The Art of Fielding

Thanks to the Doctor for hosting a lovely BC!  We started off with two kinds of bruschetta topped with delishy tapenades, followed by pulled pork tinga street tacos with all the garnishess and a slightly Mexi salad, and a peppermint patty chocolate cake in honor of St. Patrick's Day.  Lish!

 
Normally El Jefe likes to linger a little longer over any discussion of tacos, however, there are special circumstances surrounding this month's book that require immediate attention.  The Art of Fielding, the fiction debut of author Chad Harbach, was one of the all-time highest scoring books in BC history with two 8's, two 9s, a 10, and two scores in between!  Said another way:  the lowest score this book got was an 8!  Almost unheard of since A Confederacy of Dunces back in 2003.  This newcomer of an author writes like an old pro.  Every character was lovingly conceived, each one's neediness and desperation revealed in a unique and poignant way.  And all so likable!  Schwartzy, jockish and determined on the outside, vulnerable as a kid on the inside.  Scrimmer, so talented and tragic!  Guert, the handsome and stately college president (think, Mit Romney hair) who falls head over heels for a gay freshman, Owen (aka Buddah), in what is somehow a sweet rather than creepy romance.  Even the rest of the team was lovable, with their macho locker room banter and disgusting college guy habits.  The only characters that rubbed people the wrong way were Pella, Guert's daughter and her ex-husband David.  Some thought Pella was a spoiled brat and pretty bitchy (although that reaction is probably just from siding with Schwartzy!).  The other critique was that the end of the story fell apart.  But El Jefe says, what's wrong with digging up a dead body and burying it in a lake?  And others actually found Owen's tribute to Guert out on the boat to be quite touching.  Of course, one of life's great unsolved mysteries will be whether Guert took his own life (insert gesture of tying noose around neck and head jerking sideways), or his ticker simply gave out.  We'll never know.  In sum, this story was a joy to read with something to like for everyone:  humor, drama, sports, romance, coming of age, tragedy and triumph.  No doubt a BC hall-of-famer alongside the likes of Life of Pi, Middlesex, and Infidel.

From the Shortstop Hall of Fame

Honus "the Flying Dutchman" Wagner, Louisville Colonels and Pittsburgh Pirates, 1897-1917

Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees, 1994 to present

Derek Jeter, New York Yankees, 1995 to present

Cal "Iron Man" Ripkin, Baltimore Orioles, 1981-2001

Luis "Little Louie" Aparicio, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox, 1956-1973

Oscar "R2D2" Mullen, Milwaukee Brewers, March 2012

Our next meeting is at the Foxx's house on Wednesday, April 4th.  El Jefe was on app duty but needs a sub, the Highlander is on dessert.  As it is Bisnonna's 89th birthday, El Jefe and the Doctor will not be able to make it.  So sorry to miss as we are diving headlong into the Hunger Games craze.  Take El Jefe's word for it:  just go straight for the trilogy box set, you won't regret it.  Until next time, you konw what to do... xoej

Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base

Oy vey, this tardiness by El Jefe is truly becoming unacceptable!  If there was an excuse for posting almost a month late, it would only be that El Jefe actually expected to finish the book one of these days and make an incredibly insightful remark about the ending.... but a no less heartfelt thanks to Ms. K for hosting a lovely summer's evening BC even while up to the elbows in a home renovation--and to Logan's Run for supplying an alternative venue!  You know we've been together a long time when we start swapping houses!

We started off the evening with zucchini keftedes with feta and dill, and a Greek yogurt dipping sauce, followed by a fusilli salad with garden vegetables and breast of chicken, mixed green salad, and chocolate chip cookies--all enjoyed alfresco in a candlelit atrium patio.  Dalish!

Zucchini Keftedes with Feta and Dill

Annie Jacobsen's Area 51:  An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base certainly was just that:  uncensored.  Clocking in at a whopping 544 pages, in hardcover, this book was anything but light summer reading.

"Area" matched its heavy-duty weight with a heavy-duty score:  8.5.  For those of you in attendance, this may come as a surprise, as you perhaps recalled the book hovering (pun intended) around 6 or 6.5.  However, El Jefe has taken the poetic (or whatever) license to retroactively rate this book to a 10!  You heard me right, Doctor, the mother of all grade inflations!  And that makes two 10s for the group, matched, if El Jefe's memory serves, only by the double-10 given to Zeitoun at the last holiday BC.

Redundant though it may be to say it, this work was truly an oeuvre.  Jacobsen covered, in exacting detail, the entire history of the "Black Ops" at Area 51 from the beginning of the Cold War to the present.  Not only did the book reveal information that the public had never before been exposed to, but it also raised questions about violence, morality, and the place of "America" in the world, both then and now.  The shit that went down at Area 51 was unreal, although unfortunately it does seem to have been real.  While the clandestine development and testing of spy planes is to be expected, what's amazing is the complete lack of governmental oversight--in some cases even the President did not have a "need to know."  Not sure that's such a good idea.  And what certainly is a downright bad idea is sending guys out with a Geiger counter to test radiation levels by hand with no protective clothing or vehicles.  Actually, the entire classified program of nuclear testing, from Operation Crossroads, to the atmospheric testing, to the underground testing, to the testing on animals, to the testing on fighter pilots, was (is?) sickening.  As many of us pointed out, if that was going on then, just think what's going on now. 

