Hi everyone!
I just wanted to send out a reminder that book club is next Tuesday! We will be discussing Moonwalking with Einstein and The Art of Racing in the Rain. Hope to see everyone there!
-Heather
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Emma Donoghue The Room discussion
I got the below email from Goodreads about Emma Donoghue doing an online discussion of her book. I know that Rambo and I read the book, but I wasn't sure if anyone else did and if you would be interesting in participating in this.
Emma will be on Goodreads answering questions about her past books and new novel, Room, on her Goodreads Author discussion group, Q & A with Emma Donoghue. She will be available from March 21 - 25, 2011.
Check it out!
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/4477...
Also, I saw that they cast Katniss for the Hunger Games movie. I guess that it is Jennifer Lawrence (they will be dying her hair). Hopefully, she will make a good one!
-Heather
Emma will be on Goodreads answering questions about her past books and new novel, Room, on her Goodreads Author discussion group, Q & A with Emma Donoghue. She will be available from March 21 - 25, 2011.
Check it out!
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/4477...
Also, I saw that they cast Katniss for the Hunger Games movie. I guess that it is Jennifer Lawrence (they will be dying her hair). Hopefully, she will make a good one!
-Heather
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Book Club Recap 3/15/11
Attendees: Callah, Christopher, Denise, Heather, Lisa I., Michelle, Rambo, Rhonda with appearances by Anderson, Cooper, Nathan, and Raven :)
First, I want to say a HUGE THANKS to Rhonda for always hosting book club and providing us with some yummy food and wine. I am super grateful that you do this and I am happy that you always have cheese on hand for Nathan! Denise, thank you for bringing the kale chips. They tasted awesome! If anyone is interested in reading about Denise's gardening adventures click here.
Onto to last night! We discussed the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. There was consensus that Amy went a bit too far with how she raised her daughters. Telling them she was going to burn their stuffed animals was a bit much! Lisa brought up the fact that she really didn't like how Amy generalized Western parenting and Chinese parenting. Amy made it seem like the Western way to parent was too "relaxed" (I can't think of the right word). Lisa also brought up the fact that Amy contradicted herself a few times with the way that she was parenting. Lisa brought up some good examples, yet I can't remember what they were right now, sorry! We also wondered how much of the book was true and what was exaggerated. We also wondered what the husband's take on all this was because all we read in the book was that they agreed that Amy would parent her way. We did read that he sometimes would think that Amy was going overboard, but it would have been interesting to hear his point of view. We also wondered how the girls' relationship with their mother is going to be in the future with her raising them like this.
We did talk about how some of us wished that our parents pushed us harder to do things and we didn't think that the girls were going to regret that they knew how to play piano and violin really well. I told the group that when Nathan turns three in about a month we are planning on starting him on the piano and Callah suggested that we do a minimum of three hours a day :) I don't know how Amy did it because all of her time was consumed with work or her kids. I can't imagine that she had much free time to herself. Overall, it seemed like most people didn't like the book. I actually didn't care for her parenting, but I thought that the book was interesting and a very fast read. In the words of Rambo, "She wasn't hard enough." (Well he said something along those lines!). As always, there was more discussed about the book, but again the details escape me and I am trying to get in as much as I can before the baby wakes up! Christopher and I also left early to get the boys to sleep and missed the end of book club.
For our next book club we are meeting Tuesday May 3rd at 7pm at Rhonda's.
We will be reading two books! The first book is Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer Christopher just read this book and raved about it. It talks about the "art and science of remembering everything." Hopefully, after we all read this book we will all have much better memories!
The other book that we will be reading is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I have heard good things about this book and I am looking forward to it.
I hope to see everyone at the next meeting!
Heather
First, I want to say a HUGE THANKS to Rhonda for always hosting book club and providing us with some yummy food and wine. I am super grateful that you do this and I am happy that you always have cheese on hand for Nathan! Denise, thank you for bringing the kale chips. They tasted awesome! If anyone is interested in reading about Denise's gardening adventures click here.
Onto to last night! We discussed the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. There was consensus that Amy went a bit too far with how she raised her daughters. Telling them she was going to burn their stuffed animals was a bit much! Lisa brought up the fact that she really didn't like how Amy generalized Western parenting and Chinese parenting. Amy made it seem like the Western way to parent was too "relaxed" (I can't think of the right word). Lisa also brought up the fact that Amy contradicted herself a few times with the way that she was parenting. Lisa brought up some good examples, yet I can't remember what they were right now, sorry! We also wondered how much of the book was true and what was exaggerated. We also wondered what the husband's take on all this was because all we read in the book was that they agreed that Amy would parent her way. We did read that he sometimes would think that Amy was going overboard, but it would have been interesting to hear his point of view. We also wondered how the girls' relationship with their mother is going to be in the future with her raising them like this.
