Local Author to Visit

Just a reminder that this Tuesday, December 11th, at 7:00 p.m., local author Kathleen Winters will be at Park Grove Library to read from and discuss her book, Anne Morrow Lindbergh: First Lady of the Air.

Read an excerpt from the book on Kathleen's web site, www.kathleenwinters.com, and you will soon find yourself passenger to Charles and Anne Lindbergh as they navigate a flight from the west coast of Africa to Brazil.

November Meeting News

At our regular monthly meeting for November we had the privilege of a personal appearance by local author William Kent Krueger.

The author discussed his award winning mystery series of novels, all of which utilize titles of two words, feature main character Cork O'Connor, and take place in our local surroundings of northern Minnesota and the upper peninsula of Michigan. He was available to sign purchased copies of his book, Thunder Bay, and included a reading from his newest project.

We were joined by other members of our community to hear Krueger speak, telling us about his writing habits, his current projects, and the work he plans for the future. More information about his is available at his web site: www.williamkentkrueger.com

All in all the evening was entertaining and enjoyable!

November News

Hi book club friends,

November brings a couple of opportunities for us:
1. Park Square Theater presents OF MICE AND MEN for 99 Cents on Tuesday, November 20th. Unfortunately this is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The Preview special is 99 Cents on a first come basis. We need to be in line at 5:30 at the theater to get a ticket for the play which is at 7:30.

(See more information in "Mice and Men for less than a buck", from the Pioneer Press.)

I will not be able to attend this one this time. But if you are interested please let me know by email this week and I can let everyone know who will be going. Perhaps those interested could meet at the library at 5 pm and drive together to the ParkSquare Theater, on 7th place across from the Macy's parking ramp.

2. Book club this month will be attending an author visit at the Park Grove Library. On Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. William Kent Krueger will be talking about his books in the library meeting room. We agreed to read any of his mysteries so we are familiar with the characters which are in the Cork O'Connor series. If anyone is interested in talking about it more we can go for coffee following the author visit.

3. No book club in December.

4. Author visit to Park Grove Library on Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. by local author Kathleen Winters, biographer of Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

5. January book club: THE GOOD EARTH, Pearl Buck.

6. February book club: WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, Sara Gruen.

Thanks, Diane

Shades of Kavalier and Clay

Hello Bookmates,

Here we go again - another example of life imitating art, or art imitating life, and right in our own backyards.

Take a look at this link to local illusionist and escape artist Jonathon Bryce. (Then follow the link to W.E.A.R. 2007). Just over the past weekend Jonathon set out to accomplish 24 escapes in 24 hours here and around the Twin Cities and eastern Minnesota, and he did it!

Upcoming Events

Hi Everyone-

This information has come in from our helpful and friendly local librarian, Deb. She says:

I just wanted to let you all know about a few upcoming author events at PG. From the WCL website:

"Two authors will visit Park Grove Library, Cottage Grove this fall to talk about their books and writing: Minnesota author William Kent Krueger, writer of the Cork O'Connor mysteries, on Tuesday, November 27 at 7 p.m., and local author Kathleen Winters, biographer of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, on Tuesday, December 11 at 7 p.m. Both events are free, all welcome. Authors will have copies of their books available for purchase."

One of the events will take place on the night of our next meeting - November 27th. This is a perfect opportunity to read and meet an well known author of mystery novels.

The second author, Kathleen Winters, is a neighbor! She lives in Cottage Grove, and wrote: "Anne Morrow Lindbergh: first lady of the air". The Washington County libraries currently have 6 copies of the book, so put in your request early if this is something that interests you.

October Meeting

Hi Book Club friends,

Just a reminder that we meet this Tues., Oct. 23 at 7 pm at the Park Grove Library for discussing POPE JOAN. I don't remember us determining a group leader this time. Is anyone doing this, or will someone volunteer to do it? I have questions in the back of my book I can bring along. If we have no volunteers I think we will just pass the questions around and share the leadership.

Let's think of a process to select our titles for upcoming months. I think we have bogged down on our decision making for book selection. Originally we determined we would always be three months out on book titles. So come with book title ideas, I will bring our previously generated title lists also.

