84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Our next book is 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff.  We'll be meeting on Wednesday, January 4th at 7:30pm at Jenny's house.

This is a quick and delightful read, so even with all the holiday happenings, you'll have time to read this one in just an hour or so.

"It all began with a letter inquiring about second-hand books, written by Helene Hanff in New York, and posted to a bookshop at 84, Charing Cross Road in London. As Helene's sarcastic and witty letters are responded to by the stodgy and proper Frank Doel of 84, Charing Cross Road, a relationship blossoms into a warm and charming long-distance friendship lasting many years."
--From GoodReads

The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter

Our next book is The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter.  We'll meet at Jill's house on Wednesday, December 7th at 7:30pm.

Forrest Carter, from the age of four or five, was inseparable from his part-Cherokee grandfather, who owned a farm and ran a country store nearby. Granpa called him Little Sprout; when he grew taller, he became Little Tree. From Granpa he absorbed the Cherokee ethic; to give love without expecting gratitude, to take from the land only what you need. Little Tree watches a mountain storm when Nature is birthing Spring, learns bird signs and wind songs and which crops to plant by the dark of the moon. He hears the true story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears, and why it is not the Indian who wept, but the watching white man. From a Jewish peddler who came every season to Granpa's store he learns a lesson in charity; from a sharecropper he learns to understand misplaced pride. He escapes death through Granpa's courage and confronts, for the first time, the hypocrisy and brutality of white Americans.Much of the lore passed from generation to generation by word of mouth is found in these stories in "The Education of Little Tree," autobiographical if not all factually accurate. For instance, Granma is based on family memories of Carter's great-great-great grandmother (Granpa's great-grandmother), who was a full Cherokee, combined with the author's own mother, who read Shakespeare to him when he was a child. But Granpa is all and forever true in this storyteller's memoir of a time that ended when Little Tree was ten and Granpa died.  --From GoodReads.com

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum

Our next book is All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum.  We'll meet on Wednesday, November 2nd at 7:30pm at Tami's house.

Twenty-five years ago, Robert Fulghum published a simple credo--a credo that became the phenomenal #1 "New York Times" bestseller "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." Now, seven million copies later, Fulghum returns to the book that was embraced around the world. He has written a new preface and twenty-five essays, which add even more potency to a common, though no less relevant, piece of wisdom: that the most basic aspects of life bear its most important opportunities. 

Here Fulghum engages us with musings on life, death, love, pain, joy, sorrow, and the best chicken-fried steak in the continental U.S.A. The little seed in the Styrofoam cup offers a reminder about our own mortality and the delicate nature of life . . . a spider who catches (and loses) a full-grown woman in its web one fine morning teaches us about surviving catastrophe . . . the love story of Jean-Francois Pilatre and his hot air balloon reminds us to be brave and unafraid to "fly" . . . life lessons hidden in the laundry pile . . . magical qualities found in a box of crayons . . . hide-and-seek vs. sardines--and how these games relate to the nature of God. "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten "is brimming with the very stuff of life and the significance found in the smallest details. 

In the years that have passed since the first publication of this book that touched so many with its simple, profound wisdom, Robert Fulghum has had some time to ponder, to reevaluate, and to reconsider. And here are those fresh thoughts on classic topics, right alongside the wonderful new essays. 

Perhaps in today's chaotic, more challenging world, these essays on life will resonate even deeper--as readers discover how universal insights can be found in ordinary events.  --From GoodReads.com

The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin

Our book for October is The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin.  We'll meet on Wednesday, October 5th at 7:30pm at Jodi's house.

On a stormy winter night, two strangers wait for a flight at the Salt Lake City airport.  Ashley Knox is an attractive, successful writer, who is flying East for her much anticipated wedding.  Dr. Ben Payne has just wrapped up a medical conference and is also eager to get back East for a slate of surgeries he has scheduled for the following day.   When the last outgoing flight is cancelled due to a broken de-icer and a forthcoming storm, Ben finds a charter plane that can take him around the storm and drop him in Denver to catch a connection.   And when the pilot says the single engine prop plane can fit one more, if barely, Ben offers the seat to Ashley knowing that she needs to get back just as urgently.   And then the unthinkable happens.  The pilot has a heart attack mid-flight and the plane crashes into the High Uintas Wilderness-- one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States. 

