November/December 2007

December 11, 2007

Dear Book Clubbers,

Sorry it has taken me so long to get the newsletter out. Those of you who were there know that we had a really lively discussion of The Road. Love it or hate it, the book seemed to generate some strong feelings in just about everyone, so that made for an interesting meeting. We did hash out the co-ed book club choice for next year which will be Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson. This comes well recommended not only from within our group, but also from my son-in-laws’ mom, who reads a ton. Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth was a close second, largely because of its overwhelming length (pushing 1,000 pages).

The first meeting of 2008 will be at 7:15 PM on Wednesday, January 16th at Ann’s house. The selection for that night will be Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I can order that book for any who want it from Amazon. Unfortunately, the trade paperback size that is available with my free shipping deal is $11.55. You may recall that I am not going to be there that night and will be gone until early March. One suggestion that was made is to select Pillars of the Earth as our next book after that and allow a good stretch of time in between…until perhaps early to mid March. That would give everyone a big thick book to get into for the winter. You guys decide at the meeting. If we picked volunteers to bring “snack” that night, I did not write it down…or I did and I lost it. Please let Ann know if you are coming and a couple people should offer to bring a treat.

The other suggestion that has been raised is to lock the night of book club in to the same week every month. That would make it so all could plan on the second Wednesday of the month (for example) as being book club night. The drawback I see to that is that we had originally thought that 4 weeks was a little quick to get a book read and still have time to read other things as well. I think going 8 weeks between meetings would be a little too long. Again, you all can discuss it in January.

On a personal note, thank you all for the help in getting the house back in ship shape prior to Rob’s surgery the day after book club. The surgery went fine and Rob has been recuperating well. Thanks also to all of you for the well wishes, offers of “guy job” help and everything else that you have done. What a great community we live in! I better get back to my holiday preparations before Rob rings his bell to be waited on.

Happy Holidays,
Jan

PS: Someone left their copy of The Road on our stairs. Please let me know so I can get it back to you.

July 2007

July 16, 2007

Dear Book Clubbers,
I am writing this letter late because the food at tonight’s meeting was so good that I have “agita”! Look it up in an Italian dictionary if you don’t know what that means. Thankfully, the weather held and we were able to have a great meal and discussion of the light read, The Black Madonna outside. Welcome to new member Donna Deyermond! It was great to see Nancy doing so well after her surgery and Joan getting around well after her foot operation. Thanks to everyone who cooked and helped. It really was pretty yummy.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, September 18th at 7:15 PM at Linda Hoffman’s. We forgot to ask for volunteers to supply goodies, so if three people can confirm that they will bring something to Linda’s that would be super. The book for that night will be The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory. Let me know (if you didn’t tonight) if you would like it ordered from Amazon for $10.88. You have 8-9 weeks, but it is a long one so get cracking.
After that, we are pursuing having author, Olga Karman come to discuss her autobiography, Scatter My Ashes Over Havana. That will be at Joanne Richter’s house in October. More details should be available on that at the September meeting.

We also are going to give the guys a kick in the butt to get together to select a book for the co-ed meeting in late November or early December. Remember that they said they would like to pick the book this time, so we are trying to let them, but they need to come up with it by the September 18th meeting. I will try to light a fire under Rob to get something moving, but you ladies bug your guys as well.

Grace mentioned that this month the Springville Center for the Arts is celebrating the art, history and natural beauty of the Zoar Valley. Guided nature hikes are available on the weekends. Wednesday night at 6:30 PM there is a lecture being given at the center on this topic. Deb Barone suggested that people heading to the discussion might want to stop for a fund raising chicken BBQ at the old Orsini’s restaurant which is now home to the 10 Lives Cat Sanctuary.

I guess that is it in a nut shell. Good night. I wish you all lots of lazy reading days as we enjoy our fine Glenwood summer.
Jan

September 2007

September 18, 2007

Dear Book Clubbers,
Tonight’s discussion of The Other Boleyn Girl at Linda’s was superb. Turns out that the Tutor period of English history is a bit of a special interest for Linda and she did an awesome job of facilitating the discussion. We welcomed new member Jill Gregory to our ranks and greatly appreciated her dessert contribution as well as the other yummies! Sounds like this book is going to be a movie come December, so there may be a night out in our future.

