Book Club Selections 2016, January - June

What have you been reading this year? These are the books we have selected and discussed at the bookclub this year. I have enjoyed them all but my favorite so far is Ordinary Grace.

January 15 - The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant; writer of The Red Tent, a book club pick many, many years ago that we loved.  This is historical fiction. Jewish girl coming of age story. (336 pages).

February 19 - October List by Jeffrey Deaver; the book starts with the end and is filled with twists and turns. http://www.jefferydeaver.com/novel/the-october-list/  

March  18 - Ordinary Grace by William Kent Kreuger; small town murder 1961 setting. 

April 15 - Gray Mountain by John Grisham.


May 19 - Murder House by James Patterson and David Ellis.


June 16 - Forgotten Room  by Lincoln Child.

What will we read next? Stay tuned.

Book Club Selections for 2015

Personally, I highly recommend the books by Sam Thomas, Alyson Richman, and Anthony Doerr 

February 20
The King’s Deception by Steve Berry

March 20
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman 

April 17
MidWife's Tale (Midwife's Mysteries #1) by Sam Thomas.  

May 15

The Oath by John Lescroart 

June 19

The Harlot's Tale by Sam Thomas

July 17

Leaving Time by Jodie Picoult

August 28
Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

No meeting in September.

October 16
When the Lion Feeds by Wilbur Smith

November 20
All the World We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Our Book Club Selections 2015

It's been a while. Let me share a list of the books we have read and discussed this year and of those we intend to read:

February 20
The King’s Deception by Steve Berry
Interesting premise in this story, what if Queen Elizabeth 1 were really a male in disguise? Was this why she never married? Reference is made to Bram Stoker's book, The Imposters, which is all about this royal conspiracy. 

March 20
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman 
This was a sad story but I could not put this book down.  Two people meet as their grandchildren get married.  The grandfather of the groom recognizes the grandmother of the bride.  They have a history together in Prague and were separated because of Nazi occupation.   This story is based on the real life situation of couple, the writer heard about, who were married before World War 11, separated and reunited at a wedding. 

April 17
MidWife's Tale (Midwife's Mysteries #1) by Sam Thomas.  
Oh boy, sounds like I am about to embark on another mystery series. Harlot's Tale is the second in the series followed by Witch Hunter's Tale . Amazon says this series is similar to the historical fiction by  C. J. Sansom; the  Matthew Shardlake series.

May 15

The Oath by John Lescroart 

Have you read any of these? Please share.

Our November Book Club Selection: the Eccentric King Ludwig

Our November book, Ludwig Conspiracy by Oliver Potzsch, (last name pronounced "perch"), is not from the Hangman's Daughter series; one of my favorite series. I have not started reading it yet but I know it is supposed to be of the Dan Brown type of historical fiction/mystery.  Potzsch apparently focuses on the mysterious death of an eccentric King of Bavaria, a man widely considered to have been insane. I am eager to get started on this book.

By the way, there is a castle used by Disney which is modeled after one of King Ludwig's castles.

Here is another book I intend to read and suggest for the book club for 2015, have you read it? It's the All the Light We Cannot See  by Anthony Doerr set in Germany and France before and during World War 11. Please give me feedback if you have read it.

Our Book Club Selections October 2013 - October 2014

A year of reading with my Book Club. We do not meet in December. In January we usually meet and discuss books that we read and enjoyed during the Christmas break. This year we missed a meeting in July and discussed that book in August.  How many titles on our list have you read?

2013

October: Blood of the Prodigal; an Amish Mystery by P.L. Gaus.

November : Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt 

2014

February: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

March: Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls

April: Last Message by Shane Peacock

May: Sycamore Row by John Grisham

June:  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

July:  Fault in Our Stars by John Green

August: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

September: Tyrant’s Daughter by J. C. Carleson

October: Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

The book selections that were my least favorite were Fault in Our Stars and Half Broke Horses. My favorite selections were Bel Canto , The Husband's Secret, and Gone Girl. 

 Next Month's Book Selection

November : Ludwig Conspiracy by Oliver Potzsch 

I'm Reading "Orange is the New Black"

I am reading Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman and she is giving me an inside look at life in a women's prison. Most people I have spoken to have heard of the made for TV version with the lesbian scenes and the overabundance of using-the-toilet scenes but they didn't know it was based on a book by Piper. The book is not exactly like the TV version. The characters are there Pop, Vanessa, Pennsatucky, "Crazy Eyes", Yoga Janet but not their back story as in the movie. The anecdotes in the book are not as dramatic and colorful or sexual as on TV.

