Storie Delle Sorelle

Meeting Recap: The Help

2010-03-29T16:42:00.001-04:00

This month we read THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. Both Nancy and Bev nominated this book and it got lots of votes in our last round of book picking.

One of the first things we discussed was how popular this book is right now. Many members were surprised at how many times they were approached while they were reading/carrying the book in public – it seems that everyone has either read it or wants to read it.

The two characters who were favorites with the group were Aibileen and Miss Cecilia. Many of us hoped for more from Cecilia’s storyline but felt that she was incredibly well written. And there wasn’t a single one of us who didn’t love Aibileen. The least favorite character was Hilly (she was so believable and we all hated her) followed by Miss Lefolt (for her lack of care for her daughter and her “wishy-washy-ness”).

Part of our discussion focused on racism in different parts of the county. In general racism is visually prevalent in the South and more of an undercurrent in the North, at least in our combined experiences. We also discussed the current trend of racism toward people of Hispanic and Middle Eastern descent.

As you can tell from the votes below, most of the group really enjoyed this book. We agreed that it wasn’t perfect but that it had many excellent qualities. One thing that didn’t sit well with us is how “safe” everyone seemed to be, despite the dangerous nature of their actions; most of us were expecting something horrible to happen to at least one of the characters.

Nancy = 9
Heather = 8
Cyndie = 8
Melissa = 8
Lissa = 8
Jennifer = 8
Beth = 8
Tracy = 6

With 8 ratings, we get an average of 7.9 for this book.

Thanks to Melissa for hosting at her church and to Nancy & Beth for preparing for and running the meeting. Our next book is THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson, and we’ll be meeting at Reynold’s Tavern for high tea.

Meeting Recap: Alias Grace

2010-02-24T11:06:00.001-05:00

This month our book was ALIAS GRACE, by Margaret Atwood. Jennifer nominated this book after having it recommended strongly by her sister.

For the meal Jennifer suggested “comfort foods” – things that would make us feel better if we were in prison. Offerings included potato soup, cheesy bread, sausage/spinach bread, chocolate chip cookie pie, ice cream, and wine. It was all delicious!

This book definitely gave us a lot to talk about. The 6 of us at the meeting all really enjoyed reading it. The two members who didn’t like it couldn’t be there, which is unfortunate as we would have loved to hear their opinions.

Our discussion included:

Our love of Atwood’s writing style and how she so realistically created the voice of a 19th century woman (something that is not done well all that often in our experience)
The issues of gender, class, and repressed sexuality that were raised in the book
The fascinating (and sometimes horrifying) details of life at this time – the daily chores, the prison system, current thought in the medical community, and so on
The ambiguity of the ending was appealing – we each had our own opinions on what we thought “the truth” of the whole story was
Atwood’s version of events versus the extremely few actually known facts about Grace Marks

We welcomed a new member this month as well. Lissa is a friend of Melissa and we're thrilled to have her join us.

Ratings:

Heather = 8
Jennifer = 9.5
Nancy = 8.5
Kelli = 8
Melissa = 8.5
Lissa = 9
Cyndi = 2
Beth = 5

This gives us an average rating of 8.

Next Time: We're meeting on 3/20 to discuss THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett.

Meeting Recap: Half Broke Horses

2010-02-23T11:02:00.002-05:00

I forgot to post this back in January, sorry!

This month we read HALF BROKE HORSES, by Jeannette Walls. Kelli suggested this book because we had all enjoyed Walls' THE GLASS CASTLE a while back. Unfortunately this one didn't live up to our expectations. We agreed that it wasn't a bad book, it just didn't compare at all to her first book.

Five of us read the book and we rated it as follows: 4.5, 6, 7, 7, 8. That gives us an average rating of 5 out of 10.

New Club Guidelines [revised]

2010-02-16T13:04:00.000-05:00

Here are the guidelines we've adopted to help strengthen and grow our club:

Choosing Books – This will remain the same; everyone agreed that the way we’ve been doing it recently is fair and makes a lot of sense
Planning/Running Meetings – If the book you nominate is chosen, you will be the host for that meeting. This does NOT mean you have to host at your home, just that you will be in charge of planning. You will need to do the evite or email, pick a food theme, prepare discussion questions and additional info if desired, and lead the discussion.
Locations – To cut down on housecleaning stress we will meet at one of three churches during the winter months (and Chevy’s during the summer, plus our pool party). If you are hosting a meeting (see #2) you need to choose which church location works for you. Of course, if you would LIKE to have us at your house, that is still an option – feel free to volunteer whenever you like.
Meetings – Each meeting will begin with socialization. This will give us time to catch up with each other before discussing the book. It will be the host’s job to get the meeting started after we socialize, and everyone should avoid side conversations during the discussion.
New Members – We are again welcoming new members into the club. As before, you are welcome to bring a friend to one meeting. If the group agrees that the new person is a good fit then she will be invited to join the club. This “one-meeting-trial” will hopefully prevent any problems with overbearing or otherwise problematic new members.
Help – I’m willing to help any of you with planning a meeting, especially those who have never done it before. Please don’t hesitate to ask for suggestions or assistance if you need/want it.

These decisions were based on the emails I received when I asked for suggestions, the discussion at our January meeting, and input from all our current members. Hopefully these guidelines will give everyone more ownership of the club and spread the responsibilities more evenly.

Meeting Recap: My Life in France

2009-12-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

Because of the business of Thanksgiving, we pushed our November meeting to December 1. Tracy hosted us in her newly remodeled home - it was lovely!

Our book this time was Beth's pick, MY LIFE IN FRANCE, by Julia Child. To make things more fun, Tracy encouraged everyone to make one of Julia's recipes for the meeting. Four people took the challenge ...

Nancy made one of Julia's turnip dishes - according to Julia, this dish will make anyone a fan of turnips! Everyone agreed that it was tasty but I don't know that anyone will be making it again ...
Beth made Julia's Potato and Leek Soup. Julia says everything must be chopped by hand and not pureed. The soup was quite good! I'd have liked some bacon or cheese topping but it was delicious regardless.
Annette made Julia's Apple and Pear Tart. This reminded me of the amazing pear pies we'd make when I was a kid. This tart was absolutely fantastic - I don't think there was much left after the meeting!
Tracy made Julia's Chocolate Mousse. There is a funny story with this one .... Tracy made this around 11pm the night before the meeting. The recipe said to add 1/4 cup of coffee; she did so, but kept thinking that the resulting mix was rather grainy. Her husband checked the recipe and pointed out that she was supposed to add COFFEE, not COFFEE GROUNDS. Oops! That's what late night cooking will do to you! By this point she was out of eggs so she sent him down to the Chinese restaurant on the corner to see if he could buy a few eggs so she could redo the mousse. Luckily they were willing to help out. In the end the mousse was decadent and delicious ... and not grainy in the least!

We had such fun with the food this time around that the book took second place. And that's good, because I was the only one at the meeting who finished reading. One other person read the whole thing (Melissa) but couldn't make it at the last minute. Everyone else read no more than a third of the book. In most cases it didn't keep their interest, which I found surprising as I really enjoyed it (my review is here).

Despite the lack of literary discussion we all had a wonderful time. I think everyone has been exhausted with the busy-ness of the season (and it hasn't even really begun) and family issues (it seems we each have our own at the moment) and this was a chance to sit back, relax, and just enjoy each other's company. Cheers! Or as Julia would say, "Bon Appetit!"

Meeting Recap: The Unlikely Disciple

2009-12-11T10:09:00.002-05:00

Our October book was THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE, by Kevin Roose (my review is here) and Jennifer hosted us at her home for a lovely brunch. This is the book I nominated so I was very happy to be reading it. It seems the rest of the group was as well. We had a great discussion about Kevin's experiences at Liberty University and whether we would have wanted to go there (or for our children to go there). Kevin's willingness to be open-minded made some of us hopeful for the future while others dismissed his outlook as mere naivete.

The book was well written and an enjoyable read; we agreed that we're likely to hear more from this author in the future.

Book Club Book Suggestions

2009-11-06T10:25:00.003-05:00

I thought you all might find this interesting - it is a list of 10 somewhat lesser-known books that are suggested for book clubs, along with the reasons for reading them.

Check out the list here.

Meeting Recap: Till We Have Faces

2009-10-12T10:49:00.000-04:00

written by Melissa

Our group met at Chevy's for Happy Hour on Sept. 16 to discuss Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis. Those of us who read really enjoyed Part I of the book, particularly the building suspense over Psyche's true mental state. However, we unanimously hated the end of the book that dragged on ad infinitum. Melissa, who recommended this book, had apparently blocked out the ending of the novel because she despised it as well! In all, the slow, heavy-handed writing style of C.S. Lewis made this a dull read for most.

October is National Reading Group Month!

2009-10-09T11:00:00.001-04:00

In honor of National Reading Group Month here are some links to check out:

nine great group reads as chosen by the Women's National Book Association
videos from the book club panel I moderated at the Baltimore Book Festival called "The Book Club Toolkit"
Reading Group Guides' list of discussion questions for hundreds of different books
Reading Group Choices' list of discussable books

This month our club is reading THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE, by Kevin Roose. I'm looking forward to the discussion that will result from this unusual book!

Meeting Recap: That Guernsey Book

2009-08-21T12:00:00.001-04:00

Our August pool party book was nominated by Jennifer - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Annette hosted our meeting at her house by the pool.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous! Several members brought friends to this meeting since it seems that everyone and their mother (or mother-in-law) has read this book and wants to talk about it.

All of one of the gals at the meeting enjoyed this book. Most of us REALLY liked it, some thought it was good, and one didn't like it at all.

Topics we discussed included:

books written in epistolary format - did we like that about this book? Most of us said yes.
characterization - we disagreed over whether the characters were or were not well developed through the letters they wrote
individual characters - who we liked, who we didn't
the history of Guernsey - none of us were familiar with this part of WWII history so there was a lot to learn
WWII - we talked about concentration camp experiences, food shortage, the evacuation of children, and much more
the authors - their relationship, who wrote what, etc.
and much, much more

Annette took pictures at the meeting but I haven't gotten them from her yet. I'll post them as soon as I do!

This is another of those books with an excellent marketing team behind it. There are TONS of great resources available - I highly suggest checking out the book's website if you haven't already.

Here's a clip of Annie discussing the book.

