December 30th Meeting

Our December meeting will be held on the FIFTH Friday, December 30th.

• Hostess - Sheila
• Books - Donna
• Facilitatress - Mae

We will be reading H is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald. The Contra Costa Library catalog says this:

When Helen Macdonald's father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer, Helen had never before been tempted to train one of the most vicious predators, the goshawk, but in her grief, she saw that the goshawk's fierce and feral temperament mirrored her own. Resolving to purchase and raise the deadly creature as a means to cope with her loss, she adopted Mabel, and turned to the guidance of The Once and Future King author T.H. White's chronicle The Goshawk to begin her challenging endeavor. Projecting herself "in the hawk's wild mind to tame her" tested the limits of Macdonald's humanity and changed her life.

There are lots of copies in the library, as well as books on CD, and of course is available on Amazon in book form as well as Kindle.

Merry Christmas, and we'll see each other just prior to New Year's Eve!

December 2nd meeting

First of all, I want to announce a milepost that we didn't see coming!  This is our 201st book !!!  We have entered our third century of books. Now it's the 200th book group meeting, but we have to remember that we had that month back in, um, 2003, when we had two books in the same month. In any case, I think this is absolutely awesome.

OK.  Back to business. Our November meeting will take place on Friday, December 2nd, to avoid the Thanksgiving week.


We chose to read This Year Will be Different, by Maeve Binchy

From the book jacket: "Instead of nostalgia, Binchy evokes contemporary life; instead of Christmas homilies, she offers truth; and instead of sugarplums, she brings us the nourishment of holidays that precipitate change, growth, and new beginnings." "The stories in This Year It Will Be Different powerfully evoke many lives - step-families grappling with exes, long-married couples faced with in-law problems, a wandering husband choosing between "the other woman" and his wife, a child caught in grown-up tugs-of-war - during the one holiday when feelings cannot be easily hidden."


Fran will facilitate the meeting
Mae will bring the books
Donna will be our hostess.

My notes say that Lisa will not attend this meeting. If anyone else will be missing, let me know.

Otherwise, see y'all there!!

November 4th meeting

We have moved the October meeting to November 4th. Change your calendar!! Here are assignments:

Hostess - Mae

Books selections - Fran

Facilitatress - Denise

And the book?  We are reading Still Life, by Louise Penny

There are 24 copies in the Contra Costa Library - note that I put myself on the hold list last night, and I am #14 in line. So chances are good that I will have the book by the end of the month, but I would suggest placing a hold today.  Go ahead and do that. I'll wait for you here...

Used copies from Amazon are about $6 with shipping, $8 on Kindle, $10 new with Prime.  Get your copy however you can.

And here's what Amazon says about the book:

Winner of the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys awards.
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it's a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.

Still Life introduces not only an engaging series hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces--and this series--with integrity and quiet courage, but also a winning and talented new writer of traditional mysteries in the person of Louise Penny.

September 25th meeting

Well, it's official. I think I have lost my mind. Did I send out the email about "this is the book?" because I thought I did, but I can't find the email now... So, my apologies, this is very very late.

This month's meeting is Friday, September 25th. That is less than two weeks away, so you need to get hopping if you don't have the book yet.

The book is In the Heart of the Canyon, by Elizabeth Hyde.  The short description:  "a gripping new novel about a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon that changes the lives of everyone on board." 

Fran will bring food, Denise will bring books, and Rachel will facilitate our scintillating and brilliantly clever discussion. My notes say that Mae will be absent. See y'all there!!

July 22nd meeting

First, remember that on July 22, you should go to Fran's house! 

We will be reading A Box of Matches, by Nicholson Baker

There are two copies in Contra Costa Library, both checked out at this point. However, there are dozens available through LINK+, so there is that option.  It is available on Kindle for $12.99, but there are used copies on Amazon for a penny and the minimum shipping of $3.99.

