The End of Your Life Book Club discussion

I don't intend for this book club to merely replicate the one my mother and I shared. All kinds of books can tell you what you need to do in the world and with your life.

On this discussion board, I hope you'll share your suggestions for other books we can read together. Perhaps it's one that you've already read and loved, or perhaps it's something you've always meant to read.

Dear Life End Book Club

Confession : I seldom read outside of topics and themes of my own writing & livelihood. And in my geezerdom, I find I've become set in my (eclectic) ways.

I've never joined a book club. Until now. The framing feels just right. So I'm in ...

I haven't read any of the books mentioned in Will's book : such as A Fine Balance, A Long Way Gone, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Brooklyn, The Year of Magical Thinking, Crossing to Safety, St Joan, Suite Francaise, The Uncommon Reader, The Last Lecture, Olive Kitteridge, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and The Price of Salt. I have a copy of Reading Lolita in Tehran but haven't read it either.

So many titles !
Will we nominate and vote ?
For Sept, I nominate ... The End of Your Life Book Club

"Today is the first day
of the rest of your life ... "

Dear Gary:

How auspicious to have you as the first person to post a message on this brand new group's board. And I loved your message. I want to think of this as the un-group group -- a place that welcomes people who have never joined a book club. Glad the framing feels right!

Yes, we will nominate and vote, though hoping to achieve a kind of agreement rather than a majority. My thought was that we could start with CROSSING TO SAFETY by Wallace Stegner and not put any particular time on it until enough people had joined and started to read it. How does that sound? Would love to later include my own book in the mix, but only if people want to, and of course, only after it comes out in October.

Game to start in on CROSSING TO SAFETY?

As ever!

Will

Will and Gary,
This sounds delightful! Will, I was pleased that I actually had read many of the books you and your mom had read together (this Stegner included), but I would love to revisit them, or read new ones together! I actually was thinking of "Wherever You Go, There You Are." I bought it last summer and it's been sitting on my bedside since that time. I've dipped in and out, but I think it could be even more worthwhile, knowing I can have conversations with people about it. :-)

To good reading!
Chris

Dear Chris:
Terrific! So delighted to have you on board! It will be great to re-visit the Stegner with you. And let's see if we can get some agreement around Jon Kabat-Zinn's "Wherever You Go, There You Are" as our next pick.
To good reading...and good conversations!
Will

am down for being wherever i go with all of you & the good doctor

I haven't read the Stegner, either. So I'll be glad to give it a go. Probably a good idea for me to get out of my current Anglo rut! Let me know when to get cracking. (I've never been a book group, either....)

Hi all,

I'll be a first time Stegner reader, too. Off to get my copy today! Looking forward to hearing what you all think.

hello, everyone!

Like Gary, this is my first official book club, though I've shared titles, etc. with family for some time...I have wanted to join one forever, but hadn't found one that felt comfortable...I'm excited to be a part of this one!

Will, I've read your book and just loved it...and your Mom! I am happy to read "Crossing to Safety"...waiting on my copy from the library so that I can begin!

Hi Noelle!

So happy you liked my book and so delighted to you have in the club. I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on "Crossing to Safety." We are definitely going to be going slowly with this first book -- so no need to rush once you get your library copy. And I've never done an online book club -- so we'll all be just making it up, as it were, as we go along.

It will be great fun to figure out together how to do this.

In the meantime, Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone! And Happy Reading!

Will wrote: "Hi Noelle!

So happy you liked my book and so delighted to you have in the club. I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on "Crossing to Safety." We are definitely going to be going slowly with..."

thanks, Will...same to you!

Having finished the twelfth and last volume of "Dance to the Music of Time" (of which more later and elsewhere) I went to my cherished Corner Bookstore and bought my copy of CTS -- started last night. I feel like I just got off the plane from London in Madison, WI. Such a different voice. Nice to hear those flat midwestern vowels again. I will read over the weekend -- looking forward to wherever you're going to take us with it, Will. Thanks for roping me into this.

