Me and Emma by Elizabeth Flock-Review by Kellie

Dearest Book Club Babes:

What a good meeting we had yesterday, much was accomplished!

For starters, we had our biggest group in a long time.  Everyone was present and accounted for with the exception of Deb and Bonnie Jean (we missed you).  Also, we were all on time AND everyone finished the book.  Miracles never cease...

 The book was met with mixed reviews.  Jonnie felt the book was very stereotypical in the way that the South was represented (poor, ignorant, abusive).  However, she was also the only one that figured out very early on that Emma was not real while the rest of us were completely blindsided by this at the end of the book.  A couple of us also had issue with some technical details, such as the dialogue being too mature for an 8 year old girl and also, kids this age in grade school do not have geometry or homeroom.  Things that we could all agree on were that Richard, the stepfather, was truly a despicable character and that momma was weak and neglectful.  It's a proven fact that young individuals in abusive situations often create additional personalities to hide in when the abuse is taking place and this is exactly what Carrie did.  She created Emma to take the abuse that she herself just couldn't face.  :(

The scores ranged from 2.5 to 4.5 so it averaged about a 3.5.

 

Next months meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 10.

 

 

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Overall, we rated the book between a 3 and a 4.5.  It was a refreshing, sweet, and humorous story.  While it opens on a particularly sad event (the death of Major Pettigrew's brother) it is anything but a depressing book.  Parts were poignant but not in the way that stays with you and, in turn, makes you sad.  The writing and the character development was excellent.  We could picture the characters so well and felt an emotional tie to them.  We found ourselves pulling for the major and Mrs. Ali to make their relationship successful despite the many obstacles that were thrown at them.  His staunch, British correctness is so funny and endearing.  Although we are all Americans, we could laugh at the jokes about American excesses, particularly the vulgar American characters that turn up in the Major’s village.  Of course, we can't go without mentioning his insensitive son Roger!  We all would highly recommend this book, but not to our husbands.  This was definitely a chick book!

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Bonnie Jean wrote the synopsis for our discussion of The Happiness Project.  Here is what she wrote.

Hi all,

    I was not sure at the end of the meeting who was supposed to write this note.  Someone mentioned that perhaps it was me.   I'm happy to do so (because I'm happier now that I read this book:)  )  The majority of ratings for the book were 4 with one 3 and a couple of 3.5.  Some people felt that the author came across as somewhat full of herself, some did not.  Some people wondered if the author's concept of mothering was the same as the typical concept we seem to hold (when did she find time to spend with her kids?).  The author is certainly an accomplished and energetic woman and most were glad they read the book.  Because most people had just finished or nearly finished the book they have not had time to try some of the suggestions in the book.  (You have to bring any good stories to next month's meeting!)  We did feel that her ability to look at herself and think through what worked for her and what didn't work for her - was good for us to think about.    It was sort of a meandering discussion (not in a bad way) and interesting.

If anyone wants to add anything to this - or if Lindsay starts our blog with the new picture Laura took of the group today - please just keep us informed.  Hope to see you all next month. 

Bonnie Jean

Well done Bonnie Jean!  Please put comments below this if you have something you'd like to add to the discussion.

Timbers Book Club blog is up and running

This is the first post to our book club blog!  I hope this can serve as a forum to publish our current reading list and have a record of books we have read in the past.  Since our group tends to get off topic anyway, I suggest we add other items of interest as well; recipes, movie reviews, school news, shopping deals, ski reports, latest Silpada jewelry designs, crazy neighbor alerts, hair stylist recommendations, school district news, etc.