March 2013 Meeting

Dear Book Clubbers,

Brrrrrr!  I don’t think it has stopped snowing from the time we left Sue’s on Wednesday night.  We had a great discussion of The Kitchen House led by Jackie.  The group found lots to talk about with all the interesting characters of the story, although most found the magnitude and number of tragedies befalling them depressing.  The overall rating was 3.6.  Thank you, Sue for hosting such a fantastic evening.

Next up is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  I think you will all really enjoy this book, which is very different and unusual (in my humble opinion).  The meeting will be at Terry’s on Wednesday, April 24th.  Appetizer volunteers are Beth and Liz and Sue K. and Grace for desserts.  Shirley, Jackie, Jen and Kathy will bring wine. 

Following that, we will meet on 5/29 to read our non-fiction choice, The Bolter by Frances Osborne.  The location will either be Grace’s or my house.  We need a volunteer to lead the discussion that night.

This brings up a very important topic.  We are in dire need of people to step up and volunteer to host or lead the discussion.  For example, April will be the second meeting Terry has hosted in the 2012-2013 book club year.  We also seem to have the same handful of people acting as discussion steerers.  At the last few meetings when volunteers for those tasks have been solicited, there has been an awkward silence in the room.  While we understand that not everyone feels comfortable in either of those roles, it is not really so difficult and it would be great if we could all share the load a little more evenly.

June will be a month off and then our big summer meeting will be on Jackie’s deck in July (date TBD) to discuss the book Maine, a reportedly great summer read by J. Courtney Sullivan.  At that time, I would like to see us pick our “long classic” for next spring.

I think we are still planning on those who would are interested discussing the Fifty Shades phenomenon at some point in August.

Of course, we will have our annual selection meeting in early September.  We thought for the first read of the fall (mid September) we might choose a musician biography and discuss it while Peggy is in town to join us.  Since the guys didn’t bite on this idea, we can perhaps choose a female one such as Girls Like Us, which chronicles the lives of Carole King, Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell. 

I guess that is about all there is for now.  With spring not springing yet, we all have a chance to get in some late winter sports or reading by the hearth this weekend. 

Jan

February 2013 Meeting

Hello Book Clubbers!

  In Jan's absence, I'm sending the updates from the February meeting... and what a fun meeting it was.  In fact, Jan wasn't absent at all!  She and Marilyn joined us via FaceTime during the discussion & social part of the meeting - they even shared a glass of wine with us!

This month's book was The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh - seems folks enjoyed it, it came away with an overall rating of 3.8 (out of 5) because of it's interesting characters, themes of love, trust, and family, and, especially, the intertwining of meanings of flowers throughout the story.  Many agreed, this isn't just a novel, but a reference book for future bouquets!

Many thanks to Loraine for hosting the evening and Marty for leading the lively discussion.

Upcoming meetings look a little like this...

March 20th at Sue's house.  Please be sure to RSVP to Sue if you can attend.

The book is The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom, discussion being lead by Jackie

And food for the night...

Appetizers:  Jen & Marty

Desserts:  Shirley & Kathy

Wine: Carol, Kathy, and anyone else who would like to add to the collection (the CRBC cupboard is bare)

Moving on to April...

The meeting will be on April 24th at Terry's house (again, RSVP, everyone!)

The book is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, discussion lead by Jill & Jen (or just Jen, or just Jill, TBD)

We didn't pick food people, we'll do that in March (or... feel free to volunteer by replying to Terry, Jan, or me)

It was good to hear that our sister Book Clubbers are on the mend... and that we have a future member due to arrive VERY soon.  Congratulations, on your soon-to-be new arrival, Natalie & Rory.  Speedy delivery!

The calendar says we're only 16 days away from Spring.  Till then, stay warm and happy reading!

~ Jill