Let's do some SHOPPING!

Ok girls. As promised, here is the cute bag website! Check it out. I know there are a lot, so make sure you've got a little time to look through them all. Mine is found under Summer/Spring bags. Let's get an order together in January sometime. BAGSREP.COM

Stephanie

Hooray for Book Club!

I am so looking forward to seeing you all tonight! I can't wait to see you!
My chcolate fountain is prepped and ready to go.Bring your jammies, or wear them whatever suits you. I am liking the idea of just wearing them right now. That sound comfy. Besides, stretchy pants might be a good thing tonight!

December's Book Choice: "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Since the beginning of the school year, high school freshman Melinda has found that it's been getting harder and harder for her to speak out loud: "My throat is always sore, my lips raw.... Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze.... It's like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis." What could have caused Melinda to suddenly fall mute? Could it be due to the fact that no one at school is speaking to her because she called the cops and got everyone busted at the seniors' big end-of-summer party? Or maybe it's because her parents' only form of communication is Post-It notes written on their way out the door to their nine-to-whenever jobs. While Melinda is bothered by these things, deep down she knows the real reason why she's been struck mute...

I read this book about a month ago and found myself dwelling on it for days. It is a fast moving, easy to read book that really grabbed my attention. I hope you enjoy it. Please leave a comment if you have an available copy of the book.

Book club will be held on Friday, December 18 at 7:00 PM at my house. We will discuss the book for approximately 1-1 1/2 hours. After that we will break out the chocolate fountain, exchange white elephant gifts, and watch the movie of the book for those who want to. It will most likely be a late evening so come prepared. By prepared I mean bring your jammies and pillows if you want to. More info on the party (food assignments for the chocolate fountain, info on white elephant gifts) to come soon so be sure to check the blog often this month. I will also be sending out the newsletter in the next couple of days so watch for that.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Love you all much and see you soon!

Turkey Trot 5K

I just had to post this picture of Linda, Mindy, and Me after our 5k yesterday! This is post race (I can't believe we're still smiling) You guys did awesome, it was so fun to hang out with you!
P.S. I also have a picture of them sprinting to the finish line they forbid me to post, but if anyone wants to see it...let me know ;)

Book Sale

I just heard this announcement on the radio and thought I'd pass it on. There is a book sale at a place called Jensen's Books. They are a book wholesaler that is opening a retail store. The sale is this Friday from 10-7 and Saturday from 10-8. (I am not positive about the hours on Saturday, it was a fast ad). The address is 450 W. 1700 S. in Logan. Most books are a dollar, or stuff a bag for $7. I will probably go first thing Friday morning. Come with me! Let me know if you are interested. I can't wait to see you all tomorrow night. Remember, our meeting starts at 7 PM instead of 6:30.

More retreat pictures

I had a wonderful time! Thank you to everybody who was involved in the planning. Can't wait until the next one!
~Steph

Only 6 more months...

Here are the pictures I took at the cabin. Hopefully I can get Stephanie to post her picture of the group, mine was too far away and not very clear. Oh well. It was a blast and I am already counting down the days until we get to do it again! See you in a few weeks. You know I love you, XOXO - Shanna

Répondez, s'il vous plait!

Mindy mentioned in the (oh-so-fabulous... love those!) bookclub newsletter that we need to RSVP as to who is coming to Bookclub Retreat. I figured a new post for that very purpose would be fitting. So here you have it.

Who's coming?

Comment on this blog to let us know your plans. {{Woohooo for Retreat!!!}}

xo

LAST CALL

Ladies, this is the last call for watch face orders. I will place the order on Sept. 29, Tuesday night. If you want something let me know by then. So far I have orders from Becca, Johanna, Ann, and Krista. Leave a comment, email me, or call me, whatever you choose. I will put in the order TUESDAY NIGHT. The link is HERE. There are 3 pages of faces to choose from. Let me know what you want. :)

Book recommendations and other stuff

Hey ladies! I can't wait to see you all at book club on Thursday! Hooray! I lost track of who got a newsletter in the mail and I know that not everyone got one. So if you see fellow members while you are out and about this week, give them a reminder that book club will be at Angie's house at 6:30. I also have the movie of Follow the River. We will watch it at my house around 8:00-8:30. I have YW volleyball so I won't be at the actual meeting (little sob) but I will call Angie when I get home so you can all come crash my house. I will be wearing jammies for sure, so you should too if you want to. Now on to book recommendations:

