Some Official Business

Happy New Year!!

As we begin this new calendar year of book club meetings, we are confronted with some changes. Due to budget cuts, the library hours have been revised, and for our Tuesday nights, the building will be closing at 8:00 p.m. instead of the 8:30 p.m. we have grown accustomed to.

So, our new meeting schedule will be:

• The fourth Tuesday of each month,
• From 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Exceptions to this schedule might still occur, but we will have plenty of notice if that happens. Otherwise, we will be meeting on January 27th to discuss The Broken Cord, by Michael Dorris. See you then.

A Season to Be Merry!

The snow began falling in early afternoon, but it did not deter our little group from getting together to discuss A Redbird Christmas, by Fannie Flagg. As Diane put it: "Cora was so detail oriented that she had mother nature coordinate the weather to enhance the story; it looked like a snow globe outside".

Through the cold and snow, some of us arrived by carpool, (thanks JoAnn!), and were greeted by Cora as she so graciously shoveled a path for us to her door. We shared books, treats, and stories, for an evening of holiday cheer.

Oh! And we did share our thoughts about the book of the month. All of us enjoyed the book. We delighted in the characters and we were pleased by the story. We found the book to be heartwarming, and a perfect lead-in to the holiday season.

Many of our members have read other books by Fannie Flagg, the most well-known of which is Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. She has a pleasing writing style that mixes humor with sensitivity, and more than one member of our group commented on how real the people in the books seemed to be.

More information on Fannie Flagg is available on her web site.

p.s. Don't miss the link to Fannie's recipe page. It includes some wonderful southern hometown favorites.

Holiday Meeting News

For the month of December, we have chosen to read A Redbird Christmas, by Fannie Flagg. This book was chosen for its holiday theme, which we will honor this month by adapting our regular meeting schedule in the following ways:

• Cora has graciously offered her home as a meeting place. She has suggested we could scoot up our starting time to 6:30 p.m. to allow time for sampling treats.


• Our meeting will be held on December 16th, one week earlier than our regular schedule.


• Members are asked to bring an appetizer or dessert. After all, it is the season for good things to eat.


• And members are asked to bring in books for a book exchange. We will share our already read books among each other, and mail a selection of books to our troops. Kelly says they all love and need books, and she has addresses for our soldiers in Afghanistan and Walter Reed Hospital.

So, we are looking forward to this exciting time!

November Meeting

Two days prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, we had a lively discussion of this month's book choice: The Feast of Love, by Charles Baxter.

Most of us found the book to be enjoyable, with likeable characters and a well written, interesting presentation. While the book did have content that was generally spicier than what we normally choose, a few members found it to be a little too 'hot'. (Warning to potential readers: this book is not for children.)

JoAnn came well prepared with thought-provoking questions, and shared information about the movie version of the novel starring Morgan Freeman. She told us about a number of changes that were made to the story in the on-screen version, but left undisclosed the movie's solution to a lingering question in the book, what happened to Harry's son, Aaron?

October

Our meeting was held one week prior to election day, and with almost all of our reading group gathered, we met to discuss the central themes of this month's book: politics and religion.

Nevertheless, we had an enjoyable evening, sharing our reactions to the book's content, and look forward to the next few months of more cheerful topics.

September Meeting

It was a dark and stormy night . . . but six of us braved the lightning and thunder to come together and discuss The Gun Seller, by Hugh Laurie.

Overall we had a pretty unanimous opinion about the book, noting the author's wit but having a great deal of uncertainty about what the story was about. One of our members found the reading so laborious she put it down after the second chapter. The rest of us finished the book, but were confused about who the characters were and what the plot had been. We wondered if the story would be better understood by a reader familiar with spy novels.

More than one person in our group noted their recognition of the author by his photo on the book cover, none other than the character of "House" on a popular television show.

Reading Update

Diane says: We are flexible!

The book kit for The Infidel, our original choice for discussion on our next meeting September 23rd, is not available at this time.

So, the books selected for September and October will be reversed, and when we meet this month, it will be to discuss The Gun Seller, by Hugh Laurie.

Many thanks to Deb and the library for assisting in obtaining as many copies of this book as possible.