Ben, who has broken ribs and Ashley, who suffers a terrible leg fracture, along with the pilot's dog, are faced with an incredibly harrowing battle to survive.   Fortunately, Ben is a medical professional and avid climber (and in a lucky break, has his gear from a climb earlier in the week).  With little hope for rescue, he must nurse Ashley back to health and figure out how they are going to get off the mountain, where the temperature hovers in the teens.   Meanwhile, Ashley soon realizes that the very private Ben has some serious emotional wounds to heal as well.  He explains to Ashley that he is separated from his beloved wife, but in a long standing tradition, he faithfully records messages for her on his voice recorder reflecting on their love affair.  As Ashley eavesdrops on Ben's tender words to his estranged wife she comes to fear that when it comes to her own love story, she's just settling.  And what's more: she begins to realize that the man she is really attracted to, the man she may love, is Ben.  --From GoodReads.com

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand

Our next book is Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand.  We'll meet on Wednesday, September 7th, at 7:30pm at Heather's house. (Our book group night will move to the first WEDNESDAY of each month starting in September. And there won't be any book group in August.)

Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed Seabiscuit’s fortunes:

Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon.

Author Laura Hillenbrand brilliantly re-creates a universal underdog story, one that proves life is a horse race.  --From GoodReads.com

Bonds That Make Us Free by C. Terry Warner

Since many people (including our hostess!) will be out of town for our regularly scheduled August book group night, we are moving August's book to July 19th.  We will meet that night at 7:30pm to discuss our next book, Bonds That Make Us Free by C. Terry Warner.  I have a copy to share if anyone needs to borrow it.

We all know the difference between how we are when life is sweet for us -- easy, open, generous, and connected with other people -- and how we are when we feel guarded, defensive, on edge, suspicious, or vindictive. Why do we get trapped in negative emotions when it's clear that life is so much fuller and richer when we are free of them? Bonds That Make Us Free is a groundbreaking book that suggests the remedy for our troubling emotions by addressing their root causes. You'll learn how we betray ourselves by failing to act toward others as we know we should -- and how we can interrupt the unproductive cycle and restore the sweetness in our relationships.  --From GoodReads.com

The 2016-2017 Winners Are...

Book voting has now ended and the results are in...  We have a great set of books lined up for the next year!  Here are the results of the voting and a tentative schedule at the bottom.  Let me know if your scheduled date doesn't work for you, or if you'd prefer not to host at your house.


Here are the results by person, so you can see how your two books did compared to each other. (Click to enlarge.)

 Here are the results sorted by average score so you can see how your books did compared with all the others. (Click to enlarge.)

The May 2016 nominees are...

We had a great time talking about new books last night! It looks like we have a lot of great books to vote on.  Here are the nominees...


84, Charing Cross Road
By Helene Hanff
Recommended by Jenny
97 pages

It all began with a letter inquiring about second-hand books, written by Helene Hanff in New York, and posted to a bookshop at 84, Charing Cross Road in London. As Helene's sarcastic and witty letters are responded to by the stodgy and proper Frank Doel of 84, Charing Cross Road, a relationship blossoms into a warm and charming long-distance friendship lasting many years.

Crossing to Safety
By Wallace Stegner
Recommended by Jenny
368 pages 

Called a “magnificently crafted story . . . brimming with wisdom” by Howard Frank Mosher in The Washington Post Book World, Crossing to Safety has, since its publication in 1987, established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the twentieth century. Tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples who move between Vermont and Wisconsin, it is a work of quiet majesty, deep compassion, and powerful insight into the alchemy of friendship and marriage.