I had the opportunity to interview her by phone. Check back at my book blog on 8/27/09 to see what we talked about. Or click here to read my review of this book.

~~~~~~~

Our next meeting will be on Sept. 16 when we'll discuss Melissa's nomination, Till We Have Faces, by CS Lewis. We will also choose our next three books and do some additional admin stuff so please try to be there if you can!

Mid-Year Ratings Update

2009-08-20T12:50:00.000-04:00

I haven't been posting our group's rating of the books we've read, simply because I've been behind in compiling them. So here is a list of everything we've read so far this year, how many people read it, and our average rating.*

Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri
11 readers - ratings = 9.5x1, 9x4, 8x4, 7x2
average = 8.3
Change of Heart, by Jodi Picoult
12 readers - ratings = 8x1, 7x3, 6.5x1, 6x1, 5.5x1, 4x1, 3x1, 2x2, 0x1
average = 4.8
The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver
7 readers - ratings = 8x1, 7x1, 6x4, 5x1
average = 6.3
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz
7 readers - ratings = 8.5x1, 7x2, 6.5x1, 6x1, 5x2
average = 6.4
Queen of the Road, by Doreen Orion
11 readers- ratings = 7x2, 6x2, 5x3, 4x2, 3x1, 2x1
average = 4.9
Little Bee, by Chris Cleave
10 readers - ratings = 9x5, 8.5x1, 8x3, 7x1
average = 8.5
The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein
10 readers - ratings = 10x2, 9x2, 8x3, 7.5x1, 7x1, 6x1
average = 8.3

I'm working on a recap of our most recent meeting - hopefully it will be up soon.

* FYI, we rate on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest score possible.

Meeting Recap: The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein

2009-07-26T21:08:00.001-04:00

Our book for July was THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, by Garth Stein. Stephanie nominated this book several months ago but it didn't make the cut at that time. In our last round of voting Kara nominated it and was successful.

Bev hosted us on her back porch for this meeting. We enjoyed summer foods including corn on the cob, watermelon, salads, and margaritas. The weather was perfect for this outdoor meeting.

The general consensus was that the book was good. No one at the meeting disliked it, but some did like it more than others. Some of the topics we discussed included:

gaining appreciation for the human/dog bond, especially for those gals who aren't "dog people"
Enzo's philosophizing - some loved it, some thought it was a bit "wordy" for a dog, some thought it rather simplistic and obvious (rather than profound)
the ending - some loved it, some thought it was cheesy
the zebra - we differed in our opinions of what it represents
even though the book dealt with some hard issues, we agreed it wasn't a depressing book

I don't think that anyone felt this book was great literature but we did agree that it was a fun read, and different from anything we've read as a club before.

*** After the meeting I came across an interview with the author. In it he answers some of the questions we raised at the meeting (including the zebra issue). You can listen to it at BookClubGirl.com. ***

*** And here's a link to the recap I wrote for ReadgingGroupGuides. ***

An Author's Passing ...

2009-07-20T11:05:00.001-04:00

For those who haven't heard ...

From The New York Times:

Frank McCourt, a former New York City schoolteacher who turned his childhood in Limerick, Ireland, into a phenomenally popular, Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, “Angela’s Ashes,” died in Manhattan on Sunday. He was 78 and lived in Manhattan and Roxbury, Conn.

Mr. McCourt spent three decades as a teacher of English and creative writing in New York City’s public schools. As Eric Konigsberg writes, Mr. McCourt was the first to say that “those years, while depriving him of the time to actually write, were what made a writer out of him.” And his students learned from him that “literature was nothing more — and nothing less — than the telling of stories.”

Our club hasn't read any of his books together but several members read Angela's Ashes for our book report meetings or on their own. The literary world is much poorer without his humor, that's for certain.

Meeting Recap: Little Bee, by Chris Cleave

2009-07-16T16:45:00.000-04:00

I completely forgot to post link to the meeting recap I wrote for Reading Group Guides. You can read it here - hope you enjoy it!

And a big thank you to Kara for hosting us on her lovely porch. We all had a great time.

Next Meeting: The Art of Racing in the Rain

2009-07-09T11:58:00.004-04:00

Author Garth Stein has lots of fun things available to help promote his book THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN and I'm having a great time checking them all out. Go to this website to find iron-on decals for t-shirts, Enzo's song (!), and images of the book's cover in other countries. I've even been able to create a custom poster for our next meeting - I'll be emailing it shortly so watch your inboxes.

Our next meeting is Sunday, July 19 @ 3pm - hope to see many of you there!

Check out this review ...

2009-07-01T07:11:00.000-04:00

In August we're reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. At our last meeting most of you hadn't heard of this book and (of course) thought the title was really odd. I just came across a review that I'd love for you to check out. It is a quick read but it gets to the heart of why this book is getting so much attention lately.

Here's an excerpt from the review:

I couldn’t put it down. It was the kind of book that made me angry at the doctor for running on time so I couldn’t keep reading it. It was the kind of book that made me seriously consider telling the babysitter that the doctor was running late so I could read it.

Sounds great, right?! You can read the rest of the review here.

Summer Schedule

2009-06-20T11:51:00.000-04:00

SdelleS Summer 2009 Schedule

The Art of Racing In the Rain (Kara's book)
Sunday, July 19th @ 3pm
at Bev's house

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Jennifer's book)
Saturday, Aug. 8th @ noon
Progressive Pool Party!
Starts at Annette's house for drinks, appetizers, and the beginning of the discussion (plus some pool time) then moves to Nancy's house for lunch, more discussion, and more pool. If it rains the party will be inside at Annette's house.

Till We Have Faces (Melissa's book)
Wednesday, Sept. 16 @ 6pm at Chevy's
Happy Hour means 1/2 price margaritas and appetizers!

Meeting Recap and Upcoming Books

2009-06-15T12:05:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Kara for a wonderful hostessing job yesterday. The weather was perfect and we really enjoyed sitting out on her screened-in porch. Plus, the food was FANTASTIC!

Two big announcements were made at yesterday's meeting ...

Kara is pregnant! She's due Jan. 27th.
Melissa's dissertation was accepted! She'll get her PhD on Aug. 16th.

Congratulations to both lovely ladies!

We had a good discussion of LITTLE BEE by Chris Cleave. This was the book I nominated so I was pleased most of the gals enjoyed it. Our discussion centered around social justice issues and how much one individual is responsible for doing to save another. We also discussed the different ways the book impacted us, much of which depended on who we are at this point in our lives.

After our discussion we voted on our next three books. The way this works is that each person ranks the books in order from most preferred (#1) to least preferred (#8). Once I add up the totals for each book the three books with the lowest total scores (meaning the most #1 votes) are the winners.

Here are the results of the voting (remember, lower is better).

Our next three books:

The Art of Racing In the Rain
44 points

Till We Have Faces
46 points

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
48 points

Out of the running:

The Shack
52 points

The Red Tent
53 points

Still Alice
54 points

Liberty and Tyranny
66 points

Testimony
68 points

I'll post our meeting schedule as soon as the hostesses confirm the dates. Happy reading everyone!

Links for Little Bee

2009-06-05T15:53:00.002-04:00

On June 16th we'll be discussing LITTLE BEE by Chris Cleave. Here are some links to check out, but only after you finish reading the book. Many of them contain spoilers so consider yourself warned.

Chris is interviewed on The Early Show
the book trailer for the UK version, entitled THE OTHER HAND
discussion questions - we'll be using many of these at our meeting, and maybe some of the "book club enhancements" as well*
an in-depth interview covering the background of the book, refugees, and many other topics
and another interview with the author

And here is a video I found on Chris Cleave's website.

These links, along with the book itself, should give us ample fodder for discussion, don't you think?

* Here's an excerpt from this interview that I thought might be interesting to the club:

Do you have any tips you would give a book club to enhance their discussion of Little Bee?

Absolutely — first I’d suggest some books you could read in conjunction with it. The Grapes of Wrath is arguably Steinbeck’s greatest novel, and it’s also a refugee novel. It’s really asking the same question Little Bee is asking: how much help should people with relatively secure lives afford to those who have nothing, simply out of human solidarity? Then, for some non-fiction context, I’d recommend A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, a veteran of the conflict in Sierra Leone. And Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees by Caroline Moorehead, an excellent and dedicated journalist.

Next I’d suggest some fun stuff you could try. Little Bee says, “I have noticed, in your country, I can say anything so long as I say that is the proverb in my country. Then people will nod their heads and look very serious”. If yours is the sort of book club that enjoys a glass of wine with your literature, then why not try making up some proverbs of your own. The more gravely you recite them, the wiser you will sound. On the same lines, why not get the members of your book club to rename each other according to their personality traits, the way Udo (Little Bee) and Nkiruka (Kindness) do in the novel. You could award prizes for the best efforts…

When you haven't read the book ...

2009-05-29T09:11:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Beth for sending me this hilarious article from THE NEW YORKER. I'm copying the text below - enjoy!

Book Club
by Ann Hodgman May 25, 2009

Discussion points for members who have not read this month’s book:

Studying the cover of this month’s selection may provide hints to the reasons that Margy MacDougal chose this book for your group. What does the metallic font used for the title convey—pretension, or insecurity? Although the cover art is minimal, what tensions does it suggest are lurking under the superficially glossy surface of Margy’s relationship with her husband, Eric?
In your opinion, is this book fiction or nonfiction? Support your view with examples taken from the jacket copy.
Last year, Margy was in Costa Rica when the group discussed the book she had chosen. Why did she get to pick two books this season? Why were both of them so grim? Is there a subtext related to Margy’s daughter’s deferral from Colgate? Could next month’s book maybe be more cheerful, for once?
Book-club members who have actually read this book have called its plot “depressing,” “disgusting,” and “too much about poor people.” Does this suggest that you, as a reader, have a moral obligation to say that you liked the book?
Early in the prologue, we learn that lab animals will be mistreated as the story progresses. In literature, why is it so much sadder when an animal dies than when a person does? Why does God choose us to read horrible things like this?
Open the book to page 47 and slide a bookmark under it. How well can you see the Borders logo through the page? Can the quality of a book’s paper be used as a guide to its “worth”? When or when not?
On page 2, the author refers to “supper.” In books, food is often used as a symbol. Try to think of a time when food, or a particular meal, has been important to you. Then keep it to yourself.
A book’s setting is crucial to establishing mood. If this book had been set in Darfur instead of in Glen Burnie, would you be more likely to have read the whole thing by now? Why or why not?
Is there a way that, by quickly flipping through the pages as if in search of a particular passage, you might be able to glean more of the plot in case Margy calls on you? Why not turn to the last page?
What is in those little sandwiches on the piano? Are peanut allergies real?
Will the powder room have one of those wick-diffuser things in a bottle, or a scented candle? If such items were described in the book, would they be presented as symbols of vulgarity?
What do you think will happen next?

Meeting Recap: Queen of the Road

2009-05-26T11:12:00.000-04:00

I had to miss this meeting because Kiddo had his AWANA award ceremony the same night, so this will be a VERY brief recap.

QUEEN OF THE ROAD, by Doreen Orion, was nominated by Amy. Unfortunately she had to miss this meeting due to unexpected company. We were excited that the author was planning to call in though!

Here are some comments from a few of the gals who did attend.

Cyndi: I had a really enjoyed both listening to Doreen and everyone's thoughts on the book. ... It was interesting to see that Doreen wasn't what I thought she would be.

Kara: We all had a great time! The food was delicious & company was great. Think we all thought Doreen could've been a little less dry...we were expecting Fran Drescher as Miss Marlene suggested and she just wasn't. Doreen was very nice and polite ... answered our questions ... and we had a lot of thoughtful reflection on not being so materialistic as well. Steph & Stori were amazing hosts and I think next time we'll all opt for a bath in their new spa bathroom...

Melissa: Doreen was lovely ... I think we all understood the book more after talking with her. We got through most of the questions on the discussion guide sheet, & it was a great meeting.

A big thank you goes to Doreen for calling in and for sending personalized book plates to the group. As we've learned in the past, interacting with an author always bring a great appreciation of the book.

Our next book is LITTLE BEE, by Chris Cleave, to be discussed on June 14th.

More Recapping

2009-04-21T13:15:00.000-04:00

My recap of our Oscar Wao meeting - including the author talk - is now up at ReadingGroupGuides.com. I included some of the topics covered by the author, Junot Diaz, in his talk, as well as the topics we discussed afterward.

Here's the link - I hope you'll go read it and post a comment!

Meeting Recap: Oscar Wao & Author Talk

2009-04-20T13:04:00.002-04:00

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz, was nominated by Beth. We had a very small group for the Junot Diaz author event but the four of us who did attend had a lovely time. Here are a few thoughts from the afternoon.

The room was PACKED with people there to hear Diaz - he was a huge draw for the CityLit Festival. There was even a high school teacher who brought his Freshman students.
Diaz read from a short story called The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars. His voice is very monotone and his enunciation is unique. Some of us enjoyed the way he spoke and others couldn't stand it.
He speaks exactly the way he writes - English, Spanish, and bad language all mixed together. However, he did clean up his language during the Q&A session ... leading Melissa to wonder if the slang is more of a persona he puts on. We discussed that quite a bit over lunch.
We talked for about an hour over lunch. Topics included the use of sci-fi/fantasy allusions, writing about a culture you are familiar with, the use of street slang, the character of Beli, the treatment and imagery of women, and the meaning of the book's title.
The four of us who were able to attend agreed that this was a unique and fun change to our normal book club meetings. We'd definitely like to do it again! And it didn't hurt that the weather was GORGEOUS on Saturday ...

So far I know of 7 people who read/rated the book. If you have read but have not sent me your rating, I'll be happy to add it here once I hear from you. Here's what we've got:

5x2
6x1
6.5x2
7x2
8x1

That gives us an average of 6.4.

A few people gave explanations for their ratings or shared comments about the book:

Kelli said: I give this story a 6. I liked his sci-fi weavings and historical footnotes, but the random Spanish and pervasive profanity was a challenge for me.
Nancy said: I am enjoying the audio version.... I do not feel I would have stuck with the book had it not been for the cds. The different voices and accents makes it more interesting.
Jennifer said: I didn't finish enough but so far - I'm down the middle with a 5. I find some of the wording tough because you have to stop and read footnotes. However, I often feel differently after I've read a substantial amount of the book and begin to really get into the characters. So my rating might be different if I had read more.
Cyndi said: I have to say, even though I started out liking it, the Spanish got to me after awhile. I think if I knew Spanish then I would have appreciated it, but that and the footnotes were too much. I would give it a 5.
And I said: Before hearing Diaz speak, I'd have given this a 6. Even though I LOVED the sci-fi stuff and the historical stuff - especially the footnotes - the language really bugged me. But after hearing Diaz, I wanted to give it a 7. So I compromised and gave it a 6.5. (You can read my complete review of the book at my blog - I explain in more detail what I thought about it.)

I'll be posting some video clips on my blog within the next few days - I'll come back and add a link here when they are up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To learn more about Junot Diaz and this book, check out the following links:

Slate.com interview with Diaz - "Oscar was the end point (for me) of a larger, almost invisible historical movement—he's the child of a dictatorship and of the apocalypse that is the New World. I was also trying to show how Oscar is utterly unaware of this history and yet also dominated by it. " ~~~ "Yunior's telling of this story and his unspoken motivations for it are at the heart of the novel and can easily be missed." ~~~ "Just remember: In dictatorships, only one person is really allowed to speak. And when I write a book or a story, I too am the only one speaking, no matter how I hide behind my characters."
Penguin Books interviews Diaz - "Beli as a character turned into a tribute to an entire generation of women I grew up with (my mother, her sisters, my friends) who had come to the United States and given their lives to build our community, to make people like me possible. Beli, in a way, was the key that opened all the other women in the book: her daughter, Lola; her adopted mother, La Inca; her real mother, Socorro. I found that I couldn't write just about Beli, I had to circumscribe her entire female world. So here's my confession: Beli and her story made me do it" ~~~ "In my youth the only people who really seemed to be interested in exploring dictatorlike figures were the fantasy and science fiction writers, the comic-book artists. You didn't see much about that aspect of the world in the mainstream culture, so as a kid who was the child of a dictatorship I had to find analogs in the genres...."

