THE WOMAN'S HOUR by Elaine Weiss

Thanks for a good meeting on Friday.  Since we were all there, I don’t know if we need an extensive recap.  Most liked the book, but all agreed that the incredible number of people introduced in the book made it tedious and hard at times.  But all agreed that it’s a story we should know.  Ratings ranged from 2.5 ( with a 5 for content) to 4.25.  The majority rated the book 3.75. 

THE SIGNAL FLAME by Andrew Krivak

So, the first thing I must say about this book is that A: It was not the book I thought it was and I'm not sure how it made it onto my list and, B: I would never have chosen a book that is the second book of a trilogy, even though it proclaimed to be a stand alone book. That's where I stop apologizing for bringing this book to group.

For the four of us that met, THE SIGNAL FLAME was a lyrically written, quiet read and, we found that it offered up great character development and delivered an intimate portrait of the relationships between the characters. The themes of loss, love and, redemption were profound. It covered the devastating impact of war on the soldiers, their loved ones and, the community. It was laced with symbolism throughout and made a powerful impression on us, touching our emotions and enabled us to experience the sounds and smells of the Pennsylvania landscape, through the written word.

We had a lengthy and wonderful discussion and, as a result, the four of us are very much interested in reading the third book, especially given the ending. We will do this independently though, so fear not, those of you who did not like this book. Susan has already started the first book in the series, SOJOURN and, is enjoying it.

The ratings ranged from a 2 to 4.5. 

RADIUM GIRLS by Kate Moore

This is Library Journal's summary and review of the "The Radium Girls" - 

"Moore (Roses Are Red...) details the tragic stories of dozens of young women employed as dial painters during World War I. Often the daughters of immigrants, these women were lured to these prestigious and well-paying jobs unaware of the dangers of the radioactive paint present in their workplace-which caused their bodies and clothes to glow, even outside of work. With America's entry into World War I, demand for painted dials and painters skyrocketed. Soon, many employees suffered aching teeth and jaws, sore joints, and sarcomas. As their ailments worsened, many sought answers from their employers. They were met with denials and misinformation even as evidence mounted that radium poisoned these women. After nearly 20 years, several trials, and thousands of dollars in doctor and attorney fees, the women won a small measure of justice, but for some, it was too late. Moore's well-researched narrative is written with clarity and a sympathetic voice that brings these figures and their struggles to life. VERDICT A must-read for anyone interested in American and women's history, as well as topics of law, health, and industrial safety.-Chad E. Statler, -Lakeland Comm. Coll., -Kirtland, OH © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc."

The following are some thoughts we shared at book club this morning:

   * the radium companies had complete disregard for anything but profit

   * even though there were indicators of radium poisoning early on, the companies hid medical reports and lied to their workers

   * these women were disrespected in multiple arenas..by medical professionals, the legal system and their communities

   * labor laws and workers' rights were advanced because of this tragedy  

   * older people do not seem to react to radioactive poisoning in the same life threatening way that younger people do

   * some modern organizations still behave in ruthless ways, they care only about the money

   * there are products currently sold that are poorly affecting people's health (examples talked about were cigarettes and Teflon)

   * the use of radium and radioactivity in modern medicine continues to improve

   * how is the use of modern technology currently affecting our heath?  Will we someday regret we regularly look at screens on our phones, TVs and computers?

The overall rating of the book was a 3.4, with a low of 2.0 and a high of 3.75.  

Many felt the book was too long and should have focused on fewer characters.  Some felt the book was verbose, tedious and not compelling. We agreed it was an important story and that the author's research was excellent.  One question we asked was, "Why didn't we know this happened?"

THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

We enjoyed another beautiful summer morning in July reviewing "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid.  The general consensus was we all enjoyed reading about Evelyn’s husbands and her life story.  The book is loosely based on actresses Elizabeth Taylor, who was married eight times to seven different men, and Ava Gardner, who revealed the secrets of her life to a journalist which was eventually published as well as Brockman Bankhead and Rita Haywood. The novel was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction of 2017. 

The general plot is based on an unknown magazine reporter, Monique Grant, who is hired to tell the life story about an aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon, Evelyn Hugo.  The book is a behind the scenes look at the lives of glamorous celebrity couples and it touches on issues of sexuality, race and what it meant to be a strong woman back in a time where women didn’t have a lot of opportunities.  Evelyn was ambitious and she manipulated the news media in order to bring her career into the limelight.  The plot had some interesting twists as we find out that Evelyn’s deep love of her life is actually for a woman, Celia.  None of us predicted that Monique’s connection to Evelyn was her father’s death in a car crash where Evelyn switches the bodies to avoid a scandal about her 5^th husband, Harry Cameron.  

