2012.....A Reading Odyssey....

 Hello lascivious literates and prurient page turners,

SO much news to share with you!
After a lovely year at The Backstage/Bagdad I have decided to switch up our routine and move downtown
to the Jack London Bar- located at 529 SW 4th Avenue, Portland, OR 97204
in the basement of The Rialto Pool hall. Not only do they have  great drinks, cozy seating and an excellent menu- we also get to say we belong to a book club that meets in the basement of a pool hall which, is very in keeping with the vibe of the FROBC.
Below is our reading list for 2012--best get to turning those pages - our first meeting is in just 2 weeks!

 All meetings will be held on the second Monday of the month starting January 9th

January 9th-The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton  

Feb 13th-Bad Behavior:Stories ( Contains "Secretary") by Mary Gaitskill 

March 12th -Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

April 9th -Shopgirl by Steve Martin

May 14th - Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel ( meeting will be offsite - location TBA)
 
June 11th- Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace

July 9th-Everything Is Illuminated by Johnathan Safran Foer

August 13th- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
 
September 10th-Different Seasons ( Contains Summer "Stand By Me") by Stephen King

October 8th- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

November 12th-High Fidelity by Nick Hornsby 
  
December 10th From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming

January 14th 2013 The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

12/13- Family Friendly Meeting/Screening for The Princess Bride"

The First Rule of Book Club closes out it 2011 with an all ages book club and screening.

Written in 1973 this fantastic fairy tale has been through printing upon reprinting and the fiction Golding weaves around the book itself is as entertaining as the much beloved story of Wesley and Buttercup.

A marvelous book to be read OUT LOUD, we encourage friends and families toshare in the laughs and charm together.

To accommodate out all ages friends we will be meeting at the Bagdad Cafe ( on Hawthorne) instead of the
Backstage Bar and will be meeting an hour earlier @ 6pm.


This month we are making our screening a PUBLIC EVENT ! and inviting friends of all ages to come share in a great movie and raise money for our friends at Street Books.

Street Books is a "bicycle powered mobile library for people living outside" for more information on this incredible project please visit the web site http://www.streetbooks.com.


All profits from the screening will be donated to Street books and we will also be taking up a book collection
please check out  the frequently requested books list and donate what you can. http://mischiefmayhembooks.blogspot.com/p/street-books-title-requests.html


The film screening is free for all those who attend the book club and a mere $3.00 ( $1.00 for kids 12 and under) for the public

FROBC Presents
The Princess Bride
December 13th,2011
The Bagdad Pub and Theater
Book Club5:30
Film :7:00

Oh golly!

Apologies for not keeping our friends, fiends and fans as up to date as we should...STAY TUNED!

Our November meeting "WILD AT HEART" by Barry Gifford

The FROBC takes a turn on to the highway for a wild ride. This high octane true love story surrounds the romance between modern literature's "Southern Gothic Romeo & Juliet" Sailor Ripley and Lula Pace Fortune. Made in to a remarkable cinema by David Lynch in 1990 who called it "a really modern romance in a violent world – a picture about finding love in hell.". "Wild At Heart" had the world listening to Chris Isaak for the first time and had everyone sayin' "You got me hotter than Georgia asphalt." As with most movies though... you only got half of the story. Join us as we follow our star crossed lovers on an adventure filled with my favorite M's Murder,Mayhem and Make-out A LOT OF MAKE OUT...     Tuesday Nov. 8th The Backstage Bar ( 37th 3 doors down from The Bagdad Theater) Meeting@ 7:00 Film Screening @ 8:30

October Meeting -"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" By Philip K. Dick

"If you dial," Iran said, eyes open and watching, "for greater venom, then I'll dial the same."


After a year of dipping in to the past this month The First Rule of Book Club reaches in to the future with Philip K. Dick's post-apocalyptic masterpiece.

Written in 1968 and set in 1992 ( though later editions set it in 2012) "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" follows bounty hunter Rick Deckard as he sets out to retire the last of the Nexus -6 androids. Though futuristic in it's settings, this novel offers a very modern meditation on manufactured emotion,marketed religion and our ever lessening empathy.



The discussion will be followed by a special screening of Blade Runner ( Final Cut). The film, released in 1982 and starring Harrison Ford, Sean Young , Rutger Hauer and Darryl Hannah is a visually lush adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel.