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
By Robert Fulghum
Recommended by Tami
240 pages

Twenty-five years ago, Robert Fulghum published a simple credo--a credo that became the phenomenal #1 "New York Times" bestseller "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." Now in this book, Fulghum engages us with musings on life, death, love, pain, joy, sorrow, and the best chicken-fried steak in the continental U.S.A. The little seed in the Styrofoam cup offers a reminder about our own mortality and the delicate nature of life . . . a spider who catches (and loses) a full-grown woman in its web one fine morning teaches us about surviving catastrophe . . . the love story of Jean-Francois Pilatre and his hot air balloon reminds us to be brave and unafraid to "fly" . . . life lessons hidden in the laundry pile . . . magical qualities found in a box of crayons . . . hide-and-seek vs. sardines--and how these games relate to the nature of God. "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten "is brimming with the very stuff of life and the significance found in the smallest details. In the years that have passed since the first publication of this book that touched so many with its simple, profound wisdom, Robert Fulghum has had some time to ponder, to reevaluate, and to reconsider. And here are those fresh thoughts on classic topics, right alongside the wonderful new essays. Perhaps in today's chaotic, more challenging world, these essays on life will resonate even deeper--as readers discover how universal insights can be found in ordinary events.

Red Queen
By Victoria Aveyard
Recommended by Tami
383 pages

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver. The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change. That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power. Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime. But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.

Boys in the Boat
By Daniel James Brown
Recommended by Rosanne
416 pages

Daniel James Brown’s robust book tells the story of the University of Washington’s 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.

The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled  by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious team. They remind the country of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together—a perfect melding of commitment, determination, and optimism.

Drawing on the boys’ own diaries and journals, their photos and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, The Boys in the Boat is an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate story of nine working-class boys from the American west who, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what true grit really meant. It will appeal to readers of Erik Larson, Timothy Egan, James Bradley, and David Halberstam's The Amateurs.

To Sir, With Love
By E.R. Braithwaite
Recommended by Rosanne
208 pages

The all-time Classic schoolroom drama - as relevant as today's headlines... He shamed them, wrestled with them, enlightened them, and - ultimately - learned to love them. Mr. Braithwaite, the new teacher, had first to fight the class bully. Then he taught defiant, hard-bitten delinquents to call him "Sir," and to address the girls who had grown up beside them in the gutter as "Miss". 

He taught them to wash their faces and to read Shakespeare. When he took all forty-six to museums and to the opera, riots were predicted. But instead of a catastrophe, a miracle happened. A dedicated teacher had turned hate into love, teenage rebelliousness into self-respect, contempt into into consideration for others. A man's own integrity - his concern and love for others - had won through.

The modern classic about a dedicated teacher in a tough London school who slowly and painfully breaks down the barriers of racial prejudice, this is the story of a man's integrity winning through against the odds.

Saboteur
By Dean Hughes
Recommended by Amy
512 pages

The year is 1943, and Andy Gledhill's months of training as a paratrooper have culminated in his being assigned to the 89th Airborne. But he soon learns that the government has other plans for him. The newly formed Office of Strategic Services needs soldiers with language talents like Andy's to drop into Europe behind enemy lines and help fight the war from the inside out. Andy's new life of deception and sabotage is worlds away from his upbringing in sleepy little Delta, Utah. But even that town is changing, as the nearby Topaz relocation camp ignites racial tensions. And Whisper Harris, the girl Andy left behind, is caught in a maelstrom of conflicting emotions brought on by the war. Should she release Andy from the promises they've made, as he seems to have released her? Or should she keep on hoping?

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
By Brandon Sanderson
Recommended by Amy
308 pages

A hero with an incredible talent...for breaking things. A life-or-death mission...to rescue a bag of sand. A fearsome threat from a powerful secret network...the evil Librarians. Alcatraz Smedry doesn't seem destined for anything but disaster. On his 13th birthday he receives a bag of sand, which is quickly stolen by the cult of evil Librarians plotting to take over the world. The sand will give the Librarians the edge they need to achieve world domination. Alcatraz must stop them!...by infiltrating the local library, armed with nothing but eyeglasses and a talent for klutzines.

Watership Down
By Richard Adams
Recommended by Jill
478 pages

Set in England's Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of friends, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society. They have various adventures along the way to a new home on the top of Watership Down, then more adventures as they somewhat belatedly realize that they need some female rabbits to have a viable new warren. Not having a lot of other options, they decide to steal them from another, overcrowded warren a few miles away, Efrafa, which is led by the terrifying General Woundwort. Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig and the gang may be taking on more than they can handle! 
   
