The book is a short one, telling the story of a professor from a South African technical college, David Lurie, who falls into disgrace. The story begins with the dissolution of his relationship to a prostitute, then leads into a rather tactless and boorish attempt of his to start an affair with a young student. When the affair is revealed, he deals with the inquiry badly, leading to his dismissal. From here the professor goes to the South African countryside to live with his daughter on what remains of a communal farm.

There are several reasons this book produced such a good discussion I think. First, the general opinion of the book was all over the map with some people absolutely loving the book and other despising it. One woman said that when she finished the last chapter, she threw it across the room in disgust. While another woman said that she was mesmerized by the prose. Several people agreed with her and it seemed that a few people finished the entire book in one night, in one sitting.

Another reason the book produced a good discussion was that nearly all of the characters, besides the professor, were difficult to fathom. The motives, desires and intentions of the student who sleeps with the professor, of his daughter Lucy and of Petrus, Lucy’s nearest neighboring farmer, are all hard to discern. While there are plenty of salient hints as to what they are thinking and why they make their choices, they remain just beyond our understanding. It is clear that Professor Lurie does not understand those people who are close to him, and so these characters also remain partially closed to the reader. This left a lot of room for us to discuss these characters and try to figure out what was going on.

One thing that we all seemed to agree on is that Lurie may be the most unlikeable character in any book we have read. There are other characters in the same book that do more despicable things, but Lurie is unable to recognize that he has done anything wrong and his arrogance in dealing with the college authorities, his daughter and Petrus is particularly unappealing. Still it is different to dislike a character than to dislike a book. This is definitely a book I would recommend for a book club if you are looking for something that will spark an interesting discussion.

In college I was an English major, but I never loved literature back then. I had a great class my Freshman year called Introduction to Poetry. This was mainly because the instructor, a grad student at the time, was so jazzed to teach the class. He also held office hours at the local bar. He would make you play pinball with him while you discussed your paper. It was that first semester that I decided to couple an English and Rhetoric major with a Cinema Studies minor. Despite many tedious English classes to follow, I plowed ahead with that plan.

I did have a few other good experiences in literature classes. I spent a year in London studying lit and there were a few lectures that stick with me to this day. But somewhere along the line, I lost my love for reading fiction. Oh sure I would occasionally pick up a book and read it. Mostly I read a book it was non-fiction however. I read plenty of books about science, math, poker, current events and politics, but novels were rare.

Then last year I was in a book club and when I moved back home I started one here in Peoria. Here are the books we have done and are scheduled:

• June: Little Children by Tom Perrotta
• July: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• August: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
• September: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• October: Old School by Tobias Wolff
• November: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

The discussions so far have been some of the most interesting and pleasant conversations I’ve had in a long time. Books provide a context to have intelligent, impassioned conversations, where everyone can have a point of view and get behind it without stepping on each others toes. I’m sure it’s possible to leave a book club offended, but it certainly doesn’t have the inevitability of a discussion about politics or religion.

If you are looking for a good conversation with some interesting people, a book club is probably a good bet.

So I downloaded about a dozen samples of novels. I finally zeroed in on one by Tom Perrotta, the author of Election. A friend suggested the Abstinence Teacher, I read the sample and bought the book. But after reading a bit, I thought it might be too political and too religious for a first book, when I have no idea who will be showing up to this club. The last thing I want is a heated debate about Evangelical Christianity and sex education in the schools. Besides I realized that it isn’t out in paperback yet. Still, I liked his writing style, and decided to try Little Children instead.

I think this one is a keeper. It’s a quick read, funny, with lots to talk about. I’m a bit nervous about all the adult content in the book. There are several very frank scenes about sex, perversions and a character who is a child molester. It’s probably not a huge deal, but it feels strangely vulnerable to recommend a book to strangers.

The next book will likely be The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. I’m almost done with that and have really been enjoying it too.

What are the requirements for inclusion on my list? Books must be in paperback and ubiquitous enough to be found in a local library. A big bonus if they are available for the Kindle (I may only use Kindle-available books for purely selfish reasons). Oh and they must be good books, hopefully with a bit of an edge.

I’m also considering doing some kind of virtual version of the book club. Perhaps I would do it in SecondLife, or via a group in Facebook or on my message board. Sounds like fun and not that much more work since we would read the same book in the different locations.