Our first meeting!!!

"The Help" will be discussed on Thursday, June 10th.
We will meet at Christine's home at 7pm.

Please let us know if this date does not work for you. There is some flexibility right now. If you need directions or more information please send an email!

Also, we will need to have a brief business meeting.

Thanks.

Ideas for Official Book Club Names

Think up some possible names for our book club and post them right here!


Readers and Breeders

The Bibliophiles

Here is a great website for book clubs. It provides reader guides for group discussion and a lot more useful information. Check it out as your schedule allows.
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/content/index.asp

Here is some informaion from that website:

Choosing What to Read
One of the most enjoyable yet frightening aspects of a reading group is choosing the books. While it's exciting to consider the options, make your list and winnow it down to those few select titles that you'll read each year, picking good books for your group can also be intimidating. You want the perfect book: one that's not too easy, not too hard, that will hold the interest of a diverse group of readers and will also inspire a lively discussion. Where on earth do you find books that are all that and more, and how do you pick which of these to read?

Probably the best place to start looking for titles is your own members' bookshelves. Some groups insist that those proposing a book have read it and can testify to its worthiness for the group. Other groups would rather that no one have read the book, making it a surprise for everyone; they choose books based on word of mouth from outside sources, reviews, or dust jacket blurbs. Is there a title that many of you have always wanted to read? A classic that some of you would like to revisit or have never quite gotten to? An old favorite that you'd love to share with your group?

Are you looking for something a little different? Outside your normal reading curve? Try searching this site for a good book. All the books listed here have reading guides that can enhance your group's discussion. Many publishers specialize in certain types of books, either by genre or literary style. If you find a book you like, search the publisher's site for similar titles. Try reading several works by one author or on the same topic. Or compare two books set in the same time period or focusing on related topics. Some reading groups even have themes, such as 19th century literature, science fiction, or women authors. If this is not the case with your group, remember that a major complaint of many reading groups is monotony --- all their books tend to have the same subject or tone. Be sure to include a variety of topics and voices in your selections so your group doesn't get bored.

Another place to look for recommendations is your local library or bookstore. Libraries routinely put out lists of recommended readings and librarian picks. Bookstore clerks are generally up on what's popular--the bestseller lists and what other groups in your area may be reading. Lists of award winners and nominees such as the Pulitzer Prize, the Booker Prize and the National Book Award can provide your group with many quality suggestions. There are also many books available now that have lists of books for reading groups. These are usually divided into a wide range of categories to fit many reading groups' tastes. An important decision to make before picking your books is to decide if your reading group members are willing to buy hardbacks or if all selections must be available in paperback.

Now that you've got your list of books, how do you choose which ones to read? In many groups, each member suggests several titles and the group decides together which they'll read. Often these groups will choose several months' or a year's worth of books ahead of time. In other groups, each member takes a turn making her or his selection. Your group might prefer the excitement of deciding next month's read only after this month's discussion, or you may prefer to plan at least two months ahead to allow time for everyone to get the book, especially if some of you are depending on the library for your copy.

Choosing your book list should be fun. The better informed you are about the titles you consider, the less likely you are to pick a dud. Use this website and to get suggestions and information, make your list, and then enjoy the best part --- the reading and discussion of great books!

Sarah's Key

by Tatiana de Rosnay

Available in paperback, hard cover and kindle

Synopsis

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.
Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.
Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.

The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

available in hardcover and kindle

Synopsis

Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town...

Water for Elephants

by Sara Gruen

Available in paperback, hard cover and kindle

Synopsis

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

My Life in France

by Julia Child

Available in paperback, hard cover and kindle

Synopsis

In her own words, here is the captivating story of Julia Child's years in France, where she fell in love with French food and found her true calling.From the moment the ship docked in Le Havre in the fall of 1948 and Julia watched the well-muscled stevedores unloading the cargo to the first perfectly soign meal that she and her husband, Paul, savored in Rouen en route to Paris, where he was to work for the USIS, Julia had an awakening that changed her life. Soon this tall, outspoken gal from Pasadena, California, who didn't speak a word of French and knew nothing about the country, was steeped in the language, chatting with purveyors in the local markets, and enrolled in the Cordon Bleu.After managing to get her degree despite the machinations of the disagreeable directrice of the school, Julia started teaching cooking classes herself, then teamed up with two fellow gourmettes, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, to help them with a book they were trying to write on French...

The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

available in hardcover, paperback and kindle

From Publishers Weekly

Hosseini's stunning debut novel starts as an eloquent Afghan version of the American immigrant experience in the late 20th century, but betrayal and redemption come to the forefront when the narrator, a writer, returns to his ravaged homeland to rescue the son of his childhood friend after the boy's parents are shot during the Taliban takeover in the mid '90s. Amir, the son of a well-to-do Kabul merchant, is the first-person narrator, who marries, moves to California and becomes a successful novelist. But he remains haunted by a childhood incident in which he betrayed the trust of his best friend, a Hazara boy named Hassan, who receives a brutal beating from some local bullies. After establishing himself in America, Amir learns that the Taliban have murdered Hassan and his wife, raising questions about the fate of his son, Sohrab. Spurred on by childhood guilt, Amir makes the difficult journey to Kabul, only to learn the boy has been enslaved by a former childhood bully who has become a prominent Taliban official. The price Amir must pay to recover the boy is just one of several brilliant, startling plot twists that make this book memorable both as a political chronicle and a deeply personal tale about how childhood choices affect our adult lives. The character studies alone would make this a noteworthy debut, from the portrait of the sensitive, insecure Amir to the multilayered development of his father, Baba, whose sacrifices and scandalous behavior are fully revealed only when Amir returns to Afghanistan and learns the true nature of his relationship to Hassan. Add an incisive, perceptive examination of recent Afghan history and its ramifications in both America and the Middle East, and the result is a complete work of literature that succeeds in exploring the culture of a previously obscure nation that has become a pivot point in the global politics of the new millennium.

Books R Us

A book club for Moms.