The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Thanks to those who braved the cold weather to join us for our December book group! We had a great time and a fun discussion. Our next book is The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Please plan now to attend the discussion on Thursday, January 14th at 7:30. Nadine will be leading the discussion. This is a short book, so we should all have plenty of time to read it. The Sump Memorial Library has 2 copies, and I have a copy I'm willing to lend out also. Enjoy!

December's Book Group Location Change!

Book group this week will be at my house again. So don't forget to come join us for a good discussion and fun company this Thursday, Dec. 10th at 7:30 at my house. We will be discussing Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright. Please let me know if you need directions to my house. Please help spread the word that the location has changed to my house.

Hope to see you there!

The next book club is already coming up!

Time flies! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I just got my library card, and devoured a few books as moderation is not in my vocabulary. My copy of Christmas Jars hasn't come into my library yet, so we shall see what happens there. My ward choir happens to be held on the same night as book club and last month I was singing a solo and pretty much had to be there. This time I am free that way, so hopefully I shall see all of you this month.

P.S. I would recommend this book to anyone, if you are looking for a thoughtful and entertaining read that has no romance in it: The Rules of Survival.

In the Time of the Butterflies... some thoughts

Hi Everyone,
I am very sad to have to miss this upcoming book club, but my parents are coming in to town that night so I feel like I better stay and visit with them. Since I picked this book and was supposed to be the "moderator" I thought I would leave some thoughts here so that I can in some way participate in the discussion.

I picked this book because I love stories of strong women and these sisters captivated me. Although her account was fictionalized, I felt it taught me an important history lesson. I never had heard about the Mirabal sisters or the dictator Trujillo, and was amazed when I did some research into the horrors and realities of his regime, which ended in 196 (really not that long ago). The book made me feel profoundly grateful to live in a free country and it helped me to understand what being free really means. I also feel like my sympathy has increased dramatically for all those many many people who have lived on this earth and even do currently live under such circumstances. Continually as I read, I put myself in the position of the women and wondered what I would have done, had I been born in their place and time. I thought I would post some of the pictures I found online as I was doing some background reading.

Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa

Patria, Dedé and Minerva Mirabal

Wedding Photo - Patria Mercedes Mirabal and Pedro González

Minerva

My heart broke as I finished the book- thinking of these real women as wives, mothers, daughters and sisters. Such a tragedy.

I really enjoyed the style in which the book was written. I felt it made it much more personal and relatable (is that a word?). I felt the full spectrum of emotions as I ventured through the story and absolutely cried my eyes out in the end (but for me, it doesnt take much :). I wonder, of course, how close these fictitious depictions are to the true characters, and then I wonder, how would they feel about their own depictions. In some ways it almost seems unethical to make up stories about real people who have passed away (in certain parts I did feel that way- particularly with Patria). I'm not sure about that.

As an LDS sidenote, I thought I would mention a story I read yesterday on lds.org from a speech Elder Oaks gave at BYU Idaho. He shared a story about a female librarian in Mongolia who under a communist government courageously went on a hunger strike in her library, which led to a movement among the people that ultimately brought about the establishment of a democratic constitution. This adoption of a democratic constitution with its religious freedoms then led to the church being able to send missionaries in to that country (to get the story as Elder Oaks tell it, click here). Just a few months ago, the first stake there was organized and this librarian's son was called as the stake president. What a great illustration of how the Lord will prepare a way for his work to go forth to all nations. I was fascinated by this story and it reminded me of how intertwined the gospel is with freedom and in particular religious freedoms and just how important those are.

Well I hope you all enjoyed the book and have a great discussion!

-Melissa

November Book Group Location Change

Hi Ladies,

The November 12th book group is going to be held at my house instead of Lisa's. If you need my address or directions please let me know. Melissa is our discussion leader, but she'll be unable to attend. She'll be sending me some discussion questions, but feel free to also come with your own ideas or topics you'd like to discuss. We'll see you on the 12th!

Happy reading,
Jodi

Book Club Tonight

Hope you all had fun at the book club tonight. I wasn't able to read the book and decided not to come because of it. I am definitely coming next month!

Free book giveaway!

