September book: Feed, by M.T. Anderson

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think.

--from Nicholas Carr's article in the Atlantic Monthly

The September gathering to discuss Feed, by M.T. Anderson has been rescheduled to avoid Rosh Hashanah. We will meet at the Hooks Davis's on September 15. It's been a long time to read a short book, so, in addition to the article cited above, here are some other suggestions for supplemental "reading":
The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr
Digital Overload, on NPRs Fresh Air
Multitasking Teens, more NPR
Interview with Nicholas Carr
something by Sherry Turkle, like maybe this interview

Here's what some Barnes & Noble reader/reviewers had to say about Feed:

• The book in general is directed towards teens and a youthful age group. In other words, for those who can understand the humor and withstand the language. The novel is far from horrendous and far from a must-read.
• Many of the phrases and scenarios described in the reading are NOT for easily offended church goers.
• I loved the writing style of this book. The dialoge was very similar to ours but for the fact that they said words like mal and unit. Anderson's style of writing made tha book very interesting and a page-turner. I truly believe that you should read this inticing book about the future and the technology of it. It takes you on a ride of confusion and intensity.
• Overall I didn't really like the book because it had strange text or I should the way the author wrote how the characters talk was strange. In the beginning of the book it really threw me off because it described how they were all on the moon and had lesions and some guy was hacking into everyone's feed. I didn't get that at all.
• I'm pretty sure we all won't have feeds in our heads telling us what to wear or what's popular and what isn't and lesions randomly appearing on our bodies. All we have to do is watch t.v. or go online and get updated on the new trends and fashions.
• I enjoyed having dialogue with my teenager after we both read this book, determining the relativity to her personal reality in high school and the main characters. It is an eye-opening look into a future we all say we don't want while we merrily IM and text and surf for a better tomorrow.

July book: Burnt Shadows, by Kamila Shamsie

Join us at Mr Hunter's for "Burnt Shadows" by Kamila Shamsie. Shamsie’s complex fifth novel, spanning the years between August 1945 and September 2001, is a story of two inextricably connected and politically impacted families. Berliner Konrad Weiss and Hiroko Tanaka, his translator, meet in Nagasaki and plan to marry. But after he is incinerated by the bomb and she is left permanently scarred, Hiroko journeys to Delhi, home of Konrad’s half-sister, Elizabeth Burton, and her British husband, James. Hiroko bonds with James’ assistant, Sajjad. With Partition between India and Pakistan looming, the Burtons return to England, where their son Henry is in boarding school. Hiroko and Sajjad marry, but they’re not allowed back into India, since Sajjad is a Muslim who “chose to leave.” Shamsie takes up their story 35 years later in Karachi, where they have one son, Raza, after bomb-related miscarriages. Henry appears, searching for his past, and offers to assist with Raza’s education; by 2001, they’re working together for the CIA in the U.S. Shamsie offers a moving look at the “complicated shared history” of these two families, an increasingly common facet of globalization. --
SEE INTERVIEW WITH KAMILA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m3I71LSQ7D8E2

June Book: The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo

Join us in June for "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". An epic tale of serial murder and corporate trickery spanning several continents, the novel takes in complicated international financial fraud and the buried evil past of a wealthy Swedish industrial family. Through its main character, it also references classic forebears of the crime thriller genre while its style mixes aspects of the sub-genres. There are references to Astrid Lindgren, Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, as well as Sue Grafton, Val McDermid, Elizabeth George, Sara Paretsky, and several other key authors of detective novels. A journalist and magazine editor in Stockholm until his death, Larsson reveals a knowledge and enjoyment of both English and American crime fiction. He declared that he wrote his opus for his own pleasure in the evenings after work.^[1]