Amanda wrote: "Having finished the twelfth and last volume of "Dance to the Music of Time" (of which more later and elsewhere) I went to my cherished Corner Bookstore and bought my copy of CTS -- started last nig..."

I'm actually thinking of reading "Dance to the Music of Time" after I finish re-reading "Crossing to Safety." Or, rather, starting to read it as I've never approach it. Does one start at the beginning or in the middle?

Loved your comment about the flat mid-western vowels. I can definitely hear those in my head when I read Stegner. There's a particular cadence, too.

Noelle wrote: "I picked up a copy of Crossing to Safety from the library yesterday and started reading...my first Stegner, too...I love the opening lines:

"Floating upward through a confusion of dreams and memor..."

Are you also an opening line addict? I sometimes go through my shelf reading my favorite ones, book after book, opening line after opening line. It brings the whole experience of the book rushing back.

Noelle wrote: "Will wrote: "Hi Noelle!

So happy you liked my book and so delighted to you have in the club. I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on "Crossing to Safety." We are definitely going to be goin..."'

Hi Noelle! I'm an administrator for the group and accidentally deleted your wonderful first line comment earlier (while trying to delete my own post) -- so sorry!! Is there any chance you could repost it?

In addition to being a first-time Crossing to Safety reader, I am a brand new Goodreads user :-)

Casey Blue wrote: "Noelle wrote: "Will wrote: "Hi Noelle!

So happy you liked my book and so delighted to you have in the club. I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on "Crossing to Safety." We are definitely g..."

certainly! I'll repost shortly...

btw, welcome to Goodreads! it's an awesome site and by far one of my favorites!

Noelle wrote: "Casey Blue wrote: "Noelle wrote: "Will wrote: "Hi Noelle!

So happy you liked my book and so delighted to you have in the club. I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on "Crossing to Safety." ..."

Thanks! I'm enjoying so far. It's a great way to keep track of my seemingly never-ending "to read" list!

hi, everyone! I picked up my copy of Crossing to Safety from the library a couple of days ago...I am reposting due to an accidental delete!

this is my first Wallace Stegner...I had never heard of him prior to a couple of weeks ago and am anxious to get a feel for him as a writer...I absolutely loved the first lines of the book:

"Floating upward through a confusion of dreams and memory, curving like a trout through the rings of previous risings, I surface. My eyes are open. I am awake."

Casey Blue wrote: "Noelle wrote: "Casey Blue wrote: "Noelle wrote: "Will wrote: "Hi Noelle!

So happy you liked my book and so delighted to you have in the club. I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on "Crossi..."

Casey Blue wrote: "Noelle wrote: "Casey Blue wrote: "Noelle wrote: "Will wrote: "Hi Noelle!

So happy you liked my book and so delighted to you have in the club. I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on "Crossi..."

amen to that!

So I've finished "Crossing to Safety" -- what is the next step? Are we all going to post our own comments and then discuss them? Or what? I'm holding back on saying anything about it until I know what the protocol is. Don't want to jump the gun. Let me know how you want to proceed, OK?

Note to Will: As for "Dance to the Music of Time" -- the only way to do it, I think, is to start with the first volume and read on in order. A mistake to come into it in the middle and then fill in; the layering won't work properly.

So glad you've finished! Yes, we should all go ahead and put our comments and then discuss them. We don't need to worry about "Spoiler Alerts" as we'll presume going forward (unless someone wants to suggest otherwise) that everyone checking the thread has already finished the book.

And thanks for the note about "Dance to the Music of Time" -- I'll start from the start!

hi, everyone! I haven't yet finished...slow going for me...I usually race through most books, but this one hasn't grabbed me...plodding through regardless...would it help to have a deadline before posting any spoilers? say Mon. 9/17? gives me a chance to finsih without making everyone wait too terriblly long?

Sounds like a great idea! No spoilers until 9/17!

Will wrote: "Sounds like a great idea! No spoilers until 9/17!"

thanks!!

ok, guys...I'm all set...how about you? what's our next step?

For starters, now that we've all finished---what did everyone think??

