Tina hosted book club last night and it looked like it was very nice (Tina, your kitchen is to die for!). After some technical issues with Skype they got it going and I was on the TV and only could see the group if they stood up by the couches or hung out in the kitchen. The book that we discussed was After You by Jojo Moyes, which is the sequel to the book Me Before You, which we read last year and loved. This book we did not love so much. We thought that the book was just okay. We thought that the writing was good and easy to get through, but it didn't compare to the first book. We thought that Jojo Moyes should not have written the sequel because it didn't seem like the first book needed a follow-up. We weren't that thrilled with Louisa's situation and what she was going through in this book. I did think that this book seems like it needs a sequel because the author left it open ended, which was probably done on purpose for the third book in the series? They are making a movie based on Me Before You and we thought that maybe the second book would also turn into a second movie? Rhonda commented that she has read many of Jojo Moyes book and this was her least favorite, which I would have to agree with.
After discussing the book we talked about the books that we have read this year and we were trying to decided what was our favorite (mine was Station Eleven).
Here is the list of books that we read in 2014 (in reverse order from how we read them):
- -After You-Jojo Moyes (2015)
- -Go Set A Watchman-Harper Lee (2015)
- -To Kill A Mockingbird-Harper Lee (2015)
- -Those Who Stay and Those Who Leave-Elena Ferrante (2015)
- -The Invention of Wings-Sue Monk Kidd (2015)
- -Missoula-Jon Krakauer (2015)
- -The Orphan Master's Son-Adam Johnson (2015)
- -The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls-Anton DiSclafani (2015)
- -Station Eleven-Emily St. John Mandel (2015)
- -Big Little Lies-Liane Moriarty (2015)
We celebrated Rhonda's birthday with some Bundt cakes and presents! Everyone sang Happy Birthday and candles were blown out and then it was decided that it needed to redone because no one captured photos or video from the first go round :). Rhonda got some pretty cool gifts, but the best present had to be the sweater that Tina got for Rhonda that was a tad too small, but at least the sleeves were long enough! This sweater also zipped up all the way so that your face can be completely zipped up and you can't see anything!
Michelle B. we talked about your surgery and how you were doing. We hope that your recovery goes well and we look forward to having you back at book club!
Tina and Rhonda recently saw the movie The Danish Girl and Tina is now fascinated with Transgender people. We had a long conversation about transgenderism and Laura gave us some good insight as she has two friends that are transgender. The movie was really good and Michelle is reading the book and seems to be enjoying it. I recently read the book Becoming Nicole, which is about a transgender girl and the process for her and her family to become Nicole. It was interesting and I learned more about Transgender people.
We talked about feet and it seems like the majority of the members of book club have had some sort of surgery on their feet. I think that there was talk about some sleazy guy at Rhonda's holiday party (I couldn't catch all of the details except he was rubbing Tania's finger??).
We talked about some books that we are not reading for book club, but that we should read. I think that these are them: Orphan #8 , The Midwife of Hope River, and Furiously Happy (I'm reading this book right now and there have been lots of laugh out loud moments for me).
It was Alissa's turn to pick our book and here are the details of the next book club:
When: Thursday January 28 at 7pm
Where: Rhonda's house
What we are reading: The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende Unfortunately, Isabel was just in LA on 12/1 for her book tour of this book (she's a really fun author to listen to).
Lastly, Tina you are the one picking the next book!
Happy reading!
Heather
p.s. All of the links above are affiliate links, so if you click on the link and purchase the book I get a small commission from it :)
