Tonight's meeting was a little different from our regular meetings. Due to a death in the family Janet was unable to host the meeting in November. It was decided that as it was Janet's choice of books we did not want to go on without her so the meeting was deferred to the next month. We decided to combine two meetings in one and discuss both November's book The Shack as well as Verna's choice for December Victor Hugo's, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The meeting was held at Janet's home. This would be the last meeting of this year that we would all be together as some of our members will be heading south.
There was a variety of opinions regarding The Shack but all in all in was probably not one of the more popular books we read. Some of us liked the book to a point and felt it had some positive messages while others felt it was both poorly written and of little value. It is always risky when books of a religious nature are discussed. People are a little more guarded with their opinions for fear of offending someone.
The second book we discussed was Verna's choice of the classic Hunchback of Notre Dame. Again opinions were varied. A few of us loved the book both for it's story and the skill of the author Victor Hugo. A couple of us just couldn't get past the language or felt the story was dragging at points and abandoned it and a couple just didn't bother reading it. Reasons such as lack of interest and lack of time were cited for this. On a personal note I find it disappointing when our members do not make at least a noble attempt to read the novel of the month. It is after all the reason we have a "Book Club". We discussed dropping classics from our list as they seem to cause problems for some of us. It was decided to give it one more try with Pat's upcoming choice of The Scarlett Letter. I hope everyone will enjoy it and appreciate it.
Now it is onto next months selection of Eat, Pray, Love. Quite a departure from Mr. Hugo!
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I totally agree with you Linda. Well done!! Regarding The Shack,I would like to think we are all broadminded enough to have a "little" to say about our opinions, but it can be a dicey subject. Re the Hunch Back I was dissapointed with the effort to try a difficult read. I feel very fortunate that after disliking it in school I now appreciate why it is a classic!!!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see a comment on the Blog! Thank you Verna. My hope is that everyone will start using it. It will be a great asset for those of you who are away, down south, to keep connected to the club and your fellow members. I look forward to upcoming comments from you!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Verna regarding the "Shack" when it comes to this type of book we all have our opinions and views. I made an effort to read the "Hunchback" but found it very difficult to get into this book. I'm not blaming the time of year but I really believe that it was not my kind of read,
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