Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Locale: Olivia's & Susan's

The Book: We can sum this book up for you in three little sentences: Kathy is a carer. Then she becomes a donor. Then she "completes." The end.

Okay, there's a bit more to Kathy's life than that. Well, a lot more. And fair warning: this book jumps back and forth and back again in time, so it can be tough to keep it all straight. Hold on to your hats.

The book starts out in England in the 1990s. Kathy H., our narrator, is a thirty-one year old woman who spends her days as a "carer." Her job involves traveling between recovery centers and helping "donors" to recuperate after giving a "donation." She doesn't tell us what these mysterious donations are, but they don't sound like much fun.

Working as a carer gives Kathy a ton of time to reminisce about Hailsham, the place where she grew up. This job also gives her opportunities to reconnect with Ruth and Tommy, her old pals from Hailsham.

(http://www.shmoop.com/never-let-me-go/summary.html)

Kazuo Ishiguro


The Meeting: A small group. Perri & TJ. Cassie & Susan. Emily & Kristine. And Hannah, Olivia's friend who wants to join club. We served a Taco Ring. Avocado tomato salad. And sopapilla cheesecake. We eschewed the whole British theme and went with Mexican. With all the school work, the girls continue to struggle with fitting in pleasure reads. Moms are stressing and nagging. We discussed and reassured all that there are no pressures. We will continue to vote and try to read books, but all are welcome regardless. It's the connection we want to keep. There will be no judging. This should be an event of pleasure. Not stress. We did agree to stretch meetings to every other month, allowing more time in between and a more relaxed approach. Girls are welcome to invite other friends to join, those that would be a good fit and love reading, with or without mothers. 

The Vote: Perri presented...

• Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
• The Martian by Andy Weir
• Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol WINS!!

Meeting date @ Perri's and TJ's TBD.

Next to present: Cassie

Then:
Kate
Emily
Hannah
Olivia
Perri

Graphic Novels--Mause, Persepolis, & Scott Pilgrim

The Locale: Olivia's & Susan's

Maus: A Survivor's Tail by Art Spiegelman
A story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father's story and history itself.

Persepolis, Volume 1 by Marjane Satrapi
Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.

Scott Pilgrim, Volume 1 by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Scott Pilgrim's life is totally sweet. He's 23 years old, he's in a rockband, he's ""between jobs,"" and he's dating a cute high school girl. Nothingcould possibly go wrong, unless a seriously mind-blowing, dangerouslyfashionable, rollerblading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruisingthrough his dreams and sailing by him at parties. Will Scott's awesome life getturned upside-down? Will he have to face Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends inbattle? The short answer is yes. The long answer is Scott Pilgrim, Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life

The Meeting:  Lots of fun.  Thanks for being flexible and coming to the adjusted time.  So glad folks stayed to enjoy an outdoor movie night, Scott Pilgrim versus The World, a compilation of all the Scott Pilgrim Graphic Novels.  A cool evening--fun wise and weather wise.

The Vote: Cassie presents...

• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho 
• The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart WINS!!! 

I think we will be meeting at Cassie's and Susan's on May 16th to discuss We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

Up Next: We will meet at Perri's and TJ's on April 18th to discuss Death Note (Volume 1) by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.

Next to present:  Odessa

Then:

• Kate
• Ashley
• Emily
• Rylee 
• Olivia
• Perri
• Cassie

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

The Locale: Olivia & Susan's

The Book Thief

Marcus Zusak

Marcus Zusak's Blog

The Book Thief Novel @ Shmoop

The Book: It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19063.The_Book_Thief

The Meeting:  Munchies included Papa's Warm & Comfy Baked Potato Soup, Rosa's Sweet & Spicy Saukerals, The Book Thief's Stolen Apples, and of course, German Chocolate Cake.  

The meeting began with the girls filling out an individual questionnaire.  No Names.  Then a snow ball fight began--the questionnaires wadded up into balls and thrown around the room.  When fight concluded, each girl picked up a snowball, read aloud the answers, and guessed who was the author.  The girls were ask to draw a quote from a hat, Death's thoughts, and guess which part of the novel the quote originated.  We also watched a YouTube Video, an interview with the author, Marcus Zusak.  After our meeting ended, we watched the recent movie.

The Vote:
Emma presented...

• The Selection by Kiera Cass  WINS!!
• Your Friend in Fashion, Abby Shapiro  by Amy Axelrod
• Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys  

We will meet at Emma & Diana's home on May 31st.  

