Book Club Recap 12/22/14

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RHONDA!!!!!!!!

Attendees:  Alissa, Lisa, Michelle, Michelle, Rhonda, Tina and me via Skype.

Michelle was very kind to host book club at her new house this month!  Thank you Michelle.  I also Skyped in and was on her big TV.  I'm glad that I didn't have to see myself on that big screen :).

The book that we discussed this month was Manson by Jeff Guinn

This book is about the life of Charles Manson pre-birth to after the trial.  All of us enjoyed the book and we discussed it for most of book club, which seemed to be a record for our group.  The story is very interesting and even though most of us knew about the murders there was a lot that we didn't know about Charlie and were fascinated by his story.  We all agreed that he wasn't born into the best of family and basically grew-up in the system and it was no surprise how he ended up being how he was as an adult.  We couldn't believe that all of these people followed him and believed him and his crazy stories, but all of the people that he chose, especially the women, were really broken people and he was able to provide them with a family.

I think that we all Googled the people in this book to learn more about them.  I think that all of us were kind of surprised at how the famous people that knew the family would want to sleep with the girls because they all seemed gross (not great hygiene and lots of STDs).  It was also interesting for us because the book takes place in LA where most of us have lived and have been by some of the sites where the family was.

Michelle told us how she met Tex Watson in jail and talked to Charles on the phone.  I was relieved to find out that Michelle was not a groupie of Tex :).  You can ask her for the story of why she met him and get more details.  Alissa also told us that she was at a holiday party and randomly she was part of a conversation about one of the doctors that did an autopsy on the victims of the Tate murder and described some things that happened that were not reported in the media or this book.  What they did was pretty unbelievable and mostly all because Charles didn't want the murder of Lottsa Poppa (who he didn't even murder) to be traced back to him.

The story was very interesting and we discussed the book and him a lot.  We talked about Charles' new young wife.  Rhonda wishes that the death penalty wasn't reversed because it is a waste of money to be spending on keeping this guy alive.  An interesting side note is that the author speculated that had Charles been put to death there wouldn't be as great of an interest in the guy, but I don't know if that would be true since he did murder some well known people in LA.

I think that about 90% of what we talked about at this book club was the book.  I know that I am missing some more, but I can't remember everything :).

We talked about Michelle's new house and the back story of the couple that lived there.  Lucky for Michelle that they were going through a nasty divorce so she got the house at a steal and it looks great!

Hmmm, I can't remember what else we talked about.

In January we are going to start over with the list of who picks the book for a month.  I'm up for January!  I'll do a blog post a little bit later for the list for the whole year.

Anyway, I had wanted to read the book Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty and I thought that it would be a fun and easy read for book club.  I saw that it was on sale so I sent a message to the group.  I have since finished the book and so have a few others in book club.  Since some of us finished the book and because it is a very fast read I decided that I would also pick another book (I'm reading it now and I think that it is another fast read).

Here are the details:

When: Wednesday January 28th at 7pm   **Rhonda, Christopher changed his trip so now he is gone on this date, so I won't be able to join because it is right during the time that the boys go to bed.  Do you think we can reschedule for the week before?
Where: Rhonda's house
What we are reading: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Book Club Recap 11/17/14

Attendees: Alissa, Lisa, Michelle, Rhonda, Tania, Tina, and Christopher and myself via Google Messenger.

The book we were discussing was Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors.

The meeting started off with Indian food brought by Alissa and of course some wine, although I did see some water bottles too.  I think that some book discussion was done during this time because by the time that I got on we didn't really talk about the book.  It appears as though everyone liked the book and thought that it was a good read.  I was feeling too rushed to finish the book (I had to return it to the library before we left), so I didn't like it as much as I probably would have.

We talked about Christopher and my trip to Europe, which was great!  The boys are still jet-lagged and they actually slept in this morning until 5:30!  Hopefully, by tomorrow it will be 6 or 6:30!  I would upload some pictures we took of the Frank Gehry Louis Vuitton building, but I can't figure out how to do that right now, so here is a link Frank Gehry Louis Vuitton building to check out some pictures.  It is really impressive.  The building just opened up a week or two before we were there so there was a crazy long line that we didn't want to wait in.

The group talked about the walk to help Pancreatic cancer that they did and how Alissa pushed Kyla in a stroller with a flat wheel for the 5k.

