! The lowest rating anyone gave it was 4 stars and it even garnered the ever allusive 5 star rating from Indy! And we know that Spirits don't dole out 5's willy nilly.
I am still working on All the Light We Cannnot See (so no spoilers!), but I can tell it will be a "spirited" discussion. Get it?? "Spirited"?? HAHAHAHAHAH, I crack myself up. On that corny note, I will bid you a fond adieu. See you soon!!
JB, who chose King's Mountain, noted that the battleground site at King's Mountain was worth a visit. He visited the site recently with his mom and sister, who has been doing some family history research. JB chose this book and author because of the in depth research of local history and lore the author conducts for each of her books. He highly recommended some of her other books, which are also set in the local area.
One of the things we liked best about the book was its nuanced presentation of characters. Particularly in "war" books, authors have a tendency to present characters on one side of the conflict as good and noble while presenting characters on the other as evil. Real life just isn't like that. I believe Deuce made the observation that it was easy to sympathize with characters in the book, like Virginia Sal, who were just trying to do what they could do survive the war, or others who felt loyalty to the crown. The characters were all believable and relatable characters. There were "rascals" and "heroes" on both sides.
A discussion ensued comparing the Battle of King's Mountain to Pickett's charge. I'm sure many good and thoughtful points were made, but somehow they didn't make it into my notes. Relatedly, we sorely missed Diesel's presence at the August meeting. What can I say, Spirits, battle strategy is not my jam.
One character that had many of the Spirits scratching their heads was Virginia Paul. I think she was a vehicle for tying in some of the local lore about banshees, but it was a little vague. Was she a banshee? Was she the same girl that young Ferguson met in the graveyard at the beginning of the book? I guess it is up to us to reach our own conclusions. Another somewhat supernatural element was the foreshadowing of the fates of Sevier and Ferguson.
We also contemplated whether the war would have turned out differently if Ferguson had taken the opportunity to shoot George Washington in the woods. The consensus was that it probably would have, simply because he was a unique person in a unique time.
There was also consensus that the hangings after the battle were completely arbitrary and offensive to the notion of justice. I will stop myself here or your eyes will glaze over as I launch into a legal diatribe. I will save it for the legal brief that I'll be working on all day tomorrow. :)
I think this may have been our highest rated book since Huck Finn! The lowest rating anyone gave it was 4 stars and it even garnered the ever allusive 5 star rating from Indy! And we know that Spirits don't dole out 5's willy nilly.
I am still working on All the Light We Cannnot See (so no spoilers!), but I can tell it will be a "spirited" discussion. Get it?? "Spirited"?? HAHAHAHAHAH, I crack myself up. On that corny note, I will bid you a fond adieu. See you soon!!
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