I picked up these book last week and have not been able to put them down since. The Hunger Games and it's sequel Catching Fire are by Suzanne Collins. The basic plot line is as follows. The US as we know it has fallen. The people are divided into 12 Districts and are governed by the iron hand of the Capitol. Every year each District is made to offer up 1 male and 1 female child to compete in The Hunger Games, a fight to the death tournament. Last man standing wins. The whole nation is required to watch these children kill each other off as a reminder of the power of the Capitol. Katniss is 16 when her 12-year-old sister's name is called. Katniss volunteers to go in her place. Thus begins the Hunger Games.
These books are absolutely fantastic. There is a little of everything in these books: Action, romance, theories on morality. That being said there is also violence, and there are some very disturbing scenes. I have to admit I have had some of the craziest dreams ever over the last week. I would highly recommend these books! I would have done them for book club except the books are very interdependent on each other, thus making it a bad match for our club. If you want to borrow them let me know. Both will be available by Thursday, but you have to read them in order!


Now, concerning watch faces: I will be placing a order on Friday after book club. If you want to order a face let me know by then. If you need help or have questions, we can go through the website pages at my house on Thursday night.
One more thing: I found a very cool blog: The Well-Read Child It is a blog dedicated to reviewing children's (infant-young adult) books. Very cool! Check it out. I will also add it to our side bar. I am excited to see you all this week!

Retreat Time!

Hey ladies! It is that time again. Retreat Time!! I am super excited to hang out with all of you! Here are the particulars:
Date: October 23-24
Time: Meet at my house at 4:00. We will meet Logan people at the Smith's parking lot at 4:30
Bring: A blanket and a pillow if you want. There are lots of beds.
~A inexpensive paperback to use in a paperback swap. A book that you love and would like to share with others.
~A treat to share
~$10 for food and craft
~Beads for watches
Craft: Yes, we are going to make beaded watch bands! Hooray! This is a personal taste thing. You will need to go into Beadles or Hobby Lobby/Micheal's and pick out your beads. There are some great ideas on this website.I will let you know approximately how many beads you need soon. I will also provide the beads that hook the two sides of the bands together(if you want something particular or fancy get it at Beadles), lobster clasps, and elastic cord. If you want to order a watch band leave a comment. I would choose something from this page. Call me if you have questions or want help choosing. I will be placing an order ONE TIME ONLY in a week so let me know which one you want ASAP.

I will provide dinner and breakfast with the pooled money. I need a couple of volunteers to drive. Anyone? I love you all and can't wait to hang out! Let me know if you have questions or comments(newbies especially). If you want to know how much I love you click on the comic. If you are not on the comic just know I ran out of little people, and maybe be grateful I didn't take a jab at you! Yay, yay, for slumber parties!

Book Club Meeting for September

Hey ladies! First of all, thank you Johanna for hosting book club this month. It was so great to get together with all of you. For some reason I feel like I haven't seen you all forever. I had a great time. The pie was yummy and the company was great! It was also great to go finally see "My Sister's Keeper" with a bunch of you. What a fun evening.
Now on to our book for next month.

Angie has chosen "Follow the River" by James Alexander Thom:

Mary Ingles was twenty-three, married, and pregnant, when Shawnee Indians invaded her peaceful Virginia settlement, killed the men and women, then took her captive. For months, she lived with them, unbroken, until she escaped, and followed a thousand mile trail to freedom--an extraordinary story of a pioneer woman who risked her life to return to her people.
This is a great read the will probably haunt you for days after reading it.

We have decided to try moving book club to the 4th Thursday of the month. We will try this out and see how it goes. Let me know what you think. With that, book club will be held on September 24, 6:30 PM at Angie's house.
Also our retreat for October is in the planning stages. Please vote on the poll to let us know what weekend will work best for you. Bear in mind that the date we pick will be most dependent on when the cabin is available. It's just helpful to know what is best to most of you. Again, let me know if you have any questions.
Love to all of you! If you love me leave a comment because I kind of live and breath for them! (I am working on being more subtle).

My Sister's Keeper

Let's go see My Sister's Keeper!

Date: Thursday, July 23
Time: 9:25 show
Place: Providence Stadium 8 (it is the only place showing it)

Meet at Mindy's just before 9 PM if you want to car pool in. We will leave my house promptly at 9:00. I like previews. Call me if you have questions. Leave a comment if you are going to come, just so I know. Hope to see you there!

