Selection Meeting 2008

September 11, 2008
Dear Book Clubbers,
Last night’s meeting may not have been the most fun we ever had, but we sure did a great job in getting our year’s worth of reading lined up. I am really optimistic that the process we went through last night will allow us to spend more time discussing the books (and socializing) than in previous years. I think everyone walked away from the evening not only with a few “previously loved” books in hand, but also with some ideas of things they might like to read even if the club didn’t choose them. Thank you ALL for your efforts to come up with great suggestions to share. A special thanks to Shirley for so graciously stepping in to provide a warm, cozy place to meet. We certainly were more comfortable in her lovely home than we would have been at the pool shelter. A special welcome goes out to new member Kathryn Orrange!

So…let me try to summarize the results of all our decision making as best I can. If I get something wrong, please someone correct me.

The next meeting will still be to discuss The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. We will be meeting at 7:15 PM on Wednesday, October 15th at Nancy’s house. Please let Nancy know at 885-5857 if you plan to attend. Snack volunteers for that night are Pam, Carol and Marilyn.

After that we agreed that at least some of us would meet on Wednesday, November 12th. For this we chose a short book since we are sort of squeezing this in before the co-ed meeting in December. We will be discussing The Shack by William P. Young, et al. which is reputedly one of the season’s hot reads. We will meet at Donna Deyermond’s.

From there we move on to the co-ed meeting which is planned for Wednesday, December 3rd at my house. The book we chose (with the guys input) last year was Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson. Details of this holiday-ish gathering will be finalized this fall, but please remember that it includes a light meal and socializing.

Very significantly, from a planning standpoint, we set 4 books aside for the guys to pick the 2009 choice from. They are The People of the Book (paperback release date 12/30/08) by Geraldine Brooks, Big Russ & Me by Tim Russert, The Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Tolle. Since we seemed to have several excellent choices lined up for the guys, we agreed to use one of the ones they don’t pick as one of our selections in the upcoming year. To the pile of co-ed “rejects” we will also add The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, which narrowly missed making the main selection list in a close tie breaker vote.

Now, the moment you have all patiently been waiting for. The five books we did choose for the ’08-’09 book club season are (in order of votes received):

The Double Bind by Chris Bojalian
The Great Gatsby by F. S. Fitzgerald
Read together in one meeting

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Northern Borders by Howard Frank Mosher

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

This should take us up through early next fall. We left a blank slot for the summer book meeting in July, since we usually come up with an author night or something a little different for that meeting.

Several of you asked for a complete list of all the books that were presented last night. Here it is as best as Linda and I could recreate. I didn’t know there was going to be a test!

The Whistling Season – Ivan Doig
Big Russ & Me – Tim Russert
1000 Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseine
Northern Borders – Howard Frank Mosher
The House the Rockefellers Built – Robert Danzell, et al
Bridge of Sighs – Richard Russo
The Scandal of the Season – Sophie Gee
Loving Frank – Nancy Horan
Marjorie Morningstar – Herman Wouk
Goodbye, Mr. Chips – James Hilton
The Shack – James Hilton
Plain & Simple – Sue & Richard Bender
The Luncheon of the Boating Party – Susan Vreeland
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Chasing the Bard –Philippa Ballantine
The 13th Tale – Diane Setterfield
Harvest Home – Thomas Tryon
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle – David Wroblewski
The People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks
A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Tolle
The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls
Dreams of My Father – Barack Obama
Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson
Peace Like a River – Leif Enger
A Good House – Bonnie Burnard
Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
Oranges – John McPhee
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
Double Bind – Chris Bojalian
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Eight – Katherine Neville (Wasn’t formally discussed, summary was on table, I remember as great read)

That should keep you all busy for a while. Thanks again for coming up with such awesome ideas. There, I’m finished.

Jan