July 2018 Bookclub News

July 2018 Bookclub News

Dear Bookclub,
Misalignment of bookclub calendar and my summer travels deprived me of yet another lively meeting. Boohoo; my loss. When sharing my latest read with family and friends, describing a book about a motley crew ever so charmingly pursuing a killer panther, a blank faced reaction was expected. A most fantastic read, "The Which Way Tree" tops my list of highly recommended.

Kim thoughtfully provided a recap of the evening:

"Outside on Julie's beautiful patio with sparkling candles lit when the sun went down,  6 Novel members drank wine, ate delicious food and discussed the memorable book "The Which Way  Tree" by Elizabeth Crook.  Julie prepared discussion questions that had us pondering and exploring the unforgettable characters; the favorites and the undesirables, the intelligent and ruthless animals and the rules and order of the south in post civil war times. The story was centered around a young girl's relentless  determination to hunt and destroy the panther that killed her mother. The narrator was her brother who was willing to risk everything to protect his sister.  It was universally agreed that this book was an outstanding read and one that will long be remembered.

Julie graciously stepped in for Kate and we send Kate love and good wishes for a speedy recovery."

As mentioned in her acknowledgments, Crook found the voice for Benjamin from a book, "Now you Hear my Horn",  in a family library, given in 1968 to her grandfather from her grandmother. Check it out:

https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/mcdnow

I found myself wondering more about Elizabeth Crook and found that her other works are also enticing. I put this one on my reading list:

https://smile.amazon.com/Night-Journal-Elizabeth-Crook/dp/0143038575/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1533051887&sr=8-2&keywords=crook+elizabeth

Kate's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"When: The Science of Perfect Timing" Daniel H. Pink

"Little Fires Everywhere" Celeste Ng

"Educated" Tara Westover *chosen

Up next: Susan Rieger's "The Heirs" 

Happy Reading!

LK

June 2018 Bookclub News

Tennessee Children's Home

Dear Bookclub,
 I am so sorry to have been out of town, missing June's bookclub meeting at Diane's to discuss Lisa Wingate's "Before We Were Yours". Rich for discussion, the author described the experience of surfing the reality in an online site, Signature, http://www.signature-reads.com/2017/06/before-we-were-yours-the-truth-about-tennessees-lost-children/  Wingate states ultimately that when learning of true accounts from Georgia Tann's criminal acts, "For any story you can write, there's someone who's lived it."
Get out a kleenex and see a reunion on a 1991 Oprah episode:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzp8ey7spO0
 
Gratefully, Diane has written an account of the evening to share:

Diane here, subbing in for our eloquent leader with a few notes about our recent June meeting.  Despite the off-schedule meeting date - Wednesday instead of Thursday - there was a great turnout of 8 Novel Group members ready to engage in a lively discussion of Before We Were Yours, Lisa Wingate’s novel based on true accounts of adoptions that were less than above board which really tugged at everyone’s heart.  Georgia Tann was running quite a business in the 1930’s-1950’s in Memphis, TN practically stealing children from disadvantaged families and selling them to desperate families unable to have children of their own. Through one such transaction we meet the 5  lovable, and endearing, children of Briny and Queenie aboard their river shanty, the Arcadia.  The book sparked many discussions about adoptions, infertility, feelings of abandonment, and even the recent headlines of family separations at our border.  The discussion was passionate and enlightening, and many remarked one one of the best discussions we have had in awhile. 

The impoverished setting of the book was definitely a food theme challenge, so I decided that as a nod to the book to share my recent experience of simple, Tuscan dishes.  A rustic Panzanella (think bruschetta in a bowl!) followed by a very simple tiramisu ended up as crowd pleasers. 

Four books were presented for future consideration:

Dead Wake, Eric Larson (chosen)

The House of Broken Angels, Luis Alberto Urrea (close 2nd)

32 Yolks, Eric Ripert

The Last Ballad, Wiley Cash

Happy campers #1

Happy campers #2

Up next: Elizabeth Cook's, "The Which Way Tree".

Happy Reading!
LK

May 2018 Recap

Dear Bookclub,

May gray days on end set the tone for our 1918 Spanish flu pandemic affair. Gathering at Lori's for our evening with author, Sue Meissner, to discuss her latest work, "As Bright As Heaven", our fabulous groups united with sweet anticipation. And sweetly welcomed, we were. Lori had created supper of nurturing soup jars, yummy meatballs, delicious salad and dainty pralines.

Susan Meissner and Lori

Fortified with flu shots(ginger beer, vodka & rosemary sprigs), we settled in to share our appreciation for Meissner's work. Sue enlightened with us her development of the book, passing around pictures depicting some scenes from the pandemic. Her revelation of plotting the novel with the deaths of certain individuals (no spoiling in this paragraph), in order to allow other character development was especially interesting, as was her admiration of the structure of Kingsolver's "Poisonwood Bible".

Being merrily distracted, we neglected to discuss and vote on Lori's suggestions for an upcoming selection. Let's do an email vote:

"An American Marriage" Tayari Jones
"The Wife Between Us" Sarah Pekkanen
"Circe" Madeline Miller
"My Antonia" Will Cather


Up next: Lisa Wingate's, "Before We Were Yours". Please remember our meeting at Diane's will be on a Wednesday (June 20).

