April selection: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

"The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth." (Ecclesiastes 7:4)

Beautiful Lily Bart failed to head the warning, turning directly from the funeral parlor to the homes of New York City's 400 -- friends whose wealth and fast living led her to believe she, too, could have a life of ease.

I've read The House of Mirth twice, and seen the movie (not as great), but I'm looking forward to reading it again and discussing it with everyone on April 21 28 May 19.

Finding a good book to read

At our last club meeting, the hazards of finding books -- particularly online -- came up. Unless, or until, Barnes & Noble comes up with a rating system like there is for movies, the reader is pretty much in the dark about a new author and the contents or subject matter of his or her books.

I'd like to recommend what I'll call the literary pedigree approach to finding good books. It's worked very well for me.

Start with an author you've found to be enjoyable and trustworthy. Then get to know the authors that influenced him or her, and other authors who've been influenced by them.

I can still trace the pedigree that began for me with C.S. Lewis. I read, I believe, all his fiction works -- The Chronicles of Narnia, the space-time trilogy, The Great Divorce -- and then I wondered, "What next?"

Also around that time I read some of his non-fiction, and a biography or two about him. I recommend doing the latter. If you find an author that you like, get to know him or her better by reading an autobiography or biography. And pay attention to the books he or she likes. You might even be able to find this information on Wikipedia.

In Lewis' case, one literary influence was George MacDonald. He wrote Lilith, Phantastes, The Princess and the Goblin, At the Back of the North Wind, and many other terrific books. They are listed on his Wikipedia entry.

Also listed are other authors influenced by him, and I have enjoyed works by many of them: J.R.R. Tolkien, Madeleine L'Engle, and even Mark Twain. One in particular, G.K. Chesterton, brought me to some favorites: the Father Brown mysteries and The Man Who Was Thursday.
A contemporary (to us) author that found inspiration in MacDonald is Michael Phillips. His titles will keep you busy for a long time. Indeed, following the Lewis pedigree gives readers a wealth of good reading.

One other author in the Lewis realm -- a friend, though not an Inkling -- is Dorothy Sayers. Her Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries are delightful. From there the trail in my memory of links between authors peters out, but you get the drift.

By following such a trail, starting with an author of substance and learning about from whence the substance was derived, you won't go too far wrong. You'll find books that are worth reading. There's no lack of books to read these days; discerning which are most worthwhile takes a little research but is not too hard.

Review: Stealing Buddha's Dinner, a memoir by Bich Minh Nguyen

This book contains the childhood memories of a Vietnamese woman who came to this country as a baby in 1975 as Saigon fell to the Communists. She has no recollection of her old country, yet suffers as a displaced person after her family settles in our hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was pleasant and somewhat jarring to see it through her eyes.

Ambiguity seems to be a theme. As she grows up, she is deeply attracted to, and yet repulsed by, Americans and their ways.

Television is her entree into the culture. From it she learns the language and absorbs its lessons. As most children do, she takes it quite literally that the products she sees advertised will make her happy and fulfilled. She seems to come to an understanding early on that they won't satisfy, but the promise is so strong that she can't quite shake it.

Dissatisfaction she has plenty. Her family is fragmented, a blending of immigrants -- her Vietnamese father, sister, grandmother, and uncles with a Hispanic stepmother and stepsister. She's never known her mother, and there's no one who will tell her what she wants to know about her. While the stepmother is an English-as-a-second-language instructor who does her best to learn the system and make it work for them, the rest seem to go their own way and assimilate to varying degrees.

And it's in the days before multiculturalism. Political correctness, as odious as we often find it, nevertheless has not had its good effect of creating an awareness of the value of other cultures. And so she suffers the slings and arrows of misunderstanding, prejudice, and outright cruelty. Kind people make overtures, but with Bich it seems to only increase her isolation. She can't process what's going on around her, and can't articulate what's going on inside. The people in her life who should have nurtured her were either absent or silent.

The book gives you a good sense of her feelings. Much is relatable to everyone's experience at one time or another. Who hasn't felt like an outsider? Ugly? Hungry? Who isn't grateful to have overcome those feelings, as the author finally seems to by the end?

Readers must have patience with the shifting timeline. It often isn't clear how old the writer was when an event occured. I felt, though, that the glimpse into another life, in a time and place that I have lived through, was interesting and worthwhile.

In homage to the theme of food that ties all her chapters together, we decided to meet at a local restaurant where we could sample Vietnamese food. Lai Thai Kitchen on Leonard NE is a pleasant space with good food and accommodating staff -- who said they were Buddhist when we showed them the book we'd read and our reason for coming. And, just as in Bich's grandmother's bedroom, there sat a Buddha at the restaurant's entrance, complete with an offering of watermelon.