Michelle showed us this video about what guys need to think about when dating a woman :)

Tina showed all of us the video of Paige falling down, which is hilarious.  Tina, you really should upload that video to Youtube.

Tina was also told us how Paige has been asking sex questions, that she is getting from her Catholic school friends.

Tania brought some chocolates from Peru to share with the group.

Hmmm, my brain is a little fried so I can't remember what else we talked about (I do apologize Michelle for bringing up Jasper!).

Here are the details for the next book club:

When: Monday December 22 at 7pm
Where: Michelle's new house (Michelle will need to send out her address to those attending).  I should also be making an appearance on Michelle's big TV via Skype.  I'll be like the Wizard of Oz.
What we are reading: Manson by Jeff Guin  This book was Tina's choice and it was a surprising one from her :).

Tina was the last on the list to choose a book for book club.  We can either start over or we can do a new system.  If we start over it is my turn to pick a book :).

Book Club Recap 10/2/14

Attendees: Alissa, Denise, Julie, Lisa, Michelle, Rhonda, Tania, and me via Google hangouts.

The book that we were discussing was The Ghost Month by Ed Lin

The book had some mixed reviews from the group.  We thought that the main character, Jing-nan, was a bit immature for his age and a lot of what he did didn't seem believable especially in his romance and how he reacts when his house burns down (only caring about his Joy Division collection).  We thought that there was a lot of history in the book and it was nice to learn some things about Taiwan and that culture.  Some of us thought that when the history was told in the story it didn't really relate well with the story that was going on and kind of just thrown in there.  The ones that finished the book felt like the ending was wrapped up quickly and could have been better.  Denise did explain to us a lot about Chinese and Taiwan culture and how everything is so very different there.  Someone mentioned that this book seems more like a book for men and many of us agreed.  The book was an easy read, but the subject matter was something that I wasn't particularly interested in.  I also liked his book This Is A Bust more than this book.

As a side note, Denise is good friends with the author and we read one of his other books before and he came to book club to talk about it.  Ed is a really nice guy and I think that when reading this book I found myself picturing Ed as the main character.  Denise said that Ed's Chinese name is Jing-nan, just like the main character in the book, which was an interesting fact.

After the book discussion we talked about the following in no particular order:

1-Sketcher shoes.  I guess that there are some really comfy ones that Rhonda and Julie got.
2-Wizard sleeves.  I'm not sure how we got on this topic again.
3-School and the new Common Core curriculum in math
4-Rhonda's niece and nephew
5-The Squatty Potty , pooping in holes in foreign countries, and always having wipes when traveling.
6-Dogs

Rhonda got some Chinese food for book club and made pumpkin bread.  I REALLY miss the food!  It also looked like there was a lot of wine consumption going on :).

There is a 5K/10K coming up at the end of this month and book club wants to form a group and raise money for it in support of Julie's husband.  Rhonda sent out an email last night.  If you didn't receive it please just let her know.

Here are the details for book club next month:
When: Monday November 17th at 7pm
Where: Rhonda's house
What we are reading: Beneath A Marble Sky by John Shors

I miss you guys!!

Heather

p.s. Rambo, Alissa asked Denise if you were Japanese too and we all had a good laugh!

Book Club Recap 8/27/14

Attendees:
Alissa, Lisa, Michelle S., Rhonda, Tania, Tina, and a very special appearance by Valesca!

Valesca made a surprise appearance to book club and it was very nice to see her!  Valesca, I wish that I could have said hi, but I was out and about doing things so I couldn't make it.

The book for this book club was The Matchmaker by Elin Hilderbrand

Everyone felt that The Matchmaker was a real "summer read," which is not saying much.  We found the names of the characters irritating.  We found the fact that the Amin character could see people's "auras" and that is how she match made was irritating as well.  The book was as much about the Nantucket area as anything else.  The parts where the author described the area were good and it made the area seem like a lovely place to visit.

It was a fast read, but not much meat to it.  The blame for the book choice was not Michelle, as she had asked Rhonda for her opinion, and Rhonda looked on the NY Times best seller list and threw this book out there along with another.

The group talked about books and their favorite reads, from the Facebook challenge.  Rhonda forgot some critical books that shaped her like, Where The Red Fern Grows (Rhonda, I just found this book at my mom's house and packed it up because I remember loving that book too!], which her 4th grade teacher read to the class.  Rhonda also loved the book I Will Love You Forever, which is a book that is a tear jerker that she would read to Raven.  *I just read yesterday that this book was actually a song to the author's two dead babies and he eventually made the song into a book.