POPE JOAN will be a wonderfully thought provoking book to discuss on Tuesday.

See you then,
Diane

Book Selections Update

Hi Book Club Friends,
Deb checked on availability of the books we were interested in for the next months. Perhaps we could do both of these titles. I propose we do this:

October - POPE JOAN
November - THE GOOD EARTH

Let me know what you think. Let's make this decision this week so people can get their hands on the book. I will let you know what the consensus is of those who respond. We can just go ahead with the one the most select, if that is ok with all of you.

See you on Sept. 25 for the next book club meeting to discuss, OF MICE AND MEN. We look forward to information on the possibility of attending the play OF MICE AND MEN this fall.

Sincerely, Diane

August Meeting Update

Hi bookclub friends,

Our next bookclub will meet at the Park Grove Library,
Tuesday, Sept. 25, 7-8:30 p.m.,
OF MICE AND MEN, John Steinbeck,
Discussion leader will be Freda.

Our October book selection has not been made. If we can get the book set from the library we will read POPE JOAN. If not we will read THE GOOD EARTH, Pearl Buck. I will let you know as soon as I get the info on the book bag availability.

Stay tuned,

Thanks,
Diane

Where the Bears Are

Neighbors! Have you checked your bird feeders lately?

Bill Bryson and Stephen Katz did not come across many bears on their hike of the Appalachian Trail in A Walk in the Woods. But we have them here!

Check out this link about bears and bird feeders in nearby Afton.

After A Walk in the Woods

Everyone at our meeting Tuesday night seemed to agree that A Walk in the Woods was an enjoyable and fun book to read. So, for those of you who are interested in refreshing your memory of the book with an excerpt, or, of reading excerpts from other books by the same author, visit the Official Website of Bill Bryson through this link.

Open Comments

Readers! Feel free to talk to the rest of the book club here. Just click on the 'comments' link below and leave a message.

More on Webster Cummings

For the readers of The Free Fall of Webster Cummings who enjoyed the book, (and most all of us did), there are a number of other books written by the same author, Tom Bodett.

Visit Tom Bodett's web site, www.bodett.com, to find out more about the books he's written, as well as regularly updated notes about his life on his blog.

About the Free Fall of Webster Cummings

While discussing the book, a couple of people in our book club remembered reading about an event similar to Webster's free fall in a recent newspaper. Here is a link to the true story about the experience of Chris Fogg: Man Sucked out of Plane at 20,000 Feet.

July Meeting Update

Hi Book Club friends,

We had a fun evening at our July book club. Just for a change we went to Diane's home, shared yummy treats we all contributed (NO Fast Food Nation items here), and talked about good books while sitting outside. Ahhhhh, summer books and summer outside discussions.

Pat led us through a wonderful discussion of THE FREE FALL OF WEBSTER CUMMINGS, Tom Bodett. She constructed her own thought provoking questions as there were none published! This is the first book that ALL members liked! We also talked about what other things we had read this month, suggestions others had given to us, and possible titles from the Washington County Library book sets.

Tuesday, August 28 is our next book club meeting. We will meet at the Park Grove Library at 7 p.m. where Jo Ann will lead the discussion of A WALK IN THE WOODS, Bill Bryson.

Tuesday, September 25 we will discuss OF MICE AND MEN, John Steinbeck. This is a library book kit. The books will be passed out at the August meeting.

We need ideas for October, November and December. We are still looking for a Christmas book to read. Any suggestions for the fall books can be posted in our new blog.

Sincerely,
Diane

Welcome!

Hello book club friends!

Summer is a great time for reading, and such a great time for vacations too. Not all of us have been able to get together every month.

So, we welcome you to learn to use this space - our book club space - online, to keep up with our meeting news, add your comments on our current monthly pick if you can't make it to a meeting, and post suggestions for books to read in the future.

If you have some ideas, we'd all like to hear from you, so keep in touch.

Ideas - Books to Read - Ideas

At this time we have a book selection for July and a book selection for August, and then . . . . a big blank.

Post your ideas here and we can have some discussion. We've had a request for a Christmas-themed story for reading closer to the holidays and talked about reviewing an old classic, so if you know of any specific titles, let us know.