One of my friends is trying to build up her blog and is doing a book giveaway for "If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Lose Weight?: Tools to Get it Done". Check it out:

Super Hot Chick in Training

P.S. My talk went well, thanks for all the help! The topic was great, once I started writing about it.

In the Time of the Butterflies

I was just thinking ahead about our November book, "In the Time of the Butterflies." The book isn't available at the Papillion library, so I did get Justin to check out "In the Time of the Butterflies" from the Creighton University library for me to read. The great thing is that since he's a professor, he gets to check out books for 6 months, so this copy is not due until March 31, 2010!! So if anyone wants to borrow it from me while I have it checked out, please let me know!

Although the Papillion Library does not have the actual book to check out, they DO have an e-audio book that you can supposedly download from a website and listen to the book. I tried doing it, but couldn't quite get it to work. I'm not a huge fan of listening to books--I'd rather read them--so I didn't look more into the issue of downloading the e-audio book, but if you're interested in that you could probably talk to someone at the library to figure out how to get it. Otherwise, just let me know if you want to borrow my copy for a couple weeks!

Ugg... Have to talk in church

I have to give a talk in church already! ugg! I have a rather uninspiring topic for me, it is "Sacred Homes, Sacred Temples". Hmmmm... not really feeling it. I can't think of any experiences that combine the two. Experiences? nope, not here. Bucket is empty.

Anyone have any inspiring experiences, favorite talks, or anything?

I have looked at this one, which is great: Sacred Homes, Sacred Temples

"Life As We Knew It"

We're now reading Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Just as an FYI, there are 3 copies of this book at the Papillion Library. They also have one copy of this book on CD. Happy reading!

And the Winners Are...

Thanks to everyone who brought book suggestions last night and came to vote! Everyone recommended really great books and we had a lot of fun discussing them and voting on what to read.

We decided to change the date to the second Thursday of each month at 7:30pm. All meetings will be held at Lisa Wadsworth's home. Whoever is leading the discussion will also be in charge of bringing a refreshment. Here is our new reading schedule!

October 8, 2009: Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer; Discussion by Jodi Tolman

November 12, 2009: In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez; Discussion by Melissa Brandvold

December 10, 2009: Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright; Discussion by Cami Boyle

January 14, 2010: The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis; Discussion by Nadine Noker

February 11, 2010: The Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis; Discussion by Lisa Wadsworth

March 11, 2010: These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner; Discussion by Heather Ford

April 8, 2010: Letters For Emily by Camron Wright; Discussion by Kim Marx

May 13, 2010: Three Weeks With My Brother by Nicholas Sparks; Discussion by Jodi Tolman

June 10, 2010: Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh; Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach; Discussion by Katrina Schmidt

July 8, 2010: Coast Road by Barbara Delinsky; Discussion by Pam Thompson




Here is a list of the other suggested books:

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn
Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
The Sunflower by Richard Paul Evans
Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipovic
Rachel and Leah by Orson Scott Card
Sarah by Orson Scott Card
Rebekah by Orson Scott Card
The Christ Commission by Og Mandino

Books I like

Well I'm doing laminate wood flooring and have a mother-in-law in town, so I'll probably not come tomorrow. I'd really like to have something other than novels in the bunch, because I need more motivation to read educational books. Plus, my favorite group got together and discussed various aspects of periods of history and we just had fun learning together. I'd like to be a part of some group like that again.

Anyway, that said. These are my suggestions:

"Gift from the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh would probably be loved by everyone. Great for the overwhelmed mom and spiritual in nature.

"Punished by Rewards: The Trouble With Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A'S, Praise, and Other Bribes" by Alfie Kohn. Not read this one all the way, but BYU professors recommend it and it has got to be appropriate. Great for moms. It's concepts have changed my way of thinking. Basically rewards sometimes take away the pure joy of doing.

The next suggestion is to read these two books together (they are shorts): "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" by Richard Bach and "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson. They are both FUN, EASY HR type reads. They both read like novels and are super cute, but they have a really clear and impacting message. They both ask you to live to your fullest potential in some way. Good ones to discuss and everyone should read both in their lifetime, especially since they are both so popular in American culture. I suspect most people will have read at least one, but maybe some people will read something new with one or the other.

