We met on July 29, under a large black walnut tree in the field behind Christine's house. Christine warned us that direct hits by falling walnuts was possible. Nothing fell, there were no injuries. The day was hot, the view of the Palisades was spectacular. Christine sent us home with flowers from her garden.
Our tradition at the picnic is to talk about the book we're reading. The upside of the pandemic’s social distancing requirement may be that we have more time to read. Following, a list of books read and recommended:
Connie:
Go Went Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck
House: A Graphic Novel by Josh Simmons
Laura
The Visitation by Frank Peretti
March A Graphic Novel by John Lewis
Linda
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Rodham: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld
Trace Elements by Donna Leon
…and too many short stories to list
Laura
Go Went Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck
Mysteries by Jane Langton, Patricia Cornwall and Deborah
Crombie (particularly Crombie’s Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James series)
Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow
Fran
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Assistant by Robert Walser
The Provincial Lady Goes to America by E. M.
Delafield
How Fiction Works by James Webb
Carol
mysteries by Donna Leon
Half the Way Home by Adam Hochschild
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
Joanna
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
I Married a Communist by Philip Roth
Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce,
audiobook read by Colin Farrell
My Favorite Things Are Monsters, A
Graphic Novel by Emil Ferris
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Hastings Library’s webinar, Shadow Show:
All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury led by Sharon DeLevie
Jacquie
An American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Rodham: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld
You Think It, I’ll Say It stories by Curtis
Sittenfeld
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
How Much of the Hills Are Gold by C Pam
Zhang
Music for Wartime by Rebecca Makkai
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth
Gilbert
Apeirogon by Colin McCann
Lori
The Plague by Albert Camus
Nancy Mitford’s books (all)
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White
People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X.
Kendi
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Carla
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created
the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump, PhD
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary
Mantel
Connie
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Girl Woman Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Christine
Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary
Mantel
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
The Graduate by Charles Webb
Shirley Jackson’s short stories
A Children’s Bible: A Novel by Lydia
Mollett
The Forty Days Of Musa Dagh by Franz
Werfel
Diana (who missed the meeting but let us
know what she’s been reading)
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
The Overstory by Richard Powers
One Fine Day and Good Evening, Mrs.
Craven by Mollie Panter-Downes
Quite a Year for Plums by Bailey White
