Book Club Recap 10/27/09

Attendees: Callah, Christopher, Denise, Heather, Julie, Lisa, Michelle, Rambo, Rhonda, Tina, & Valesca. (Sandra and Nathan were also there briefly)

The book that we discussed was The Help by Kathyrn Stockett. Since the book takes place in the south we decided to have a Southern food theme for the evening. We had black-eyed pea soup, biscuits & gravy, collard greens, fried chicken, hush puppies, mac & cheese, fruit crisp, & a caramel cake. All of the food was very delicious!

The evening started with some of the members saying that they have a friend that is very similar to Hilly! Not someone I would want to be compared to :) We all LOVED the book and commended Valesca on her great choice for a book. We talked so much about the book, which is rare for us to do. I think that all of our favorite part was about two-slice pie that Minny made for Hilly. We especially loved the fact that it was Hilly's mom that was the one that got her the pie in the auction. We thought that Hilly was a horrible character, but Valesca made the point that even though she wasn't a good character she did love her children very much, which we all agreed. We thought that the stories that Aibileen told Mae Mobley were great and we loved how Mae Mobley retold those to her brother. We all loved the relationship between Celia and Minny. Some of us wondered what Celia was up to in the rooms and most of us didn't expect it was a drinking problem (which it turned out not to be). We also thought that Celia's husband was a great guy, especially when he told Minny that she had a job for life. Julie was impressed by how all of the meals were made from scratch by the maids! I decided that I want a maid (I can do the raising of Nathan, but all the other stuff I wouldn't mind a maid doing and I would even let them use the same bathroom!). There were various stories of housekeepers that we have currently and how we treat them (we all treat them well!). Lisa told us how they had one housekeeper that was like a part of the family and she wishes that she could have talked to her about her feelings towards her family. Christopher couldn't believe that our country was like this only 40 years ago and made a comparison to the Middle East and what is going on over there.

There was a lot said and I don't remember it all. It was a great book and everyone loved it. If you have not read it, you should. We thought that it will probably be made into a movie.

Oh, Rambo and Julie listened to the book and they both said that it was one of the best books to listen to. For the characters of Minny, Aibileen, & Skeeter they had three people read the parts. So each person had their on unique voice. I listened to part of the book when we were taking Julie home and what a difference that made! It was very interesting to hear how the the book is supposed to be read! The voices were great and had more of an accent then what I gave them when I was reading it. We also discussed how in our book club it is alright by all of us if you listen to a book instead of read it!

Our next book will be Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving. http://www.amazon.com/Last-Night-Twisted-River-Novel/dp/1400063841 Rhonda and I are big fans of John Irving and we already got this book. The next book club will be on Tuesday December 1, 2009 at 7pm at Rhonda's house. If you finish the John Irving book Valesca recommended Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Again, we missed everyone who could not make it and we hope that you will be able to join the next book club!

-Heather

Book Club Tuesday October 27th

Hi all,

Just sending out a reminder that book club is in two weeks! We are reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I have heard rave reviews from Valesca, Tina, Rambo, and Rhonda and I am excited to start reading it! Valesca had suggested that we do a Southern food theme and I think that is a great idea, but what does everyone else think? If we decide to have a Southern food theme we can then organize who will make what :)

I also wanted to let you guys know of this website that I was recently introduced to. It is goodreads.com and it is a site where you log in all of the books that you have read, are reading, or want to read. You can rate the books from 1-5 stars and give your own reviews of them. You can also be friends with your friends (like Facebook) and get notified of what they are reading and if they liked it. So far I am liking the site :)

I think that is it for now. I hope to see most of you in two weeks!

-Heather