Other Takes on Oscar Wao

2009-04-08T12:05:00.000-04:00

I've recently come across several reviews of our current book, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz. I'll list them here in case you want to check them out.

Lisa @ Books on the Brian liked it but said it was difficult - here's her review.
A hilarious recap of Sheri's first book club meeting, at which they discussed Oscar Wao - here's the link.
Sheri @ A Novel Menagerie (same Sherri from above) had lots of issues with this book but still rated it highly - here's her review.

There are lots of others out there but I think these give a good variety of the reactions to Oscar Wao. I can't wait to see how OUR club likes it.

Meeting Schedule: April - June '09

2009-04-02T09:15:00.002-04:00

The next few months should be pretty exciting for our club. Here’s what we’re planning:

Saturday, April 18th – CityLit Festival & Book Discussion

Our book this month is The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz (nominated by Beth). We will meet at The CityLit Festival (at the Pratt in Baltimore) to hear the author speak from 3-4pm. After his talk, we’ll walk 2 blocks to a coffee shop and to discuss the book.

CityLit runs from 10am-5pm. For a complete listing of events click on this link.

Tuesday, May 12th – Queen of the Road & Author Chat

Stephanie is hosting us at her house in Arnold beginning at 6:30pm. Author Doreen Orion will (hopefully) being calling in to our meeting to discuss her very funny book Queen of the Road. We may have to reschedule for another date so I’ll keep you posted on that. This book was nominated by Amy.

[Unfortunately I'll have to miss this meeting. I just found out James has an award ceremony that night and I can't miss it.]

Sunday, June 14th – Little Bee

We’ll meet at Kara’s house in Crownsville at 2pm to discuss Little Bee, by Chris Cleave. Sorry, no author event this month. But we will get to enjoy Kara’s lovely porch! This book was nominated by me.

And to give you an idea of what is coming this summer …

Our July meeting will be on a weeknight at Chevy’s for happy hour. We’ll have a weekend meeting in August for our annual pool party, and in September we’ll meet at Chevy’s on a weeknight again.

My Recap at RGG

2009-04-01T12:10:00.000-04:00

My recap of our last meeting is up at ReadingGroupGuides.com. In it I talk about the comparison between THE BEAN TREES and Barbara Kingsolver's other wonderful novel THE POISONWOOD BIBLE.

Here's the link - I hope you'll go check it out. Feel free to post a comment over there and chime in with your thoughts.

Books for April - June 2009

2009-03-27T15:55:00.002-04:00

We tried something new this time with our book voting and it worked out VERY well. So here’s how we will do things from now on:

You get to nominate a book if you’ve been to at least 3 meetings. The same criteria goes for voting.
If you nominate a book and it is chosen, you cannot nominate one in the next round (but you can in the round after that).
A week before the voting you should submit the title, summary and reason you want to nominate that book to me. I’ll compile a list and send it to the entire club.
Everyone will rank the books in order from most preferred to least preferred and email me their list.
The three books that get the most “top 3” votes will be our choices.

So … here are the results of this round of voting, with the three winners first:

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
9 votes
nominated by Beth

Queen of the Road
9 votes
nominated by Amy

Little Bee
8 votes
nominated by Heather

The Art of Racing in the Rain
7 votes
nominated by Stephanie

Alias Grace
4 votes
nominated by Jennifer

Still Alice
3 votes
nominated by Nancy

If your book was not chosen, feel free to nominate it again next time. The only people not eligible to nominate books in the next round will be Beth, Amy, and Heather (me).

I’ll get a meeting schedule posted sometime next week so stay tuned …

Meeting Recap: The Bean Trees

2009-03-27T10:40:00.000-04:00

This month’s book, The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, was nominated by Bev. At the meeting Bev explained the she chose the book mostly because she loved The Poisonwood Bible so much. I think we can ALL agree with that sentiment!

We had a small but lovely meeting last night at Cyndi’s house. Cyndi chose a Mexican theme for us and the food was delicious. There were 6 of us in attendance - the smallest group in quite some time - but discussion was not lacking, that's for sure.

Some things we talked about were:

Creating a family vs. being born into one
Taylor’s growth from simple independence to more mature relationships
LuAnn’s drastic – and welcome – changes throughout the novel
Kingsolver’s amazing grasp of language – the believability of the characters, the way we all felt like we were actually THERE when she described the settings (esp. the desert during the rain)

Two of the girls listened to the audio version and said it was very well done. Their only complaint was that Taylor's voice came across as being older than she actually was.

The six of us in attendance agreed that Kingsolver’s writing was strong but that the story wasn’t as in depth or as gripping as The Poisonwood Bible.

I’m still waiting on more ratings but here is what we have so far:

5 x 1
6 x 4
7 x 1
8 x 1

So not a bad book by any means, but I think we all were expecting more after our wonderful experience with The Poisonwood Bible.

At the end of the meeting we voting on our books for the next three months. I'll be posting those later today so be sure to check back.

Meeting Recap: Change of Heart

2009-03-03T10:05:00.001-05:00

This past Sunday we met at Beth’s house in Annapolis to discuss Kara’s pick, CHANGE OF HEART, by Jodi Picoult. For the most part, the book was a disappointment. Kara hoped to have a good discussion on the ethics of capital punishment but the way the story progressed there was no discussion to be had on that topic.

As a group we had a LOT of complaints about this book. Here’s a list of some of them:

too many things going on, too many subplots - one gal called it “a muddle”
the story has been done before (The Green Mile?!)
most of the characters were bland and unbelievable (Fr. Michael was the worst culprit – no one believed a priest would act the way he did)
the comparison of Shay to Christ was not only odd but unbelievable as well
the writing wasn’t very good
the opinions in the book were all “politically correct” – no one was allowed to believe strongly in one thing and think that other people were wrong in their beliefs

The only redeeming quality was Maggie and her relationship with her mother. With all the mother/daughter groups in our club, this was a fun topic to discuss … although I think the moms got more out of it than the daughters did!

Our meal theme was a lot of fun though. Beth decided we should each bring something we'd want for our last meal if we were on death row. Some of the items that showed up were antipasto and wine, chocolate strawberry cake, dessert shooters, and peanut butter cups.

We rated the book as follows:

8
7 x3
6.5
6
5.5
4
3
2 x2
0

Quite the range, huh? With 12 voters, that gives us an average of 4.8.

(I also reviewed this on my blog if you want to check it out.)

Our next meeting is at Cyndi's house on March 26th and we'll be discussing Bev's pick, THE BEAN TREES, by Barbara Kingsolver.

Literary-Themed Inn Opens in Maryland!

2009-02-19T10:06:00.003-05:00

I just read about this wonderful place, the Inn Boonsboro, that opened this week right here in Maryland. The owner is Nora Roberts, aka JD Robb, author of the "In Death" series.

What makes this place so special? Each room is named and designed after a famous literary couple who found their happy ending! Here's a list of the rooms:

Marguerite & Percy - from The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Nick & Nora - from The Thin Man, by Dashiell Hammett
Jane & Rochester - from Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
Elizabeth & Darcy - from Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
Titania and Oberon - from A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare
Eve & Roarke - from the In Death novels, by JD Robb
Westley & Buttercup - from The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
and there is a Penthouse as well

You can learn more about the Inn Boonsboro at the website: www.innboonsboro.com.

Hmm, I wonder if there is any way to get our book club up there sometime ...

A bit of humor ...

2009-02-11T08:53:00.002-05:00

Nancy sent me this today, and although I'm sure you've all seen it before, I thought it would be fun to post here. Enjoy!

One morning a husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, his wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book.

Along comes a Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, "Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?"

"Reading a book," she replies (thinking to herself Isn't that obvious?)

"You're in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her.

"I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading."

"Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up."

"For reading a book?" she replies.

'You're in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her again.

"I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading'

"Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up."

"If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault," says the woman.

"But I haven't even touched you," says the game warden.

"That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment."

"Have a nice day ma'am," and he left.

MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also think .

About Our Current Book

2009-01-30T17:20:00.002-05:00

For our upcoming meeting we're reading the book Kara nominated, CHANGE OF HEART by Jodi Picoult. Here an audio clip of the author talking about the book.

So ... what do you think?

Recap: Interpreter of Maladies

2009-01-27T16:43:00.002-05:00

Last night we met at Lenore’s house to discuss the book nominated by Melissa, Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies. Ten of us were in attendance.

Wow, was this a powerful book! The nine short stories were described by one member as “slices of life and not the pleasant slices either.” I think it was Jessica who said that these are the things you wouldn’t volunteer to tell someone else about yourself and Jennifer who added that these are the things that heavily influence who you are.

We discussed a bit about Lahiri herself, and how her own feelings of alienation are transformed into more universal feelings through her stories. Although this book is about the Indian and Indian-American experience, we also felt that it was about all immigrant experiences and about all people as well.

We closed our discussion by asking a few questions from the game Table Talk: The Book Club Edition (which was a gift to me from Nancy – thank you!) One question asked each member to sum up the book in one word. Some of the words we chose were: human, powerful, heart-wrenching, and realistic.

Although there were only 10 members at the meeting (plus Melissa’s mom who was in town), 11 people actually read the book. Here’s a recap of the ratings:

Nancy = 9
Carrie Ann = 8
Jessica = 7
Kelli = 9
Amy = 8
Melissa = 9.5
Beth = 9
Lenore = 8
Jennifer = 8
Heather = 9
Cyndi = 7

That is an average of 8.3.

A few gals mentioned that it is very difficult for them to give a book either a 9 or a 10, because they feel that it should be the best book ever written to get that rating. So those 8s are really high praise coming from them!

My recap of this meeting will be posted over at ReadingGroupGuides.com later this week. I'll come back and add a link to it once it goes up. And if you'd like to read my review of this book on my blog, click here.

Discussion Questions: Interpreter of Maladies

2009-01-13T11:27:00.002-05:00

Below are some discussion questions I pulled from ReadingGroupGuides.com for this month's book, Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri. We'll be using these questions in our meeting, so you may want to look them over ahead of time.

What kinds of marriage are presented in the stories? One reviewer has written that Lahiri's "subject is not love's failure, ... but the opportunity that an artful spouse (like an artful writer) can make of failure ... " Do you agree or disagree with that assessment?
Lahiri has said, "As a storyteller, I'm aware that there are limitations in communication." What importance in the stories do miscommunication and unexpressed feelings have?
In "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine," what does the ten-year-old Lilia learn about the differences between life in suburban America and life in less stable parts of the world? What does she learn about the personal consequences of those differences?
For Mrs. Sen, "Everything is there" (that is, in India). What instances are there in these stories of exile, estrangement, displacement, and marginality—both emotional, and cultural?
What characterizes the sense of community in both the stories set in India and stories set in the U.S.? What maintains that sense, and what disrupts it?
Another reviewer has written, "Food in these stories is a talisman, a reassuring bit of the homeland to cling to." How do food and meal preparation maintain links to the characters’ homelands? What other talismans—items of clothing, for example—act as "reassuring bits of the homeland"?
The narrator of "The Third and Final Continent" ends his account with the statement, "Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept." In what ways are Lahiri’s characters bewildered?
What are the roles and significance of routine and ritual in the stories? What are the rewards and drawbacks of maintaining long-established routines and ritual?
In "Interpreter of Maladies," Mr. Kapasi finds it hard to believe of Mr. and Mrs. Das that "they were regularly responsible for anything other than themselves." What instances of selfishness or self-centeredness do you find in these stories?
In "Interpreter of Maladies," visitors to Konarak find the Chandrabhaga River dried up, and they can no longer enter the Temple of the Sun, "for it had filled with rubble long ago ..." What other instances and images does Lahiri present of the collapse, deterioration, or passing of once-important cultural or spiritual values?
What does Mrs. Sen mean when, looking at the traffic that makes "her English falter," she says to Eliot, "Everyone, this people, too much in their world"? What circumstances of life in both America and India account for people being "too much in their world"?
Rather than leave his weekly rent on the piano, the narrator of "The Third and Final Continent" hands it to Mrs. Croft. What similar small acts of kindness, courtesy, concern, or compassion make a difference in people's lives?

Azar Nafisi Interview Online

2009-01-07T16:49:00.004-05:00

Joan forwarded me this link to an interview published today in The Washington Post where Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, talks about her upcoming book, Things I've Kept Silent About. This new book is an exploration of her childhood and, according to the interview, sheds light on the experiences she relates in Reading Lolita in Tehran.

If you recall, we read her Lolita book in January of 2008 - our recap is here. I reviewed it on this blog as well.

I found this new interview - and the premise of the upcoming book - to be very interesting. What do you think about it?

Winter 2009 Meeting Schedule

2009-01-06T15:01:00.000-05:00

Due to schedule conflicts we made an adjustment to our meeting schedule for early 2009. Here is the revised schedule for your reference.

Monday, January 26

Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri

nominated by Melissa

at Lenore's house in Annapolis

Saturday, February 28

Change of Heart, by Jodi Picoult

nominated by Kara

at Beth's house in Annapolis

Thusday, March 26

The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver

nominated by Bev

at Cyndi's house in Linthicum

Happy reading to you all!

Another Guest Post

2009-01-05T16:17:00.001-05:00

My recap of our Christmas Party and Book Swap is up over at ReadingGroupGuides.com. You can check it out by clicking this link then scrolling to the post dated Jan. 5, 2009. Enjoy!

Christmas Party Recap

2008-12-22T10:27:00.003-05:00

On Sunday we had our annual Christmas Party complete with good food, good friends, and lots of books!

For this meeting everyone got to read a book of her choice. Most of our discussion took the form of Book Reports. Here's a list of who read what and what they rated the books.

Beth: Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley - 9

Nancy: Skipping Christmas, by John Grisham - 8

Melissa: Official Guide to Christmas in the South (or If You Can't Fry It, Spray Paint It Gold), by David. C. Barnette - 8

Cyndi: The Christmas Promise, by Donna Vanliere - 5, but a good 5

Jessica: The Paper Bag Christmas, by Kevin Alan Milne - 8

Carrie Ann: Holidays on Ice, by David Sedaris - 8

Cynthia: Run, by Ann Patchett - 9
(Cynthia is Jessica's mom - she was visiting with us for this meeting)

Amy: The Dog Who Saved Christmas, by Alan Sullo - 5, but a cute book

Heather: The Cole Family Christmas, by Jennifer Bryan & Hazel Kendle - 8
(I reviewed this on my blog)

Nicole: The Red Tent, by Anita Diamante - 8

After the book reports, we did our Book Exchange. It was lots of fun! There wasn't all that much stealing going on but ONE book did get stolen several times: The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao.

A big thank you to Jessica for hosting our Christmas Party!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's a list of upcoming meeting dates:

Monday, Jan. 26th - location TBD

"Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Saturday, Feb. 28th @ 1pm - Beth's house

"Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult

Monday, Feb. 23rd - Cyndi's house

"The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver

Books for 2009 (January - March)

2008-12-09T09:55:00.002-05:00

At our last meeting we voted on the books we'd like to read over the next few months. Here's what we decided on:

January

Interpreter of Maladies

by Jhumpa Lahiri

nominated by Melissa

February

Change of Heart

by Jodi Picoult

nominated by Kara

March

The Bean Trees

by Barbara Kingsolver

nominated by Bev

We'll be setting meeting dates at our Christmas party on 12/21 so please remember to bring your calendar. And feel free to read ahead if you want to!

Christmas Book Swap: The Rules

2008-12-02T16:10:00.004-05:00

In preparation for our upcoming Christmas Party, I give you ...

Rules for SdelleS Christmas Book Swap

Each gal should bring a new or gently used book to swap. Books must be wrapped or bagged so that no one can tell what is inside.

Playing the Game:

