We met on Monday, November 26th to discuss The Reason You're Alive by Matthew Quick.  Even though the snow was piled high, we still had 4 book club members attend.  This book wasn't one that most members would have picked up but everyone liked the book.  The book discussion guide was available online.  We also worked on selecting titles for 2019.

Our next meeting will be December 10th at 3pm for a coffee chat about favorites from 2018 and the upcoming list for 2019.  Please feel free to bring your favorite treats to share!

Yes, it's that time of year again when all the best books of the year lists come out!

What did I love in 2018?  Well, I started off the year with a great first time author, Sue Halpern.  This book was appealing not only because it took place at a library, but I loved the characters and the small town setting. 

Another favorite was Lost Vintage by Ann Mah.  Everytime I think I'm can't read another World War II novel, a book like this comes out and I'm drawn in again!

Several of my favorite authors released new books that I loved.  After being bitterly disappointed with The Best of Adam Sharp, Graeme Simsion (the author of the Rosie Project) redeemed himself with Two Steps Forward which he wrote with his wife.

Jojo Moyes has never disappointed me and I loved her book, Still Me ,and Naomi Novik's, Spinning Silver, was a fabulous mixture of fairytale and fantasy.

I also discovered a few of new authors including Deanna Raybourn, Chistina Lauren, Rebecca Roanhorse and N.K. Jemisin.

If you're looking for other best of 2018 lists, check these links out:

Library Read's Favorites of 2018

New York Public Library's Best Books of 2018

NY Times announces its "100 Notable Books of 2018"

The Washington Post picks its "Best Books of 2018"

If you've been following the Great American Read on PBS, you know that Americans have been voting on their favorite books for months now.  Last night, the top pick was announced and the winner is: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

To find out about more about the winners, visit https://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/results/

The video of "The Grand Finale" is online as well.

Our next meeting will be Monday, October 29 at 3:30pm in the LME Library large meeting room. The book is Books for Living by Will Schwalbe. Copies are available at the library circulation desk. Discussion sheets are available for pickup or online.

At our August 27th book group, we discussed the book This Is Always How It Is by Laurie Frankel. We had eleven members present and the book provided an excellent discussion of a timely topic.  We had pie and danishes from Frosted Bakery.

Our next meeting will be Monday, September 24 at 3:30pm in the LME Library large meeting room.  The book is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.  Copies are available at the library circulation desk.  Discussion sheets are available for pickup or online at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/286570/jane-eyre-by-charlotte-bronte/9780143106159/readers-guide/#

Summary: In early nineteenth-century England, an orphaned young woman accepts employment as a governess and soon finds herself in love with her employer who has a terrible secret.

At our July 30th meeting, we discussed Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance.  The book provided great discussion opportunities and all the participants liked reading the book.  We had cupcakes and cake pops from Frosted Bakery.

For our August 27th meeting, we will be reading This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel.  Books are available at the LME Library desk for pickup as of 7/31/18.  We distributed discussion sheets but they are also available for pickup or online here.  

Here's a summary of the book: 
"When Rosie and Penn and their four boys welcome the newest member of their family, no one is surprised it's another baby boy. At least their large, loving, chaotic family knows what to expect. But Claude is not like his brothers. One day he puts on a dress and refuses to take it off. He wants to bring a purse to kindergarten. He wants hair long enough to sit on. When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl. Rosie and Penn aren't panicked at first. Kids go through phases, after all, and make-believe is fun. But soon the entire family is keeping Claude's secret. Until one day it explodes. This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it's about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again; parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts; children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don't get to keep them forever."

At our June 25th bookgroup, we discussed Dry by Jane Harper. Most of the group enjoys mysteries, and this one held us all to the end.  Definitely a quick read for the group and well received. We had the Oreo brownie from Frosted which was excellent!

Our next bookgroup meeting will be Monday, July 30 at 3pm in the Library's large meeting room.  The book is Hillbilly Elegy J.D. Vance.  Copies of the book are available at the library desk and discussion sheets can be picked up or are available online.  

