November 14 Meeting at Grace's

With the  snow and ice forecast for Thursday, it was good we moved our meeting to Wednesday night.  Thank you to everyone who was able to make it on such short notice.  Roe we missed you.

We celebrated our 11th Anniversary and still going strong. Kathy updated our blog with some of our changes for the coming year, i.e., lunch meeting in January and February.

After reorganizing we  got down to our discussion.  Book this month was "The Silent Wife"  by Kerry Fischer.  Apparently, there were several books with this same title, different authors.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the book.   We had a very good discussion about the characters and how deceptive appearances could be in the case of Massimo and Lara's relationship.  Lara seemed to have it all but her husband was very abusive mentally and had many secrets.  Basically, in my opinion he was a creep.

When Massimo's younger brother Nico gets married and he introduces Maggie into the family so many dark secrets start to surface. Maggie tried so hard to fit in and be accepted by the family.  Everyone thought she was a gold digger but in reality she was a very hard worker and very independent. She was also a good mother and a good daughter. At the end of the book, the truth comes out about all the characters.

One of the questions we discussed was "Would you risk everything for the man you love, even if you knew he did something terrible?"  General consensus was it depended on how many other people it
could hurt.

Grace

October 18 Meeting at Carol's

"The Memory Painter" was the book for October. This was not my usual style of book, but I did enjoy it and most of you agreed. In a search for a cure for Alzheimer's, 4 scientists discover a drug which when used allows you to have flashbacks to previous lives. The story dealt with the 4 main characters and how their lives intertwined over the previous centuries. Their lives started with Hermese an Egyptian Goddess and showed a trail of love, hate, murder and destruction throughout time. 
Everybody was asked to come in costume again this year, since it was the Halloween season. Please excuse my racey costume, but I wanted to come as Hermese. I have always felt that I was a Goddess or Queen in a previous life. We enjoyed a truly delicious meal, graciously prepared by my personal chef, Dusty. I hope everyone enjoyed the evening as much as I did.Carol

September 27 Meeting at Pat's

Bookclub was great fun. We missed you, Pam. 

Treats from Ireland and discussion about that beautiful land. I wanted to share one of my favorite authors, Robyn Carr, so chose "The Family Gathering". It is the third in a series of three, the first two being "What We Find" and "Any Day Now". Carr has a Virgin River series that I have enjoyed over the years. Her characters feel like family and friends. I somehow appreciate her predictability. Therese Plummer records Carr's books and is amazing!! 

We talked about the Great American Read, airing on Tuesday evenings on PBS. Link is pbs.org/greatamericanread

Carol has knee surgery October 3. We are already praying and keeping you close in thought. All will be well. 

Thanks, Pat

August 16 Meeting at Sharon's

A lively discussion centered around the definition and practice of racism addressed in Jodi Picoult’s novel, small great things. We also “centered” around (we missed you, Pat) an array of food, which included chicken tenders with various sauces, a zucchini/tomato/cheese casserole, and a blackberry cobbler, along with goodies provided by others. We never go hungry! The title of the book and the heart of the story were taken from a Martin Luther King quote: “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” The thoughts and actions of a white supremacist character were disturbing enough for at least one member that she couldn’t read the chapters attributed to him (Turk). The concept of equality vs. equity was also discussed in relation to the book and in the world today. We welcomed Edna’s English cousin, Pat, who had also read the book and shared with us the issues surrounding race in England.

Sharon

July 19 Meeting at Pam's

Pam

June 20 Meeting at Louisa's

The girls showed up in a terrible rainstorm. Alice, Grace, Kathy, Pam, and Pat couldn't join us. We missed you.

      Elizabeth made stuffed green pepper soup and we had Italian bread with it. After dinner we discussed the book. Everyone enjoyed "The Heist". I chose it because I thought it would be a fun summer read. We decided Nick was really smart to be able to devise such elaborate cons. Edna and Carol are reading the other books in the series. We talked about how we like Janet Evanovich books. She usually makes you laugh.

     We had dessert of vanilla butter nut cake, candy that Dricka brought, and  Rosemary's lemon bars. I surprised the girls with a box of small Toblerone in honor of Nick who always leaves one on Kate's pillow.

Recipe for Crockpot Green Pepper Soup

Louisa