Sunday, November 29, 2009

Christmas Party

It's time for our Avon Book Club Christmas party on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009. No book to read this month, just good eats, door prizes, games and a fun book exchange.

Contact Alli for details!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

November's Book

At the next meeting we will be discussing Mama's Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes. We'll meet at Cristy Michaelson's home at 8:00 PM on Thursday, November 5th.

Here's the synopsis:

The charming adventures of the Mama of an immigrant Norwegian family living in San Francisco. This bestselling book inspired the play, motion picture, and television series I Remember Mama.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

October Meeting

At the next meeting we will be discussing "Murder on the Orient Express". We will meet at Erika Pike's home on Wednesday, October 7th at 8:00 PM to discuss.

Here's the synopsis:
On the long train ride from Istanbul to Paris, detective Poirot must find the killer of a much-hated millionaire among 13 suspects with reasons to kill.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

September's Meeting

The next book club meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 9th, 8:00 PM at Katherine Richardson's home. We will discuss "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins.

Here's the synopsis:
Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

Monday, June 15, 2009

August's meeting

The next meeting will be held at Stacey Menkveld's home on Wednesday, August 5th at 8:00 PM. We will be reading "The Space Between Us" by Thrity Umrigar.

Here's the synopsis:
Poignant, evocative, and unforgettable, The Space Between Us is an intimate portrait of a distant yet familiar world. Set in modern-day India, it is the story of two compelling and achingly real women: Sera Dubash, an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose opulent surroundings hide the shame and disappointment of her abusive marriage, and Bhima, a stoic illiterate hardened by a life of despair and loss, who has worked in the Dubash household for more than twenty years. A powerful and perceptive literary masterwork, author Thrity Umrigar’s extraordinary novel demonstrates how the lives of the rich and poor are intrinsically connected yet vastly removed from each other, and how the strong bonds of womanhood are eternally opposed by the divisions of class and culture.

Friday, May 1, 2009

June's Meeting

The next meeting will be on June 11th at 8:00 PM at Rachel Paul's home. We will be reading "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shafer.

Here is a synopsis:
January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb.


As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society--born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island--boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society's members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

Friday, April 3, 2009

April 30th

The next meeting will be at Andrea Wachob's home at 8:00 PM on Thursday, April 30th. The book we will be discussing is "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech.

Here is the synopsis:

"Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle's mother has disappeared. While tracing her steps on a car trip from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, Salamanca tells a story to pass the time about a friend named Phoebe Winterbottom whose mother vanished and who received secret messages after her disappearance. One of them read, "Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins." Despite her father's warning that she is "fishing in the air," Salamanca hopes to bring her home. By drawing strength from her Native American ancestry, she is able to face the truth about her mother. Walk Two Moons won the 1995 Newbery Medal."

Friday, March 13, 2009

April's Meeting

The book we will be discussing at April's meeting is "Left to Tell" by Immaculee Ilibagiza. We will be meeting on April, 2, 2009 at 8:00 PM at Anna Shirley's home.

Here is a description of the book:
Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans.

Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them.

It was during those endless hours of unspeakable terror that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having discovered the meaning of truly unconditional love, a love so strong she was able seek out and forgive her family’s killers. The triumphant story of this remarkable young woman’s journey through the darkness of genocide will inspire anyone whose life has been touched by fear, suffering, and loss.

Friday, February 6, 2009

March Meeting

We will be meeting on Thursday, March 12th to discuss "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. We will meet at Ashley Hansen's home at 8:00 PM.

Here is a description of the book:

"In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.
Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives."

Friday, January 9, 2009

February Meeting

This month we will be reading "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield. We will meet to discuss the book on February 5th at 8:00 PM at Corissa Hanson's home.

Here's the synopsis:

"Biographer Margaret Lea returns one night to her apartment above her father's antiquarian bookshop. On her steps she finds a letter. It is a hand-written request from one of Britain’s most prolific and well-loved novelists. Vida Winter, gravely ill, wants to recount her life story before it is too late, and she wants Margaret to be the one to capture her history. The request takes Margaret by surprise–she doesn’t know the author, nor has she read any of Miss Winter’s dozens of novels.

Late one night, while pondering whether to accept the task of recording Miss Winter’s personal story, Margaret begins to read her father’s rare copy of Miss Winter’s Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation. She is spellbound by the stories and confused when she realizes the book only contains twelve stories. Where is the thirteenth tale? Intrigued, Margaret agrees to meet Miss Winter and act as her biographer.

As Vida Winter unfolds her story, she shares with Margaret the dark family secrets that she has long kept hidden as she remembers her days at Angelfield, the now burnt-out estate that was her childhood home. Margaret carefully records Miss Winter’s account and finds herself more and more deeply immersed in the strange and troubling story. In the end, both women have to confront their pasts and the weight of family secrets. As well as the ghosts that haunt them still."

Sunday, January 4, 2009

February's Book

I'm taking suggestions for February's book, I'm just out of ideas!  

Corissa