Beartown by Fredrik Backman

 Twelve members attended this book club discussion in February 2020.  This was the last discussion we would have together when CoVid struck.  We were no longer able to gather together in person, but was able to meet in August through Zoom.  

This is the third novel that we have read by this author, having read in the past:  My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry and A Man Called Ove.  A few members have read other books he has written and one member said she just read the sequel:  Us Against You.

We found he did a remarkable job with the characters.  Someone said "he is so good at what he does it almost wears you out as he pulls you in." "He is a Master at Human Behavior!"   How believable the characters are someone said.  Someone also said that there were a lot of characters in the story.  Another said all the characters were overwhelming but then it all fit together.  

Many of us liked the hockey theme in the story.  Someone grew up in northern MN where hockey rules and another had a couple nephews that were goalies.  A member noted we were reading this and it was the 40th Anniversary of Miracle on Ice for US Mens Hockey.  

The story is about community.  It is also a story about how powerful pride can be, but if something happens, how divided it can be, according to a member.  Hate is easy, loving is hard. From Chapter 35:   "Hate can be a deeply stimulating emotion.  The world becomes much easier to understand and much less terrifying if you divide everything and everyone into friends and enemies, we and they, good and evil.  The easiest way to unite a group isn't through love, because love is hard.  It makes demands.  Hate is simple." 

Of course we talked about the characters in the story.  How people gathered around Kevin.  Someone said they liked Amat and his Mom.  They found his character to be strong and loyal.  Kira was a remarkable woman. She wasn't fond of the town, but went because of Peter, found her element when working and yet, loved being a mother and felt torn.  She was a protector of her daughter.  There were also many secrets in the story with these characters.  People weren't always talking.  Benji had an interesting storyline.  He was a bear, a protector of his teammates and Kevin and then when the incident happens he is protective of Maya.   

A member said:  "The book left me sometimes crying, sometimes laughing and sometimes so mad!"  Another said:  "It was a good winter read."  It really was a good read.  Someone said they have read four of his books and each one feels different than they other.   

The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

Ten members of the Park Grove Book Club were present to discuss this months book.  This nonfiction book was enjoyed by most but at the same time, a few found it hard to read and continue, someone said he could have edited it to a shorter length!  

Peter Wholleben was born 1964 in Germany.  He was a forestor and this book was written in 2015, later translated to English.  Someone said he writes about forests like Jacques Cousteau talks about the inhabitants of the ocean.  He has written other books, including The Inner Life of Animals:  Love, Grief, and Compassion, The Secret Wisdom of Nature:  Trees, Animals, and the Extraordinary Balance of All Living Things and The Weather Detective.  

One member said that when she read the book, she found herself looking to her back yard and what trees she had!  Another member said she loved trees and love the science aspect.  She said it will make her think differently when walking through the woods.  Another member added, that when she needs "to revew my spirit I choose to go to the woods and that is when I feel close to God.  The air is so clean, too."  One member said this was interesting in that, growing up on farm, you had a grove of trees that you would go out and play in.  It was magical. 

The leader shared a video with us Here - it was a Ted Talk from Suzanne Simard who is a professor of forest ecology and teaches at the University of British Columbia.  She has done quite a bit of research on trees.  She helped identify the term "mother tree," a tree that helps her seedlings grow by giving them fungi and nutrients to help them grow.  

The leader also brought in a tree branch and we talked about some of the characteristics we saw, along with some pine cones and where the seeds of the pine cones were.  We also were asked trivia questions from the book, finding some of the amazing parts of the book, fascinating, such as there is 130 gallons of water that goes through a mature beech tree daily, and that, at night when a tree is not photosynthesizing, and using carbon dioxide, it does the opposite, releases carbon dioxide!

Through this book we found that trees have an underground, another world there.  Most individual trees are connected through their root system and interconnections much like an ant colonies.  They are capable of distinguishing the roots of their own species and others.  Trees have scents they can pick up, they can identify insects by their saliva, and then release pheromones that summon predators.  They send chemicals and electrical impulses that travel through the fungal connection, covering many square miles -- "Wood Wide Web."  Photosynthesis is the same for all trees, equalizing the difference between strong and weak.  We learned that Beech trees send 130 gallons a day of water, through it's branches and leaves.  

We see the contrast in the book between coniferous and deciduous forests, and how all are interconnected.  He started out the book by talking about how vital an undisturbed forest and woodlands are to our ecosystem.  He brought up the wolves in Yellowstone and how reintroducing them, brought back there has changed ecosystem, drastically.   One reason he said, why we misunderstand trees is that they are so incredibly slow.  He said, "future forests will continue to live out their hidden lives and our descendents will still have the opportunity to walk through the trees in wonder." 

 

Black forest honey is made from aphid excretionsm, bees use this to make honey, which is sought after!  There are so many things we learned from this book!     

One member who wasn't able to attend wrote this footnote in her message:  William Kent Kreuger quote from two of his books I have recently read: 

Vermillion  Drift p178 "Cork believed that a forest was a living thing and that people who paid attention heard its voice, smelled its breath, and knew its face."

Copper River first paragraph - "Trees when they bend, whispter to one another."

Nice to find these insightful words among a local author!