The list - wow '93 to now!

Date                      Host                       Book                     

5/9/11                   Marcia                  The Shadow of the Wind

2/28/11                Nancy                   Becoming Jane Eyre

1/12/11                Mary Lou             The Amatears

11/16/10              Jan                         Cutting for Stone                            

10/5/10                Liz                           Into the Beautiful North

8/16/10                Joyce                     Pay It Forward and 29 Gifts

6/17/10                Lee                         The Piano Teacher

4/20/10                Lois                        The Help

3/2/10                   Nina                      Naked

1/19/09                Nancy                   Same Kind of Different as me

11/19/09              Mary Lou             The ELegance of the Hedgehog

8/25/09                Liz                           Watership Down

6/29/09                Joyce                     The House on Mango Street

5/28/09                Marcia                 It Happens Everyday

3/31/09                Nina                      Three Cups of Tea

2/10/09                Lois                        The History of Love

10/9/08                Mary Lou             The Time Travelers Wife

8/26/08                ?                              Love in the Time of Cholera

6/2/08                   Liz                           Someone Knows my name

4/8/08                   Joyce                     Water for Elephants

2/20/08                Bobbi                    To Have and Have Not

1/10/08                Nina                      My Life in France

11/14/07              Lois                        Devil in the White City

10/9/07                Nancy                   Then She Found Me

8/29/07                Mary Lou             Swallows of Kabul

7/24/07                Jan                         1776

5/29/07                Liz                           Eat, Pray, Love

4/1/07                   Joyce                     Gilead

2/27/07                ?                              The Lost Painting

1/30/07                Nina                      Independence Day

11/27/06              Gayle                    How Green was my Valley

10/3/06                Nancy                   Persuasion

8/29/06                Jan                         If you lived her, I’d know your name

6/27/06                Liz                           The Heart is a lonely hunter

5/30/06                Sharon                  Night- Elle Wiesel

4/25/06                Mary Lou             Ragtime

3/9/06                   Irene                     Pompeii

2/7/06                   Joyce                     The ALchemist

1/3/06                   Karen                    Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress

11/21/05              Nina                      A Thousand Days in Tuscany

10/13/05              Kristy                    The Other Bolyn Girl

9/1/05                   Liz                           The Hummingbirds Daughter

7/28/05                Nancy                   Fire by Night

6/9/05                   Bobbi                    The Known World

5/5/05                   Gayle                    The Memory of Running

3/29/05                Liz                           My SIsters Keeper

2/22/05                Irene                     Kite Runner

1/27/05                Nina                      A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

11/30/04              Joyce                     One Thousand White Women

1/10/04                Karen                    The Piano Tuner

9/1/04                   Mary Lou             The Devils Highway

8/1/04                   Kristy                    Nector in a Sieve

7/22/04                Jan                         The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night

5/23/04                Gayle                    The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

3/25/04                ?                              The Day Christ Died

2/26/04                ?                              The Three Junes

1/22/04                Liz                           The Life of Pi

11/18/03              ?                              The Secret Life of Bees

10/9/03                Karen                    You May not like me, but you’re a lot like me & The color of Water

?                              ?                              Seabiscuit

?                              ?                              Bel Canto

?                              ?                              Six Kinds of Sky

?                              ?                              Lovely Bones

1/27/03                ?                              The Day of Bees

12/12/02              Jan                         The Weight of Water

11/7/02                Liz                           The Angle of Repose

9/12/10                ?                              The Sin Eater

7/31/02                ?                              Becoming Madame Mao

5/22/02                ?                              In the Bedroom

4/24/02                ?                              The Bonesetters Daughter

?                              ?                              The Courage Tree

2/28/02                ?                              Good Harbor

1/1/02                   Nina                      The Cunning Man

12/6/01                Mary Lou             An American Outrage

10/24/01              Jan                         Plantation

9/28/01                Karen                    Katherine Graham, Personal History

7/26/01                ?                              Plain Truth

6/28/01                Liz                           Snow Mountain Passage

5/24/01                ?                              Galileos Daughter

3/8/01                   ?                              Chocolat

 ?                             Barb                       A Cup of Tea

1/18/01                Liz                           The Hours

12/14/00              ?                              Straight Man

11/3/00                Joyce                     Daughter of Fortune

10/10/00              ?                              The Orchid Thief

9/13/00                ?                              Sleeping Arrangements

6/25/00                Karen                    Nothing to do but stay

5/4/00                   ?                              The Red Tent

?                              Liz                           The Poisonwood Bible