Enjoy the original 1982 Trailer for "Blade Runner"

FROBC Presents
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"
by Philip K.Dick
October 11th, 2011
The Backstage Bar 3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd. ( 3 doors down on 37th)
Meeting 7:00pm
Film 8:30
FREE ( though donations to the kitty are always welcome)

Our September Meeting "Hollywood" by Charles Bukowski

Bukowski often wrote about the Hollywood he lived in-- but his novel "Hollywood" takes him in to unfamiliar territory as he fictionalizes his experience of writing and watching the production of "Barfly"

 Meet and Discuss "Hollywood" September 13th, 2011
7pm @ McMenamins Backstage Bar
3702 SE Hawthorne ( behind the Bagdad on 37th , next to Greater Trumps)

After the meeting a private screening of "Barfly" will be held in The Bagdad Theater.

Crack That Spine,
Nico Bella

The Night of The Bluebird: Bukowski's Birthday and "Barfly"

Hard Living, Big Talking,Womanizing, Alcoholic...
The Legend of Bukowski/Chinanski often out shined
the reason he became famous in the first place.
His Writing.
Known as "The Laureate of the American Lowlife" Bukowski drew from his personal experience .
His thousands of poems and hundreds of stories call on a unique lexicon of lower class life to capture stories of
love, life and dead end jobs - all punctuated with broken bottles and broken hearts.

August 16th would have been Buk's 91st birthday. On August 15th The First Rule of Book Club celebrates
with a night of ribald revelry at McMenamin's Mission Theater.

The night will play host to readings and writings by local luminaries, rare Bukowski footage
and a one night only screening of "Barfly" ( based on his early stories) starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Duniway.

Night of The Bluebird: Bukowski's Birthday
w/ "Barfly"
Monday August 15th, 2011
The Mission Theater
1624 Northwest Glisan Street
Portland, OR 97209
8:30 Doors
9:00 Readings
9:30 "Barfly" (1987) Starring Mickey Rourke & Faye Duniway
$5.00/21+

 

* Night of The Bluebird is in reference to the poem "Bluebird"  where Bukowski grapples
with his image vs. his nature-

read it here http://mischiefmayhembooks​.blogspot.com/p/bluebird-b​y-charles-bukowski.html
watch it here http://youtu.be/mmWZOsVtqR​0

The Official Trailer for "Barfly"

Our August Meeting "Lolita" by Vladmir Nabokov

We are now halfway through our reading lists friends!
It has been a real pleasure leading this group and getting to meet all you lascivious literates and prurient page turners. I look foward to the next 6 titles with you and am ALREADY starting to brew the 2012 list.

Tuesday August 9th, 2012 @ The Backstage Bar
7pm

This month we discuss the iconic Vladmir Nabokov novel "Lolita"
Oft misconstrued as an "erotic novel" and less as the tale of a man descending in to depravity and sexual obsession- there are few literary characters that have imprinted pop culture like "Lolita".
  
Masterfully written, "Lolita" manages to deftly navigate taboo subject with
rich literary references, artful use of language and a darkly comic narrative.

We will meet at 7pm in The Backstage Bar for a discussion and review of the novel and at 8:30 a special screening of the 1961 Kubrick adaptation starring James Mason, Shelly Winters and PETER SELLERS will be held in the auditorium of the Bagdad Theater.

For more information and to RSVP  visit the event invite on Facebook
 http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191079617612833&ref=ts

July :A special First Rule " Kids Edition" Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and The Maltese Falcon

 The First Rule of Book Club is excited to celebrate summer with our younger friends!

We invite our young friends ( and young at heart friends as well!) to join us in reading the Roald Dahl classic

On July 17th we will meet at  Noon in The Bagdad Cafe for a
 special book club meeting for kids to talk about
the book and share our ideas.

At 2:00  there will be a special all ages Sing a Long matinee of the 1971 classic starring Gene Wilder.

**All kids who participate in the book club get to see the movie and have popcorn for FREE as special guests of Fleur de Lethal.

Regular Admission is 3.00 for adults and 1.00 for kids.

                                                     for more information or to RSVP please visit the event invite on Facebook
                                                    
                                                       http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=203338783043100

Also don't forget our July meeting for adults on July 12th  where we meet and discussThe Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet
a special screening of the film starring Humphrey Bogart will follow at 8:30 in the Bagdad  Theater.


For more details and to RSVP please visit the event on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=206081722770556

Our June Meeting

Everything is suspect... Everyone is for sale... And nothing is what it seems.James Ellroy at his most perfect.

