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.