3/2/00                   ?                              Harry Potter & the Sorcorers  Stone

2/3/00                   Joyce                     Welcome To the World Baby Girl

1/1/00                   ?                              Angela’s Ashes

12/2/99                Nina                      Winesburg, Ohio                            

11/4/99                ?                              At Home in Mitford

10/7/99                ?                              Jewell

9/2/99                   ?                              A Widow for one year

7/1/99                   ?                              Cold Sassy Tree               

6/6/99                   ?                              Midwives

5/13/99                ?                              The Divine Sisters of the YaYAhood

4/1/99                   Liz                           Under the Tuscan Sun

?                              ?                              Falling Leaves

2/4/99                   ?                              In the Time of Butterflies

1/7/99                   ?                              The Perfect STorm

11/5/98                Bobbie                 Great Expectations        

?                              Mary Jo                                Bean Trees

?                              Karen                    Tender is the Night

?                              Kristy                    Snow Falling on Cedars

7/1/98                   Liz                           Cold Mountain

5/28/98                ?                              The Notebook

1/21/98                Joyce                     Midnight in the Garden of good and evil

4/21/98                Barb                       South Pacific

2/28/98                Nina                      The Awakening

1/29/98                Mary Lou             A Civil Action

12/1/97                kate                       Inspirational Sandwich

11/1/97                Mary Jo                                Still Watch         

10/24/97              Karen                    The Chosen

9/25/97                Kristie                   Stones From the River

?                              Liz                           The God of Small THings

6/25/97                Irene                     A Song of Solomon

5/29/97                Joyce                     A Long Fatal Love Chase

4/23/97                Barb                       A Bed by the Window

3/27/97                Nina                      The English Patient

2/20/97                Karen                    Saying Grace

1/31/97                Liz                           Horse Whisperer

11/14/96              Irene                     An Anthropologist on Mars

10/15/96              Joyce                     Coming Home

8/21/96                Nina/Barb           Fault Lines

6/28/96                Nina                      Love Medicine

5/22/96                Karen                    In His Steps

4/22/96                Irene                     Tunnel Vision

3/19/96                Liz                           Cry the Beloved Country

2/13/96                Joyce                     Pride and Prejudice

1/19/96                Barb                       Rabbit at Rest

12/7/95                Nina                      Stone Diaries

11/6/95                Karen                    The Scarlet LEtter

9/14/95                Joyce                     The Lilac Bus

8/15/95                Barb                       Mama Makes up her Mind

7/13/95                Nina                      Pigs in Heaven

6/13/95                Bobbie                 The Gates of Zion

5/17/95                Karen                    Run with the Horseman

4/18/95                Joyce                     The Giver

3/1/95                   Diane                    The Pearl

12/1/94                Bobbie                 Our Town

2/8/95                   Barb                       Ethan Frome

1/17/95                Nina                      The Shipping News

11/18/94              Joyce                     Disclosure

10/5/94                Karen                    Johnny Tremain

9/14/94                Diane                    Farwell to Arms

8/19/94                Nina                      For Love

7/12/94                Bobbie                 Christy

6/14/94                Karen                    The Celestine Prophecy

5/11/94                Joyce/Karen       Remains of the Day

4/14/94                Diane                    A is for Alibi

3/1/94                   Nina                      The House of Mirth

2/1/94                   Bobbie                 Shindlers List

1/1/94                   Joyce                     Like Water for Chocolate

12/2/93                Karen                    Wouldn’t take nothing for my Journey now

11/1/1993            Diane                    The Kitchen God’s Wife               

WOW!!!

Sycamore Ladies Literary Society for Meeting and Munching

Lang, Slack, Shumway, Mathey, Minnihann        

Recommendations; Mary, Mom and Jan, Karen, Mary Lou

Most everyone that knows me knows that I love to read, and I am always looking for good books to read. I love hearing what other book clubs are reading and I keep another journal that I write down the books that I have read outside of our book club lists.

Here are a few books that have I have read recently that were friends recommendations;

My daughter Mary gave me a great summer read, a thriller that's both heart-stopping and heart-breaking....


