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