Ahhh Summer Reading...

"She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain."

-- Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Dear Book Clubbers,

Sorry for the delay in getting this out. As many of you know, my daughter got married Saturday…so things were a little rushed between Tuesday’s meeting and our departure for the nuptials. We had an excellent time by the way. Now onto business.

Last Tuesday’s discussion of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time was excellent. Everyone who was there enjoyed the book, and the discussion was aided by the personal experiences with autism that members shared. Thanks again to Marion for stepping in and hosting.

Our next meeting will be at Donna’s (592-9380) on Tuesday, June 27th at 7:15 PM. The book for that night is Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas and Micah Sparks. On the hook for snacks that night are Marion, Nancy and Sue. I had previously written that I could order the hardcover for people on Amazon for $8. That offer has is no longer available. For those of you who ordered the book the other night, you should have received the paperback for $10.74. If anyone else would like me to order them the book, please call or e-mail me.

We tentatively set the date of our summer meeting as August 8th. That may be a conflict for the school board people, so we will revisit that at our next meeting. In the meantime, perhaps people could let me know when in August they will be around. For example is the 3rd Tuesday better? This is the meeting that we will be inviting some writer types to, so we need to firm up the date and start contacting them. Remember the plan is to read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, and those who wish can read Tricked (a light mystery set in Glenwood) if they would like to read something by one of the possible authors who will be invited.

Although Loraine was unable to attend last week’s meeting, she passed on two things. One is a suggestion for a possible co-ed book, The Ezekiel Option by Joel C. Rosenberg. Perhaps people could keep their ear to the ground and check out the plot via the link on our web site to help make a good choice for the guys’ night. She also mentioned that she has a bunch of books by Sara Donati who writes in a similar fashion to Diane Gabaldon that people can borrow if they are interested.

Seems like it is finally summer.


Jan

April Meeting

Dear Book Clubbers,

Last night’s meeting at Grace’s to discuss Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises was a bit different, but very enjoyable. We may have set a world’s record for the relative time spent discussing the book vs. planning our upcoming choices and just plain gabbing. Although the book didn’t really excite a lot of people, many were intrigued to follow up on other works and to find out more about why Ernie is considered such an important literary figure.

We are pleased to welcome new member, Dorothy Scull. She and her husband have retired here from California and recently moved into Dorothy and Morgan’s old house. They chose WNY because they have family in the area. Dorothy looks forward to dragging her husband to the Men’s Book Club Night, but hopefully we will have a chance to meet him out and about before that.

We talked a lot about the web site Beth has created. Once again the address is www.crbc.blogspot.com. The idea is that this is a way we can share ideas, recipes, etc. If you have the Internet and haven’t checked this out, SHAME ON YOU! Beth has done an awesome job on this creation. I think the links to possible book choices are especially helpful. If as many members as possible check out the suggestions list ahead of time, we will be able to make more informed choices regarding what books appeal to our group. (Translation – fewer losers!)

We also agreed upon 2 organizational “policies” First, in order to limit the overabundance of food and to help the hostess to know what to plan on ahead of time, we are now getting a few people to commit well in advance to bringing a treat to upcoming meetings. This should take some of the last minute aspect out of things and reduce the number of desserts to a reasonable amount. Of course, it is still mandatory that at least one thing contain chocolate!

Second, Beth raised the concern that some members shy away from hosting a meeting because they are not comfortable in the role of discussion leader. While leading the discussion usually takes no more than getting things rolling with one or two questions, not wanting to do that should not prevent you from taking a turn as hostess. If this reservation applies to you, you can arrange for someone else to fill the role of “discussion starter”. Beth and I are both OK doing that, but please remember that this doesn’t mean we want to do this every single meeting.

The next meeting is at 7:15 PM on Tuesday, May 30th at Linda’s house (592-4511, Ldaberry@aol.com). The book selection is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Grace, Shirley and Barb have committed to bringing dessert to that get together. I can order the book for anyone who would like me to from Amazon for $10 and it will arrive at your house 2 days after I order it. This book is a mystery told in the voice of a young autistic man and, from all reviews, is a realistic accounting of what autism “feels” like.

Following that we will meet at Donna’s on June 27th to discuss the non-fiction Nicholas and Micah Sparks book, Three Weeks with My Brother. I can order the paperback edition of this book on Amazon for $10.75, but the hardcover is available on Amazon for $8 at this moment. So far we have Marion and Nancy hooked up for treats on that night.

The summer meeting is still being researched. One thought under consideration is to read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott which is a book dealing with the art of writing. At that time we would consider having local author, Diane Bridenbaker, come to discuss the act of writing a book. Diane is the former owner of The Whistling Thistle gift shop. Her book, Tricked, is a mystery set in Glenwood and dealing with the dog show world. Her book is a fun, light read that has appeal to us due to recognition of local color and characters. Those who have read it (and Diane) agree that the simple plot doesn’t lend itself to discussion. The idea would be to have this be our food night, encouraging attendance, and try to have a great turnout for a night of discussing what it is like to try to write a book. People could read Tricked or not as they choose. Invitation of other currently undisclosed writer types is also in the works.

We even got as far as choosing Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See as our fall read. This is a book that I read recently. It deals with the women’s perspective on rural China during the days of foot binding and secret women’s language. I found it to be an incredible book. Since we recently experienced the men’s view via The Good Earth and since Grace and Shirley just returned from China, we thought this would be a great choice. We are delaying it until the fall to ensure that they can both attend and also because we always seem to want to kick off the fall meeting with a strong choice.

And…we discussed the possibility of reading The Long Gray Line by Rick Atkinson for the men’s night. This book deals with the 1966 class of West Point and has lots of info on the Vietnam War as well. I was so relieved to have something in hand for that meeting, but sometime in the night I remembered that past choice, Pat Conroy’s Losing Season, dealt with life at a military school as well. Perhaps those of you who have read The Long Gray Line, could reassure us that it is not too similar. We don’t want the men to think we are one dimensional in the books we chose for them.

Egads, this got long! I guess we did hash out a lot of stuff last night. Hope you have time to read this and the book assignments. Don’t forget to check the web site for shared thoughts, links to upcoming books and recipes.

Just,
Jan