My Book Club Met Last Week to Discuss Infidel

And, well, I missed the discussion part. I had a pre-school meeting the same night that I couldn't miss (having missed the last one due to extreme pregnancy). Thanks to Ellen for filling me in on the reaction to the book.

All of us liked Infidel and were quite impressed with Ayaan Hirsi Ali's journey -- spiritually, culturally, economically, linguistically -- from Somalia to Holland as a refugee (most notably the Paliament!) to America. We had a lot of discussion about the hopelessness and brutality of her family life. She takes a hard line on Islam and made us wonder whether a peaceful interpretation of the religion is possible. She doesn't believe so and thinks Islam is responsible for the enslavement of women, which makes it impossible for Muslim nations to flourish. I think this book enlightened a lot of us and was a nice departure from our usual choice of fiction!

Later on, once I'd gotten there, we got into a discussion of young adult books that our kids were enjoying and specifically, the Betsy-Tacy series. I had recommended the series to our host for her daughter and she told me how much they were enjoying them. Another member chimed in that her daughter also loved the books. They were thrilled to hear that the older books in the series, chronicling Betsy's high school years and beyond, will be reissued in Fall 2009. The books are currently out of print. Another member shared her love for the Noel Streatfeild books Ballet Shoes, Dancing Shoes, etc.

After that stroll down memory lane, we voted for our next book of course. The options were:

Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses
Bernhard Schlink's The Reader
Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger
Harry Bernstein's The Invisible Wall
J.R. Moehringer's The Tender Bar

Out Stealing Horses won, and I'm so glad as I've been wanting to read the book ever since Jeff Kamin's Books & Bars book club's discussion of the book last month.

Comments

[Lori Barnes]

I've got this on my wish list, heard alot of good reviews on it, can't wait to get a copy myself and am looking forward to what you say about it.

[Susan]

I read the Reader about 10 yrs. ago. Then our book club read it for this month. For a small book there is alot to discuss. illiteracy, holocaust, incest, German guilt after the holocaust. Really a good discussion. I don't know about the other books.