Last Thursday Book Club
2015 Schedule  -  celebrating the centennial of the birth of authors Saul Bellow and Arthur Miller, as well as the publication of W. Somerset Maughan's Of Human Bondage and T. S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."  Yes, we've done it all  ...  

 
Meeting Date Host Selection  Notes
Thursday 
29 January  2015
Dick Jensen
dickj43@yahoo.com
7120 Hawthorn Avenue, NE
797-4530

From I-25 & Alameda: 
Go East on Alameda  0.7 miles.  Turn left (North) at the 4-way stop at Louisiana.  Go 0.5 miles (3rd street) to Florence.  Turn right.  Go 0.1 mile to Palm Yucca.  Turn right.  Go 0.1 mile.   Palm Yucca dead ends at Hawthorn.  Turn right.  7120 is the 4th house on the left.

From Tramway:  Go West on Paseo, then North on Wyoming.  Look for Blue Cypress about 1 mile north of Alameda (it is called Glendale to the right, Blue Cypress and the entrance to the housing development to the left.)
Take an immediate left onto Automn which curves around to the East and becomes Hawthorn.  A mile or so gets you to 7120.
How Green Was My ValleyThe book for January is How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn.  It is one of my favorite books.  I have not chosen it in the past because of its length and the few copies in the library. 

There are 4 copies in the library, used copies are readily available, and there is a kindle edition. 
 
I think the group will enjoy it.
Thursday 
26 February  2015
Ron Bousek

  (262-0207)
 
  701 Loma Linda Pl SE
Lead/Coal;
between Carlisle and Washington, take
Montclaire south

A Higher Call

A HIGHER CALL: an incredible true story of combat and chivalry in the war-torn skies of World War II
- by Adam Makos with Larry Alexander.

paperback, 4 copies in Library, on Kindle

This is, yes, another WWII story, but mostly from the Luftwaffe side, which we haven't read before. I read it and thought it was a good read.
CAVEAT EMPTOR:  There are several other books titled A Higher Calling. Them ain't it. (sic)      --Ron

Thursday
26 March 2015

  Bob Woods

Academy at Tramway

11921 Caribou Ave., NE
(
299-6928)

From Academy and Tramway,
go WEST on Academy for 3 blocks,
then take a RIGHT (North) onto Antelope Run which deadends into Caribou.
House is in front of you,
a little to the left.


woodsR@asme.org
A Canticle For Leibowitz

Since I am firmly convinced that civilization is happily dancing on the brink of another Dark Age,  let’s do “A Canticle for Leibowitz” so we will all know what to expect.


My bretheren, if translations and annotations are to help maketh thy understanding, than seek ye here for your enlightenment of the Canticle.

Furthermore, seek wisdom from this Study Guide for the Canticle.

Go in peace.  Go, my child.  Agape Satanas.
Thursday
30 April 2015

Jack Ferrell

17 Sunset Blvd
Placitas, NM
I-25 Exit 242

East on NM 165.

Right at the 5-mile marker onto Tunnel Springs Road.
Right onto Quail Meadow Road (first street on right - 0.2 mile)
Right onto Leah Lane (first street on right-0.4 mile)
HARD right onto Sunset Blvd
(100 yards)
17 Sunset Blvd is the second drive/house on the left after the "Private Drive--No Turn Around" sign (approximately 200 yards).
 Nemesis Set in 1944, Philip Roth's Nemesis paints a very real portrait of the loss of ones humanity

c 2010, our Library system owns but three copies.  


Phillip Roth


Thursday
  28 May 2015


Ken Gillen

(797-8956)

331 White Oaks Dr. NE

(From Tramway and Live Oak Rd [one block N. of Paseo del Norte], go EAST 0.6 mi on Live Oak, then SOUTH 0.3 mi on White Oaks Dr. to last house on right.  Intersection of WhiteOaks and Paintbrush. Pay no attention to most of the house numbers.)


The Boys in the Boat


"The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown


There are fourteen copies in our ABC Library, plus four large print copies.  As of 1 May, there were 52 holds on the first returned copy, so you may want to purchase a paperback at Amazon or  DealOz.com  











Thursday 
  25 June 2015
Tom Genoni  (292-4985)
1616 Catron SE

(Take The Road into 4-Hills, turn right at the Y onto Stagecoach, left at the 4-way stop sign onto Cuatro Cerros, 2nd right onto Bernalillo, then 1st left onto Catron.  About half-way down Catron, 1616 house is on the right.)
109 East Palace

Through the eyes of a young Santa Fe widow who was one of Oppenheimer's first recruits, we see how, for all his flaws, he developed into an inspiring leader and motivated all those involved in the Los Alamos project to make a supreme effort and achieve the unthinkable. 425 pages in paperback.

2005 book. Our ABC Library has 7 copies.  Used copies inc. S&H at $6 from DealOz.com, or from Amazon.com





Thursday, 
30 July 2015

Dick Arms

800 Wagon Train SE


(Four Hills)

Take the Four Hills Road into
4-Hills, turn right at the Y onto Stagecoach.

