At our meeting on August 28th, we discussed The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin. The group loved the book and would recommend it! They liked the characters and how they developed and felt that the beekeeping information was interesting. 

Summary of Where the Crawdads Sing: "For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. She's barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark. But Kya is not what they say. Abandoned at age ten, she has survived on her own in the marsh that she calls home. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life lessons from the land, learning from the false signals of fireflies the real way of this world. But while she could have lived in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world--until the unthinkable happens. In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a heartbreaking coming of age story and a surprising murder investigation. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens's debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps."

Music of Bees summary: "Following three lonely strangers in a rural Oregon town, each working through grief and life's curveballs, who are brought together by happenstance on a local honeybee farm where they find surprising friendship, healing--and maybe even a second chance--just when they least expect it"

Sorry--it's been so busy, I got behind on posting for bookgroup! 

At our meeting on April 24th, we discussed Someone Like You by Karen Kingsbury. Everyone gave it a passing grade but most aren't planning on reading other books by the author. We felt the writing was good but the religious elements felt forced and the story contrived.

At our March 27th meeting, we discussed Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. We had a good turnout but the book didn't resonant with our members. Some didn't like the topic of loss while others felt the volume of Korean dishes mentioned was too far outside their limited knowledge. The generational gap between the author and our group members was also very apparent. A similar title, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, might have been a better pick for us. Overall, we rated the book as average.