Christmas Celebration

Booker Babes met for their Christmas Celebration at Kim's. Because of the added stress of the holidays we don't read a book for December, but celebrate the season instead.

The table was set, the candles lit, and the fun was about

to begin.

The food is always great!

Our theme this year was ornaments. Each person was requested to incorporate an ornament into her outfit without it being a necklace, to bring an ornament to give away, and to share a special ornament.

Kathy realizes she didn't follow the rules!

In the spirit of "Letting it go..." Kim was NOT very creative and used her ornament on her scarf.

Jackie certainly won the prize for most creative with her decorating. You can't tell it in the photos, but she was blinking with lights!

Jill cannot believe Susie wore those in her hair!! Actually, they were her ornament to share, and she had a nice story to go with them.

Beth read 'Twas The Teacher's Night Before Christmas as we passed our ornaments to share. We passed the package each time she said "the".

Phyllis got a great icicle ornament.

Karen and Nancy dressed for the occasion in their snowman sweaters.

In the spirit of the holidays, some members donated money to Big Brothers/ Big Sisters to help support a family for Christmas.

Everyone left with a parting gift.

Breakfast With Buddha

Our book for November was Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo.

Summary

Otto Ringling is a successful, happily married Manhattanite facing an existential crisis brought on by the recent death of his parents. Volya Rinpoche is a Mongolian monk recently released from a Siberian prison who now acts as a spiritual advisor to Otto’s sister, Cecilia. When Cecelia insists that Volya take her place on a road trip with Otto from New Jersey to North Dakota to settle their deceased parents’ affairs, these two very different men embark on a journey rich with both physical and spiritual discoveries. As Otto shows Volya the pleasures of the American landscape, Volya helps Otto come to terms with the unnerving reality of loss.

We met at Karen's for November book club. As usual, Karen's tablescape was beautiful!

We had great food and discussions as usual. I'll leave you with this slideshow today.

1,000 White Women

Our October book was 1,ooo White Women by Jim Fergus. We met at the Kalona Family Restaurant for supper and then moved to a more private location which will remain unnamed.

Review From Booklist

An American western with a most unusual twist, this is an imaginative fictional account of the participation of May Dodd and others in the controversial "Brides for Indians" program, a clandestine U.S. government^-sponsored program intended to instruct "savages" in the ways of civilization and to assimilate the Indians into white culture through the offspring of these unions. May's personal journals, loaded with humor and intelligent reflection, describe the adventures of some very colorful white brides (including one black one), their marriages to Cheyenne warriors, and the natural abundance of life on the prairie before the final press of the white man's civilization. Fergus is gifted in his ability to portray the perceptions and emotions of women. He writes with tremendous insight and sensitivity about the individual community and the political and religious issues of the time, many of which are still relevant today. This book is artistically rendered with meticulous attention to small details that bring to life the daily concerns of a group of hardy souls at a pivotal time in U.S. history.

And here is Phyllis trying out for Vanna's job!

Out of 298 reviews on Amazon.com, the average reviewer gave this book 4 stars out of 5. How many stars did these three give it?????

And there's Susie trying to hide behind the book!And Kathy as usual, with the WRONG book!!

As usual we had a great discussion.

Do You Believe in Time Travel?

What do you do when you meet the love of your life when you're six years old? And he's 36, but he's really only eight years older than you are? If you're Clare Abshire, you wait for each of his visits throughout the years until you meet him in real time.

Henry DeTamble is a time traveler, although not by choice. A genetic mutation causes him to spontaneously travel through time, disappearing from view, leaving behind his clothes and possessions, and arriving naked in another time and another place. For the most part, this is a curse. Henry often has to turn to petty crime to feed and clothe himself when he travels, and must run from people, thugs, or the police. Eventually Henry returns to his present time, bringing only the bodily injuries he's suffered back with him. Sometimes he travels back in time and visits an earlier version of himself. One of the places to which he travels often is the meadow behind Clare's house, and throughout her younger years, Clare meets him there and falls in love with him.

This is the basic outline for the story of Henry and Clare in Audrey Niffenegger's remarkable debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife. This is far from a science fiction exploration of the space-time continuum, but a heartfelt love story of two people who must live with this curse as part of their lives. Ms. Niffenegger has thought through all the ramifications of the time travel, and sewn it seamlessly into the storyline. Once you accept that time traveling is a part of Henry's life he can't control, nothing that happens to him seems farfetched or out of character?

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was our book for September. We had mixed feelings about the book. Some people REALLY liked it, like Beth, who has been trying to get people to read it for years! Some people struggled through it like Susie, Kim, and Jan. And others just thought it was so-so. We had a great discussion, some of which centered around SEX!! Of course, we do usually get around to discussing that at some point. I think leaping tall buildings was also a topic, or was that part of the sex discussion too?? Hmmmm.

Obviously Jill wants nothing to do with the little device Kim carries in her purse. I think there were many suggestions made about the use for that too. Vibrator comes to mind here.

