Paul's Winning Wager: a Spanish Fiesta in the Sonoma Valley

Lunch & Acknowledgments

A huge thanks is owed to our host, Paul, who went to considerable effort yesterday.  Rather than emulate the poor fare served aboard HMS Wager, Paul prepared a meal that would have made Pizarro (the captain of the Spanish galleon targeted by the English fleet) quite proud.

To accomplish that, he enlisted the assistance of his fine friend Paul, an expert in hosting paella parties; he set out plates of delicious Spanish appetizers; and he avoided any food tainted by an association with the Royal Navy.  Actually, that's not true.  For verisimilitude, Paul included a plate of hard tack next to his 3 types of Spanish cheese, his marinated carrots, his blanched almonds, and his tureen of delicious Andalusian gazpacho. 

For an outstanding luncheon of paella and more, for the gorgeous vineyard setting in Glen Ellen, and for the gracious hospitality shown to us and our significant others, Paul has our gratitude. 

A smaller turnout, but no less convivial
l to r: Paul, Jack, Andrew, Tom, Garth, George, Larry, Stan

Our Review and Discussion of The Wager by David Grann

We spent several hours at Paul's but could only break away for 25 minutes to discuss our book.  No matter.  It was a fast consensus:  Grann has produced yet another winner in his preferred category of non-fiction (i.e., stories of events poorly remembered and long since sanitized).  It worked for him (and for us) with Killers of the Flower Moon, and now with The Wager.

Set in the 1740's during the fabricated War of Jenkins Ear, in which the English sought revenge for Spain's exclusionary trade practices in the Caribbean, The Wager tells the story of a small squadron dispatched from England to cross the Atlantic and round Cape Horn in order to capture a Spanish galleon in the South Pacific.  Challenged by harsh weather, rudimentary navigation, and malnutrition and disease, the Wager is separated from the fleet, founders off the coast of Chile, and is shipwrecked on a deserted island.  Convinced that the captain is unable to lead the 100 or so remaining crew back to England, 81 of the men mutiny and head back to London by way of Brazil.  Fewer than 30 make it.  Of the 20 who stay with the captain, two survive with him and they arrive in London the following year.

The journey, the hardship, the mutiny--all of these elements made our reading a pleasure.  But many of us were disappointed that the inevitable court martial was devoted to expedience, not justice. Grann teases the reader with the moral and legal questions provoked by the crew's behavior, but then makes no apology for the Admiralty's evasive ruling.

Our Rating of The Wager

While our reactions were uniformly positive, we split into 3 camps: the 7's enjoyed a terrific story but complained about a narrative too constrained by the official record or simply felt it suffered in comparison to other excellent non-fiction tales of the sea, like Endurance.  The 8's felt the story was impressive enough to overcome serious criticism. And the 9's--led by ringleader Stan--were simply out to game the ratings!  The result was an impressive 8.0.

Next Up:  Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

With a slate focused on the perspectives of children, Larry proposed Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See, McCourt's Angela's Ashes, Zamora's Solito, and Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun.  Ishiguro has been on proffer several times and, with Klara and the Sun, we finally get our chance.  We'll see in September if his is the version of AI we need to fear.

Tequila, Bourbon, and (White) Powder at Jack's

Dinner & Acknowledgments

Last Thursday we met at Jack's and, in a first, practically ignored the dinner he placed in front of us.  Instead, our attention was riveted on his selection of appetizers.  Well, one appetizer in particular.  Since a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, here goes:

A fitting appetizer

Yes, to complement a book about one man's incarceration for drug trafficking, Jack treated us to lines of cocaine and shots of tequila and bourbon.  (The liquor was real; I can't vouch for the coke.)

Our Review and Discussion of Marching Powder by Rusty Young and Thomas McFadden

When he proposed his list of book titles, Jack explained that Marching Powder made the list because, while he and his wife were traveling back from Machu Picchu, their train companions were reading the book and touting it as the real-life story of an Englishman ensnared in a byzantine criminal justice system and locked up in a most extraordinary prison.  Their comments were enough for us, and our comments during dinner were almost as enthusiastic.

Caught leaving Bolivia with a suitcase of cocaine, Thomas McFadden is sentenced to serve 6 1/2 years at the San Pedro prison in La Paz.  He learns quickly that San Pedro is unlike any prison in the west. There are few guards patrolling the prison, there are no cells and no curfews, and no food or clothing is provided.  Unable to speak Spanish, McFadden almost dies from exposure before he is befriended by another inmate who shows him how to survive (and later thrive) in the self-governing underground economy that is San Pedro.