Up Next: 

We will be meeting @ Perri & TJ's on April 26th to discuss Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.   

Next to present:  Cassie

Then:

• Odessa
• Kate
• Emily
• Rylee 
• Olivia
• Perri
• Cassie

Welcome Back!

 

After a summer off and a postponed book club meeting, a few if us gather for some fun.  Some visiting and then a fun game.  Pictionary.  Using the titles of all our reads, daughters against mothers, each team takes a turn.  Players pull a title and do their best to draw it so that the rest of the team can guess the title.  Mom's kick it!

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

The Locale: Olivia & Susan's Home

Jerry Spinelli

The Book: 
Stargirl is the enchanting story of a free-spirited newcomer to a small Arizona high school. Stargirl is told from the point of view of Leo, director of Hot Seat, the school's talk show. Leo becomes the love interest of Star Girl, but her free-spirited ways, at first accepted by the other students, soon become a source of contention between them. To show her love, Stargirl gives up her free-spirited ways and becomes "normal," but her reputation with the other students is beyond repair. She only has one true friend who likes that she is not like everyone else, and is angry when she changes to please Leo.
Thanks to The Creamer Literary Corner Blog
 
The Fun:
The fun began when the girls arrived, as asked, dressed like Stargirl.  As refreshments were passed out, the girls were asked to invent new names for themselves just as Stargirl, aka Susan, had invented new names for herself when she felt she had outgrown the others.  Some of the creative names included Flower Blossom, Conjugation Unicorn, Mazda, Flufffenhaagen, Penelope Pretty Face.

Refreshments for the meeting included Stargirl Sandwiches; Pocket Mouse's Peace, Love and Pasta; Senior Saguaro Spinach Dip; Hullygully Hooch and Mudpie's Mud Cake.

 
After our book discussion, included quotes about non-conformity, we danced around the house doing the Bunny Hop, just as Stargirl led the group at the high school prom.  The girls then broke into groups and created their own conga line dances.

The Vote:   Emma presented the following books:

• The Musician's Daughter by Susanne Emily Dunlap
• The Angel Experiment: A Maximum Ride Novel by James Patterson
• Flyaway by Lucy Christopher

The Winner was The Angel Experiment: A Maximum Ride Novel by James Patterson

Up Next: Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen @ Perri & TJ's on February 16th Updates: Welcome to our new members, invited by Kate & Brenda. Emily & Kristine Kissell. 


Next to Present: Cassie

Then:  

• Odessa
• Megan
• Kate
• Smith
• Ashley
• Emily
• Olivia
• Perri
• Emma
• Cassie

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

The Locale: Olivia & Susan’s

The Author’s Website: None Available

The Book’s Website: None Available

The Book: A super sharp mystery endowed with a vivid and extensive cast. In the Christie tradition, Raskin isolates a diverse group of strangers--the mysteriously hand-picked tenants of a new apartment building within sight of the old Westing mansion--and presents them with the information that one of them is the murderer. When they are assembled for a reading of old Westing's fiendish will, the group is paired off allotted with four one-word clues to the murderer's identity. As the winning pair is to inherit Westing's fortune, there is much secret conferring, private investigating, far-out scheming, and snitching and scrambling of the teasing, enigmatic clues. (Adapted from the Kirkus reviews)

The Fun:  Adjusting our time to a 4 o’clock meeting, we hosted a mystery party--Murder & Mayhem at the Old DoomMansion purchased online at www.mymysteryparty.com . Invitations and characters were sent out ahead of time. Girls arrived in costume and character. Food was served, courtesy of Shin Hoo’s Chinese Restaurant (a restaurant and frequent setting in The Westing Game). Activities includedHow’d I Die and a Mystery Scramble Challenge, all provided with the purchase of the game. Our meeting came to close after the girls all read their final clues and lines, and an unsuspecting Olivia realized that she was the murderer of Dr. Doom. As our meeting and mystery party came to a close, the Saunders’ Annual Halloween Screen on the Green began. More munchies and an outdoor viewing of The Mummy. Oodles of fun!

The Vote: Emma presented the following books. Meeting TBD. Sometime in February.

• The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John WINNER
• Masterpiece by Elise Broach
• Scarlett by Cathy Cassidy  

Who Presents Next: Cassie & Susan

Changes/Updates: Cassie & Susan passed their opportunity to invite a new mom/daughter group onto Odessa & AiYing. Hopefully, their pair will attend our meeting in January.

