June Meeting and August Book

Thanks to Melinda for hosting us this past week for our June book club discussion.

We all seemed to like the Laments - and found it very "relatable" (I love inventing new words). We all seem to know someone who is adopted, have all felt the sense of urgency in giving our kids quality names, and get an itchy trigger finger with husbands who like to be on the move - even if it's a bit figurative in nature.

Our July meeting will be a great one - I think that everyone has already read "the hunger games" and is excited to talk about the book - and what the sequel might be like. And, if it's really made into a movie, we'll have to have a book club night at the theater for sure.

twilight who?

For August - We'll be meeting at Annie's house, probably on the back patio (or maybe at Shavy Jones?). Our book for August is a true classic - at least in my opinion.

"Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway. A great, tragic love story for the end of the summer. This is one of my most favorite novels, and I've probably read it a dozen times. When I was in high school I cheated on a book review for my AP English Class. I didn't read a book, I just did a review of this one because I'd already read it so many times. As I was giving my oral review, I realized that my teacher wasn't paying attention to a thing I was saying.

So, as part of my review - I gave an alternate ending for the book - the ending is a bit tragic and I changed it to a "happily ever after".

I got a perfect score.

Either my teacher had never read the book

or

she really wasn't paying attention.

Either way - it's a great book.

Enjoy reading.

The first book club baby of the year!

There is something in the water this year in our neck of the woods - everyone is having babies.

Well, not everyone....

but,

I just had a baby and three other book clubbers are expecting this late summer/fall.

Babies everywhere.

This one is mine.



Welcome to the club, little squirt.

May meeting + July pick

Thanks Makayla for hosting a great May meeting! The general consensus about "Three Cups of Tea" was that those that read it, loved it, but most of us just weren't into it this month. We all agreed that someone that could put their life on hold to go out and make such monumental changes in others lives was someone that was pretty amazing though!

We picked a book for July and Michelle graciously offered her home to have the meeting. I recently read "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins in about 4 hours because I COULD NOT put it down. I loved it. It's a Young Adult novel so the writing is easy to digest but the story is so good -- at least I thought. It's set in the future (but isn't too sci-fi for those of you that don't like that genre) and is a great mix of action with a love story - and it leaves you with a great cliffhanger at the end - enough that you're smacking the couch in frustration that the 2nd book doesn't get released until September 1st. Or maybe that was just me.

Either way - I hope you guys like it as much as I did. The library system seems to have a lot of copies - when I put myself on the list I was #98 in the queue so I thought I'd be waiting forever, but actually got it in about a week.

See you in June to discuss "The Laments"!

Book Updates for April, May, and June

We had a great meeting last night. Thanks Rika for hosting. I love your puppy (a great dane for those of you who weren't there) and was glad that she liked me, too.

Even though none of us seemed to finish actually reading, "Out of Africa", most of us watched the movie and agree - Robert Redford, particularly in his youth, was super dreamy.

Totally dreamy, actually. Or is that just me?

Anyway, here are our picks for the next few months. Enjoy!

April:
Our meeting has been changed to April 16th and we'll be meeting at Heather's house.

The book du jour is Dress Your Family in Courduroy and Denim by David Sedaris. Being a new but huge fan of Sedaris - you'll love the book and might want to pick up Naked, another collection of short stories about his crazy family.

May:
For May, we'll be meeting at Makayla's house on May 28 and will be reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin> I've got no idea what this book is about - so if you do, leave a comment.

June:
The June meeting will be at Melinda's house on June 25 and we'll be reading a book called, The Laments.

It's awesome. You'll love it. The ending sucks.


Happy Reading.
Oh - one more idea for those of you who check the blog....
if you've got a book suggestion, leave it in the comments. That way, we've got a running list of what to read.

March, April, and then some...

Can you believe it's already March? Crazy, isn't it?

The book club is going great - our regular set of girls sure do host a party and put on a great discussion.

We did have a few changes at our February meeting that need to be addressed.

We changed the March book from "the book borrower" to "Out of Africa" by Isak Dinesen, a nom de plume used by the Danish author Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke. This book should be a good read, especially if you like the movie with Robert Redford, right?

March meeting will be held on Thursday, March 26 @ 7 pm.

For the month of April, we'll be meeting at Heather Jackson's house and our book du jour is "Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim" by David Sedaris. If you haven't read anything by Sedaris - you're in for a comical treat - there aren't many families out there more functionally dysfunctional than his as a kid.

April meeting will be on April 23 @ 7 pm.

Hope to see everyone there.

Oh, anyone want to do treats for March or April? Volunteers to host in May?

January Meeting & Schedule

We're back after a long break! Hope everyone had a good holiday season and are ready to read some good books this year.

Last week we met to talk about the January book - "The Ladies Auxiliary". I think we all agreed we all had someone in our lives that reminded us of a character in the book. Thanks to Mary for hosting and Heather for the yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

A reminder - we're meeting for February's book pick "The Glass Castle" at Erin's house on February 26th at 7pm.

March's book pick is "Out of Africa". Meeting at Rika's house on March 26th at 7pm.

April's book pick to be determined, meeting at Annie's house on April 23rd.

January & February book picks

(Thank goodness that horrible head cheese picture is not the top post anymore.)

Last Thursday night we got together to discuss the book pick for November, which was "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom. The general consensus was that everyone liked the book - with most of us agreeing that there was someone in our own lives we would love to have the chance to spend one more day with. We had a book exchange and a cookie exchange - taking platefuls of yummy cookies home to share with our families. Thanks to Robyn for hosting us in her beautiful home!



The book pick for January is "The Ladies Auxiliary" by Tova Mirvis. We
will resume our normal schedule and start meeting on the fourth
Thursday of the month. The January meeting will be held January 22nd
at 7:00 PM.



The book pick for February is "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls. The February meeting will be held February 26th.

Head Cheese

Tonight at book club we were wondering what a head cheese is. In the latest book, "Little Heathens" the author talks about making it and we all did not understand. If you are truly curious about this and are not of weak constitution, have a look. It is a little, well really a lot, disgusting.

It will make you think twice about using the term lightly.

October & November Book picks

Just a quick update to get posted the upcoming books for October and November.

This month we're reading Little Heathens by Mildred Kalish. We will be meeting to discuss this book on Thursday, November 6th.



For November the book that was picked was For One More Day by Mitch Albom. We will be meeting to discuss this book on Thursday, December 4th.



We decided not to pick a book to read for the month of December because of the busy holiday season -- we'll pick up again with a book in January.

Hope everyone can join us in the upcoming months!

September Book

The book we're reading for the month of September is "Dishwasher" by Pete Jordan. Here's a couple of reviews from the authors site:

“Dishwasher is an instant American classic. It should be required reading for every high school student in the nation, paired with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Few people are audacious enough to lead a memoir-worthy life. Even fewer people are talented enough to write said memoir. By the grace of the literary gods, Pete Jordan is both.”
— San Francisco Bay Guardian

“Jordan has an eye for devastating detail, but he wraps what he sees in humor. No matter how grim his situation, the reader senses he couldn’t wait to write it down, check the place off his map and keep going.”
— Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“A good story, well told...ironic...worth reading.”
— San Francisco Chronicle

We'll be meeting on September 25th at 7pm at Rikas' house. See you then.