Dudes read

Last update: November 13, 2009 - 5:20 PM

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WHAT THEY'RE READING

This year's books read and discussed by John Bellaimey's club:

• Junot Diaz, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"

• Jeffrey Sachs, "The End of Poverty"

• Audrey Niffenegger, "The Time Traveler's Wife"

• Timothy Egan, "The Worst Hard Time"

• Kao Kalia Yang, "The Latehomecomer"

• Barack Obama, "Dreams of My Father"

For Denny Haley's club:

• Richard Yates, "The Easter Parade: A Novel"

• Robert Walser, "Selected Stories"

• Junot Diaz, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"

• Andrei Makine, "Dreams of My Russian Summers"

• Halldor Laxness, "Independent People"

• Italo Calvino, "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller"

• Nicholson Baker, "The Anthologist: A Novel"

DUDES READ

How they got started: Denny Haley pulled together a group of strangers. His motivation: "Kurt Vonnegut wrote that we are what we pretend to be ... and I like to pretend to be a book reader." Bellaimey's contingent "got started on a dare. The wives of two of our founding members were teasing their husbands that men don't do this sort of thing because men are too shallow, or don't have friends, that kind of thing. The list of clichés was apparently blistering."

How often they meet: Every five weeks, in both cases. "We discovered that four weeks was a little too quick," said Bellaimey. With Haley's gang, "sometimes it's more like 'Have you finished this book?'"

What they read: Fiction only for Haley's cadre. Bellaimey's bunch reads about two novels for each nonfiction book.

What they consume: Snacks and red wine for Bellaimey & Co. Pub food, beer and Jameson Irish whiskey for the other club. "Booze loosens the tongue," Haley said.

BILL WARD

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