November 2025 Bookclub News

Sue's Friendsgiving November 2024

 

Dear Bookclub,

This time last year, our bookclub gathered for a Friendsgiving at Sue's not knowing how much our world would change before our next opportunity to repeat the tradition. Lynne hosted this year and an outpouring of grief for our departed friend blended with remembrances emphasizing the importance of our deep connection. 

 

 

 

Fredrik Backman's, "My Friends", aptly titled, veered into a world of challenged, complicated friendships told through an imaginative story, at once touching and difficult. I found myself amazed, laughing out loud and weary. Ultimately, wishing it had been tighter, I don't think I will easily forget the story and forgive the dragging.   

 

Homer

 

Herrara

Owen

The painting is truly a fictional character. Winslow Homer's "Three Boys on the Shore", Lauren Herrara's "The One" and Caryn Owen's abstract seascape are each stunning in their own way. The reader got to form a unique vision of "The One of the Sea",  a curious aspect to one's understanding of the painting's power in Backman's book. I still really wanted to find the actual work! 

Backman

 

Please take two minutes to watch this entertaining video of Backman discussing the use of art, humor, and emotion in his writing:

 https://youtube.com/shorts/OzUDefQvPMM?si=3T_3LsTwdWWdeRDy

 

Lynne's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"Twice" Mitch Albom

"Good Night, Irene" Luis Alberto Urrea *chosen

"Atmosphere" Taylor Jenkins 

 

 

Happy reading,

LK 

October 2025 Bookclub News

 

 

 

 

Dear Bookclub,

 

Another classic autumn bookclub meeting at Karen's yielded a fantastic turnout. Regretfully, I was unable to attend but will report what I have learned about the evening and discussion of Brendan Slocumb's "Violin Conspiracy":

 

from Diane -  "The food, the wine, the discussion and the FRIENDS(!) were the perfect mix for a memorable fall evening!"

 

from Karen: "Good discussion all the way around. I filled them in on Brendan's resume as there were some doubters in the group!" 

 

 

There is no doubt that Slocumb is passionate about his story and the role music has is his life. Please enjoy hearing Brendan's PBS Newshour interview, sharing his very believable, real-life experiences with prejudice and challenge on his journey with the violin:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNxuUICjjDw 

 

Discover more about Slocumb, his books, his podcast:

 

https://www.brendanslocumb.com/

 

 

Finally, the music! The International Tchaikovsky Competition, held in Russia every four years, was first held in 1958 with American Van Cliburn being the winner. Conceived during the cold war, the concept was to spotlight performing arts as an appeal for peace. The competition has expanded over the decades to now include vocalists, brass and woodwinds. Fascinating photos and history can be found on the website for the 2023 competition:

https://tchaikovskycompetition.com/en/about/ 

 

Brendan did not ever compete in the competition, as he professes in this violin excerpts-sprinkled interview with Asma Khalid on "All Things Considered": 

 

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/28/1076514270/the-violin-conspiracy-shows-what-it-can-be-like-to-play-classical-music-while-bl 

 

Karen's suggestions for an upcoming read:

 

"Good Night Irene" Luis Alberto Urrea

 

"Let's Call Her Barbie" Renée Rosen *chosen

 

"All the Stars in the Heavens" Adriana Trigiani

 

 

Up next:

 

 

 

Happy reading,

LK 

 

September 2025 Bookclub News

 

 

 

18718 Olmeda Place                                                                                                                                                                          San Diego, CA 92128

September 19, 2025 

August 2025 Bookclub News

 

 

Dear Bookclub,

One of us 'struggled with the book initially', another thought 'beetle! please make it something else', and yet another 'didn't want to like the book', but all came around and enjoyed Rachel Joyce's quirky "Miss Benson's Beetle". The overall tale became predictable but the inner tale revealed gem after gem of witticisms, beautiful prose, laugh-out-loud dialogue and a glorious audible. Martha, Lori and I enjoyed our summer-night-out bookclub meeting at the Winery, indifferent to the nagging heat, respecting Margery and Enid's New Caledonia climate tolerance.  Please enjoy the above re-imagining of our gathering à la 'clean-up', apologies to Slim Aarons.

  

Miss Benson's elusive golden beetle may be related to the golden tortoise beetle, 'native to the Americas and broadly distributed'. Check out the interesting characteristics of this 'gold bug':

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charidotella_sexpunctata 

Unable to verify a golden beetle in New Caledonia, I did peruse 28(!) pages of the 46 pages on the iNatiralist website under the country's insect species before giving up:

https://www.inaturalist.org/places/new-caledonia#page=1&taxon=47158 

But I did find a: 

striped lady bug!

 

Finally, a word about Rachel Joyce. The author has a long list of accomplishments, including writing many afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4, as well as major adaptations of all the Bronte novels, and Henry James. In 2007 she jointly won the Tinniswood Award for best original audio drama. We loved her 2018 novel, "The Music Shop"! Explore more here:

https://www.rachel-joyce.co.uk/

 

Chosen for an upcoming read:

"My Friends" Fredrik Backman

 

Up next:

Happy reading,

LK
 

 

July 2025 Bookclub News

 

 

Dear Bookclub,

Fortified with two bottles of summery white wine, the Fab Four got down to business for the July Summer-Night-Out at the Bernardo Winery. My one-time late-night fantastical plan to subvert the winery's kitchen dinner with a Barefoot Contessa meal was squelched by reality. Perfect roast chicken, vegetable slaw, and coconut cupcakes, my old favorites, sounded divine - no such luck(I wasn't ready).  We dined on snazzy pizza and salad. Ina Garten's memoir, "Be Ready When the Luck Happens" drew our chat into the realm of the eras Ina's story told. With apologies to Taylor:

Lover: Jeffrey

Fearless: Buying The Barefoot Contessa

Reputation: Established

Evermore: Cookbooks published 'her way'

Speak Now: the Biography 

Our relating to her eras was centered on the 1960's/early 70's feminism era with our connection to the career/marriage dilemma.  Reminisces about old boyfriends, career paths, and college experiences tied our connection to her early years. Memories jumped at me in Proust Effect, recalling events with the foods I'd made during her cookbook era.

We wondered about the spin that is customary to autobiographies. Garten's story fascinated us and her inclusion of a challenging childhood felt genuine yet the shaping at times felt a bit unreal. This woman 'makes her own luck', as my mother-in-law would say.

 

As the enveloping darkness bid us to finish up, we batted around suggestions from tiny folded bits, deciding upon an entertaining and thought-provoking page-turner for our upcoming selection.

 

"The Violin Conspiracy" Brendan Slocumb *chosen

"At the Edge of the Haight" Katherine Seligman

"My Friends" Fredrik Backman

"The Lost Bookshop" Evie Woods

"My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry" Fredrik Backman

"Taste" Stanley Tucci

"Good Night Irene" Alberto Luis Urrea

"Let's Call Her Barbie" Renée Rosen

"Darling Beasts" Michele Gable 

 

Up next:

 

Happy reading,

LK 

 

 

 

 

 

A Little Experiment July 2025

Dear Bookclub,

Some of you may have experienced a strange block to our blog:

 

 

Agreeing to continue allows normal access. My guess is some AI-bot has oddly flagged this post yet nothing offensive is in our blog. 

Rest assured.

I have successfully published "my other bookclub blog" today without any block. Let's see how this one goes!

 

Happy reading,

LK  

June 2025 Bookclub News

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