October 15 Meeting at Carol's

Well, I made it girls with only one minor melt down during preparation for our October meeting.  I managed to provide a meal with some help from my sister and nobody passed away after eating.  I tried to stick with a southern style meal, but celebrated with my Halloween party theme.  Of course I didn't have a cork screw (thanks neighbor for the help), finally found the dusty wine glasses (thanks Ellen for drying them), and had no coffee (just hot tea)--sorry ladies.  I appreciate the wine, desserts, and small gift brought by fellow book club members.  After doing what we do best (eating), we got down to discussing the book, "The Last Original Wife" by Dorothea Benton Frank.  Most agreed that Wes was not a very considerate husband.  He and the children did not seem to consider all the hard work and sacrifices Leslie made during her life for them.  It was amazing that she could fall and hurt herself while out walking with him and it took 40 minutes before he noticed she wasn't still there.  Also, how could he hide having saved so much money without her knowledge.  She had to scrimp and save every penny while he spent whatever he wanted on himself.  It was pointed out they didn't seem to have any real deep love or affection between them and this was probably the root of the problem in their marriage.  Everybody felt she did the right thing in taking care of him when he had to go in for surgery.  After so many years of marriage, it only seemed right to be there in his time of need.  It was brought up that maybe she was selfish in leaving the way she did and by not caring if they were able to cope without her.  Another point of contention was how it seemed too convenient when she immediately ran into her old boyfriend and developed a relationship with him so quickly.  Some of us thought this relationship and marriage happened to soon.  In the back of my mind, I kept waiting for the fairytale ending where Wes would realize just how wonderful she had been (I think he did in the end), but that they would mend their fences and try again.  Well, folks--it just didn't happen.

 

Carol

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