Playground Book Club!

[Dribble]

He is a good writer in that i see what he writes easily.

 

[LostGirlTink]

Just a note in case you didn't see, this book is broken up a little different than expected so Indie updated the dates and timeline.

Timeline for this month's book

Thanks for jumping in with us. This is new to both of us but we hope it'll be a lot of fun for everyone.

 

[Kimleigh]

I’m reading!

 

[RjThoughts]

All these books and not a literary fiction novel among them.

https://78.media.tumblr.com/2b273048475f4fb1c9436220218cb761/tumblr_p84fimkrf21r5jqq2o1_500.jpg

 

[Steelheart2018]

I’m reading!

Now that is sexy!!

I need to show you my library.

 

[tnman03]

This is just a suggestion to any of you on the fence about reading the current PBC choice, The Painter by Peter Heller.

Either go to your library and check it out, get an e-book edition like I did or buy the book itself. It's worth it. This writer's reminding me of a lot of authors that are long gone now. He's good.

 

[barefootgirl69]

Ok, so since we want to get started asap, we decided we are going to go with

The Painter by Peter Heller as our first book.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41zBO%2BHZTkL._SX323_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
After having shot a man in a Santa Fe bar, the famous artist Jim Stegner served his time and has since struggled to manage the dark impulses that sometimes overtake him. Now he lives a quiet life. . . until the day that he comes across a hunting guide beating a small horse, and a brutal act of new violence rips his quiet life right open. Pursued by men dead set on retribution, Jim is left with no choice but to return to New Mexico and the high-profile life he left behind, where he’ll reckon with past deeds and the dark shadows in his own heart.




It's available on Amazon in Paperback

Kindle

at Barnes and Noble

Audible
(Free with 30 day trial btw)

At your local library and at most bookstores.

I'm late to the party but looking for the book at my library.

 

[Karabare]

I'm into book 2 also. Really enjoying this author.

 

[Dribble]

Finished book 1 yesterday...

need someone to curl up to?

 

[Dribble]

I'm into book 2 also. Really enjoying this author.

3 paraphrased quotes I loved:

Everything goes dark at the edges.

How often is anything so simple?

How long between times do you need to make one "next"?

 

[Dribble]

And read to me? Yes.

There is nothing better...powerfully intimate. Makes me understand why reading is so important.

 

[LostGirlTink]

I'm enjoying the book, and I love Sofia! This isn't my usual genre of book, I wanted something potentially more universal and this came recommended.

What are your favorite genres or authors?

(Indie and I are going to make a list of potential books and we'll want some suggestions to work with! We want this to be fun!)

 

[Knitting1]

Late to this but hope you won't mind me joining in.
Hope to catch up in time for the discussions.

 

[LostGirlTink]

Late to this but hope you won't me ind me joining in.
Hope to catch up in time for the discussions.

Welcome! Start reading! I'm finding it to be a fairly quick read honestly!

 

[barefootgirl69]

Welcome! Start reading! I'm finding it to be a fairly quick read honestly!

I'm still waiting for my book to arrive at the library, but should be able to read it and catch up!

 

[tinglebliss]

I can recommend a book if you like. This book is the only one I've read to the end. Let me know when you are ready

 

[LostGirlTink]

We will start discussing the book next week, anyone still waiting? The first section is shorter so even if you are, you should be able to catch up!

My hope is to get through it a second time (I read pretty fast normally) before we start discussing so I can come up with some semi-intelligent sounding questions to share!
I hope others throw out questions and discussion too.

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[Dribble]

Puts on my best schoolboy eyes....

Yes Miss Tink...i am ready to feel those nails run along my back....i mean....discuss the book....yea....book....

 

[barefootgirl69]

I'm waiting for the library to get it in, but I read fast and will catch up.

 

[justasimplegirl]

I just ordered it for my Kindle. I'll try and get caught up over the weekend!

 

[Knitting1]

Still waiting for mine to be delivered but I am quite fast so should catch up in time.
C

 

[LostGirlTink]

Here's a couple simple questions to get the discussion started on book one of The Painter this week. We'll be posting more, and feel free to add your own!

Share a favorite quote from book one. Why did this quote stand out?

Do the characters seem believable to you? Do they remind you of anyone?

I'm happy it's the start of discussion time!!! It's been hard not to talk about it.
I'm going to tackle the second question first because I had so many favorite quotes I need to pick and choose.

I think the characters are very believable. I find that the more flawed a character is, the more I can relate to them.
I love the way these characters are written and several of them do remind me of people I have known. Pieces of Jim remind me of my favorite Uncle, though that might be the fishing more than anything else.

 

[Dribble]

Favorite quote

Everything goes dark at the edges.

There are so many layers to this. When emotions take over...i do not think. I say things i shouldnt. I do things that are wrong. I am cruising along...then a trigger and i snap...left asking myself wtf just happened. Everything goes dark.

There is a comfort in dark places i am not proud of. I have learned some things i cannot change. How i respond when the switch is flipped is one. But what i do have control over is recognizing i am approaching that threshold. Once i am at the cliff...the result is a given. So if i dont like that part of me...it is my job to avoid walking up to that ledge.

Any character can be believable if they are not superficial. Complexity makes them real. Any one of them can be me...from the main characters...to the smallest.

 

[snexxer]

Share a favorite quote from book one. Why did this quote stand out?

I never imagined something like that could be reflex, without thought: pulling out the .41 magnum, raising it to the man half turned on the stool, pulling the trigger. Point blank. The concussion inside the windowless room. Or how everything explodes like the inside of a dream and how Johnny, my friend, came lunging over the bar, over my arm, to keep me from pulling the trigger again. Who saved my life in a sense because the man who should have died never did. How the shot echoed for hours inside the bar, inside my head. Echoed for years.

Do the characters seem believable to you? Do they remind you of anyone?

So far I cant find fault with any of the characters.
I like Sophia, she reminds me of someone I know.

 

[LostGirlTink]

I laughed out loud at one line from Sophia in which she said "Don't you want to kill the bastard", because it reminded me of something Tink has said to me a time or two.

Seems right.

"As a child, you imagine your life sometimes, how it will be. I never thought I would be a painter. That I might make a world and walk into it and forget myself. That art would be something I would not have any way of not doing."

I personally always suspected what I would be when I grew up. It was the years I was not working in art that stand out to be as the aberration, yet I always created.

Are there things in your life that are things that you would not have any way of not doing?

Do you feel that in book 1 that this theme recurs? Do you feel Jim's choices and decisions are inevitable based on who he is at his core?