August's Book Club Choice

Johanna hos chosen our book for this month. Here is a synopsis from amazon:

First-time author Lisa Wingate drew upon her relationship with her grandmother for inspiration in writing Tending Roses. Her sensitive and able crafting of language, character, and situation pierces through the turmoil and stress of everyday life, illuminating its message with almost painful intensity: "Maybe you should start wanting less." Wingate's words resonate as readers are introduced to Kate Bowman, her architect husband Ben, and their infant son. Kate, on maternity leave from her high-profile Chicago job, has been given the unenviable task of convincing her increasingly frail and forgetful grandmother that she can no longer live alone on the Missouri farm that has been her home for almost half a century. Kate and Ben are struggling to deal with mounting debts and medical bills as they strive to build a lifestyle, rather than a life. Frustrated by dealing with her stubborn, if well-meaning, grandmother, Kate finds solace and clarity in Grandma Rose's handwritten journal. The simple stories of earlier, less complicated times renew Kate's understanding of the truly important things in life. Through the journal, Kate discovers the essence of the remarkable Grandma Rose and is forced to reevaluate her priorities and those of her family. Simply put, Wingate's aim is to exhort readers to "stop and smell the roses." The daily race to achieve and have more, more, more is clearly and all-too-accurately portrayed in these pages. I guarantee readers will stop to think of their own lives and where they are spending their energies. Let's hope Lisa Wingate has other relatives as inspiring as Grandma Rose for future novels.

Our meeting will be on August 13th at 6:30. We will meet at Johanna's house.

July's Book: Peter and the Starcatchers

Our book for July is Peter andthe Starcatchers. Here is a short review of the book:

Fourteen-year-old Peter is an orphan who doesn't exactly know how old he truly is, just like he doesn't know his last name. So when St. Norbert's Home for Wayward Boys places him aboard a ship called The Never Land, along with four of his mates, on a trip to an island ruled by the evil King Zarboff, where they will be forced to serve as slaves, Peter doesn't know exactly what to think. But when he meets up with fourteen-year-old Molly Aster, a rich passenger, traveling with her governess Mrs. Bumbrake, mysterious things begin happening. For instance, Molly can speak to porpoises, and she's hiding information about the strange trunk located in a holding cell upon The Never Land. Information about the magic, and mystery, that the trunk is holding inside. But when the notorious Black Stache learns about the treasure, the passengers upon The Never Land are in for a lot of trouble. Trouble that leads them all to fight with pirates, and become stranded on a desert island.

Our meeting will be held 6:30, Thursday, July 9 at Linda's house. Please let Mindy know if you have any questions.

Movie Night

We are going to hit the movies Tuesday night! I know this is late notice, but hope you can come.

Date: Tuesday, June 16
Time: 9:50 showing
Place: Cinefour Movies

The Pianist

The Pianist, by Wladyslaw Szpilman, is this month's book. {The full title is actually "The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945" ... but who honestly wants that as a post title?} It's a memoir, which is sorta-new to us and should be awesome. It is Bonnie's pick, it has had FANTASTIC reviews, and really- it looks phenomenal!

Here is an Editorial Review I found on Amazon:

Written immediately after the end of World War II, this morally complex Holocaust memoir is notable for its exact depiction of the grim details of life in Warsaw under the Nazi occupation. "Things you hardly noticed before took on enormous significance: a comfortable, solid armchair, the soothing look of a white-tiled stove," writes Wladyslaw Szpilman, a pianist for Polish radio when the Germans invaded. His mother's insistence on laying the table with clean linen for their midday meal, even as conditions for Jews worsened daily, makes palpable the Holocaust's abstract horror. Arbitrarily removed from the transport that took his family to certain death, Szpilman does not deny the "animal fear" that led him to seize this chance for escape, nor does he cheapen his emotions by belaboring them. Yet his cool prose contains plenty of biting rage, mostly buried in scathing asides (a Jewish doctor spared consignment to "the most wonderful of all gas chambers," for example). Szpilman found compassion in unlikely people, including a German officer who brought food and warm clothing to his hiding place during the war's last days. Extracts from the officer's wartime diary (added to this new edition), with their expressions of outrage at his fellow soldiers' behavior, remind us to be wary of general condemnation of any group. --Wendy Smith

Yeah. I know! Stop drooling and go get it, then! ;)

The L. library has 2 copies {I've got one}. The N.L. library has one. And Amazon has them for as low as 38 cents.

