Schedule - Sept 2016 - May 2017

Mark your calendars!  Here's the list of the up-coming books... and meeting locations and leaders.  Please note, we need a volunteer for April 26th discussion.

-->

DATE	BOOK	AUTHOR	HOST	LEADER
9/28/16	The Little Paris Bookshop	Nina George	Shirley	Donna
11/9/16	Moloka’i	Alan Brennert	Barb	Marty
Friday, TBD Co-ed Mtg	The Boys in the Boat	Daniel James Brown	Jan	Dave C
2/22/17	Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend…	Velma Wallis	Joan	Irene
3/15/17	CLASSIC:  The Awakening	Kate Chopin	Nancy	Linda
3/29/17	A Mother’s Reckoning	Sue Klebold	Kathy	Jackie
4/26/17	The Nightingale	Kristin Hannah	Diane	TBD
5/24/17	When Women Were Birds…	Terry Tempest Williams	Irene	Linda

2016-2017 Nomination list

Hi Book Clubbers!

The list of nominees is now on line! 
Click HERE to access the pdf file

Bring your votes to the meeting on Sept 14th.

See you then,
 Jill

August Updates

Hi all!

This is my first newsletter as the Jan Freeman replacement.  I'm going to have trouble filling her shoes for her one year sabbatical to work on the Craneridge history for next year's anniversary.  I'll need your help!

 

We had a great meeting July 20th to discuss "the Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair".  Many thanks to June Marie for organizing the food and decorations.  Everything was delicious.  

 

Next month is our book selection night at the pool shelter on September 14.  

After much thought, we're making some changes to the selection method this year. Our method of bringing printouts to the meeting and speaking about them seems overwhelming and might not allow us enough time to look at the books. So....

Email your selection to Jill G by Sept. 4.  Please include a synopsis, if it is available in an audio book, paperback, plus Title and author. Jill will prepare a spreadsheet of the books and send it to us. We can then review the list at our leisure before the meeting.

We will be picking out FIVE books to cover the first half of the year...until February,  when we will select the remainder for the year.  We'll choose the host houses as well from October till March on the 14th.  

We'll use the poker chip method as in the past to vote on our favorites.  Please bring your book or amazon printout on the 14th.

also...bring a comfy (er) chair if you'd like, and your wine glass! 

 

September 28 is the date for "The Little Paris Bookshop" by Nina George, at Shirley 

S' s house.  We'll choose snacks n wine suppliers on the 14th.

the wine and snack list for the 14th is:

Wine. - Tara. Kathy. Lorraine Marilyn

Appetizer -  jen. Nancy

Dessert. -  Shirley,  Linda

I've given you a lot to think about.  Please call me with any questions or comments.  Happy reading!!!

Jen

Summer Meeting Info

Hi all,

Here is the latest on the summer meeting to discuss The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair at 6:15 PM on Wednesday, July 20^th at the pool shelter.

 

The meal will be a giant salad bar!  June will shop for the greens since she will be the one receiving RSVPs and totaling the number attending.  Everyone else will bring a couple of items from the list June sends out after first checking with her by phone, text or email to avoid duplication. 

In addition to your own wine glass, please bring your beverage of choice or buddy up with a friend to share a bottle.  By having this be a BYOB, we should be able to focus on getting a large range of food items there so that we can assemble some really awesome individualized salads. 

If sitting on a picnic bench for the evening will be uncomfortable, consider bringing a folding chair as well.

Look for a list of ideas of what to bring coming from June soon.  Don’t forget this is a great meeting to reach out and invite new potential members since the social part of the night is longer.  Also remember to take note of who you felt the murderer was at the 25%, 50%, 75% and right before the end points in the book.

Get reading and give some thought to what food items you are able to bring to the BAR! 

