October 2019 Bookclub News

Stanley Street statue

 "All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?"

Lennon-McCartney

Dear Bookclub.

Eleanor is two of them. Rugby and Oliphant. The lonely people. Gail Honeyman’s first novel deftly enters the world of a lonely woman. Not explaining if the name is a coincidence, Honeyman does describe (in her honeyed Scottish accent) her experience in writing this book in a short interview from PRX:

http://exchange.prx.org/pieces/246396

Gail Honeyman

And again in this article:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/12/gail-honeyman-didnt-want-eleanor-oliphant-portrayed-as-victim


And of course, the movie. Reese Witherspoon is behind the workings of a production:

Reese/Eleanor

https://the-bibliofile.com/eleanor-oliphant-is-completely-fine-movie-what-we-know/ 


 Karen's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"Born a Crime" Trevor Noah

"Little Fires Everywhere"  Celeste Ng

"The Silent Patient" Alex Michaelides

My suggestions for a December read:

"The Night Before Cbristmas" Nikolai Gogol
"Redbird Christmas" Fannie Flagg
"Mr. Dickens and His Carol: A Novel" Samantha Silva

Looking forward to our discussion.

Happy reading!
LK 

 

September 2019 Bookclub News

Lovely Lynn's 

Dear Bookclub,
Tradition prevailed as a September bookclub night at Lynn T's promises the welcoming of fall along with her welcoming of us! Her glowing home and enticing homemade nibbles thrilled us almost as much as just being together. 

it was as good as it looks!!

After a healthy dose of catching up, we settled into the elegant living room to discuss Elizabeth Gilbert's "City of Girls".













A richly crafted novel centered on Vivian Morris looking back on her life in a letter (a really, really, really long, rambling letter... I forgot about it being a letter for a huge chunk of the book), we all enjoyed the romp around NYC beginning in the 1940's. Our favorite character was the theater but alas, it was 'killed' off and the book still continued for hundreds of pages. Vivian's independent spirit and Gilbert's descriptions pulled us through to the end and spurred on hearty discussion.

Please check out this Fresh Air interview of Elizabeth Gilbert on "City of Girls" (only about 7 minutes)

 https://www.npr.org/2019/06/08/730898457/elizabeth-gilbert-on-city-of-girls

Lynn's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"The Downstairs Girl" Stacy Lee
"Lying Next to Me" Gregg Olsen
"It All Comes Back to You" Beth Duke*
"The Hotel Neversink" Adam O'Fallon Price (a suggestion from Jim who really enjoyed it)

*chosen


Up next, Gail Honeyman's "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine":

Happy reading,
LK

August 2019 Recap

Glowing at Lori's

Dear Bookclub,
Treating us to delicious Asian dishes, Lori challenged us with chopsticks, and along with forks, we  scooped up and enjoyed. Less appealing to Lori (see below), authentic Korean fare was also eagerly sampled.

Plunging into our discussion of Lisa See's "The Island of Sea Women", we quickly moved from topic to topic just as the author had bounced from decade to decade touching upon the many layers built and revealed. Marveling at the Jeju setting and the world of the matrifocal, haenyeo society, the underlying dark tone of the tragic history overshadowed the intense story of a friendship, as was implied in the promising descriptions of the novel. The question of the importance to include the difficult-to-read details arose as that inclusion overshadowed the reader's appreciation of the complicated aspects of friendship, that is the core of the story. Another point made was that perhaps the author was overly ambitious in trying to create too much: an historic novel and a history text. In truth, most readers, this one included, probably knew nothing of this history and despite the weighty aspect the ambitious undertaking created in the book, the knowledge gained at the end result is valued.

Lori's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell" Robert Dugoni

"Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" Gail Honeyman *chosen

"The One in a Million Boy" Monica Wood


Up next:
 







Happy reading!
LK

August 2019 Bookclub News

Photos from Julie taken in Jeju during her April 2019 visit

Dear Bookclub,

Lisa See's historical novel, "The Island of Sea Women", set on the Korean island of Jeju, is the story of two women, their friendship and the haenyeo society. These fascinating female divers have been  harvesting marine life, without the aid of breathing apparatus, since the 17th century.  Please check out the links below to learn more. The videos are especially informative:

https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/culture-of-jeju-haenyeo-women-divers-01068

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTBMNRhaFH4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk7DQLMKBTE



Lori's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell" Robert Dugoni
(Goodreads 4.35/30,305 reviews)

"Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" Gail Honeyman
(Goodreads 4.31/424,173 reviews)

"The One in a Million Boy" Monica Wood
(Goodreads 4.00/23,972 reviews)
 

Looking forward to diving into our August discussion.

