Privileges discussion results

The discussion of The Privileges was an interesting one for us. We spent a lot of time on the characters, their motivations, and what might become of them after the book closed.

Cherrie hosted.  Claire, Marlene, Mary Louise, Miky and Jim were there.

The next title is The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai.  We'll be meeting on Thursday, October 18, 7:30 p.m. at Jim's house.

Next title: Privileges by Jonathan Dee

Dinner at Matsuri was a hit - especially the surprise tempura cheesecake at the end.

At dinner, we selected a title for our next meeting. We'll be reading The Privileges by Jonathan Dee.  The meeting will be at Cherrie's at 7:30 on September 20.  According to our new format, we'll be meeting at that slightly later time.  Cherrie will host with appetizers, desserts and beverages. Marlene will do some research to guide the discussion.  

Book discussion suggestions

Here's the list of book suggestions that have come in so far:


Claire:

• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
• Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger
• Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann
• Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbia Undercity by Katherine Boo (seconded by Cherrie)

Cherrie:

• Witch of Exmoor by Margaret Drabble
• Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl
• O Pioneers by Willa Cather 
• Gold by Chris Cleave

Marlene:

• Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
• The Privileges by Jonathan Dee (selected for September 20, 2012)

Miky

• The Glass Room by Mawer Simon
• Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick
• The Life of an Unknown Man by Andrei Makine
• The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
• The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai (selected for October 18, 2012)

Sharyn

• The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo 
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce 
• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Starting in a new direction - July 11, 2012

Here's a quick initial post to christen our blog.  We'll be keeping records here of what we've read, what we will be reading and where we'll be meeting.  We made some basic decisions at the meeting this evening.

Our meetings will now have more structure. Our basic framework will be:

• Meeting at 7:30 at someone's house.
• Only appetizers and dessert will be served, both provided by the meeting hostess/host.
• A facilitator (possibly the person who recommended the title) will research the book to get reviews, author info., etc. Hostess/host cannot also serve as facilitator at a meeting.
• We'll meet, have drinks, enjoy the appetizers and begin the evening discussing the book.  We'll hold general chat until the book discussion has ended.
• Our discussions will include time to talk about the characters, setting, style, and other points. We'll develop a full list of those through email. 

We will be developing a list of books to read in advance.  Everyone gets to suggest two titles.  Send them to Jim via email. As they come in they'll be posted on the blog.

There will be other neato blog things that we might be able to do - e.g. email submissions and updates.  We can explore those in the future. For now our blog is here and we're on our way...