We had a VIP at book club(in her sunglasses of course!), and Jan, always wanting to rub noses or shoulders or butts or whatever, with the "important" people, had to have her photo op!!

Susie and Valli always TRY to look so innocent, but we know the truth!

And look at Karen and Jackie being such the good listeners. Wonder what they're thinking about!

Beth, Jill, and Kim look quite comfy on Susie's couch just trying to hid behind those pillows.

We had a great Mexican meal at a restaurant, after which we gathered at Susie's home. Zahra was a guest and we did swear her to abide by our rules, especially--"What happens at book club, stays at book club!". I'm sure she thinks we have S-E-X on the brain, but we don't always. REALLY!

Promise Not to Tell

Way back in the lazy days of summer, Booker Babes met on August 10th, at Kim's to discuss Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer Mcmahon.

Part mystery-thriller and part ghost story, McMahon's well-paced debut alternates smoothly between past and present. In the fall of 2002, 41-year-old Kate Cypher, a divorced Seattle school nurse, returns to New Hope, the decaying Vermont hippie commune where she grew up, to visit her elderly mother, Jean, who's suffering from Alzheimer's. Kate has avoided New Hope since the grizzly, unsolved murder of her fifth-grade friend, Del Griswold, 31 years earlier. Kate fears she betrayed Del, a free-spirited farm girl. Did her betrayal cause Del's death? Who killed Del? Another local girl is murdered in a similar manner at the time of Kate's return. Could the killer be loose again? Meanwhile, Jean appears to be possessed with Del's spirit and may have the answers to these questions. As Kate investigates,

she learns stunning truths about many events and people from her youth. McMahon does a particularly good job of portraying the cruelty of school children. (from Publisher's Weekly)

This story lead to the discussion of several topics including:bullying, child abuse, betrayal, and even a supernatural element. Customers on Amazon gave this book and average of 4 1/2 stars out of 5. This was Jennifer's first novel, so I think she should be happy with that, although many of the reviews by professional reviewers gave it poor reviews.

As often is the case, food was a highlight. Everyone brought

something to share.

We even had a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers provided by Karen.

Kim shared the baby quilts she had made in a

nticipation of the arrival of her newest grandchild.

Beth was looking at Susie---always good for a laugh!

Nancy poses pretty for the picture while Karen is still trying to prove a point.

As usual, Susie just doesn't know what she's talking about!

Jan, the "techie guru" has the latest in note-taking tools!

As usual we strayed off the topic a time or two, but all in all we had a great discussion!

Promise Not to Tell was the perfect title for book club! We have the motto, "What Happens at Book Club, Stays at Book Club". So, we do "Promise Not to Tell"!

The Book Thief!

Booker Babes met at Jan's on Monday, July 20th. Our book to discuss was,

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

About the book Liesel Meminger is only nine years old when she is taken to live with the Hubermanns, a foster family, on Himmel Street in Molching, Germany, in the late 1930s. She arrives with few possessions, but among them is The Grave Digger’s Handbook, a book that she stole from her brother’s burial place. During the years that Liesel lives with the Hubermanns, Hitler becomes more powerful, life on Himmel Street becomes more fearful, and Liesel becomes a fullfledged book thief. She rescues books from Nazi book-burnings and steals from the library of the mayor. Liesel is illiterate when she steals her fi rst book, but Hans Hubermann uses her prized books to teach her to read. This is a story of courage, friendship, love, survival, death, and grief. This is Liesel’s life on Himmel Street, told from Death’s point of view. A Conversation with Markus Zusak What inspired you to write about a hungry, illiterate girl who has such a desire to read that she steals books? I think it’s just working on a book over and over again. I heard stories of cities on fi re, teenagers who were whipped for giving starving Jewish people bread on their way to concentration camps, and people huddled in bomb shelters. . . . But I also had a story about a book thief set in my hometown of Sydney. I just brought the two ideas together and realized the importance of words in Nazi Germany. I thought of Hitler destroying people with words, and now I had a girl who was stealing them back, as she read books with the young Jewish man in her basement and calmed people down in the bomb shelters. She writes her own story–and it’s a beautiful story– through the ugliness of the world that surrounds her. How did you decide to make Death the narrator of the book? With great difficulty! I thought, “Here’s a book set during war. Everyone says war and death are best friends.” Death is ever-present during war, so here was the perfect choice to narrate The Book Thief. At fi rst, though, Death was too mean. He was supercilious, and enjoying his work too much. He’d say extremely creepy things and delight in all the souls he was picking up . . . and the book wasn’t working. So I went to a fi rst-person narration, a simple third-person narration . . . and six months later I came back to Death–but this time, Death was to be exhausted from his eternal existence and his job. He was to be afraid of humans–because, after all, he was there to see the obliteration we’ve perpetrated on each other throughout the ages–and he would now be telling this story to prove to himself that humans are actually worth it. Liesel has an uncanny understanding of people and an ability to befriend those who most need companionship . Who do you think is Liesel’s most unforgettable friend? For me it’s Rudy, but a lot of people will tell me it’s Hans Hubermann, Max, the mayor’s wife, or even Rosa Hubermann. Rudy is just my favorite character. From the moment he painted himself black and became Jesse Owens, he was my favorite. Liesel kissing his dusty, bomb-hit lips was probably the most devastating part of the book for me to write. . . . I was a mess. On the other hand, I’m also drawn to all of the relationships Liesel forms, even her reading with Frau Holtzapfel, and the return of her son. Even Ludwig Schmeikl–the boy she beats up on the playground and reconciles with at the book burning . . . I think the relationship with Rosa is the most unexpected, though. The moment when she sees Rosa with the accordion strapped to her (when Hans is sent to the war) is when she realizes exactly how much love her foster mother is capable of. Your use of figurative language seems natural and effortless. Is this something that you have to work to develop, or is it innately a part of your writing style? I like the idea that every page in every book can have a gem on it. It’s probably what I love most about writing–that words can be used in a way that’s like a child playing in a sandpit, rearranging things, swapping them around. They’re the best moments in a day of writing–when an image appears that you didn’t know would be there when you started work in the morning. At other stages, it takes time. It took three years to write this book, and some images remained from start to finish, but others were considered and reconsidered dozens of times, if not more. Often, to keep the workday flowing, I’ll continue writing the story and then come back later to develop an image that hasn’t worked from the outset. I might even take it out completely. This book gave us much to discuss, and discuss we did! Death, Nazi Germany, concentration camps, survival, fear, strength,---and many more topics I don't remember. Karen brought her photo albums from her trip to Germany and the work camps and concentration camps she visited. Phyllis shared a new ICCA book that is set in Nazi Germany--Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf which she suggested we might read. What a great discussion! We each brought a salad or something to go with salads. It was yummy! But, as I'm no photographer which I continue to prove over and over, I have a video of the food instead of photos!!