We did talk about how some of us wished that our parents pushed us harder to do things and we didn't think that the girls were going to regret that they knew how to play piano and violin really well. I told the group that when Nathan turns three in about a month we are planning on starting him on the piano and Callah suggested that we do a minimum of three hours a day :) I don't know how Amy did it because all of her time was consumed with work or her kids. I can't imagine that she had much free time to herself. Overall, it seemed like most people didn't like the book. I actually didn't care for her parenting, but I thought that the book was interesting and a very fast read. In the words of Rambo, "She wasn't hard enough." (Well he said something along those lines!). As always, there was more discussed about the book, but again the details escape me and I am trying to get in as much as I can before the baby wakes up! Christopher and I also left early to get the boys to sleep and missed the end of book club.
For our next book club we are meeting Tuesday May 3rd at 7pm at Rhonda's.
We will be reading two books! The first book is Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer Christopher just read this book and raved about it. It talks about the "art and science of remembering everything." Hopefully, after we all read this book we will all have much better memories!
The other book that we will be reading is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I have heard good things about this book and I am looking forward to it.
I hope to see everyone at the next meeting!
Heather
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Book Club next week Tuesday 3/15/11
Hello bookworms!
Just a reminder that book club is next Tuesday 3/15 at Rhonda's house at the usual time of 7pm. We are reading the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. It is a short book and a fast read. I definitely think that we will have some good discussions about this book!
Hope to see everyone there!
Heather
Just a reminder that book club is next Tuesday 3/15 at Rhonda's house at the usual time of 7pm. We are reading the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. It is a short book and a fast read. I definitely think that we will have some good discussions about this book!
Hope to see everyone there!
Heather
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Book Club Recap 2/15/11
Attendees: Callah, Christopher, Denise, Heather, Lisa I., Michelle, Rambo and Rhonda. With special appearances by Cooper, Anderson, and Nathan.
**If you haven't read the book you'll want to skip the below because there will be spoilers**
We discussed the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and we were all in agreement that this book was very unbelievable. We all thought that it was a great read and that the story was remarkable. Some members questioned how Louis could remember all of those details that happened so long ago, but we all thought that he documented a lot of what went on with him. I believe that Rhonda said that the raft part was the part that got her the most. It was incredible to have survived a plane crash and then to be on that raft for so long and forced to eat bird blood and rain water all while having sharks surround your raft and try to attack you to eat you. We thought that it was so crazy that he met Hitler and that he was such a mischievous youth, but found focused on running in high school and became this great runner. We all didn't want to talk much about the portrayal of the Japanese in this book until Denise got there because we were really curious to hear what she had to say.
Denise thought that the way that the Japanese were in this book was horrible but also that in a war situation most captors will be like this. She talked about how the Japanese-Americans were treated in the States during this time (not very well). Christopher brought up the fact that he didn't really see WWII as a war with Japan and saw it mostly has a war with Germany and to see how the Japanese were was really surprising to him. We did discuss all wars later on and why people would want to join the military.
Most of us there are not religious, but we all thought that it was great that it was religion that saved Louis' life. We all agreed that had he not found Billy Graham his marriage would have ended and he would have either been a drunk for the rest of his life or he would have ended up killing himself. Instead his life was turned around and he is still kicking it today. Speaking of killing himself, there were many times during the book where we thought it would have been better to just be dead than to go through what he did, especially with The Bird.
There was a ton more talk about this book and it could have been one of the most talked about books in our book club.
I was the only one that read Room by Emma Donoghue I enjoyed the book and thought that it was an interesting story. Lisa said that she was having a hard time getting into the book because it was told from the five year old's perspective. I thought that the author did a good job at writing the story.
We talked about Rambo's crazy running that he is doing. We talked about how Denise's neighbors are all dying and she wants all of us to move to her street; it would be a very fun thing to do! We talked about chickens and their lack of egg laying in the winter. We talked about backyards, the Slymar and Northridge earthquakes, and lastly the Ted Talks. This talk is about the mammography testing that I was telling you about. There are so many talks that are great to watch and listen to!
For our next book club we will be reading The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. From the reviews it looks like it will be a little bit of a controversial read and should be a good discussion! We haven't picked a day yet (Rhonda will get back to us), but the book looks like it is on the short side and I heard that it is a fast read.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the next book club!
-Heather
**If you haven't read the book you'll want to skip the below because there will be spoilers**
We discussed the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and we were all in agreement that this book was very unbelievable. We all thought that it was a great read and that the story was remarkable. Some members questioned how Louis could remember all of those details that happened so long ago, but we all thought that he documented a lot of what went on with him. I believe that Rhonda said that the raft part was the part that got her the most. It was incredible to have survived a plane crash and then to be on that raft for so long and forced to eat bird blood and rain water all while having sharks surround your raft and try to attack you to eat you. We thought that it was so crazy that he met Hitler and that he was such a mischievous youth, but found focused on running in high school and became this great runner. We all didn't want to talk much about the portrayal of the Japanese in this book until Denise got there because we were really curious to hear what she had to say.
Denise thought that the way that the Japanese were in this book was horrible but also that in a war situation most captors will be like this. She talked about how the Japanese-Americans were treated in the States during this time (not very well). Christopher brought up the fact that he didn't really see WWII as a war with Japan and saw it mostly has a war with Germany and to see how the Japanese were was really surprising to him. We did discuss all wars later on and why people would want to join the military.