Summary: "J. D. Vance's grandparents moved north from Kentucky's Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. However, Vance's family struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of poverty. A deeply moving memoir with its share of humor and colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country."

At our May 21st meeting, we discussed the book  Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck.  Even though we all greatly enjoyed the book, we've decided we'd like to take a break from WWII historical fiction for a while.  We had treats from Frosted that we're lovely.

Our next book selection is Dry by Jane Harper.  We will meet at 3pm on Monday, June 25th in the new meeting room.  Books are available for pickup from the front desk and discussion sheets are available in the library or online.  Summary: "A small town hides big secrets in The Dry. After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke's steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn't tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead. Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there's more to Luke's death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets."

At our April meeting, we discussed the book, Killers of the Flower Moon.  It was very well received by the group and everyone felt that there hasn't been enough of Native American history taught at school.  We had cookies and turnovers from Frosted.

Our next book group is a week earlier than usual due to the Memorial Day holiday.  We will be meeting on Monday, May 21 at  3pm at the LME Library. We're discussing Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck.  Books can be picked up at the front desk and discussion sheets are also available for pickup or online.  

Summary for Women in the Castle: Three women, haunted by the past and the secrets they hold. Amid the ashes of Nazi Germany's defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to the once-grand castle of her husband's ancestors, an imposing stone fortress now fallen into ruin following years of war. The widow of a resister murdered in the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Marianne plans to uphold the promise she made to her husband's brave conspirators: to find and protect their wives, her fellow resistance widows. As Marianne assembles this makeshift family from the ruins of her husband's resistance movement, she is certain their shared pain and circumstances will hold them together. But she quickly discovers that the black-and-white, highly principled world of her privileged past has become infinitely more complicated, filled with secrets and dark passions that threaten to tear them apart. Eventually, all three women must come to terms with the choices that have defined their lives before, during, and after the war--each with their own unique share of challenges.

At our March 26th meeting, we discussed Beartown by Fredrik Backman.  The book club has read two other of Bachman's novels including A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. For Beartown, most readers felt the book had a slow start but overall was extremely well written.  Many of us thought it would be about hockey, but it's not.  If you like well defined characters, books about topical issues, or community dynamics, this book will not disappoint.  The second book in the series, Us Against You, will be coming out in June 2018.  For refreshments, we had cookies and cupcakes from Frosted Bakery.

Our next book group meeting will be Monday, April 30th at 3pm at the LME Library meeting room.  Copies of the book, Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, are available at the front desk.  Discussion sheets can be picked up or are available online.  This is a non-fiction book based on the true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history. In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. As the death toll climbed to more than twenty-four, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization's first major homicide investigations and the bureau badly bungled the case. In desperation, the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only American Indian agents in the bureau. The agents infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

PBS will be hosting THE GREAT AMERICAN READ in May 2018. GAR will launch with a two-hour special event on Tuesday, May 22, 2018, at 8 p.m. on PBS stations nationally. Over the course of 15 weeks in the summer, viewers can read and vote on favorite works of fiction; the series then returns in the fall with additional episodes exploring the nominated books through themes including “Heroes,” “Villains & Monsters,” “Who Am I?,” “What We Do for Love,” “Other Worlds,” and will conclude with an exciting finale and countdown to “America’s Best-Loved Book.”

More information can be found at: http://www.pbs.org/book-view-now/blogs/news/2018/02/02/the-great-american-reads-from-pbs/ 

Watch for more information!

At our February 26th meeting we had 9 members present and discussed the book Open Season by C.J. Box.  Everyone liked the book and felt it was a very good start of the series.  It was highly rated as a fun read by the group but there were a few criticisms.  The story centered around Joe Pickett, Wyoming game warden and a case that involves the murder, deceit and the endangered species act. Most criticism focused on the stereotypes of characters and the negative portrayal of almost all the women in the book.  I personally felt that actions of Marybeth (Joe's wife) in the key confrontation were completely out of character for anyone who had ever lived in a remote area.  Anyway, it was a lively discussion and we had grapes and nanaimo bars for treats.

