September 17 Meeting at Pat's

We all (minus the world travelers) met at Pat's house and fit around the dining room table.  Since my daughter-in-law was taken ill, I had to go to plan B for a meal, but ended up having homemade bread, 2 vegetarian options in honor of Molly (character in book) and Jerry's blueberry "pie" for the Maine setting in the book.  All enjoyed Orphan Train.  Discussion included Alice's interest in Irish connection, the actual history of the orphan trains, the hardships of being an orphan, and possible epilog.  Hopefully it was a good time had by all.

Do I need to say more??

 

Pat

 

Reminder:  next month's meeting on October 16 at Carol's, we will select the month we wish to host for  2014 - 15, our seventh year!

August 21 Meeting at Ellen's

"The Amateur Marriage" by Anne Tyler was the book selection of Ellen.

The weather held out so Kathy, Edna and Carol came to swim, the water was cold but they took the plung.  They said they had a nice relaxing afternoon.

Sharon, Alice, Dricka and Pat were missed. Congrats to Pat, her son had a baby, her name is Clair.

We had snacks and then our meal of salad, baked shepherds pie, bread and lots of desserts.

The book discussion was iffy, some liked the book, some did not. Michael and Pauline were the main characters; when they got married Pauline changed her mind the day of the wedding at the church. She said they fought all the time and that Michael did not want to go anywhere or do anything.  Michael and some of Pauline's friends talked her out of it and they did get married.  It was not a good marriage, they did fight all the time. 

After 30 years of marriage, 3 children and 1 grandchild that they raised, Michael ended the marriage.  Michael remarried to a friend of Pauline's.  Pauline was killed in a car accident.

At the end of the book Michael who was still married, took a walk thru the old street that he and Pauline  used to live on, he knew just what she was going to say, "Is it you, is it really you!"

Ellen

July 24 Meeting at Pam's

Leigh Fleming was the author of our book this month, and also our guest.  The book, "Precious Moments" was a love story and mystery. Leigh proved to be a good writer and an entertaining speaker.  She entertained us all and answered questions on writing and publishing your own book.

Pam had chicken salad, fruit, fresh bread, wine and cakes.  I think it's safe to say everyone had a great time and we really appreciated Leigh giving us her time.  We wish her the best of luck in the future and will be looking for a new book from her soon.
We missed Sharon, but she had company; Grace was out of town and Pat didn't make it.  Missed you all.  Check the blog, as Kathy has a picture of  us.  Thanks to everyone, we had a wonderful evening.

Pam

Here's a link to Leigh Fleming's Facebook page and her web site 

June 19 Meeting at Louisa's

We started the evening with pina coladas made by Elizabeth. Dinner was chicken enchiladas. 
Everyone seemed to like the book.  We liked how Carl Hiaason tied the characters together.  There were some very colorful characters doing crazy things. 
Over dessert, of the best oatmeal cookies ever, we kept relaying funny parts from the book. It was a great evening full of laughs. We even played a round of "Heads Up".

Louisa

May 16 Meeting at Kathy's

I was planning on doing something simple tonight so our book club meetings could be considered casual.  I never really expected hot dogs to be such a big hit.  Who knew?  So glad many were pleasantly surprised to have a cookout and the weather cooperated.  I’m sorry you missed it Ellen, the weather man was wrong again.  In addition to hot dogs we indulged in Bourbon Slush and Hoppin John as a compliment to our book "Incident in the Life of a Slave Girl".

I think I picked a good one.  This autobiographical book generated a variety of topics to discuss.  Harriet Jacobs aka Linda Brent‘s condemned  slavery mostly because slaves were considered property.  Carol pointed out that in Elizabethan England woman were considered their husband’s property. This has been a theme though out history where man possessed absolute control over others, as Rosemary commented  “it's human nature”. 

After Linda was freed she faced another obstacle, prejudice, which generated another flurry of discussion.  Back when we grew up there was segregation and it was the accepted way of life.  Over the years things changed, integration started with some major obstacles.  Today some things are better and others not so much, like hate crimes which generated yet another discussion.

After completing our book discussion, I announced next moth’s book club selection – “Skinny Dip” by Carl Hiaasen hosted by Louisa on June 19.  Grace then distributed her Creamsicle-Shooters and the next phase of our book club commenced – Dessert. We had an assortment: Roe’s brownies, Dricka’s lemon coconut bars, fruit cocktail and angel food cake.

Our book tonight "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Ann Jacobs was made possible through Project Gutenberg.  This is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works….. As of March 2014, Project Gutenberg claimed over 45,000 items in its collection.

Thanks girls, I had a really good time tonight.
KAthy G

April 16 meeting at Sharon’s

“Flight Behavior” by Barbara Kingsolver was the book discussed at my house. First, the group enjoyed (I hope) a dinner representative of the book’s butterflies and their native home: Mexican enchilada pie and cupcakes from Dolly’s bakery festooned with butterflies. Kathy’s homemade peeps were a treat, as well as Ellen’s brownies and Dricka’s cavatelli. We also enjoyed chocolates from the Greenbrier that Louisa brought back from her luxurious stay. The big news was the recent engagement of Rosemary’s son, Frankie. We missed having Grace and Alice in attendance

Before we got too high on sugar and wine, we talked about the book, which most seemed to like. Edna felt that the title of the book symbolized Dellarobia’s desire to flee to another life, as well as the flight of the butterflies. We felt that her future was closely tied to the butterflies and that she probably would not have sought a different future if the events caused by their appearance hadn’t happened. Readers commented that they liked the depth of the characters and their relationships with each other. The focus on climate change bothered some, but they still appreciated the overall story. We talked about the poor circumstances of Dellarobia’s family and the culture that kept them impoverished: “Sports. That’s huge, a kid can shine if he’s good at football or baseball. Probably get a job later on in the bank or something like that.” We all had great hopes for Dellarobia and her son in their new life.

As expected with this group, the evening was spirited and upbeat. After you left, Al commented, “you girls sure seemed to be having a good time.” – how true!

Sharon