January book selection:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old.

The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The narrator's father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers. One critic explains the novel's impact by writing, "In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism."

Often listed as the book "every adult should read before they die

It was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962  

 

November Comments

  

   Shirley Jones: a Memoir?

Most of our comments are not fit for print but we would like to say to her "...congratulations for having sex that wasn't filmed for a movie."

Also Shirley if you are reading this...

Date to remember:

Dec. 12th - Y-Dine at Oregano's
Can't wait to see you all

January Book selection -
          To Kill a Mockingbird 

Happy Hour at Arrowhead Grill

New job, new duds, looking good Kelly.

A great time out on the patio  - and some unusual drinks!

Who would order this  - 1920'ties Aviation Cocktail?

(The Blacklist - NBC's new TV drama )

Details and recipe

(click) 

Hopefully more pictures on the way! And then back to the book club.

Y- Dine?

Coming soon... Oct. 10th.  Watch email for details.

Not so "Goodie-Two-Shoes" ?

Lisa selects our next read  - November 10

Shirley Jones a Memoir

Simon and Schuster, Jul 23, 2013 - Biography & Autobiography  - 304 pages

“In this memoir you are going to meet the real flesh-and-blood Shirley Jones, not just the movie star or Mrs. Partridge.” —SHIRLEY JONES 

She sang her way into America’s heart in classic films like Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The Music Man. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Elmer Gantry. And she played one of television’s most beloved moms in the iconic 1970s sitcom, The Partridge Family. From golden-voiced ingénue to bus-driving mother of a pop band, Shirley Jones has always seemed as pure and wholesome as her squeaky-clean image. But now she’s ready to set the record straight—in a memoir as shockingly candid, deliciously juicy, and delightfully frank as the star herself.

This is the real Shirley Jones: a small-town girl from Pennsylvania with a rebellious nature, radiant smile, and rare talent that grabbed the attention of Broadway legends Rodgers and Hammerstein—on her very first audition. Shirley’s meteoric rise put her in the company of major movie stars like Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, and Burt Lancaster. But it was the dashing, charismatic, and deeply troubled actor Jack Cassidy who stole Shirley’s heart—and unlocked her highly charged sexuality. For the first time, she reveals the stunning details of their rocky marriage and adventurous life: the infidelities, the costar crushes, the sexual experimentation. She talks openly about her relationship with stepson David Cassidy, her cult status with The Partridge Family, and her second marriage to wacky TV comedian and producer Marty Ingels. Most of all, she reveals a side of Shirley Jones we’ve never seen before. . . .

The First Family

David Baldacci wrote this compelling political thriller. 

We all enjoyed the read. What a BIG discussion!

We picked up a couple historical facts along the way.

  Eisenhower named Camp David after his grandson and Warren Harding's wife was suspected in his untimely death?  

(I think we forgot to discuss the secondary plot about Michelle's family. Interesting because that made her character even more complex.)

 Kathy comments: "The book kept me guessing on how everyone fit into Sam Quarry's timeline.   It was interesting the different feelings we had about the first lady and Sam Quarry."

Our host, Noreen had prepared several questions which really made us think and TALK!  Noreen likes the author, followed the TV series and is now reading Absolute Power - another of Baldacci's thrillers!

 Sylvia says, "I love page burners and legal/political connections. I've read all of Baldacci's books. The Camel Club series is my favorite!"

Send your comments to the blog host or just post  your comments here. That includes our virtual members  Jan, Robynne and Earleen as well. Thanks for reading along with us.

 

September Lunch and Discussion

Ladies, start reading now for

 

September 22!

Y-Dine @ Flemings

It has been said before, but again .....lovely and literary!

September Selection

First Family

by David Baldacci

(click for his website)

Following the instant #1 New York Times bestsellers Split Second, Hour Game, and Simple Genius, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell return in David Baldacci's most heart-pounding thriller to date...

 A daring kidnapping turns a children’s birthday party at Camp David, the presidential retreat, into a national security nightmare.

Former Secret Service agents turned private investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell don’t want to get involved. But years ago Sean saved the First Lady’s husband, then a senator, from political disaster. Now the president’s wife presses Sean and Michelle into a desperate search to rescue a kidnapped child. With Michelle still battling her own demons, the two are pushed to the limit, with forces aligned on all sides against them – and the line between friend and foe impossible to define…or defend.

 Baldacci's first novel, Absolute Power, tells the story of a fictional American President and his Secret Service agents who are willing to commit murder in order to cover up the accidental death of a woman with whom the President was having an affair. It was made into a film, Absolute Power (1997), starring Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman.

In addition to writing novels, Baldacci wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of his novel Wish You Well; the movie was shot on location in southwest Virginia in the fall of 2012 with Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn, Josh Lucas, and Mackenzie Foy in the lead roles. Baldacci is a consulting producer on King & Maxwell, a TNT television series based on his characters Sean King and Michelle Maxwell.

(Two book club members highly recommend his Camel Club series! Spell binding read!)

BBC News Flash 7 August 2013

Henrietta Lacks: Family win recognition for immortal cells

Her story was made famous by 2010 best-seller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The family of a US woman whose cells revolutionised medical research have been granted a say over how they are used, six decades after her death.

Go to the site for the full story:
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23611189

Good catch Kelly P - thanks!

The coolest, smartest book clubbers in town!

(Show this to your friend who thinks we are old gray-haired ladies!) 

Comments from our host Roz:

 "Man's inhumanity to man...around  forever, sadly.  Casual antisemitism of the German middle class in the 1930's is transformed into state-sponsored persecution.   What would you do? Would you be complacent?  Show humaneness?  Have moral commitment to become actively engaged and try to save some of those who are being persecuted?  Sigrid Schroder made a choice.    