Our next book is Beartown by Fredrik Backman. Our bookgroup has read two other books by this author including A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry.  Book discussion will take place on March 26th at 3pm in the LME Library's large meeting room. Copies of Beartown can be picked up at the circulation desk and discussion sheets are available with the book or online.

Beartown summary: "From the New York Times bestselling author comes a poignant, charming novel about a forgotten town fractured by scandal, and the amateur hockey team that might just change everything. Winning a junior ice hockey championship might not mean a lot to the average person, but it means everything to the residents of Beartown, a community slowly being eaten alive by unemployment and the surrounding wilderness. A victory like this would draw national attention to the ailing town: it could attract government funding and an influx of talented athletes who would choose Beartown over the big nearby cities. At first, it seems like the team might have a shot at fulfilling the dreams of their entire town. But one night at a drunken celebration following a key win, something happens between Kevin and the general manager's daughter--and the next day everything seems to have changed. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected. With so much riding on the success of the team, the line between loyalty and betrayal becomes difficult to discern. At last, it falls to one young man to find the courage to speak the truth that it seems no one else wants to hear. Fredrik Backman knows that we are forever shaped by the places we call home, and in this emotionally powerful, sweetly insightful story, he explores what can happen when we carry the heavy weight of other people's dreams on our shoulders."

At our January 29th meeting, we discussed One in a Million Boy by Monica Wood.  Eleven members were present and we had a great time discussing the boy, Ona, Quinn and their relationships.  For refreshments, we had animal crackers, fruit and pound cake.  

Our next meeting will be Monday, February 26th at 3pm at the LME Library.  We will be reading the book, Open Season by C.J. Box.  Copies of the book are available at the front desk and discussion sheets are available for pickup or online. 

Summary for Open Season:
As Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett races against time to save an endangered species, he finds himself plunged into a deadly mystery that soon threatens his family and the life he loves.

We had a wonderful time at our year end meeting.  Book group favorites of the year were Lilac Girls and the Nightingale although overall, we were pleased with our picks.  Everyone brought treats so we had quite a feast!  We also discussed some of our favorites (and least favorites) through the years.  

2018 will be our 15th year as a book club--if you like to read books by a variety of authors in a variety of genres, please consider joining our group!  We meet regularly--usually the last Monday of the month. A calendar for next year is available here.

Our next book is One in a Million Boy by Monica Wood.  We will meet in LME's large meeting room on January 29th at 3pm to discuss.  Books are available for pickup at the Library desk.  Discussion sheets are also available in the library or can be viewed online.

Here's a summary of One in a Million Boy: After his eleven-year-old son dies, guitarist Quinn Porter does yard work for an aged Lithuanian immigrant, Ona Vitkus, whom his son had often visited and comes to a resolution about his son's death as Ona discusses his son's capacity to listen and learn.

During our October and November meetings, we reviewed suggested titles and voted on which ones we wanted to read for 2018.  Here are the results:

“Talk About a Good Book” Book Club Discussion Group

At our October 30th program, we discussed The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan. All felt this was a book that covered a topic little of us knew about and serves as an important work on women's history.  Personally, I didn't like how it jumped around the timeline and the author's technique of compartmentalizing the information to demonstrate the methods employed at the site made it difficult to engage in the book. Overall though, the group liked it and appreciated learning about tubealloy and the Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  

We also started picking our books for next year.  So far, we have six fiction titles chosen.  At our next meeting we will pick our last two fiction  and three non-fiction books.  Titles can still be suggested - please forward me your suggestions by our next meeting which is Monday, November 27th at 3pm.  We will meet in the large meeting room.  Feel free to park in front of the meeting room entrance since the doors will be unlocked.  We will be discussing Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.  Books are available for pickup at the library and the discussion sheets are available at the library desk or online.  Here's a summary of the book: "The nightingale tells the story of two sisters, separated by years and experiences, by ideals, passion, and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France."