Here is this month's guest post from Jeff Kamin of Minneapolis' Books & Bars book club, which is run in conjunction with Magers & Quinn Booksellers. It was so great to visit Magers & Quinn last month, browse around the store (which is great and has so many awesome nooks and crannies) and to meet Jeff in person at last. This discussion of The Time Traveler's Wife makes me more determined than ever to ban blackberries and cell phones from certain parts of our family time every day so that we can be present in our lives. A new leaf shall be turned when school begins! (It also whets my appetite for Niffenegger's new novel, Her Fearful Symmetry, coming on September 29th).
Books & Bars enjoyed its biggest audience yet with 140 people in attendance to discuss Audrey Niffenegger’s smash hit, The Time Traveler’s Wife. We were fortunate to be invited to a larger venue, an art gallery named The Soap Factory. Our book club was part of an exhibit called Common Room based on large social gatherings. We made paper sculptures like the character Clare did in the novel and filled out card catalog info with blurbs, soundtrack suggestions and more related to Henry’s character.
Our discussion dealt with free will vs. fate and the metaphor of time travel. We felt the theme of the story was how lovers are not always in sync or even in the same place and time, but we should strive to be here now. Be present in the moment, as it is all we really have for certain. Most of really enjoyed the book and more than a few had read it twice. (The movie is not so good, though. Imagine a flip book Cliffs Notes version of the book.)
Join Books & Bars’ Facebook group to see more photos of our event if interested.
Next month we read a lost classic, The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy.
Check our website for our list of upcoming possible selections. Feel free to make a recommendation.
Thanks,
Jeff Kamin, Moderator -Books & Bars
