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