2022-23 Reading Suggestions

This is how we do it.  Fill in the chart and we will get together and choose what to read, trying to get a selection from all of us.

Reading Planning List - September 2022– June 2023

 

Month	Title & Author	Genre	Suggested by
September	The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristen Harmel	Fiction	Faith Flaherty
October	Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer	Non-Fiction	Faith Flaherty
November	Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry	American History	Faith Flaherty
December		Poetry share -	Everyone’s choice
January	The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware	Mystery	Faith Flaherty
February	The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor	Fiction	Faith Flaherty
March	Autobiography of a Hunted Priest by John Gerard	Biography	Faith Flaherty
April	American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins	Realistic Fiction	Faith Flaherty
May	Salvation is from the Jews by Roy Schoemann	Religion	Faith Flaherty

 

 

 

*Science- Fiction – Out of the Silent Planet – part 1 of C.S. Lewis' space trilogy, I enjoyed this rather short book and his creative style. I have always loved C.S. Lewis' work and what he values. I didn’t know he wrote this series and was pleasantly surprised

The Lazy Gardener

 

Too hot and humid

I let my garlic grow. 

Now a riotous blanket

of flowers over show!

Use these buds in a vase

or season a dish with flowers

because garlic adds more taste

overpow'ring vampires' powers.

Silly I know.  But Argonauta is tomorrow and I have so much garlic!  The garlic has turned to flower and I hate to waste it.  So when the book club meets tomorrow, I plan to give each member a small bouquet of the flowers and this little ditty.  Fun!

Intergenerational Book Club

The day finally came.  Today was the first meeting of the Intergenerational Book Club.  The club is made up of Franklin, MA, High School students and Franklin senior citizens from the Senior Center.  We met at Franklin High School.  The book was You Bring The Distant Near, by Mitali Perkins.

We were greeted with bingo cards.  This was an icebreaker exercise where we had to socialize to fill out the squares on our bingo cards.  We had to find someone who had been to Paris, someone who plays a musical instrument, someone who is left-handed, etc.  The prize was a mango.  Mangoes originated from India.

We played bingo until it was time for our interview with the author, Mitali Perkins.  This was a skype interview.  Mitali was in her bedroom and we could see her plainly.  She saw us sitting in a classroom.  For 45 minutes we asked her questions.  She surprised us and we surprised her. 

You can't say you don't like Indian food because there are 29 states and 7 union territories in India and each one has its own language and food.  We learned how important Rabindranath Tagore is.  We surprised her with questions about her writing.  Why did you write the grandmother in third person and everyone else in first person?  Was the book biographical at all?

You Bring The Distant Near was inspired by Mitali's life.  She was all the characters at one time or another.  The book is about three generations of American Indian refugees.  The thread of how our personal histories are carried forward, travels throughout the story.  Not one person disliked the book.

After interviewing Mitali for 45 minutes we ate tandoori desi chicken tikka, vegetable pakora, samosa, white rice, mango, and orange/mango juice.  While eating we chatted about the skyped interview.  But it was afterward, when the young and the old sat together, that the discussion became rich.  The young identified with the second generation and the senior citizens with the grandmother and grandfather.  All could relate to the feelings of all the characters. But we each had our favorites. We explained how discrimination is perceived now, and back in the day.  Since the high schoolers were still young and impressionable, their sensitivities towards race, religion, class, and gender were more heightened than the senior citizens.  Whereas the seniors were sensitive to age discrimination and the teens weren't even conscious of that.

One thing we all agreed on was the success of the first meeting of the Intergenerational Book Club.  And we all look forward to another book and discussion.

With A Little Help From My Friends

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman is a book club recommendation.  It took me a while to get into it because it seems that lately, all we read about are oddballs.
I wasn't really into the novel.  Eleanor Oliphant was a stiff, literal thinking and speaking, weird lady.  As it turned out, it wasn't the character, Eleanor, that was the problem.  It was me.  Finally, around page 145, I burst out laughing.  I finally got it.  The book is humorous.  It wasn't a serious case study about a damaged life.  Well, it wasn't a serious study.  But Eleanor had a miserable childhood with a pscho mother. 

We meet her when she's in her twenties.  She works in an office and has a lonely and boring life.  Then she meets Raymond.  Raymond turns out to be the best friend anyone could hope for.  He brings her out of her mental and emotional prison.  Actually, her psychiatrist does, but it was Raymond who suggested it and continued to support Eleanor's recovery.

In the end, she's fine--completely fine.  Cute story.