The Education of Little Tree
By Forrest Carter
Recommended by Jill
216 pages

After his parents die, a 5 year-old boy is raised by his Cherokee grandparents in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee in the 1930s Depression era.  Little Tree is a young boy who has no name until his Granma gives him a Cherokee name. After the death of his mother, there is some debate over who should take in Little Tree. It is decided that he will go to live with his Granma and Granpa, both of whom are Cherokee. Little Tree is then educated as a Cherokee. He eventually has to go to boarding school, which creates problems. Having been raised as Cherokee from an early age, Little Tree has a tendency to be very distrustful toward white people. The Education of Little Tree is an interesting look at the different types of education one encounters during life.

The Unhappening of Genesis Lee
By Shallee McArthur
Recommended by Joy
352 pages

Seventeen-year-old Genesis Lee has never forgotten anything. As one of the Mementi—a small group of genetically-enhanced humans—Gena remembers everything with the help of her Link bracelets, which preserve memories perfectly. But Links can be stolen, and six people have already lost their lives to a memory thief, including Gena’s best friend.

Anyone could be next. Which is why Gena is less than pleased to meet a strange but charming boy named Kalan who claims that they’ve not only met, but that Gena knows who the thief is. The problem is, Gena doesn’t remember Kalan, she doesn’t remember seeing the thief, and she doesn’t know why she’s forgetting things— or how much else she might forget. As growing tensions between Mementi and ordinary humans drive the city of Havendale into chaos, Gena and Kalan team up to search for the thief. And as Gena loses more memories, they realize they have to solve the mystery fast. Because Gena’s life is unhappening around her.

Elantris
By Brandon Sanderson
Recommended by Joy
638 pages

Elantris was the capital of Arelon: gigantic, beautiful, literally radiant, filled with benevolent beings who used their powerful magical abilities for the benefit of all. Yet each of these demigods was once an ordinary person until touched by the mysterious transforming power of the Shaod. Ten years ago, without warning, the magic failed. Elantrians became wizened, leper-like, powerless creatures, and Elantris itself dark, filthy, and crumbling.

Arelon's new capital, Kae, crouches in the shadow of Elantris. Princess Sarene of Teod arrives for a marriage of state with Crown Prince Raoden, hoping -- based on their correspondence -- to also find love. She finds instead that Raoden has died and she is considered his widow. Both Teod and Arelon are under threat as the last remaining holdouts against the imperial ambitions of the ruthless religious fanatics of Fjordell. So Sarene decides to use her new status to counter the machinations of Hrathen, a Fjordell high priest who has come to Kae to convert Arelon and claim it for his emperor and his god.

But neither Sarene nor Hrathen suspect the truth about Prince Raoden. Stricken by the same curse that ruined Elantris, Raoden was secretly exiled by his father to the dark city. His struggle to help the wretches trapped there begins a series of events that will bring hope to Arelon, and perhaps reveal the secret of Elantris itself.

A rare epic fantasy that doesn't recycle the classics and that is a complete and satisfying story in one volume, Elantris is fleet and fun, full of surprises and characters to care about. It's also the wonderful debut of a welcome new star in the constellation of fantasy.

A Night Divided
By Jennifer A. Nielsen
Recommended by Nancy
317 pages

From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen comes a stunning thriller about a girl who must escape to freedom after the Berlin Wall divides her family between east and west. With the rise of the Berlin Wall, twelve-year-old Gerta finds her family divided overnight. She, her mother, and her brother Fritz live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, who had gone west in search of work, cannot return home. Gerta knows it is dangerous to watch the wall, to think forbidden thoughts of freedom, yet she can't help herself. She sees the East German soldiers with their guns trained on their own citizens; she, her family, her neighbors and friends are prisoners in their own city.

But one day, while on her way to school, Gerta spots her father on a viewing platform on the western side, pantomiming a peculiar dance. Then, when she receives a mysterious drawing, Gerta puts two and two together and concludes that her father wants Gerta and Fritz to tunnel beneath the wall, out of East Berlin. However, if they are caught, the consequences will be deadly. No one can be trusted. Will Gerta and her family find their way to freedom? 

The Rent Collector
By Camron Wright
Recommended by Nancy
304 pages

Survival for Ki Lim and Sang Ly is a daily battle at Stung Meanchey, the largest municipal waste dump in all of Cambodia. They make their living scavenging recyclables from the trash. Life would be hard enough without the worry for their chronically ill child, Nisay, and the added expense of medicines that are not working. Just when things seem worst, Sang Ly learns a secret about the bad-tempered rent collector who comes demanding money--a secret that sets in motion a tide that will change the life of everyone it sweeps past. The Rent Collector is a story of hope, of one woman's journey to save her son and another woman's chance at redemption. 