I am on page 199 and the inmates are upset about this article written by Lynn Tuohy in 2004 that gives the impression that life in the Danbury Camp was like living in a big hotel. The informant gives the impression that the soon-to-be-imprisoned Martha Stewart would fit right in with all the classy inmates.  Piper, on the other hand, described the prison as a ghetto for the poor, uneducated and unskilled. In her opinion there was a revolving door between the ghetto where the poor, uneducated and unskilled lived on the outside and the ghetto in the prison system.  Turned out that the authorities really did not want Martha at Danbury anyway; there would be too much media focus on the conditions of the prison.

I am enjoying the book. Piper is great at expressing her emotions mainly her worry and humiliation but also her pleasure. She worried about her family and fiance and how her going to prison would affect them. She expressed her pleasure when receiving visitors in prison. She wrote of her pain and humiliation after seeing the prison gynecologist. Also, Piper has a lot of opinions about the prison system. I would rate this 4 out of 5.

Reading Tyrant's Daughter with the Book Club

I am reading a very interesting novel, The Tyrant's Daughter by J. C. Carleson, with the Book Club. It's written for teens. The protagonist is Laila, a Middle Eastern teen, who is in exile in the USA with her Mom and brother courtesy of the CIA. Interestingly, the writer is a former CIA agent. The story so far is all about Laila and her family adjusting to life in the USA and her coming to the realization that her recently deceased Dad was not a King but a Dictator in their un-named Middle Eastern country.  The themes I have detected so far have to do with trust and change. As Laila tells us on page 95, everything has been turned upside down for her family, her head and her heart.  I like how the chapters are brief and how the story flows. My guess is that Laila's Mom has been charged by the CIA to win the trust of some of her countrymen and spy on them. I am on page 119 and am eager to find out where the story is really leading me.

Book Club Pick: Fault in Our Stars

Our book club pick this month is the young adult novel,The Fault in Our Stars, about a teen girl fighting cancer.  There is also a movie out now based on this book.  I am at page 114 and Hazel, the teen battling cancer, wants to visit the reclusive writer of her favorite book, Peter Van Houten,  in Amsterdam with her new-found friend and love interest, Gus. Interestingly, Van Houten's book is about a girl who died of cancer and her story ends in the middle of a sentence to emphasize that the protagonist died or became too sick to complete her thought. Hazel wants to know "the rest of the story" such as what happened to the protagonist's Mom and her possibly con artist fiance.  It is odd that Hazel who is depressed about her own cancer diagnosis would choose Van Houten's book as her favorite.

This book is not as depressing as I thought it would be. It has a 4 1/2 star rating on amazon but I am not sure yet how I feel about it to give it my own rating.

Two coincidences occurred while reading this book.  One was that yesterday that Malaysian Airline that was shot out of the sky was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpar.  I pause to express condolences to the families of all the passengers on that flight. Second, just minutes ago today, in the middle of my reading and listening to the TV, comedian Tig Notaro, a cancer survivor walked on the set of a talk-show to talk about her life with cancer and comedy. What message is the universe giving me?

Book Club Selection: Last Message.

I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning reading Half of a Yellow Sun. It made me laugh, cry and feel disgust. The storyline in this book reminded me of Left to Tell, a past book club selection, about the genocide in Rwanda.  Here is a memorial that took place recently in Rwanda. War is a horrible beast. 

It was well worth staying up most of the night to complete the reading of Half of a Yellow Sun. When I thought the main characters were all safe, something else happened to shatter that view. It was a roller coaster ride with these characters.  I loved the messages about love, war, and family. Now on to the next book.

I am now reading Last Message, in my lunch break, by Shane Peacock. It is a Young Adult fiction and it is our book club selection for this month.  There are seven books in the series and each book is written by a different author.  Peacock's book is number 6. This is unusual for me. Adam is the narrator and he is being sent on an adventure in France by his deceased grandfather,  David McLean.

Andy Carpenter Series: A Decapitated Body, A Drug Dealer and An Investigator

I recently finished reading the second book in the Andy Carpenter mystery series by David Rosenfelt, First Degree. This book published in 2003 was selected as one of the best mysteries of  the year by Publishers Weekly.

A book club member recommended the series. In November, our club discussed Rosenfelt's debut novel which was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award in 2003, Open and Shut  The most outstanding things about Andy Carpenter, our protagonist and young lawyer, are that he is a dog lover, he has a corny sense of humor, he believes in justice and he is in love with his field investigator, Laurie Collins.  I wrote about the first book on November 2nd.

In this second book, Andy is fighting for his lady love because she has been accused of murdering a corrupt cop, Alex Dorsey. Is the corrupt cop really dead or is he just faking his own death and gloating about Laurie's arrest? I will not give away any secrets. Read and find out.  I liked the complexities of this mystery; it was not open and shut. The storyline held my interest.  Some of the characters in the first book reappear in the second book for example, Willie Miller who was Andy Carpenter's client. Also  making a brief appearance is Andy's ex-wife. They are both on the periphery of this legal thriller. I am wondering if the writer is setting the stage to re-introduce these two characters to play a more active role in the third book.

