How do we pick a book for book club?

Picking a book for a monthly book club doesn't always seem so daunting. But after a while it seems as if ideas are few and far between. In The Book Club it seems we were often going from feast to famine. Sometimes  we would have several suggestions that would carry us through several months of reading. Then other times no one would come with any ideas. This club was set up for everyone to bring suggestions and we would, as a group choose what to read.

Many times, the problem would be that we had all read very good books, but they really wouldn't generate much discussion. And book club - after all - is for generating much discussion...  About the book read, preferably but often as with Sunday School - rabbits are chased. Book discussion forgotten.

Well, I've been away from The Book Club now for four months (however they did come visit me here one month - I am so grateful) and I'm missing the camaraderie of fellow readers. - whether discussing a chosen book OR chasing rabbits. So I've been toying with the idea of starting The Book Club 2nd Edition :) here in my new home city.

I've done a little research. I've found some great ideas.

• go in alphabetical order
• when it's your turn, you choose the book and the place to meet
• the one who has chosen can either come with their own discussion questions OR
• the previous month tell members to each bring 2 discussion questions of their own.

Or choose books this way but still have only one person come prepared with the discussion questions. I have learned from experience DON'T come to book club with no discussion questions - because the discussion will probably not happen.

I want to start a new book club in September. I haven't yet decided exactly how it's going to "run". Many times you will need to try several ideas to find one that will fit your group. There is no right or wrong way to do this.

These are some of the books by my bed. What I've found is I always want to suggest a book that I've read. - That way I know if it was good - and if it was, I always want to share it. But then you have the dilemma of having already read the book chosen. That happened me quite often. There really isn't any way to avoid that other than going by book reviews to choose a book that no one has read.

Now I'm going to chase a rabbit!  But only for a moment. This is the book I am currently reading. Great book. If the picture isn't clear enough it is "Old Books, Rare Friends" by Leona Rostenberg & Madeleine Stern. As those from The Book Club will attest, I never - or maybe I should say, very seldom do I read a book without these little flags and I mark passages that I may want to share at club or that I may want to use for future quotes. You will even notice I have a flag stuck on the front of the book marking which woman was which. I need to picture the people as I'm reading. At the beginning of the book, I kept forgetting which was which so I marked Leona. It works for me. I would suggest it for you.

Another rabbit, another of The Book Club members gave me this idea YEARS ago - if the book has many characters to remember, make a list of the characters and a small notation about them so while reading you can keep track of who's who.

Now - I'm tired, no more running after rabbits.

Books I'm thinking of for future book club meetings:

• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
• Old Books Rare Friends (mentioned above)
• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
• The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
• Little Bee by Chris Cleave

These are all books I haven't read. I have a list a mile long of great books I have read!! If you would like some book club suggestions - leave me a comment, find me on facebook, twitter or email! I LOVE to talk books!

Mia, A Journal By, For and About Women

 

*****

My high school friend, Dianne, gave me a magazine she picked up in Tulsa.  She saw an article in it she thought I might enjoy, "Living in Another Woman's House." I did enjoy it. I have enjoyed the whole magazine. Mia comes out four times a year. She has a website and subscriptions for the print and paper magazine available.  The copy I have is Winter 2010. Some of the articles available in this copy are: the one I've already mentioned, Puppy Love (about an actual puppy), Book Reviews from Readers, Lauren's Nest Egg and many more.

I like magazines. I enjoy picking one up and reading short articles. I especially enjoy them while soaking in the tub! This one is a keeper for sure.

Mia Magazine is published by The Leslie Group, LLC out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. You can follow them on twitter and facebook.  Or you can follow their web site HERE.  You can also subscribe to Mia. (this can also be done on the website.) Definitely a magazine worth looking at.

From the back of the magazine:

"Let us help you tell your story, The Leslie Group, Publisher of Mia Magazine, has enjoyed bringing you stories of amazing women for the past two years.  .....  We believe everyone has a story... and now it's time to tell yours."

Check out all that the Leslie Group has to say HERE!

Check out Mia!

Tuesday's Tips for Book Clubs

Tuesday's Tips for Book Clubs got put on the back burner today what with all the dependable car problems that I wrote about on Cohorn Collections HERE!

I remember when I was a child my mom was a member of an Home Extension Club. Not many counties offer Home Extension Clubs anymore and women have looked for other ways to get together in groups and socialize. There are way too many groups for me to name here but one of our options is to belong to a book club.  

When we lived in Jamaica, Oprah started her book club. I remember hearing her talk about it on her show. (we could watch Oprah at night in JA.) I thought the idea of a book club was a dream come true for me!

I decided that when I was settled back in the states, I would start a book club. That's exactly what my friend Diane G and I did. The Book Club started in May of 1999. 

My tip is this: if you want to be a member of a book club, if you know some friends that are readers, find one evening a month and START a Book Club. That's it. That's my tip for this week. Just start it. There are no wrong or right ways to do it. You just do it for you. - and a few friends.