Here are a few of my strongest impressions:

1. This book had been recommended to me by a few professors back in college and I have to admit that its appeal to me was in part the comfort of academia embedded throughout. Even as we learn that the elusive tenure-track is the bane of a creative mind's existence, there's something about having the academic world as the key source of strife in the novel's first half that I found entertaining. To be honest, this is probably because I just graduated from school--where I was an English major--and one of the biggest "life questions" currently plaguing my peers and I is "academia or professional writing?" (everyone wants the latter, naturally). In the grand scheme of things, this scenario is what my mother would call a "delicious dilemma" (i.e. a privileged, albeit difficult, choice), but it's one I ate right up in the Stegner.

2. I like that (once the tenure track drama begins to subside) the focus of the novel in the second half is more on the interpersonal relationships within these two marriages and the sets of friendships among the 4 main characters. The remarkable ability to make ordinary lives interesting is something Stegner shares in common with a few of my other favorite writers (e.g. Jhumpa Lahiri, Virginia Woolf, to name a couple). An author's insight into the "life of the mind" provides such amazing narrative potential without crazy plot developments.

3. I really love that Stegner's women characters play such strong roles in their respective partnerships. I shouldn't generalize, but this seems atypical for male writers (at least, many of the male writers I've read).

4. I was crying on the subway when I finished the book. The bit about the life cycle of a monarch butterfly as a metaphor for a human being dying, disintegrating, and being eaten by one's family for breakfast...WOW.

Ok--I'll pause there for now. What captured you guys?

I absolutely loved this book but please explain to me where the title comes from...

I've always meant to read Stegner. Exciting!

Stegner is a revelation! So excited we are all reading him. I need help on the great question about the title. Anyone know?

Will wrote: "Stegner is a revelation! So excited we are all reading him. I need help on the great question about the title. Anyone know?"

hi, guys...the title "Crossing to Safety" comes from the lines of the Robert Frost poem in the front of the book...I looked it up myself out of curiosity...the poem is called "I Could Give All to Time" (http://www.poetseers.org/contemporary...)... I think (shrug) that Stegner/Frost are referring to wisdom gained through expeirence or perhaps memories of a life lived...either way, unless you read the poem in the front, the title cannot be divined based on the narrative. =)

has everyone finished the book yet? do we have newcomers catching up? let me know, I don't want to post any spoilers. =)

Thanks so much....have to go back and read ( reread) that poem!

Yes! I think we are good to go on comments. So no worries about spoilers. Post away. :-)

I was so excited to find this group! I just finished Will's memoir and was motivated to start reading more inspiring books! Life is too short to read fluff! I am a high school English as a Second Language teacher, and many of my students have arrived directly from refugee camps. I myself have never been outside North America, and I am now inspired by Mary Anne's example to start saving for a trip overseas to broaden my horizons! Thanks, Will!

Well I started my own introduction page and came here to see everyone introduced themselves here. There hasn't been much activity over the last few months so I'm wondering if people are still around. I've just started Will's book and have already added new books to my to be read list. I love books that introduce me to new cultures. I grew up in an Italian family and culture was an important part of who we were. I hope there's plans on continuing discussion.

I'm so pleased to see this new activity on the page! It started a while back but it didn't quite take off. But I'm still around and delighted to chat. Would love to know what books have been especially meaningful to you in terms of Italian culture and heritage.

Thanks Will. Can I first say I'm finding your book a real pleasure. It speaks to me on so many levels that when I started it I got goosebumps. I haven't read a lot of books with the Italian Heritage in it. I think because I was steeped in it growing up. I'm more fascinate by other heritages. I loe books writteen aboutEnglish characters and I find the Inidan culture just fascinating. I have put Khaled Hosseinion my list of authors to read based on your mother's impassioned discription as related by you of the Afghan people.

So excited my book club is going to read Will's book as a summer selection. I know they'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Elyse, Thanks for bringing up the Bruni book. I remember when it first came out but I wasn't interested in reading it at the time I think it was too close to chome. Weight has always a problem for me. However, I'm putting it on my list to read now because I think I'm ready to read someone else's exerience. Food is aleays an important part of the Italian family gatherings. We gathered at my grandmother's house every SUnday for a big meal. I hae wonderful memories of those days. However, I was one of the few people in my family with a weight problem and so food was both pleasure and bain in my life.