Meet and Discuss
June 14th, 2011
7pm @ McMenamins Backstage Bar
3702 SE Hawthorne ( behind the Bagdad on 37th , next to Greater Trumps)
A special screening of the 1997 Academy Award winning film starring Russell Crowe, Guy Pierce and Kim Basinger will follow

Our April Title - American Psycho

 American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

A chaotic and Enigmatic portrait of the the image obsessed 1980's, "American Psycho" takes us in to the disturbed and detailed mind of Wall Street Wunderkind and Serial Killer Patrick Bateman.

Our Meeting and Screening for this title will be

Tuesday May 10th,2011

McMenamin's Backstage Bar

3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd.( behind Greater Trumps)

21+/ 7:00pm

A special screening of American Psycho(2000) will follow in the theater @ 8:30 pm

The 2000 film starring Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman is a marvelous translation of the book to film. 

Using satire and black comedy director Mary Harron  ( yes, it was directed by a woman! )

expands on the psycho-thriller nature of the novel to produce a very watchable and entertaining film.

Crack That Spine,

Nico Bella

Instigatrix

The First Rule of Book Club

Our March Title- The Virgin Suicides

Literates and Prurient Page Turners,
A little reminder since we are 2 weeks away....

THE VIRGIN SUICIDES
Our current title The Virgin Suicides is the debut novel of literary star Jeffrey Eugenides .
Though morose and deeply disturbing in content, Eugenides uses the voice of  the neighborhood boys and their observations of the mysterious 
Lisbon sisters to craft a haunting and darkly comic story. 
Vacillating between  past and present  the novel paints a portrait of isolation,longing and fascination.

In 1999 Sofia Coppola made her full length directing debut with a visually stunning adaptation of the novel.
Strange, distant and lush with soundtrack the film's moving snapshot quality gave life to the sound and color of the 1970's. 

Our Meeting for our March  title will be held

Monday April 11th,2011
McMenamin's Backstage Bar
3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd.( behind Greater Trumps)
21+/ 7:00pm

A special screening of The Virgin Suicides (1999) will follow in the theater @ 8:30 pm

Crack That Spine,
Nico Bella
Instigatrix
The First Rule of Book Club


NOTE **If you still need to acquire your copy please visit our friends Powell's on Hawthorne. 
They are sponsors of The First Rule of Book Club and have ordered additional copies just for us.

Pick up American Psycho and L.A. Confidential while you're at it...

Current Title: Breakfast At Tiffany's

Lascivious Literates and Prurient Page Turners,
A little reminder since we are 2 weeks away....

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S
Our current title Breakfast At Tiffany's by Truman Capote is a slim novella of huge impact. In 1961 Blake Edwards adapted the story for screen and forever immortalized the "Travelling" Miss Golightly and the little black dress.
However,the story manages in it's small size to be so much bigger than the film.
Heartbreakingly human as it is entertaining Capote's little written snapshot of a brownstone in New York remains a poignant story of love, loss and friendship among fragile people.





Our Meeting for our February title will be held
Monday March 14th,2011
McMenamin's Backstage Bar
3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd.( behind Greater Trumps)
21+/ 7:00pm

A special screening of Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) will follow in the theater @ 8:30 pm


Crack That Spine,
Nico Bella
Instigatrix
The First Rule of Book Club


NOTE **If you still need to acquire your copy please visit our friends @ Powell's on Hawthorne. They are sponsors of The First Rule of Book Club and have ordered additional copies just for us!
Pick up The Virgin Suicides and American Psycho while you're at it!

The First Rule of Book Club in The Oregonian

Mere days after our launch date we are already splashed across the pages of the local paper!
Check it out
Book Clubs in the Oregonian A&E

Our 2011 Reading List with Meeting Dates

Here is our complete 2011 title list.

January - Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk ( Meeting Feb 7th )

February -Breakfast At Tiffany's- Truman Capote ( Meeting March 14th)

March-The Virgin Suicides- Jeffrey Eugenides ( Meeting April 11th)

April-American Psycho -Bret Easton Ellis ( Meeting May 10th)

May-L.A. Confidential -James Ellroy ( Meeting June 14th)

June -The Maltese Falcon- Dashiell Hammett ( Meeting July12th)

AND

Summer Kids Edition: Charlie and The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (Meeting July 17th- Sunday Matinee)

July- Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov ( Meeting August 9th)

August- Women - Charles Bukowski ( Barfly Screening) ( Meeting Sept.13th)

September -Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?- Phillip K. Dick ( Meeting October 11th)

November-Wild At Heart-Barry Gifford ( Meeting November15th)

December - The Princess Bride -William Goldman ( Meeting Dec. 13th Meeting @ 6.Kids welcome. we encourage this title to be a family book and the screening will be all ages)