June Book Choice

Hello all, This month we had a small turn out, but as always we had a good time. Last month we read Bright Young Things.  Only a few of us made it to the end, but those that did, and what was read, we all agreed was very good.  I made it through the first half and if there was more time in the day I would have never put it down.  Overall I think we agreed that this was about a 3.5 on our scale of 5.

This month, Chantelle brought the book choices.  After a little debate, we decided on Julia Heaberlin's, Playing Dead.

“Dear Tommie: Have you ever wondered about who you are?”
 
The letter that turns Tommie McCloud’s world upside down arrives from a stranger only days after her father’s death. The woman who wrote it claims that Tommie is her daughter—and that she was kidnapped as a baby thirty-one years ago.

Tommie wants to believe it’s all a hoax, but suddenly a girl who grew up on a Texas ranch finds herself  linked to a horrific past: the slaughter of a family in Chicago, the murder of an Oklahoma beauty queen, and the kidnapping of a little girl named Adriana. Tommie races along a twisting, nightmarish path while an unseen stalker is determined to keep old secrets locked inside the dementia-battered brain of the woman who Tommie always thought was her real mother. With everything she has ever believed in question, and no one she can trust, Tommie must discover the truth about the girl who vanished—and the very real threats that still remain. 

This looks like an exciting choice.  Our next meeting will be at Carly's on the 18th of July.

Heather I hope you can make it for July, I know you will be ready to pop, but we'd like to have you with us one more time before that little girl comes.

Happy Reading,
 Amy Jo
 

May Book Choice

Hey Everyone,
This month we had a pretty small turn out, I think its a sign of summer, but it turned out to be successful.  Most of us did not get very far in the book.  Congrats to Amy Jo for getting the furthest, but we had a really good discussion.  If you don't remember, the book was based on an account of a 3-month expedition into the Amazon jungle in 2002 to learn more about the remaining native and uncontacted tribes that lived there.  Since no one had gotten through the book, Amy Jo told us some  of her favorite parts in the story and a lot about how people outside of the team on the expediditon just didn't care about the people living there and runined their life style, lands and sometimes even killed the people.  Our discussion revolved around if we thought the people should be left alone or if they should be contacted.  Most of us agreed that contact was inevetiable, but we didn't reach a conclusion of whether or not they should be contacted.  We discussed things like how medicine and technology could be brought to them, but at the same time, we would introduce diseases to them that they haven't been introduced to yet.  So can there be a balance of introducing them the latest technologies and protecting there lifestyle and culture, or should we try to protect them from the technologies so they can continue with the way they live now?  We may have a lot of technologies now, but have our technologies really improved our society, or have they hindered us and helped make a lazy, greedy society?  These are just some of the topics we discussed in this months meeting.  If you've read any of the book, or even just have an opinion, I'd like to continue the discussion on this, just so that we can all maybe look at it at a different angle and understand everyone's opinions.

Anyways, on to this month's book. 

The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties.

Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey escaped their small Midwestern town for New York's glittering metropolis. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star. . . .

Cordelia is searching for the father she's never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes. Overnight, she enters a world more thrilling and glamorous than she ever could have imagined—and more dangerous. It's a life anyone would kill for . . . and someone will.

The only person Cordelia can trust is ­Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. But Astrid's perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets.
Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the ­illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls' fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes an epic new series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

It sounds like a pretty intiguing book, and might be able to entertain all of us.  So lets get started.  We have until June 20th at 7 pm to read this one.  We'll be meeting again at Carly's new place.  Hope to see everyone there.

April Book Choice

Hello Ladies,

Another month passed and we had yet another successful book club meeting.  It was actually the first meeting in my new house!  It was great actually feeling like I had room to host the dinner instead of cramming us into the living room.  Anyway, thank you to Sabra for the amazing dinner.  Personally, I think it was one of my favorite meals.  And thanks to Heather for the dessert.  One can never go wrong with Creamies!  

