August 2012 Open Forum

We had such a fun time last week at Book Club! Sorry to have missed the couple who couldn't make it. We are planning on Book club Friday, September 14th, but as I'm typing, I don't think we decided what we're going to do?? We will discuss Jen's submission on Friday, October 12th at Sheri's home. Here is the list of books we talked about (so sorry the format isn't better. It's too late for me to figure it out tonight and I want to get it sent so you have it--pretty or not! :)) Jen's Submissions: *Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (chosen for October's Book Club Discussion)*The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood *The Declaration by Gemma Malley *The Host by Stephenie Meyer *Persuasion by Jane Austin n Annette's Submissions: *The DoveKeepers by Alice Hoffman (3 1/2 stars) *Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg (4 stars) *A Grown-up King of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson (4 stars) *The Book of Mormon Girl by Joanna Brooks (haven't read it, but sounds interesting) Mindy's Submissions: *Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (4 stars) *Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (1 star) *Insurgent/Divergent by Veronica Roth (3 stars: the second one is better, not the best written series but entertaining) Angela's Submissions: *1.Lions, Dragons & Turkish Delight (4 stars) 2.Modern Fables (5 stars), 3.To See His Face (still reading)all by S. Michael Wilcox *The 8th Habit by Stephen Covey (just beginning to read) Margaret's Submissions: *Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts (3 stars) Claudia's Submissions: *90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper *The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven by Kevin Malarkey *The Burning Within by Ranelle Wallace *A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dougard *Messages: Signs, Visits and Premonitions from Loved Ones Lost on 9/11 by Bonnie McEnealey *Happily Ever After by Dieter F. Uchtdorf Sheri's Submissions: *The Message by Lance Richardson (4 stars) *Alex and Me by Irene M. Pepperberg (4 stars) Carla's Submissions: *My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison

Open Forum from May

So I just found the list of books we talked about at our last book club, which is why it took so long to get it on here.

Mindy:
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

Annette:
Bruiser by Neal Shusterman
To Mormons, with Love by Chrisy Ross
After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

Jen:
The Hourglass Door series by Lisa Mangum

Nyla:
Life is So Good by George Dawson
Mirrorscape by Mike Wilks

Christy:
Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
Reckless by Cornelia Funke
Vampire for Hire by J.R. Rain
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
Run to Overcome by Meb Keflezighi

Submissions by Christy were:
The Vow, The True Story Behind the Movie by Kim Carpenter
Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Rielly
The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon - chosen
Good in a Crisis by Margaret Overton

Book Club Plans

Our next book club dates are:
May 4th at Mindy's house -- open forum
June 8th -- activity to be planned at May's book club

One person will be submitting books for discussion at the open forums from now on. We will be doing this in alphabetical order beginning with Christy next month, then Jen, Margaret, Mindy, Sheri, Angela, and Annette at subsequent open forum meetings.

February's Club- Open Forum

Jen said no one else ever posts on the blog so I'd thought I'd list the books discussed at our meeting this month. --Thanks Jen for always having our slacker backs!

(* after the author's names indicate star ratings by our club members on Goodreads where available)

Christy talked about:

• How to Get Kids to Eat Great and Love It by Christine Wood **
• Between the Sea and Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore ****(Jen & Christy)
  
• The Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher ****
• Bad Guys of the Book of Mormon by Dennis Gaunt (no rating yet)
  

Angela talked about:

• Extremes: How to keep your virtues from becoming vices by Robert Eaton (no rating yet)
• What Your 1st Grader Should Know (Core Knowledge Series) by E.D. Hirsch (no rating yet)

Mindy talked about:

• Born to Run: A hidden tribe, super athletes and the greatest race the world has never seen by Christopher McDougall *****
  

Annette talked about:

• The Last Apprentice series (for youth) by Joseph Delaney ***+
• My Reading Life by Pat Conroy ***** BOOK CHOSEN FOR DISCUSSION IN APRIL
• The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success by Andy Andrews (no rating yet)
  
• To Mormons, with Love by Christy Ross (no rating yet)

Jennifer talked about:

• Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn **** (Jen & Christy, --Angela also read this but has no rating for it)
  
• Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber ****
  
• Slayers by C. J. Hill ****
  

We missed our regulars: Sheri Lee and Margaret this month as well as all those we haven't seen in ages! Next month is our activity month and we will be driving to Crystal Hot Springs near Brigham City for a night soaking and conversation. We can meet at my house @6:00 to car pool; pack snacks/dinner to eat on the way--the cost will be $5 entrance fee (with printable coupon). Make sure to bring a large water bottle, you tend to get dehydrated (I know, weird huh?).

Happy Reading!

Submissions

Here are the books that were submitted at the last bookclub meeting.

Christy submitted:

  Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

  Year of the Unicorn by Andre Norton

Margaret submitted:

  Honolulu by Alan Brennert

  The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan

  The Bells by Richard Harvell

Jen submitted:

  The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

  Beneath My Mother's Fee by Amjed Qamar

Sheri submitted:

  The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson

  King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry

  Homecoming by Cynthia Voight

  Fun Fantasy Trilogy by Eva Ibbotson

       Which Witch, The Secret of Platform 13, Island of the Aunts

Angela submitted:

  This is My Words by Nancy Turner

  The Christmas Sweater by Glen Beck

  So You Want to Raise a Boy by W. Cleon Skousen

Annette submitted:

  A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

  The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O. McNees (didn't like it)

Mindy

  The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

  Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

  Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

Thanks for coming all the way out to Herriman for bookclub. It was a lot of fun. We had an interesting discussion about The Bean Trees.

November 11th we will meet at Annette's house for book club. It will be an open forum.

December 10th will be our Christmas breakfast/book exchange. Wrap a book and bring it to exchange while we have breakfast at Kneaders in Jordan Landing.

January 13th our book club will be at Christy's house and we will be discussing Unbroken. Annette has it on MP3 if you want to listen to it. If you want to get it through the library, you will need to get on the waiting list as soon as possible.

We had a great time this month at book club. Since there was rain, we weren't able to go to Red Butte Gardens. Fortunately Sheri's tickets are still good and we will reschedule that for another activity.

We had a great discussion of many books. Several of us had read The Forest of Hands and Teeth already and we spent a few minutes discussing that. It was then decided that we didn't want to discuss it next month and then began the process of choosing another book.

Here are the submissions for Sept in no particular order because I can't remember who brought what.

The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber

Tiger Saga by Colleen Houck

The Color Code by Taylor Hartman

The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz

The Hourglass Door series by Lisa Mangum

Secrets by Blaine Yorgason

Driven by Larry H. Miller

Let's Fix the Kids by James J Jones

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

We chose Unbroken to read for October, but after looking for it at the library and finding a REALLY long waiting list, we opted to read The Bean Trees since it is more readily available.

You can find more descriptions of these books by clicking on the shelves to the right or looking them up on Goodreads (Annette has them all on her shelf there too).

After our forum, we went to see the movie The Help. Since we had previously read the book for book club it seemed appropriate to see the movie. There was a consensus that the movie was very well done and we all liked it. Thanks for everyone coming and participating in our fun book club event.

Our next book club will be October 21st at Jen's house in Herriman. Meet at Annette's house at 7:00 pm to carpool. Hope to see you all then!