If You Can't Attend But Want to Recommend...

If you can't attend next week's book group on August 27th but would still like to recommend 2 books for us to vote on, please email me or leave a comment to this post with your 2 book suggestions. I will take your book suggestions to book group with a short summary of each and we will vote to choose which one to read in the coming year.

Book Group on August 27th

Don't forget that August's book group meeting is on Thursday, Aug. 27th at 7:30 at Lisa Wadsworth's house. Due to some questionable material in some of the recent books we've read from the Bellevue book kits, it's been decided that we will make new book selections for the next several months. Please bring two book suggestions to our August book group meeting that you would like to recommend for the group to read. Please only suggest books that you have previously read. We'll see you then!

GoodReads

Just a quick FYI: Our book group has a group page on GoodReads! You can join GoodReads to keep up-to-date with book group selections and post your comments about the books we're reading. Our GoodReads group is called the Cottonwood Bookclub.

Talk with Pam Thompson

Hey, I just wanted to let all the book clubers know that I've given admin rights to all the contributors, if they want to do anything with this blog. Also, Pam let me know that the club is going to select new books for the year and instead of using kits order cheap books on-line or have members find books themselves from their local library.

If you want to be a part of selecting books for the year, please attend the next meeting (which has been re-scheduled for two days later I believe) and bring two books that you would suggest reading. One of those books will be selected for the next years reading list!

Tentative Schedule for Discussion/Refreshments

Discussion & Refreshments (from now on we will meet at Lisa's):


July 21st (A Lantern in her Hands) - discussion - Lisa, refreshments - Therese

August 18th (His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis) - discussion - Therese, refreshments - Heather

September 15th (Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas) - discussion - Heather, refreshments - Nadine

October 13th/20th (The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean) - discussion - Nadine, refreshments - Jodi

November 3rd/10th (To Be Announced) - discussion - Jodi, refreshments - Sylvia

December 1st (Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg) - discussion - Sylvia, refreshments - Carla


January 6th, 2010 (Christmas Short Stories) - discussion - Carla, refreshments - Lisa

February 16th, 2010 (The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs) - discussion - Lisa, refreshements - Therese

Tentative Schedule for Pick-ups through January

Sylvia: Pick up books August through October

Heather: Return books August through October

Jodi: Pick up books November through January

Nadine: Return books November through January


Therese: Help retrieve books when there is a problem November through January

Tentative Schedule for Pick-ups through January

Sylvia Jensen: Pick up books August through October

Heather Ford: Return books August through October

Jodi Tolman: Pick up books November through January

Nadine Noker: Return books November through January


Therese Van De Graaf: Help retrieve books when there is a problem November through January

Why book club kits in Bellevue?

Before I leave, I want to make it clear why Papillion library is not a good source for book club kits. The kits in Papillion are through inter-library loan. You pay a buck and you have only three weeks to keep the kit and you actually will get fined $1 a day if you don't return it after three weeks (no returning them on the weekend for free). So, that's why we aren't using them. Bellevue library doesn't charge you the processing fee, they check out the books to you for six weeks, and they charge you the average late fee if you don't return books.

Julie Dinville at Julie.Dinville@bellevue.net is in charge of the kits in Bellevue.

Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly - SPOILER

Here's a quick synopsis of some of the main themes of Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly for those who didn't have a chance to read it and still want to attend bookclub:

1. Laurie and Powell (Both 70ish) - Powell is asked by Laurie to ballroom dance Piggly Wiggly customers around the store. Meanwhile, bag boys get customer's groceries for them in order to help save the store from closing down. In the process, Laurie and Powell fall in love and end up having a wedding ceremony in the produce section of the Piggly Wiggly, where Laurie's mother went into labor before giving birth to Laurie. The book ends with them going on their honeymoon.

2. Mr. Choppy - Mr. Choppy is the unhappy owner of the Piggly Wiggly going out of business. When he was 16, a big storm occurred which led to a troupe of actors getting stuck in the Piggly Wiggly. He had a two day fling with one of the woman, who he could never forget. She promised to help him get in the movies and lied that she had a cousin who was a manager. He gave her his entire savings (50 dollars) as a down payment in a letter that he threw at her when she broke things off. She comes back with his money on the day of the wedding and closure of the Piggly Wiggly, only it is now around 85,000 dollars since she wisely invested it all these years. She is now a rich widow and invites Mr. Choppy to come visit her and admits that she finds him attractive.