Stephen King is Too Good

Once upon a time, I read a Stephen King novel.  Salem's Lot was about vampires.  I know vampires are ridiculous.  But still.  I remember being alone at night and deeply engrossed in the story.  When I looked up, it was dark.  I had to pull down the shades.  And I didn't want to look out the windows.  So I walked to each window, backwards, felt around behind me and pulled down the shades.  Then I went to my jewelry box and searched through my necklaces for a cross.  It couldn't be just a cross; it I specifically had to have a corpus on the cross.  Jesus protect me!

That night I couldn't sleep and swore I would never read another Stephen King book.

October's Book Club book is 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  Everyone assured me that there were no vampires in it.  That is true.  But the book kept me awake last night, again.  Now I'm walking around like a zombie vampire.

It's not scary, just too real.  It's about the assassination of President Kennedy.  I was in high school and remember it well.  But I forgot how polarized the country was, at that time.  It is uncanny similar to today's political environment.  The early 60's was politically divided by the north and south and democrats and republicans.  Just like President Trump couldn't do anything right, neither could Kennedy, according to their foes.  "Haters."  Then and now.

Just like statues are being torn down, so weren't some then.  In Texas, their state flag flew above the US flag, which was upside down signaling distress.  The similarities between then and now kept me awake. This time I was frightened for our country, not because of the vampires and zombies.

Stephen King is too good a writer.

Argonauta's Selections

This is how one of my book clubs (Argonauta) chooses its book selections.  No more Irish stories, memoirs, and mysteries.  Not because they're not good, au contraire; it's that we've read too many and are sick of them.  I predict we will add African stories to the list because there's two on this year's list.

We met in a restaurant for breakfast--a quiet, not rushed atmosphere, place.  Each of us ordered a huge breakfast.  After breakfast, the bidding discussion began.  Here are erthe resulting selections:

September:  Lilac Girl by Marsha Hall KellOctober:  Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
November:  Britt Marie Was Here by Felix Bachmann
December:  Bossy Pants by Tina Fey                                        
January: Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
February:  Eleanor Oliphant by Gail Honeyman
March:  The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper
April: Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Burke
May:  The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies
June-August: To Be Decided

We leave the last months open because, during the year, one of us will read something so fantastic that they insist the book be read.  This always happens.  Also, during these free months, we come across books we want to recommend for Argonauta's list. This method works for us.

By the way, I know I misspelled authors and titles.  I also know you will correct me.  

More Book Suggestions From the Rejections

Trinity College Library

 Here are my book club's rejections.  "Rejections" is an unfortunate word choice here because these books certainly are not less interesting.  There were many reasons why they weren't chosen: maybe we had too much history, too many had already read it, the book was too difficult for our public library to get for us, etc..  There are many, many reasons.  Here's the list.  I've already read seven of them and plan to read the others, as time allows.  If you're interested, here's the "chosen" list."

St. Mary’s Book Club   

Summer Suggestions - from June 2017

                What Alice Forgot                                                                          by Liane Mariaty

                        A woman suffers from a head injury and her experience with amnesia.

                Zoo Keeper’s Wife                                                                           by Diane Ackerman

                                Based on a true story of a couple who sheltered Jews in a Warsaw zoo.

                Orphan Train                                                                                    by Cristina Baker Kline

                                Friendships of an Irish orphan sent to the Midwest.

                A Man Called Ove                                                                            by Fredrik Backmann

An older man’s relationships with his neighbors after the loss of his wife

                Saints for All Occasions                                                                  by J. Courtney Sullivan

                        Two Irish sisters start new lives in the US but take separate paths.

                The Forgetting Time                                                                     by Sharon Guskin

                                Single mom’s 4 yr old might be the reincarnated spirit of a murdered child.

                The Boston Girl                                            by Anita Diamant (author of Red Tent)               

                                Young Jewish girl grows up in Boston in the early 20^th century.

                My Heart Will Triumph                                                                                by Mirjana Soldo

                                Autobiography of one of the visionaries of Medjugorje

                A Way to God : Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey                                                                                                                                                                                 by Matthew Fox

                                Life of Thomas Merton, Catholic monk

                White Smoke                                                                                     by Andrew Greeley

                                Story of papal election

                Catherine of Siena                                                                          by Sigrid Undset

                                Biography of Catherine of Siena, also wrote Kristin Lavransdatter

                The Orphan Master’s Son                                         by Adam Johnson

                        Propaganda, identity, and power in North Korea, winner of 2013 Pulitzer Prize

                The Name Sake                                                                                             by Jhumap Lahiri

                                Boy born in late 60’s in Indian moves to America         

Book Selections

My book club met last night to choose the coming year's selections of good reads:

For September:  Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
October:  11-23-63 by Stephen King
November: The Buffalo Creek Disaster by Gerald M. Stern
December: My Grandmother Told Me She's Sorry by Frederik Backmann

January: Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza
February: American Treasurers by Stephen Puleo
March: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
April: Life in a Jar by Jack Mayer
May: The Little Paris Book Shop by Nina George
June: The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin
July: The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
August: The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

I'm happy to realize that I've read five of these selections, already.