Well, that was not entirely a rhetorical point.  One of the things that is going on now is that the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (or "DARPA," as we know from the book) recently lost its latest and greatest aircraft:  the Falcon HTV-2.  This "hypersonic" aircraft was built to travel at 20 times the speed of sound, or 13,000 miles per hour (remember, the Oxcart traveled at 3 times the speed of sound, or "Mach 3").  The unmanned plane was supposed to be able to fly from Los Angeles to New York in 12 minutes.  However, up, up, and away....!  The $300 million aircraft went missing just minutes after its launch on August 11, when the ground crew "lost contact" with it.  The plane is believed to have crashed into the Pacific Ocean.  Losing a multi-multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art aircraft on a test flight?--that is so 1960's Pentagon!  C'est la vie.  Apparently we'll have to wait a bit longer to be able to strike rogue states anywhere in the world with nuclear weapons in under 60 minutes--the intended use for the Falcon HTV-2. 

Welcome to Area 51.

Operation Crossroads, 1946

Lockheed U-2 Spy Plane, 1957

 

Oxcart A12, 1964

 Falcon HTV-2, 2011... oops

Our next book (which, El Jefe trusts, everyone is well into by now) is In the Garden of Beasts, by Eric Larson (author of Devil in the White City--our March 2006 book!).  Until next time, which is right around the corner.  xoej 

Zeitoun

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Highlander for hosting our 8th annual Holiday BC!  What a gorgeous, elegant, and festive evening.  The house and the tables looked divine.  As someone remarked, "Wow, this is really a grown up's home!"  That's right:  who needs Mandy when we've got Moraga?  In El Jefe's humble opinion, it was our best holiday event yet.  Why not start every meeting sipping champagne, tucking into spinach artichoke dip (the low fat kind, right?), and munching on prosciutto-wrapped marinated artichoke hearts, all in--well, what could only be called a sitting room.  And sit we did, enjoying cocktails and company until the index cards got passed out.  Apparently, The 10th Member of TCOB decided it was high time to impose some rules and regulations aimed at ensuring a neutral and fair outcome on the vote.  Like a United Nations electoral observer, The 10th Member made sure that each person had a standard issue ballot, a private opportunity to mark their number, and that each ballot was deposited securely into... his hands.

   The presidential elections in Honduras were free and fair.  Just like TCOB.

The next step in the process was to have each vote announced, going around the room one and a half times to make sure that each person's vote was counted, either once or twice.  But El Jefe is confident of the results, which gave the book an average score of 8.5 and a 95% rate of completion (you know who you are!).  The secret ballot process caused the Doctor much consternation:  like a dangling chad, she typically likes to throw a little uncertainty into the mix by changing her vote depending on which way the wind is blowing.  Knowing that a last-minute switch-up would be impossible under the keen eye of The 10th Member, she and Diggity-D both went for broke with an unusual couples' vote of matching 10s.  There might have been some other 10s, but it was shortly after that point that El Jefe began to slide into a narcotics-induced fog, and the details get a bit hazy.

There is no question, however, that Dave Egger's Zeitoun garnered the most enthusiasm and genuine discussion of any holiday BC book to date.  El Jefe vaguely recalls more than one person saying that this book was life changing.  Like the Glass Castle, it was one of those stories that opens your eyes--and wide-- to the crazy shit that goes on right here at home, things you imagine happen only in third world countries.  There were so many sad and despicable scenes in this book:  elderly people trapped on rooftops, dogs shot to death on a highway overpass, a mentally retarded person hosed down with pepper spray in a makeshift jail, a FEMA trailer lying locked and useless in the yard for over a year.  The scenes from "Camp Greyhound" were some of the most painful to read, not to mention the utter trampling on the due process rights of American citizens.  It was terrifying and depressing to see how easily both legal and ethical standards went out the window, and with no apology or restitution.

"Prisoners" being led into Camp Greyhound.

Please help.

In the 9th Ward.

Not everyone in the group was entirely sympathetic to the main character, Abdulrahman Zeitoun.  Certainly there were some that partly blamed him for choosing to stay behind in the face of a mandatory evacuation (not to mention common sense), and having such an inflated opinion of himself as the saviour around his neighborhood.  Others remembered well the heightened sense of suspicion and paranoia that still lingered after 9/11, and almost took a "what do you expect?" attitude, given that FEMA had been placed under the umbrella of Homeland Security.  Still others critiqued either the author or Zeitoun himself for what seemed like obvious oversights:  for example, once Zeitoun got out of jail, how come he didn't help his friends?  What took Zeitoun's wife so long to call a lawyer?  But despite these differences of opinion, there is no doubt that this book was provocative and profound, and generated an empassioned discussion that followed us all the way to the dinner table.