So as Amy Jo just posted we selected “The Night Circus” as our March book choice and it was a hit.  There was romance, deceit, magic, wonderful imagery, and a unique story.  The author did a fantastic job of helping the reader feel as though they were actually in the middle of this bizarre circus he had created.  The characters he created were just as unique and interesting as the circus itself.  And the relationship between Marco and Celia seemed doomed from the very beginning of the book but I found myself rooting for them anyway.  Those of us who finished the book rated it between 4 and 5 stars.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. 

Amy Jo was brought our book choices for April.  She prefaced her choices by saying there was really only one that she actually wanted to read…the rest were just fillers.  Luckily, the rest of the group agreed with her and we ended up picking her first choice.  This month we will be reading “The Unconquered” by Scott Wallace.

It is a first-hand account of a 3-month expedition into the Amazon jungle in 2002 to learn more about the remaining native and uncontacted tribes that lived there.   I love reading true, inspirational stories and I am really excited about bolstering my pathetically-limited knowledge of the Amazon.   My kindle says that I have read 5% of the book so far and I am already hooked.  It seems like Amy Jo picked another winner this time!   

Our next meeting will be on May 16^th at 7:00.  A big thank you in advance to Amy Jo and Marie for taking care of dinner, to Rachel for dessert, and to Ashlee for bringing our book choices.  Can’t wait to see you all next month.

Happy Reading!

Carly

March Book Choice

Hello Everyone,
It's Amy this time. So I have to apologize to Carly. I gave her such a hard time about not updating the blog that one time that she outsmarted me and asked me to do it this month... and guess what, April's meeting it tonight... my bad.

Last month (Feb) we read Defending Jacob. Again I was the only one that didn't finish. I was about 30 pages until the end... but I did finish it that night after book club. I think this ended up being one of our favorite books. The book brought up a few ethical dilemmas and gave us plenty to talk about. Good Choice Sabra.

March was back to Carly for the book choices. We decided on The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.


The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

Once again, I will not finish this book before the meeting. Way too much homework this month. What I did get to read I loved. It is such a fast read and I didn't want to put it down. I made it about 5 chapters in and had to go back to studying. I'm excited to hear what everyone else thinks about this one.

Tonight is my turn to bring the book choices. We've had some good ones lately, so I have big shoes to fill. Sabra is in charge of the main course and Heather will be bringing dessert.

As a reminder, we will be at Carly and Eric's new home in Centerville. Please text her for the address if you don't know where it is. See you all tonight at 7!

Happy Reading,
Amy Jo

Recipe Request

Hey ladies,

So I am hearing good things about this book so far.  I absolutely loved it and can't wait to talk about it next week.  I also got a request for the chicken salad recipe I used for dinner last night.

I got the recipe from here but I have to start by saying that I changed almost everything about the ingredients.

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts, cooked (grilled or boiled) and cut up in bite size pieces
1 apple chopped in bite size pieces. We prefer Fuji or Pink Lady apples.
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup walnut pieces

Dressing:
1 tsp dijon mustard
3/4 cup plain yogurt
pepper to taste

Directions
1. Mix chopped chicken, apple, celery, and walnuts
2. Mix dijon, yogurt, and pepper
3. Toss dressing with chicken mixture and serve on wheat toast, or on a bed of lettuce 

So when I made this I switched out the walnuts for pecans and the celery for grapes (I can't stand celery in my salads).  We also added about 1.5 - 2 tsp of mustard.  I thought it needed just a little more zing.  That's all there was.  Nothing too special.  I'm glad you all liked it though!

Enjoy,

Carly

February Book Choice

Hello Ladies!

First of all, I hope you had a great Valentine's day?  Does anyone have any great V-day stories to tell us?  Mine was pretty great.  Simple but perfect.  Anyway, this month we had a pretty small turn-out at our meeting. Lots of last minute things came up so many of the ladies weren't able to make it.  It's been a while since we've had such a small group but, as always, we still had a great time.

