August 2012 Book Club - Personal choice book selection

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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

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