We'll be meeting at my "new" house {slash Bonnie's in-law's} on Thursday, June 11th @ 6:30pm. Bonnie also has hook-ups to an edited version of the movie and will have it there if anyone wants to watch it afterward. Woohoo! I'm pumped already. So go get the book, then sit out in your yard and read. Ah... summer!

"These Is My Words"

Sorry for the lateness of this post. I have been super-busy.
Book club will be held on May 14th (THIS THURSDAY) at Shanna's house at 6:30 PM.
Our book is These Is My Words by Nancy Turner. Again I am sorry for the lateness of this all but if you can READ THIS BOOK! It is so, so, SO good. I think it is one of the best we have ever done.
I know there are several copies floating around. Give me a call if you need help tracking one down.
Love to all and see you on Thursday.
PS- I have a super cool gift for all of you from Jess Riley. (See comments on previous post). Also I have the newsletter for this month but it is late enough I will just give it to you at the meeting. I know, kind of lame, but again, I have been busy. If you want these treats, you have to come to our meeting on Thursday. . . did I convince you to come? :)

Another Fantastic Weekend

I hope everyone had as great of a time as I did at retreat this weekend. Thank you Johanna for letting us use the cabin (again), it the perfect place to go!
Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Till next time... keep reading.

Get Crackin on the Read for May!

Hey girls! I just wanted to say please start reading "These is My Words" so we have something to discuss in May! And I can't wait to see you all at retreat. I hope you have all been looking forward to it as much as I have. I was beaming all day at work and when anyone would ask why I told them I was so excited to go to my Book Club Retreat, yeah. Here are some pictures from the past to get you excited as well.

WHO'S EXCITED???

Things you should bring:
1) Yourself! COME, COME, COME!!!!!
Meet at Mindy's house at 4:30 or meet us at Mandarin Garden at 5:15 ish. I will make the
dinner reservation for 5:30. Yes you all know it will take us that long to get into town.
2) A blanket and a pillow if you want to. There are beds to sleep 12.
3) A treat to share. There should be nothing small about it, Becca!
4) $10 for breakfast and craft. This might be more than I need but I don't know for sure yet, so if it is I will reimburse you the extra. There were issues with the pendants (I made some and they were fugly) so we will be making picture frames this time. I will also bring my hair bow stuff so bring some extra cash if you want to do those.

If you are reading this and it is anytime before we leave, go take a nap because you know we will be up all night. I will only have happy girls, so go sleep now! Becca, that was for you.

Much love to all. I am so excited to hang out with you. Please call me if you have any questions!

Trying to Decide...

I'm trying to decide which book I should have everyone read when it is my turn. It's not until September, but I thought since most of you have yours listed here that I should try to make a decision too. Here are a couple I have been contemplating:

Follow the River

I loved this book. It was one of the first ones that I borrowed from Mindy. Read it in a few days. I don't want to pick it if most everyone has already read it though. It is a pretty intense book. Who all has read it already?

The Glass Castle

I've been wanting to read this one because I love memoir's. This has really great reviews. Again, I don't want to choose it if most have read it. So let me know.

Our Book for Review in April

Twenty-eight-year-old Leigh Fielding has a new chance at life thanks to Larry Resnick, a man she's never met - or more precisely, thanks to Larry's kidney. After five years on dialysis, Leigh is given the gift of a new kidney and a renewed sense of optimism; after all, for a long time she thought she wouldn't see her thirtieth birthday. Inspired by Larry and his gift, Leigh does what anyone who has been hooked up to a machine three days a week would want to do - she gets out of her hometown of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

A road trip seems like the perfect way to start her new life. Planning out stops along the way (visiting friends Meg and Jillian, dropping in unannounced on Larry's grandmother to thank her for his gift and find out more about him), her ultimate destination is California. There her mother disappeared to when she left Leigh, her brother, James, and their father, who killed himself about a year later. However, along the way, something unexpected happens - Leigh picks up a hitchhiker. Seventeen-year-old Denise is a runaway from her foster home, hiding from a bad boyfriend. She asks Leigh to take her along to California and Leigh, feeling daring with her new lease on life, agrees to the companionship, though she doesn't entirely trust Denise. Together they embark on a hilarious and unforgettable journey across the country and find parts of themselves scattered along the way.

