Book Club Tomorrow Night!!

Book Club tomorrow night @ Bethany's!!

7:00 pm

Be there or be square!

(Bethany would you mind e-mailing your address?  Thanks!)

Book Club at Stephanie's

Stephanie hosted book club this month and she treated us to some amazing food.  Unfortunately I was so distracted by the goodness that I forgot to take pictures!!  So Brenda grabbed my camera and snapped a few photos of all the empty dishes... 

We had pasta with a choice of three sauces (marinara, Alfredo & pesto)  -- most of us put all three on our pasta. There was a beautiful salad, watermelon and crostini topped with tomatoes and basil.

Brenda did manage to grab a picture of a plate and one of dessert -- mmmm

Shauna led us in a great discussion about Jane Eyre and shared some of her favorite passages from the book. We also voted on books (see post below) and we had a hard time choosing from so many great books.

Thanks so much to both Stephanie and Shauna for such a  great night.  As always we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!

Christie, Shauna & Stephanie

Shannon, Heidi & Bethany

Brenda Sue & Shauna

Robyn & Rebecca

And finally we have Kara, and our newest member sweet baby Iris.

We'll see you next month at Bethany's house where we will discuss Cold Comfort Farm.

READING LIST

Get you list ready to take to the bookstore -- here is what we are reading...

October -- Still Alice by Lisa Genova
     Hosted by Christie and reviewed by Heidi

November -- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
     Hosted by Brenda and reviewed by Bethany

December -- PARTY!!
     Hosted by Shauna

January -- The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
     Hosted by Heidi and reviewed by Kara

February -- Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
     Hosted by Shannon and reviewed by Britney

March -- Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins
     Hosted by Kristie and reviewed by Brenda

April -- Little Bee by Chris Cleave
     Hosted by Kara and reviewed by Robyn

May -- The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
     Hosted by Robyn and reviewed by Shannon

Robyn's Picks

WE DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS BOOK.It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.The story starts there, but the book doesn't.And it's what happens afterward that is most important.Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds...

The literary sensation of the year, a book that redefines both family and narrative for the twenty-first century. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is the moving memoir of a college senior who, in the space of five weeks, loses both of his parents to cancer and inherits his eight-year-old brother. Here is an exhilarating debut that manages to be simultaneously hilarious and wildly inventive as well as a deeply heartfelt story of the love that holds a family together.

"It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born." 

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction. 

Shannon's Picks

When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance.

But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences. 

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

On the Design Sponge blog today they showcased some really great ways to store/display books.  It it making me want to redo my bookshelves -- maybe I should try organizing them by color?!

Being that you are also book lovers you should check out the post here.

Turtle in Paradise

We got to meet author Jennifer Holm at Provo City Library's book fair. She was very personable and fun! Robyn really enjoyed her book "Our May Amelia." For our club, I'd like to pitch her "Turtle in Paradise." It looks like a cute book that would be good to read during a short/busy month.

Turtle in Paradise

by Jennifer L. Holm

nspired by family stories, two-time Newbery Honor winner and New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Holm beautifully blends family lore with America's past in this charming gem of a novel, rich in historical detail, humor, and the unique flavors of Key West. Life isn't like the movies, and eleven-year-old Turtle is no Shirley Temple. She's smart and tough and has seen enough of the world not to expect a Hollywood ending. After all, it's 1935, and jobs and money and sometimes even dreams are scarce. So when Turtle's mama gets a job housekeeping for a lady who doesn't like kids, Turtle says goodbye without a tear and heads off to Key West, Florida, to stay with relatives she's never met. Florida's like nothing Turtle has ever seen. It's hot and strange, full of wild green peeping out between houses, ragtag boy cousins, and secret treasure. Before she knows what's happened, Turtle finds herself coming out of the shell she has spent her life building, and as she does, her world opens up in the most unexpected ways.

from jenniferholm.com

Book Choices

##1: Ella Minnow Pea

by Mark Dunn

In Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn transports readers to the imaginary island of Nollop, named for Nevin Nollop, inventor of the pangram (a sentence using all letters of the alphabet) "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." It is an idyllic place, free from technological innovations like television and computers, where Nollopians devote themselves to the liberal arts and especially to the cultivation of language. But when letters begin to fall from the monument they are then banned from using those letters either in written or spoken language -- punishable even by death.  And as further letters begin to fall, Ella Minnow Pea and her family, along with the rest of community, are forced to live under linguistic siege. Books are destroyed. Newspapers shut down. Citizens are publicly flogged, placed in stocks, their property confiscated and their lives ruined, all for slips of the tongue. But with the help of Nate Warren, a researcher living in South Carolina, the islanders decide to fight back, vowing to create a pangram even shorter and therefore more dazzling than the one for which Nollop has been elevated to divine status. The only question is: can they do it before all is lost?

