Sept's Book Club - hosted by Debbie

Michelle Holdaway is swamped with new baby and all the fun that that brings.... so Debbie Mullin will be doing Book Club in Sept. Since we will be reading in August - hopefully on vacation, relaxing on those lazy summer days - I picked a light and fun read. I picked this up in the Seattle airport on my way home from a vacation on the recommendation from a book club readers list. I loved it. Hope you will too. :) We will meet on Sept 2 at 7 pm at Debbie Mullin's house. See you then. If there is a conflict with the date, I am open to pushing it to Sept 9th. Just leave a comment with a vote as to which date works for you!

Church of the Dog by Kaya McLaren

From one on-line review....

"How often can you pick up a book and think right from the very beginning, "As soon as I finish reading this book, I am going to write my own."? That is what Kaya McLaren's words did for me. They were an absolute inspiration. Her style is crisp and refreshing - not intimidating. She tells a wonderful story in a narrative that lopes.

"Church of the Dog" is a work of fiction, but it is about people who are real. People you have met if you have ever lived in the rural west. Mara is the extremely creative and energetic single woman any single woman would like to emulate. She has dreams that help her and her friends navigate through life. Edith is the exuberant grandmother who has not let life's tragedies embitter her. In her advancing years, she is still singing the song, "It Is New Every Morning." Her practical, taciturn rancher-husband has not cramped her style one bit, but it is too bad her love of life did not rub off on Earl a little bit more. He might have wanted to stick around a little longer. The somewhat-troubled grandson evades true involvement in life by hiding behind his camera lens. The pictures he takes capture events and scenes - recording them more clearly than memory.

In the end of the book, love and family and hope prevail. I cannot think of three better reasons to read a book."

Next Book Club is Sept 2

We all thought that it is Michelle Holdaway's turn for September's book club. Check back and I will post her pick when I talk to her....

July Book Club - Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson

Heather Otte's pick for our July Book Club meeting is Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson.

We all agreed we wished for a happier ending! But what a great night sitting out on Heather's deck watching the osprey and enjoying talking about books. Thanks for bringing your Kindle Margie! Now we all want one for Christmas!

From one on-line review....

This fine novel, translated from the Norwegian by Anne Born, was the surprise winner of the 2006 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and it really is a book to cherish and remember.

Out Stealing Horses eschews the knowing realism of much contemporary fiction in favour of the episodic ebb and flow of the "unending conversation" in the mind of the narrator, as he looks back upon a series of traumatic war-time incidents in the past, and in the face of approaching old age. The narrator, Trond, has returned, following the death of his second wife, to a remote settlement in Norway where he and his family spent their childhood holidays under German occupation. Not only do old faces re-appear, but he has to try to finally understand the familial and political betrayals of that bitter period of resistance and collaboration, and the breaking of families.

June's read- Prince of Foxes

Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger

We will meet June 10th at Valerie Johnson's home. This is a change from the first Wednesday of the month because Valerie is out of town. See you there!

And thanks to Diane for a great May read! We had a good discussion about WISH YOU WELL and everyone agreed that it was a terrific book. We missed you if you weren't there.

All of the on-line reviews spoke highly of this book! Everyone gave it 5 stars!

Set in Renaissance Italy, this classic of American popular fiction is the story of Andrea Orsini, a peasant boy who rises to perform delicate political, military, and romantic missions for Cesare Borgia.

A clever and decidedly well written story of both heroic deeds and great deceptions, true love and the pride of men. You won't be wasting your time on this book, it's five-star material.

One reviewer shared this:
"I heartily agree with other readers who have given Prince of Foxes 5 stars. This novel is fast-paced, informative, believeable, beautifully written and a fantastic blend of history and fiction.

Mr. Shellabarger manages to educate the reader about the warring Italian city states of the period while holding their attention with a wholly credible depiction of people and places of the time.

The characters in these pages are not the stick figure cartoons of so many bodice-rippers, but display actual psychological development and manage to engage the reader into caring about them - a rare occurrence in much of what passes these days as historical fiction.

Once I got past about the first two chapters, I couldn't put this one down. There are no contrived coincidences to spoil the plot development, none of the artificial saving of the day that too often destroys believability. This has to rate as one of the most enjoyable reads I have had in a long time, not to mention, has captured my attention to the extent that I now want to learn more about the Borgias and the times they lived in. Highly recommended."

May Book Club on Wednesday this week!!

Just a reminder to everyone that book club will be on Wednesday this week at Diane Walker's home. That is Wednesday May 6th at 7 pm. Hope to see y'all there.

May Read - Wish You Well by David Baldacci

Diane's pick for May

One on-line review said:

David Baldacci has made a name for himself crafting big, burly legal thrillers with larger-than-life plots. However, Wish You Well, set in his native Virginia, is a tale of hope and wonder and "something of a miracle" just itching to happen. This shift from contentious urbanites to homespun hill families may come as a surprise to some of Baldacci's fans--but they can rest assured: the author's sense of pacing and exuberant prose have made the leap as well.
The year is 1940. After a car accident kills 12-year-old Lou's and 7-year-old Oz's father and leaves their mother Amanda in a catatonic trance, the children find themselves sent from New York City to their great-grandmother Louisa's farm in Virginia. Louisa's hardscrabble existence comes as a profound shock to precocious Lou and her shy brother. Still struggling to absorb their abandonment, they enter gamely into a life that tests them at every turn--and offers unimaginable rewards. For Lou, who dreams of following in her father's literary footsteps, the misty, craggy Appalachians and the equally rugged individuals who make the mountains their home quickly become invested with an almost mythic significance:

They took metal cups from nails on the wall and dipped them in the water, and then sat outside and drank. Louisa picked up the green leaves of a mountain spurge growing next to the springhouse, which revealed beautiful purple blossoms completely hidden underneath. "One of God's little secrets," she explained. Lou sat there, cup cradled between her dimpled knees, watching and listening to her great-grandmother in the pleasant shade...

Baldacci switches deftly between lovingly detailed character description (an area in which his debt to Laura Ingalls Wilder and Harper Lee seems evident) and patient development of the novel's central plot. If that plot is a trifle transparent--no one will be surprised by Amanda's miraculous recovery or by the children's eventual battle with the nefarious forces of industry in an attempt to save their great-grandmother's farm--neither reader nor character is the worse for it. After all, nostalgia is about remembering things one already knows. --Kelly Flynn

Book Club will be at Diane Walker's house May 6th at 7pm.

April Book Club on Wednesday this week!

Just a reminder to everyone that book club is Wednesday night, April 8th at 7 pm at Margaret Vidmar's house. Hurry and finish The Infidel!