It's always a relief to segue from dwelling over the misfortunes of others to a filet mignon roast with creamy gorgonzola sauce.  And rosemary-Parmesan mashed potatoes.  And a leafy green salad garnished with slivered red onion and mandarin oranges.  And cheesy garlic bread.  And paper party crowns.  Thank goodness for a delicious dinner and for our many blessings.  At this point, El Jefe did make her exit, longingly eyeing the annual bounty of Heath Bar cookies and the divine-smelling fruit cobbler.  Unfortunately, there were no leftovers the next day.

Please let this book be a reminder to all of us during the holidays how lucky we are to have friends, family, and a roof over our head, and to be generous to those in need.  Merry Christmas, and see you in the New Year!  xoEJ

Infidel

Thanks to Blondie for hosting a terrific BC on Wednesday! Great turnout, great food, GREAT discussion. We started out with canapés topped with shrimp and roasted baby tomatoes, followed by chicken tortilla soup and quesadillas with guacamole (definitely a BC cookbook entry!) and a salad, and all polished off by chocolate chip bread pudding with crème fraiche. Lish!

Better get right to the book. Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel was one of the all time greats of BC discussion. The rating was 7.6, but that number belies how much this book was loved. El Jefe rated it a lowball 6.5, partly to counteract the Infidel frenzy: both Blondie and the Foxx came in strong with 10's, and La Mademoiselle almost went there too. People were absolutely floored by this woman's tale and touched and inspired by her courage. We literally talked about the book from the moment everyone arrived until dessert was finished. Although our discussion touched on many different aspects of the book, from Ayaan's relationship with her mother to the different factions of Islam throughout the world to the author's writing style, to a comparison with the Glass Castle, we really had the most to say about her internal struggle to accept Islam, culminating with her ultimate rejection of religion altogether. We talked about whether Islam was different from any other extremist religion: Is it any more violent than Catholicism has been throughout the ages? Is it any more oppressive than Hasidic Judaism to women? Is it any more abusive to children than fundamentalist Christianity, brainwashing them to speak in tongues? We probed Ayaan's turmoil in dealing with Islam, the way for so many years of her life and even into adulthood long after moving to Holland, she waffled between being a believer and an unbeliever and then--why the dramatic break into atheism? Why couldn't she become comfortable with a modified version of Islam that incorporated peaceful and rational concepts and had a place for individuality? That is what she had been trying to rationalize all along but at the last minute she abandoned the idea of a "modern" Islam in favor of atheism. Finally, we talked about the author's shocking position that Islam is inherently violent and oppressive--this thesis sounds so incredibly un-PC to all of us brought up to respect the differences in other cultures and never make sweeping assumptions about them.

The next book club will be on April 4 at Ms. K's house. The Doctor and the Foxx are bringing apps and dessert (I'm not sure which is which-please touch base with each other to decide). We are continuing our memoir streak with A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah. (Not surprisingly, this comes up as a recommended book on Amazon for anyone who bought Infidel!)

Confederacy of Dunces

Hi All, and welcome to La Mademoiselle, our newest BC member. El Jefe knows you've all been waiting with bated breath for the recap, which is a few days late this time as I was up in beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea this weekend sans computer. Thanks to The Tiger for hosting in her fab new home. El Jefe is psyched you had the patio table in place--a big fan of the outdoor BC! We feasted on cheese and salami for apps, then had a delish taco dinner with The Tiger's killer guacamole, and finished off with a dessert from our favorite BC baker, Logan's Run. El Jefe is kind of regretting not taking a doggie bag home. If only Logan's Run had convinced me!! Tiger, can you send the name of the secret ingredient for your chicken, thanks!

Now we must recount a truly historic moment: the first 10 rating in BC history! Yes, you heard me correctly. Confederacy of Dunces scored a 10.

Overall, it had fairly high ratings from everyone else as well, the lowest being a 6 or 6-1/2. The overwhelming comment was that the book was damn funny, although only about half of us admitted to actually laughing out loud (El Jefe was certainly in that group!). Also, the book got praise across the board for it's fantastic character development. There were a few votes for Jones as favorite character, although the Highlander (inexplicably ;) ) liked Gus Levy. What little substantive book discussion (see post script below) we had centered around the question of whether Ignatius J. Reilly was a veritable looney, or whether he was just a misunderstood intellectual and nonconformist. He definitely got strong reactions from everyone, who seemed to love him or be repulsed by him. El Jefe had to leave a bit early to do some work and tend to electrical outages back at the money pit (I mean, Chez Jefe), but folks, did we ever reach a consensus on whether Reilly was a B.K. Troop rip-off or not?

Speaking of B.K. Troop, our next book is Miss Lonleyhearts/Day of the Locusts, two novels by Nathanael West, which was recommended by our author friend Allison Burnett. The meeting will be at Logans Run's house, directions to follow.