Our Nov/Dec Read: The Story of Beautiful Girl

Melissa, Buffy, Susan and I met last night at Starbucks to discuss The Postmistress and pick our next read. Although the majority found The Postmistress to be a slow novel, we agreed there were some very meaningful scenes, particularly with the Jewish families fleeing Germany (and the decisions mothers had to make during that time).

On Melissa's suggestion, we have chosen to read The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon for the holiday season. We'll try to find time in December for a discussion. 

Next Up: The Postmistress

We've selected Sarah Blake's The Postmistress for our September/October Literary Wives read. Buffy suggested it, noting that Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, highly recommended it. It will interesting to read a story set in World War II and continue with our theme of female main characters.

Sarah's Key

Again, I'm grossly overdue on updating this blog. But better late than never...

For our July/August reading, we read Sarah's Key. Although we didn't really get to discuss it fully because we chose to go see The Help at our last meeting, I think it was a book that captured everyone's attention.

Like several other books we have read as a book club, Sarah's Key has been made into a movie. It has not been widely released so we may have to wait for Netflix to pick it up. Just watching the trailer (available on the IMDB site) reminded me what a powerful story this was.

If you would like more information about the Vel d'Hiv round-up of French Jews, there are several items online. At quick glance:

• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vel%27_d%27Hiv_Roundup
• Article from Time magazine: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1880118,00.html

May-June Selection: The Tiger's Wife

I've been ridiculously overdue in updating The Literary Wives. My apologies. We have met as a book club and discussed books, movies, kids, and life but I haven't recored anything here since January. Whoops!

So here we go with a semi-clean slate...Buffy has chose The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht for our May/June read.

This novel has received a good amount of press and the reviews are varied. One reviewer noted: "The Tiger's Wife" will seduce and confound, fascinate and exasperate" (see the full review here). At it's very basic level, it's a story of a grandfather and a granddaughter. A tiger and a mystery. Multiple layers woven into one story and yet many separate stories. Hmmm...intriguing or maybe frustrating (as the description of Little Bee frustrated me).

We'll gather as a group mid-June (if the majority have read the book by then) to discuss and share our impressions. Happy reading!

Little Bee

We read Little Bee by Chris Cleave for our December/January selection. We'll meet January 20th to discuss.

This book received high praise from numerous sources and is a recommended book club read by many sites. It will be interesting to see what the members of our book club thought about this choice. I wrote in an email to our group that I almost didn't finish this book because it was so depressing. I'm thinking more and re-reading the beginning to determine why I was so put off by this book, compared to other books I have read about refugees. I'm not willing to give it the praise of being the best book I have ever read (far from it for me personally) but I do respect that it is a well-written novel.

Chris Cleave is a very involved writer who seems to love interacting about his work. You'll find his web site informative about the issues he addresses in Little Bee. 

Read more here: http://www.chriscleave.com/little-bee/get-involved/

Recap of The Space Between Us and November's selection

Buffy, Christy, Melissa and I had a great time at Al-Amir last night discussing The Space Between Us and eating Damascus Hummus, salads, and dessert. It was the first time that everyone present had actually finished the book so that made for great conversation (and of course, we veered off from the book, too). We all had mixed feelings about the book's ending. Although Bhima's epiphany was poetic, her life circumstances made it hard for us as readers to celebrate her realization. We also talked about downer endings in books vs. movies. Buffy said she invests so much time in reading a book that a downer ending stays with her much longer than a 2-3 hour movie. Overall, we really enjoyed the book, especially how descriptive and involved it was. We're planning to write down our favorite quotes from future books to share with other book club members.

For the month of November, we have chosen Water for Elephants, Dottie's suggestion. I read it last October and LOVED it. It will be a change from what we've read in the past because the central character is a man. You'll love it if you haven't already read it.

You can read more/order the book from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Water-Elephants-Novel-Sara-Gruen/dp/1565124995

As with a few of the other books we have read, Water for Elephants is scheduled to be released as a movie next year. Read more here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1067583/

We'll meet for dinner at Sakitumi in the Vista sometime in later November. If you have a preference, please say! Also, we'd love for everyone to be able to come so if there are some nights that you know you absolutely can't come (such as Wednesday if you have church), just let me know. And if you know you're not really interested in being part of the book club, let me know that, too. We won't be offended--and that way your email box isn't crowded!

Anna

For September: The Space Between Us

For September, we are reading The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. Like The Help, it tells the story of 2 different classes of women; however, this novel is set in India (a full circle to our first book club read). To read more about this book, please visit the author's web site: http://www.umrigar.com/space_between.html

July-August: The Help

For July/August, we read The Help by Kathryn Stockett. What a fantastic book! Even though only 3 of us were able to attend the actual bookclub meeting, I think everyone enjoyed this book. Melissa, Dottie and I actually spent the majority of our dinner discussing the book--conversation really flowed easily. Thanks, Sophie, for suggesting it.
You can read more about this novel at the author's web site: http://www.kathrynstockett.com/

Shanghai Girls

For the month of June, we're reading Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. This is a historical fiction novel that tells the story of two Chinese sisters. After their father loses his wealth, he sells them as brides to an American Chinese man and they move to LA. It's an amazing book but I'll leave a review for later.

For more information about the book, please go to Lisa See's web site: http://www.lisasee.com/shanghaigirls/

Discussing Bon-Bons at Cafe Strudel

We met March 25 at Cafe Strudel in West Columbia to discuss Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons. When we arrived and took a look at the dessert display, we thought we had chosen the perfect place for our book discussion--huge pieces of pie, cinnamon rolls, and interesting looking strudel.

Although the service was s...l..o..w..., we all enjoyed ourselves. Not all of us had finished reading the book (busy lives!), but those of us who had definitely recommended it as a quick, interesting read.

Our book club's membership is changing with Lindsay heading to New Mexico and the addition of Tiffany. As always, others are welcome to join. Just let us know if you would like to start reading with us!