MAY MEETING, 2014

I wasn't able to attend the May meeting at Barb's house due to the early and unexpected arrival of my first grand baby. If someone could give me a short synopsis of what happened at the meeting I will post the information.

April Meeting, April 22, 2014

Our April meeting was at Gloria's house. The book was The Great Divorce by Sinclair Lewis.

We had a philosophical discussion about Heaven and Hell. The book discussion was about making choices that lead to going to Heaven or Hell. The book follows the journey of a man who is from Hell and his trip to visit heaven and get the chance to stay there. In the end the man awakens from a dream and he finds himself still in Hell.

We enjoyed a delicious barbecue dinner with fruit and veggies. We also enjoyed Angel Food Cake and Devil's Food Cake for dessert. The food was the perfect pairing for the theme of the book!

March Meeting

Our March 25th meeting was co-hosted by Mary Ann and Karen M. Mary Ann served a pie bar with coffee and soft drinks. It was a make your own pie station with lots of yummy choices. Following dessert we discussed the book, Gone Girl. No one liked the main characters but there was certainly a lot to discuss. What kind of mind thinks up information for a book like this one? We had great participation with only Corrine and Angie missing from the discussion group.

February Meeting 2014

Our meeting was at Diane's home on Feb. 25th. The book discussed was Letters from Skye by J. Brockmole. It is a story told in letters, spanning two continents and two world wars, Jessica Brockmole’s debut novel captures the ways that people fall in love, and celebrates the power of the written word to stir the heart.

 

March 1912: Twenty-four-year-old Elspeth Dunn, a published poet, has never seen the world beyond her home on Scotland’s remote Isle of Skye. So she is astonished when her first fan letter arrives, from a college student, David Graham, in far-away America. As the two strike up a correspondence—sharing their favorite books, wildest hopes, and deepest secrets—their exchanges blossom into friendship, and eventually into love. But as World War I engulfs Europe and David volunteers as an ambulance driver on the Western front, Elspeth can only wait for him on Skye, hoping he’ll survive.

 

June 1940: At the start of World War II, Elspeth’s daughter, Margaret, has fallen for a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Her mother warns her against seeking love in wartime, an admonition Margaret doesn’t understand. Then, after a bomb rocks Elspeth’s house, and letters that were hidden in a wall come raining down, Elspeth disappears. Only a single letter remains as a clue to Elspeth’s whereabouts. As Margaret sets out to discover where her mother has gone, she must also face the truth of what happened to her family long ago.

January Meeting 2014

Our January meeting was held at Angie's home. After some delicious poor boy sandwiches and salads we enjoyed cake and coffee and then began to discuss the book, The Language of Flowers.

Several of us had different opinions about the main character and how she delt with aging out of the foster care system. We had a great discussion and Angie was a wonderful hostess.

Book Selections for 2014

WOW 2014 Book Selection and Meeting Dates

DATE	DAY	HOSTESS	BOOK	AUTHOR
January 28	Tue	Angie	Language of Flowers	Vanessa Diffenbaugh
February 25	Tue	Diane	Letters from Skye*	Jessica Brockmole
March 25	Tue	Marianne	Gone Girl	Gillian Flynn
April 22	Tue	Gloria	The Great Divorce	C. S. Lewis
May 27	Tue	Karen T.	Kitchen House	Kathleen Grissom
June 22	Sun/2 pm	Barb	And the Mountains Echoed	Khaled Hosseini
July 22	Tue	Stephanie	Killing Jesus	Bill O’Reilly
August 26	Tue	Linda	Poet of Loch Ness	Brian Corrigan
September 23	Tue	Sharon	The Book Thief	Marcus Zusak
October 28	Tue	Debbie	State of Wonder	Ann Pachett
November 23	Sun/2 pm	Joyce	The Weird Sisters	Eleanor Brown
December 14	Sun/2 pm	Karen M.	Planning Party

I recommend the audio book.

