It is that time of year again! Today I will be tallying up the results of our 2009 reads for next weeks Bookies In Review book club meeting. Each year I like to put together a booklet highlighting each book we read, where we met, and put in any pictures or funny happenings. These books have become keepsakes to me and I have for every year since we began in 2001.
Last month, each member was given the sheet that askes them (using the books we read ass a book club):
what their favorite book club read was in 2009
What was their least favorite book club read in 2009
Today I am featuring my own book club, The Bookies of Brainerd, Minnesota. I am doing this because as of current, I have interviewed everyone who has expressed an interest in this Wednesday Feature spot. Many of you have emailed me or left comments on the Book Club feature spot telling me how much you enjoy it. Thank you for that – it has been fun doing it. However, if readers who are in book clubs (offline or on) do not let me know they would be interested in being reviewed for this spot, this will be the final Book Club feature until there are book clubs to interview.
Today – please welcome a book club I personally adore: The Bookies!!!!!
The Brainerd Bookies
How long have we been meeting? Our first meeting was August of 2001, so 8+ years. December of this year will be our 100th meeting.
How often do we meet? We meet monthly on the 2nd Tuesday of each month.
Where do we meet? It changes month to month. Each member has a month to choose where we meet. We have met at restaurants, homes, coffee shops. We try to keep it fun. Last month we were at a members home in her backyard and we grilled and had a bonfire. I love that we do this stuff!
How many members do we have?Currently if everyone made it, we have 18. We never all make it though so a usual meeting is around 12 to 14.
What age group do we represent? That’s a tough one as I am not good at guessing ages…. I would say we have mid 20’s to maybe 65? We are all women although it was never a criteria… just happened that way. Some of the husbands we refer to as “behind the scenes Bookies” as they read many of the club books as well but do not attend the meetings.
What genres of books do we read?We are all over the board. Women’s literature, fiction, the occasional non fiction, Classics, historical fiction, mysteries…
How do we choose what we will read? Each month after our review we have a time where each member can nominate a book. We limit it now to one book per member as it is easy to want to recommend 2 or 3 and the list of choices gets too long. Most months we ask that the book is fairly new so we can find enough copies for all of us. It also needs to be in paperback/over sized paperback format to keep our cost down. Each member recommends the book they choose and a bit about the book. When all nominations are in, we go around the room and we each get two votes. Highest number of votes wins. In the event of a tie, the Queen chooses – but that’s another story. In October we always do a Classic, December we try to keep it Christmas related, February is a romance and July is free read month where we meet and potluck.
What was one of the best discussions and/or a favorite book we read as a group? Oh there are so many! One that comes to mind is last years read of Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl. I think that is the first time we almost all gave it our highest rating…. we loved it. I asked everyone to trace back to some of their ancestors for this review and we had a lot of fun with that!
Another review, more recent was Meg Waite Clayton, The Wednesday Sisters. While the book over all rated an average read – the discussion that came out of it was fantastic.
How do we keep things fun?We sometimes have potlucks at homes centered around the book theme. Last September we read Wicked and everyone brought something to my house for the potluck that was green. I had made green egg salad sandwiches (with food coloring), we had green almond bark, green soup, green chips and dips, apple martinis, and more. In another book we celebrated a birthday of a character by actually having a birthday cake with her name on it.
Of course there is always the July Queen event where we all dress up in formal gowns and have speeches to be the Queen of Bookies. The nominated Queen reigns for one year, receives the royal throne, crown and scepter. She breaks all ties in voting and chooses where we meet in the event the member who is suppose to choose is absent.
Have we done anything outside of our monthly meetings? We have attended a few movies through the years of books we have read. We once had a movie showing at my house of a book we had read. Some of the girls this last December went to see the play Wicked in Minneapolis. I wanted to go so bad but I was in a wedding on that same day. A few of us have also attended an authors tea.
What advice would we give to other book clubs?Don’t give up and keep it lite and fun. We started 8 years ago with 3 members. It took a while to grow. We keep things light, we discuss the book, we theme the book…. in the future we have discussed having a favorite fiction character party. Just do what you love… read books and hang out with friends! I have met some great people through our group.
If yo are in a book club and would like this feature spot, please email me at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com
I will then send you interview questions and request a picture or two of your group. You send back the questions and I will give you a date as to which Wednesday you will be featured. If you have a blog, I will link it your review.
Tonight was our September Book Club meeting. It was Laura’s pick for location and she chose a potluck camp fire at her home. I love how each Book Club member gets a month to pick where to meet and the different places we get to try!
Tonight’s review was on Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross. I had read this book prior to it being chosen for Book Club and I was anxious to see what the Bookies thought of it as well. We had a good discussion about women who lived in the time of Pope Joan and how different it is from where we are today as women – it is almost hard to fathom a time when women were considered good for nothing other than making babies and keeping a home. Yet, we know this is a part of our history.
