Tuesday, May 15, 2012
May Book Club Discussion: To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird is our book that we will discuss on Tuesday, May 12. What a great classic book to begin our new year. The book is an easy read, one you will hate to put down. Jump in, read it, and join us for a lively discussion!
A New Year Begins for Park Grove Library Book Club
A new year begins for the Park Grove Library Book Club. We met in April to decide what we would like to read for the coming year and half, as we have books scheduled through June, 2013. Feel free to contact the Washington County Librarians to connect with our Book Club leader, or just show up. We schedule our meetings at the Park Grove Library for 6:30 p.m. We may have some meetings off site, like our Holiday Party! Would love to have you join in our group at any time you can. This is the schedule for the upcoming year.
5/22/12 -- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
6/26/12 -- Behind the Beautiful Forever by Katherine Boo
7/24/12 -- The Healing by Jonathan Odell
8/28/12 -- The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
9/25/12 -- St. Maybe by Anne Tyler
10/23/12 -- Mrs. Robert E. Lee, The Lady of Arlington by John Perry
11/27/12 -- Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
12/18/12 -- Share a Book You've Read/Book Swap
1/22/13 -- Rez Life: An Indian's Journey through Reservation Life by David Treuer
2/26/13 -- Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
3/26/13 -- Night Circus by Eric Morgenstern
4/23/13 -- The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
5/21/13 -- The Red Tent by Anita Diamont
6/25/13 -- Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann Ross
5/22/12 -- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
6/26/12 -- Behind the Beautiful Forever by Katherine Boo
7/24/12 -- The Healing by Jonathan Odell
8/28/12 -- The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
9/25/12 -- St. Maybe by Anne Tyler
10/23/12 -- Mrs. Robert E. Lee, The Lady of Arlington by John Perry
11/27/12 -- Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
12/18/12 -- Share a Book You've Read/Book Swap
1/22/13 -- Rez Life: An Indian's Journey through Reservation Life by David Treuer
2/26/13 -- Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
3/26/13 -- Night Circus by Eric Morgenstern
4/23/13 -- The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
5/21/13 -- The Red Tent by Anita Diamont
6/25/13 -- Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann Ross
Friday, April 6, 2012
Book Club Selection -- Moving Forward
This next month has us looking at our future book club selections. We have used a system in the past that has worked well for us. We individually chose 2 or 3 books that we would like to recommend to the book club. We could find books through different reviews, Best Seller lists, Book Store lists, recommendations from friends, what other book clubs are reading (look at the Washington County Library Book Club site to other clubs) or if you were in our club, books we didn't choose in years past. The books we've read are on the left of this blog. You don't have to, and it might be better not to have read this book ahead of time. Read it with the group. WE WILL EMAIL THE LIST TO DIANE by April 17, with a summary that Diane will forward to the rest of the group. When we come to the Book Club meeting Tuesday, April 24, we will discuss which book we would like to read. We vary with our selection, mystery, fiction, or non-fiction, maybe a memoir. We also will read a book suggested by WCL for the County Selection. We are flexible with this, as we don't know as of yet, when or what book will be selected. If you are interested in joining the discussion for the upcoming year selection and haven't yet connected with the Book Club, please contact Carol Warner (click Carol's name) at the Park Grove Library. She will forward the info to Diane, our leader! All are welcome to share in the love of books and discussion.
Ava's Man by Rick Bragg
At our March discussion, there were eight of us that said they liked the book, one person shared that she thought it was ok, but wouldn't recommend it. Rick Braggs won a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1996 for his work at The New York Times. We agreed his use of description in this book was outstanding. You could even smell daily life, and clearly see the visual images he brought forth. He describes well the slice of life they used to survive the depression. His phrases were well used to describe the scenes. One participant said that he is vernacular in his language, writes it the way people speak it. We all agreed he knows how to describe a scene so we could use our senses to see it as he would see it.
