Our 10th-Anniversary Meeting! "Train Dreams," by Denis Johnson

*Note: Updates may occur! For this celebratory occasion, we might do something special during or after this meeting.*

The Pocono Book Club has existed for 10 years now (and counting)! November 7, 2015, was our first meeting--attended by two--which we held at the now long-closed Sarah's Corner Cafe, at the intersection of 7th & Main in downtown Stroudsburg. Almost 150 get-togethers later, as many as 30 people have attended a meeting, experimenting has been done with dues and how our selections are chosen, and we've even met in members' homes. In the words of Loretta Lynn: "We've come a long way, baby."

This Meetup platform has a changed a lot. The world has changed a lot. We had 3 meetings over Zoom because of the pandemic, for example. We've READ a lot: best-sellers and independently published; novellas and 600+ page bricks; award-winners and sleeper hits (for us). We've read historical fiction, sci-fi, psychological thrillers, memoirs, short story collections, history, mythology & folklore, cozy mystery, science, romance, fantasy, sociology, horror, humor, classics, American history, westerns, and more.

Our selections have taken us as far back as prehistory and centuries far in the future. We journeyed across the seven continents, five oceans, and distant star systems... and to worlds that exist only in the imagination. Our selections have confronted us with seemingly every issue of the day through the experiences of an over-flowing stadium of characters.

I would be remiss to not share how our membership has reflected such a diversity of life. From 14 to 90 years old. Recent immigrants and those whose families founded local towns. Not only hailing from a vast majority of states (including Alaska and Hawaii!), but also citizens of several countries stretching from Ireland to Australia to Israel to India to Argentina to South Africa to South Korea. Engineers and programmers, librarians and authors, K-12 teachers and college professors, psychologists and nurses, stay-at-home parents and business owners, bankers and farmers, fine artists and minor-league athletes, military veterans and charity volunteers, thespians and musicians, accountants and lawyers, radio and tv producers, social workers and spiritual guides, a video game creator and a diplomat and an architect and a stand-up comedian and a toy maker and a brain surgeon and a fashion model and a deep sea treasure hunter. To list a few. You have been part of a truly dynamic group!

Thank you to all of our hundreds of members, the many businesses that have generously hosted us, and the authors & publishers who created our selections!!! Many folks have come and gone over the years. We've gathered at a large number of eateries, from Tannersville to Milford to Morristown, NJ. We've read over 130 books together! We've had fun doing other things too, including going to the movies, attending book fairs & dramatic readings, and having parties. And, of course, there's our annual holiday grab bags!

I started this book club as a two-fold opportunity for our local community: 1. to read good books, and 2. to make new friends. Through book discussions over food & drink, I hope our group has done just that and made a positive impact for you.

It's been such an honor and privilege meeting so many wonderful people over the past decade! To the many more friends to be made and books to be read!

Train Dreams was our book club's first selection. It's also still the shortest. How will the conversation be different this time around?

As always... from Goodreads:

An Esquire Best Book of 2011
A New Yorker Favorite Book of 2011
A Los Angeles Times Favorite Book of 2011
An NPR Best Novel of 2011
A New York Times Best Book of the 21st Century
Short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize 2012

Denis Johnson's Train Dreams is an epic in miniature, one of his most evocative and poignant fictions. It is the story of Robert Grainier, a day laborer in the American West at the start of the twentieth century---an ordinary man in extraordinary times. Buffeted by the loss of his family, Grainer struggles to make sense of this strange new world. As his story unfolds, we witness both his shocking personal defeats and the radical changes that transform America in his lifetime.

Suffused with the history and landscapes of the American West, this novella by the National Book Award-winning author of Tree of Smoke captures the disappearance of a distinctly American way of life.