January 13th, 2010 Meeting

Tonight we met at Deb's house to discuss this months selection, Eat Pray Love. We were missing two members Verna and Fran, who are currently down south, however we did have e-mails from both of them with their comments and Verna was able to join us for a short time via Skype. I think this was one of the best meetings we have had. First off, everyone had read the book! For the most part everyone seemed to enjoy the book to various degrees. We each had some criticisms but for the most part everyone found a degree of inspiration from it. We had a very lively, moving and at times humorous discussion. There were some very tender stories exchanged and we had a lot of good laughs. It is interesting how each meeting is so different depending on that months selection. Some books are about the story, some about the literature and some teach lessons. The really good ones combine all of these things! Next month we move onto our Mystery. Till then.....

December 9, 2009 Meeting

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!

Our Second Annual Outing

This month we are having two meetings of our club. We have a scheduled meeting on Nov. 19Th to discuss this months book but as well as that we had our annual Outing. It was a wonderful evening. A Limo picked us up and drove us to Toronto. On board we enjoyed wine and snacks and lots of laughs. We then had dinner at Gretzky's, followed by a performance of the Second City Troupe. The performance was very good, very topical addressing a lot of political and social issues in a very tongue in cheek manner. I think it is safe to say that we all enjoyed it very much. It's wonderful to be out with a group of friends and spend the whole evening laughing. It was great therapy!!! After a fabulous evening and several bottles of wine our Limo whisked us back home. Everyone was tired but happy and may I say that almost everyone got up and exercised the next morning. Well done ladies! Plans for next years outing are already in the works. Now it's back to discussing our book. See you on the 19Th.

October 21st. Meeting

Tonight we met to discuss our current book, John Irving's, A Prayer for Owen Meany. We were short two members as Fran was traveling in China and Pat was not well. I was interested to see what the reaction to the book was going to be as it was something quite different from what we have read in the past. On the whole I think the reaction was quite favorable. Some loved it, including Pat who called ahead to give us her input, and Janet and I. Debbie and Verna liked the booked but felt it dragged in some spots and left you wondering at times where it was going. In the end though both felt it was worth reading. Catherine was unable to finish it as she had a very busy month but intends to get back at it and reports that so far she likes it.
There were various themes discussed including the spiritual apect of the book as well as the political slant. I think all agreed that the character of Owen is one we will not soon forget. We agreed that it is the type of book you might read a second time.
Next month we will continue with the spiritual theme with Janet's selection of The Shack. It should provide us with some good discussion. Till then......

September 16 th 2009.

Tonight we met to discuss our current book, The Book Of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. We were missing one member due to vacation. I was somewhat surprised to find that the discussion was not a lively as some of our past meetings. I wondered why that would be as we all thoroughly enjoyed the book. Maybe therein lies the answer. Everyone had the same basic opinions. We all thought it was a good story, well written and an insight into some of our Canadian history and we would highly recommend it to others. There wasn't alot of room for disagreement. How could you not be appalled by slavery in general and Aminata's life in particular. Still it was a good meeting. We also conducted some business regarding a planned outing which should prove to be alot of fun! Looking forward to next months discussion on A Prayer for Owen Meany. I think I can saftly say that there will not be as much of a concensus on that book! Till October.....

August 19th Meeting

This month we had a very interesting meeting. Our book was The Ice Man by Philip Carlo. It was a biography of a contract killer for the Mafia who happened to be a serial killer as well. It seems that most of us approached this book with some trepidation, feeling that we wouldn't like it at best and "wouldn't be able to read it" at worst. However, everyone, I am pleased to say, read the book and we had a very spirited conversation about it. We touched on several subjects besides the actual content of the book. We discussed the Nature vs Nurture argument. We talked about spousal abuse and why it happens and why some women allow it. We also discussed how the psychopathic mind works and how we ( so called ) normal people cannot begin to understand the "Why" of their actions. The whole exercise was a great reminder of how reading different books can open your mind to new ideas and experiences and are always an education of some degree. All in all a good meeting. Looking forward to a complete change of pace with our next selection, "The Book of Negroes. Enjoy ladies!!!!!!
On a sadder note I must mention that we have lost one of our members. Do to travel and time restraints Joyce will be leaving our club. She just can't commit to our monthly meetings. Although we all understand her decision we will miss having her.

For our July meeting we discussed a book that is very popular at the moment, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Two of our members were missing last night, but the six present unanimously agreed that it was well worth reading. The consensus of opinion was that it was both humorous and touching and gave a different perspective to the horror of WWII. Some of the readers had a bit of a problem adjusting to the format. The book is presented as a group of letters being exchanged between various characters and never deviates from that premise. All agreed though that once they got used to the format they quite enjoyed it. It was a perfect summer read. Next month we will be taking a very different path as we explore the world of a renowned "Hit Man". Should be interesting.