Jan

June 2016

Hi all,

Last week’s meeting at Grace’s to discuss The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was super duper great!  Grace did a terrific job dreaming up a fun twist on the evening to start things off in an unique way.  Shirley and Jackie were co-conspirators in the plan, and Jackie also came up with a creative take home “message”.  Jill did a fantastic job facilitating the discussion and also jumped started our brains by sending out some topics to contemplate before the meeting.  Of course the snacks were delightful as always.  Thanks to all who did or brought something and to everyone who made it there to share in the wonderful evening.  The overall rating was 3.7.  It seemed like most people really enjoyed the book.

Next up is our big food summer picnic meeting.  The date is set for Wednesday, July 20th at the pool shelter.  We will begin at 6:15 PM.  June Marie is leading the charge on this event.  She will be reaching out to us soon with a sign up sheet for food and beverages.  You may remember that the last couple of meetings we have had up there we have had people bring their own plastic wine glass.  I think that would be a good idea again.  Also keep in mind that, while new members are welcome any time, this is a particularly good meeting to invite them since the social part of the night is longer.  

The book for that night is The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Decker.  One of my sisters passed on that when her book club read this selection, they each wrote down who they thought “dunnit” at the 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and right before the end points.  It sounds like one’s suspicions shift a lot in this book, so please jot your thoughts on the culprit down as you progress.  

June (and Diane) also reminded us of several items related to the Bread of Life Outreach (BOLO):

Health fair/Blood drive taking place on Saturday, July 9th from 10-2 PM in conjunction with the normal farmers’ market.  Time slots for the blood drive are still available.  There should be a lot of great wellness info available at this event.

A truck will be distributing fresh produce and other food stuffs at BOLO one Thursday a month starting in July.  This is not a need based program, but is open to all.  Volunteers are needed to assist with unloading and other jobs that are less strenuous.  

Bread of Life is now on the official donation list at The Can Man in Springville.  Please consider earmarking your returnable refund to BOLO.  Donations of clothing and other items are always welcome.  See the Bread of Life website for donation details and hours or consider a drop off to June if the hours are inconvenient.  

Grace also mentioned that Polly Ehmke so wishes she was able to join us.  She loves receiving emails and notes, so drop her a line if you have a chance.

I am sure there was a lot more news.  If i missed important stuff, please feel free to do a direct email to the group yourself.

That’s it for now.

Jan

Oliver Sacks... Filter Fish

Published after his death in August, 2015, the amusing article below recounts Sacks' reminiscence about "filter fish".  Enjoy!

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/14/filter-fish

Thanks, Barb, for passing this along.

May Newsletter

Hi All,

Despite the difficulty of the subject matter and the technical nature of the writing, Awakenings turned out to stimulate a great discussion.  The overall rating was a 2.8.  We could all easily recognize the significance of this book as it relates to Oliver Sacks ground breaking insight into the importance of treating individuals as such instead of just treating a “dis-ease” in medicine.  It is truly a “classic” in its genre.  Thanks to Beth for asking some key questions and for Sue K. for hosting our gang.  As always, hats off to the snack (and wine) volunteers.

The next meeting is at 7 PM on Wednesday, June 15th to discuss The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.  We will meet at Grace’s.  Let her know if you are coming.  Jill G is leading the discussion.  Please bring an extra layer in case we can be outside for a lovely June evening.  We could probably use another appetizer and some more wine.  So far snack volunteers are:

Appetizers:  Diane and Sue K

Desserts:  Jill B and Beth

Wine:  Barb, Jen, Marilyn

We have set a tentative date of Wednesday, July 20th for our summer big food meeting to discuss The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Decker.  June, Grace and Diane will head up the organizing crew.  Details will follow, but we are currently looking for a volunteer to lead the discussion.  

There is sad news about neighbor, Doug Okulewisc.  Many of us knew Doug as the man who walked extensively in the park and always had his camera at the ready.  Doug was a loner and unfortunately passed away in his home recently.  Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.  

