Wednesday, September 25, 2024

September book club selection: North Woods

This month it was my turn to host book club, and since we've begun letting the hostess pick the book, I had to choose something. Lately we've read a lot of what I consider "fluff" fiction, light and mildly entertaining but not all that literary. I decided that this time, I wanted something with a little more meat to it. I did an internet search for the best books of the past couple of years and came up with three titles that I thought sounded promising. Last month I told the group a little about the three books I was considering and put it to a vote. North Woods by Daniel Mason was the winner. 

What a joy this book was to me! It's the best thing I've read in ages. I think it's going to join my list of all-time favorite books, and that's a short list. 

From Goodreads:

A sweeping novel about a single house in the woods of New England, told through the lives of those who inhabit it across the centuries—a daring, moving tale of memory and fate from the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Piano Tuner and The Winter Soldier.

When a pair of young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become home to an extraordinary succession of inhabitants. An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to apples. A pair of spinster twins survive war and famine, only to succumb to envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths a mass grave, but finds the ancient trees refuse to give up their secrets. A lovelorn painter, a conman, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle; as each one confronts the mysteries of the north woods, they come to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.

Traversing cycles of history, nature, and even literature, North Woods shows the myriad, magical ways in which we’re connected to our environment and to one another, across time, language and space. Written along with the seasons and divided into the twelve months of the year, it is an unforgettable novel about secrets and fates that asks the timeless how do we live on, even after we’re gone?

North Woods was so beautifully written that I found myself reading and rereading passages and wanting to take my time and savor them. Since I'd bought a copy and offered to let my friend Marian borrow it before book club, I had to read it much faster than I wanted to. To give you an idea of how much I loved it, when she brought it back to me the night of book club, I immediately started to re-read it. I'm taking my time and finding so many wonderful things I missed the first time.

Spanning centuries from the perspective of one small piece of land in northwestern Massachusetts, it's the history of a place, with the human characters coming and going across the years alongside the changing flora and fauna of the area. From NPR's review:

North Woods manages, impressively, to balance both the narrow and the long view, intimately focusing on the lives of each of the house's inhabitants, yet expansively encompassing American history, natural history, and the relentless march of time and the cycle of the seasons.

And from the Washington Post book review:

Indeed, to read “North Woods” is to suffer the sweet sorrow of falling in love with fresh residents only to see them swept away by the passing seasons. Persist. The silent spaces between these stories articulate what the residents can’t. Their errant lives begin locking together in a winding chain of unlikely history. And when the moonlight strikes just right, you may even see some past homeowner flit across the corner of a page once again.

As you may have guessed, North Woods made for a really nice discussion. I even printed out a "book club guide" from the publisher's website.





As usual, I made a lot of food! We had a crudité platter, deviled eggs, ham and Swiss cheese sliders (pictured here before going in the oven and toasted!) hot spinach and artichoke dip, tortilla chips and plain potato chips. 



I bought ready-made desserts from Sam's. Large, fancy cupcakes and apple pie.


I also had several bottles of wine, as well as a cooler filled with ice and hard apple cider, assorted sodas, and bottled water.

I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it, and I'm happy to say my hosting responsibilities are fulfilled for another year! 


24 comments:

  1. You go all out for your book club. I started one in a little library in my home state...it is going strong...they meet at the library. My favorite two books for 2024 are by Kristin Hannah, not my all time favorite author, but this is her OPUS...THE WOMEN...then by Meghan Church...The Girls We Sent Away...both books take place during my time period growing up...they are amazing and factual. THE WOMEN was read by a friend of mine, a professor, who was in Vietnam...he is always very concerned about facts...he liked the book very much...Church's book is about happenings that I was never aware of...I have read each of these books three times this year...I read several books a week for Netgalley for review also...consider these sometime. Glad you are reading. Glad you like your new job. I miss that area of South Carolina so much. Today I was evacuated in Florida for this hurricane...third year in a row same week. We have not had a major hit here (they say) in 120 years...and hope this time, it passes us again but prayers for all of us. Enjoy your blog so so much.

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    1. Please stay safe down there in Florida! This hurricane looks to be a bad one. Thanks for all the nice comments! :)

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  2. I read that book recently and agree with you that it was an interesting book. Your food looks so delicious and I am sure your book club was impressed!

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    1. No one touched the vegetables! Haha. One day I'll learn that crudites never get much respect! :)

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  3. That does indeed sound like a good book -- I've put it on my "to read" list! And may I say, what a spread of goodies you put on for your book club members! Yum yum!

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    1. If you read it, please let me know what you think!

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  4. Interesting. The food looks scrumptious.

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    1. The sliders were cheesy and toasty and delicious, a big hit!

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  5. The food looks amazing! We have water or coffee/soft drinks and a dessert at our Book Club. The book sounds excellent and I intend to recommend it!

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    1. We do a bit more than drinks and dessert, but since most of us only host once or twice a year, it's not too much. I'd highly recommend North Woods to you and your club!

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  6. That sounds like a book I'd enjoy, I'm currently reading a book that follows a family and their friends/acquaintances through the 20th and 21st Centuries; it sounds quite similar.

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    1. This book follows a place over four centuries, and the trees, plants, animals, and insects share the stage with the human inhabitants. It's quite different to anything else I've read before!

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  7. What a spread! I'd come to the book club at your house just to eat. I haven't heard of North Woods. I'll keep it in mind for the future. A good book club choice for the future might be Lessons In Chemistry, which I loved. Some of Joyce Maynard's books would be good, too.

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    1. We read Lessons in Chemistry a while back. I was the only one who didn't love it. I wish you could join us!

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    2. I wish I could join you, too, Jennifer, but even if I lived in your part of the country, the truth is I wouldn't do it. I can't drive after dark and being in a group of people causes me terrible anxiety. But I like to read and do so a lot.

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  8. I had not heard of the book or its author before, thank you for the recommendation. It certainly sounds like something I would enjoy. As for your feast - Jennifer, you are an impressive hostess, and not just the food, but your rooms look so welcoming.

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    1. I think you would really love the book, Meike. I'd recommend giving it a try!

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  9. Sounds like you made a great book choice there. I wonder where Gregg was while all this was happening - probably banished to The North Woods.

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    1. Off cleaning aquariums for the first hour, then hiding in the office with a plate of snacks once he got home!

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  10. Your book club sounds like a lot of fun. And now I have a book in my list of books to read. Your spread looked delicious!

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  11. We just added this book to our library, so I look forward to reading it at some point!

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  12. I know it's a cliche, but I'd go to your book club just for the refreshments. Having said that- I love that book and plan to reread it at some point in the not too distant future.

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  13. Ha! That is one of the books on my 'mean to read list'.

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  14. thank you for the book tip!
    I am mad-jealous; I miss being part of a book club.

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