Monthly Assignments 2013

January: Amy "Language of Flowers"
February: Becca "North and South"
March: Linda "Saving CeeCee Honeycutt"
April: Angie "Proof of Heaven"
May: Leah "Austenland"
June: Caron
July: Missy
August: Krista
September: Ann
October: Shanna
November: Johanna "The Light Between Two Oceans"
December: Mindy "One Hundred Years of Solitude"

Book Club Retreat Spring 2013!

Yay, EVERYONE is in the picture! We love you and will miss you so much Amy!

October 2012

Our book this month is If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern. It was chosen by Krista. Here is a brief description of the book taken from Amazon.com:

Readers and critics alike adore Cecelia Ahern for her lighthearted yet insightful stories about modern women and their often unusual situations. In If You Could See Me Now, she takes that theme a step further, offering us a heroine who is entirely believable, and the new man in her life who is, well, slightly less so.
Elizabeth Egan's life runs on order: Both her home and her emotions are arranged just so, with little room for spontaneity. It's how she counteracts the chaos of her family -- an alcoholic mother who left when she was young, an emotionally distant father, and a free-spirited sister, who seems to be following in their mother's footsteps, leaving her own six-year-old son, Luke, in Elizabeth's care. When Ivan, Luke's mysterious new grown-up friend, enters the picture, Elizabeth doesn't know quite what to make of him. With his penchant for adventure and colorful take on things large and small, Ivan opens Elizabeth's eyes to a whole new way of living. But is it for real? Is Ivan for real?
If You Could See Me Now is a love story with heart -- and just a touch of magic.

RETREAT is this month! This book will be reviewed at retreat. Dates are October 26-27. More details coming soon.

September 2012

What would possess a gifted young man recently graduated from college to literally walk away from his life? Noted outdoor writer and mountaineer Jon Krakauer tackles that question in his reporting on Chris McCandless, whose emaciated body was found in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992. Described by friends and relatives as smart, literate, compassionate, and funny, did McCandless simply read too much Thoreau and Jack London and lose sight of the dangers of heading into the wilderness alone? Krakauer, whose own adventures have taken him to the perilous heights of Everest, provides some answers by exploring the pull the outdoors, seductive yet often dangerous, has had on his own life.

Book club will be Sept 28th, 7:00 PM at Leah's house. Let me know if you have any questions. Can't wait to discuss this book!

June 2012

OK ladies, book club in June will be held at my house. Give me a few days to figure out the date. There is a youth conference going on during our normal week which would affect quite a few of us. I may move it up or back a week. Comments and suggestions?
Our book this month is State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. My copy is roaming around. If you are done with it please post so we can get it to the next person. This book is just recently out in paperback and can be purchased on Amazon. If you want to do that let me know, I have free 2-day shipping on all my orders. This is a REALLY good book so please make an effort to get a hold of it and get it read. I think we will have some great discussion with this book. I'll post the date for book club in a couple of days. Love you all!

Another Good One!

Thanks again Johanna! Retreat was a blast.

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

This is the book for May (at Shanna's house)
There are 8 copies floating around from the bookclub kit, so if you need one ask around:).

In 1937, Shanghai is the Paris of Asia, a city of great wealth and glamour, the home of millionaires and beggars, gangsters and gamblers, patriots and revolutionaries, artists and warlords. Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different: Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep, adorable and placid. Both are beautiful, modern, and carefree . . . until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.

As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, Pearl and May set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the Chinese countryside, in and out of the clutch of brutal soldiers, and across the Pacific to the shores of America. In Los Angeles they begin a fresh chapter, trying to find love with the strangers they have married, brushing against the seduction of Hollywood, and striving to embrace American life even as they fight against discrimination, brave Communist witch hunts, and find themselves hemmed in by Chinatown’s old ways and rules.

At its heart, Shanghai Girls is a story of sisters: Pearl and May are inseparable best friends who share hopes, dreams, and a deep connection, but like sisters everywhere they also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries. They love each other, but each knows exactly where to drive the knife to hurt the other the most. Along the way they face terrible sacrifices, make impossible choices, and confront a devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel hold fast to who they are–Shanghai girls.