March 2013: The AHEBC Turns 3!

Taken Thursday, March 28, 2013, JW.

Three years ago this month, the Atlantic Highlands Evening Bookclub met for the very first time!  We have come a long way these last three years, been on an incredible reading journey together and had even more incredible discussions along the way.  Some have been here from the start, others have popped in and out while others are missed & thought of often.  New faces make our day!

Here's to many more years together while we follow the ever fascinating journeys the world of reading takes us on!

Before discussing our March book (Richard Price's Samaritan), we talked about our first impressions of the bookclub (What was the first book you read with the bookclub? What was your first impression after the first discussion you attended?) as well as our first reading experiences from childhood. (Updated 3/28/13)

A look back at our last three years of reading:
Selections 2010:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Woa by Junot Doaz
The Sea by John Banville
Arsonist's Guide to Writer's Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
The Quarry by Damon Galgut
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean 
Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
Bee Season by Myla Goldberg
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen

Selections 2011:
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Night by Elie Wiesel
The Shack by William Young
The Help (464pages) by Kathryn Stockett
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts - Jul 
The Echo Maker by Richard Powers - Aug 
Saturday by Ian McEwan - Oct 
Room by Emma Donoghue - Nov/Dec

Selections 2012:
The Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani - Jan 
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare - Feb 
The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle - Mar
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom - Apr
My Antonia by Willia Cather - May
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith - June
Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigani - July
The Particular Sadness of the Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender - Aug
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett - Sept
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson - Oct
Brazzaville by William Boyd - Nov
SantaLand Diaries by David Sedaris - Dec (short story)

March 2013: Samaritan by Richard Price



Our book of the month for this March is Samaritan by Richard Price.

From the first Vintage Books edition, 2004:

"Ray Mitchell, a former TV writer who has left Hollywood under a cloud, returns to urban Dempsy, New Jersey, hoping to make a difference in the lives of his struggling neighbors. Instead, his very public and emotionally suspect generosity gets him beaten nearly to death. Ray refuses to name his assailant, which makes him intensely interesting to Detective Nerese Ammons, a friend from childhood, who now sets out to unlock the secret of his reticence. Set against the intensely realized backdrop of urban America, the cat and mouse game that unfolds is both morally complex and utterly gripping."

The author does not have a site, but there is a short bio at the beginning of the novel Samaritan, as well as bio information on Google which you can view by clicking here or on Goodreads which you can view by clicking here. (You may (or may not) need a Goodreads account to view this information).

We will meet on Thursday, March 28, 2013, at 7pm at the Atlantic Highlands Branch of the Monmouth County Library located at 100 First Avenue inside the Atlantic Highlands Borough Hall building to discuss Samaritan.