Looking forward, I would like you to start thinking of a few things in the coming months.  Once our awesome WNY summer weather hits, the fall planning meeting will be on us before we know it.  The last few years we have not been able to agree upon a true classic for our “long classic” read.  Several people have mentioned that they would like to see us tackle a “classic” regardless of length.  Grace suggested Vanity Fair, but we can sure consider others.  Since our new rating system takes into consideration the likelihood that a book can stand the test of time and become a classic, surely there are some books written in the last several hundred years that are worth our attention!  Also, please think about whether the co-ed meeting should be kept in its pre-holiday time slot or moved to mid winter when there is less going on.

I think that is all for now.  

Jan

March/April 2016

Hi All,

Little late with my follow up, but the meeting at Tara’s the week before last was lovely, interesting and well attended.  None of us could quite remember why we decided to read these two books together.  I think we might have erroneously thought they both were related to amnesia.  Themes of memory did tie them loosely, and Tara and Marty did a great job of pulling the discussion together.  Neither book blew the group away.  Scores tallied 2.3 for What Alice Forgot and 2.8 for Vanishing Acts.  Just average, with our new rating system of 2.5 being your standard, solidly written book.  

 

In other news, Kathy was congratulated for her and her paintings being featured in an art magazine. Donna announced that the Craneridge Moondance catamaran excursion is set for a Saturday in July.  I believe it is July 23rd, but she can correct me if I have that wrong.  Thanks again, Tara, for opening up your home.  

I do know one reason that we choose to read two books last month was that we couldn’t agree upon a “long classic”.  May I suggest that perhaps next year’s March meeting be devoted to a classic (regardless of length) so that we can get at least one of those in per year?  Just a thought…

Next up is Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf.  If you haven’t started it yet, don’t worry.  Jen assures us that it is less than 200 pages of very spare, yet beautiful, writing.  The meeting is set for Wednesday, April 20th at Carol’s.  Please let Carol know if you plan on attending.  We could probably use another wine volunteer or two.  So far we have:

Appetizers: Marty, Donna and June

Dessert: Jill B and Irene

Wine:  Kathy, Jen, Loraine and Tara

There have been a couple of changes to the previously published e-mail list.  Please make the changes in your contact lists.  We will try to get out an updated rooster soon. 

That’s all I have for now.  I hope you are all curled up with a good book today, listening to the wind blowing some spring snow our way.  Hopefully after this we will sail into spring!

Jan

February Meeting Recap

Hello Book Clubbers!
Hope you got your reading sneakers on... 'cuz you'll be racing to get the two March books read by the 23rd, if you haven't read them already.

... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Many thanks to all who made Wednesday's meeting another successful evening:  To Loraine for opening her lovely home... to Marilyn and Nancy for leading the discussion... and to those who provided snacks, desserts, and drinks.  (I really should know better by now and NOT eat dinner on Book Club nights).  Thank you all!  Thank you, thank you!

The book, House Girl by Tara Conklin scored a better-than-average rating (overall, a 3.38), but the range was wide - from a 2 to a 5.  Consensus was that is was a good book with interesting characters (many of whom could be a book all by themselves), but not one of the most memorable stories.  It was interesting to hear the discussion about the parallels between the lives of Lina and Josephine (and contrast the undeniable differences).  Perhaps we'll see more from this Lawyer-turned-Writer in the future... more Caleb, perhaps??

As for next month... get ready, it's a Dual-Book meeting!
   Date:  March 23 @ 7pm
   Location:  Tara's house
   Books:  What Alice Forgot by L. Moriarty
                Vanishing Acts by J. Picoult
   Appetizers:  Nancy & Jennifer
   Desserts:  Shirley & June
   Wine:  Barb, Irene, & Jackie
*** DON'T FORGET TO RSVP TO TARA ***

Finally - a couple announcements/requests:

1. The Craneridge Board of Directors is looking for members to be part of the Nominating Committee for the BOD (they aren't BOD member, but help find and recruit BOD members) as well as possible Directors.  Contact Dave Harris if you'd like to learn more.
2. Save the date!  The Moondance Cruise is back for 2016.  This year's event will be July 23 @ 6pm.  See Donna Harris for more info.

That's all I've got, for now.