Seabiscuit
By Laura Hillenbrand
Recommended by Heather
457 pages 

Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed Seabiscuit’s fortunes:

Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon. Author Laura Hillenbrand brilliantly re-creates a universal underdog story, one that proves life is a horse race. 

Being Mortal
By Atul Gawande
Recommended by Heather
282 pages

In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending. Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering.

Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession’s ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person's last weeks or months may be rich and dignified. Full of eye-opening research and riveting storytelling, Being Mortal asserts that medicine can comfort and enhance our experience even to the end, providing not only a good life but also a good end. 

The Mountain Between Us
By Charles Martin
Recommended by Jodi
326 pages

On a stormy winter night, two strangers wait for a flight at the Salt Lake City airport.  Ashley Knox is an attractive, successful writer, who is flying East for her much anticipated wedding.  Dr. Ben Payne has just wrapped up a medical conference and is also eager to get back East for a slate of surgeries he has scheduled for the following day.   When the last outgoing flight is cancelled due to a broken de-icer and a forthcoming storm, Ben finds a charter plane that can take him around the storm and drop him in Denver to catch a connection.   And when the pilot says the single engine prop plane can fit one more, if barely, Ben offers the seat to Ashley knowing that she needs to get back just as urgently.   And then the unthinkable happens.  The pilot has a heart attack mid-flight and the plane crashes into the High Uintas Wilderness-- one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States. 

Ben, who has broken ribs and Ashley, who suffers a terrible leg fracture, along with the pilot's dog, are faced with an incredibly harrowing battle to survive.   Fortunately, Ben is a medical professional and avid climber (and in a lucky break, has his gear from a climb earlier in the week).  With little hope for rescue, he must nurse Ashley back to health and figure out how they are going to get off the mountain, where the temperature hovers in the teens.   Meanwhile, Ashley soon realizes that the very private Ben has some serious emotional wounds to heal as well.  He explains to Ashley that he is separated from his beloved wife, but in a long standing tradition, he faithfully records messages for her on his voice recorder reflecting on their love affair.  As Ashley eavesdrops on Ben's tender words to his estranged wife she comes to fear that when it comes to her own love story, she's just settling.  And what's more: she begins to realize that the man she is really attracted to, the man she may love, is Ben.  As the days on the mountains become weeks, their survival become increasingly perilous.  How will they make it out of the wilderness and if they do, how will this experience change them forever?  Both a tender and page-turning read, The Mountain Between Us will reaffirm your belief in the power of love to sustain us. 

Things Not Seen
By Andrew Clements
Recommended by Jodi
256 pages

Bobby Phillips is an average fifteen-year-old boy. Until the morning he wakes up and can't see himself in the mirror. Not blind, not dreaming. Bobby is just plain invisible... There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to Bobby's new condition; even his dad the physicist can't figure it out. For Bobby that means no school, no friends, no life. He's a missing person. Then he meets Alicia. She's blind, and Bobby can't resist talking to her, trusting her. But people are starting to wonder where Bobby is. Bobby knows that his invisibility could have dangerous consequences for his family and that time is running out. He has to find out how to be seen again before it's too late. 
 

And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hoover Santmyer

The next book we'll be discussing is And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hoover Santmyer.  We'll meet on Tuesday, June 7th at 7:30pm at Jenny's house to discuss it.  It's a biggie, but there are several copies circulating through our group.

A groundbreaking bestseller with two and a half million copies in print, "...And Ladies of the Club" centers on the members of a book club and their struggles to understand themselves, each other, and the tumultuous world they live in. A true classic, it is sure to enchant, enthrall, and intrigue readers for years to come.  --From GoodReads.com

Presenting Book Suggestions

Don't forget that we have rescheduled our May book group for May 10th at 7:30pm at Joy's house. That will be the night that we present new books to read.

