Book Of the Month for May...

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer has written a novel for our times, a story so deeply affecting and wise that it has to potential to have an impact far beyond that of most novels. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a collage about the world we live in: its terrorism, its beauty, its love, its mysteries, its absurdities, its people. Oskar is a precocious nine-year old who writes letters to famously intelligent people asking to be their protégé, invents a "googolplex" of devices (such as an ambulance that tells people when a loved one is inside and a lollipop that tells people how they are feeling), who knows a tremendous amount of facts (many of which he wishes he didn't know) - and who has lost his beloved father in the World Trade Center bombings. Oskar harbors a secret about that day that he cannot bring to share with anyone, not even his mother or grandmother. When he discovers a strange key among his father's possessions, he sets out in the five boroughs of New York to see what it unlocks. His narrative is punctuated by that of his grandfather, a man left speechless by what he experienced during the bombing of Dresden, and his grandmother, also a survivor of the Dresden firebombing, who loves Oskar in ways his mother cannot and who tries to make sense of why her husband left her before the birth of their son. The relationships are complex and heartfelt, and are marked by an affection that will make readers laugh from the pleasure of them. Just when you think Foer can't get any deeper with his insights, he does.


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The date for our next meeting is Monday, May 26th from 7-9pm.
Meeting place: Aroma Di Roma, 5327 E. 2nd Street, Long Beach, CA 90803; And a our second new location at Vint's American Grill 4722 E. 2nd StreetLong Beach, CA 90803 across from Super Mex...