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Monday, January 6, 2025

January Book Club 2025

Happy New Year! Here's hoping it's a better year for some of us! Diana hosted our first book club meeting in the New Year! It was delightful, as always. We missed Janie. She is attending Jim as he navigates another shoulder surgery.
And Denise, who was attending her daughter's baby shower. We will forgive them!

Diana made Italian Chicken Noodle Soup, salad, apple cider muffins, and Tiramisu. Arnora brought roasted Brussels sprouts, and Carla G brought a cauliflower appetizer. Laura brought us hot chocolate, which was much needed on a blustery cold day. This was our traditional "pajama party," so we were all warm and comfy in our loungewear.

Our first book for 2025, and our 270th book in total, was Tracy Chevalier's "The Glassmaker." Tracy is the author of "The Girl With the Pearl Earring" which we enjoyed a few years ago. I had suggested Diana read this because we had visited Murano, the setting for the story, and she recommended it to the book club.
This story follows a family of glassblowers in Murano, Italy. The story begins in the year 1488 and ends in 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic. The author used an interesting frame for the story. The people in Murano age more slowly than the rest of the world. This story follows the same characters in the family throughout 600 years. Some liked the plot device of remaining with mostly the same characters through the story, others not so much.

The story was about how a family navigates the changing times and the economic rise and fall of their glassmaking business. The history of glassmaking was interesting and showed us how the changing times finally allowed women into the "hot shop" where the furnaces are and not relegating them to bead-making. Bead-making and women were considered irrelevant until more modern times. The book was mostly well received and a 4.

Our book for February 2 is "How to Read a Book" and we will meet at Arnora's.

March 2, "The Resistance Women" and Pam will host

April 6 - "The Twilight Garden" and Lis will host

May 4, The book to be determined and Denise will host.

Other books we are considering: The Life impossible, The Lion Women of Tehran and The Christie Affair

Monday, December 30, 2024

December Book Club 2024

Laura hosted our annual Christmas Book Club party. We were excited that Leslie could join us but missed Pam, Darby, Lou, and Tammy.

Laura made grilled cheese and tomato soup. Carla A brought the ever-popular butternut squash soup. There was salad and lots of yummy appetizers. We had fun catching up over our snacks and dinner. Then we exchanged our cards and had our gift exchange. Carla A. and Lou both had the idea of book club quotes for their cards. We decided that next year's Christmas project would be to find a quote to match the person for our card.

The Guncle Abroad was well-liked by those who read it and rated it 3.6.

Diana will host our January book club and our book is The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier.

Laura's home, as always, was warm and inviting and full of Christmas Cheer. We enjoyed seeing Doug and George who helped out with the food and serving. It was a delightful way to end the year.

November Book Club 2024

November Book Club was hosted by Diana. We were excited that Rilla Askew was available to attend and discuss her newest book, "The Hungry and the Haunted. We missed Carla G. and Janie.

Lis made our favorite Mexican Hot Chocolate and Diana's first attempt at Tiramisu was delicious. I've posted the beautiful menu she put together. Arnora, as always, provided a beautiful fall bouquet and Laura added cheese and beer.

Those who read the book enjoyed it and rated it 4.58.

Everyone enjoyed Rilla's discussion of her personal experiences that she had fictionalized but were the inspiration for the essays.

Friday, October 11, 2024

October Book Club 2024

Hello. Thanks to Carla G. for hosting our meeting. Yummy dinner and dessert and coffee! Everyone present really liked or loved Weyward and we had a good discussion. If you read this one and want to rate it please reply. So far Weyward has a 4.4. We are confirmed for Sunday, Nov 3 at 4 pm at my house and Rilla Askew will be our guest author for her new book, The Hungry, and the Haunted. You can order on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or call ahead to check stock at The Green Feather or The Full Circle bookstores as they have copies. I will be finished with my book in a week. It’s a small book of 7 short stories. I’m happy to share my copy with as many as possible. We then have The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley for December. And since Dec 1 is part of the Thanksgiving holiday we will have our meeting on Dec 8 at Laura’s Books we are planning for 2025!!! 1. The Twilight Garden by Sara Nisha Adams. 2. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez 3. The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan 4. Mockingbird Summer by Lynda Rutledge, and if you’ve made it this far and still reading, thanks! We have an opportunity for an in-town one-night sleepover in a teepee at Orr Family Farm. It’s posh glamour and I will post a link in the comments. If you’re interested and free on Saturday, November 2 reply asap! There are only 2 teepees left for this date! I will book one tomorrow for Carla A, Laura, me and probably Pam.