All wrapped gifts are put in the center of the room.
The gals draw numbers from a hat to determine the order in which we pick gifts.
Gal #1 chooses a gift from the center and opens it, and shows it to everyone. That is the end of her turn ... for now.
Gal #2 chooses a gift from the center, opens it, and shows it to everyone. She may then swap her current gift with Gal #1 or keep the gift she has.
Gal #3 chooses a new gift, opens it, and shows it to everyone. Gal #3 may either keep the gift she opened or swap it for another Gal's opened gift.
We continue like this until each person has a gift.
Gal #1 may then swap her gift with any other gal.
That’s the end of the game!

Note: There is no limit to the number of times a gift can be “stolen” ... good luck!

Ideas for Christmas Books

2008-11-18T17:41:00.000-05:00

For our Christmas party we are reading any Christmas book of our choice.* Here's a list of suggested titles for those who need some extra inspiration:

In keeping with the Jackie O theme from a few months ago, here's a Christmas book by her daughter Caroline.
Try this list of Christmas books on Amazon.com to give you some ideas.
This article lists more Christmas themed books including some mysteries.
Want some light reading? Try these Christmas books for children.
Read the Christmas story in the Bible (in Luke).
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever looks like a fun book.
Truman Capote wrote a short story called A Christmas Memory that you can read online.
This Christmas book is small - only 75 pages and 5x7".
Here are some classic Christmas stories that you can read online.
Southern Christmas fiction, anyone?
And another online Christmas book - this one includes three short stories.
Carrie suggested The Christmas Sweater, a new book.
Here are several heartwarming Christmas books.
How about a Christmas take on Pilgrim's Progress?

I can't wait to see what everyone chooses to read. At the meeting we'll do our Book Report format which means that everyone gets a chance to talk about their book for a few minutes. It should be fun!

*If you feel strongly about reading something else then go for it!

Recap: The Glass Castle

2008-11-18T17:25:00.000-05:00

Fourteen of us met on Saturday at Melissa's house to discuss The Glass Castle. Our discussion touched on homelessness, poverty, mental illness, family love, overcoming your past, and much more. It sounds depressing but it was definitely not - we had a great time discussing a great book!

Thanks to everyone who made our meal so fantastic - we'll have to do the Thanksgiving theme again for sure.

Our next meeting is set for Dec. 21 at 2pm at Jessica's house. We'll be discussing the Christmas book of your choice (or whatever you feel strongly about reading). I'll post a list of suggestions within the next few days.

Thanks to Melissa we have some pics of our meeting!

(I also reviewed this book on my blog.)

Links for The Glass Castle

2008-11-13T12:01:00.000-05:00

I came across a post on another blog about our current read, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It includes links to several interviews with the author that might be interesting. I haven't had time to check them out yet; if you do, be sure to post a comment or two about what you learn.

UPDATE: I've found lots of additional links I'd like to share with you. Enjoy!

Spartan Podcast author interview
links to Q&A and other interviews
more author interviews
Photos! of Welch, WV in 2005
more photos from 2006
Where is Welch?!
Villanova University chose is book for their One Book Program and they have a blog dedicated to it

I'm really looking forward to out meeting on Saturday. And I LOVE Melissa's idea of bringing filled shoeboxes in support of Operation Christmas Child. I know a few ladies are already filling boxes - yeah!

Same Topic, Different Books

2008-10-22T22:30:00.001-04:00

My recap of our Jackie Kennedy meeting (where we read different books on the same topic) is up at ReadingGroupGuides. Click here to check it out!

Recap: Books about Jackie Kennedy Onassis

2008-10-12T22:15:00.002-04:00

This month we tried something a bit different. Annette wanted to read a biography of Jacki Kennedy. Rather than choosing one biography, each person could choose any book about Jackie that looked interesting to her. This idea worked very well!

We began by discussing Jackie's childhood and family background. We then moved on to the Kennedy years, then the Onassis years. We concluded our discussion by focusing on her years as an editor and her relationship to Maurice Templesman.

Six of the gals at the meeting were too young to remember Jackie, while the other three did remember some things about her. I think that everyone left the meeting knowing more than they did before though.

Nine people attended the meeting; those 9 people read 8 different books. Four read biographies, two read photo biographies, and two read books on fashion, and there were a few other books we browsed through. For the most part the books agreed with each other and covered the same parts of Jackie's life. One book, however, focused on Jackie's relationship with her mother and THAT one contradicted most of the other books - it made for some great discussion!

Here's a list of who read what and what they rated it ...

Heather: Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: A Life, by Donald Spoto ... 7
Heather: One Special Summer, Lenn and Jacqueline Bouvier ... 10
Nicole: Jackie Kennedy: A Life in Pictures, by Yann-Brice Dherbiert & Pierre-Henri Verlhac ... 7
Annette: Jackie: Her Life in Pictures, by James Spada ... 10
Lenore: Janet & Jackie, by Jan POtter ... 7
Bev: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, by Ellen Ladowski ... 7
Nancy: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, by Ellen Ladowski ... 10
Stephanie: Jackie, The Clothes of Camelot, by Dominick Dunne ... (?)
Kara: Jackie Style, by Valentino ... 8
Melissa: America's Queen, by Sarah Bradford ... 4
Carrie: America's Queen, by Sarah Bradford ... 7

Since we didn't all read the same book, we decided to rat our meeting. Everyone had a great time ... here's how our ratings went:

8 x 1 vote
9 x 4 votes
10 x 3 votes

for an average of 9.3.

If you want to read more about Jackie, check out this post and this one too. We had a lot of fun reading about her and doing our meeting this way. We'll definitely do something like this again soon!

More Info on Jackie O.

2008-10-07T23:30:00.000-04:00

Here are some interesting links to check out as you are reading about Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis this month.

The National First Ladies Library has a brief summary of her life as well as some unique tidbits about her experiences as First Lady
An article based on an interview she did just after her husband's assassination
News footage and interviews from after the assassination
Photos from her life
Jackie's obituary
Info about Jackie's grave site in Arlington National Cemetery
Read her Last Will and Testament
Lots of info/videos/photos about Jackie in the movies
Quotes by and about Jackie

2008 Baltimore Book Festival Recap

2008-10-07T11:31:00.000-04:00

I finally finished posting all my pics, videos, and thoughts from The Baltimore Book Festival on my personal blog. Whew! That was exhausting.

Here's a recap of all my posts in case you want to check them out:

I hope you enjoyed coming to the festival with me! Maybe you can join me in person next year - mark your calendar now for Sept. 25-27, 2009.

Recap: Redeeming Love

2008-09-24T14:12:00.001-04:00

On Thursday night we met at Chevy's for Happy Hour to discuss Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers.

First off, it was crowded! We usually sit on the porch outside and have it almost to ourselves. This time I snagged the only two empty tables out there. The noise level was higher than we're used to as well. And the parking was horrendous! It's never good, but this was ridiculous.

Ok, on to the book. This was Kelli's pick and she'd read it before. Most of the girls LOVED it, even the ones who didn't particularly want to read it. Lenore read it in two days, Nicole stayed up late even though her littlest boy is still waking up every few hours at night, Kara didn't want to get out of the car whenever she arrived at work (she listened on CD), and Shayla is planning to give copies to her sister and cousins. Personally, I wasn't a big fan. Neither was Annette, and Jennifer and Amy both thought it was just ok.

We talked a bit about what made Michael Hosea such an appealing character and our reactions to women like Angel in today's world. Stephanie and Melissa both empathized with Angel, as they've come across girls like her in their respective careers.

It was interesting to me to see the two different covers for this novel. They certainly give very different first impressions! Scroll to the bottom of this post for some examples.

Our discussion was rather brief this time. The noise level contributed, but we also wanted to finish year so (most of) us could go to the movie (click here for details on that).

Here are our rating for Redeeming Love:

5 = 2 votes
6 = 2 votes
8 = 2 votes
9 = 1 vote
10 = 4 votes

Eleven people rated the book (thirteen actually read it, but two haven't rated it yet), so our average rating is 7.9. I'll of course update this when I get the final two ratings.

Schedule for the rest of 2008

2008-09-20T13:57:00.004-04:00

October 7
your choice of any biography of Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy
(bring your book to the meeting to compare)
chosen by Annette
meeting at Lures Bar & Grille, Crownsville

November 15
The Glass Castle
by Jeannette Walls
chosen by Nancy
meeting at Melissa's house

December 21
Christmas Party & Planning Meeting, and
The Memory Keepers Daughter
by Kim Edwards
chosen by Joan
meeting at Jessica's house

Movie Night: Nights in Rodanthe

2008-09-19T09:38:00.002-04:00

Because of our presence on the internet, I was contacted by a marketing group offering SdelleS free tickets to an exclusive screening of the new movie Nights In Rodanthe, based on the book by Nicholas Sparks.

The movie was scheduled for the same night as book club and in the same mall as the restaurant where we'd be meeting. So rather than miss out, we ended our meeting a bit early and (most of us) headed off to the movie.

Here's what the gals had to say about it afterward:

Stephanie: The movie was a good romance movie, but not the ending I wanted. Maybe that is what the author and production company intended.. not to have the ending please everyone, but more reality in theory!!

Melissa: I'd give the movie a 4.5 because I adore Diane Lane. Otherwise, eh? The ending came out of nowhere & seemed unnecessary, & I didn't like the subliminal message about the safety of the developing world. But Diane Lane gave a stunning performance as always!

Annette: OH boy about last night. So exciting I felt like a celebrity at the Premier. Especially with the reserved seats for the press in front of us. I really enjoyed it and you were never bored. It was a fun night out with my husband and family. Thank you Heather honey, we look for a night like this again. I rate the movie a 6.

Shayla: I really did not like the movie. The movie was all surface and no depth. I plan to read the book, hopefully the book will fill in some blanks.

Kara: i had a fabulous time -always fun w/the girls! the movie -i think all of us who went together - steph, my mom bev, steph's mother in law sue, melissa & her friend - didn't like it - it was good, neat having it filmed in the obx, and an amazing house we all wanted, but that was it! i like fairy tales - and there was a little "heated" debate afterwards, but our group decided we live in the real world, but as for movies - we'd rather not be realistic :) even though i didn't like the movie it was soo much fun and i found a movie i have to see - go watch trailer of 4 christmases - looks so funny like wedding crashers

Lenore: As for the movie, not a huge fan. Although I read the book a long time ago and am fairly certain the book was better, however not much can help the ending.

And from family members who attended:

Nick: it was slow to start, but it was very touching, I needed a drink when it was over!

Karen: The scenery was nice since we were just there, BUT I thought it was slow, and I wasn't that crazy about it! We had a wonderful time, though.

If anyone else emails me with their comments I'll add them here as well.

Thank you to Promotions and Publicity at Terry Hines & Associates for giving us tickets to this show!

I'll be posting a recap of our actual meeting shortly, as well as the schedule for the next few months so be sure to check back for those.

New Guidelines for SdelleS

2008-08-04T14:59:00.002-04:00

Thanks to the wonderful group of ladies in our book club we are a thriving and growing group! After our recent growth spurt - we've added 5 new members since March and 3 of those joined last month! - we realized the need for some "official guidelines".

We want our club to continue to be successful and the only way to do that is by assuring that all our members are active in the decisions we make, and happy with the direction our club is going. With that in mind, we spent some time at our last meeting discussing ways to improve the club. Here are the guidelines that we agreed on:

New Book Club Guidelines for SdelleS

1. Choosing books and scheduling meetings:

After we finish our current “book picker” rotation (next up is Annette, then Nancy, and finally Joan) we are changing the way we choose books. Here’s how it will work:

Three times a year we will have a planning meeting. This will be part of our regular meeting that month (not an extra meeting, so don’t worry). Everyone can bring one book to suggest and take a few minutes to “make a case” for that book. Then each person will vote for the books she wants to read the most. The four books with the most votes will be our selections for the next four months.

At that planning meeting we will also set dates for our next four meetings. Because of our group size, we realize that we cannot plan a meeting that everyone will be able to attend. Our best option is to rotate between weekend and weeknight meetings to better accommodate everyone’s schedules.

Our first planning meeting will be part of our Christmas party this year.

2. Meeting locations:

Our current policy is that if you want to host a meeting, you volunteer. If you don’t, you don’t. We’re sticking with that policy but with one addition. If you want to host but can’t do it in your home, you are welcome to find an alternate locations (a church, park, office, etc.) and host us there.
We also agreed that weeknight meetings at Chevy’s (Happy Hour!) would be back on the schedule.

3. New Members:

We agree that new people bring new perspectives and fun to our group; however we realize that if the group gets too big it will lose some of its charm. For now we will continue to accept new members but we will reevaluate that decision at each planning meeting and we may decide to close the membership at some point.

4. Reading Speed:

We agree that 100 pages per week is a reasonable goal for our club. At the same time, we understand that some months are busier than others. We expect our members to make every effort to read the book before each meeting; however if you just can’t fit it in one month, you are still welcome to attend the meeting and participate in the discussion.
At the same time, if you are consistently not reading the books from month to month, you may want to reconsider your commitment to the book club. [Of course we do have “maternity leave” for those members with new babies – come when you can, read what you can, you’re welcome whenever.]

5. Author Meetings:

We definitely want to pursue additional meetings with authors, either in person or via speakerphone. If the opportunity arises, we will bump our next planned book to the following month and fit the new book in as quickly as possible.

6. Annual Family Party:

This topic split the group evenly. Half were opposed to the idea while half were in support of it. However since no one was willing to plan or host this event we decided to stick with our “girls only” meetings.

Recap: Eat, Pray, Love

2008-08-04T14:49:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we had our meeting for Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It was also our annual pool party at Nancy’s house. Nancy always has such a gorgeous setup for us! We had two out-of-town guests, my Gram, Eileen, (from Florida) and Melissa’s mom, Marlene (from Tennessee).

Stephanie chose this book for us because she received it for Christmas and needed an excuse to read it. Unfortunately she still hasn’t read it because her new baby girl arrived last month and just about eliminated her reading time. Nicole was in the same boat, with her 2^nd son arriving last month as well. Both babies attended their first book club meeting yesterday.

As usual for us, opinions on this book were mixed. Bev wasn’t a big fan, mostly because the book came across as very self-centered to her. She shared the belief that if you’re only looking inside yourself for happiness, you’re not likely to find it; she was disappointed that the author did so little for anyone other than herself. Melissa wasn’t all that impressed with the book either, but (sorry!) I can’t remember what her reasons were. Annette tried to listen to the audio version but was bored practically to tears by the narrator’s monotone reading.

Personally I expected to hate it and I actually liked it quite a bit (I’ll be posting a complete review on my blog today or tomorrow). I was in the minority at the meeting though. Nancy did enjoy it for the most part. There were sections that she could relate to in some ways. And she and I agreed that the writing style was very engaging.

Two of the gals who couldn’t make it to the meeting loved the book (I know, because they told me!) and I’d love to hear their thoughts as there was NO ONE at the meeting who really loved this book. Carrie and Amy – please post your thoughts in the comments!

Our discussion mainly focused on two topics:

Gilbert’s refusal to explain the reasons behind her divorce – none of us were happy with this at first, but some of us were able to get past it, appreciate her reasons and focus on the rest of the book while others were stuck on her refusal to divulge more info

Did she or did she not change by the end of the book? If so, in what ways? And did that make her a “better person”?

I’m still compiling votes and will update this as more come in, but for now here’s where we stand:

3 members gave it a 7

1 member gave it a 3

(I’ll post the average once I get the rest of the votes in.)

Guest Blog Posts & Reminder

2008-08-01T16:26:00.000-04:00

Remember me telling you that I'm now an official contributor to the blog at ReadingGroupGuides.com? Well my newest post is up!

Click here to read my recap of our meeting with DL Wilson, and then click here to read HIS thoughts on our meeting - how cool is that?!

(His post is dated Aug. 1 so if you click over after today you'll have to scroll down the page a bit.)

Please post a comment over there and let me know what you think about both posts!

