So we had four participants (including myself) the last time around and had a couple of good exchanges but I’d have to say this didn’t really take off. Shall we try again or let it go? If we try again, any suggestions on what to do differently?

Well, not off to a rip-roaring start, am I? Late getting the discussion going on the very first month! Things have been a bit in turmoil on my end. Anyway, please accept my apologies, and let’s get this party started!

I’ll post a few questions. Answer any and all, add your own questions or comments, come back to see what others have written and post as often as you’d like.

1. Did you like the book? Why or why not? Or what aspects did you like/dislike?

2. Were you previously aware of Britain’s campaign to get the U.S. into WWII?

3. Did you draw any parallels between the misinformation campaign that got us into Iraq and Britain’s propaganda to get us into WWII?

4. Did you find Ruth’s story compelling or simply a distraction from Eva’s story?

5. Do you think that the author, a man, was successful at writing the story from the perspective of two women? What did he get right or wrong?

FYI… Reviews of Restless:
The New York Times
The Guardian
The Washington Post

- cat

Our first book will be Restless, by William Boyd. Discussion will begin on Sunday, December 2.

Boyd’s ninth novel, an absorbing historical thriller, is loosely based on the history of a covert branch of British intelligence created to coax America into the Second World War. The story unfolds on parallel tracks as Sally Gilmartin, born Eva Delectorskaya, a Russian emigree recruited into the British Secret Service in 1939, reveals her clandestine past in an autobiography that she gives to her daughter, Ruth, a graduate student and single mother living a dull civilian life in Oxford in 1976. (The New Yorker)

- Cat

Thanks for joining us. Suz recently wrote a book meme in which she made a list of books that made her wish she belonged to a book club. That gave me the idea to host a blogging book club, and Suz graciously agreed to co-host.

Here’s how it works: One of us will select a book a month in advance. I’ll leave a little extra time for this first one to give us a chance to publicize the club. When the month is up, the host will post a few questions and the conversation will (hopefully) take place in the comments! Simple, right?

There’s no limit to who can participate, and if you’re interested in hosting, just let one of us know. We’ll start with no restrictions on types of books– fiction/non, contemporary/classic, etc., and see where it takes us. I, personally, am partial to contemporary fiction, but I’m certainly open to expanding my horizons! I will just request that if, as host, you choose a particularly disturbing book (We Need to Talk about Kevin comes to mind), you include a warning!

If you’d like to be included in a blogroll list of readers/participants, leave a comment.

- Cat