Happy reading!
~ Jill

February Meeting - Location Change

Due to some changes for Barb, the meeting has been relocated...

Hope to see you all at Loraine's on February 17th to discuss The House Girl.  Let her know if you are attending - RSVP via email or phone.

Thank you!

January Newsletter

Hello Book Lovers,

Sending out huge kudos to Diane for not only opening her gorgeous home to the club, but also taking the lead on the discussion for the first time.  Well done, Diane!  Thank you!!

Snack/dessert/wine volunteers - many, many thanks to your contributions to make the evening even better.

Tho the book got mixed reviews, I think we would all agree, there was great discussion about it.  I heard throughout the night "I learned a lot from this book" - from how tough the residents of 1925 Nome were, to the bravery (and craziness) of the men and dogs, to how this event had a profound impact on medicine and air travel after it.  The overall rating was 2.86 - with ranges from 4 down to 1 (and a couple abstentions).

For those of you who would like a video version of this story, check out the BBC Documentary on the event, "Icebound: The Greatest Dog Story Ever Told"

Click HERE to watch "Icebound" video

Next Month... the book is "House Girl" by Tara Conklin at Barb's house, with co-discussion leaders: Marilyn and Amy.  Thank you all, in advance!

Snack volunteers are (I hope I got these right... please reply-all if there's an error)

   Appetizers:  Jennifer, Leslie

   Desserts:  June, Irene

   Wine:  Marilyn (red), Donna (white), and there's another white with me... leftover from January's meeting

Please, don't forget to RSVP!

We had a couple announcements that came out of the meting, too..

• You should have received your invite to the Craneridge Winter Party... it's Saturday, Feb 6th @ Holland Hills CC.  See Donna Harris for more info - Must reserve your spot by 1/25
• The Craneridge Board is looking for volunteers to be on the Nominating Committee.  This is not a BOD position, but helps find individuals interested in sitting on the Board.  Board members are also being recruited at this time.

Happy winter reading!  See you next month!

 ~Jill

October Newsletter

Hi All,

Wednesday's meeting to discuss The Girl in the Green Glass Mirror was very successful.  We rated the book a 2.8 with our new and improved (?) rating system.  (See below)  A big shout out to Jackie for hosting, to Jen for doing a terrific job of facilitating the discussion and for our snack volunteers.  Everyone was SO GLAD to see Terry there.

Next up is The River of Doubt by Candace Millard.  This account of Theodore Roosevelt's journey down a uncharted tributary of the Amazon is our co-ed book club read for 2015.  The meeting is at 6:15 on Friday, December 4th at my house.  We will be having substantial appetizers before the discussion and dessert after it.  Ken Kellner has graciously agreed to steer the discussion.  A sign-up sheet was passed around on Wednesday.  If you did not sign up, you may contact me via email and fill in a slot for an appetizer (most needed), a dessert or a pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. 

Attached to this email you will find a summary of our recently created rating guidelines which are designed to more accurately reflect the differences between books our group really loves and those that are just OK by fulling utilizing the range from 1-5 and working off 3.0 being an average book.  Also you will find a super list of helpful hints for discussion leaders compiled by Jill.  Both of these documents are also available on the blog.  That address again is www.crbc.blogspot.com.

That's it for now.  Where did October go?

Jan

September Newsletter

Hello Book Clubbers,

A big thanks to Tara (and Nikki) for hosting our meeting last week. Jackie tried to get a good discussion going on The Girl on the Train, but we found it a little difficult. The overall rating was a 3.2, with most of us agreeing that this book was more of an enjoyable beach read rather than a piece of fine literature. 