~~~~~~~~~

Nancy wanted me to remind you all to bring bug spray to the pool party at her house on Sunday. She says the mosquitoes are getting worse every day. :(

Meeting Recap: Unholy Grail

2008-07-22T10:08:00.004-04:00

This past Sunday we met at Audrey's church to discuss Unholy Grail. Hmm, meeting at a church to discuss a book on religious conspiracies ... ~LOL~ Author DL (David) Wilson joined us; this was OUR first time meeting with an author and HIS first time meeting with a book group so no one knew what to expect.

The meeting went incredibly well! When he gave us our books last month, David asked that we each write down our three most favorite and three least favorite things as we read. This was the perfect way to handle an author meeting, in my opinion. It allowed us to encourage the author in the areas we thought he succeeded in while giving us the push we might need to share the things we thought could use improvement. I mean, no one wants to be insulting, right? But we do want to be honest and this plan made that easy to do.

Just about everyone came up with something that she enjoyed about the book, and just about everyone came up with something that she did not enjoy. For a while the conversation veered off into religious beliefs but thankfully that didn't last too long. And we all got a good laugh when David repeatedly stated (with a great sense of humor) that "THIS is why I'll never write a religious book again!"

At the end of the meeting David surprised the girls with unedited copies of his upcoming bioterrorism novel for any who were interested. Thanks!!!

We had three new members this time - welcome all! Eleven people attended the meeting and lots more read the book but couldn't make it to the meeting. This was our biggest group of readers ever ... 17! Here's how the rating went:

4 = 3 votes
5 = 2 votes
6 = 7 votes
8 = 5 votes

That give us an average rating of 6.1 for Unholy Grail.

Our next meeting will be at Nancy's house on Aug. 3 and it's our Annual Pool Party - yeah! We'll be discussing Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert. This was Steph's book pick. Kelli gets to choose the next book.

At our next meeting we'll also discuss ways to improve our club. Please think of the things you like about SdelleS and also the things that need improvement; I want to hear from honest opinions from everyone. :)

(In case you forgot, here's the backstory of how David Wilson ended up at our book club.)

Book & Movie Pairings

2008-06-16T16:30:00.001-04:00

I wrote about our recent meeting over a ReadingGroupGuides.com. Below is a link to the post ... I think you'll get a kick out of it. :)

http://www.readinggroupguides.com/blog/2008/06/book-and-movie-pairings.asp

Our Book Club is Famous!

2008-06-12T14:41:00.000-04:00

Ok, well maybe not famous, but we are getting some hometown attention (thanks to Carrie!).

