Holiday News

With Thanksgiving just behind us, the book club choice for the month of December is You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas, by Augusten Burroughs.

There are two changes to the meeting for December. Note the change in date to Tuesday, December 14th. Kelly has again offered to host our group for the annual holiday meeting. We will meet at her home at 6:30. Please bring an appetizer or treat to share.

The November meeting was held to plan the reading list for the upcoming year. For those thinking ahead, (or while shopping find some really good coupons from bookstores), here are the selections for the first few months:

• January - Queen of the Road, by Doreen Orion
• February - Wives of Henry Oades, by Johanna Moran
• March - The Tall Pines Polka, by Lorna Landvik
• April - A Private History of Awe, by Scott Russell Sanders

More snow is on the way! Stay warm and happy reading!

A Piece of History Comes to Life

Memoirs are a popular form of non-fiction reading. Now there is one that has been one hundred years in the making.

What? How can that be?

Recently published is The Autobiography of Mark Twain, an unedited memoir left by the author, with the strict instructions that it not be published for a century after his death. Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Mark Twain died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910, at the age of 74. An excerpt from the book as presented by Newsweek reveals the content contains writings of personal anecdotes and stories of experiences in his life.

A note of interest: Mark Twain's birth coincided with the arrival of Halley's Comet in 1835. Later in his life, it was his expressed desire to "go out with Halley's Comet." His death occurred one day following the comet's return and closest approach to Earth. (See wikipedia for more details.)