Judy hosted our meeting this month and provided a variety of food and a cozy meeting space. Ellen Bowes, Nancy French, Christe Gillespie, Linda Jenkins, Annie Larkin, Judy Lee, and Jo Smith were in attendance. Scott Lee's sister, Sally, who was visiting with the Lee's, sat in on our meeting, as well.
Annie suggested that we try to get together in December with spouses / significant others since we aren't meeting for a book that month. Annie is going to try to arrange for us to gather at Elmaro Vineyard on Thursday, December 11th. We would likely start earlier in the evening than our typical book club meeting time. Stay tuned for further information. (Note: Updated information is listed below the photo taken at Elmaro Vineyard)
We've also made a change. Instead of discussing The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton in January, we are going to meet at Jo Smith's house to watch The Book Thief. And, since we have no book club book to read between now and February, Judy suggested that we come prepared to report on a book we've read in the interim. It's possible that one of the books we report on will be chosen as a future book club read. Having a book to report on is not a requirement, however!
Annie was excited to report that CBS will be airing a mini-series based on The Dovekeepers in 2015. Annie doesn't get CBS at her house, but I'll be sure to record the mini-series to assure she'll get to see it. Perhaps we'll have a book club meeting to watch it together. I think the mini-series will be a total of 4 hours, so we'd definitely want to watch it in more than one sitting if we watch it together.
In discussing The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, Annie loved the way the story was so cleverly woven as the four women narrate their story.
Judy read this quote from Yael, "I wished for a night without dreams, a world without lions, a year without Av, that bitter, red month." Judy was also thankful that she was born at the right time because she didn't think she could have endured what these women did.
Jo was impressed with the imagery that Alice Hoffman was able to create with her descriptive passages. She read two examples. "It seemed a stone had been dropped into water, and every circle that fanned out moved the tide of our destiny along the course of some inevitable destination." And also, "I saw it float down among us as if it were a part of the sky that had wrenched away to plummet to earth."
Ellen gave us a bit of a history lesson when she talked about also having read Zealot by Reza Aslan. Linda admitted limited knowledge of religious history but was fascinated when she listened to a radio program where two guests were discussing religious history and the inaccuracies in how history has been written.
As our discussion veered off The Dovekeepers, Annie mentioned a must read of The Teacher Wars, by Dana Goldstein. After Ellen mentioned enjoying The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang and Harry Briggs, Sally said that if we enjoy books about math we might enjoy The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa.
December gathering:
Location: Elmaro Vineyard
Date: December 11, 2014
Time: 4:00
Cost: $15/person
Cost: $15/person
January meeting:
Book: Any book of your choice, we'll also watch The Book Thief
Location: Jo Smith's
Date: January 8, 2015 (tentatively)
Time: 6:30
February meeting:
Book: The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
Location: Annie Larkin's
Date: TBA
Time: 6:30