Rick Braggs brings a book to life describing his Grandparents and their family. His first book All Over But the Shouting was about his home life, his mother, his alcoholic father and his work towards becoming a journalist. This second book, goes further back into his heritage, which I believe, many of us would like to do more research on if we could. We were introduced to Ava and her man, Charlie Bundrum in the early 30's and read about their adventure as they raised a family and tried to keep their family feed through those lean years. We have a description of Charlie as a "rail thin" man, but one who was very strong. (Picture in front of our book shows Charlie with a big fish!) They didn't have much to eat, and we noted, that Ava & Charle would make sure the children would be fed before they ate.
Charlie moved the family around, renting houses, finding work doing roofing jobs, trying to keep the family happy. We acknowledged that Charlie's family was most important to him, he had sense of love and obligation to his own kids, even with flaws in his character. He wasn't a waffler. He did like his likker, which he made and shared (I think that he kept a pint for each gallon of likker he sold). This was one of several reasons that lead to Charlie moving Ava, the family (including Hooter) around to different parts of Alabama & Georgia, renting houses as they went. The law would try to find that likker! Charlie was a talker. At one point in the book, Ava said any woman can appreciate a pretty man, but not every woman can appreciate a talking one. Ava liked that about him but we felt she probably wasn't very happy with his likker dealings. We talked about back then, women didn't get a divorce or leave their marriage (at least very much). But Charlie loved his family and loved Ava, protecting them against all evils in their journey together. Charlie died at 50, and years later when grand kids asked Ava about getting a new man, she said "No, hon, I ain't gonna get me no man, I had me one."
Some of us cried, in fact one participant said it brought her to tears when Charlie died, and she is one hard nut to crack on those tears! Another said she didn't like Charlie, didn't cry at all. I think most of us saw Charlie as a man who would do anything to protect and provide for his family, during a time of living in the "hard" south. They had their joys and their sorrows, and Rick Bragg brought us along with the journey.
***If you would like to add any comments about your thoughts of this book, please share! I didn't post all of our discussion in this book, but some of the highlights. I wasn't able to finish until a bit after our discussion, but I wanted to finish before I wrote this blog. I've recommended it for another book club that I am involved in, as I enjoyed it immensely. We had quite a few thoughts and enjoyed the discussion.
Rick Braggs brings a book to life describing his Grandparents and their family. His first book All Over But the Shouting was about his home life, his mother, his alcoholic father and his work towards becoming a journalist. This second book, goes further back into his heritage, which I believe, many of us would like to do more research on if we could. We were introduced to Ava and her man, Charlie Bundrum in the early 30's and read about their adventure as they raised a family and tried to keep their family feed through those lean years. We have a description of Charlie as a "rail thin" man, but one who was very strong. (Picture in front of our book shows Charlie with a big fish!) They didn't have much to eat, and we noted, that Ava & Charle would make sure the children would be fed before they ate.
Charlie moved the family around, renting houses, finding work doing roofing jobs, trying to keep the family happy. We acknowledged that Charlie's family was most important to him, he had sense of love and obligation to his own kids, even with flaws in his character. He wasn't a waffler. He did like his likker, which he made and shared (I think that he kept a pint for each gallon of likker he sold). This was one of several reasons that lead to Charlie moving Ava, the family (including Hooter) around to different parts of Alabama & Georgia, renting houses as they went. The law would try to find that likker! Charlie was a talker. At one point in the book, Ava said any woman can appreciate a pretty man, but not every woman can appreciate a talking one. Ava liked that about him but we felt she probably wasn't very happy with his likker dealings. We talked about back then, women didn't get a divorce or leave their marriage (at least very much). But Charlie loved his family and loved Ava, protecting them against all evils in their journey together. Charlie died at 50, and years later when grand kids asked Ava about getting a new man, she said "No, hon, I ain't gonna get me no man, I had me one."
Some of us cried, in fact one participant said it brought her to tears when Charlie died, and she is one hard nut to crack on those tears! Another said she didn't like Charlie, didn't cry at all. I think most of us saw Charlie as a man who would do anything to protect and provide for his family, during a time of living in the "hard" south. They had their joys and their sorrows, and Rick Bragg brought us along with the journey.