“A woman’s long hair is the net wherein satan catches a man’s soul.” ~ Pope Joan page 11
Over all this book rated an above average read for us. Most of the group enjoyed the historical value of the book and while a few counted the book as having a slow beginning, all agreed that once it got going it was hard to put down until the very end.
The weather had cleared from a rainy afternoon to a cool but not cold evening. The review around the camp fire was a real treat!
I got home from a great book club tonight. 14 of the Bookies made it to The St Mathias Bar and Grill for wonderful food (home apparently of the $2.50 Tuesday burger!). We had a couple newbies tonight – Sharon and Gabriele and that is always fun.
The review was on The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton, a book that I had read a couple months ago and loved. The discussion? Fantastic – everyone was so talkative and we discussed how these female characters of the 60’s were so different from the women of today. Newbie Gabriele shared that in 1967 she was a stewardess and at that time you actually could not gain weight over 5 pounds or you were not allowed to work. She also said once you turned the ripe old age of 32, you no longer could work for the airlines! WOW!
Overall the book rated an average read almost across the board. Most everyone thought while the book was good, it was much like other books on womens friendships they had read. A couple in the group found it did not grab them and rated it low. I came in as the high vote, having loved it when I read it and foudn the characters fascinating as well as the time period.
The Bookies read for September is Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross (YAY!!!) I am very excited to see what the girls think of this one. In September we are meeting at Laura’s home and we are having a bonfire potluck. Anyone have a great recipe to share with a historical fiction theme to it?
I was over at dreadlock girl this morning looking at great pics of their last book club meeting. I mention this because this is where the following idea came from.
Are you in a book club? I would like to interview you about your book club! Simply email me your interest in participating at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com and I will email you back the questions about your book club. Put in the subject box : “Book Club Reviews”
I will ask questions about your groups name, how long you have met, etc…. then I will feature a book club once a week here. First one to respond with their questions all complete will be my first week, etc, etc… and yes, if you have a couple pics of your group – that would be welcome as well.
At our last Bookies meeting, we chose our August Book Club Read as well as our classic read for October. We always read a classic every October and choose the book in July to give people time to:
1. Find it in the format they like
2. Get through the book
We started in August of 2001 with three women. Last night, looking around the room at 14 women (with about 4 missing)… I know I am truly blessed. These women have been a part of great reading, great book debates, and a ton of fun that I would have never imagined.
Last evening was our annual Queen Event. We are usually in Kiwanis Park enjoying a beautiful July day, exchanging books, eating great food and all while dressed in formal wear. Yes, you heard me right…. we go all out for the Queen event. (This event came from the book Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King).
Yesterdays weather went stormy late afternoon and we needed a quick back up plan so everyone headed to my house for the festivities. In this horrible weather, I mean it was pouring out! Straight line winds and trees down in some areas… and here we all are, a houseful of women who love to hang out and read together. It just doesnt get much better than that.
Our Queen event was fun – and this year I was nominated Queen! I have two friends on the Queen’s court (the runner ups) that take over my duties if I should ever be unable to perform them (oh yeah, we are that organized – ha ha). The court is Kaydi Johnson and Amy Misener.
What is so fun about this event is that every year it just gets better and better. We all do little speeches of why we should be the Queen…. some campaign, some sing, rhyme, do a reading, poetry, changing words to popular songs, dance…. whatever – it is all in fun and I love to see everyone and what they come up with.
Every last Bookie is such a great friend to me! I looked around that room last night and LOVE that we do this. Thank you to the great friends I have in the Bookies.
Cassandra King – author of Same Sweet Girls has linked us to her official website! Check it out here!
So many books…. so little time. I swear every time I enter a book store or go to book club I see or hear about yet another book that I would love to read. The whole time I am making “wish lists” of books that I want to get to… I am very aware of all the amazing books that have been written years before I ever existed – but are words that I so want to soak in.
This book, Jane Eyre, would be one of those books. I am in awe of the books that are so at large today that were written, as this one was, in the 1800’s. An added bonus would be the amazing story of the author, Charlotte – who was not the only writer in her family – she was the eldest of the three famous Bornte sisters and lived a short life from 1816 – 1855. Her sister Emily, worte Wuthering Heights.
Jane Eyre is an extraordinary coming-of-age story featuring one of the most independent and strong-willed female protagonists in all of literature. Poor and plain, Jane Eyre begins life as a lonely orphan in the household of her hateful aunt. Despite the oppression sheendures at home, and the later torture of boarding school, Jane manages to emerge with her spirit and integrity unbroken. She becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she finds herself falling in love with her employer—the dark, impassioned Mr. Rochester. But an explosive secret tears apart their relationship, forcing Jane to face poverty and isolation once again.
So again – in this world of books…. I am trying to squeeze time in for this one and am doing so by applying this book to my gym time: Eliptical and tread mill. I started yesterday and read the first 50 pages on the tread mill. I will write again at the end of the read.