The American Wife

Booker Babes met on June 24th at the newest restaurant in Kalona to discuss the book,

The American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld.

One review is as follows: "While critics couldn’t say for sure whether or not Sittenfeld captures the exact thoughts of Laura Bush, they did agree that she creates a realistic and highly sympathetic portrayal of the (soon-to-be former) First Lady. (The author supposedly based the novel on Ann Gerhart’s 2004 biography, The Perfect Wife: The Life and Choices of Laura Bush.) Sittenfeld asks provoking questions about marriage, loyalty, and responsibility. But many reviewers couldn’t fundamentally understand why the very decent Alice had supported her husband despite her doubts about his capabilities; Sittenfeld’s pat, unsatisfactory answer i

s that Alice leads a life “in opposition.” That, combined with the author’s obvious contempt for Charlie, brought the reviews down a notch. Still, there’s nothing as titillating as a look, albeit fictional, inside the White House—especially during an election year."

As a group we enjoyed this book, even if we hadn't supported the Bushes. I forgot the camera, hence, no photos!

CHECK IT OUT!!

Several of us have won free books from The BookClub Cookbook web site. I personally have won 4!!!

Our next book is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak We will meet on Monday, July 20th at Jan's--time to be determined.

A Long Way Gone: Memoir of a Boy Soldier

A Long Way Gone: Memoir of a Boy Soldier by Ismael Beah was our May book. The book is described below:

A gripping story of achild’s journey through hell and back. 

There may be as many as 300,000 child soldiers, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s, in more than fifty conflicts around the world. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them. He is one of the first to tell his story in his own words.

In A LONG WAY GONE, Beah, now twenty-six years old, tells a riveting story. At the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. Eventually released by the army and sent to a UNICEF rehabilitation center, he struggled to regain his humanity and to reenter the world of civilians, who viewed him with fear and suspicion. This is, at last, a story of redemption and hope.

Deeply moving, even uplifting ... Beah's story, with its clear-eyed reporting and literate particularity—whether he's dancing to rap, eating a coconut or running toward the burning village where his family is trapped—demands to be read.

— People

Although this book was hard to read at times, I think most of us would agree with People's review--It certainly does demand to be read.  

Listen to Ismael read an excerpt from the book.

If you want to know more you can visit the website HERE.

If you work in a school, May is a busy stressful month.  There are grades, report cards, end of the year reports, and end of the year activities.  It is for this reason, I think, that we had a small group for book club.

 It is also for this reason that alcohol was on the menu!  This ISN'T normal for us!

                     Karen has a point to make as Jan and Nancy pay close attention!

  Phyllis makes a toast--to Ismael's successful rehabilitation?  Or perhaps to

 the end of the school year?

I think we would all agree that book club serves two purposes--discussions of good books and stress relief.  We have great discussions on other topics and more importantly we LAUGH!  It is good for the soul!  Don't you agree?