2006 Book Club Archive

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.

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
The Voyage by Philip Caputo
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Aurora Dawn by Herbert Wouk
The Reader by Bernard Schlink
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
Riding the bus with my sister: a true life journey by Rachel Simon
The price of Motherhood--why the most important job in the world is still the Least Valued
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
Good Grief by Lolly Winston
Above the Thunder by Renee Manfredi
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon
True Women by Janice Woods Windle
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Ride of Our Lives: Roadside Lessons of an American Family by Mike Leonard
The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble
Geek Love: A Novel by Katherine Dunn
Lucky by Alice Sebold
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
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
Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antionette by Sena Jeter Nashland
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

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!)

DECEMBER MEETING
Monday, December 11, 5:00 PM
Happy Hour and the movie The Holiday
Pictures are here.

NOVEMBER MEETING
Monday, November 19, 7:30 PM
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
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Members Attending: Carissa, Melanie, Fatima, Nicole Z, Nicole B, Natalie
Consensus: Most of us liked the book - it turned out to be more about technology's affect on people and their relationships rather than the technology itself. Some felt the human cloning angle was not very original.
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Hostess: Nicole B.
Leader: Melanie
Future Leader: Carissa (Jan), Natalie (Feb)

OCTOBER MEETING
Monday, October 16, 7:30 PM
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
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Members Attending: Carissa, Melanie, Gayle, Mary, Fatima, Nicole Z, Nicole B, Natalie
Consensus: Everyone enjoyed reading this book - it is an easy read and many of us laughed out loud at times. Definitely one you find yourself reading out loud to whoever will listen!
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Hostess: Carissa
Leader: Jessica

SEPTEMBER MEETING
Monday, September 18, 7:30 PM
Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov
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Members Attending: Gayle, Jessica, Nicole Z., Nicole B.
Consensus: Lolita is a hard book to read, both in style and in content. Despite that, it's well-written and is worth reading if only for the cultural references it has inspired.
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Hostess: Gayle
Leader: Fatima
Future Leader: Melanie

AUGUST MEETING
Monday, August 21, 7:30 PM
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
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Members Attending: Tracy, Fatima and Natalie
Consensus: Tracy and Natalie both enjoyed the book - they thought it was light and funny without being too fluffy. Fatima didn't really appreciate this type of humor.
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Hostess: Fatima
Leader: Natalie
Future Leader: Jessica

JULY MEETING
Monday, July 17, 7:30 PM
Holy Fools by Joanne Harris
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Members Attending: Tracy, Natalie, Meredith, Cassie, Fatima, Lisa, Nicole, and Gayle
Consensus: Nicole really enjoyed the book. Lisa thought it was an entertaining read, but nothing special. For pretty much everyone else, the book was just... okay. We found the lead character somewhat annoying, the villain almost unbelievable and the plot line contrived, at times. But it was a reasonably entertaining novel.
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Hostess: Meredith
Leader: Gayle
Future Leader: Fatima

JUNE MEETING
Monday, June 19, 7:30 PM
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: A Novel by Dai Sijie
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Members Attending: Need to find my notes! Hehe...
Consensus: The majority of us enjoyed this book. Despite the heavy subject matter, the tone of the book was fairly light and easily kept our attention. Some of us felt the book ended too abruptly.
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Hostess: Natalie
Leader: Lisa
Future Leader: Natalie

MAY MEETING
Monday, May 15, 7:30 PM
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
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Members Attending: Fatima, Carissa, Jessica, Meredith, Gayle, Cassie, Salina, Melanie, Natalie
Consensus: Unfortunately, nobody was able to finish this book before our meeting, so it was difficult to rate it. We all found slow at the beginning, but felt like it started to pick up about 100 pages or so in.
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Hostess: Jessica
Leader: Carissa
Future Leader: Lisa (June) and Gayle (July)

APRIL MEETING
Monday, April 17, 7:30 PM
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
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Member Ratings: Fatima (thumbs up), Carissa (thumbs up), Jessica (thumbs up), Meredith (thumbs up), Gayle (thumbs up), Cassie (thumbs up), Christina (thumbs up), Melanie (thumbs up), Natalie (thumbs up)
Consensus: A unanimous thumbs up on this one! Everyone enjoyed the unique voice of the main character and the imaginative way that the story unfolded.
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Hostess: Lisa
Leader: Natalie (notes here)
Future Leader: Carissa

FEBRUARY MEETING
Monday, February 20, 7:30 PM
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
Hostess: Fatima
Leader: Jessica
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Member Ratings: Gayle (thumbs down), Carissa (neutral), Fatima (thumbs down), Salina (neutral), Natalie (neutral), Jessca (thumbs down)
Consensus: We found a lot of the stories to be just too weird and/or creepy for our taste. However, everyone seemed to have a couple of stories out of the collection that they enjoyed and I think most of us appreciated the book more after having discussed it than we did on the first read.
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JANUARY MEETING
Monday, January 16, 7:30 PM
A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana by Haven Kimmel
Hostess: Salina
Leader: Jenn
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Member Ratings: TBD - Salina, Jenn, Fatima, Melanie, Jessica, Gayle and Natalie attended.
Consensus: TBD
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Future Leader: Melanie (Feb), Natalie (March)

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Happy Reading!