This month it was Denise's turn to pick our book and she picked The Ghost Month by Ed Lin

Ed Lin is Denise's friend and he has been a featured author at our book club before!  Christopher has actually already read this book, so maybe he will want to join us at book club next time?  Denise, Rhonda, and Tania went to Ed's book reading a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it.

Rhonda and Tina are taking cake decorating classes.  Rhonda is hoping to become a better dog cake decorator :].  Rhonda served the cake that she made this week and now she needs any excuse to unload the cakes that she is making since she is making one every week.  Rhonda also made some cantucci, which is a recipe she learned in Italy.  I really wish that I could have had some of that and the cake!

Valesca and Michelle both really like the book The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and recommended that to the group.  The Kindle edition is only $5, which isn't too bad of a price.

Here are the details for the next book club:

When: Wednesday Oct. 1st at 7pm
Where: Rhonda's house
What we are reading: Ghost Month by Ed Lin

Alissa, it is your turn to pick our October book.  Tina picks our November book.

-Heather

p.s. The boys and I have not moved up to the Portland area yet.  We are having new flooring put it and it is taking longer than expected & it still won't be done when we get there.  We are planning on leaving tomorrow.  If any of you are in the Portland area you should definitely stay with us!  Miss everyone!!

Book Club Recap 7/9/14

Those who attended were: Julie, Lisa, Michelle S, Alissa and Tania and Rhonda


It was Michelle B's pick and sadly she was stuck at home with a bad case of vertigo. She texted Rhonda her pick, which is listed below.  Tina was also a no show because her son Chase was home and offered to make her dinner. No way she could say no to that! Rhonda has her dog Tucker though since Tina's backyard is torn up the dog spends a lot of time at doggie daycare so she tries to take him for a couple overnights a week since her house is a nice dog haven.

Rhonda served cheese and cookies she brought back from Italy. Rambo gave Rhonda some baguettes which were amazing with the cheese and honey. Unfortunately Rambo couldn't attend either but his bread was well received.  Rhonda, do you think you can mail me some cheese & bread? :]  Alissa brought a great bottle of wine, which was much appreciated!

We all liked Tania's pick, but thought it wasn't the most "deep" book considering the subject matter. What we found most interesting was the factual stuff the author talked about at the end of the book. The letters that were written (in the event of the death of a soldier) were the most beautiful part of the book and we thought perhaps, if the book had been all letters it may have been more interesting and well written.  It was a fast and easy read which is always nice.  The pregnancy part was slightly predictable.  The war scenes seemed very realistic and brutal, as was the civil war.

Rhonda and Michelle mostly talked about their trip to Italy.  Michelle regaled the girls with stories.  I look forward to hearing those stories!

Here are the details for the next book club:

Where: Rhonda's house
What we are reading:  The Matchmaker by Elin Hilderbrand
When: Wednesday 8/13 at 7pm

Denise, it is your turn to pick the book for next month!

Book Club Recap 6/16/14

Attendees:  Alissa, Julie, Lisa, Michelle, Rhonda, Tania, & Heather by skype!  Raven and Cooper also made appearances.

This month we discussed the book that Michelle picked.  The book was The Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Everyone seemed to enjoy the book and they all thought that it was a good historical fiction novel.  Many comments were made about how they learned a lot about the Japanese internment camps during WWII in the US and how Japanese Americans were really affected by this.  Rhonda said that Denise's dad was in an internment camp and it would have been interesting to hear what she had to take on it.

The characters of the cafeteria lady and the saxaphone man were well liked.  It sounded like there were some tears shed while reading the book.  I read the book in 2011 so I had forgotten a lot of what happened and had to be reminded of the end and I am sorry that I ruined it for you Tania!  Julie did think that the book was not a memorable one and she wasn't surprised that I forgot about it.  Julie, I also have a bad memory when it comes to remembering plots of books that I have read especially after a year :].  I know that more was said about this book, but I think that I was "lost" because I couldn't remember much that happened!

After discussing this book we talked about the trip that Rhonda, Raven, and Michelle are taking to Italy.  It sounds like Raven wants to go to bed early and not party, while Rhonda and Michelle do :].  It will be a fun trip and we can't wait to hear all about it once they get back!  Raven might need some therapy from Julie when she gets back :].  We talked about all of the TV shows that we are watching and I think that House of Cards, Game of Thrones, and Orange Is the New Black.

