The Whole World Over

June starts in Manitowish Waters with
The Whole World Over by Julia Glass.
Reading group questions can be found at
the Random House website. I think the
characters in the book were all very
realistic and liked the fact that they
took chances and changed their lives.

June was a good month for varied reading. The three books
chosen were so different with a modern novel about life,
love, and change starting the month followed by a
"coming-of-age thriller" set in what we think of as a
kinder, gentler time (Whistling in the Dark) and
ending the month with The Yiddish Policeman's Union,
a detective novel reminiscent of Raymond Chandler
set in a fictional Alaskan Jewish settlement.

Whistling in the Dark

Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kagen is the Boulder
Junction selection for June. You can read about
Leslie and her books at her website. Even though the
book is set in Milwaukee, those of us from other areas
can remember a time when we thought we could just
run all over the neighborhood without worry.

Ten-year old Sally O'Malley lives through the summer of 1959
worried that a child predator will go after her or her little sister,
Troo. With her entire family in crisis, she feels as if she's the one
responsible for their safety.

Yiddish Policeman's Union

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon is
the June choice for Winchester.  Later in the year, we'll
be discussing it at the Boulder Junction group.  After
a number of  unsuccessful attempts times to read 
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, I'm not
even sure why I picked up this book.  But -- I'm so glad
I did!  Reading it the second time around is even better.

Chabon takes a real proposal made during WWII -- to create a
temporary Jewish settlement in a portion of Alaska.  He writes the
book as if the settlement occurred, WWII turned out differently,
there is no state of Israel and "Reversion" -- turning the settlement
back into the control of the state of Alaska and forcing resettlement
of the Jewish population -- is only two months away.  

Meyer Landsman is a broken down, alcoholic, divorced police
detective who finds his neighbor's body, a man using the pseudonym
"Emanuel Lasker".  "Lasker", a heroin-addicted former chess prodigy,
has been murdered and he just may have been the Messiah.
Landsman has nothing to gain from following through on this 
case except redemption.

The other characters in the book including Berko, his cousin/partner;
Bina, his ex-wife/boss; and Dennis Brennan, the reporter who speaks
incredibly bad Yiddish, are so well-written you could pick them out
in a crowd.  The bad guys are truly bad and the good guys all have
problems.  

Throughout the entire book, I felt like I was living in a black and
white detective movie with Peter Lorre and Humphery Bogart.
The Coen brothers ("Fargo", "No Country for Old Men") have
purchased the movie rights so it's going to be interesting to see
how they handle the story.

June 18 -- During the book club, Holly mentioned an interview
with Michael Chabon on the Borders Book Club site.  Here's
the link.