Generally, we'll meet on the third Wednesday of each month at 7:30 PM to discuss that month's book.
JULY MEETING
Wednesday, July 15, 7:30 PM
The Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle
Hostess: Nicole
Leader: Natalie
Future Leader: Jenny
AUGUST MEETING
Wednesday, August 19, 7:30 PM
TBD at June meeting
Hostess: Mary
Leader: Fatima
Future Leader: ??
SEPTEMBER MEETING
Wednesday, September 16, 7:30 PM
TBD at July meeting
Hostess: Jessica
Leader: Jenny
Future Leader: ??
OCTOBER MEETING
Wednesday, October 15, 7:30 PM
TBD at August meeting
Hostess: Gayle
Leader: ??
Future Leader: ??
HOSTESS - Chooses whether to host the meeting at her home or selects a public meeting place (coffee house, quiet restaurant, library, etc.). Sends out invitations (I suggest using Evite because it's so easy to track who's coming) a couple of weeks ahead of time with directions and reminder of which book we'll be discussing. Can also suggest a different meeting time than Monday night if it's more appropriate for the meeting location.
LEADER - Leads the group discussion. Comes prepared with discussion questions, etc. Attempts to keep the discussion on track and relevant to the book we're discussing, and give everyone a chance to talk. ;)
FUTURE LEADER - The person who is leading the meeting 2 months after the current meeting. They should suggest three books for the meeting they are leading, and the group will choose from the three. Ideally, they would send out titles and possibly links to book synopses/reviews the week before the meeting so members would be able to make a more informed decision.
Saturday by Ian McEwan
Suite Francaiseby Irene Nemirovsky
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore
Literature from the Axis of Evil edited by Alane Mason
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
War Trash by Ha Jin
Geek Love: A Novel by Katherine Dunn
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Three Junes by Julia Glass
The Good German by Joseph Kanon
The Liars' Club by Mary Karr
Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
Two Old Women by Velma Wallis
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Palace of Illusions: A Novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Bel Canto by Ann Pachett
The Translator by Daoud Hari
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
The Zookeeper’s Wife – A War Story by Diane Ackerman
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Wednesday Letters by Jason Wright
The Last Dickens: A Novel by Matthew Pearl
Atonement by Ian McEwan
The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
Reading Group Guides - This is the best one I've found for reviews, discussion questions, etc.
SparkNotes Study Guides - Provides free study guides (think Cliff Notes)
Good Books Lately - Great discussion guides! (Wish I'd found this earlier!)
JUNE MEETING
Wednesday, June 17, 7:30 PM
Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland
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Members Attending: Natalie, Mary, Gayle, Jenny, Nicole, Fatima, Amanda, Lisa, Jessica
Consensus: Most of us enjoyed this quick and easy read, and it provided for good discussion about the role of art in our lives. Some felt like the use of the painting as a device for driving the plot stretched close to implausible at times.
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Hostess: Lisa
Leader: Jessica
Future Leader: Fatima
MAY MEETING
Wednesday, May 20, 7:30 PM
Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Nashland
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Members Attending: Fatima, Natalie, Mary, Carissa, Jessica, Lisa, Gayle, Jenny, Nicole
Consensus: Most of us enjoyed the book, even though many commented that it dragged in some places. Carissa hated it.
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Hostess: Fatima
Leader: Nicole
Future Leader: Natalie
APRIL MEETING
Wednesday, April 15, 7:30 PM
Shame by Salman Rushdie
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Members Attending: Jessica, Amanda, Natalie, Nicole, Fatima, Lisa, Mary
Consensus: A lot of us had a hard time getting into this one - some just found the opening part of the story uncompelling, and others disliked the intrusive narrator. However, a couple of us gave it a thumbs up for an engaging story.
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Hostess: Jessica
Leader: Amanda
Future Leader: Jessica
MARCH MEETING
Wednesday, March 18, 7:30 PM
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
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Members Attending: Lisa, Jessica, Mary, Fatima, Natalie
Consensus: We all thought it was a good insight into the goals and intentions of our President, even though we felt like it was lacking in specific/detailed plans for how to fix some some of the problems he addressed. After some pretty good discussion, we found ourselves wavering between feeling depressed (at the magnitude of some of these problems) and hopeful (that things can improve/will improve/are improving).
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Hostess: Natalie
Leader: Lisa
Future Leader: Nicole
FEBRUARY MEETING
Wednesday, February 18, 7:30 PM
Zorro by Isabel Allende
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Members Attending: Lisa, Jessica, Mary, Natalie
Consensus: Most of us liked the book overall, despite finding the narrator's random interjections somewhat distracting.
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Hostess: Lisa
Leader: Jessica
Future Leaders: Lisa, Amanda
JANUARY MEETING
Wednesday, January 21, 7:30 PM
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
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Members Attending: Carissa, Jenny, Gayle, Mary, Jessica, Lisa
Consensus: Some liked, some okay, some didn't like very much. Seemed more like a romance novel and maybe not believable? Others of us enjoyed the "romance-novel" approach.
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Hostess: Mary
Leader: Jenny
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Happy Reading!