Books 'n Bars (October)

On October 26th we met for our fifth meeting of Books 'n Bars and it went great!

For those of you that are new (welcome, btw!) I crossed 'Start a book club' off from my bucket list this past summer and friends of mine, colleagues, class friends, and friends of friends have kept it going for almost six months now! I couldn't be happier and am so excited to see where it goes from here!

Since starting the club, I have received emails from authors (umm, wow!) and have discovered that there are WAY more readers than there are non-readers out there. We even had our first guy member join us a couple months ago! (I believe he is earning some major brownie points with his girlfriend ... ;) )

The books we have read so far are:

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
The Help
Secret Daughter
The Murderer's Daughters

The bars we have been to are:

Saints (in Beaverdale)
Tally's
Mullet's
High Life Lounge

Last month we read Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and met at Star Bar. Star Bar is the ultimate after work happy hour spot, located just west of downtown Des Moines on Ingersoll it's location is perfect for anyone working in the area. None of us work in the area, but that didn't stop us. Our goal is to check out a new bar each month, preferably a local bar.

We had great conversation about Middlesex and pretty much everyone had a different opinion. A couple of people loved it, a few were so-so, and most of us just didn't enjoy the content.

Middlesex is about a girl named Calliope that is a hermaphrodite. The first half of the book covers Calliope's family history and the incest that has created this abnormal gene that caused Calliope's condition. She doesn't know for sure that she is a hermaphrodite until very late in the book, when she finds out the truth her doctor wants to do surgery to complete her female organs but she doesn't want the surgery.

I wasn't a huge fan of the book, and struggled through most of it. The text is very dense and the description is over the top. Jeffrey Eugenides is a beautiful writer and I love the way he writes, I can see why he won a Pulitzer for it, but I felt several areas were over emphasized. I would have rather learned more about Callie as a girl, and then Cal as a boy. Instead, we learned more about the family history.

I didn't hate Middlesex. But, I didn't love it either. I'm glad I was able to finish it, but it's not a book I would recommend to others.

For November we are reading We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver and we're meeting at another downtown bar, this time at The Lift.

If you're in the area we would love to have you! We're meeting at 7:30 on Wednesday, November 30.

What books have you read lately? Do books that have won awards, such as the Pulitzer, make you want to read them?