December Meeting

Just a reminder (very last minute, I know) that our meeting has been moved to Tuesday, December 21st and we are reading Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott. Stay tuned to discover what we'll be reading in 2011!

2010 Schedule Updates

Here's our schedule for the rest of the year - all meetings are on Wednesdays at 7:15 pm.

August 25th - Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
September 29th - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
October 27th - House Rules by Jodi Picoult
November 17th - The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
December 22nd - TBD

If you have any good ideas for a Christmas themed book to read, share them in the comments please!

Meeting Dates

Here are our next few meeting dates - all are Wednesdays and we now meet at 7:15 pm.

February 24th: Three Strikes You're Dead by Robert Goldsborough
March 24th: Coastliners by Joanne Harris
April 28th: The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

February and March books are Palatine Library Book Club in a Bag kits so a copy can be obtained from Dawn Amos.
April is our childrens/YA month - check your library for a copy of the book or talk with me to see about ordering a paperback copy.

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

Book club will be meeting Monday, August 25th at 7 pm in the Church Lounge. We will be discussing Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver. This will be our second Barbara Kingsolver title following our discussion of The Poisonwood Bible during our first year of meetings.

Here is some information on Animal Dreams:

• The HarperCollins official website for the book - including discussion questions
• A brief trivia quiz on the book
• Quotes from the book
• An audio interview with Kingsolver about the book from WiredforBooks.org
• The Notes on Novels entry for Animal Dreams from Answers.com

Some general information on Barbara Kingsolver:

• Her official website biography
• A brief interview at Salon.com

Looking forward to seeing everybody next week!

A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel

For July we will be reading A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel. Kimmel tells the story of her girlhood in smalltown Indiana with humor and zest.

We will be meeting on Monday, July 28th at 7:30 pm in the Church Lounge.

I suspect the front entrance construction will still be ongoing, but it turns out I don't have a key to the back door, so I can only unlock the new, alternate front entrance.

Some resources for those who are interested in learning more about Kimmel and her books:

From the author's own website

• About Haven Kimmel
• Brief intro to A Girl Named Zippy
• Kimmel's rather odd blog - Take everything here with a grain of salt; the current post is about being raised in a polygamist sect, but I believe it is intended to be satire rather than truth.

An interview from one of my favorite blogs, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. SevenImp is run by two librarians who love books of all sorts, but they especially love childrens' books and anything by Haven Kimmel. They're really funny, too.

You can find more interview links on Kimmel's website. Also, here's the link to the ReadingGroupGuide we'll be using for discussion.

Hopefully that's enough to get everyone started!

See you soon!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Our title for June will be Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. We will be meeting Monday, June 23rd at 7:30 pm in the church lounge.

Here are some interesting sites for learning a little more about Snow Flower.

From Lisa See's website:

• The Snow Flower page


• Reviews


• Essay by Lisa See On Writing Snow Flower


• Biography of Lisa See


• Link to photos of footbinding on a seperate website

There are several other interesting links on See's website that could also be explored, but here are two other sites of interest:

• Reading Group Guides Discussion Questions


• New York Times Review of Snow Flower
  

Happy reading!

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Our next meeting is tomorrow Moday, May 26 at 7:30 pm in the church lounge. The church office is closed for Memorial Day, but we will be meeting anyway. We will be discussing The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. Please be aware that our front entrance is not going to be available; I will have the back door by the parking lot open instead.

Here are some websites to browse for information on both The Memory Keeper's Daughter and Kim Edwards:

The Reading Group Guide

From the official website:

• About Kim Edwards
• Reviews
• Interviews - this has links to several podcast (audio) interviews

From Bookbrowse.com:

• A print interview with Edwards
• Brief reviews - about halfway down the page

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!