December Meeting, 12-15-13

Karen M. hosted our December meeting which was on Sunday afternoon at 2:00. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch. Karen provided the main dishes and drinks and our members brought appetizers, side dishes and desserts. Karen set a lovely holiday table. We had a wonderful meal and then selected books for 2014. We decided against our ornament exchange this year and instead we donated books to Christ's Haven for Children in Keller. I think we will continue this next year as it seemed very popular with our members. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures so these will have to do for now. If anyone took pictures please send them to me and I will replace these.

  Diane and Barb, Angie and her Mom, Karen and Linda

November 2013 Meeting

Our November meeting was at Linda's house. We had the possibility of sleet and icy weather but there was a good turn out. Angie's mother joined us to discuss the book Light Between the Oceans. We had a great discussion about what the couple should have done and the consequences that followed the decision to keep the baby. We dodged the bad weather and had no problems getting home.

We also discussed our December meeting and we decided to bring a children's book to the meeting instead of exchanging ornaments. We will meet at Karen M.'s house on Dec. 15th at 2:00. 

October Meeting

The October meeting was at Joyce's new lake place. This proved to be quite an adventure for some of us who are directionally challenged. Not that Joyce didn't go above and beyond with het great directions, which she personalized for each of us. It was just that we had never been there before so it was a new adventure for some!

After a tour of Joyce's guest home we also got a peek at her beautiful new home, which was under construction. Afterwards we sat down to enjoy a wonderful lunch. This was one of our Sunday afternoon meetings which we are trying out in the winter months so that we don't have to drive in the dark.

The book for our October meeting was Those Who Save Us. Besides having a great discussion about the book we learned that most of us have German ancestors. Angie taught us how to pronounce some German words and Barb had compiled a comprehensive list of who saved who in the book.

Next year we will be visiting Joyce in her new lakefront home.

September Meeting

Our September meeting was at Gloria's house. We discussed the book, Birds of a Feather. Everyone enjoyed the book and we had an English high tea for refreshments.

August Meeting

The August Meeting was held at Debbie's house. We enjoyed a light dinner of home made chicken salad and a mixed green salad. This was followed by strawberry and blueberry vanilla yogurt sundaes. Delicious!

We discussed the book The Night Circus. We had a wonderful discussion about this fantastic fantasy.

Gloria, Karen and Linda dressed in black and white to go with the color scheme of the circus.

We also talked about bringing a children's book to share at our December meeting. Barb volunteered to take these to the St. Vincent de Paul Society. We all decided that we had plenty of ornaments and so we would probably discontinue that tradition at our Dec. meetings.
We followed up with Barb telling us the latest news about her Little Free Library. She was happy to report that it has been a huge success.

July Meeting

The July Meeting was held at Corinne's home. We read Killing Kennedy. Following a wonderful dinner, we had a very lively discussion of the book and also a competition .Two teams answered questions about the book and the time in general. The winning team received Smarties candies and the losing team received Nerds candy! I won't reveal who was on each team but let's just say I enjoyed my Smarties.

June Meeting!

 It was great to have such a wonderful turn out for our June meeting. We discussed the book, The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton. I was afraid that not many would have finished the book, since it was so long but everyone seemed to enjoy this month's selection and had finished it. We had a wonderful discussion about why a four year old would be abandonded on a wharf in Australia in 1913. On Nell's 21st birthday a secret is revealed to her by her father. This led to a long discussion about what happened to Nell and what was discovred hidden in the secret garden.

March Meeting

Stephanie's book selection was Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.
 It is a 2005 book by Malcolm Gladwell. Do you know what the term thin slicing means?
Barb, Linda, Debbie and Karen T know!  We enjoyed a cozy evening at Stephanie's home sitting in front of the fireplace as we talked about the book.
We discussed the book, Blink, and related it to our own experiences. We debated the power of training and experience versus making quick judgements in times of crisis. Our discussion was sometimes thoughtful and sometimes hilarious. It was a great discussion and we enjoyed a delicious array of desserts from fruit and cheese to yummy home made cakes and breads. We also loved the family portrait and the story that went with it.
Thank you, Stephanie, for a wonderful time!