Happy Reading!
LK

May 2018 Bookclub News

Dear Bookclub,
Our evening with Sue Meissner to discuss her latest book, "As Bright as Heaven", an historical novel imagining one family's journey through the most catastrophic pandemics ever, is just a few days away. A few days in 1918 could determine fate beyond our imagination as the Great Influenza Pandemic devastated populations worldwide.

To learn more about what made this flu so deadly, please read this short piece from Time about the Spanish Flu:
http://time.com/3731745/spanish-flu-history/

To prepare for our evening, please check out the Book Club Kit from Sue's website:
http://susanlmeissner.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/AsBrightAsHeaven_BookClubKit.pdf


Lori has recommended the following books for choosing an upcoming selection:
"An American Marriage" Tayari Jones
"The Wife Between Us" Sarah Pekkanen
"Circe" Madeline Miller
"My Antonia" Will Cather

Healthy reading,
LK

April 2018 Recap

Dear Bookclub,
As you can see from our photo above, we had a festive evening discussing our latest read,  A.J. Finn's "The Woman in the Window". Starting in the kitchen, Kim, Karen, Kate and Lori debated the long reveal for the journey of Finn's main character, Anna Fox. Photo courtesy of Barb.


As I prepared the evening's repast, pills and Merlot, discussion tiptoed around those that had not yet finished (or read), fully knowing that the 'treats' I bestowed would send us into the realm of crazy-talk.

This bestseller is going right to the big screen.... my brief research landed me this awesome trailer (I did watch other very much-less-awesome trailers):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yq4e-LJgR0

And if you are still curious about A.J. Finn, here is an entertaining interview:

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

Martha suggested three great titles for an upcoming read:

 “The Heirs” Susan Rieger *chosen

“The High Mountains of Portugal” Yann Martel

“The Little Paris Bookshop” Nina George

Next up, an evening with the author, Sue Meissner, discussing:

Happy reading,
LK

April 2018 Bookclub News

A.J. Finn aka Daniel Mallory

Dear Bookclub,

Agoraphobia is no mystery. Affecting 1.8% of the population (Wikipedia) and in turn their families, friends, loved ones, etc.,  it is not a stretch to imagine author A. J. Finn having had some personal experience with the condition of his main character, Anna Fox, in "The Woman in the Window". A.J. Finn, the pseudonym, patterned by Anna Fox, is really Daniel Mallory, a William Morrow executive editor who has struggled with depression for years. For a more in depth interview, revealing more parallels between the author and his book, check out this NPR interview:

https://www.npr.org/2018/01/20/579094310/how-the-man-in-the-apartment-hit-big-with-the-woman-in-the-window

To keep from revealing anything much about our read, saving true book discussion for our upcoming meeting, here is an interesting and distracting list of agoraphobics.

From Wikipedia:
Notable cases

• Will Friedle (b. 1976) American actor, known for role of Eric in Boy Meets World
• Woody Allen (b. 1935), American actor, director, musician^[39]
• Kim Basinger (b. 1953), American actress^[40]
• Earl Campbell (b. 1955), American pro football player^[41]
• Macaulay Culkin (b. 1980), American actor, known for his portrayal of Kevin McCallister in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, said he had "self-diagnosed" agoraphobia.^[42]
• Paula Deen (b. 1947), American chef, author, and television personality^[43]
• H.L. Gold (1914–1996), science fiction editor – as a result of trauma during his wartime experiences, his agoraphobia became so severe that for more than two decades he was unable to leave his apartment. Towards the end of his life, he acquired some control over the condition.^{[citation needed]}
• Daryl Hannah (b. 1960), American actress^[44]
• Howard Hughes (1905–1976), American aviator, industrialist, film producer and philanthropist^[45]
• Olivia Hussey (b. 1951), Anglo-Argentine actress^[46][47]
• Shirley Jackson (1916–1965), American writer – her agoraphobia is considered to be a primary inspiration for the novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle.^[48][49]
• Elfriede Jelinek (b. 1946), Austrian writer, Nobel Prize laureate in Literature in 2004^[50]
• Bolesław Prus (1847–1912), Polish journalist and novelist^[51]
• Peter Robinson (b. 1962), British musician known as Marilyn^[52]
• Brian Wilson (b. 1942), American singer and songwriter, primary songwriter of the Beach Boys, a former recluse and agoraphobic who has schizophrenia^[53]        
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   ^{Careful reading!}

  ^LK

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March Bookclub News

Dear Bookclub,
A last minute switch due to Martha's being ill, had a small but robust group contemplating Charmaine Craig's novel, "Miss Burma" around my dining room table. Ahhhhh - a  civilized evening together blossomed from an unexpected twist to the day.

My day started at Amanda's, due to her nanny being ill. After delivering Ev to school, Lulu and I went to several grocery stores for the evening ahead. Our afternoon, with Ev back from school, was directed to the leprechaun trap building in the garage- project due the next day.

Their mother whisked them away shortly thereafter.

Meanwhile, my bartender and Whiskey, his sidekick, were finishing their day job to come home to entertain the ladies.

the entire group

photo by Diane

corned beef sliders (note: not Burmese)

After the repast and nursing our drinks, we settled down to business, appreciating the beautifully written tale of Craig's mother and grandparents. The history of the ethnic states intertwined with the novel were often hard to process but Louisa's story pulled us through and our high regard for Charmaine Craig's task kept the discussion going.

Suggestions for an upcoming read:

And chosen:

Up next:
A.J. Finn's "The Woman in the Window"

Happy reading!
LK