September Book Club 2024

Barb hosted our book club for September. The book The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl was recommended to us by Darby, and it inspired a delicious meal and a good discussion. We celebrated Carla G's birthday with a song and chocolate mousse for dessert. We enjoyed the story and the trip to Paris through Stella’s experiences made for a fun read. It had a bit of everything including, some interesting culinary dishes, literature, art, fashion, scenery, and a couple of mysteries to the mix. We rated the book a 4.2. We missed Carla A, Laura, and Sherrie. Sherrie sent her comment that the book was reminiscent of Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. With a woman finding herself in Paris through a couture dress.

We meet again next month at Carla G's home to discuss Weyward. We talked about several books but didn't decide on one for November. We are looking for something not heart-wrenching and perhaps even some humor would be good. Cheers to all.

August Book Club 2024

Thanks to Elisabeth for hosting a fantastic book club and a properly themed Indian dinner. Hats off to all the chefs who contributed to the meal! “The Reading List” was well-liked by all and rated a 4.25. Lou, thanks for recommending this perfect summer read. We all enjoyed the characters and books and the story was very fulfilling. Barb will host our September 8 meeting when we discuss “The Paris Novel” by Ruth Reichl. Carla G will host the October 6 meeting and we will discuss “Weyward” by Emilia Hart. I’ll host November 3 and Laura will host December, a date to be announced later. It was good to be together again. We missed Arnora, Janie, and thinking of Darby, Leslie, Tammy, and Lou. We miss you all and look forward to another occasion when we can all be together. Love to all. Xoxo Diana.

July Book Club 2024

Greetings! Thanks, Arnora for hosting July's meeting and making the delicious enchiladas. It was great to have Sherrie with us. The Thursday Murder Club was well-liked and rated a 3.85. Our next book is "The Reading List a Novel by Sara Nisha Adams. Elisabeth will host on August 4.

For September, I suggest The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl. This is the book that Darby gifted Sherrie for her Kindle. Arnora and Laura read and enjoyed it. This author also wrote Save Me the Plums. I hope everyone has a bless week.

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2015 Hosts and Books

Jan 9 - Pam Boeck - All the Light We Cannot See
Feb 6 - Lou Christian - Alif the Unseen
March 6 - Terry Cummings - Kind of Kin
April 3 - Janie Tisdale - The Girl on the Train
May 1 - Arnora Parish - The Stolen Child
Jun 5 - Barb Barrow - The Elephant Whisperer
July 10 - Diana Beal - Lone Wolf
Aug 7 - Denise McGough - The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Sept 11 - Sherrie Phillips - H is for Hawk
Oct 2 - Arnora Parish - The Boy Who Drew Monsters
Nov 6 - Sherrie Phillips
Dec - Laura Madden - A Child's Christmas in Wales & Christmas Day in the Morning

The Honey Tree - Mary Oliver

And so at last I climbed

the honey tree, ate

chunks of pure light, ate

the bodies of bees that could not

get out of my way, ate

the dark hair of the leaves,

the rippling bark,

the heartwood. Such

frenzy! But joy does that,

I'm told, in the beginning.

Later, maybe,

I'll come here only

sometimes and with a

middling hunger. But now

I climb like a snake

I clamber like a bear to

the nuzzling place, to the light

salvaged by the thighs

of bees and racked up

in the body of the tree.

Oh, anyone can see

how I love myself at last!

how I love the world! climbing

by day or night

in the wind, in the leaves, kneeling

at the secret rip, the cords

of my body stretching

and singing in the

heaven of appetite.