Actually, our discussion and rating of this book led to an interesting and productive discussion regarding how and why we instituted the rating system and what the rating scale means. Here's what came out of it:

• We instituted the practice of going around rating the book to insure that each and every voice in the group was at least heard regarding their opinion of the
  book. When the suggestion was made that we just go around and say what we felt, we remembered that many of us share our book club's reading list with other avid readers we know, even other book clubs. Having some sort of historic quantitative assessment of our past reads can help others looking at our list pick out the ones that resonated with our group and might be worth their consideration 
  
  
• So, what do those numbers actually mean? We spoke of the fact that there is sort of a group resistance to give a book anything much lower than a 3, especially in the context of others in the group ranking it higher before your
  turn. Grace pointed out that the result of this is that there is such a small difference between books we loved (To Kill a Mockingbird for example) and books we were lukewarm about or didn't care for. We also discussed the fact that some books might be page-turners and enjoyable, but the writing style might not be memorable. How does one compare a classic work of literature to a young adult novel or a mass-market sensation? 
  
  
• As a result of the above discussion, we briefly entertained the possibility of giving each book 2 ratings: one for quality of writing and general worthwhileness and one for pure enjoyability. Sort of like gymnasts and skaters get scores for technical merit and artistic creativity. This idea was rejected on the basis of just making things more complicated. Instead, we agreed that we would rework our rating system to utilize more of the range of our 1-5 scale so that we can easily see and have others interpret our opinions of the books we have read. I agreed to come up with a sort of suggested guideline for what the numbers mean between now and our next meeting, but for now please consider that 2.5 is an average book. Anything below average will be ranked lower and above average, higher. I think we had all been stuck around 3-3.5 for an average book before. 
  
  We also had further discussion regarding method of selecting books. Those of you who read the last email carefully will remember that there was some concern about how we rush through the selection process in an environment where it is tough to see. Here is what we resolved on that front:
  

• We will move the selection meeting to someone’s house next year. I have had a couple of volunteers, but in an effort to try to spread out the work load, I have some checking with people to do before we decided where to have it.
  
  
• The suggestion was made to consider picking a genre and sort of permanently assigning it to each month to help insure a more balanced schedule. (For example, October might be psycho thriller month, etc.) This idea was nixed again on the basis of creating more club housekeeping. Since we couldn’t even come up with suggestions for our “long classic” read this year, I am reluctant to try to further define our choices. The club needs to be able to respond to what is “hot”, but we definitely need to do a better job in expanding the breadth of our selections.
  
  
• We decided to try this idea to help us all give adequate consideration and input to our planning. Your ideas for the year will be given to me at or before the summer meeting. I (or perhaps Tara) will generate a list of the potential selections with links to the book descriptions and reviews on Amazon. You will then have ample time to review the options. Selection night will still be the time for voting and pairing hosts, leaders and dates with choices. We will have to decide if we can pull off some sort of method for people not present to have a say as well. 
  
  
  
  Thank you for your patience while Jill and I reworked the email list and our delivery of attachments. As I mentioned the other night, it is really helpful if you take the time to review book club correspondence and respond if we ask for feedback such as when Jill sent out an email asking for you to confirm receiving emails and whether or not you could open the attachments. 
  
  Many of you have sensed that my role in organizing our group is wearing a little thin. I certainly have appreciated those of you who have stepped up to help with some of the load. Jill, Grace and Tara have helped (or offered to going forward) with some of the behind-the-scenes logistics and others have offered to host or lead multiple times per year. Thank you! At the meeting, I also mentioned that there is no need to involve me as the middleman in all book club matters. If you need to trade with someone as a snack person, get the word out about some upcoming event or anything else, having the list of everyone’s contact info should help make that easier. 
  
  Along those lines, we agreed that the hostess can send a reminder to the group the week before the meeting if she likes. Don’t forget to RSVP to our hostess in plenty of time before the date. If you have signed up to bring a snack or wine, there is no need to RSVP. In the event you find yourself not able to attend after all, please let the hostess know and drop off your contribution or make arrangements to have someone else take your place. 
    
  
  

I am attaching a new version of the schedule to this email. Due to a conflict, we had to flip flop the January and February meetings. Everything just swapped: hostess, leader and book. The dates of the two meetings remain the same. I have also filled in a few of the slots that were still open. 

In other news, we were informed that neighbor and former club member, Ann Britain recently underwent another serious back surgery. Please keep her in your thoughts.

