April 20 Dual Meeting with Pat & Alice

FOSTER by Irish author Claire Keegan was my choice for March - it was a short novella but had a powerful message and spirit.  Taking place in the 1980's in rural Catholic countryside of the Republic of Ireland, it was rough to read at times, feeling for this family and their struggles. The writing is spare but the love for this 9 year old lassie is clear by her "foster" parents for the summer, relatives whom she's never met before being dropped off with no warning or preparation or goodbye hug from her Da.

There is also a poignant movie now based on the book made in 2022 just after the book was published- the Irish language is spoken throughout and English too- central character young Cait is brought to life visually and every part of her summer.  It was a lovely sight to see this film adaptation of this bittersweet story.  I could watch it a few more times.

Thank you Pat for sharing the evening with my little bit of Ireland.

Slainte.  Alice

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We missed Edna and Grace and welcomed Rennie!!

Enjoyed great food, especially Sylvia's crab quiche, Rennie's lemon cake, and Grace/Pat's ice cream cake ( thanks for the lesson, Grace!). It was fun making it AND eating it!

Lessons in Chemistry was a fascinating and amusing book for us all!  The book is set in the 1960s and is  Bonnie Garmus's debut novel at the age of 64.  We all have many memories from this era!!! And what an inspiration to us all, having a debut novel at 64!  The book stirred memories, inspired, celebrated women, made us laugh out loud, taught us about love, and to me spoke of the beauty of family... not only the one you are born into, but also the one you choose

Pat

February 16 Meeting at Sylvia's

GTG Book Club met at Sylvia’s on February 16.  Crab quiche, salad and croissants were served for lunch, with pound cake and fruit with whipped cream for dessert.  Even with only six members attending, a lively discussion followed re this month’s book “Mad Honey” by Jodie Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylon.

The story is about Olivia and her son Asher who had relocated to her hometown in New Hampshire where she assumed her father’s bee-keeping business and where Asher is a high school hockey star; and also about Ava and her teen daughter Lily who also relocate to this small town to begin a new life.  Asher and Lily meet and begin a teenage romance.  Tragically Lily dies and Asher is arrested for her murder.

It is a heartbreaking story about life’s injustices, first love, parental love…and bees.  The story involves an intense court case, a shocker in the middle, and a twist at the end.  Olivia’s story is written by Author Jodie Picoult, and Lily’s story is written by co-author Jennifer Finney Boylan. 

In other business, Rennie Tressler was approved as a new member.

We missed Louisa, Grace, Edna, Rosemary and Alice.

Sylvia

January 19 Meeting at Applebees

We all met at Applebees in Charlestown and Louisa was able to join us.  The meal was so so but the company was great.  We did discuss the book "A Man called Ove" a bit. Ove was a grumpy yet loveable man who finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door. Despite being a curmudgeon, he was helpful to his neighbors and they turned in great numbers at his passing.  We enjoyed the book and decided to see the movie "A Man called OTTO" which didn't disappoint.

K

December 12 Bookclub and Farewell Party at Kings

 

It won't be the same without you!!

November 17 Meeting at Grace's

We met on November 17, 2022, at my house to reorganize our book club.  Hard to believe we are starting our 15th year.  I want to thank all of our members for their continued dedication and participation.

Dricka will be leaving the book club since she is moving back to NJ in December.  However, she still wants us to share our books with her each month.  

My daughter Sally & daughter in law Candida helped prepare the dinner and made us special signature cocktails with Prosecco, cranberry ginger ale and fresh cranberries.  We had pecan pie, cookies and Affogato’s for dessert.

We will be meeting on Monday, December 12, 12:30 at Kings Restaurant in Inwood for our Christmas outing this year.  Edna was calling for a reservation.

The Book we read this month “The Truth of The Matter was written by Leigh Fleming a local author.  Leigh joined us for dinner at our meeting.  I believe everyone enjoyed the book.  It was a quick read.  What I liked and others agreed it was not too wordy and not too many characters.  Leigh did tell us she did family research and the characters in this book were similar or followed  her family’s history.  Some found it hard to believe that the father could make such a dramatic change  towards his daughter and life after having a visit with his mother.  Leigh stated she likes her books to end on a happy note.  I like that too.

Hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving.  And wishing everyone the Merriest Christmas ever.  Safe travels throughout the holidays. 

LOVE TO ALL, Grace

SEE YOU ALL IN THE NEW YEAR.♥️

 "The Truth of the Matter" by Leigh Fleming

October 27 Meeting at Carol's

The October meeting was held at my house on Thursday, October 27th.  We had our usual Halloween costume meeting with a variety of characters in attendance.  The food was delicious as I bought everything instead of cooking (go figure).   The book was the sequel to “The Bean Tree” which we read in September. It was nice to follow Taylor and Turtle’s life through to a conclusion. I think most people liked the book even if it did end a little too abruptly with everything tied into a nice bow. It wasn’t quite believable in how everything came together so quickly. A Halloween goody bag was provided to all. 
Carol

book - "Pigs in Heaven" by Barbara Kingsolver