As we discussed in March, we are going to make a couple little changes to how books will "win".  It was agreed upon that you may only present 2 books maximum to the group (that you have previously read, of course).  We will still vote online with a weighted 1-5 scale of how interested you are in reading each book, but instead of selecting the top 9 books with the highest average scores, we will be selecting one book from each person that has the highest average of that person's two books.  Those selected books will then be ordered based on their average, and the 9 top books will be selected for our reading schedule.

(We will only be selecting 9 "winners" since we decided to skip book group in July each year, so our July 2016 book has been pushed to August, and we don't discuss a book in May either. So our new schedule will be from September 2016- June 2017, excluding May 2017 when we present new books again.)

For an example on the voting... say I recommend book A and book B, and book A gets a higher average score than book B, so book A will be selected.  We will then look to see which of Joy's two books, book C or book D, got the higher score and select say book C that has the higher score.  We will continue to do that for each person who suggests books, and then of those selected books (Jodi's book A and Joy's book C, and so forth), we will take the 9 top rated books to add to our reading schedule. If we have fewer than 9 people suggesting books, then we will fill the remaining slots with the highest rated books.

Let me know if you have questions about how it will work.  The process will be exactly the same as in past years, the only difference will be how we use the voting data to select the books.  We're trying this as a way to better equalize the opportunity to have one of your books chosen.  We will re-evaluate it later and vote how we want to do it the following year, but we thought we might as well try something different this year. 

So be thinking now of which 2 books you'd like to recommend to the group, and please bring a copy of those books to present to book group.  Let me know if you have trouble finding a copy to bring--I can always check the Creighton library or other people can check different library systems that you might not have access to. 

Happy reading!

Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton

We will be meeting on Tuesday, April 5th at 7:30pm at Jodi's house to discuss Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton.

They say Bethany Hamilton has saltwater in her veins. How else could one explain the passion that drives her to surf? How else could one explain that nothing—not even the loss of her arm—could come between her and the waves? That Halloween morning in Kauai, Hawaii, Bethany responded to the shark’s stealth attack with the calm of a girl with God on her side. Pushing pain and panic aside, she began to paddle with one arm, focusing on a single thought: “Get to the beach....” And when the first thing Bethany wanted to know after surgery was “When can I surf again?” it became clear that her spirit and determination were part of a greater story—a tale of courage and faith that this soft-spoken girl would come to share with the world. 


Soul Surfer is a moving account of Bethany’s life as a young surfer, her recovery after the attack, the adjustments she’s made to her unique surfing style, her unprecedented bid for a top showing in the World Surfing Championships, and, most fundamentally, her belief in God. It is a story of girl power and spiritual grit that shows the body is no more essential to surfing—perhaps even less so—than the soul.  --From GoodReads.com

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Our next book group is on Tuesday, March 1st at 7:30pm at Cara's house.  We'll be discussing North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.

When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction. In North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell skillfully fuses individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale creates one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature.  --From GoodReads.com

February's Book Group Rescheduled

It looks like this snow is supposed to continue most of the day, and even if it does clear up in time for tonight, our street probably won't be plowed by then. So book group has been rescheduled for next week--Tuesday, February 9th at 7:30pm at my house.  I hope that doesn't cause any conflicts. 

Hope you can enjoy a cozy day at home reading!
See you next week!

The Day We Met/The Memory Book by Rowan Coleman

Our book for February is The Day We Met by Rowan Coleman.  It has also been previously published under the title The Memory Book, so you can read whichever one you can find--the stories are the same.  We will meet to discuss it on Tuesday, February 2, 2016 at Jodi's house.


The name of your first-born. The face of your lover. Your age. Your address…

What would happen if your memory of these began to fade?

Is it possible to rebuild your life? Raise a family? Fall in love again?

When Claire starts to write her Memory Book, she already knows that this scrapbook of mementoes will soon be all her daughters and husband have of her. In her mid-40s, Claire is scared and increasingly confused by the world around her, struggling to hold onto her identity as thoughts of her mother, her daughters, and her husband grow fuzzier every day. Fearing what will happen if those memories fade altogether, her family’s gift of a red sketchpad is her most treasured possession. As they fill it with scenes from a joyous life lived together, Claire again experiences the ecstatic highs and terrible lows of a life well lived: full of heartbreak and love, tears and laughter.

--From GoodReads.com