Our group gave the book an average rating of 3.3 with a low of 3 and a high of 4. 

The next meeting is August 10^th at 9:30 am and we are reading “The Radium Girls” by Kate Moore.

THE GHOSTWRITER by Alessandra Torre

It was a beautiful morning to enjoy book club and discuss “The Ghostwriter” by Alessandra Torre.  The majority of us enjoyed this suspense fiction whose main character, Helena, is a romance novelist with cancer and only has 3 months to live.  The characters were well developed and the author manages to successfully transition back and forth from various character’s viewpoints throughout the book.  We all really liked Mark, the ghostwriter, who is hired to write Helena’s last book that reveals the secret she has been living with for the last 4 years.  Simon, Helena’s husband, has a conniving, manipulative personality and we all felt that he married Helena as a cover for his pedophile obsession.    

It is a sad story and we were all surprised by the twisted ending where Simon turns out to be a pedophile.  There was a lot of emotional relationship turmoil throughout the book between the various characters.  It was difficult to like Helena’s demanding and introverted character but as the plot unfolded, most of us felt sorry for her at the end of the book.  

The average rating was 3.8 with a low of 2 and a high of 4.25. 

The next meeting is July 6^th at 10:00 am and we are reading “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid

DARING TO DRIVE by Manal-Sharif

We had a great discussion on the book and the Middle East and Saudi society, etc.  The ratings for Daring to Drive which was the real life story of a woman who was jailed for driving in SA in 2011 (where it is not illegal for women to drive – just against tradition), were all 3.75-4.0.  We all found the contents compelling, but some would have liked better writing.  Because the author has family and a son in SA, in her words she : “had to hold back so many of the views that could get me in deeper trouble.  When I wrote the book, I kept in mind that fine line that I didn’t cross so as to be able to go back home.”  We felt this may have been one of the reasons the writing was as it was.  We are interested in watching how it goes in Saudi Arabia in June when women will finally be allowed to drive!

BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate

Happy New Year Book Club Babes!

Hope everyone had a really wonderful Christmas with family and friends and that you have an equally smashing New Years Eve.

A few weeks ago we met at Susan's beautiful home and had our yearly Christmas brunch. Bonnie Jean, Lindsay, Pam B., Pat, along with myself and Susan were in attendance. Again, thank you Susan for hosting us, we really had a wonderful time and, those of us who stuck around to hot tub were there until 4:30!

Our book this month was BEFORE WE WERE YOURS.  It was a pretty quick read and well received by all of us. The story was based on a real woman (Georgia Tann) and true events, which took place over the course of thirty years (1920's-50's) in Tennessee in which mostly small children and infants were, in some cases, quite literally, stolen from their destitute parents. Parents of new borns could also be conned at the hospital, upon the baby's delivery by signing papers they did not understand and which gave custody to Georgia Tann's whose agency was known as the Tennessee Children's Home Society.  Even though this story was fiction it gave a very good insight into what these children and their families probably experienced. Georgia Tann and her staff were neither kind nor loving and the stories that  would eventually come to light are pretty harrowing.

In all honesty, we didn't really spend a lot of time discussing the book but, all agreed that we liked it very much. The book was told in two narratives, one past and one in the present.  We  found the story about the kidnapped children from the Foss family riveting. The arch, tying the two stories together, between the children who were kidnapped back in 1939 to the granddaughter of one of those girls was well done and both stories were very good.

Collectively our rating was a 4.08.

MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE by Brandon Sanderson

We met to discuss Mistborn: The Final Empire on Friday November 3, 2017

The genre of the book is fantasy, and it took some of us a while to settle into the world depicted in the story, with trouble visualizing the fantasy world in which it was set.  It left us wanting more detail of the landscape, a feeling like you have an itch on your brain that you can’t quite reach.  It takes some time to get used to the magic in this book.  The magic concepts are quite unique.  Many parts were much too wordy, there was too much energy misspent on the battle scenes.  

The story definitely picked up in the last third of the book.  And for those of us that went on to read the second and third books in the series, we now see where the author was going in the first book, laying the groundwork for what is actually a much deeper and thought provoking story about social and political issues.

Reviews were mixed, ranging from 2.75 to 4.0.  This book stretched our imaginations and took the group out of our comfort zone of “ historical fiction”.