(vocabulary to note)                                                                                

MISCHLING-less than 100 percent Aryan offspring. 

CATCHER-Jews working for the Gestapo. Who turned-in other Jews, for benefits and privileges. 

U-BOATS-Jews who have submerged beneath the surface of the city's daily life."                                  

            A good read about moral responsibility!  ROZ

Comments from Kelly P - always insightful:

"The beginning of the book was slow but I felt the plot picked up about halfway through. The story and setting were very interesting and I appreciatedseeing WWII through German citizens' eyes. We read that the author wanted to provoke conversation and the "what would I do?" question.

I believe he succeeded in that and I think our group would agree. It was interesting to hear our members' thoughts on that topic!

My biggest problem with the book was with the characters. My favorite books have well developed characters, but in this book, I had trouble connecting with any of them. I wanted to love Sigret and feel close to her, but I never did. Her actions were admirable and thought-provoking, but I would have liked to know more about what she was thinking that led her to make the very difficult decisions she made throughout the book. 

All in all, a good read and discussion."

Many thanks to our virtual book club member Robynne for her comments!

 "I thought of the "what would you do if" with a patient today, who had a Sigrid of sorts in her life. Basically, it was an angel father-figure neighbor, who took her out of an abusive situation as a teen and let her come live with him. Had he not "done the right" thing, her poor spirit might have been crushed. So we have examples of this in our lives, too."

Y-Diners June Meeting

Destination - Barrel Grill Peoria

Rendezvous -  successful

Result - A good time was had by all 

(perhaps some more than others!)

Stay tuned.....there will be more summer fun for these ladies!

New Book Selection

Our choice for August 4th

Overview

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND ONE OF KIRKUS REVIEWS' BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

It is 1943—the height of the Second World War. With the men away at the front, Berlin has become a city of women.

On the surface, Sigrid Schröder is the model German soldier’s wife: She goes to work every day, does as much with her rations as she can, and dutifully cares for her meddling mother-in-law, all the while ignoring the horrific immoralities of the regime.

But behind this façade is an entirely different Sigrid, a woman of passion who dreams of her former Jewish lover, now lost in the chaos of the war. But Sigrid is not the only one with secrets—she soon finds herself caught between what is right and what is wrong, and what falls somewhere in the shadows between the two . . .

Thank you Roz - this book looks very interesting.

Wild Indeed

What lovely ladies at a lovely lunch meeting. We had a very lively discussion about  - Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Kelly thanks for being such a great host. 

Personally, I feel like our Kelly J could take the same PCT hike and be ever so much better prepared. In fact Kelly was in shock at Cheryl Strayed's unpreparedness.  But for a 22 year-old in such distress - it was an amazing story. The book was published in March 2013.

Cheryl Strayed, ten days into the Pacific Crest Trail in June 1995.

 We felt the pain and suffering of physical aspects of the trail.  

We all cried when she described her mother's passing. Truthfully we had difficulty talking about the horse scene. We were warmed by the camaraderie on the trail. And again horrified at her lack of planning for provisions and such.
But amazed at her emotional growth during the hike.

Below see some reviews and quotes about the book:

A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe “and built her back up again.

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail ....... She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than an idea, vague .....But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.

******************
Strayed pushed herself on a 1,100-mile hike for which she was woefully unprepared. Her backpack, "Monster," is so heavy she can barely lift it. Her too-tight boots cause half of her toenails to pop off. Psychically, she's in worse shape. Left reeling by her mother's death from cancer, followed by the painful separation from the man she married at 19, Strayed was turned on to heroin by one of her lovers. As she sets off on her hike, there are track marks on her ankle.

...next blog entry announces the new book selection

A Shout Out

Miss Sunshine is a fantastic host!

Thanks so much  Kathy!

June Book Selection is Wild

Seriously - Wild

by Cheryl Strayed

Selected by our favorite wild child Kelly!

June 9th 

Cheryl Strayed is the author of #1 New York Times bestseller WILD, the New York Times bestseller TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS, and the novel TORCH. WILD was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as her first selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0 and optioned for film by Reese Witherspoon's production company, Pacific Standard.  

A World War II Story

We had a great discussion about how much we learned from reading Unbroken. Although this selection was  not our easiest read,  we wish  every young person would read this book. Most of us struggled with the early chapters however the payoff  was knowledge gained about personal  endurance and the horrors of the Japanese POW Camps. Amazing how  public awareness has changed about the effects of war on returning soldiers!

We'll most likely never see patriots like those from The G.I Generation.

(Click the link to more about the Generation of Americans)

WW II Memorial in Washing, D.C.

Sigh....so much to learn and comprehend. Thank you book club ladies for the intelligent discussion and your viewpoints. We will not soon forget Louie Zamperini.

      

Read more about the possibility of a Hollywood movie.

(click when text is highlighted)

On a personal note, my father was born the same year as as Zamperini. Had he not failed the physical, he would have been in the war. Our lives would have been changed. 

 I visited the WW II Memorial, a few years ago, soon after it opened.  I met a wonderful veteran who served in the Pacific. We had a great conversation and I was moved to thank him for his service. Admittedly,  I left in tears. Watching  so many elderly gentleman visiting the memorial for the first time (and most likely the last time)  was truly an emotional experience. My pictures below.

April Title

 Kathy's book selection for April 14th


Short Description for Unbroken

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared. Then, on the ocean surface, the face of a young lieutenant appeared as he struggled to pull himself aboard a life raft. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. In her long-awaited new book, the author of "Seabiscuit" tells an unforgettable story of a man's journey