This book was chosen by Missy. We will review Driving Sideways at our retreat on April 24-25.

the color purple

Has anyone read this book? I just did the other day, and ... well... it was... interesting. I'm pretty sure I loved it, but I hated lots of it. It's really well written and cleverly so {each chapter is a letter... sort of. The first page starts out, "Dear God"}. It is beautiful, sad, hopeful and true. The best word for the book {that I could come up with} is RAW. Its honest, this-is-life kind of telling speaks a kind of truth, touches you, but also makes you really sad and sometimes nauseated {ie. the incestual rape scene on page one}. Yeah. I don't know if I can recommend it... or at least don't know if I can recommend it to YOU. But I loved it... I think.

Retreat!!

The time has come again to start thinking about our next retreat. Yay! We aer looking at the last weeken in April. That would be April 24-25. Let me know ASAP if there are problems with this. We will be going over to Bear Lake as usual.
There are two craft options:

Scrabble Tile Pendants

OR

Beaded Watch Bands

Here is the deal:
The pendants will be cheaper. I would bring all the supplies and we could just do them that night. You would have to provide your own chain for the pendant. Pendant would run around $2-4 a piece. You could probably make as many as you want.
The watch bands will be more labor intensive and expensive. You would have to pick out and purchase your watch face and beads in advance (I can mass order the faces. I am still looking into beads). They would be much cheaper than what you buy them for through private sellers. Somewhere around $8-15 dollars for a watch face and a band.
Leave comments and let me know how you feel about the whole thing. Or at least vote on the poll.
Lots of love to all of you!
PS- Read Becca's post below. It is a good one!

UPDATE as of 2/23
I have the chance to order beads with Leigh (our aerobics instructor in Smithfield) but will probably have to do it tomorrow, which I know is quick notice. I will probably order enough for everyone to do watch bands. If you have trust issues with me and my bead choices (or just have a specific color you want) , CALL ME ASAP!!

The average person has only read 6.

Apparently this list comes from BBC (Top Reads?), but I found it here and she had found it here. I've marked the books that WE have read, as a book club (it's about average, though slightly higher), but most of us have probably read more. Take a look. It's a beautiful list.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchel
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I've read 16. How about you???

Jayhawk

Our book for this month is Jayhawk by Dorothy Keddington. It was chosen by Leah. I am excited to read it! I am looking for a good review or synopsis online and will update this post when I find one. If you have troubles finding a copy, leave a comment so we can work things out. This is a fairly short, light read so let's get it done this month ladies!

A Different Book for May?

Hey girls I missed all of you at the last book meeting, but I have to say being in St. George was sooo nice! Anyway, I read "Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard" in December and have been trying to decide if I liked it enough to still have it be our May book. I think I would like to change it to "These is My Words" by Nancy Turner. Please let me know how you feel about this. I don't want to change books if someone has actually already read Hullabaoo or has read "These is my Words" before. Sorry to be so wishy washy.

February 2009 Meeting

This month's book was chosen by Krista. She picked Zorro by Isabel Allende. This review on the book came from amazon.
Allende's lively retelling of the Zorro legend reads as effortlessly as the hero himself might slice his trademark "Z" on the wall with a flash of his sword. Born Diego de la Vega in 1795 to the valiant hidalgo, Alejandro, and the beautiful Regina, the daughter of a Spanish deserter and an Indian shaman, our hero grows up in California before traveling to Spain. Raised alongside his wet nurse's son, Bernardo, Diego becomes friends for life with his "milk brother," despite the boys' class differences. Though born into privilege, Diego has deep ties to California's exploited natives—both through blood and friendship—that account for his abiding sense of justice and identification with the underdog. In Catalonia, these instincts as well as Diego's swordsmanship intrigue Manuel Escalante, a member of the secret society La Justicia. Escalante recruits Diego into the society, which is dedicated to fighting all forms of oppression, and thus begins Diego's construction of his dashing, secret alter ego, Zorro. With loyal Bernardo at his side, Zorro hones his fantastic skills, evolves into a noble hero and returns to California to reclaim his family's estate in a breathtaking duel. All the while, he encounters numerous historical figures, who anchor this incredible tale in a reality that enriches and contextualizes the Zorro myth. Allende's latest page-turner explodes with vivid characterization and high-speed storytelling.

This book looks to be an exciting, fun read, while still holding some weight. I look forward to seeing you all on the 12th!