Up Next: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis @ Perri & TJ’s House on January 7th.

The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis

The Locale: Olivia and Susan’s Home

The Book: Although the sixth book published in The Chronicles of Narnia series, this is the first book, the prequel to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Set in London during the early 1900s, the main characters are two pre-teen children, Digory and Polly. Digory is the younger Professor Kirke from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. The two children have adventures after being transported to other worlds by Digory’s evil and nutty Uncle Andrew. This book features the creation of Narnia and an introduction Aslan and to the wicked White Witch, Queen Jadis, who is said to be so beautiful that most men would do anything for her.

The Fun:  After catching up and eating up, the fun began with a grouping activity. After secretly writing the name of an animal on a post-it, the girls had to categorize themselves into groups--without any guidance. We ended up with two groups--egg laying animals (which included a dragon, a spider, and a platypus) and wild, furry animals (a wolf, a tiger, and a cheetah).

Once in their groups, the girls traveled around the house to review the book, brainstorming to questions written on chart paper. Spending one minute at each chart, the girls had to ponder--How did the book relate to biblical stories? How are Charn and Narnia different? List characters and settings from the book. How did the book relate to other books in the series.

After brainstorming about the book, the girls sat down at the Daughters of Eve Royal Table for a group discussion. One at a time, the girls drew cards from a pile in the center of the table and answered open ended questions. Discussion starters included I really liked it when...., The book was good except...., It was funny when..., In my opinion....

It was then time to stretch and get everybody moving. Susan led the group in the Queen Jadis Jump and Jive, a freeze dance. Beginning as the first Queen Jadis, Susan danced while the girls copied her moves because, as we know, Queen Jadis can make anyone, except Aslan, do her bidding. When the music stopped, the girls froze--much like the people in Charn--and the next Queen Jadis was crowned. The Daughters of Eve all agreed that this was great fun, such fun that two rounds had to be played.


The Food:
Enchanted Apples with Narnia Nut Dip(Nutella)
Charn Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Archenland Black Forest Ham & Cheese Sandwiches
The Wood between the Worlds Pool Pop(Sodas)
Uncle Andrew is a NUT Trail Mix
Magic Wardrobe Mothballs (Cream Puffs)
Enchanted Apple Pie al la mode

The Vote: Emma presented her three books.

• The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau 
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The girls wrote their choices on a post-it, and after the votes were counted, the winner was The City of Ember. We’ll meet at Diana’s and Emma’s on December 4th.

Up Next: The BFG at Perri’s on October 30th, the day before Halloween.

Who Presents Next: Cassie. Please plan on hosting sometime in late January, early February.

Changes/Updates:
Mom’s decided that book choices should be emailed a week or so before the meeting, giving girls time to weigh their decisions and giving those, unable to attend, a chance to submit votes via email or phone.

After meeting on December 4th at Emma’s, we don’t expect to meet again until the end of January/first of February, giving all a rest for the holiday.

Frindle by Andrew Clements

The Locale: Olivia & Susan’s Home

The Book: Frindle is about a boy named Nick who gets a into a squeeze with vocabulary teacher. His vocab teacher happens to LOVE the dictionary. Nick happens to LOVE being a goofball and a smart aleck in class. It’s is a terrific read. A boy too creative for the confines of elementary school meets his match in an extremely exacting teacher. They square off in an epic battle over…an invented word?

The Fun: Girls brought an item from home, for which they invented a new name, described for the group, and played a guessing game. They also took turns answering discussion questions from a handmade fortune-teller, and later, they broke up into groups to play a game in which they had to decide whether or not 10 words were made-up or real, looking them up in a dictionary after they made their guesses. We had lots of fun, and we really loved it when Emma said, as she walked out the door, “I’m going to make a matching ORF and SQUIRF with my CLICK-CLACKS,” matching hat and scarf with knitting needles for those who unable to attend.

The Food: Olivia and Susan served croissant sandwiches, chocolate cake, trail mix, and fruit with Nutella. Yum, Yum.

The Vote: Emma and Diana presented three books, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, Canterwood Crest: Take the Reins by Jessica Burkhart, and The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum. The girls voted, and the winner was The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. We will be meeting on October 10th Emma and Diana’s home to discuss that book.

Up Next: Our next meeting will be at Perri and TJ’s house on September 12th, when we’ll discuss Double Fudge by Judy Blume.