January: The Lovely Bones

Hey friends!



So I think I might still be recovering from this past weekend. When did I get so lame!?



Anyways, the sleepover was a great success! We managed to stay up until 4 am and in that time we managed to do none of the following: A) spend more than 10 minutes discussing the book B) pick a new book for next month or C) take a picture. What can I say? I can only speak for myself when I say I was too busy drinking and eating. Lovely. However, in that time, we managed to dance to my new favorite song ever "Don't Stop" by Keisha, hear some crazy stories, and catch up with everyone.



The book was pretty interesting. Of course since we were drinking and eating heavily, none of us voted(!), so I am not sure of the entire group's consensus. Personally, I thought the book was a good read. Although some of the chapters seemed to drag on with too much detail, I thought the general plot of the story was interesting and kept me involved.



In a nutshell, the book begins very quickly with a young girl's (Susie) vicious rape and murder. From the second chapter on, the book is told from Susie's perspective in Heaven. She follows her family and friends religiously from Heaven and yearns to have peace with her life's tragic events. She painstakingly watches her family deal with her death, each so different from the other - her sister dealing with looking exactly like her dead sister; her brother, too young to comprehend what happened; her father who knows who the killer is, but cannot make anyone believe him; and her mother, who after a couple of years, flees the remaining family to start over again in California.



I give the book a 4. I thought it was well written and very original. Writing the book from Susie's perspective in Heaven was very unique and made me think of what my own Heaven might be like. In addition, I felt like the character development was very realistic....I had a clear understanding of what each character was experiencing in the days, months and years after Susie's death. The only thing that made this a 4 instead of a 5 is that I really didn't like that the killer was never prosecuted. However, to play Devil's Advocate, events like this happen everyday in our life...not all killers are found and/or prosecuted, so it definitely was a different twist in the book.



So...I am really looking forward to our next meeting at Shana'a house and it looks like it will be another sleepover! Our book selection will not be determined until Thursday, so we will post that when the votes are in!

December's Meeting: Jill Smolinski's The Next Thing on My List

Posting about the December meeting in January...just my style. :)

We had a great meeting at the beginning of January! We had two newbies, Danielle and Gretchen, along with myself, Kelly, Devon, and Monica. Great group! We didn't get to take a picture and I sadly don't have any pictures of my food spread...but here is one of my Christmas tree. It was present at the meeting.

Overall, most of us enjoyed The Next Thing on My List. It was about a girl who tries to take on a 'Life List' of someone, whom she just met, that dies when they both get into a car accident. The items on the list span from being very light and silly to long-term, serious goals. As she works to complete the list, you see her grow and find herself while making an impact on others as well. It was a very light and inspiring book with a really good underlying lesson...for me, that was to never take life for granted. The group discussed creating lists, what would be on our lists, etc. We all really liked the book and most of the group rated it a 4...I think, this was a while ago. :)

So for January, we are reading The Lovely Bones, and will be meeting at Monica's for a slumber party! It will be so nice to be able to hang out, get our drink on, catch up and not have to worry about going to work the next day!

Is everyone enjoying TLB? Have you started reading yet?? :)

Sue Miller's While I Was Gone

Hi Friends! I'm terribly behind but wanted to do the review from the book club at my house - so sorry!

So this book club on Thursday, November 7, me, Devon, Monica and Stacy got together! We didn't take a picture of us... sorry Shana!!.... but I have a picture of our meal - pita pizzas!

The Spread....

Zoom on the meatsa pizza (back) and pesto chicken (front)

zoom on the veggie pizza

hehe love my pizza plates - they make me laugh; can also see the Meditteranean pizza well!

Book club was a blasty – great conversation, yummy wine, fun catch-up time as well as book chat. It’s so good to have great friends, especially ones you have so much in common with! The book we discussed was Sue Miller’s While I Was Gone.I gave it a 2.5 out of 5. It just wasn’t what I expected. It was very deep. It focused on a woman married to a minister who lived a happy life with her three children. Then you find that she has a past, and it comes back in a very unexpected way. It’s less of a story and more of a series of events. It DOES make you think and it definitely lent itself to conversation because most of us disagreed with the main character and the choices she made. I gave it a 2.5 instead of a 5 because I wished more had happened - more literal and less open to interpretation. I felt like the author wanted me to do all of the work; and while I was all about gleaning ideas/thoughts from the book, I needed more to hold my interest. It definitely got our club thinking about people from the past – is it good when they pop back up? Or a reminder of what could have been? Which led to an interesting conversation about Facebook and social media. So again, not the best book for me, but a definite conversation starter!

We also chose the next books:

The Next Thing on My List: December book (Stacy’s pick/her house)
The Lovely Bones: January book (Mon’s pick/her house)

I'm again SO SORRY for the much delayed meeting recap. :)

Hi!

Hey Girls!

Just saying "hi" and "Happy 2010!"

I'm behind on my reading again. haha! Imagine that! This time I haven't even GOTTEN the book yet! yikes! Gotta say, I'm a bit unsure about reading the book b/c the trailer for the movie is quite creepy. Hmmmmm.... Better get on it since we meet next weekend. :)

btw, SO excited to see you all! So much has happened since I last saw you (holidays, new houses, and an ENGAGEMENT!) woohoo!

Anyway, just popping in...I don't know if we all even read this blog anymore!