Shirley informed us that there is an October Fest in the works for October 17th. I was unable to attend the live band event Saturday night, but I am sure those who did had a blast. How great it is to have our social committee coming up with some new ideas for our community! 

I am planning on having my usual Halloween Open House on October 31st. Basically, you bring something to eat and what you want to drink. If you have kids, make 8 Woodstock your last stop and come in (kids too) for some refreshment. If you don’t have kids and want to come over here, you may arrive anytime after 6:30 PM. Since Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, the suggestion was made to make the party “Costumes Encouraged”. My granddaughter suggested, “Prizes would help “encourage people to dress up, Gramma.” 
This wise 8-year-old suggested funniest and scariest as the two categories. Oh BOY!

Our next meeting is at 7 PM on Wednesday, October 28th. The book is The Girl in the Green Glass Mirror by Elizabeth Cooke writing as Elizabeth McGregor. As an FYI, if purchasing the book in paperback from Amazon, it is only available through third party sellers, but there are some choices there with free shipping. Jackie is our hostess that night. 
Please RSVP to her. Volunteers are:
Appetizers: Carol and Grace
Desserts: Marilyn and Nikki
Wine: Diane, Barb, Jen, Marty and Kathy

At that meeting, we will pass around a sign up for our co-ed night on Friday, December 4th. I am still in the process of trying to recruit one of the guys to jump-start the discussion.
Sorry this is another long email read. It seems we are always working to try to improve our club and that results in a lot to say.
Jan

2015-2016 CRBC Calendar

	BOOK	AUTHOR	HOST	LEADER
10/28/15	Girl in the Green Glass Mirror	Elizabeth Cooke Writing as Elizabeth McGregor	Jackie	Jen
12/04/15	The River of Doubt	Candice Millard	Jan	-----
1/13/16	The Cruelest Miles	Gay and Lanie Salisbury	Diane	Diane &  Jill G
2/17/16	House Girl	Tara Conklin	Barb	Marilyn
3/23/16	Vanishing Acts What Alice Forgot	Jodi Picoult Liane Moriarty	Tara	Marty & Tara
4/20/16	Our Souls at Night	Kent Haruf	Carol	Jen
5/18/16	Awakenings	Oliver Sacks	Sue Kellner	Beth
6/15/16	The Unlikely Pilgramage of Harold Fry	Rachel Joyce	Grace	Jill G
July/August 2016	The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair	Joel Decker	-----	TBD
9/14/16	ANNUAL SELECTION NIGHT	-----	-----	Jan/Jill
9/28/16	The Little Paris Bookshop	Nina George	Shirley	Donna

Offerings from this year's Selection Meeting...

2015-2016 Selected Books	Author
Girl in the green Glass Mirror	Elizabeth McGregor
Our Souls at Night	Kent Haruf
Little Paris Bookshop	Nina George
Awakenings	Oliver Sacks
The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic	Gay Salisbury & Laney Salisbury
What Alice Forgot	Liane Moriarty
Vanishing Acts	Jodi Picoult
House Girl	Tara Conklin
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry	Rachel Joyce
The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair	Joel Dicker
Not Selected Books	Author
Hearts in Atlantis	Stephen King
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail	Cheryl Strayed
The Lives they Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic	Darby Penney & Peter Stastny
The Silent Wife	A.S.A. Harrison
Bean Trees	Barbara Kingsolver
Pigs in Heaven	Barbara Kinsolver
The Last Word	Paul Combs
Writer in Residence	Paul Combs
Dying to be Me	Anita Moorjani
Careless People	Sarah Churchwell
What She Left Behind	Ellen Marie Wiseman
The Pecan Man	Cassie Dandridge Selleck
The Chaperone	Laura Moriarty
The 19th Wife: A Novel	David Ebershoff
The Life of Pi	Yann Martel
The Good Neighbor	AJ Banner
Wool	Hugh Howey
Co-Ed Book	Author
The Boys in the Boat:  Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics	Daniel James Brown