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Lis and Diana's Review of Isaac's Storm

Lis said: This book centers around the devastating hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas, in 1901 and is blamed for the death of over 4500 people. Although the story wasn't a page-turner for most, it was full of interesting historical and scientific data while building up to describing accounts of the devastation and aftermath that the storm created. In my opinion, it is debatable whether the book should be considered a true fiction or a non-fiction. Hand in hand with the storm description, the book tells about the creation of the National Weather Service and the struggle that the organization went through to earn the people's trust. When looking back over the disaster, the author identifies areas of misuse and false pride - in the bureaucratic sector as well as the people's personal lives - that, if it had been overcome, might have averted some of the lost lives. Building up to the storm, the author touches on many historical facts surrounding the era, such as the state of Arkansas passing legislation a few decades earlier to legalize the proper pronunciation of its name to be "Arkansaw." Into this background, the author creates the characters that he was able to find in his research that made up the early Weather Service and some of the residence of Galveston, their spouses and children, making us shiver with dread over successful and unsuccessful rescue efforts. After bringing to life the unimaginable aftermath, with whole neighborhoods destroyed and bodies at every step, the book concludes with Galveston's recovery and a large chapter of Acknowledgements for the extensive support and research that the author relied on. I for one enjoyed the book immensely and, after the first third, found it difficult to put down till the end. Elisabeth Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine. I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

Diana said: The old saying, "hind sight is 20/20" comes to mind while reading the hurricane account of Galveston, Texas in 1901. Author Eric Larson's story reminded me of his first book we read, Devil in the White City, as he combined historical facts and real people while piecing together a plausible tale of personalities and lives. I have huge respect for writing historical fiction, as the writer not only has to devise an interesting story but also works as an investigator and researcher in the process. The first third of the story was slow and at times I found myself skimming the pages waiting for action. I think this may have been purposeful by Larson. As a reader I was going about my daily business and uninvolved like the townspeople of Galveston noting the changing winds and heading off to work. I took occasional notice of Isaac's trip to the American west by stage and his appearance as a "dandy", the use of telegraph as the primary form of communication from on location to another and it was surprising to find out the American and Cuban weather men held so little regard for each other. Americans found the Cuban forecasters primitive, romantic and unreliable. But once the hurricane was upon Galveston, I was spellbound for the remainder of the book. With the exception of once when I had to put the story down due to the brutal descriptions of decaying bodies which I found overwhelming. For me the story telling mimicked the event itself. Galveston and the rest of the U.S. were going along with business as usual, and then wham! A hurricane the magnitude no one expected or had experienced before bursts forth with action and drama and left no one untouched including me.

Lis' review of A Thousand Splendid Suns

The story playing in Afghanistan made it another compelling read and a walk through a different culture, very foreign to most of us. I had the fortune to have also read the book The Kite Runner by the same author and found that the two stories make great companion books, almost a must-read duo. Our month's selection takes us into the Arabic culture through the life of two women, one of them a servant girl's bastard child - and yes, I used the old fashioned term for illegitimate child on purpose to stay with the tone of the novel. The other woman is depicted as a well-educated, emancipated young woman from a progressive, westernized family. Through the turmoils surrounding Afghanistan's recent 30-year history, their lives intertwine with the same abusive husband and their attempt to deal with the changes brought on by the Russian occupation, the takeover of the Mujahedin and, eventually, the Taliban. The companion book, The Kite Runner, deals with the same political and social upheavals in Afghanistan but is told through the life of a man and his very devoted male servant. A Thousand Splendid Suns evoked a lot of emotion for most of us, feeling comfortable as well educated American women that have rights and can expect a certain social standing that greatly exceeds the animal-like treatment of our female Afghan counterparts under Taliban rule. Needless to say, we had a lively discussion about Afghanistan's troubles, the interactions of both women's parents' influences, their different upbringing, and how it made them relate to each other. We found similarities to the book Shanturam in this author's use of the cinema, especially Bollywood movies. One thing we did not discuss though that I found enticing, was the advantages of being able to skip hair and make-up treatments through the use of a Burka! Blue was, after all, the favored color of my youth, although I always preferred much darker shades. What do you think, ladies, Burkas in our future?