We were all enthralled by McFadden's story.  Much like Among the Thugs, another non-fiction account that aroused our interest (but in the hooligan subculture of British soccer), Marching Powder revealed a world so unlike the one we know (and read about in Bauer's American Prison) that we forgave its repetitive writing and bloated length and were instead absorbed by McFadden's triumphs:  his lucrative prison tours to foreign backpackers, his relationship with an Israeli girl who is allowed to live with him, his prison business successes (including a convenience store and a restaurant), and his eventual release two years ahead of schedule.

Our Rating of Marching Powder

McFadden surely would have garnered a 10 if we rated on novelty alone, but we don't and so the book's significant shortcomings yielded it a 6.8.  Doug, in a rare act of defiance, refused to read it.  Stan, in an all-too-common act of defiance, gave it a 10.  Dan didn't finish but promised he would.  (Well, did you, Dan?)

Next Up:  The Wager by David Grann

Paul put us on track for summer with 3 seafaring titles.  We set aside Master and Commander and Captain Blood and instead chose The Wager, David Grann's latest non-fiction blockbuster.  We meet next in the lovely town of Glen Ellen, a rather different locale from that depicted in Marching Powder.

An Evening of Ordinary Grace at Tom's

Dinner and Acknowledgments

Krueger's novel about a mid-century Minnesota town featured exactly three meals: Gus' improvised spam and eggs, the boys' recurring bologna and PB&J sandwiches, and Mrs. Drum's tasteless tuna casserole.  It also featured one dessert:  ice cream.  To our relief, last Monday Tom chose the latter for our dessert and ignored the former in favor of a classic American menu:  grilled cheeseburgers, homemade potato salad and baked beans, and a mixed green salad.  All of it was terrific. Well done, Tom!

Our meal was also *graced* by the presence of two MBC alums, Garth and Peter.  Both men have been busy and both have been missed.  We were genuinely grateful to have them with us for the evening.  

Our Review and Discussion of Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

Set in the summer of 1961, Ordinary Grace is the story of the Drum family's tragic loss, as seen through the eyes of its 13-year old narrator, Frank Drum.  Priming the reader for the tragedy ahead, the novel opens with two unexpected deaths: a child is killed while playing on the train tracks, and an itinerant is found dead by the river.  As the town grapples with--and gossips about--these two events, Frank introduces us to the members of his family: his Methodist minister father; his beautiful but brittle mother; his stuttering younger brother; and his musical prodigy sister, who is headed to Juilliard in the fall.  When death is visited upon one of them, it's the unexpected grace of ordinary moments that helps the rest carry on.

Our reaction to the book was predictably positive.  Yes, the plot was a little derivative according to Doug (thanks for the email!), with echoes of other family saga / coming-of-age tales.  Larry called it "Richard Russo light" (Russo's Nobody's Fool still sits atop our rankings) and, with Glenn and Doug, likened it to To Kill a Mockingbird's expose of tragedy and animus in small town America.  However,  our naysayers found much to enjoy, even if the ending was telegraphed (Glenn) and at least one character's personal revelation was trite (thanks for calling in, George!).

So, why did we like it so much?  Well, who doesn't like a heroic boy who throws the town bully into a reservoir, ignores his dad's well-intentioned commands, and singlehandedly solves the mystery at the end of the novel?  OK, I'm over-simplifying, but Jack was so taken by the narrator's precociousness that he gave the book his first-ever 10.  And Dean, who grew up as the younger brother in his family, was charmed by Frank Drum's fearlessness.  Ultimately, however, what captivated all of us were the simple moments in the story that uplifted both character and reader simultaneously. Gus making dinner for the boys, the "bad cop" letting Gus out of jail, the "bad Indian" showing gratitude, the wife-beater returning to church, Jake's cathartic rendition of grace, and so on.  All of these were the novel's extra-ordinary moments.

Our Rating of Ordinary Grace

The blurb on the back of Krueger's affecting novel about mid-century America proclaims that Ordinary Grace won the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award.  If we categorized our fiction geographically, I have no doubt that Krueger would lead our midwest rankings.  But with only our 1-10 numerical ranking available to show our appreciation, we gladly gave Krueger a fulsome 8.0.

Next Up:  Marching Powder by Thomas McFadden

Jack gave us a list that included Revolutionary Road, Remains of the Day, Ohio, and Wenner's memoir, Like a Rolling Stone.  We turned them all down in favor of Marching Powder, the true story of a British man's incarceration in a Colombian prison for drug smuggling.  We'll see next month how closely McFadden's story parallels Stan's youthful escapades in South America.

Up River at Doug's

Dinner and Acknowledgments

Our dinner on Friday was typical Doug--excellent and understated.  From the blackened salmon to the root vegetables to the Ginger Stout Cake, Doug's meal was the perfect mid-winter accompaniment to our discussion.  

