November 2004: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Haddon)

Post date: Jan 06, 2010 8:1:46 PM

Christopher, the narrator, completely drew us into his story in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. He told it in such an accessible and straight-forward manner, accented with mathematical equations and diagrams of his thoughts and surroundings. We had some discussion about whether he was mildly autistic or has Asperger's syndrome (considered to be on a different place in the spectrum of socially-challenged mentally brilliant people), as well as how the author was able to portray this way of thinking.

Not surprisingly, discussion at this November 17th book club also branched out into politics and the different approaches readers have in responding to the recent election and subsequent conversations in the diverse media.

Ros McIntosh had brought a bag full of her books, and we bought copies to read for the January gathering. Betsey challenged us to read up a bit on WWII history to have more to add to the discussion (the book begins in Germany, 1939).

Many thanks to Maggie for hosting!

NOTE: Book club will not meet in December. In January we will read Live, Laugh and Learn: Tales of Tumultuous Times by Ros McIntosh '55. Betsey already started reading Ros' book: "As a German child whose family was caught in the turmoil of WWII, she writes a very compelling story. It's a history review and raises many questions of policy including why our government was so reluctant to help Jews at the beginning of the war in Europe. It should make for a lively discussion and also applaud another one of our group for a literary achievement."