February Book Club Meeting

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is a book for children but I don't think any second or third grade teacher would read this to her students. It is a horror story written by Suzanne Collins that requires each new of the 12 districts of North America to send two children to the games where someone will be killed. It is like a Stephen King horror novel.

Host: Carol

Book: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Response of bookclub members: Several folks liked the book but most found it way to scary to read word for word so they just skimmed thru the book.

January Book Club Meeting

January Book Club Meeting

Host: Teresa

Book: The Diary of Libby Beaman by Betty John

Response of Book Club Members: This "diary" was written as a novel by Libby Beaman's granddaugher Betty John. It tells the story of Libby Beaman living in the Arctic Circle in the cold of January when it is almost total darkness all day and all night. I almost sent my husband Jack to the meeting because he did some army audits up in Fairbanks, Alaska in January and back in the 1970's he had some similar experiences as Libby. For example:

142 inches of snow that January

If the temp was below -30 degrees, you had to leave the cars running all the time

The coldest temp Jack saw was -63 degrees in Fairbanks that January

With the cars running all the time there was ice fog from the fumes of the car which meant that one person would drive and the other person would walk along beside the car giving directions like stay straight, make a turn, etc.

December Book Club Meeting

Host: Lucille

Book: The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein

Response of the Book Club Members: Everyone had mixed feelings about this book. Some because the dog in the story is dying of old age while narrating the story of his relationship with his owner Enzo. Some thought the book didn't go into enough detail about the dog's relationship with his owner Enzo. Others thought the book was a sad selection for the merry month of December.

WallyLamb, another author describes the novel as "...a meditation on humility and hope in the face of despair."

November Book Club Meeting

November Book Club Meeting

Host: Maura

Book: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford

Response of the Book Club Members: Everyone like this book. The setting is San Francisco's China Town and tells the story of a Chinese American and a Japanese American. Their ups and downs. Thus the title of the book--Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

September Book Club Read

September Book Club Read

Host: Brenda

Book: Half Broke Horses, A True Life Novel by Jeannette Walls

Response Of Book Club Members: I understand why everyone enjoyed this book very much. It gave a great lady her due----she was an adventures woman who broke horses in the Arizona desert when she was just five years old. She later learned to drive a model T Ford and to fly a light plane.

October Book Club Meetiing-Turn Right at Machu Picchu

October Book Club Meeting

Host: Delaine at Dickie's House

Book: Turn Right at Machu Picchu, by Mark Adams

Response of the Book Club Members: Most folks found the story of the discovery of Machu Picchu rather long and boring but did enjoy the humorous adventures of Mark Adams's trips to the site with his guides. And of course the ladies enjoyed the photos of Delaine herself at Machu Picchu when she was just eight years old.

August Bookclub Read

August Bookclub Read:

Host: Haelie

Book: Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens

Response of the Bookclub Members: The members didn't not discuss the book plot but discussed

the novel's static one dimensional book characters in light of the fact that this was one of the very first novels ever written and it was a new unusual genre for readers and related that fact to the way characters are created in today's novels.