Mom and Jan's book club recently read:


I had heard about this book, but thought it sounded goofy, ....but I loved this story, Have you ever wondered what your dog is thinking? Meet one funny dog—Enzo, the lovable mutt who tells this story.  I recommend it to everyone!

Mary Lou shared a great book with me: loved it!

Leopold Bloom King, our narrator, is the son of an amiable, loving father who teaches science at the local high school. His mother, an ex-nun, is the high school principal and a well-known Joyce scholar. After Leo's older brother commits suicide at the age of thirteen, the family struggles with the shattering effects of his death, and Leo, lonely and isolated, searches for something to sustain him. Eventually, he finds his answer when he becomes part of a tightly knit group of high school seniors whose liaisons will ripple across two decades — from 1960s through the 1980s.


Karen's book club read:

Don Miller issues a simple and profound challenge: live a better story.  In A Million Miles in a Thousand Years Don opens up his life, struggles, triumphs, and insecurities and asks the reader to do that. Some pearls of wisdom in his writings, but sometimes rambling on too much.

Questions

One of my favorite questions for discussion is: What do you think is the meaning of the title of the book? How does it relate to the story?

The buddie that selects the book is usually also the discussion leader. This person is free to suggest any discussion questions and usually provides some background about the author to share.

We also have a system of sharing our feelings about the book - thumbs up or thumbs down, ....sometimes it is thumbs in the middle or somewhere inbetween. It is funny how many times we all have different opinions of the book. It is amazing when we all give a book thumbs up!

I like sharing our various opinions, we all give them, and that is the beauty of our buddies!

Dear friend ...

Karen: I am so glad that you shared with us your reading journey! I did not know that you were not a READER before book club, ...maybe you told me that, but I did not remember! I knew that you loved your Bible readings, and do you know that you have inspired me to learn to love my Bible now too?!?! I am so grateful for the many Bible studies we have done together, and look forward to more too!

One of my first and fondest memories of reading a book was:

Ahh, the drama, the romance....with Rhett, "My dear, I don't give a damn." And Scarlett, " I'll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. Tomorrow, I'll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day." 

Next selection ....

We're meeting at Irene's on Monday, June 27th

 

Hello to All on a

beautiful Summer afternoon!!!!!

 

Joyce prodded me earlier this week to set a Book Club date!  

I am excited to review my book club selection:

 

 

on Monday, June 27th

(if Monday that week won't work,

let me know a better night for you!)

7 pm at my home....

 

 

(....hopefully, no snow that evening!!!)

 

1919 Somonauk Street

Sycamore, Il   60178

 

Park in back and come in the back door!!!!

 

RSVP reply all or call me 815/901-1004

 

Irene

The Rules

We only have had two rules over the years....no kids and no men allowed. However, we have broken those rules a few times. Our buddie Liz brought her newborn Katie to join us one time, and we have had 2 men join us (that I remember) because they were the authors of the books we were reading.  One time we had the men come for a christmas party at my house, but we haven't done that again, I wonder why?

What's up now...

Last month our book club buddies selection was;

chosen by Marcia (with thanks to her daughter). We had a fun an lively discussion.

"Barcelona, 1945. Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only child, Daniel’s widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again."

The discussion questions were wonderful....I especially liked this one - What was the first book that you read that you remember the most?

I will post mine later, what is yours?

Long, long, ago...

Dearest friends and book lovers:  I invite you to join me on this blogging journey.

Way before Oprah made it popular, my wonderful friend Karen and I decided to share our love of reading with our other girlfriends and start a book club. It was November, 1993 and Karen hosted a luncheon, our very first meeting at her house and invited one of her friends, Diane, who had been in a book club before moving here, to lead that very first meeting. The book we shared and discussed was "The Kitchen Gods Wife" by Amy Tan. It was a magical luncheon. I owe so much gratitude to Karen for hosting that first meeting that my heart swells with joy for her friendship and love. Because over the past 17 years, many, many books have been shared by our club and with each book our friendships have grown and I cherish each and every girlfriend and meeting for making my life richer from being with these women and sharing of their love of reading these books together.

Nina and I are the only original members of the book club buddies that met that on that first day. However, many other girlfriends have joined us and wonderful discussions of books have transpired at each meeting since then. With this blog I hope to record some of those memorable times and keep track of the books we will share in the future.

Please feel free to share your memories of past book club meetings, share your reading lists with each other, share your recommendations and referrals for new books or the great old classics. Please share, share, share!