Favorite Book of 2011

Wow, our second year as a book club is nearing an end.  This year we added a new member, Amy, who has added great insights into our meetings.  We changed our name to Hardcovers and Hangovers thanks to Marrie.  And of course we are styling with our new totes by Charli.  We ate many great meals and drank lots of fabulous wine.  Oh, and we read many great books!  Thanks to all our members for their wonderful book selections and opening their homes up each month.  Here's to wonderful friends, fine wine and fantastic literature. 

So what was your favorite book of the year?  Take some time to go to our poll and vote. 

Looking forward to sharing the results next month.
Jenn

I Don't Know How She Does It

Dearest Hardcover and Hangover Readers,

Ellen has chosen a fast paced and entertaining read by British author Allison Pearson.  Get ready to delve into the life of working mother Kate Reddy in I Don’t Know How She Does It.  A question we ask ourselves on a daily basis! 

You can find the discussion questions from the Random House site here.  Ellen didn’t know she was on the cutting edge with yet another one of our picks being made into a movie.  Although not getting the best reviews here is the trailer. 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts next month, until then happy reading everyone! 

Best,
Jenn

October Meeting Notes

Dear Hardcovers and Hangovers,

On what proved to be more of a wintry evening (yes, we drove home in snow!) than a mild fall one we were welcomed into Amy’s warm and inviting home to enjoy a bowl of chili and delectable pumpkin bread.  Amy pulled out all the stops with an awesome festive fall ice cream and cookie dessert..yum, yum, yum! We missed Sara, Karin and Susan and look forward to seeing them next month.  Also, for those of you who missed our meeting be on the lookout for Amy’s awesome cheese dip recipe, you’ll love it! 

It was agreed that Deliverance Dane was a fast, fun and enjoyable book.  People enjoyed the back story of Deliverance, the missing book and the history of the Salem Witch Trials.  Ellen pointed out that with all the hysteria there was some truths to it all.  A lengthy discussion took place about the witch’s teat.  Many thinking that it pertained to the Southern Region (Marrie!).  However, after a quick Google search it proved to be any number of physical abnormalities.  Here is some more information:  “The marks of a witch has often been confused with the Devil’s mark and throughout history mistakenly used interchangeably. While both were indicative marks of a witch’s supposed allegiance with the devil, their physical characteristics are quite different. The witch’s mark is generally described as a natural physical abnormality, most commonly in the form of an extra breast (polymastia) or extra nipple (polythelia), the latter being more common in men rather than in women and a phenomenon that occurs regularly in a small percentage of the population. On the other hand, the Devil’s mark (stigmata diaboli) sometimes called a Devil’s seal (sigillum diaboli) was commonly a scar, birthmark or other blemish on the skin. During the witch hysteria of the 17th century such people as Matthew Hopkins the infamous Witch Finder General, plus others before and after him in their efforts to persecute witches, used the ignorance and fear of the general public to turn such natural phenomena to their own advantage. It soon became the case that any natural physical malformation, a wart, mole, spot, fleshy skin protuberance or discoloration of the skin would be taken as mark of a witch, and most particularly if it secreted liquid or blood. God forbid if you were found with a bleeding tumour, piles, ulcers or seeping boils. In the early sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, particularly in England, it was presumed that any such protuberances or teats were used by a witch to suckle imps and familiars, ‘the agents of the devil’, and when found on a person it was taken as a sure sign and condemnation of witchcraft. Similarly, it was thought that the devil sealed his compact with witches by leaving them some mark of identification on the body, hidden in some secret place. Therefore, anyone found with unusual scaring, birthmarks or even tattoos were equally suspect and condemned. As a result, many innocent people were tried, found guilty of witchcraft and executed. (http://www.controverscial.com/Marks%20of%20a%20Witch.htm)” Well that clears up that discussion! 

It was agreed that everyone knew the Professor Manny Chilton was evil from the start; even his name suggests a chilly outcome. Arlo was enduring to all us dog lovers.  As Amy pointed out he was omniscient and Connie certainly needed him.  Allison noted the strong mother daughter theme weaved throughout this book; Connie and Grace, Grace and Sophia, Deliverance and Mercy, Mercy and Prudence.  Although we did question why Connie seemed ignorant to her witchy past (was she living under a rock growing up?).  Connie definitely pushed her mother’s eccentric behaviors away and really had no desire to understand her.  What is nice about this book is the strong women characters and how roles have changed from the 17^th century to the 20^th century. Charli did point out the freaky accidents the male characters had in the book.  Which lead to a brief discussion of Sam and his role. 

What I didn’t like about this book was Connie’s character and how it made the story feel so contrived.   With Connie being portrayed at a graduate student one would think she’d posses some smarts.  However, because of Connie’s frequent revelations (the phonetic spelling, native speech, the colonial association with her own name…) the author was forcing the development of the story rather than letting the story unfold. 

We appropriately ended the evening discussing Deliverance’s Book and how Connie could have thrown it in the fire.  We all felt that she was throwing away history despite it being on microfiche at Radcliff.  Ellen mentioned that it was a scrapbook and how could she part with it.  However, Amy pointed out that Connie felt she no longer needed the book as she possessed the talents as did her mother and the book was no longer necessary. 

So a big thanks to Amy for a great book selection and a fantastic evening.  Up next we travel across the Atlantic to enjoy some British humor with Ellen’s selection, I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson. 

See you all next month.

Jenn