I want to start by thanking Sarah for bringing The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society as one of her book choices last month.  She said it would be a fun read and she was not mistaken.  The book dealt with some serious themes but did so in a way that wasn't overwhelming or depressing.  I thought author made a brilliant decision by writing this book as a series of letters. The characters were all unique and interesting and the letter format gave the reader a very intimate view into the personality of each individual.  Each character had his/her own voice and way of describing the events that happened on the island.  I absolutely loved the book and would definitely recommend it to everyone.  I think as a group we gave the book 4 stars.  Thanks again, Sarah.  I really enjoyed reading this book.

Sabra was in charge of our book choices for February.  It took us a while to pick one this time.  We were pretty evenly divided between 2 of her choices but we ended up going with Defending Jacob by William Landay.

Defending Jacob is listed as a "suspenseful, character-driven mystery" so it will be a little bit different than any of the books we've read so far.  We haven't read a suspense novel yet so I'm excited to see how we like it.  The story is about a lawyer in Massachusetts whose 14-year-old son is charged with murder and how his family copes with the situation.  I really enjoy suspense novels so I can't wait to get started on this one.

Our next meeting is going to be on March 21st at 7:00 pm.  I will be bringing the book choices next time.  Can you believe we've completed the cycle again?  Also, we had a suggestion to possibly change the blog.  Would anyone be interested in being made an author on the blog?  We could then use the blog not only for the monthly book choice but to also discuss the book during the month or post suggestions for other books we've read and enjoyed.  I also thought we could use it to set up book swaps or Girls Nights to go see any of our books that have been made into movies.  Another option would be to setup a Facebook group instead of using the blog.  Let me know what you think or send me text if you want to be added as an author.  I think it could be a lot of fun.

I hope all of you have a great month.  You've got a full 5 weeks until our next meeting so I expect everyone to have the book finished this time! :)

Happy Reading,

Carly

January Book Choice

Hello ladies!

Welcome to the new year.  I'm really excited to see where our little group goes in 2012.  I'm not going to lie...I was a little nervous about the book club at the beginning of last year.  We were struggling to have meetings with more than 4 people but things have really improved of late.  We have had many new members join us and our group size is increasing again.  Speaking of new members, I am happy to welcome Sabra to the group.  This month was her first meeting with us and we have already put her to work bringing the book choices for February.     I also wanted to thank Sarah for her amazing dinner.  We were really sad that she wasn't able to make it but the soup she sent over was fantastic.  Seriously, Sarah.  I need the recipe!  Also, thanks for Ashlee for the brownies.  Those are always a hit!

Our meeting this month was really fun.  We were discussing the book Unbroken and it gave us a lot of good discussion points.  I think a lot of girls learned a lot about Japanese culture and mindset during the WWII time period.  For those that don't know, Unbroken is true story about an american soldier who is captured by the Japanese and sent to POW camps in Japan for 3 years.  The book describes the horrible conditions the POW's had to endure in the camps: starvation, beatings, dysentery, freezing temperatures, etc.  It is a book that really makes you think about the ability that humans have to mistreat and hate others.  It was an intense book but all who finished reading it rated it between 4 and 5 stars.

For our next book we ended up choosing yet another book dealing with WWII.  It is called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

The Washington Post gave the following review of the novel:

“Traditional without seeming stale, and romantic without being naïve” (San Francisco Chronicle), this epistolary novel, based on Mary Ann Shaffer’s painstaking, lifelong research, is a homage to booklovers and a nostalgic portrayal of an era. As her quirky, loveable characters cite the works of Shakespeare, Austen, and the Brontës, Shaffer subtly weaves those writers’ themes into her own narrative. However, it is the tragic stories of life under Nazi occupation that animate the novel and give it its urgency; furthermore, the novel explores the darker side of human nature without becoming maudlin. The Rocky Mountain News criticized the novel’s lighthearted tone and characterizations, but most critics agreed that, with its humor and optimism, Guernsey “affirms the power of books to nourish people during hard times”

I've been wanting to read this book for quite a while.  I think I was first drawn to the strange title.  I am really excited and glad that Sarah thought to include it in her book choices this month.

I hope all of you have a great month and Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Reading,
Carly