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!

Schedule and Book Changes

Hello all!

You may have noticed a lack of posts the last couple of months; unfortunately my schedule has been running me about and the Book Club Blog was the juggling ball I dropped. However, I'm back with lots of important news.

Some of you may remember that we were originally planning to read Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love for November and that we were meeting on a Tuesday. NEITHER of these things is true anymore! I'm working out the kinks in using the Barrington Library Book Club in a Bag Kits and I was unable to obtain the Gilbert book set in a timely fashion so instead here is November's information:

Wednesday, November 28th at 7:30 pm in the Church Lounge we will discuss While I Was Gone by Sue Miller

Why Wednesday? Deacons and Session will both be meeting that Tuesday (not to mention choir!) and I still have class on Mondays. Good news though - my only class next semester is on Wednesday nights which will allow us to return to our regularly scheduled day and time starting in January 2008.

Due to the Christmas holidays and more fall schedule conflicts, our December meeting will be on a Wednesday as well:

Wednesday, December 19th at 7:30 in the Church Lounge we will discuss The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore

For more information on Sue Miller see the post directly below this one and watch this page for future updates with information on Christopher Moore.

Here's hoping everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving holiday!

While I Was Gone Resources

We'll be meeting on Wednesday, November 28th at 7:30 pm in the Church Lounge.

For additional information on why this day and why this book see the above post.

Information about While I Was Gone:

• ReadingGroupGuides.com discussion questions
• Page from Oprah's Book Club with info about the book, Sue Miller, and the Oprah led discussion
• Interview at BookPage.com regarding While I Was Gone
• Review from BookReporter.com

Information about Sue Miller:

• Barnes and Noble Meet the Writers biography and interview
• New York Times essay on whether or not her work is autobiographical
• Audio interview with Miller on OnPoint from Boston's NPR station (almost an hour long and focused on her newest book Lost in the Forest)

Hope to see you all soon!

The Law of Similars Resources

So, I'm a little behind this month, but better late than never I guess.

Since I have class Monday nights this fall, the group has graciously agreed to switch to Tuesday meetings for the next couple of months which means that our next meeting is:

Tuesday, September 25 at 7:30 pm - since the Session will likely also be meeting we will plan on being in the South Lounge.

Our title for this month is The Law of Similars by Chris Bohjalian.

Bohjalian has been compared to Jodi Picoult in topic and style and his book Midwives was one of Oprah's Book Club picks. For more information on that title you can read his interview with BookBrowse.com.

For information on all of Bohjalian's titles and his life, the first stop should be his website.
You can also find a brief bio at his Random House Author Page and he's one of the authors featured through the Barnes and Noble "Meet the Writers" program.

BookReporter.com has an interview with Bohjalian. For further insight into Bohjalian's mind you can also check out his newspaper colum, Idyll Banter, from the Burlington Free Press.

Finally, our old standby ReadingGroupGuides.com has a guide for The Law of Similars.

Hopefully I'll get next month's information on Matthew Pearl up a little bit sooner; I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Unless Resources

It's hard to believe we've been meeting for five years; time just seems to fly!
To kick off our sixth year we'll be reading:

Unless by Carol Shields on August 27th at 7:30 pm in the south lounge of the church.

While she was born in River Forest, Shields lived most of her life in Canada. Unless, her final novel, has also been called her darkest. Take a look at some of the following sources for more information on both Unless and Carol Shields:

• Obituary from CBC News - Shields died of cancer in 2003, this summarizes Shields' works and life. CBC article about her writing following her death. CBC article breaking the news of her death.
• Interview about living with cancer in 2000 from CBC Radio.
• Unless was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2002 (Life of Pi won instead), the Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award, and the Commonwealth Writers Prize. The Booker List from 2002.
• NW Passages profile.
• Interview with BookReporter.com (about halfway down the page).
• Observer interview following the publication of Unless.
• Manitoba Author Publication Index - includes a list of awards won and an annotated bibliography of published works.
• Mostly Fiction review of Unless - scroll down for links to numerous other reviews and resources.
• ReadingGroupGuides.com guide for Unless.
• Carol Shields Memorial Labyrinth - inspired by her novel Larry's Party.
  
  Enjoy and hopefully I'll see you soon!