I will be reading the third book in the series Bury The Lead soon. First, I have to complete reading John Grisham's The Racketeer   Yes, I am way behind on my Grisham reading.  His latest book for those who don't already know is actually, Sycamore Row, which I hear is excellent.

Best Books of 2013

Just look at this Best Books of 2013 on NPR! I can't keep up. I see Louise Penny's book on the list of Mysteries and Thrillers, How the Light Gets In, from the Chief Inspector Gamache series. Remember I first came across Penny because her first book in the series was a book club pick? I have that book at home to read during the month of December. I also have these books that I intend to read: John Grisham's Racketeer,  Jan-Phillip Sendker's Art of Hearing Heartbeats, JD Robbs' Promises in Death, and Susan Gregory's The Daniel Fast.  

I just finished reading The Mercy Prayer by Robert Gelinas and enjoyed it so much I bought copies as gifts for my friends. I have a testimony. Bring out the tambourine. Have you ever worked with a narcissist? Someone who constantly talks about himself or herself day in and day out? The talk varies. In my situation, sometimes the husband, the son, the mother in law, the sister in law, the siblings were all portrayed as awful people and she was a victim of some awful thing done to her.  Another time these same people were all wonderful and gifted with high IQs. Then the stories took a different turn. I became a target of the lies. Eventually we had creative story about a strange smelly man entering the workplace while she was alone and who made uncomfortable comments except after investigation the man turned out to be invisible to security cameras.  Praying, "Lord, have mercy on me" took on a whole new meaning. It is a prayer described as a raw plea for intervention. After reading Daily Word on September 9th, Isaiah 57 verse 14 also became a prayer: "Prepare my path and remove every obstacle from my way". Shake the tambourine. The narcissist resigned yesterday.

I Am Loving Bel Canto

I am still enjoying Bel Canto by Ann Patchett and am on page 202 of this 318 page book.  I  like the humor in the story and I am fascinated by the characters.  I am going to recommend this book to the book club. There is a mixed group of about 58 high level officials in a hostage situation. The women and children had been released except for an opera singer, Roxane Coss. The story revolves around her. The male hostages and the terrorists which include two girls are captivated by Roxane's voice; the pure sweetness of her upper register. Page 201 says of Roxane, "She sang as if she was saving the life of every person in the room."  She has become close to one female bandit, Carmen. They braid each other's hair as if they were BFFs.  According to Carmen, Roxane is in love with a Japanese businessman also in captivity, Mr. Hosokawa.

Mr. Hosokawa's personal Japanese interpreter, Gen, is a key character in the story because he speaks several languages and is needed to keep the communication going.  He is very busy in this hostage crisis interpreting Russian, French, English, Spanish, Japanese. Much of the communication is between various male hostages and Roxane and also between the Red Cross official Messner and the terrorists. Gen is in love with Carmen, the young female bandit who wants to improve her education in the midst of this hostage crisis.

Father Arguedas, a young priest and another major character, seems very happy to be a hostage. He loves opera and is grateful to be in the presence of Roxane.  He prays for love, protection, and safe delivery for all but not  for rescue.

The Vice President, Ruben, of this unnamed South American country is an interesting character in the story. The hostages and terrorists are in his home and he is busy cleaning, organizing the cooking, and generally playing host as if this were a normal situation. He's given Roxane some of his wife's clothing. It was funny when he approached Roxane to get guidance on how to prepare dinner. He assumed because she was a woman she would know about cooking.

I am hoping this has a satisfying resolution.

Creating a Reading List for 2014

What will our book club read in 2014?  Club members are checking out certain books to see if the rest of us would be interested in selecting them for 2014. Linda is checking out Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. Tom read Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls and reported that he loved it. And I am reading Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.

I am on page 56 and I am loving it so far. Bel Canto is loosely based on the hostage crisis in Peru in December 1996 when members of Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) took hundreds of high level officials as hostages while they were attending a party at the Japanese Ambassadors residence.  President Fujimori sent in Peruvian troops in April 1997 and freed the hostages. One hostage died and all the MRTA members were killed.  In Bel Canto, however, a group of young armed bandits have entered the residence of the Vice President of an unnamed Spanish speaking South American country and are holding the guests hostage. Their intent was to kidnap the President but the President happens to be absent because he chose to stay home to watch his favorite soap opera that night.

Our club meets next Friday to discuss Blood of the Prodigal: an Amish Mystery.

240 Year Old Automaton

This is so cool. If you have read The Poisoned Pilgrim, fourth novel in The Hangman's Daughter series by Oliver Potzch,this article about a 240 year old automaton will be very meaningful to you.  The book club selected the first book in the series in October last year.  Since then I have read all four books.  These books are worth adding to your reading list.