Mr. Choppy decides that he won't keep the Piggly Wiggly open. Instead he plans to run for mayor of Second Creek and help the entire town stay it's unique self by not allowing the "MegaMart" put all the small business out of town. The sequel to the book is apparently about his election and so forth.

3. Second Creek - Second Creek is where everything takes place and is a unique quirky town where people know how to think out of the box. Some refer to them as "crazies". Laurie's daughter says she thinks of Second Creek as a "resting place", where people don't have to work so hard to get where there supposed to be in the universe. One of the quirks of Second Creek is the annual Floozie contest, where the best Floozie (as in prostitute) with a theme is crowned. This year's contest winner was an Emerald City Floozie, who happened to be a cross dresser to the surprise and dismay of the current mayor of Second Creek.

4. Storms - Storms in the story indicate something life changing is going to happen. One of the biggest storms that is constantly referred to in the book was when Mr. Choppy fell in love. It also brought a new Second Creeker, the eccentric widow Ruth. The storm tore down the hand pointing upward on the church, which was never to be seen again until Mr. Choppy randomly spies it in a small dried up pond in the middle of a soy bean (?) field. A hail storm occurs right before Mr. Choppy's "Gaylie Girl" brings him his over 85,000 dollars.

Well, there's more - but this is the short version. Come and discuss!

One Book, One Nebraska 2009

There's a book that all Nebraskans are supposed to read this year called "A lantern in her hands" about a pioneer that travels and settles in what is now Nebraska.

You can read about it here.

This is just funny!

An LDS Twilight Comic

Omaha Events

Hi Ladies,

I started blogging for examiner.com & channel Omaha. You might be interested in checking out my links occasionally. One event most of you won't want to miss is ReRuns R Fun—Omaha’s largest kids consignment sale event.

If anyone knows of anything going on in Omaha or has a favorite restaurant, let me know!

Thanks,
Katrina

Two more Books for 2009

Hi Ladies, we need two more books for 2009. One will be for July and one for November. How do people feel about doing half of Jesus the Christ in July and half in November? Just a thought... Would anyone else like to post a religious book that they'd like to read. We will all probably need to purchase it.

Thanks,
Katrina

Books and Dates 2009

COTTONWOOD BOOK CLUB

Meets Every Third Tuesday of the Month at 7:30 p.m. unless noted

February 17th   The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

March 17th   Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish

April 21st   The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

May 19th   The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

June 16th   Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly by Robert Dalby

July 21st   To Be Announced

August 18th   His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis

September 15th   Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas

*October 13th/20th   The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

*November 3rd/10th   To Be Announced

*December 1st   Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg

*January 6th, 2010   Christmas Short Stories

February 16th, 2010   The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs


*Dates are earlier than normal third Tuesday due to holidays.

Vote now for 6-12 months worth of books

Below are full descriptions of 14 books and above are short ones with titles. Please mark any and all you are interested in reading and we'll put together a list of the next 6-12 months of book club books!

Did I forget to mention that Therese, Nadine, and Heather gave me lists of books that they wanted to read and I compiled the above list from that? Thank-you ladies (they looked through a list of 50)!

February Book Club Meeting!

We'll meet every second Tuesday of the month from now on (just kidding there's a conflict there too, we're switching to the third Tuesday, which in February is the 17th), since we voted on Tuesday being the best day and some people have a conflict with the first Tuesday of the month. So our next time is:

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.
February 17th
Heather's house
7:30 pm
Heather will lead the discussion

More Book Club Kits!

Well, today I went with Crystal to the Bellevue Library and signed or club up. They have a much larger selection of book club kits and after I asked about a rating system for books, the librarian went through all the books she thought would be appropriate for a religious book club. Yeah! I'm going to ask several people to pick a few they'd like to read and get together the upcoming books for the next 6-12 months (since the kits are harder to get in Bellevue. If you'd like to be one of those people who chose, please let me know. Thanks!