Talk to your friends, see if there is an interest - then just do it. Start a book club!

I am not an expert on book clubs but I will be offering some tips on Tuesdays that did or didn't work for our book club.

Just do it for you.

The Help by Katherine Stockett

*****

  "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett (fiction) just came out in a movie on August 10, 2011. This was our February 2010 choice for the book club I attended in Oklahoma. I must start by saying I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Stockett creates three extraordinary women in Mississippi in the 1960's and showed how their lives touched in a way not usual for that day and time.

It's the story of black women - "the help" - raising white children but not allowed to use their restrooms. It tells the good and the bad about working for these families. 

It also lets us have a better understanding about the pressure put on white women to marry and have a family. If one was "fortunate" to graduate from college without getting married, she was still discouraged in having a career. The main goal is MARRIAGE.

Stockett presents a look of the racial conflicts that were going on then and unfortunately still continue in many places. A book that will make you think. At the same time, easy to read. Stockett's words flow on the pages. You will remember for a long time the stories of Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minnie.

Because I enjoyed the book so much, I was anxiously waiting for the movie. Now, many times if I really like a book, I hesitate to see the movie. It seems the directors never choose the right actors for the job! :)     So when a "movie from book" comes out, I watch the commercials and if the characters "look right" for the parts, I see the movie!! I liked what I saw in the commercials.

I really liked what I saw on the big screen. It's been over a year since I read the book - but I was taken back into this world of prejudice against those of another race and of women.  It was a movie that makes you laugh, cry and wonder how people survive with their prejudices.

 

Tuesday's Tips are for Book Clubs

I mentioned to Randy that I needed a library card! So we headed to our neighborhood library branch. Libraries can be "best friends" with book clubs! I am a collector of books - but I understand that not everyone is. Books get more expensive as years go by. Space isn't always available for a very large collection - so our public library system can be the answer to  reasons for not being book collectors. 

This is the wonderful Librarian that I met at our library. She was very friendly and helpful. I admire Librarians. From Marion the Librarian in "The Music Man", to my friend Diane that works in a library in Missouri, another friend Diane that is a retired elementary librarian, my friend Pam - a librarian - I seem to have a plethora of Librarian friends!! Anyway, on the surface - it seems like a FUN - enjoyable job - which it is, but it also includes much responsibility and as we saw in "The Music Man" - many complaints! So - hug a librarian this week!! :)  Ok, I've chased that rabbit as far as I'm going to today!

While at the library, I was surprised to learn my wonderful husband didn't have a library card!!! - I know.. I should have asked that BEFORE the wedding! Anyway, while there he got a card, too.

Some things you should find out before the wedding!!

The Wichita Public Library has a web site HERE.  

They also have a page on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/wichitapubliclibrary

ANYWAY:

To get to the subject of this post - Book Clubs.

Many book club members don't want to purchase a copy of the book that's been chosen to read. Your public library can be the answer for that. Many libraries have several copies of a single book for book clubs to reserve and often they even provide discussions questions to go with the books.

On the Wichita Public Library website, they have readers resources, book discussion sets for book clubs.

http://www.wichita.lib.ks.us/Readers/Book+Discussion+Sets.htm

This resource has a list of books that can be reserved and checked out for book clubs.

Check with your local library and see what they have to offer for book clubs.

A Time to Love, Quilts of Lancaster County by Barbara Cameron

Barbara Cameron

 ***** if you like Christian Romance

       *** if you are not a fan of Romance

Barbara Cameron is the author of more than 24 books. She is a Christian author and has won several awards for her books and has sold 3 films to HBO and Cinemax. Several of her books are about the Amish. You can find her website HERE!! 

Amazon offers free books for Kindle for a limited amount of time. I check their free list often and pick books I think I might enjoy. That's where I picked up this book.  It's now $9.72 on Kindle. If you are a fan of Amish fiction, I think Cameron does a good job of letting you see the Amish world without romanticizing it. She joins the English world with the Amish world in "A Time to Love." I've never felt it would be this easy to join the Amish lifestyle, but with Cameron's story, it is more believable because Jenny had been exposed to the Amish as a young girl and a teenager.

The story is more about the everyday lives of the Amish rather than the "spiritual" aspect of their lives. It is well written and adds more to the story than your usual Christian romance.

Cameron's book is about a war correspondent, Jennie King who becomes a temporary guest in her grandmother’s Amish community while she recuperates from the devastating injuries sustained in a car bomb attack. But when she meets Matthew Bontrager, the man she had a crush on as a teenager, she wonders if God has a new plan for her. Jennie has emotional and physical scars and though she feels she has come home, she's not sure she can bridge the difference between her English world and his Amish world.

It's easy to read, and moves fast. If you enjoy books about the Amish, I recommend this one.