The Book Thief Movie Clip

We read and discussed The Book Thief in April 2010; death was the very unusual narrator in the book. Here is a clip of the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-f4u70RqQc

What will Okefenokee Book Club members read in 2014?

I have some suggestions already:  Tinderbox by Lisa Gornick, 320 pages; Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri,352 pages; Spymistress by Jennifer Chiaverini, 368 pages; Silver Star by Jeannette Walls, 288 pages; Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear, 294 pages. 

We read The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri in October 2004 and loved it. Note that Spymistress will be published in October. 

Fancy Pants Jonah

Jonah, son of Bishop Eli Miller, was a rebellious Ohio Amish child who loved to wear "fancy pants".  When he had a chance to do his Rumschpringe or Rumshpringa (from the verb rumspringen meaning "to jump around"), he never wanted to return to his community. He was banned by his father, the Bishop, and shunned by the community.  I have just finished reading Blood of the Prodigal, an Amish Country Mystery. 

This is actually our book club pick for October.  It is a murder mystery that starts off with the thoughts and feelings of Jonah's ten year old son Jeremiah who is being raised by his grandparents. Jonah takes his son and leaves a note for Bishop.  The Bishop-grandfather seeks help from a local pastor and also from a college professor to locate the grandson. He does not want the help of the police. I loved the unexpected twists to this very short story, 230 pages.

I found the Amish life portrayed in this book very interesting. For readers who do not know, "Rumshpringe" is  a period for Amish adolescents to experience the world of the non-Amish, called the "English",with the hope that they will eventually return to the community to take Amish vows of commitment through baptism. I certainly did not know that any form of adolescent rebellion or exploration of freedom in the non Amish world was acceptable as part of Amish culture. 

I will seek out the next book in the series, Broken English. There is a sneak peek of the first chapter at the back of this book and it opens with violence from a criminal just released from prison.

New Book to be Released: How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny

Today, I finished reading The Beautiful Mystery, a murder mystery that features Gregorian Chants that connects with the murder of Thomas Beckett and includes a continuation of events in Penny's previous book, Bury Your Dead. This is 41/2 stars for me.  I loved it.  This book made me think, laugh out loud, feel anger, anxiety, and sadness. I loved the dialogue.  I loved all the subplots in the story.  I  loved the historical elements about the music, the monks, the Jesuits.  I loved the contrasts in the story of harmony and disharmony.  The fabulous acoustics in the chapel as described by the writer reminded me of  the Church of St. Anne in Israel.  I am looking forward to the next book, How the Light Gets In, which will be released in August to see how the relationships between Chief Inspector Gamache and Lieutenant Beauvoir and Beauvoir and Anne, the Chief's daughter, develop. 

To Be Released:New Book by Jeannette Walls

Jeanette Walls has a new book that will be released on June 11th titled The Silver Star.  Our book club chose her first book, The Glass Castle, for discussion in 2005 and it is one of my favorite reads. If you are a fan of the bestseller, The Glass Castle, you will enjoy this article in the New York Times.  Jeannette's Mom is a hoarder so I love the photo with the article. Jeannette and her mother are sitting in the middle of the clutter in a cottage where the mother resides.  Having read the Glass Castle, this is how I imagine her mother would be living.  The article refers to the smell of cat urine on entering the cottage, garbage and a junk room.  I am not surprised by those details. Here is one new thing I got from the article. One motivation for Walls to write her memoir,The Glass Castle, had to do with her learning that the Church of Scientology was about to look into her background. I tried to find the article that Walls wrote that probably upset the church enough to investigate her but found nothing.  Could it be this one about Jenna Elman, updated 2/15/05? Or this one about Tom Cruise updated 1/21/2004? I have no idea but I am curious.

Immaculee Ilibagiza's Story

Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza is our book club pick for April. I have never wanted to watch Hotel Rwanda or read anything about the genocide in Rwanda.  I thought this was just going to be a depressing story about evil. It was a depressing story about evil but there was so much more.  This is a story of how Immaculee's Roman Catholic faith guided her, made her bold, kept her safe, and freed her from hate. This book was worth reading.  Imagine, she was locked up in a small bathroom with a group of women for their safety and during the ordeal she kept her faith and obeyed what she discerned to be God's direction.  She even tried to teach herself English in anticipation of her vision to work at the United Nations.  Some of the characters mentioned in the book were interesting. One is the pastor who tried to hide the women yet seemed to regret getting involved with their rescue when the weeks turned into months.  The other is her university friend who had a plan involving electrocution if the Hutus turned on them and there was no escape. Her plan reminded me of the story about the zealots of Masada in Israel as told in the Dovekeepers.

This is not a long story and very easy to read.  There was one typing error in the book towards the end; it mentioned her Aunts and nieces when it should have been Aunts and cousins.