Most of us there are not religious, but we all thought that it was great that it was religion that saved Louis' life. We all agreed that had he not found Billy Graham his marriage would have ended and he would have either been a drunk for the rest of his life or he would have ended up killing himself. Instead his life was turned around and he is still kicking it today. Speaking of killing himself, there were many times during the book where we thought it would have been better to just be dead than to go through what he did, especially with The Bird.
There was a ton more talk about this book and it could have been one of the most talked about books in our book club.
I was the only one that read Room by Emma Donoghue I enjoyed the book and thought that it was an interesting story. Lisa said that she was having a hard time getting into the book because it was told from the five year old's perspective. I thought that the author did a good job at writing the story.
We talked about Rambo's crazy running that he is doing. We talked about how Denise's neighbors are all dying and she wants all of us to move to her street; it would be a very fun thing to do! We talked about chickens and their lack of egg laying in the winter. We talked about backyards, the Slymar and Northridge earthquakes, and lastly the Ted Talks. This talk is about the mammography testing that I was telling you about. There are so many talks that are great to watch and listen to!
For our next book club we will be reading The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. From the reviews it looks like it will be a little bit of a controversial read and should be a good discussion! We haven't picked a day yet (Rhonda will get back to us), but the book looks like it is on the short side and I heard that it is a fast read.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the next book club!
-Heather
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Book Club is in one week 2/15/11
Hi everyone!
I just wanted to send out a reminder that we will be having book club next Tuesday 2/15 at Rhonda's house at 7. We are discussing the books Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Room by Emma Donoghue
Hope to see everyone there!
-Heather
I just wanted to send out a reminder that we will be having book club next Tuesday 2/15 at Rhonda's house at 7. We are discussing the books Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Room by Emma Donoghue
Hope to see everyone there!
-Heather
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Book Club Recap 1/4/11
Happy New Year everyone! First I want to say that in 2010 we read 13 books! That is pretty good for us. Here is the list of books that we read:
-Full Dark, No Stars-Stephen King
-One Day-David Nicholls
-The Girl Who Played With Fire-Steig Larsson
-Mockingjay-Suzanne Collins
-The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo-Steig Larsson
-Little Bee-Chris Cleave
-The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint-Brady Udall
-Switch-Chip and Dan Heath
-Snakes Can't Run-Ed Lin
-Where Men Win Glory-Jon Krakauer
-Moloka'i-Alan Brennert
-Push-Sapphire
-The Hunger Games-Suzanne Collins
I didn't go to book club on 1/4, but I talked to Rhonda about it. The attendees were: Denise, Lisa I., Rambo, Rhonda, & Valesca (I could be missing some people).
The book Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King was discussed. The stories were pretty disturbing, but Stephen King is a really good writer. I know that Rambo said that he was interested in reading more of his work. Christopher is a HUGE fan of Stephen King and if anyone wants to read a hard copy of one of his books Christopher most likely has it. I don't think that much was talked about the the book because Lisa was still reading it and they didn't want to ruin any of the stories for her.
Our next book club will be on Tuesday February 14th, 2011 at 7pm at Rhonda's house. We will be reading two books. The first is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Christopher and I read this book already and we couldn't put it down. We finished it very fast. The story is pretty unbelievable! The other book is Room by Emma Donoghue. This book was recommended by Tommy.
Good luck to Lisa K. with your labor and delivery. We can't wait to meet your little one!
Hope to see everyone on 2/15!
-Heather
-Full Dark, No Stars-Stephen King
-One Day-David Nicholls
-The Girl Who Played With Fire-Steig Larsson
-Mockingjay-Suzanne Collins
-The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo-Steig Larsson
-Little Bee-Chris Cleave
-The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint-Brady Udall
-Switch-Chip and Dan Heath
-Snakes Can't Run-Ed Lin
-Where Men Win Glory-Jon Krakauer
-Moloka'i-Alan Brennert
-Push-Sapphire
-The Hunger Games-Suzanne Collins
I didn't go to book club on 1/4, but I talked to Rhonda about it. The attendees were: Denise, Lisa I., Rambo, Rhonda, & Valesca (I could be missing some people).
The book Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King was discussed. The stories were pretty disturbing, but Stephen King is a really good writer. I know that Rambo said that he was interested in reading more of his work. Christopher is a HUGE fan of Stephen King and if anyone wants to read a hard copy of one of his books Christopher most likely has it. I don't think that much was talked about the the book because Lisa was still reading it and they didn't want to ruin any of the stories for her.
Our next book club will be on Tuesday February 14th, 2011 at 7pm at Rhonda's house. We will be reading two books. The first is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Christopher and I read this book already and we couldn't put it down. We finished it very fast. The story is pretty unbelievable! The other book is Room by Emma Donoghue. This book was recommended by Tommy.
Good luck to Lisa K. with your labor and delivery. We can't wait to meet your little one!
Hope to see everyone on 2/15!
-Heather
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