My friend Suzanne sent me this magnet - hilarious!

It’s the end of April and time for another book club meeting. This week we’re meeting at Russell’s house to discuss The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Russell will be spoiling us again with another amazing dinner! Yeah!

Last month we took a vote and decided that everyone needed a little break from the demands of Book Club, so this will be our last meeting until September. Hopefully that will give everyone time to relax, recharge and come back to Book Club raring to go! We’ll also be looking for some new members, since our numbers have been dwindling… interested? Send me a message!

Happy reading!

In January we braved a very cold and windy night to meet at Christine’s house to discuss All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. In what seemed like a split second, February brought us to Kristy’s house to discuss Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
Next up for March is Lindsey’s pick: The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri followed by Russell’s pick for April, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.
If you haven’t been able to make it to the last few meetings, now’s the time! Hope to see you at our next meeting in March!

At our last Book Club meeting, we chose two new books for the new year – All the Pretty Horses and Slaughterhouse-Five. We’ll be picking more books in January, with first priority given to those of you who haven’t picked yet. Check out the “Upcoming Books” page for meeting dates and moderator info.

Russell’s Indian feast last month was off the charts – so tasty! I don’t think any of us will be able to out do that hosting job. After dinner, our book discussion about Then We Came to the End proved to be lively and hilarious! Great pick, Russell!

Our next meeting is Wednesday, December 10th at Mandy’s house (check your Evite for more info). We’ll be discussing Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. (There wasn’t a November meeting this month, since the group decided we’d be too stressed with Thanksgiving and holiday planning.)

If you’re like me and you want to know more, more, more about the topics discussed in this book, check out these links:

Middlesex Wiki page
Powell’s Books Interview with Jeffrey Eugenides  
Oprah’s Book Club Interview with Jeffrey Eugenides
Intersexuality Wiki page

I hope you’re enjoying Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. I think anyone who’s ever worked in an huge office or even in a tiny place with cubicles and a coffee pot will get a laugh out of the situations his characters find themselves in. If you love “The Office” or the movie “Office Space,” you will absolutely devour this book.

See you all on October 28th for Indian food and discussion. Hope you find some time during this chilly weather to curl up on the couch with a cozy blanket and enjoy this book.

Happy reading.

And yes, don’t worry, if you didn’t finish the book, we’ll still love you and we still want you to come to the meeting. We may heckle you, but what else is new? Bring extra wine to compensate, ok?

For our September book, there’s been a little change – we decided to flip-flop the next two books because there’s a teeny tiny chance that Joshua Ferris may be able to come to our October meeting. So, we decided to wait and read his book in October and read Kerry’s book for September.

Our September book is That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx and we’ll be meeting September 23rd at Sarah’s house to discuss it. If you’re confused, check the “what we’re reading this month” page for clarity.

Happy reading!

** Here’s an NPR audio interview from a July 2003 with author Khaled Hosseini:

Weekend Edition Interview with author Khaled Hosseini

** Another interview with Hosseini from Newsline.com (2003)

Newline interview with Khaled Hosseini

** For those of you who haven’t read it yet and or can’t keep the characters straight, here’s the Wikipedia site with a synopsis, character descriptions and discussion of themes.

The Kite Runner on Wikipedia

** To learn more about Afghanistan and the Taliban’s rule:

What is the Taliban?

** To read more about Afghanistan and Pakistan before and after the Taliban and September 11th, I’d suggest this wonderful book:

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

For June, we read Lindsey’s pick, White Teeth by Zadie Smith. While reviews were mixed, it was interesting to discuss the Indian-English culture and generation clashes and the search for identity that Zadie Smith describes. Thanks to Kristy for hosting and Lindsey for leading a tough crowd!
In July, we read Sal’s pick, Vanishing Acts by Jodie Picoult. This was a fun, quick read, also exploring the topic of identity set in Arizona. Wouldn’t it be great if our significant others to spend half as much time obsessing about our mundane habits as Fitz and Eric did in the book?? Sigh…  Anyway, Christine’s living room was a cozy retreat for discussion during that thunderous stormy night.

Coming up in this month, we’ll be diving in Afghan culture with The Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini, Allie’s pick of the month. If you haven’t already begun, start reading now!! I found myself flying through this thoroughly engaging story of a boy growing up in pre-Taliban Afghanistan. I finished it in about 3 days and loved every minute of it! We’ll be at Allie’s house to discuss it on Wednesday, August 27th at 7:00pm.

Whew! Alright, now that I’m caught up, stay tuned to the “Upcoming Books” sections for our book picks this winter and their meeting dates.

Thank you to all of our members who have made our book club idea a success! 

Happy reading,

Sarah

These signs can only add up to one thing: Summer has come to Casper! And with summer comes busy summer schedules full of family vacations, trips to the lake and baseball games. At our last book club meeting we passed around calendars and discussed everyone’s availability.

As a result, we’ve decided to move our meetings to the 4th Tuesday of the month (originally we’d planned on the second Tuesdays). What does this mean to you? It means you’ve got 6 weeks to read White Teeth and then the usual 4 weeks for the rest of the books. Here’s the dates:

• June 24th: White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Kristy’s house. Lindsey will lead discussion.
• July 22nd: Vanishing Acts by Jodie Picoult. Sally Ann’s house. Sally Ann will lead discussion. Fall book club selections will be chosen.
• August 26th: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Place to be determined. Allie will lead discussion.

For those of you who haven’t had a chance to pick your selection, get ready! We’ll discuss the Fall book club picks at our July meeting.