This is a quick read. The best part is that it is written as a series of letters so even the author of the book has to construct his thoughts leaving out the "fallen" letters. It's slightly amusing and though provoking.

#2: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

by Jacqueline Kelly

 

This is considered a children's book, but I love it.

If you are all too tired of reading juvenile literature, that's fine, but I thought I'd put it out there.

Growing up with six brothers in rural Texas in 1899, 12-year-old Callie realizes that her aversion to needlework and cooking disappoints her mother. Still, she prefers to spend her time exploring the river, observing animals, and keeping notes on what she sees. Callie’s growing interest in nature creates a bond with her previously distant grandfather, an amateur naturalist of some distinction. After they discover an unknown species of vetch, he attempts to have it officially recognized. This process creates a dramatic focus for the novel, though really the main story here is Callie’s gradual self-discovery as revealed in her vivid first-person narrative. By the end, she is equally aware of her growing desire to become a scientist and of societal expectations that make her dream seem nearly impossible. Interwoven with the scientific theme are threads of daily life in a large family—the bonds with siblings, the conversations overheard, the unspoken understandings and misunderstandings—all told with wry humor and a sharp eye for details that bring the characters and the setting to life.

This is another quick read and a very fun read. She is quite the character. Loved it.

#3: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

by Helen Simonson

from the author:

ou are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew is one of the most indelible characters in contemporary fiction, and from the very first page of this remarkable novel he will steal your heart.
The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?
I should add that I hope you’ll find the book funny and that you’ll enjoy the Major’s values and character. I believe he might remind us all that the world is what we make of it.

I haven't read this yet, but I would like to. It looks sweet and charming, and funny.

Book Choices

The Idiot by Dostoevsky

After spending several years in a sanatorium recovering from an illness that caused him to lose his memory and a bitlity to reason, Prince Myshkin arrives in St Petersburg and is at once confronted with the stark realities of life in the Russian capital- from greed, murder and nihilism to passion, vanity and love. Mocked for his childlike naivety yet valued for his openness and understanding, Prince Myshkin finds himself entangled with two women in a position he cannot bring himself to resolve....

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Persuasion narrates the emotional journey of its protagonist Anne Elliot, who chances upon Captain Wentworth, a suitor she was persuaded to reject seven years earlier, and is made to reflect on her past decisions and contemplate her marital future......

By Immaculee Ilibagixa,

Immaculee Ilibagixa grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she chiriched. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloddy genocide. Immaculee's family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans. Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. Flor 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them. It was during those endless hours of unspeakable terror that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of deatha and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having discovered the meaning of truly unconditional love-a love so strong she was able to seek out and forgive her family's killers. The triumphant story of this remarkable young woman's journey through the darkness of genocide will inspire anyone whose life has been touched by fear, suffering and loss.

Some of the books I would like to read.....See you in August

Reading

Lezlie Evans, the author of this cute book (and sister to a good friend of ours) will be reading at the Barnes & Noble in Orem on the 24th and the Orem Library on the 29th if you want to bring your kids and check it out.  I think they would have fun hearing her read.  Here is a link to an article about her from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Here are Three Suggestions...

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer:

Paris, 1937. Andras Lévi, a Hungarian Jewish architecture student, arrives from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter he has promised to deliver to C. Morgenstern on the rue de Sévigné. As he becomes involved with the letter’s recipient, his elder brother takes up medical studies in Modena, their younger brother leaves school for the stage—and Europe’s unfolding tragedy sends each of their lives into terrifying uncertainty. From the Hungarian village of Konyár to the grand opera houses of Budapest and Paris, from the lonely chill of Andras’s garret to the enduring passion he discovers on the rue de Sévigné, from the despair of a Carpathian winter to an unimaginable life in forced labor camps and beyond, The Invisible Bridge tells the unforgettable story of brothers bound by history and love, of a marriage tested by disaster, of a Jewish family’s struggle against annihilation, and of the dangerous power of art in a time of war.

 Looking For Alaska by John Green:

British Fantasy Award for Top Ten (2006), A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (2005)   

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words - and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green's arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.

It's voting time!

So are you enjoying Jane Eyre?   I loved it and had to watch the BBC/ Masterpiece Theater adaptation again.  I know most of you have seen it too -- it sure makes for a great afternoon!




We get to select new books at next month's meeting!

So what have you read that you want all of us to read and discuss?

What is on your "to read" list?

Post your recommendations so we can have a good list to choose from -- I can't wait to dive into some new books!