You will come to a 3-way Stop sign. Dick's house
is at the top of the hill following, at corner of Toro
and Wagon Train. (Stagecoach becomes Wagon Train
as you "go around the corner")
.
Catcher in the Rye
Catcher 2
Thursday 
27 August 2015

Charlie Palmer (cell:  263-4586) 

1506 Park Ave SW

From I-25, go West on Central or Lomas; then South on 14th St.  
Cross Central, continue 2 or 3 blocks, then turn right onto Park (1st stop sign).

King Lear - Act 1, Page 1  

To me, Lear is among the most approachable of Shakespeare’s plays.  It doesn't require any knowledge of history or mythology;  it is simply a character-driven tragedy, completely self-contained and perfectly written.     

 

There is another reason to read this play -- we are all now old men.  I read Lear almost 50 years ago when I was in college and do not remember being impressed by it. As a board-certified Old Man I recently read it again, and this time around I was profoundly moved, more so than by any other of the Shakespearean plays that I've read.  Age makes a difference.

 

Much of the language in Lear is relatively straightforward by contemporary standards; but, there remains the problem that much of it isn't.  At least to me, the complexity and archaic nature of Shakespeare's English is a huge obstacle to enjoying his plays.   I think I've found a solution to this problem.

As a member of LTBC, you will receive a copy of this annotated and 'translated' text.  Stand by for the solution in hand.  


24 September 2015
Keith Gilbert

 (265-8122) or (250-0991)
913 Parkland Circle SE

From Wyoming, go West on Zuni to Carlisle;
Go South on Carlisle until the median disappears;
(or changes drastically);
Go East;
Keith is on this street, on the North side.



 The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy

First published in 1886, this novella by Leo Tolstoy is one of the masterpieces of his late fiction written after his religious conversion of the late 1870s.  Free on Kindle.  Or it should be.  

Thursday
  29 October 2015
 Rob Easterling

51 Avenida del Sol

East Mountains: 51 Avenida del Sol,
Cedar Crest, NM 87008
Take N14  4.5 mi. N of I-40
(exit 175, Cedar Crest).
Once you pass the sign (on right) for Museum of Archeology, then
Turn Left into Ventana del Sol subdivision.
  Follow keypad instructions.
A Slight Trick Of The Mind
My selection is "A Slight Trick of the Mind," by Mitch Cullin.  Also, as a movie to be released in July 2015.  It's about Sherlock Holmes in his declining years.  Follows the theme set by Charlie's selection of King Lear for August.  Also, picks up on the Sherlock Holmes derivatives in current TV.

Here's  a blurb about the book and movie:

In the film version of Mitch Cullin’s riveting novel -- titled Mr. Holmes for its July release -- Ian McKellen plays Sherlock in old age. McKellen is inspired casting for a film about a brilliant, stylish sleuth who refuses to let time get the best of him. Return to the print original, however, for a story that smartly explores the subtle and intricate ways our minds work -- or, more to the point, don’t. The added bonus: While Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories were narrated by Holmes’ assistant, Watson, here the revered sleuth himself gets the last word, mocking the way those classic tales “pander to popular tastes.”

Our members may want to read the book before they see the movie, or not.  We have four (4) copies of the book in our ABC Library, no holds.
[3rd] Thursday: 
19 November 2015
[Thursday before Thanksgiving]

Bob Simon
 

1415 Park Ave SW  (246-8136)

From I-40, go South on Rio Grande Blvd, then left (East) on Central; then South on 14th St.  
Continue 2 or 3 blocks, then turn RIGHT onto Park (1st stop sign)



Up Front by Bill Mauldin



 "The real war," said Walt Whitman, "will never get in the books." During World War II, the truest glimpse most Americans got of the "real war" came through the flashing black lines of twenty-two-year-old infantry sergeant Bill Mauldin. Week after week, Mauldin defied army censors, German artillery, and Patton's pledge to "throw his ass in jail" to deliver his wildly popular cartoon, "Up Front," to the pages of Stars and Stripes. "Up Front" featured the wise-cracking Willie and Joe, whose stooped shoulders, mud-soaked uniforms, and pidgin of army slang and slum dialect bore eloquent witness to the world of combat and the men who lived'"and died'"in it.

This taut, lushly illustrated biography, the first of two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Bill Mauldin, is illustrated with more than ninety classic Mauldin cartoons and rare photographs. It traces the improbable career and tumultuous private life of a charismatic genius who rose to fame on his motto: "If it's big, hit it."








[3rd] Thursday 

17 December 2015
 
[NOT Christmas Eve!]

Mike Blackledge   (294-6030)
14321 Stalgren Ct NE

(from Tramway & Copper, go East 5 blocks [counting on right], then right on Parkside, immediate left onto Stalgren Ct.)



Mayflower by Philbrick
Cross section of the Mayflower

Schedule for Year 2015

LTBC 2015 schedule last modified:
  20 Nov 2015


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