Our discussion on May 20th was on Anderson Cooper's Vanderbilt. We had a mix of ratings on this one. Some liked the author's style and felt it was easy to read. Others thought there were too many individuals included and it was hard to keep track of them. 

Our next meeting will be Monday, June 24th at 3pm in the LME Library's large meeting room. The book we will be discussing is Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult. Copies of the book are available at the library desk and the discussion sheets are available for pickup or online.

Summary: "Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life-living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher-was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father's beekeeping business. Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start. And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can't help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him completely . . . Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn't acknowledge the flashes of his father's temper in him, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he's hidden more than he's shared with her"--

Our January meeting was held on January 27 in the Turner Room at 3pm.  Due to the extreme cold and related weather issues, we had a small but feisty group!  

We discussed the Storyteller by Jodi Picoult.  Discussion sheets were available online.  Unfortunately, my oven blew an element on Saturday, so there was no fresh baked artisan bread ;-(  That's OK--we'll have some next time!

Wondering how we pick the books for bookgroup?  Well, it's a group effort!  Beth pulls together potential titles throughout the year from reading lists and suggestions from the group.  Since we have several members who prefer large print or audio, she then checks to make sure that the title is available in these formats.  If a title does not have multiple formats, we don't use it for bookgroup.

In October, the list is complete and sheets are made up with all the potential titles.  We review half the books at the October bookgroup meeting and vote on our favorites. The other half is reviewed the same way in November.

So far, we've looked at some fiction titles.  Next month, we will review the rest of the fiction and choose the non-fiction.  Do we have any titles chosen yet?  You bet!  We still need to choose at least 4 more fiction titles and 3 non-fiction books but here are 5 fiction books we will be reading next year:

• Home Front by Kristin Hannah
• Someone: A Novel by Alice McDermott
• The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
• Where We Belong by Emily Giffin
• Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

Once we have all the books chosen, we'll post them to this blog.  Watch for the list in early December and don't forget to talk about a good book!

For information about our September 27, 2010 book club discussion, see our Salem Falls discussion sheet. The discussion sheet is in .pdf format. If your computer does not have a .pdf reader, download a free version of Adobe Acrobat at www.adobe.com/products/reader