It all started, of course, with Darius:

We’re a smart bunch of guys, pretty well read, some judges, doctors, architects, journalists, businessmen. And if you asked us as a group if we understood Iran we’d have to admit we’re clueless. Not to say that we don’t have theories. A strong contingent thinks the exploitation of Iran in the colonial era has a lot to do with it. Another contingent looks at the Shia influence — a victim psychology that rivals the Jews’. With my Irish anti-clericalism, I think that this nuttiness is what happens after two millenia of theocracy.

But during our discussion this past week, the most common look on our faces was one of complete befuddlement.  All of this knowledge didn’t seem to help us get a good insight into this complicated, infuriating, foreign country. It’s hard for me to admit, but maybe all wisdom can’t be found in the written word. I’m going to propose that we become the middle-aged  white guys travel club.

In spiritual books, I especially liked Who Ordered this Truckload of Dung by Ajahn Brahm. Mystery winners are Colin Cotterill  and Andrea Camilleri. I notice that I ‘ve read a lot of books about food and cooking, the years best is 97 Orchard by Jane Ziegelman. From the book club, my favorite was Justinian’s Flea, by William Rosen, which shows that a not great book often makes the best book club book.

Biggest time waster and example of addicted reading behavior — Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin. I can’t believe  I read all five.

I suspect that if I lived in times past, I wouldn’t be sitting at the high table with the nobles, but more likely would be sitting outside in the rain holding the horses, and those are the historical facts that I’m interested in. You’re not likely to get much insight about the poor fellow holding the horses in the great surveys of historical periods, but  you get more in good historical fiction.The downside, is that often writers of historical fiction don’t do their research very well, and you find the book full of  modern words or thoughts.  I gave up on Mary Doria Russell’s Doc for just that reason. Patrick  O’Brien, on the other hand, gives us an almost perfect note in this regard.

So my Christmas wish is for more writers who are interested in good historical fiction.

On patriotism, Maturin, in Patrick O’Brian’s series, says it best — something along the line that patriotism either means ‘my country, right or wrong” which is immoral, or ‘my country is always right’ which is stupid. OBrian uses the word ‘otiose’ which I especially like.

On military service , de Hartog says”

“… to volunteer for military training is to sign a pact with violence, and to hand the ultimate moral decision – to kill or not to kill – over to a faceless committee of men, who, by their very training and indoctrination consider genocide a legitimate means of settling human disputes.”

nuf said.

 No other immigrant arrived in the United States with a culinary tradition as skeletal as the Irish.

I’m glad my ancestors left.

First, I sometimes think that left to my own devices, I’d only read mystery stories and non-fiction books about catastrophes and epidemics. This club has led me to read a wide variety of history, and lots that would have never picked up on my own. Our current fascination with reconstruction is a good example. We started with the Civil War, then went to the Marshall Plan.I had no interest in either and found the books interesting and educational. Now I know a whole lot about Germany in 1945 (you wouldn’t want to be there) and have some inkling about how people rebound from disasters. I’m looking forward to this summer when we read Embracing Defeat, a Pulitzer prize-winning account of Japan’s reconstruction.

Our club is not very diverse — when we read Malcolm X we called ourselves the ‘white devils’ book club. We’ve added an African-American, adding a good voice to our discussion.  Middle aged, middle class and pretty liberal. Well actually ranging from lefty to middle of the road liberal. Enough to give Michelle Bachman heartburn. A couple of businessmen, a retired journalist, three architects and an academic, and now a couple of MDs. All intelligent, interesting and well spoken.  We don’t spend a lot of time on food, but there’s always snacks, sometimes related to the books we’re reading.

I’m personally more interested in Natural History, ecology, and the history of science and medicine then some of the other members. Their interests tend more towards political history, although this month I had a surprising revelation that one of the guys was fascinated by WWII. Good years included the year we read Gerald Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel and spent the rest of the year reading out of that book’s bibliography. I was a lot less interested in the years spend on election politics, with the notable exception of learning about Lyndon Johnson from Robert Caro. (footnote, if Caro dies before he finishes the 4th volume of that biography, I’ll dig him up and kill him all over again.)

No summary here, just a note to self to get that list posted.

I haven’t read a lot of what he likes, but I was pleased that he liked the Raj Quartet. More importantly, I agree with is conclusion, one should read for enjoyment. I was referred to this article by my personal hero, Nancy Pearl, librarian extraordinaire.

On another note, I’ve been  working on my 100 best , and am now up to about 5.