Gone Girl

Dear Hardcovers and Hangovers,

Up next is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.   

Discussion question can be found here.  The author’s website can be found here.  

I can't believe another year has gone by.  Thanks to all for opening your homes this year to share food, wine and books.  

Take some time and vote here for your favorite book of 2012.

Charli will be starting 2013 off with The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

Jenn

October Meeting Notes

Dear H&H,

A big shout out to Ellen for a wonderful dinner and fantastic book club meeting. 

Here is a very quick recap of the evening:

Many of us struggled with the character development.  Amy mentioned in the end how she only really cared for Widget, Poppet and Bailey. 

A lot of discussion around how the order of the book was written and why the author did not write it chronologically.

Ellen and Susan loved the circus theme. 

Marco seemed very unstable.

Amy had a hard time grasping that Marco was plucked from an orphanage and able to ‘learn magic’.

Ellen stated that there really weren’t many nice people in the book.

Isabel was out for herself.

We hated the clockmakers death. 

Celia and Marco were raised by sociopath father /father figure who were willing to sacrifice their children’s lives.

The author has a nice writing style and lots of imagery.

The romance between Celia and Marco felt lukewarm.

See you all next month.

Jenn

The Night Circus

Dear H&H,

Our next book takes us to the mystic and romanticism of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. 

My favorite quote from the book:  “Wine is bottled poetry.”  

Book discussion questions can be found here.  

Looking forward to our next meeting.

Best,

Jenn

September Meeting Notes

Dear Hardcovers and Hangovers,

We enjoyed an awesome evening at Amy’s.  Thank YOU Amy!  

The Book Thief proved to be a somber book.  The prose are well written with wonderful descriptive language; unfortunately the tone of the book was very depressing.  

Amy liked how Death had a heart and sense of humor.  Marrie felt Death was disjointed; maybe a bit too real life.  Susan felt Death had feelings; he did feel bad picking up souls.  Marrie commented that Liesel never had an opportunity to mourn the losses.  We loved the Mayor’s wife and sweet Rudy.  Zusak does a wonderful job with his character development.  Marrie expressed her surprise that this book is on so many high school summer reading list and is cataloged as young adult.  

I think because this subject has been written about countless times and we (individually and as a group) have read many books on the holocaust there is a feeling that maybe we should put this subject on the ‘hold’ list for now :-)

 

Next up is Ellen’s pick, The Night Circus.  See you all soon.  

Happy Reading,

Jenn

The Book Thief

Dear Hardcovers and Hangovers,

This month we will be reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  This book has received numerous star reviews and awards. 

“It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .”

 

 

Happy Reading,

Jenn

 

 

 

 

 

 

August Meeting Notes

Dear Hardcovers and Hangovers,

We enjoyed a lovely end of the summer evening at Karin’s.  Everything was Oh So Yummy!!  Love the hint of lemon in the risotto.  We missed Ellen, Susan and Allison and look forward to their return next meeting. 

What Alice Forgot is really an introspective read.  This book started out with a humorist twist as we find the main character on the gym floor not remembering the last ten years of her life.  Little does Alice know that she has three children, her marriage to Nick is over and her best friend, Gina is dead.  Over time Alice’s life unfolds showing her how she has changed (maybe not for the better) over the years and how her transformation has consequences.  Although we delved into the characters and story line this book really got us thinking and talking about our own lives.  What if we got a redo in life like Alice did?  Amy shared how her life took on a similar parallel to Alice’s having that Gina in her life.  For many of us it got us thinking of our relationships with friends, husbands, sisters, mothers….

Up Next is Amy’s pick, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

See you all soon.
Jenn

What Alice Forgot

Dear Hardcovers and Hangovers,

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty is our next book and found its way to Oprah’s 2011 Summer Reading List. 

Ten years changes a lot and for Alice she wakes up thinking she’s 29 and a soon to be mother….but that’s not the case at all….fast forward a decade later to find out what Alice’s life is really like.   

Here you will find the link to the author’s website which includes a Reader’s Guide for discussion. 

See you all at Karin’s….

Jenn

July Meeting Notes

Dear Hardcovers and Hangovers,

What a lovely summer evening at Susan’s; who doesn’t love grilled meat and veggies!  YUM!!!   An added bonus to the evening was having Charli’s mom attend our meeting.  Thank you Susan for being a wonderful hostess. 
The Lace Reader was an intriguing read.  It proved to be confusing and luckily we were able to clarify some of the misunderstandings.  This book really was about perception.  Note how Marrie and Ellen had a side hallway conversation in which Marrie stated ‘in my book she died”.  What was real and what was fantasy?  What was a memory and what was fictional? 
Because of the fact that this book created so much confusion it proved to be a good discussion.  The author added to our confusion by making many of the character’s names similar….Eva, Emma, Ann, Angela, Lyndley/Lyndsey, Towner/Sophia.  Leading us to question:  Who was the mother?  Who was the aunt?  Who was the great aunt?  Who lived with who? 

This was book was dominated by female characters, but there was Rafferty, Cal, Jack and Beezer, who added to the story line. 

In doing some online research I was able to find the author has posted answers to help us navigate through the confusion. Basically we came to the conclusion that Barry may be a bit nutty like Towner. 
To the best of the author’s knowledge she made up lace reading or rather dreamed about it.  However, Ipswich Lace is real.  A quick tutorial:  “The real history of Ipswich lace is a compelling tale in its own right. Incorporated in 1634, Ipswich, Mass., was a prosperous port until the mid-18th century, when the Ipswich River silted up, closing the harbor to larger ships. At that time only the wealthiest colonists could buy imported French, Belgian or English lace. In about 1750 a group of Ipswich women started making and selling bobbin lace, used for collars, cuffs or trim on handkerchiefs and household linens. The distinctive patterns were mostly floral, geometrical or abstract. Unlike needle lace, bobbin lace is made using spools to hold the many threads that go into it. In the 18th century the thread and pins were imported, but the bobbins were made locally, often initialed by the lace maker and passed down from mother to daughter. Ipswich lace became so popular that enterprising makers traveled to Salem, Newburyport and Boston to sell it (or trade commodities for it). It became even more important during the American Revolution and its aftermath.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/arts/design/01anti.html?_r=2&oref=slogin)
Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the summer and we’ll see you all at Karin’s to discuss What Alice Forgot. 

Happy Reading,

Jenn

The Lace Reader

Dear Hardcovers and Hangovers,

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Berry is Susan’s pick.  “The Lace Reader is a mesmerizing tale that spirals into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies, and half-truths in which the reader quickly finds it's nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction, but as Towner Whitney points out early on in the novel, "There are no accidents."

Here is the author’s website.  Here and here are some discussion questions. 
Looking forward to seeing you all soon. 
Happy Reading,
Jenn