February Meeting

The February meeting was at Diane's house. The meeting was on Sunday afternoon at 2:00pm.
Margie and Diane hosted the meeting. I was out of town at my neice's wedding so I'm not sure if Margie was able to attend. The book discussion was about the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

2013 Book Schedule and Information

From Karen M.
Here is a basic list of months, dates and times, and books that were decided in December. The group decided after discussion that we would use 2013 as a trial year for meeting at least some of the time on Sunday afternoons. The consensus was that we meet during the winter months on Sundays. Other months are up to the hostess to decide if she wants to meet on the fourth Sunday afternoon or the fourth Tuesday evening. The Sunday time will be 2:00 - 5:30ish and the Tuesday time 7:00 - 9:30. We will begin at 2:00 - 2:30/7:00 - 7:30 for socializing. The hostess as always is in charge of menu...dessert or snacks or a meal...with the understanding that members will know in advance to plan to eat dinner before coming or not. We recognize that "catching up" with each other is an important part of who we are as a group. We also agreed that we are doing much better at starting the discussion in a timely manner.

 Books for 2013
 

Tuesday    January 22      7:00        Angie
The Weight of Heaven    by Thrity Umrigar

Sunday      February 24    2:00       Margie and Diane (Diane’s house)
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Tuesday March  26   7:00  Stephanie
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell

Sunday      April 28        2:00         Barb
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barber

Tuesday, May 21       7:00    Sharon
The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain

Tuesday   June 25     7:00    Karen Tellez
The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton

Sunday    July 28       2:00    Corinne
Killing Kennedy, by Bill O'Reilly

August            TBA    Debbie
TBA
Tuesday    September 24  7:00       Gloria
Birds of a Feather, by Jacqueline Windspear

Sunday   October 27      2:00       Joyce
Those Who Save Us    by Jenna Blum

Sunday   November 24  2:00       Linda
The Light Between Oceans, by M. L. Stedman

Sunday   December 15  2:00
Karen J Massey       Christmas Gathering

*** It is important to remember that some of the meeetings will be held on Sunday afternoons.

New Book List for 2013

Karen M. has our new book list for 2013. She is going to email all of us the list. When she gets that done I will post the book list onto our blog.

December Meeting

Our December meeting was on Sunday, December 9th at 2:00pm. It was our annual Christmas Party with an ornament exchange. We enjoyed many wonderful finger sandwiches and desserts along with  hot tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. Karen M. did a fantastic job with the food and wonderful Christmas decorations.

After we ate we had our yearly business meeting. We discussed some changes to the dates and times of our meetings and we decided to try some Sunday meeting times at 2:00pm this year. We also discussed starting on time, with the meeting starting at 7:00 pm and discussion beginning at 7:45 and ending on time at 9:30. We selected our books for next year with each member taking a month of their choice for their meeting.

Following the business meeting we played the left right game and opened our gifts. Although we all loved our ornaments we decided to change the gift exchange for next year. Many people felt they had too many ornaments and did not have room for any more.

Following the ornament exchange  we played a game that Angie brought for us.  Karen Massey was the winner of the Name That Tune game.We had fun trying to guess the titles of the holiday songs.

We had a wonderful time at the meeting and since there wasn't a book to discuss we were free to birdwalk all we wanted!

November Meeting

Our November meeting was hosted by Stephanie. We enjoyed 2 wonderful varieties of homemade soup and a delicious dessert with a special topping.
Our discussion was about the book, American Wife. The book was fiction but loosely based on the life of Laura Bush. This made for a lively discussion about authors who write fiction but intertwine facts about a person's real life. There were strong opinions about this. Most people felt this could confuse the reader and it was not a good idea to put made up events in a book about a real person verses a fictional character.

August, September, October

I was not able to attend the meetings for August, September or October so I can't report on the news for those months. If you were the hostess for one of those months and would like to send me a short recap of the meeting I would be happy to post it for you.