Note to Doug:  You didn't mention it, but I assure you no one failed to grasp the significance of the blackened fish.  

Note to MBC: Doug's Ginger Stout Cake recipe was courtesy of now-defunct The Marrow and its celebrity chef Harold Dieterle (winner of the first season of Top Chef).  

With us for dinner was one of MBC's two Nevada exiles, George, who came from Scottsdale by way of Reno.  George, you earn bonus points for your visit and for your unfailing ability to keep up with the reading.  Good to see you again in person!

Doug's hand-carved fish. RIP Wynn!

Our Discussion of The River by Peter Heller

Written by Peter Heller (author of a prior--and very fine!--MBC selection, The Dog Stars, and fellow Outside magazine contributor with Hampton Sides, who penned our October read, Hellhound on His Trail), The River tells the story of two Dartmouth students who take the fall quarter off and head to Canada for a canoe camping trip.  During their final two weeks there, Wynn and Jack simultaneously find themselves in the path of a rapidly approaching forest fire, carry out a badly injured woman, and fight with other men on the river. The story's climax is the death of one man and its denouement the crippling guilt of another.

What does it mean when everyone (ok, everyone but Roy) thinks the story is terrific but finds fault with one detail or another?  I'll catalog the faults; you can identify their proponents:

• The writing is a bit like a poor man's Hemingway
• Heller tries too hard to showcase his own expertise on the river
• Why would Wynn and Jack leave all their provisions behind with the bad guy?
• Bah! A Texas hat doesn't symbolize evil!
• The ending was rushed (3x)
• Impulsively taking the motorized canoe wasn't believable (2x)
• Simplistic in an "upper level Young Adult" way [Which is it, Terry? It's either YA or it's not YA.]

Much like our reaction to The Dog Stars, we appreciated Heller's skill in spinning a classic adventure tale.  He populates it with good guys and bad guys, he infuses it with a palpable sense of foreboding, and he deftly builds suspense towards an inevitably violent climax.  But he also distracts his reader with a few too many stray details to make it all work seamlessly.  

  

Our Rating of The River

Our 6.8 rating doesn't do justice to the quality of our conversation or our enjoyment of Heller's novel.  With the exception of Roy, this was a story that we all found engaging and well worth the time we gave it.  (Again, much like The Dog Stars!) Interestingly, The River was the all-time favorite selection of Doug's wife's book group--an all women's group!  

Next Up: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

We had a very eclectic list of titles to choose from (including memoirs from Matthew McConaughey and Mike Rowe, Coelho's The Alchemist, and Mason's Bad Muslim Discount).  We opted for Krueger's Ordinary Grace, a novel about murder and its effect on a small town.

Ski Weekend 2023!

After a 4-year hiatus (thanks first to drought, then to Covid + drought), we finally made it back to Tahoe earlier this month for our annual ski weekend.  Thanks to the historic storms in December and January, there was plenty of snow. In fact, our departure on Sunday was threatened by a classic Sierra storm that dumped 6 inches overnight.  The details are in the pictures below....

John strikes a pose in new boots and skis

Larry, Doug, and I skied Northstar on Friday, and the only distressing thing about the short lift lines, perfect weather, and abundant snow was the $166 advance ticket price! The next day, Doug paired up with John at Homewood so one of them could pose for a classic lake shot. Not everyone skied, of course.  Tom persuaded Dan to drive to his cabin near Sierra City so he could instruct Dan on the finer points of snow removal.  We understand it involved Tom directing and Dan shoveling. 

No ice on the deck...easy!

While they labored, Larry and I swam laps in the outdoor pool.  Despite the snow around the deck, the blue skies and warm water made for perfect conditions.  Perfect enough to justify a trip into Truckee for a Dark Horse special (and a search for just the right blender--thanks again, Paul!).  

Sun and snow

Apart from skiing and swimming, there was the obligatory hiking.  I promised everyone an arduous snowshoe trek...and no one was game.  Instead, we avoided the knee-deep snow and stuck to groomed trails.  

Tom's lasagna never disappoints!

With plenty of calories expended during the day, our evenings were focused on food (and drink).  Tom's world famous lasagna was served our first night, followed by Paul's butternut squash soup and my baked salmon the next night.  Dan reputedly made Manhattans (none was offered to me) and, of course, the finest varietals from San Marino Cellars were poured each night.

We left Sunday morning, but only after Paul and Dan dug out a track for our vehicles. Tom showed his management skills one more time by directing me on the installation of a new wine fridge.  Thanks to all of you for a fine weekend!