Posted by MC Trouble on Thu, Feb 18, 2010 @ 10:32 AM
What Makes a Great Book Club Meeting?
The SCORPS have been at it for two years now; we've had strong meetings and we've had a couple weak showings. This past week we had a subpar gathering - by SCORP standards - which got me thinking about what drives a good book club meeting.
Obviously the actual book selection is an important factor in a solid discussion. However, arguably the best SCORP-up to date followed our least sophisticated literary selection, MEG. And, to that point, the subject of this past week's lackluster meeting was The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, a whirlwind thriller with 590 action-packed pages to dissect.
The common theme that exists for our best sessions is that they were planned around some sort of event. And our poorest meetings (i.e., playing video lawn darts at arguably the lamest bar in town) have been thrown together last minute.
Our best assemblies, in my opinion, are as follows:
1. Location: Medieval Manor Book: MEG
This place advertised and delivered a cheesy theatrical performance, awful food (with no utensils), and endless pitchers of ale. The crowd is encouraged to get rowdy but no party reached the level of inappropriateness attained by the SCORPS. Inevitably an intra-table food fight broke out with vicious attacks occurring every time the lights were dimmed. The icing on the cake was a post-show, alleyway rumble that left the SCORP stamp on this venue.
2. Location: Manchester Firing Line Range Book: The Power and The Glory
Guns. Adrenaline. Guns. The interesting part about having a book club meeting at a firing range is that everyone is required to wear a headset, disallowing any verbal communication. Although we eventually discussed the book over a beer after the range, the conversation inevitably came back to the exhilaration of firing a semi-automatic firearm.
3. Location: Wonderland Greyhound Park Book: McMafia
The thrill of gambling on dogs combined with the hygiene of the track's patrons made for an entertaining evening. Although I don't believe any of us netted money, this was time well spent.
Whenever possible, SCORP-meets should involve some sort of event like a beer tasting, a casino, a rodeo, or strippers. This assures the energy level is high, the discussion is heated, and most importantly, the competition is fierce.
Posted by MC Trouble on Wed, Jan 13, 2010 @ 08:30 AM
After 120 pages of Thomas Pynchon's book, Inherent Vice, I am completely underwhelmed. To be honest, I don't think I can possibly make it any further. In my estimation, this is the worst book the Scorps have selected to date - worse than McMafia and worse than Youth In Revolt. Here are a couple of reasons why this book failed to capture me:
1. The main character is a loser: Doc is such a f'n tool. If I'm going to get excited about a book I need to be rooting for a badass. Right from the start Doc came across as a waste of space. I like the whole stoner detective thing but so far he is getting owned by everyone he interacts with.
2. Too many characters to remember: Like all (Editor's Note: just him) Scorps, I drink and watch TV while I read. Thus, I don't have the memory space for all these stupid characters (Editor's Note: The rest of us may). Normally, upon confusion, I would go back and re-read to remember a name. There are so many people in this book that I can't even tell you who was murdered or who has disappeared.
3. Lame portrayal of the sixties: Starting with the cover art, this book tries too hard. I'm sure it's difficult to write sixties fiction without being overly cliché, but I just couldn't accept this attempt. What put me over the edge was when the entire Wavos coffee shop shouted "wipeout" in unison.
Because of the above, I have not been properly engaged by this book and now I have no clue what is going on.
What do others think? Is anyone going to finish this?
- MC TROUBLE
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UPDATE
THE SPANIARD AND SCORP #8 have both finished Inherent Vice but it was definitely a losing battle. The ending somehow managed to tie everything together with some gratuitous sex scenes, but there were so many different plot threads it barely made any sense. I also picked up Pynchon's book Mason Dixon and am willing to give him another try in a couple months after my brain recovers from this. Groovy.