Hi Everyone,
Thank you to all those who joined us for the August book
club especially after my last minute change of location. In attendance were
Becky, Jody, Lori, Mary Beth, Christine Galkut, myself, and of course Ginnie and
Kristen whom graciously hosted the meeting upon only a few days’ notice. Also,
we were pleased to welcome Christine to her first book club meeting; we hope to
enjoy her input at many more meetings in the future.
For August and for the first time in our almost 8 years
as a book club, we experimented with the idea of each of us selecting our own
books to read. It was interesting to
listen to the summaries of the various book choices our members selected. Becky chose an Italian love story titled The Shoemaker’s Wife by one of our
club’s favorite authors, Adriana Trigiani. Mary Beth read a murder mystery that
sounded very riveting, Ginnie and Kristen continued reading our May title Shades of Gray’s trilogy, and Jody
shared several interesting food-related books. I read the book One Summer by David Baldacci and found
that Christine read a similarly plotted book of realistic fiction. Lori shared
a memoir of her own set in a campground in the Finger Lakes and featuring a
night prowler.
Our August book club included eating good food: salsa and
chips, various salads, strawberry pie, and apple crisp desserts. We ended the
evening researching and finally selecting a book for September. It wasn’t easy,
but we finally narrowed it down to Rules
of Civility by Amor Towles. The book
pairs two young women in the 1930’s setting of New York City. Although from
diverse backgrounds, the women, Katey and Eve, are united by their wit and
humor and their voracity for city life. Rules
of Civility sounds like a winner with a rating of 4 stars out of 5.
However, we never know for sure until we’ve read it ourselves and then
discussed the book’s many elements and interpretations.
Natilie’s Pizza Shop on Butler’s Main Street will be the
site of our next meeting which is set for Thursday, September 20, at 6:30
P.M. Your homework for our meeting is to
think about how you will answer the questions to a game the character’s played at
New York’s ‘21’ Club:
- What were you afraid of when you were a kid?
- What did you always want that your parents never gave you?
- If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be?
- If you could relive one year in your life, which would it be?
Also, throughout the book, Katey and
Eve slurp down more than a few martinis. Who can make martinis? Remember
Natilie’s is BYOB, so it would be fun to try martinis! It would also be an
added treat if we could finish off our pizza with our character’s favorite
dessert from the Waldorf Astoria, Red Velvet Chocolate Cake, anyone up for
baking?
Finally, for your last assignment, since the book
selection process was so difficult, please remember to do some research on
future book titles to bring to our September meeting. We have yet to decisively
determine books for the months of October or November, our last two meetings of
the year. Remember, December is our Christmas party and due to busy holiday
schedules, there is no book chosen to discuss.
In conclusion, money was not collected this month for our
Christmas charity since our treasurer, Cheryl Ramsey, was not in attendance.
Next month, you can either donate for both months or for one. We will also need
to begin thinking about which charity we would like to give our donation. Come
with your ideas.
I look forward to our next book discussion at Natilie’s!
Yours in reading,
Tammy