The Baltimore Sun profiled us today on their new book blog. According to one of the editors, our blog "is the best one I've ever seen!". Cool, huh? Click here to read what they wrote.

You may recall that I'm now doing monthly book giveaway on my other blog. Click here if you'd like to enter to win. And yes, the contest IS open to people in my book club too!

Summer Schedule

2008-06-10T14:04:00.004-04:00

It looks like it's going to be a busy summer for everyone so we're planning ahead a bit more than usual:

Sunday, July 20 - meeting to discuss Unholy Grail with the author - location is currently the Odenton library but that's subject to change if the libraries start closing on Sundays

Sunday, August 3 - meeting to discuss Eat, Pray, Love (Steph's pick) - Nancy's our pool party hostess again - yeah!

If the weather is good, we might be able to squeeze in one more pool party at Annette's in early September.

The next book picker will be Kelli, followed by Annette, Nancy, then Joan. At that point we've reached the end of our current list and we'll have to draw names to come up with the 2009-2010 book picker list. Wow - that seems so far off!

PS. Mom - don't you wish your pool looked like this?!

Recap: The Kite Runner

2008-06-09T13:47:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we met to discuss The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and to watch the movie. Thank you to Nicole for being our wonderful hostess, and to everyone for bringing delicious goodies to eat!

Our discussion was very brief this time because we knew the movie was over 2 hrs long. A few interesting things to note from our meeting:

Everyone liked this book, although we all found it disturbing. We agreed it was well written and hard to put down.
Those who listened to the audio book were very impressed. The author did the reading and he's an excellent speaker.
One gal's husband has been in Afganistan several times ... he told her that events like those in the book still happen there today.

About the book vs. the movie:

We all agreed the book was far better than the movie.
Too many of the scenes or characters that we thought were vitally important in the book were missing or shortened in the movie.
One gal who couldn't attend watched the movie with her husband last week; she said she didn't like it at all and that her husband had a hard time following it.
The subtitles make it hard to watch with a group.

I know that this is not like my usual summary posts, but we really didn't have an official discussion; otherwise there wouldn't have been time for the movie.

If you're interested, here are some links to other bloggers who have reviewed this book:
Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? - Trish's site is one of my favorites.
Maw Books - I read Natasha's site every day too.
The Hidden Side of a Leaf - Dewey hosts the Weekly Geeks (which you'll understand if you read that part of my blog)

Our next meeting is set for Sunday, July 20. We're reading Unholy Grail and meeting with the author.

Steph got to pick the next book and she chose Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. We will be meeting to discuss this in early August, so please start reading it as soon as you finish Unholy Grail.

I have our books!

2008-06-04T11:27:00.003-04:00

Hi ladies - David dropped off signed copies of his book Unholy Grail today! I'll have them for you at our meeting on Sunday. He was also kind enough to give me an extra signed copy that I can give away on my other blog - how cool!

As I mentioned in the emails, David is looking for constructive criticism on this book. He suggested that we each make of list of the three things we like most and the three things we like least about his book. I think this is an excellent idea that will lead to a great discussion.

FYI, David is very easy to talk to; I think our meeting with him will be very comfortable and informative. He brought the books to my office this afternoon and we had a few minutes to chat before he left again. He let me know that he asked our club to read his book for two main reasons. First, we read books from different genres (unlike some other clubs who stick with the same types of books each month). Second, we don't always agree about the books. He wants to hear from diverse readers who know how to verbalize their thoughts - good or bad - on a book. Like I said, he was very easy to talk to and I'm looking forward to our meeting more than ever.

For those of you who will not be at the meeting at Nicole's on Sunday, I'll work out a time/place to get your book to you. I hope you are enjoying The Kite Runner ... I'm sure we'll have LOTS to talk about at the meeting!

Upcoming Meeting: The Kite Runner

2008-05-02T14:48:00.001-04:00

Our next meeting is set for June 8th at Nicole's house. We'll be discussing Bev's pick - The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. This is a perfect meeting to bring a friend to since the plan is to discuss the book then watch the movie.

Check out these reviews by other readers...

This reader WANTED to hate the book but couldn't
This book club read it in 2007
And here are comments on the book vs. the movie

This is an intense book and should make for a great discussion!

Recap: The Poisonwood Bible (Part II)

2008-04-22T09:16:00.008-04:00

We had our final meeting for The Poisonwood Bible this past Saturday at Bev's house. Bev had a wonderful brunch for all of us - thanks Bev!

Our discussion was a bit crazy this time. From what I can tell, everyone really enjoyed this book. ALMOST everyone liked the 2nd half better than the first. One person liked the first better, and the rest of us decided that the 2 halves together are what makes the book so fascinating.

Here's a recap of some of our main discussion topics:

the death of the daughter (I won't say which, in case those who didn't read it still want to!)
Leah's marriage to Anatole (Annette fell in love with him through the audio book!)
Nathan's death, and the biblical story it reflected
how Nathan's decisions affected the girls throughout their lives
the concepts of "muntu" and "nommo" and how that relates to the "eyes in the trees"
more explanation of The Apocrypha - what it is, which churches accept it, etc.
the position of women in society - in many ways they were limited by the resources they could control (not many resources in most cases) and oblivious or perhaps deliberately not aware of the larger political/social/etc. situation around them (Orleanna is a great example of this)
Rachel as a character (this caused much debate as one member tried to defend Rachel's opinions and another member tried to justify her actions and most of the other members disagreed with both of them), and her amusing misuse of language (gotta love her for that!)
Adah before and after "losing her slant"
how each daughter changed from the first half of the book
how the author shows the Congo to be a woman, and a character of the book
the difference between European colonization in America and in Africa

Here's how we rated the book: there was one 8, four 9s, and five 10s. That gives us an average of 9.4 ... the second highest rating we've ever given! (FYI, the highest rating was 9.8 ... but only 6 people voted in that pole. That book was Memoirs of a Geisha.)

Our next meeting is set for June 8 at 2pm at Nicole's house. Bev chose our book, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Since there is a movie version, we MAY watch it at the meeting ... we'll decide as time gets closer.

As always, feel free to post any comments about the book, the discussion, or anything related to our club. Happy Reading!

Recap: The Poisonwood Bible (Part 1)

2008-03-31T11:17:00.003-04:00

We had an excellent meeting this past weekend to discuss Books 1-3 of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Our host was Audrey, Carrie's stepmom. It was wonderful to have so many of us all together - and comfortable - in one room!

I was SO IMPRESSED with all the ladies this month. Of the 12 of us who attended (we did have one visitor plus Audrey) everyone read up to - or almost up to - where they were supposed to. And wonder of wonders, EVERYONE liked this book! Personally I thought there would be many who did not so I was pleasantly surprised. :)

We began the discussion with some basic info about the author. The fact that she was born in Annapolis and lives nearby in Virginia made us feel local connection to Kingsolver. Then we moved on to an overview of Books 1-3. We discussed the relationship between the title of each book, the subtitle of each book, and the events that happen within that book. We also contrasted the verse at the start of each book with what happens at the end of each book.

From there we talked a bit about the characters themselves, their outlook on the world, and the meanings behind their names. We discussed how Leah begins to change in Book 3. During the character discussion, Carrie pointed out that although each of the 5 women telling the story has her own distinct voice, Rachel and Ruth May sound very much alike. We decided that had a lot to say about Rachel's maturity level! Annette brought up Rachel's actions during the ant raid. The way she stuck out her elbows and let the crowd carry her really symbolized her way of going through life.

Other big topics included Biblical themes, contrasting cultures, stereotypes, and the idea of balance. We touched on Adah's use of palindromes (everyone found that fascinating) and her fascination with the poet Emily Dickinson. This book is fun and entertaining yet dark and haunting all at once. Everyone agreed that it has many levels that open up world's of discussion!

We talked for about 2 hours straight and I didn't have to remind anyone to keep on track. Everyone was very involved in the discussion and contributed a variety of ideas and opinions. Two members are doing the audio version this time and both are heartily enjoying it! They say the narrator does an excellent job changing her voice to portray the 5 women.

We'll conclude our discussion at our next meeting on April 19. Bev gets to choose our next book and she's started looking already!

Just before our meeting closed, Joan gave everyone a copy of The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. She's been picking them up from the thrift store every chance she gets and finally had enough to give one to each member of the club. This is the book Joan plans to choose when her turn comes up in a few months. What a cool idea - thanks Joan!

Next Meeting: The Poisonwood Bible (Part 1)

2008-03-06T09:51:00.006-05:00

Our next meeting is set for March 29 at 2pm. We will discuss Books 1-3 of The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver. Here are some questions/ideas to consider as you read ...

Where does the title of the book come from? Does this give you any insight into the theme of the book?
Take notice of the different voices of the 5 narrators ... do you have a favorite?
Why doesn't Nathan get to tell his part of the story? Do you think he should, or is the book better because he doesn't?

Of course, you can always use the questions on the bookmarks I gave out at the last meeting. Those are helpful when reading ANY book for discussion.

Happy Reading!

____________

I just found an excellent summary of the book on ReadingGroupGuides.com ... I'm posting it here for everyone:

God's Kingdom in its pure, unenlightened glory. So fourteen-year-old Leah Price expects when, in the summer of 1959, she arrives in the Congo with her family. Her Baptist-preacher father, Reverend Nathan Price, assigned to Kilanga mission, is determined to enlighten the savages and to rule his family with strict biblical sanction. Leah's twin, Adah, the victim of hemiplegia at birth, limps along and maintains silence. Fifteen-year-old Rachel resents being dropped on "this dread dark shore" far from America's fashions and comforts. Ruth May, five years old, faints. And their mother, Orleanna, readies herself to protect them all from whatever perils may come--from jungle, river, or father and his terrible God. From 1959 through 1998, the Price sisters tell their stories, in alternating narratives that reflect their ages as the years pass and the understandings that they achieve. Those stories--together with Orleanna's retrospective commentaries--reveal the amazing forty-year saga that the Prices and the Congo share. Cultural and spiritual conflicts, confusion and revelation, hunger and pleasure, cruelties and kindness, suffering and love, all combine with the day-to-day life in Africa's villages to enrich this wondrous tale. This is Barbara Kingsolver's most daring, complex, and rewarding novel--a whopping good story told with tender majesty. The wisdom that Rachel, Adah, Leah, Ruth May, and Orleanna wrest from their lives is also ours.

Me Talk Pretty One Day - Recap

2008-02-25T16:36:00.005-05:00

On Feb. 17 we had our meeting for Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris. This book was rather difficult to discuss. Don't get me wrong - everyone had an opinion on it, but that was about it. Some of us really disliked it, some of us thought it had some great parts, some of us thought it was pretty good ... but that's as far as the discussion went. We talked about a few of the essays and about the author's ability to turn everyday experiences into humor. And all that took about 15 minutes total.

Nine of us rated this book, and the ratings went as follows: 4, 5x2, 6, 7x2, 8x2, 9. The average rating was 6.6.

The rest of the meeting was lots of fun though! Nancy is always an excellent hostess. We finally had our Christmas Book Exchange, and Nancy had lots of goodies for everyone to take home.

Our next book is Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. It was my pick, and I can't wait to reread it!

Next Meeting: Me Talk Pretty One Day

2008-01-17T21:31:00.002-05:00

For our next meeting Anna chose Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. This has been on my "To Be Read" list for about a year so for me this is a a great choice. ;)

Next Meeting Details ...

Hosted by: Nancy
Date: Feb. 17 @ 2pm
Theme: Parisian Brunch
Food: Please check the evite for Nancy's menu suggestions.

Next Book Picker: me!
Next Book: The Poisonwood Bible

Our current book is really a collection of short humorous essays about the author's life. For the meeting, pick one or two favorites ... it will be fun to see what everyone else finds entertaining!

If you want to hear the author read some of the chapters from this book, and also his commentary on NPR, check out the links below. They are hysterical!

Life in New York City
The Sex of French Nouns
Inside French Health Care
The City of Lights in the Dark

Reading Lolita in Tehran - recap

2008-01-14T11:16:00.006-05:00

Well we FINALLY had our meeting for Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi. Due to crises in their families, three members could not attend ... our thoughts and prayers are with them. The meeting was moved to my house at the last minute and 5 of us attended. Welcome to our newest members, Jessica and Kelli!