Here is a bit of Amazon's review:

One man's simple, colloquial meditations on his past, his family, and his life's daily minutia are the substance of Nicholson Baker's A Box of Matches. Feeling that life is passing him by, Emmett, a middle-aged medical textbook editor, decides to wake up early each day to sit by a fire in his country house and record his thoughts in a diary. "Good morning," Emmett begins, "it's January and its 4:17 a.m., and I'm going to sit here in the dark." From this vantage point, Emmett reflects stream-of-consciousness style on whatever occurs to him, no matter how mundane: his recent trip to Home Depot, how he met his wife, the habits of the family duck.

Kim will lead our discussion, Lisa will send the book selections (via Sheila), and Rachel will bring food.

June 24th 2016 meeting

We're halfway through the month, and time to start thinking about the book for the month. We are reading:
The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd.

Sheila will facilitate, Kim will bring book selections for July, and Lisa will bring snacks.

When? Friday, June 24th. See you there!

April 2016 Meeting

This month, we will be reading Under the Wide and Starry Sky, by Nancy Horan. This is a fictionalized chronicle of  the relationship between Robert Louis Stevenson, author of classics including Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and American divorcee Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne. 

Summary from Booklist: 

 "Horan’s spectacular second novel (following book-club favorite Loving Frank, 2007) has been worth the wait. Brimming with the same artistic verve that drives her complicated protagonists, it follows the loving, tumultuous partnership of Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and his Indiana-born wife, Fanny Osbourne. Fanny, an aspiring artist still tied to her unfaithful first husband when they meet in 1875, is fiery, courageous, and the mother of two living children. Louis, a younger man whose frailty belies a joyous, energetic spirit, dreams of writing full-time. While he perfects his craft, she becomes his protector and editor-collaborator, accompanying him across Europe and America and finally to Samoa in hopes of healing his weak lungs. This is more than just another novel designed to honor the unsung accomplishments of a famous man’s spouse, though. Equally adventurous and colorful, Louis and Fanny could each command the story singlehandedly. Together, they are riveting and insightfully envisioned, including through moving depiction of how their relationship transforms over time. Horan also explores relevant social concerns, such as cultural imperialism and xenophobia, and how Stevenson’s life influenced his literary themes. An exhilarating epic about a free-spirited couple who traveled the world yet found home only in one another."

Dates have not changed, but responsibilities have changed in the book group schedule. Lisa and Kim have swapped schedules, and Denise and Rachel have swapped as well.  New schedules will appear at our next meeting.  

Our next meeting is on April 22, 2016 -- it is our 16th Anniversary! Sheila will bring food, Mae will bring books, and Fran will facilitate the discussion. 

March 2016 Meeting

For March, we will be reading The Book of Salt, by Monique Truong 


I distributed new meeting assignment cards. 

All you need to know: Next meeting is Good Friday, March 25th. Mae will bring food, Fran will bring book selections, Rachel will lead the discussion.

February 2016 Meeting

This month, we will be reading The Dressmaker, by Rosalie Ham. Take careful note of the author, as there are at least four books with this title.

Also, it is on order at Contra Costa Library, but not currently available. There are copies through Link+, and it's about $10.50 through Amazon.

Plot summary:  After twenty years spent mastering the art of dressmaking at couture houses in Paris, Tilly Dunnage returns to the small Australian town she was banished from as a child. She plans only to check on her ailing mother and leave. But Tilly decides to stay, and though she is still an outcast, her lush, exquisite dresses prove irresistible to the prim women of Dungatar.

And, some brief reviews:

“The book’s true pleasures involve the way Rosalie Ham has small-town living down pat…she channels welcome shades of British novelist Angela Carter’s sly, funny, and wickedly Gothic adornments…Blunt, raw and more than a little fantastical, the novel exposes both the dark and the shimmering lights in our human hearts.”  – The Boston Globe

“Ham’s eye for the absurd, the comical, and the poignant are highly tuned. [The Dressmaker] is a first novel to be proud of, and definitely one to savor.” —The Weekend Australian

 Our next meeting is on Friday, February 26th

Fran will bring food
Rachel will bring books
Denise will facilitate. 

See you all there!!