2017 begins with a 'page-turner'

When: January 27 at 7:30pm
Where: Helen
Book: The Pure Land
Author: Alan Spence

From Amazon.co.uk:

"The year is 1858. Thomas Glover is a gutsy eighteen-year-old who grasps the chance of escape to foreign lands and takes a posting as a trader in Japan. Within ten years he amasses a great fortune, learns the ways of the samurai, and, on the other side of the law, brings about the overthrow of the Shogun. Yet beneath Glover's astonishing success lies a man cut to the heart. His love affair with a courtesan - a woman who, unknown to him, would bear him the son for which he had always longed - would form a tragedy so dramatic as to be immortalised in the stories behind Madame Butterfly and Miss Saigon.

The Pure Land relives in fiction the arc of Glover's true-life rise and fall, and forges a hundred-year saga that culminates in the annihilation of Nagasaki in 1945."

A book about resilience, grit and finding hope

When: Nov 25 at 7:30pm
Where: Cristina's
Book: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Author: James Brown

‘The Boys in the Boat is not only a great and inspiring true story; it is a fascinating work of history’ Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea 

‘I really can't rave enough about this book . . . I read the last fifty pages with white knuckles, and the last twenty-five with tears in my eyes’ David Laskin, author of The Children's Blizzard and The Long Way Home 

‘A thrilling, heart-thumping tale of a most remarkable band of rowing brothers’ Timothy Egan, author of The Worst Hard Time

From Goodreads:

"For readers of Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit and Unbroken, the dramatic story of the American rowing team that stunned the world at Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics
Daniel James Brown’s robust book tells the story of the University of Washington’s 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.
The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled  by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious team. They remind the country of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together—a perfect melding of commitment, determination, and optimism.
Drawing on the boys’ own diaries and journals, their photos and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, The Boys in the Boat is an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate story of nine working-class boys from the American west who, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what true grit really meant. It will appeal to readers of Erik Larson, Timothy Egan, James Bradley, and David Halberstam's The Amateurs."

October book will get your thinking about your body

When: October 28th, 2016 at 7:30pm
Where: Eva's
Book: Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ 
Author: Giulia Enders

A New York Times Bestseller

"A cheeky up-close and personal guide to the secrets and science of our digestive system

For too long, the gut has been the body’s most ignored and least appreciated organ, but it turns out that it’s responsible for more than just dirty work: our gut is at the core of who we are. Gut: The Inside Story of our Body's Most Underrated Organ gives the alimentary canal its long-overdue moment in the spotlight. With quirky charm, rising science star Giulia Enders explains the gut’s magic, answering questions like: Why does acid reflux happen? What’s really up with gluten and lactose intolerance? How does the gut affect obesity and mood? Communication between the gut and the brain is one of the fastest-growing areas of medical research—on par with stem-cell research. Our gut reactions, we learn, are intimately connected with our physical and mental well-being. Aided with cheerful illustrations by Enders’s sister Jill, this beguiling manifesto will make you finally listen to those butterflies in your stomach: they’re trying to tell you something important."

-- Amazon

"Enders’s wonder at the strange ways of the gut is matched only by her incredulity at the limited public knowledge on the subject." —The New York Times

"With a great sense of humor and ample enthusiasm, Enders explains everything readers did and didn’t want to know about their innards ... this book defies boring."—Publishers Weekly

"This primer is everything you ever wanted to know about the gut (and then some), chattily and accessibly written in a uniquely Millennial and matter of fact way. An unexpected page turner. ...Her excitement about the subject matter is infectious. The fun yet informative black and white drawings throughout are her sister’s handiwork. Refreshingly devoid of recipes, or any self help-y language." —Self Magazine

September book focuses on New Zealand

When: September 30th, 2016 at 7:30pm
Where: Ruth's
Book: The Whale Rider
Author: Witi Ihimaera

Summary from Good Reads:

"Eight-year-old Kahu, a member of the Maori tribe of Whangara, New Zealand, fights to prove her love, her leadership, and her destiny. Her people claim descent from Kahutia Te Rangi, the legendary "whale rider." In every generation since Kahutia, a male heir has inherited the title of chief. But now there is no male heir, and the aging chief is desperate to find a successor. Kahu is his only great-grandchild--and Maori tradition has no use for a girl. But when hundreds of whales beach themselves and threaten the future of the Maori tribe, it is Kahu who saves the tribe when she reveals that she has the whale rider's ancient gift of communicating with whales."

End of August novel focuses on fate

When: August 26th, 2016 at 7:30pm

Where: Kay's

Here's a review in the New York Times SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW

Assisted Living
‘The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving,’ by Jonathan Evison

By JENNIFER GILMORE

“Failure makes me hungry,” Ben Benjamin says in “The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving,” Jonathan Evison’s third novel. Ben responds to defeat with a Mr. Goodbar and a bag of chips, which is just part of what makes his funny and relatable voice the linchpin of this engaging book.

Ben is a broken man who has lost everything. When a freak accident took his children several years earlier — and until the end we aren’t told exactly what happened, other than that Ben was there and it was outrageously hideous — he lost his job as a stay-at-home dad too. The Ben Benjamin we meet now is tentative at love, comically eluding his  (continued here)

Author of June's book: 'best author of our time'

When: June 24th, 2016 at 7:30pm
Where: Lucy’s

“Ferrante’s novels are intensely, violently personal, and because of this they seem to dangle bristling key chains of confession before the unsuspecting reader.” —James Wood, The New Yorker

“Elena Ferrante may be the best contemporary novelist you’ve never heard of”— The Economist

“Ferrante’s freshness has nothing to do with fashion…it is imbued with the most haunting music of all, the echoes of literary history.” —The New York Times Book Review

Here’s the blurb from Amazon:

"A modern masterpiece from one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship.
The story begins in the 1950s, in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her protagonists, the unforgettable Elena and Lila.