Our discussion of the book wasn't bad, considering that we had the three missing members on our minds. I loved the book, Annette loved it (she was home with the flu), Amber thought it was pretty good, Nicole HATED it, and I think Kelli didn't like it much either. Jess only read a chapter or so and it put her to sleep. :) I'll post the official ratings once I receive them.

To recap, here are some of the main points we discussed:

the theme of each of the books/authors Nafisi mentioned, and how she related them to her life in Iran
censorship in general, with discussion of modern day examples including The Satanic Verses, Harry Potter, and The Da Vinci Code
the concept of home - is it portable or connected to a specific piece of land?

I spoke to mom (Annette) on the phone later. She listened to the audio version of the book and really enjoyed it. She said:

Listening to her describe how the women came into her house and took off their veils ... I could see it right in front of my eyes. I could see the girls coming into my kitchen and sitting down around the table ... it was amazing!

Now THAT is what makes audio books so great! I know there is great controversy in the book world about the use of audio books but this, for me, is why I love them. For more opinions on this, check out this blog.

There were lots of things that we did NOT discuss, including the criticism Nafisi received for writing this book. I had an Washington Post article to hand out, but forgot to give it to everyone at the meeting. Read it here when you get a chance. It talks about how some Iranian-Americans feel she portrayed their country incorrectly and tried to please her Western audience by saying what they wanted to hear. It's a very interesting article.

I heard an interview with Nafisi in which she talked about modern day Iran. Here's a brief excerpt:

Nafisi: Of course, now Iran, because of the young people’s rebellion, is much more open than when I left it in `97. But, I have to cover my hair. Nowadays, they’re much more relaxed because they couldn’t control it. But the way these girls are on the cover of my book, that even is not really proper. You should cover the hair properly. But nobody does that in Iran today.
Question: Do they still have morality patrols running around the city?
Nafisi: I don’t think they have anymore. When I was in Iran in `97 they still had them. But I’m talking with my friends and students and they said that there is so much unrest that they don’t want to add to people’s dissatisfaction by having the morality police around. But they still have raid parties and raid houses, and every once in a while they raid the streets.

Ok, that's about all I have for now. Please post any comments you may have as I'd love to hear them! We're still planning the date of our next meeting, and I'll post that as soon as I can. Happy reading to all!

Oh, here are the ratings for this book. There were 7 who read it and they gave it: 6x3, 6.5, 7, 8, and 10, with an average of 7.1.

Next Meeting: Reading Lolita in Tehran

2007-11-20T09:17:00.002-05:00

Our meeting is almost here ... finally!!!!

Just a few reminders about our Christmas Party this Saturday (Jan. 12 @ 2pm @ Steph's):

Please bring a wrapped book (new or used) for our book exchange.
Steph is doing a tapas-style meal so bring a dish of something to share that goes with that theme

It's been quite a while since I read our current book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi. I'm reviewing my notes tonight (after our Christmas dinner with my mom and dad - they were in FL for Christmas), so hopefully I'll remember everything for tomorrow!

Here is a list of some of the questions/topics that we’ll discuss at the meeting, in case you want to think about your answers ahead of time:

1 – According to Nafisi, how is the Ayatollah Khomeini like Humbert in Lolita?

2 - Think about "the blind censor" and how he relates to the larger story.

3 - Consider the position of women in Iran before the revolution versus their position during Nafisi's story.

4 - Why did the regime feel it necessary to ban/restrict most books? Why did it matter what the people were reading? What did the government fear?

5 - In your opinion, should books ever be censored or banned? Why or why not? Are there circumstances that would be an exception to your rule?

6 – What is “home” to you? Is it a place, people, things? Is it stationary or “portable”?

7 - Nafisi focused on two specific novels, Lolita and The Great Gatsby, and on two specific authors, Henry James and Jane Austen. Why did she choose these and not others? What was the relation between the books/authors and Nafisi and her students in Tehran at that specific time?

8 - And finally, the message at the core of the book - What is the real value of fiction? Why should we read it? Is it meant solely for enjoyment or is there something more to "great fiction"? I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these topics and more!

See you all tomorrow!

- Heather

PS. If you’d like to hear Azar Nafisi herself, here are some links you may enjoy:
http://www.authorbytes.com/abmediaplayer/readerscircle10/player.htm http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=3617 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5140411773302656963 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4602009390796832062

Who We Are

2007-10-24T14:08:00.001-04:00

There are 20 ladies on the SdelleS mailing list but only half of them are active members. Here is a bit about each of us, starting with the original members [at least, those who gave me info to add!].

Heather - Book Club Founder and unofficial leader ... I started this club back in the summer of '05 because I am a reading addict and am always looking for people to discuss my books with me. I love to learn (and to teach) so researching authors, themes, etc. is a perfect fit for me. My favorite thing about SdelleS is our discussion time ... you know, those great discussions where everyone has an opinion and a strong desire to share it. That doesn't happen with every book, but when it does, I'm in my glory! A little about me ... I've been married since '98 and have a son who was born in '02. My favorite things to read are historical fiction, true stories and the sci-fi/fantasy of Robert Jordan, David Eddings, Orson Scott Card, Frank Herbert, JRR Tolkien and the Dungeons and Dragons series. In addition to reading, I'm an avid scrapbooker and family historian.

Kara - original club member, Heather's college friend

Carrie - original club member, Heather's childhood friend

Nicole - original club member, Heather's sister

Steph - original club member, sister to Kara ... I joined SdelleS for some self-care time, girl time, and because I love to read (well, usually). My favorite thing about book club is that is gives me time with family & friends & always good food. A little about me ... I am a fun-loving thrill seeker but have a busy schedule. So books are a way for me to get a quick thrill when I can't jet off to another state or country for a reality thrill (like volcanoes and scuba diving...). It is also time for me to just be me, to take off the hat of being a professional and wear the hat of being a fun-loving, spiritual woman with my family and friends.

Bev - member since 2005, Kara & Steph's mom

Nancy - member since 2006, Bev's friend ... I joined SdelleS for the love of reading, conversation and friendship. My favorite thing about the club is that we are a diverse group of women who bring an array of experience and personality. Each has a story and we are sisters in heart, hence our chosen book club name! Our meetings are serious, yet FUN and always interesting. The themed meals make the meetings enjoyable to plan. A little about me ... I am a 51 year young woman, Fancy Nancy is my name. My interests include knitting, stamping, party planning, cooking, gardening, shopping (treasure hunting and bargain shopping), spending time with family, traveling and helping others. I love anything that sparkles and yes, I admit, I read Martha Stewart Magazine and follow her show. Cannot help it, she does have great ideas!

Annette - member since 2006, Heather & Nicole's mom

Amber - member since 2006, Heather & Nicole's friend

Anna - member since 2006, Carrie's friend ... I would often read books and not finish them, so I hoped that being in a book club would give me the extra nudge to finish books. My favorite things about the club are meeting some pretty amazing women and all the great FOOD and laughs we share. Hmm, not sure what to tell you about me. The great thing about our book club is we get to know each other and share a lot of ourselves and our lives with each other. Some things that may surprise everyone about me:

1. I took Opera lessons (I love to sing, but not opera)

2. I love taking language classes, most recently I took Russian

3. I wish I could be a professional dancer (not with a pole)... ha ha ha...

4. My passion is to have enough money to oversee an Orphanage and guarantee that every child will receive the BEST care and feel loved until a family adopts them. Thus the reason I selected Russian as my recent language class (they have the most horrible Orphanages in Russia and the government has restricted help for decades).

Joan - member since 2007, invited by Heather

Jessica - member since 2007, started attending in 2008, invited by Carrie

Kelli - member since 2007, started attending in 2008, invited by Carrie

Questions to Ponder as You Read a Book

2007-10-22T11:28:00.001-04:00

While reading through the 3rd edition of The Book Group Book I came across a list of questions used by a very large and very formal book discussion group in San Antonio, Texas. I've modified that list slightly and am posting here. These questions are not necessarily things we would discuss at our meetings but they will help you to look at any book with the eye of a literary critic. Taking the time to consider these questions as you read will give you more insight into the book and likely provoke deeper discussion at our meetings. Enjoy!

Questions to Help Analyze Literary Style

Style
1. Is there anything strikingly different about the author’s style?
2. Does the author use figures of speech?
3. Is there much wit or humor? Pathos?
4. Is there anything unusual about the author’s method of description?
5. Is there much dialogue? Is it natural? What is its purpose?
6. Do you feel the author is a close observer of life? Is the author sensitive to life?
7. Does the author ever moralize or seem didactic?
8. Is the author particularly interested in moral problems? Social problems?
9. Does the author succeed in evoking an emotional response from the reader?

Theme
10. What are the themes? Are they universal or shallow?
11. Is the title related to the theme? Is it appropriate? Effective?
12. Is the setting essential to the story (i.e. are the particular times and places especially important)?

Setting
13. Is an unusual amount of space devoted to establishing the setting? Is so, what seems to be the reason?
14. Are the descriptions important either in establishing mood or atmosphere?
15. Is nature unused to increase the effect of a scene?
16. Are there many changes of scene? Why or why not?

Characters
17. Can the character development of the protagonist be readily traced? How and why did she or he change?
18. What use is made of minor characters?
19. Could any characters have been omitted? If so, why has the author included them?
20. What are the author’s methods of character portrayal?
21. Who are the ‘essentially evil’ characters? Do they have any redeeming qualities?
22. Who are the ‘essentially good’ characters? Do they have any detracting qualities?
23. Do the characters seem more important than the action? Is what they are more important than what they do?

Plot
24. What is the basic conflict of the plot?
25. How is the exposition handled?
26. How is suspense created and maintained?
27. Is each chapter a unit? How does it begin? End? What keeps it going?
28. Is the hand of the author apparent in the plot or is what happens the natural outgrowth of the circumstances, the character, and their interactions?
29. Is there foreshadowing? Is it signposted by the author?
30. What is the method of narration (chronological, flashback, diary, letters, parallel events, etc.)?
31. Are there episodes, incidents, or chapters that might have been omitted as far as the plot is concerned? If so, why did the author include them?
32. What makes the first scene a fitting beginning? Or is it?
33. What makes the last scene a fitting (or unfitting) ending?
34. Is the basic conflict of the plot completely and logically resolved?

Other
35. What do you learn or assume to be the author’s sense of morals or moral values?
36. Is there close integration of plot, character, setting and theme?
37. What have you learned that will help you to “live more finely”?

For those of us who have been out of school for a while, here are some helpful definitions:

Didactic designed or intended to teach OR making moral observations

Exposition a setting forth of the meaning or purpose of a literary work

Figure of speech a form of expression (as a simile or metaphor) used to convey meaning or heighten effect often by comparing or identifying one thing with another that has a meaning or connotation familiar to the reader or listener

Narration to tell (as a story) in detail

Pathos an element in a literary work evoking pity or compassion

Protagonist the principal character in a literary work

Setting the time and place of the action of a literary, dramatic, or cinematic work

Signposted to provide with guides in a literary work

Style a distinctive manner of expression

Theme a subject or topic of discourse in a literary work

Celebrate Banned Books Week

2007-10-10T08:52:00.001-04:00

The American Library Association sponsors "Banned Books Week" every year. This year it ran from Sept. 29-Oct. 6. Seeing as we had our meeting for Life of Pi during that time, I brought a list of the top 100 banned/challenged books for each member. We talked a bit about our freedom to read in this country, but we didn't spend a lot of time on it.

Here are a few of the more famous books that have been banned in some part of the world:

Animal Farm
Black Beauty
The Age of Reason
The Call of the Wild
For Whom the Bell Tolls
The Manchurian Candidate
Ninteen Eighty-Four
Uncle Tom's Cabin

And these books have been challenged but not banned:

A Wrinkle in Time
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Bridge to Terabithia
Of Mice and Men
Native Son
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
James and the Giant Peach
Huckleberry Finn & Tom Sawyer
The Catcher in the Rye
The Color Purple
To Kill a Mockingbird

Our current book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, is an excellent example of what can happen in countries where people are not free to read what they choose. So please remember how lucky we are to live in a nation that gives us such freedom, and take advantage of your freedom to read.