Update July 9, 2009…. I have made my peace with Jane Eyre. I found this book hard to read, unlike her sisters work in Wuthering Heights. I think now that I have been reading Pride and Prejudice with Mr. Darcy, it makes my tollerance for Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre even lower.
I have worked on this book off and on for 5 weeks now, granted only at the gym, yet I never could get it to flow for me. Perhaps this is one that may come off the shelf at another place and time, but as for now… I am done with Charlotte Bronte.
The Brainerd Library sale is all that I had hoped for…. and then some. After a LLLLOOOOONNNNNGGGGG winter of no garage sale “book finding” opportunities, I had forgot how much I miss just browsing for great books at great prices!
Walking into the sale today I quickly went to my favorite style of book, the oversized paperback. After cruising that section and placing my selections into the box (yes, box) I then went to the hard covers, then Christian, then over to the regular sized paperbacks. And then, after skimming through titles… I went through it all again, more carefully this time… checking also the overstock boxes below the tables.
I chose books by author, by title, and in some cases, by beauty. Some books I have no idea if they are good or not, but they had a beautiful title and a big beautiful title and cover on a hard book is too me… a piece of art. These beauties will grace the shelves at our cabin…. temping to visitors to read, but also appealing to the eye.
When all was said and done I checked out at $35.00…. that’s 50 cents per book, so yeah… 70 books. Some are for me, some are for friends, some for the church, some for the cabin, and a few are for Swaptree so I can trade for something I do want.
Best picks… hmmm…. hard to say…. I found Harlan Colben’s Hold Tight (that was exciting!). That may be my prize of this sale.
My heart is racing now…. the Spring book sale is a kick off to what is to come and now the scent of books is in the air…. like the scent of Bella is to Edward….
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .
Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel 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 before he is marched to Dachau.
This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
I have come to a point in my life long journey through books that I truly enjoy the book that it out of the norm… you know, an author who takes an idea out of left field and molds it into a tale that tantalized the brain, that stimulates the outer reaches of your mind…..this is such a tale…. and this is exactly what drew me to The Book Thief.
Yet another book that waited patiently on my book shelf. I am sure it was the title that interested me first. It has to do with books…. and not only that, but a main character with a strong desire of needing to steal books. Interesting…
But that’s not all! Flip the book over and you find out it is told from the perspective of Death. Now that’s different…. and why not? Screwtape letters is told from the perspective of a Demon.
In recent weeks I stated seeing this book pop on on book sites that I frequent with messages like, “Book Clubs are raving!” and “The extraordinary best seller“…. and so I pulled this treasure off my book shelf and read the first 30 pages before suggesting it to the Bookies as our April read. It won the vote. So here we are, the Bookies all reading The Book Thief and I, now 333 pages into this 552 page book, am hoping they are finding it as stimulating as I am.
Like I said earlier, it is written from the perspective of Death. And in this case, Death has taken an interest in a young girl who’s brother had died and she, Liesel, is now under the care of foster parents… it is 1939. Nazi, Germany and Hitler is in his full reign. As Death narrates the story, sometimes jumping ahead to share the long-term (or in some cases short term) outcome of people in Liesel’s life, I become so entangled in the weave that I often forget the narrator and his role.
Deeply and well written, I find the book fascinating and I can get the feel of the times, the level of poverty, the act of stealing just to be fed…. even if that feeding is in the form of literature. I can relate to that and can not imagine what a life would be like not having the written word available to you freely. I too, can relate to the desperation of our Book Thief.
So – as I have said, I am not done reading the book. I have 200+ more pages to go and am glad of it. I will report back at the completion of this read, and again after the last review of the Bookies in April.
Today – March 30th, moments ago… I completed this book. I have to say – I really enjoyed the read. It is nothing like I have read before and I loved the story line. The book was beautifully written and I am still sitting here in high respect for Markus Zusak’s style in which he wrote a book that as of this date is my favorite of the year, perhaps in my top 10 of all time reads. It is not often you find a treasure when you have so much book stuff already in your head….
but I think I did.
I am excited to do the review on April 14th with the Bookies to hear their thoughts.
Update April 14th: tonight’s book review was fantastic! I love hearing everyone’s thoughts and takes from the book. It was interesting to discuss our narrator, Death as a creäture with feelings. Angie even pointed out that on page 328 Death even has hope. Our ratings were all over the board. We had a couple lows of a 1 and a 2 and a few middle of the road 3’s and several high 4’s as well as a couple 5’s. The difference in our opinions on this book made such a great review and made me thankful for each and every girl who is a part of the Bookies. I am blessed to be a part of them!
It is that time of year again! Today I will be tallying up the results of our 2009 reads for next weeks Bookies In Review book club meeting. Each year I like to put together a booklet highlighting each book we read, where we met, and put in any pictures or funny happenings. These books have become keepsakes to me and I have for every year since we began in 2001. 
Oh man….
Book Journey 