Joanne Richter has been unsuccessful in her recent attempts to reach the local author of Scatter My Ashes Over Havana which was going to be our October book. Since it is probably not realistic to ask someone to come out here in the winter, we will put that author night off until the spring.

The consensus was that Wednesday nights will work for most everyone and will eliminate many of the Tuesday meeting and class conflicts that plaque us. We will next meet at 7:15 PM on Wednesday, October 24th at Joan’s house to read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Snack people that night are Sue P., Sue K. and Marilyn. Nancy will bring some wine.

Following that, we are up to the co-ed night. We didn’t get a ton of help from the guys, but Marty proposed The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I have heard that although this book is somewhat disturbing at times, it is absolutely riveting and should generate a ton of excellent discussion. We will discuss food for this get together at the next meeting. Get those guys reading!

If anyone who didn’t order the books tonight would like me to order them from Amazon, the prices are $8.99 for Eat, Pray, Love and $8.97 for The Road.

Linda will keep us posted on a fund raising art auction that she is involved with which will be held on Saturday, January 26th. She promises a good time will be had by all…details to follow.
I think that is all for now…someone speak up if I forgot something.

Jan

October 2007

October 25, 2007

Dear Book Clubbers,

My, what a turn out we had at Joan’s last night! I think that may have set a new record (not counting the author nights, summer feasts or the co-ed meetings). It was great to see some new faces (Welcome Carol and Ina!) and some people who haven’t been able to make it in a while. Seems like even though there were mixed feelings about the book (and even about its distinct parts) most people drew some interesting points from it. A huge thank you to Joan for accommodating such a large group so graciously!

After a touch of discussion regarding the trouble some members are having with the nature of The Road, we decided to forge ahead with it for the co-ed meeting on Wednesday, November 28th. Even though this book might be uncomfortable or disturbing, it will hopefully promote a lively discussion. We will get together at 6:30 PM for that meeting to allow for tons of eating and socializing. However, we are NOT going through the hassle of trying to get the guys to make their own choice next year. I have provided a list of book titles that have been thrown out as possibilities for the co-ed meeting over the last several months, and we will pick next year’s book on the 28th! Please ask around, check the reviews and share the list with your men. If any of them miraculously comes up with another suggestion, they can propose it at the meeting. I recognize that doing it this way eliminates the option of reading some hot new book next year, but chances are that anything that hasn’t come out yet wouldn’t be in paperback a year from now anyway. Make sense? A list of who signed up to bring what is also included with this newsletter. Since our numbers seem to be on an upswing (YEAH!), it is very important to let the hostess (in this case me) know that you will be coming to allow for appropriate set up. I hope we have an awesome turnout for the co-ed night!

Our first meeting of 2008 will be at 7:15 PM on Wednesday, January 16^th at Ann Britain’s house. We chose The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Ann has requested help leading the discussion. Perhaps we can take a few minutes of time at the co-ed meeting to quickly resolve the details of the January stuff. Snack volunteers for that night are Loraine, Polly and Marion.

In other news, Marion announced that she will be selling her home and moving to Fox Run this coming summer. As much as we will miss her as a neighbor, we will still have her as a good and true friend despite a little distance. You may contact her for details on her exciting plan or if you know of anyone who might be interested in purchasing her house.

Marilyn will be hosting an open house during the day on Saturday, December 8th to display her daughter-in-law, Freeda’s handmade jewelry. Freeda has her own unique style and designs for you to check out…think Christmas gifts. Details will follow.

Jill Gregory has offered to help assume care of our awesome web site that Beth set up. We should be proud of that site. I was amazed that when I googled on “co-ed book club selections” our humble little blog was the 4th thing listed! Giving your reading friends our site (www.crbc.blogspot.come) is a good way to provide them with a list of all the books we’ve read. Thanks, Beth and Jill.

I think that covers it for the moment. Again, I apologize that our hastily made plan for January will require a little tweaking at the co-ed meeting.

Jan