For more info on the ALA's Banned Books Week, visit their website.

Baltimore Book Festival Report

2007-10-09T15:58:00.001-04:00

The Baltimore Book Festival was Sept. 28-30 and our book club was the winner of the Book Club Connection drawing! We won the following:

6 passes for Free parking passes
6 Exhibitor Hospitality Credentials to receive free snacks and beverages
12 Front row Seats for Author appearances of your choice
15 Festival Beer Tickets
3 Bottles of wine
60 Food Dollars

Most of our members had prior commitments and could not attend, but some of us made it. The weather was absolutely perfect for the Festival. Annette and Nicole (and families) attended on Friday and Saturday. They got to see two cookbook authors, Andrew Schloss, author of Mastering the Grill, and Earl "Bubba" Hiers of Uncle Bubba's Savannah Seafood (he's the brother of Paula Deen from Food Network). Plus they were able to browse the author tents, book sellers and food stalls.

My husband and I attended on Sunday. We got to see Martha Raddatz (more about her below), Stephen Hunter (author of The 47th Samurai), a crabologist from Phillip's Seafood (more about that below) and Cat Cora (of Iron Chef fame).

We were very impressed with Martha Raddatz. She is a correspondent for ABC and author of The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family. She spoke about her new book which chronicles one battle in Iraq in 2001. It is a chronological account of the battle as well as the daily lives of the soldiers' families back home. She is an excellent speaker and had a great deal of information to share. As with any discussion of Iraq, there were several smart-a** comments from people during the Q&A session, but there were good questions as well. I was sad to see that my husband and I were by far the youngest people there to see this author. Most of those in attendance were 60 and up. It just goes to show the apathy of most of our generation.

My husband was chosen to be an assistant during the crab demo by Phillip's Seafood. He learned how to make crab cakes like a pro, and received a huge bag of Phillip's products - and two books - as a thank you. After that we watched Cat Cora's demo. She was entertaining and worked well under pressure ... especially when there was no butter or oil olive for her to cook her shrimp with! We met her afterword and had her autograph her cook book for us and even took pictures with her.

On the whole it was a very enjoyable day, and I'm looking forward to attending next year! Keep up to date with this annual event by checking out their website.

Life of Pi

2007-10-09T14:14:00.000-04:00

Since the start of book club, Kara has been wanting to read Yann Martel's Life of Pi and she finally got her wish. We discussed this unusual book over appetizers and margaritas at Chevy's [a Mexican restaurant] in October. Some of the main topics of discussion were:

the vivid and sometimes disturbing descriptions of cruelty to zoo animals and the scene with the hyena eating the zebra alive
the humorous look at religion and the "truth" behind Pi's unusual religious beliefs
we did not agree with Pi's statement that the story makes people believe in God
the idea that all Pi's life experiences prepared him to survive on the boat - we admired the author's skill in weaving in seemingly insignificant bits of info from Pi's life at the zoo into his survival later on
the idea of truth at the end of the book, how it's sometimes more difficult to believe things that we don't like, and the malleability of truth

At the end most of us decided that we liked the first story but a few decided to believe the second story. We had an excellent discussion about this book, although there were a few things I'd like to add.

First, the author was almost sued for plagiarism for allegedly copying his idea from the book Max and the Cats (by Moacyr Scliar). After the two authors spoke to each other, the charges were dropped. So I decided to read Scliar's book for myself to see if they are similar at all. I must say, it was a bit hard to find, but I did get a copy. It's a VERY short book and an easy read. On the whole, the book isn't that great. It has an interesting story but the characters are pretty shallow because of the brevity of the book and it has a rather odd ending. The middle section finds the protagonist, Max, stranded aboard a lifeboat with a Jaguar for a while. That is the extent of the similarities between this book and Life of Pi.

Second, during our meeting Steph expressed absolute horror at the description of the way that the hyena took days to devour the zebra, who was basically eaten alive. I brushed off this section as not particularly disturbing, saying that the descriptions of what people did to some of the animals at the zoo bothered me much more. Steph was shocked at this. She had a really hard time reading the hyena/zebra section and was extremely bothered that I was NOT bothered by this. We didn't really get a chance to finish this part of the discussion so I want to revisit it here. Yes, I found this section disturbing to read, but only because I don't like imagining animals and people in pain. However, I also realize that situations like this happen often in the wild. Predators rarely kill their prey before they start to eat them; as long at the prey is incapacitated and not able to get away, the predator will start to eat. So because I know this, I skimmed through the hyena/zebra scene without much thought. However, I did NOT realize all the incredibly cruel things that people do to zoo animals, and I expect much more from people in the way of good behavior than I do from animals. I found it horrifying to read about the pain people inflict merely for their own enjoyment. So Steph, I hope that clarifies my statement for you. :)

Seven people attended the meeting, including our newest member, Joan. Six of us read the book and rated as follows: 5x2, 7x2 and 8x2. The official rating was: 6.7.

Charming Billy

2007-10-09T14:04:00.001-04:00

For her pick, Carrie suggested Charming Billy, by Alice McDermot. A combination of poor weather, busy schedules and illnesses kept most people from attending the meeting at Annette's house. Even Carrie couldn't make it, but she did call in and participate by phone. [This is not the first time someone has done this ... I called in from vacation once, and Carrie did the same when she was really sick.] We were supposed to have a pool party but it was too cold and damp to swim.

The discussion was pretty sparse as only 3 of the 5 people in attendance actually read any of the book. The few points raised were:

the narration was often hard to follow
what are the reasons/excuses for alcoholism?
how would you describe this book to someone else?

The general consensus was that this was not a very good book. Carrie, who is a fan of McDermot's other works, didn't really care for this one.

As I read this book, I did enjoy it somewhat. It wasn't the best book ever, but parts were interesting. However when I finished it and tried to explain it to someone else, I realized that I couldn't really do it. The more I thought about it, the more that bothered me. By the time I made it to the meeting I had decided to dislike this book because of that.

Five people submitted ratings for this book: 1x2, 3x2 and 8. The official rating was: 3.2.

The Alchemist

2007-10-09T11:51:00.000-04:00

In July we had our 2nd annual SdelleS pool party at Nancy's house to discuss Anna's book pick, The Alchemist, by Paolo Coelho. We had a lovely discussion while floating around in the pool and drinking wine.

The major points raised included:

having dreams and working toward them is important
your goals/destiny change at different points in your life
in many cases, the journey is much more important than the goal, and without the journey the goal would be almost meaningless

Most of us liked the book but some were quickly bored with it. The audio version got high recommendations because Jeremy Irons is the narrator and he did an excellent job.

Twelve people attended the meeting (our largest gathering ever) but only 7 completed the book. They gave the following ratings: 5, 7x2, 8x8, 9 and 10. The official rating was: 7.7.

Pride and Prejudice

2007-10-09T11:43:00.001-04:00

Nicole brought us back to the classics with Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. Some of us had read this back in school and some had seen the various movie versions over the years.

I couldn't make it to the meeting so I sent my notes on ahead. I don't know what they ACTUALLY discussed, but some of my topics included:

the use of the word condensation, and how it has a different feel today
the character of Mr. Bennett - admirable or faulty?
the reality of the class structure, and marriage as it relates to that
does the book critique Austen's world or merely accept it as it is?
the importance of a person's reputation as it relates to family and class

Personally I love this book. I think the humor is wonderful and the writing style pleasant and easy to follow. Since I had read this twice before, I opted for the audio version this time. I highly suggest it as it makes the humor come alive.

Eight people attended this meeting, and there were 9 ratings including mine: 4, 5x3, 7, 8, 9 and 10x2. The official rating was: 7.0.

Mary, Mary

2007-10-09T11:33:00.000-04:00

A new member of the group, Kathy, chose Mary, Mary by James Patterson. We had never done a mystery novel for book club so this was definitely a stray from the norm for us. Unfortunately it was not a good stray. We agreed that the book was entertaining but also that mysteries in general don't make for good meeting conversation. Our discussion went something like this: Did you figure out whodunit? Did you believe the story? Ok, end of discussion.

So we probably won't do another mystery again! The seven of us gave the following ratings: 3x3, 4, 5, 8 and 9. The official rating was: 5.0.

The Wedding

2007-10-09T11:30:00.000-04:00

Steph chose our next book, The Wedding, by Nicholas Sparks. This was an easy read, something the girls were grateful for after our last book! We had a lovely time discussing this heartwarming novel. Our final decision was that every man should read this book but that no one ever would.

Six of us rated this book: 6, 8, 9x2 and 10x2, with the official rating coming to: 8.7.

The Mists of Avalon

2007-10-09T11:16:00.001-04:00

When it was my turn to choose a book, I quickly came up with Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. This is one of my all-time favorite books ... and I knew the girls would never read it on their own! The book is about 800 pages long so we took two months to read it., finishing in January 2007.

Some main topics of discussion were:

the author's personal beliefs about religion and how they influenced the book
the difference between this story and the standard King Arthur tale
the conflict between doing your duty, doing what is right and doing what you want to do - which characters did we admire?
English history in general and the druidic culture specifically

Nancy found it useful to print a list of characters and use this to help her keep things straight as she read. And Bev made an interesting observation. She had never read anything about the tribal people of England, or the small kingdoms that used to exist. She said that reading this book actually helped her to understand her Bible reading better. The Old Testament refers to all sorts of kingdoms and this didn't click with her until she read about the same type of thing in this book. Wow - you never know WHAT you might learn from a book! :)

I was very proud of the girls for making it through this long (and to some, very hard) book. Seven of us participated in the discussion and we voted as follows: 2, 6, 8, 9x2 and 10x2. The official rating was 7.7. I was pretty impressed - I thought they were really going to hate it!

Christmas Book Exchange

2007-10-09T11:08:00.001-04:00

At our Christmas party we began our discussion of Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. However most of us had not finished the book so we decided to give another month to complete it. So we skipped ahead to the book exchange part of the evening. Each girl brought a wrapped book and we took turns opening them and stealing from each other. In the end, here's who ended up with what (sorry, I don't have all the authors):

Nancy: The Polished Hoe, by Austin Clarke
Bev: The Kite Runner, by Kaled Hosseini
Heather: The Sunday Wife, by Cassandra King
Steph: PS I Love You
Nicole: 12 Red Herrings
Kara: The Mermaid Chair, by Sue Monk Kidd
Anna: Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
Annette: 2 books - Joshua, and The Pilot's Wife

It's Book Report Time!

2007-10-09T10:57:00.001-04:00

As the 2006 holiday season approached, our members were feeling a little overwhelmed. Reading time was getting scarce but no one wanted to skip a monthly meeting. So we came up with a new plan - Book Reports!

For our November selection, each person chose the book she wanted to read then presented the basic plot and her opinions on it at the meeting. We had a lot of fun with this! Here's a list of who read what and the rating she gave it:

Nancy: Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold (8)
Bev: Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold (7)
(no, they didn't know they read the same book!)
Steph: A Child Called It, by David Pelzer (8) & The Wedding, by Nicholas Sparks (10)
Kara: Me & Emma, by Elizabeth Flock (9)
Nicole: Songbird, by Walter Zaccharias (7)
Lenore: The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards (7)
Annette: Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt (9) - audio version
Heather: The Red Tent, by Anna Diamant (8) & A Venetian Affair, by Andrea de Robilant (4) - audio version

2006: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

2007-10-08T17:28:00.000-04:00

A Tree Grows in Brookly, by Betty White - This was the final book that we completed in 2006. Bev chose this one, with lots of support from the rest of the group. It seems that this book was one that each of us had always wanted to read.

I don't remember much of the discussion (this was before we started taking notes), but I do know that everyone enjoyed the book. It was especially interesting to me because my grandfather grew up in Brooklyn and my mother was raised there as well. Plus my grandmother was from Ireland so that was another tie-in to the book for me.

My opinion? This is a very well written, interesting story, one that everyone should read. Through the character of Francie we see poverty, love, independence, childhood, adolescence ... and we love her for it.

The 5 participants in this discussion gave these ratings: 8x2, 8.5, 9 and 10. The official rating was 8.7.