15 members read Hotel on Bitter/Sweet and all but I really liked it. Part of the discussion included Jamie Ford's website slideshow of sites from the novel with narrative. I felt this was one more book bouncing from current to past; one more oh-how-ugly-we-treated-the-Japanese guilt trip. I thot it moved slowly. I thot it was preposterous that a black jazz man and 12 yr old boy would be such close friends and travel to the Montana concentration camp. Yet, it was a bitter sweet story of 1st love, the ugliness of unfair treatment of whoever was the newest immigrant population that we need to understand, an explanation of both the Chinese and Japanese cultures in the US, the story of modern son vs dad hanging onto the "old ways" contrasted in two generations, and it was about moving on.

Author Tracy Kidder accompanies (& backfills) the ascendancy of Dr Paul Farmer as a modern day Albert Schweitzer. It is a collection of amazing vignettes as Paul is introduced to Haiti, its poverty, TB,& AIDs, and struggles to find affordable healthcare for the world. He climbs mountains beyond mountains to find better cures, convince the medical community, convince benefactors, and convince voodoo believing patients. The book is not a compulsive read but it has an important message. You are richer for being exposed to the genius and dedication that is Paul Farmer.