We also talked about some books that some of us our reading that were good.

I just read The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Rhonda highly recommended A Thousand Hills to Heaven by Josh Ruxin
Julie just read The Vacationers by Emma Straub
Julie also suggested All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer

If there were other books I can't remember what they were.

Tania then told us that for our next book we would be reading I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe

After a lot of the crew left we talked about how awesome it is that Tina's son graduated from UCSB!  We also talked about the site Ashley Maddison (sp?] and how a friend of Michelle's went on there.  It was an interesting conversation and of course Christopher had heard about that site, hmmm!  Ha ha!

Here are the details of the next book club:

When: Wednesday July 9th at 7pm
Where: Rhonda's house
What we are reading:  I Shall Be Near To You by Erin Lindsay McCabe

Michelle B. it will be your turn to pick a book for the next meeting!

See you then!

Heather

Book Club Recap 5/21/14

Those in attendance were Heather (via Skype for a short time) Alissa, Lisa I, Michelle S, Tina, Julie and me, Rhonda. We missed Tania, Michelle B and the cast of characters that no longer show up. You know who you are.

The book we discussed was Tinkers by Paul Harding. 

       

The consensus was that although the writing was pretty brilliant, the book should've been a short story as no one was really enraptured by the actual tale.
It was a story about a man near death who was recounting his life which was commingled with his dads life too. There were no obvious breaks between where his character and his fathers were being described, so you really had to be on your toes and concentrate on what you were reading. To me there was some stream of conscience type writing going on which made it more challenging to follow but we did all agree that it was a pretty accurate in regards to end of life type behavior.
Heather noted and we all agreed that hallucinating definitely takes place at the end of ones life as a few of us have been there.
Hallucinating was part of what made this book a bit of a challenge to follow, which Julie pointed out could've been a conscious decision on the authors part. Good point.

This opened up a discussion of the whole idea of crossing over from life to the other side of life. There was some discussion of other books we have read about clairvoyant people and their experiences.
I, for one, do believe that there are people among us with a gift for seeing into the afterlife of others. Now before I cross the line to complete whackadoodle, I will move on.

We also spoke about the dangers of multitasking regarding forwarding of emails to inadvertent recipients. One of our members accidentally sent an email intended for a work associate to one of the owners of the gym we go to. Suffice it to say that poor Joe can never unsee the picture of the big pink dildo with some sort of g spot attachment that was on said email. This book club member produces a relationship/sex radio talk show so while the email WAS appropriate to a co worker, it was a shocker to Joe.

Alissa, thank you for bringing the tarts to book club. They were delicious. Some of us who were down on Taps Burger Bar, are going to give it another try thanks to your recommendation and those tarts.

The book we will be reading next was Michelle's choice. The title is The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.

       

I've heard great things about the book and look forward to reading it.

Our next meeting is June 16th and Tania has the next pick.
I look forward to seeing everyone at my house on Monday the 16th.

Alissa we would love to see pictures of your Hawaii trip! Have a wonderful time.

Lisa, we hope Boston was fun.

Rhonda

Book Club Wednesday 5/21/14

Hi all you book clubbers!

I just wanted to send out a reminder that next week is book club!  Here are the details:

When: Wednesday 5/21 at 7pm
Where: Rhonda's house
What we are reading:  Tinkers by Paul Harding

Hopefully I can work out the technology so that I can join everyone.  Although I haven't read the book because I've been waiting on it from the library!  If you do not have a library membership you should get one!  Do you know how awesome it is to borrow ebooks and audiobooks for free?  Plus, now that I don't live near a decent library this has been so handy for me.  The only downside is the wait time.

I follow a book blog and she recently came out with her summer reading guide.  It looks like there are some really good books on there.  If you are looking for something to read for either this group or for yourself I would suggest you check out this list by Modern Mrs. Darcy.

Just a reminder for the book selection list:

June-Michelle S.
July-Tania
Aug-Michelle B.
Sept-Denise
Oct-Alissa
Nov-Tina
Dec-We can start over, stop this system, or if we have a new person they can be here :]

-Heather

Book Club Recap 2/17/14

Attendees:  Alissa, Heather, Julie, Lisa, Michelle, Michelle, Rhonda, Tania, and Tina.

