Dear Book Clubbers,
Wednesday night’s summer book meeting to discuss “the Hemingway Duo” was a smashing success. Jackie did an incredible job setting the stage, decorating with quotes from Ernie himself as well as other cool touches. She also did a fantastic job leading the lively discussion. All present had much to add and the food was fantastic. Our ratings averaged 3.5 for The Paris Wife and 3.7 for A Moveable Feast. Overall, it was a special night that may become part of the “moveable feast” we all carry with us.
Our annual “long classic” read of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is set for 7 PM on Wednesday, August 29th at Linda’s. Please let Linda know if you will be attending. Since we are usually just a handful that night, we will all bring a little something to share.
We had several good suggestions for our first book of the fall. We agreed upon The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani. The meeting will be on Wednesday, September 26th at Beth’s house, with Marion leading the discussion.
Before that, we will meet at 7 PM on Wednesday, September 12th for our annual book selection night. Like last year, it will be at Barb’s. Marilyn, Terry and Jen are signed up for appetizers and Linda and Marion will bring desserts. We should be all set on wine with the leftovers from last week. Please bring ideas of what you would like to see us read and discuss in the coming year. Also, consider bringing a handful (or armful or bag) of used books if you’d like to participate in our book exchange. Please call Barb to let her know if you will be attending.
Since we had such a great turnout the other night, I took the opportunity to review some of the decisions we have made regarding our club in the last two years and to gather input on how we think they are working out. Here is a summary:
* Starting meetings at 7 PM with a social ? hour, sitting down to discuss book at 7:30 and following discussion with business part of meeting seems to work fine.
* Going around and rating the book with each member free to make a brief statement about how they liked the book is interesting and a good lead in to discussion.
* Meeting once a month was preferred by the majority. Many people like that with the new scheme, we get to cover more books during the course of the year. With this rigorous schedule we recognize that many members will not be able to read every book, but at least it allows some flexibility to choose the ones that appeal to you.
* I reviewed the decision we made that all news items should be given to me before the meeting so that I can present them in organized fashion. That doesn’t really seem to work because things just come to mind once we are together. We worked out that announcements can be made at the meeting, but I will not be responsible for transferring the details to the newsletter. I will work making sure the e-mail list is totally up to date. If you have an announcement, either one that you make at a meeting or something you need to get out in between gatherings, simply put it in an e-mail and send it to the group yourself by cutting and pasting all the addresses from any e-mail from me into the address box of your message. If you have trouble doing this, you can always just send an e-mail to me and I will forward it to the whole group. Hopefully, this will decrease amount of info I have to pull together for the newsletter. Anyone who doesn’t want to receive these other updates can “opt out” of the e-mail list and provide me with self addressed stamped envelopes to receive their newsletter by post.
* We decided that having everyone bring a point of discussion or question to the meetings does not work out as well for some books as for others. After trying this for several months, it is clear that we still need one person per meeting to be the leader and “steer” the discussion. Most who have led agreed that preparing to be that person can really enhance your enjoyment of a book. While we still encourage everyone to bring along a thought to share, we will go back to asking for a volunteer (not usually the hostess) to direct the book portion of the meeting.
* We also had a lengthy “pep rally” focusing on congratulating ourselves on what a great group we are and how we all bring some special contribution to the mix. As part of this, we discussed that there is an ongoing need for hosts and discussion “steerers”. When thinking about the coming year, please consider what you are able to volunteer to do. We also recognize that some people do not feel their house is large enough to host a meeting and others do not feel comfortable leading a discussion. In addition to being a snack volunteer, there are other ways to contribute such as volunteering in advance to stay and help the hostess tidy up after a meeting. We will brainstorm further on this on Selection Night, but please think about what you would like to do in 2012-2013.
Other news items included a personal thank you from Jen for all of the thoughtful support she received following her knee surgery. Polly continues to have ups and downs, so please keep her in your thoughts and consider a phone call or visit. Loraine passed on information about the fall schedule for the Silver Fox luncheons at the Orchard Park Presbyterian Church. I hope to send out a separate e-mail with all the details, but I will tell you that Craneridge’s favorite pianist, Gordy Stearns (Peggy’s hubby), and yours truly are on the schedule.
Don’t forget that the co-ed book for December is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and remember past newsletters and upcoming books can always be found on the blog at www.crbc.blogspot.com, which is diligently kept current by Jill and is an amazing source of info about our clubs doings, historical and current.
I am hoping that takes care of everything. Hope you are staying cool with a nice summer read.
Jan