***If you would like to add any comments about your thoughts of this book, please share! I didn't post all of our discussion in this book, but some of the highlights. I wasn't able to finish until a bit after our discussion, but I wanted to finish before I wrote this blog. I've recommended it for another book club that I am involved in, as I enjoyed it immensely. We had quite a few thoughts and enjoyed the discussion.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Two Local Plays Snare Library Book Lovers
Two local plays share with us, it's viewer, the love that we have of books and also, the love of libraries. Babel at the Nimbus Theatre in NE Mpls (on Central) has an interesting play about architecture, knowledge and libraries! It is a quaint, small theatre that even offers old wooden theatre seats. This play ends March 25, 2012. Tickets -- $10. If you go, please post your thoughts on this production. http://nimbustheatre.com/discover/production/babel Underneath the Lintel is the other play that caught my eye at The Cabaret at Camp Bar in downtown St. Paul. A reclusive librarian finds a book 123 years overdue and tells of his worldwide quest to track down the borrower. http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/227208 This play is $14-$19. Thurs, March 29 - Sunday April 1 are performance dates. If you order through Groupon March 19-21 (if still available) tickets are 2 tickets for $19. For those of us that love reading "the word", it is fun to see "the word acted out." Please share your thoughts. If you chose to post Anonymously, would you please post your name.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Ava's Man -- Tuesday, March 27
We will be discussing Ava's Man, Tuesday, March 27 at the Park Grove Library from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. Please join us! April, 24 we will be selecting new books for the coming year.Washington County Library Web Site
A Soft Place to Land by Susan Rebecca White
A Soft Place to Land by Susan Rebecca White was a novel we liked. Part of our discussion was about the differences that step-sisters, Ruthie & Julia, had after their parents, Naomi & Phil (Phil was Julia's step-father) died in a plane crash. We felt that Ruthie took the best out of San Francisco and her time with her aunt, and Julia took the worst of the time with her dad & step mother in a small Virginia town. Although Julia had a very hard life and treatment, we felt this helped develop her as a writer. It brought us to our own discussion of having a will for our children (5 had legal wills -- 3 did not), and where our children would go.
We also enjoyed discussing how creative the girls were, and making up their own games when they were younger. We felt this helped Julia in her creative writing. This brought us back to our childhood and what fun games we played and how things are different now. Many of us freely ran around the neighborhood playing many different games with our siblings, friends and neighbors.
We talked about their life growing up and how differently it was. When Julia wrote her story, she talked about her sister's abortion, which caused much havoc when Ruthie found out. Did she cross the line by bringing this into her story? We agreed Julia wanted to share how different their caregivers helped them through issues. Ruthie had a loving aunt to help her through her abortion, but Julia's dad had her in this terrible treatment facility, very different results. We felt, though, that Julia had crossed the line, she didn't stop to think about her sister.
One comment made was about Ruthie using alcohol for her problems. Each daughter survived and with the plane crash at the end confirmed their connection, yet. We ran out of time discussing!
We also enjoyed discussing how creative the girls were, and making up their own games when they were younger. We felt this helped Julia in her creative writing. This brought us back to our childhood and what fun games we played and how things are different now. Many of us freely ran around the neighborhood playing many different games with our siblings, friends and neighbors.
We talked about their life growing up and how differently it was. When Julia wrote her story, she talked about her sister's abortion, which caused much havoc when Ruthie found out. Did she cross the line by bringing this into her story? We agreed Julia wanted to share how different their caregivers helped them through issues. Ruthie had a loving aunt to help her through her abortion, but Julia's dad had her in this terrible treatment facility, very different results. We felt, though, that Julia had crossed the line, she didn't stop to think about her sister.
One comment made was about Ruthie using alcohol for her problems. Each daughter survived and with the plane crash at the end confirmed their connection, yet. We ran out of time discussing!
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