We discussed the book Crossing To Safety by Wallace Stegner

First, Tina actually read the book and there were many others that didn't!  Way to go Tina!  We all liked the book and thought that it was a very nice and sweet book.  We liked how the book was all about their friendship and how there was no marital drama, like cheating.  We thought that all of the characters were likable and we enjoyed reading their friendship develop through the years.  It was also interesting to see how times have changed and how back in the 3Os it was okay to to get drunk while pregnant.  The book was easy to read and very enjoyable.  We also discussed how Charity wanted to die alone at the end and we discussed how many people like/want to die alone.  The book wasn't long and it wasn't a hard read at all if you want to still read it.

Onto the good stuff!  Well, I think that the thing that I remember the most is scissoring!  The best part was that Cooper knew what it was and all of us did not.  Google it to see what we are talking about.  Michelle said that this was brought up in an episode of Glee, which is crazy!  We talked about Alissa's mom and we all hope that she is doing better and that she gets moved up to the Valley.  We talked about Rhonda's Uncle, sorry to hear about him again.  We talked about me moving.  Not sure where, but I think it will happen :(.  We talked about pot and edibles that have THC.  Then at the end we all took the Dialect Quiz to see what cities our dialects are "from."  Some of the LA natives didn't get LA!

Next month we are switching it up a bit!  Lisa will be hosting next month's book club.

Here are the details:

When:  Wednesday March 19th at 7pm
Where: Lisa's house (sent in personal email to the group]
What we are reading:  Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Lastly, it is Julie's turn to pick our April book!

See you in a few weeks!

Heather

Book Club tomorrow 2/17

Just wanted to send out a reminder that book club is tomorrow at 7pm at Rhonda's house.  We will be discussing the book Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.  I hope to see you there!

-Heather

Book Club Recap 1/15/14

Attendees:  Alissa, Denise, Heather, Julie, Lisa, Michelle, Michelle, Rhonda, & Tania.

We discussed the book The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

We all thought that this book was so long and we joked around how we would read 2-6 hours of this book and barely make a dent in the book!  It was a long one and we felt that the author could have shortened it.  We thought that Donna was so descriptive, hence the long book, and if felt like we were in some of the locations that she described.  Something interesting that I thought was that even though she was so descriptive, she didn't really describe the physical features of Theo Decker.  It was hard to picture what he looked like and he was the main character.  Julie told our group that Donna takes about ten years to write a book.  We figured that she must do a ton of research and that her books are so long because she takes a long time to write them.  Most of us agreed that Vegas was the best part of the book and they liked seeing how Theo developed into the person that he was during that time.  We were all shocked **SPOILER** when Theo discovered that he had not had the painting for so long, but a history book.  We all couldn't believe that he had never looked at the painting for that long.  Some thought that the ending was kind of tidied up nice and quick, which was surprising since the book was sooooo long!  Overall, most of us enjoyed the book and there is no denying that she is a really good author.  On a side note, this painting (yes, it is a real painting] is on view in New York until the 19th.  Michelle, you should go check it out!  Also, a church deacon that died with the painter in the explosion had the last name of Decker, which was Theo's last name.  I kind of wonder what the connection there means?

We also talked about dogs, puppies, black sheep in the family, Michelle and Tania's trip to DC, my possible move to Colorado, schools, and I can't remember what else.

We decided that each month one member is going to be the one that picks the book that we read.  Here is the order.  If a new or old member comes then they would just go at the end!

Feb-Heather
Mar-Lisa
April-Julie
May-Rhonda
June-Michelle S.
July-Tania
Aug-Michelle B.
Sept-Denise
Oct-Alissa
Nov-Tina

Here are the details for the next book club!

When:  Monday February 17th at 7pm.
Where:  Rhonda's house, of course!
What We Are Reading:  Crossing To Safety by Wallace Stegner

From Amazon, Crossing to Safety has, since its publication in 1987, established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the twentieth century. Tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples who move between Vermont and Wisconsin, it is a work of quiet majesty, deep compassion, and powerful insight into the alchemy of friendship and marriage.

The library has many copies of the book, so it should be easy to get.  Michelle, it is also very easy to get a membership.  You get the book for 3 weeks, but as long as no one else is waiting for a book then you can renew it for longer.  They also have the book available in an e-book (there is a wait for it] and an audible book.  For $4 I got the book from Thrift Books

We hope to see you at the next book club!

-Heather

Book Club Next Week 1/15

Just a reminder: 

Where: Rhonda's house 
When: Wednesday January, 15th at 7pm
What we are reading:  The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

I hope to see you there!

Heather