It’s been a strange turn of events since the last compilation of the MARTA Book Club --- the loose confederation of people who read while riding Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s public transportation. Opportunities for book reading may been curtailed over the holidays, but last week--because of the Winter Storm of 2011--we saw quite an influx of new riders and new club members (remember the only requirement to be in the club is to read a book while riding public transportation).
Even though the trains ran throughout the week (albeit on the weekend "schedule," which means only three stops at unspecified times per hour for some routes) it wasn’t until Wednesday that I left home and returned to the rails myself. At that point, I’d seen enough winter suffering on television, especially those pitiful sleep-deprived weather reporters assigned to the frozen guardrails at Spaghetti Junction, while the warm studio anchors quipped endlessly at the Jackass-worthy photos and video that viewers at home so generously provided.
Despite the perilous conditions, I was ready to return to the warmth of the MARTA book club (ice removal at the stations consisted mainly of yellow caution cones and conductors warning us not to fall on our collective asses), if for no other reason than to find out what books people got for Christmas.
What We Are Reading. Here’s a list of what we’ve been reading since the last posting:
The Pecan Orchard: Journey of a Sharecropper's Daughter by Peggy Vonsherie Allen
Beach Music by Pat Conroy (two spottings)
Art by Committee: A Guide to Advanced Improvisation by Charna Halpern and Adam McKay
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
Black Postcards: A Memoir by Dean Wareham
Double Pleasure, Double Pain by Nikki Rashan (a steamy cover for a cold commute…)
The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury
Arthur & George by Julian Barnes
Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Homeboyz by Alan Lawrence Sitomer
Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin
Total Eclipse of the Heart: A Novel by Zane (just one name)
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
The Apocalypse Watch by Robert Ludlum
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (submitted by Emily Britt)
My contribution is Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson. which I finally finished. As I mentioned in an earlier posting, Johnson’s lengthy novel is a combination of the movie Apocalypse Now (because a renegade colonel who becomes a threat to the U.S. military), the novel From Here to Eternity (because it provides a background stories on the soldiers who were anxious to leave their wretched lives in the States) and Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried (doesn’t forget about the grunts in front lines, except there was no front in Vietnam.). Well written, but wide in scope with lots of characters which can make it challenging at times. I saw used hardback edition the novel at Eagle Eye Books yesterday.
Run with the Horsemen by Ferrol Sams
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene (I thought there were 49)
The Help by Kathyrn Stockett
Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
Too Much Happiness: Stories by Alice Munro
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
Novels by Janet Evanovich, Mary Janice Davidson, E. Lynn Harris, Sandra Brown, Mary Higgins Clark, Dennis Lehane, Sandra Brown, Nevada Barr, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Clive Cussler, Ted Bell
What Members Thought About Each Book. Readers are encouraged to keep their thoughts (and eyes) to themselves. No time is wasted talking about books when you could be reading.
Next Assignment: Keep reading, get to work on time, and send us your book contributions and observations via comment. (It’s strictly an honor system.)
I'm not a Marta rider as there's none in Dacula, but I'm an avid book lover. I would recommend these authors' books, you will never know when you've reached your stop. Check them out:
Solomon Jones (Pipe Dreams, Cream), Leslie Esdaile Banks aka L.A. Banks, Chinua Achebe,and Walter Mosley.
Posted by: bebita | January 17, 2011 at 11:56 PM
I ride MARTA from the East Lake station to Midtown, and I'm currently reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
This morning I sighted someone reading I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.
Thanks for the blog - always fun to read!
Posted by: Kelly O'Day Weisinger | January 19, 2011 at 11:00 AM