December 2015 - March by Geraldine Brooks

Our book club met at Jacqi's home to discuss March by Geraldine Brooks.  The book was generously rated by most all of the members. The group was impressed with Brooks' historical research and her creativity integrating the story in with Louisa Mae Alcott's own family and the characters of Little Women.  The themes of this book led to some very good discussions about courage, honesty and the choices that need to be made at difficult times.  Thank you to Jacqi for hosting this meeting.  We look forward to meeting again on January 9 at Rochelle's for our holiday dinner.  The next book to discuss is Circling the Sun by Paula McLain at Geri's on January 21st.

November 2015 - The Haunting of Hill House

In honor of Halloween, we decided to read a creepy selection.  The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson got lukewarm reviews from our group and not many real scares.  The night was far from a loss though, as we always find a way for good conversation and Char treated us with a fantastic fall dessert.

Jacqi has graciously agreed to host our next meeting at her home on December 3 where we will be discussing the book March by Geraldine Brooks.

Rochelle will try to host something around the holidays, but no book is planned for the month of December.

September 2015 - The Handmaid's Tale

This month we met at Marcia's place to discuss Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.   Club members showed some differences in opinions about this book as the ratings ranged from a 3 to 8.5.  

Margaret Atwood's popular dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale explores a broad range of issues relating to power, gender, and religious politics. This is a classic in speculative fiction, one of the most powerful and widely read novels of our time.

After a staged terrorist attack kills the President and most of Congress, the government is deposed and taken over by the oppressive and all controlling Republic of Gilead. Offred, now a Handmaid serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name. Despite the danger, Offred learns to navigate the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life in breaking the rules in hopes of ending this oppression.

As is usual with this group, the disparity in enjoyment of the novel didn't prevent an interesting discussion.

July 2015 - The Nightingale

In July, we took the easy route and met at the Alexander House for dinner and discussion of a terrific read.  This book scored some of the highest ratings that this group has had.  It was enjoyed by all as was the conversation and a nice meal.

We had the chance to bid farewell to Marsha, one of our long-standing club members.  We wish Marsha good reads and great friends in the next chapter of her family's life.  She will be missed!

Our next book is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

May 2015 - The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Rochelle invited us to her home to discuss this month's book.

We chose this book from a listing of favorites from another book club that has read over 100 books.  I think it would be safe to say this won't make our favorite list.  However, some liked it more than others, the discussion was good and Shelly's fruit pizza made it all worthwhile

March 2015 - The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

January 2015 - Caleb's Crossing

October 2014 - A Thousand Lives

This month we read a nonfiction book by Julia Scheeres - A Thousand Lives.  This was a well-researched account of the events leading up to the mass suicides at Jonestown.  Debby hosted and also made up some discussion questions which were awesome. Lots of great discussion on this book as well.

November 2014 - Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

We discussed this very interesting book at the home of Dena.  It was fascinating that most readers did not rate the book very high, but admitted they liked it much more after the discussion. Those of us who had read it earlier appreciated how memorable the book is even after time.  Great discussion!