March 26, 2009: Page Turners 7 p.m.

Book: The Collectors by David Baldacci

Discussion:

We had a larger turnout than usual this month. We even had to add some extra tables and chairs to our normal room arrangement! This month’s book, The Collectors, was the second in David Baldacci’s Camel Club series. Most of the group liked the novel, thirteen members voted thumbs up, two sideways, and one thumbs down. However, in the future we may try to choose books that are the first in their series, as the main complaint about this book was that the readers felt at a bit of a disadvantage if they had not read the original Camel Club.

The other major drawback was that the book ends with a bit of a cliffhanger. Casino owner Jerry Bagger is forty miles from D.C. and hot on Annabelle’s trail. Readers are left wondering whether or not he is going to catch up to her. From here we segued into talking about Baldacci’s other Camel Club novels, Stone Cold and Divine Justice. Stone Cold deals further with Annabelle’s plight, while Divine Justice follows Oliver Stone to the mining town of Divine, Virginia.

In speaking of Annabelle and her con-artistry we moved on to the subject of scams in general. Several of us had heard of or knew someone targeted by a Nigerian inheritance or Jury Duty scam. One Page Turner described a new scam in which someone calls pretending to be a loved one, usually a grandchild, in trouble and needing money. The callers are careful not to mention any names until the person they called does, and then make up a story to get the victim to send them money.

Next we discussed collections. Several of the characters in The Collectors accumulated certain kinds of items. Librarian Jonathan DeHaven collected rare books, Annabelle Conroy was said to have collected lost causes, and assassin Roger Seagraves collected personal items from the people he killed. We then went around the group mentioning the things we collect. Luckily, none of our collections were as disturbing as Seagraves’ collection! Most group members said they collected books. Two collect angels. Two of our male group members revealed that they collect guitars and coins. A few other unique collected items included miniature teapots and cocker spaniel figurines. Two ladies said they collect everything, while another confessed that she doesn’t collect anything, although since she was sitting between the two who collect everything we decided it evened out!

We also talked about some of the more improbable things that occurred in the novel. A few of the group members who voted sideways or down, remarked that some of their dissatisfaction with the book stemmed from the fact that there were so many elements within it that seemed contrived. One questioned why Annabelle, who was suppose to be one of the best practicing con-artists, selected Tony as one of her fellow cons knowing he was inexperienced, then kept him on her team after messing up one of the bank jobs. Another thought Oliver’s dexterity in knife-throwing was too incredulous to believe, while a third Page Turner wondered why Caleb failed to recognize that Monty Chambers and Vincent Pearl were the same person, having worked with Chambers at the Library of Congress for years.

Discussing Vincent Pearl’s rare and nocturnal bookshop reminded us that the character Caleb Shaw co-owned a bookstore called Doug’s Books. Apparently his partner Doug began going by “Douglas” when the shop became more upscale. This led to a discussion of names and name changes. Several Page Turners told stories of how they or people they knew changed or shortened their names as they aged, obtained jobs with others of the same name, or simply preferred a change. As we have many members with the same or similar names we ended up with an abundance of ladies with the same nickname.

The meeting wound down after this discussion. We passed out books for next time, Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea, distributed flyers for upcoming programs, and called it an evening.