Meeting Recap: The Bean Trees

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.

Recap: Eat, Pray, Love

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.)

Recap: The Poisonwood Bible (Part II)

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!

Reading Lolita in Tehran - recap

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.

Welcome to Storie delle Sorelle

Welcome to the blogging homepage of our book club, Storie delle Sorelle. This site is meant to help our club share ideas about our books, and to hear from new and interesting people as well.

A little about our club ...

I formed the club in May of 2005 after trying unsuccessfully to find an existing group to join. Rather than bemoaning the lack of established - and welcoming - clubs, I decided to start my own. So I emailed every woman in my address book and found a few that were interested. We started off with about 5 members. By encouraging members to bring friends and invite random people, our group has grown steadily; currently we have 11 members who attend meetings and another 9 on our mailing list. We are all women, and although there is no official rule against inviting men, we enjoy our time away from husbands/boyfriends/etc. and will probably never have men in the group.

About our name ...

The girls wanted an interesting name that described who we are. After much debate, we came up with Storie delle Sorelle, which is Italian for Stories of the Sisters. We like to think that we connect to each other through books and also through our own stories, forming a bond akin to family. There was no particular reason for choosing an Italian name except that it sounded good!

How we choose & rate books ...

At first, we nominated a list of books and voted on those titles but this became unwieldy as we added new members. So now each member gets a turn to choose any book she likes and everyone has to read it. I really thought this would be a bad idea because I thought I'd end up reading lots of books I didn't like. But in reality it has been great. The entire group benefits from reading a wide variety of books that we might otherwise have voted down. After reading a book, each member give it a rating between 1-10 (10 being the highest). I then average out the scores announce the official rating to the group.

When & where we meet ...

Our rule of thumb is to allow one week for every 100 pages in the book. That usually results in monthly meetings but not always. At the moment we are meeting exclusively on weekends to allow more people to attend. We usually meet at member's houses and everyone brings food to share (sometimes based on a theme from the book). In the summer we occasionally meet at an outdoor restaurant for Happy Hour where we drink 1/2 price margaritas and share lots of 1/2 price appetizers.

A note on audio books ...

We are very open to the use of audio books. One member uses them exclusively and the rest of us use them as needed. We feel that they give a different and valuable perspective on the book - sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. We don't feel that using audio books is cheating. Instead it is a way to keep us with the group when needed, and to fit great new books into our busy lives.

About us ...

My name is Heather, and I'm the official head of the book club (aka the Book Club Madam). It wasn't meant to be this way, but I don't mind. I'm the one who comes up with the discussion questions, background on the author, and any other pertinent info for each discussion. Our active members include:

• Annette - my mother
• Nicole - my sister
• Kara - my college roommate
• Stephanie - Kara's sister
• Bev - Kara's mother
• Nancy - Bev's friend
• Carrie - my childhood friend
• Amber - my high school travel friend
• Anna - Carrie's friend
• Kelli - Carrie's friend
• Joan - a woman I met in the thrift store :)

There will be more posted about each of these women, probably some time in November '07.

About this blog ...

I intend for this blog to be a place to share ideas on our current book selection. I'd also like to find other book clubs in our area to meet up with on occasion. SdelleS members are free to post whatever they want to this site, provided that it relates to the topic. Random readers are also welcome to post comments but I ask that they be relevant, timely, and not offensive in any way.

Thanks for reading!

PS. Thoughts on new members ...

We are open to new members, but that doesn't mean that we'll take just anybody. At this point everyone in the club is either an original member or was invited by an original member. We would like to add new viewpoints and opinions to our group however we have to be careful; most of our meetings are in our homes and we don't invite just anyone there. That's not to say we absolutely won't accept new members, but it will be done on a case by case basis. I'm also happy to give advice or help you start your own book club.