Free Stuff!

For those of you with an iphone or ipad and grandchildren this is a free app that lets you select free books, stories and games for children. Miss Spiders Tea Party is a cute one.

http://apps4schools.blogspot.com

December Meeting

Our December Meeting will be at Karen Massey's home on December 11th at 2:00 in the afternoon. We will discuss the book, The Christmas Mouse, by Miss Read. We will plan next year's schedule so please have your book selected for next year. We will also have our annual ornament exchange so don't forget to bring a wrapped ornament. Karen will provide meat for our holiday luncheon and everyone else should bring a side dish. Get ready for a great discussion, yummy food and beautiful ornaments!

September Meeting

Our September meeting was held at Stephanie's house. The book discussed was Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. We discussed Sharon's book selection about Ali as a Somali-born member of the Dutch parliament. She faced death threats after collaborating on a film about domestic violence against Muslim women. The director of the short film, Theo van Gogh, was assassinated after the film was made.

On a much happier note we welcomed Gloria's oldest daughter to our meeting. Jane was visiting from Atlanta. We were very happy to have her join us.

Stephanie served a delicious light dinner of grilled chicken and vegetable sandwiches. The salad was wonderful and the healthy choice dessert was excellent. We had a great discussion about the book and about Muslim life.

Sharon led us in prayer after Angie requested prayers for Cliff who will under go surgery for throat cancer very soon. Thank you Sharon for an uplifting and beautiful prayer. And Angie, please keep us informed about Cliff's progress.

August Meeting

From the beautifully laid dining table to the salted dark chocolate caramels, it was an afternoon of perfection. We met at Barb's house to
discuss The Great Santini, but we really met to enjoy each others company and marvel at Barb's culinary skills. We declared 'Sixty is the
new forty!" We were pleased to hear that Stephanie's son, Nick, is recovering rapidly -- he is back to work, and walks two miles each way
as part of his daily physical therapy. Barb always makes a Sunday Bounty of delicious food, but this time she raised the bar: baked ham, frittata,
salad with nectarines, cheesecake with fresh strawberries, homemade lemon ice-cream, ginger cookies and lemon-basil shortbread cookies.
We discussed how the era and/or location may have allowed the actions of the characters: corporal punishment was common, women did not divorce.
We also felt that more background was needed on Mr. Meacham (??), although I'm not sure that would help us understand him or his actions.
We left reluctantly, filled with friendship and high on sugar.

Submitted by Diane

July Meeting

July’s meeting was held at Sharon’s home. We discussed the autobiography,West with the Night by Beryl Markham, which was actually Stephanie’s book selection. After a delicious meal, and an uplifting update on Nick Calhoun’s recovery progress, we had a very interesting discussion about the book, and especially about the author. Several members had researched the author, and the rest of us were intrigued to find that the autobiography omitted quite a few details about Ms Markham’s personal life—that she had a brother, whom her mother had taken back to England, as he was sickly, and she did not like Africa. Also, she was married at one time to a writer, and also had several affairs, including with Denys Finch Hatten, who also had an affair with Isak Dinesen (Karen Von Blixen-Finecke), as she wrote about in Out of Africa. We also had quite a discussion regarding whether she (or her writer husband) actually wrote the book. All in all, it was a great book club meeting.
Submitted by Gloria

June Book Club Meeting

Our June meeting was at Karen Tellez's home. The book we discussed was the non-fiction book, The Zoo Keeper's Wife. We had a very interesting discussion and we were fascinated with the zoo keeper's wife and the life she led during World War 2. We talked about how difficult it must have been having to hide over 300 people at the zoo in Warsaw, Poland.

November and December Changes

November's Book Club will be at Gloria's house, at 7pm, but we will discuss "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier.
December has been moved to Sunday, the 11th at 2pm (from the 18th) at Karen Massey's and we will discuss "The Christmas Mouse" by Miss Read.
Let's think up some good Grandma names for Gloria, or do you already have one in mind, Gloria?