Ferrante is the author of three previous works of critically acclaimed fiction: The Days of Abandonment, Troubling Love, and The Lost Daughter. With this novel, the first in a tetralogy, she proves herself to be one of Italy’s great storytellers. She has given her readers a masterfully plotted page-turner, abundant and generous in its narrative details and characterizations, that is also a stylish work of literary fiction destined to delight her many fans and win new readers to her fiction."

May meeting focuses on relationships

When: May 27, 2016
Where: Diana's

“The Truth is fantastic...In the course of exorcising his pickup artist demons, Strauss learns and exposes the barriers to intimacy that so many of us are carrying around. If you’ve struggled with monogamy, or loved someone who has, this book is revelatory.” (Chicago Tribune)

Here's the blurb from Amazon.com:

"This is not a journey that was undertaken for journalistic purposes. It is a painfully honest account of a life crisis that was forced on me by my own behavior and its consequences.

"As such, it requires sharing a lot of things I'm not proud of—and a few things I feel like I should regret a whole lot more than I actually do. Because, unfortunately, I am not the hero in this tale. I am the villain."

So begins Neil Strauss's long-awaited follow-up to The Game, the funny and slyly instructive work of immersive journalism that jump-started the international "seduction community" and made Strauss a household name—revered or notorious—among single men and women alike.

In The Truth, Strauss takes on his greatest challenge yet: Relationships. And in this wild and highly entertaining ride, he explores the questions that men and women are asking themselves every day:

• Is it natural to be faithful to one person for life?

• Do alternatives to monogamy lead to better relationships and greater happiness?

• What draws us to the partners we choose?

• Can we keep passion and romance from fading over time?

His quest for answers takes him from Viagra-laden free-love orgies to sex addiction clinics, from cutting-edge science labs to modern-day harems, and, most terrifying of all, to his own mother.

What he discovered changed everything he knew about love, sex, relationships, and, ultimately, himself.

Searingly honest and compulsively readable, The Truth just may have the same effect on you.

If The Game taught you how to meet members of the opposite sex, The Truth will teach you how to keep them."

Next meeting April 15th focus on Patty Smith's memoir

When: April 15, 2016
Where: Vicky's

Here's what Amazon.com says about this book:

"In Just Kids, Patti Smith’s first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal days of New York Cityand the Chelsea Hotel in the late sixties and seventies.  An honest and moving story of youth and friendship, Smith brings the same unique, lyrical quality to Just Kids as she has to the rest of her formidable body of work—from her influential 1975 album Horses to her visual art and poetry."


Click here for link to Amazon.com's page.

*** DON'T forget that our next meeting is two weeks earlier than usual due to holiday conflicts.

March 18th meeting focuses on New York Times bestselling novel

When: March 18, 2016
Where: Kevin's

Here's what Amazon says about it:

"A New York Times #1 Bestseller

A New York Times and Washington Post notable book, and one of the Financial Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Slate, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, and BookPage's best books of the year

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is the long-awaited new novel—a book that sold more than a million copies the first week it went on sale in Japan—from the award-winning, internationally best-selling author Haruki Murakami. 

Here he gives us the remarkable story of Tsukuru Tazaki, a young man haunted by a great loss; of dreams and nightmares that have unintended consequences for the world around us; and of a journey into the past that is necessary to mend the present. It is a story of love, friendship, and heartbreak for the ages."

Click here for Amazon.com.

February Meeting book: This House is Haunted by John Boyne

Next Meeting: February 26, 7:30pm
Place: Barbara's

Here's what Amazon has to say about it:

"Written in Dickensian prose, This House Is Haunted is a striking homage to the classic nineteenth-century ghost story. Set in Norfolk in 1867, Eliza Caine responds to an ad for a governess position at Gaudlin Hall. When she arrives at the hall, shaken by an unsettling disturbance that occurred during her travels, she is greeted by the two children now in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There is no adult present to represent her mysterious employer, and the children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, another terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong.
 
From the moment Eliza rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence that lives within Gaudlin’s walls. Eliza realizes that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall’s long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past. Clever, captivating, and witty, This House Is Haunted is pure entertainment with a catch."

January Meeting: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Next Meeting: January 29, 7:30pm
Place: La Soldanelle, Chateau d'Oex (Maya)

The following review was taken from Simon and Schuster:

"Read the New York Times bestseller that has taken the world by storm!

In this “charming debut” (People) from one of Sweden’s most successful authors, a grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.

A feel-good story in the spirit of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Fredrik Backman’s novel about the angry old man next door is a thoughtful exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others. “If there was an award for ‘Most Charming Book of the Year,’ this first novel by a Swedish blogger-turned-overnight-sensation would win hands down” (Booklist, starred review). - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/A-Man-Called-Ove/Fredrik-Backman/9781476738024#sthash.xK4pQU4j.dpuf"

Members vote to move meetings to Fridays

As of January 1st, 2016, Gstaad Mountain Readers monthly meetings will occur on Fridays instead of Wednesdays. This was decided by email vote in November.