Dear will, I just read '...how oould anyone who loves books not love a book that is itself so in love with books?" There are so many things that I love about your book and one is your family's love of books. My list of to be read increases with each page I read. (I'e shamelessly posted my Amazon wishlist to my Facebook page in hopes I will get some for my birthday coming up). And it's not just your recommendations but the discussions you and your mom have about them that intrigue me and make me wish that I was a part of them. I didn't grow up in a household of readers and I didn't have people to talk to about books. I tried to make up for that by making sure I took at least one literature class a semester in my undergrad. As I read your story there is a part of me that is envious of your relationship with your mother and your shared love of books. Thank you for letting me be a part of your book club.

Hi Elyse,

Thanks for sharing. I'm sorry to hear about your friends. There are times where I feel like cancer is everywhere.

My father was diagnosed with cancer when I was 18. He is still alive 45+ years later. I was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2001. I consider myself lucky, my cancer was contained in a mass and was surgerically removed. I needed no chemotherapy. I remember those first days so well. Waiting for the tests to determine if the cancer had spread. No matter how many years pass, I still worry about cancer popping up somewhere else in my body. I had my thyroid out last December and they found just a dot of cancer which they call clinically insignificant. I don't worry too much but am aware that for the next 5 years I will be vigilant.

The older we get the more we will be faced with our own illnesses and those of others. The Etiquette of Illness is on my to buy list as well.

Hi Elyse, You seem to be in a number of book clubs. Are you one of those remarkable people that can read more than one book at a time? Do you have a favorite club? I can only read one book at a time but I can listen to another book while reading a book. I've got David Sedaris' new book on CD on my to buy list when it comes out. I've got 5 new books winging their way as we speak. "Etiquette" will be in the next order.

Karen

Hi Elyse - I asked about the book clubs because I see your reviews and recommendations and you seem to be a prolific reader.

I have a Nook and when I first bought it I got a number of book on it. I still prefer reading paper and ink books. I lug them every where. The other day I ran out of gas in my work's parking lot and sat in the car waiting for a friend to arrive with gas. I got a lot of reading done during that time. LOL

I have a Dave Eggers book,can't rememberwhich one but haven'tread it yet. I'll put Zeitoun on my list to read.

Hmm, well now I'm intrigued by this Zeitoun character. It'll have to be put on the back burner though beacue I just recieved 5 new books in the mail and I haven't finished THOYLBC yet. I find reading a comfort as well but I also find myself watching more tv than is good for me. I don't even have cable so all I watch is Netflix. I think though after a day at work I feel the need for mindlessness. I love that you read so much. I enjoy all your recommendations and and prolific reading material. I wish I took the time to read more.

I just found this book club and am very excited to find other readers who are interested I in the books discussed in The End of Your Life Book Club and other's. This is the first time I have joined a book club and I have always been disappointed that so few of my friends seem to share my love of reading. I hope that this will be a good forum for getting into some good discussions to increase our appreciation for each book we read.

So glad to have someone else join here. I really loved this book and have enjoyed sharing my thought abd feelings about it on this forum with others who also appreciated it. I look forward to hearing hearing more from you. Welcome Vicky.

Will we be selecting a book to read simultaneously, or this meant to be a discussion of the books each of has enjoyed?

I recently read All the King"s Men. Before I read it I thought that it was about a corrupt politician but it was more of a man's discovery of himself. It's a book I plan to read again.

I'm open to any of the books you suggested. I read the Larson Steig books and enjoyed them. I also read an Ian Mcewen book but not the one you suggested. The one I read was The Attonement. What do other readers want to do?

Will and his Mom formed a little book club with just 2 members so I think we can do anything we set our minds to.

As far as the Atonement, I would say that I liked it but it wasn't my favorite. One of my favorite books of all time was Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.