Happy reading,
LK

June/July 2019 Bookclub Recaps

Dear Bookclub,
Summer dreaming..... no! It's real! We've had two interesting books, two months in a row with two robust turnouts and last but not least.....two great discussions!

June - Julie's:

Julie brilliantly enhanced our evening with a set of questions. After indulging at the dining room table, we settled into the living room to delve into our discussion, each clutching our gifted question. Able to examine Luis Alberto Urrea's "House of Broken Angels" with gusto, thanks to the prompting questions, we all thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the discussion.

Julie's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher" Timothy Egan
"The Alice Network" Kate Quinn
"The Library Book" Susan Orlean
"The Island of Sea Women" Lisa See *chosen

July - Sue's:

Again being indulged, this time by Sue, we gathered around her beautifully appointed table, thankfully not themed to our book!  Karin Slaughter's "Pieces of Her" incited much debate with its layers and layers of .... well... unbelievable plot, gruesome detail and unrelatable characters....yet we agreed it was a compulsive read that we had fun examining. Netflix, here it comes.

Sue's suggestions for a future bookclub read:

"City of Girls" Elizabeth Gilbert *chosen
"Summer of '69" Elin Hilenbrand
"Varina" Charles Fazier
"The Flight Girls" Noelle Salazar

Up next: Lisa See's "The Island of Sea Women: A Novel"

 

Happy reading,

LK

March 2019 recreate Bookclub News

Dear Bookclub,

Experiencing a cyber catastrophe in the midst of writing a new blog post in preparation for our upcoming bookclub meeting, I was blindsided with the accidental deletion of a previous post....this March 2019 post. A convoluted 'entry' page for any of my "Blogger" blogs has always had the vulnerability to make such a deletion. I was soooooo bummed and really, really bummed because it was late at night and I had promised my 'health sub-conscious' that I would long be asleep at this time. I stubbornly attempted every googled suggestion for this problem and sat in front of my screen with crossed fingers, spiritual pleas spoken aloud, learning more about caches and backing up than I care to ponder and finally went to bed in a tizzy.

I awoke the next morning, still blue with the loss and got struck with the realization that I could recreate. Would not be the same but here it goes:

Our March Bookclub meeting was cancelled due to the exciting, unrelenting, crammed, conflicted schedules we are all experiencing. The March selection, J.D. Salinger's"Catcher in the Rye" must still be discussed and with a Joyce Maynard elaboration.

First published in 1998, Maynard told of her relationship with Salinger in "At Home in the World".

An essay and front page picture for The New York Times Magazine in the spring of 1971, titled "An 18-Year-Old Looks Back on Life", put Maynard on the map and into the scope of J.D. Salinger who contacted her and whisked her away from Yale, briefly enfolding her into his lair.

Ꭶ

At this point in writing, months have passed since both the March non-meeting and my start to re-create the lost blog. My memory of whatever else was so great that I mourned its deletion has also been deleted. So I will leave you with: 

"And to think we started as a book group"

Happy reminiscing,
LK

May/June 2019 Bookclub News

"I don't like flowers", said no one.

Dear Bookclub,
A contrast to our last rollicking, well-attended bookclub meeting at Diane's, Barb and I met at Avant for a peaceful dinner. We did miss all of you. After thoroughly examining the current read - the menu not Daniel Pink's book - we had no problem at all chatting for a few hours. I can only have an imaginary discussion in my head about Pink's "When", but I hope to share in a real discourse with any of you next gathering.

Also, lost in the fray was a choosing of an upcoming read. With Barb's blessing, I proposed two suggestions from a recent Weekend Edition Sunday NPR spot, and via e-vote we have a selection:

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/26/727107493/what-to-read-this-summer

"Pieces of Her"  Karin Slaughter*
"Murder by the Book" Claire Harman

*chosen


Up next,  Luis Alberto Urrea's "The House of Broken Angels".

Julie has three suggestions for an upcoming read:

"Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher" Timothy Egan
"The Alice Network" Kate Quinn
"The Library Book" Susan Orlean

Please research and be prepared to vote at the June meeting.


Happy reading!
LK