Gamma

Gamma is the name my youngest grandchild calls me.  Makes sense; if your mother is Ma then it follows that Grandmother is Gamma.

Oh no, I'm sounding like the story I just finished, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, by Fredrik Backman. If you like fantasy, you'll enjoy this book.  I had trouble getting into it. Simultaneously, I'm reading: Mary, Queen of Heaven by Scott Hann, Chesterton's Everlasting Man (for the second time), Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching by Anthony Esolen, and The Many Sides of Peace by Brayton Shanley, among various others, which explains why reading a novel like My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry was hard to get used to.

Of course, I did -- get used to it.  How could one not?  This is the type of book that keeps a smile on your face throughout your entire reading.  The theme is the importance of grandmothers to their grandchildren.  Intergenerational differences are celebrated.  In fact, individual differences are celebrated per se.  The story line involves a little girl delivering letters (which isn't easy) to people the grandmother wants to apologize to.  This simple idea, however, is interwoven in the fantasy world the grandmother made up for children.  It works, trust me, it works ingeniously.

My favorite part of the book is when two grandparents visit their grandson in prison.  This direct quote will give you a taste of the author's writing:

And probably a lot of people think Maud and Lennart shouldn't do that, and that types like Sam shouldn't even be allowed to live, let alone eat cookies.  And those people are probably right.  And they're probably wrong too.  But Maud says she's firstly a grandmother and secondly a mother-in-law and thirdly a mother, and this is what grandmothers and mothers-in-law and mothers do.  They fight for the good.

See why I enjoyed the book?  By the way, this is a Christmas story because of the timing of the climax and ending.  So it was perfect for my book club, Argonauta, whose Christmas party is tonight.  I finished this book at breakfast--nine hours before the meeting.  I had to finish it.  I enjoyed it too much to miss out on the discussion.  I recommend it so you don't miss out on this unique story and delightful gamma.

Book Selections

St. Mary's Book Club met last night and decided
which books to read for the coming year. 

June – Sept.       Wolf Hall                              by Hilary Mantel

October               The Nightingale                by Kristin Hannah

November          Life in the Jar:The             by Jack Mayer
                Irena Sendler Project

December           The 100 Year Old               by Jonas Jonasson
                                Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
January                                The Glass Castle                by Jeannette Walls

February              The Caning:The                 by Stephen Puleo
                                Assault that Drove American to Civil War

March                   The Soul of an Octopus:                by Sy Montgomery
                A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

April                      The Mayflower                 by Nathaniel Philbrick

May                       The Circle                             by Dave Eggers

June – Sept.       What Alice Forgot            by Liane Moriarity

Carrying On

Book club was tonight.  We discussed The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. This type of book is why I belong to a book club.  I would never have picked out this book, were it not assigned to be read.  It's not my type.  I liked it in spite of myself.  It is an excellent depiction of war and all that entails gore-wise.  It was hard to read certain chapters because of the descriptive intensity of the combat.

Two members couldn't read it.  They were too close to the story.  They had lived through it and didn't want to go there again.

It is an important read, however.  I know it is required reading for a few schools around here and I can see why.  It's an era.  It's history.  It's something young people should know.  I pray they never have to experience it.

Argonauta 2015

This is the day my book club, Argonauta, met to choose our book selections for the year.  It did not begin very well.  We planned to meet at a certain place for breakfast.  However, when we arrived we found out that the place was closed for the week.  It was their vacation.  So we made a few telephone calls and settled upon another place, in a different town, for lunch.

This place was wonderful.  We arrived at 11:00 AM and they opened at 11:00 AM.  That meant that we were the only people in the restaurant.  They'd be no chance of us being kicked out due to our rowdy behavior.

Two hours later, after much laughter, arguing over Atticus Finch, (Iconic character), and clapping, we came up with the following:

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

The Nightingale by Kristen Hanna

A Desperate Fortune by Susana Kearsley

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamand Ngozi Adichie

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

Me Before You by Jojo Moynes

Typical Book Club Meeting

As of four hours ago, I had nothing to post.  I would have posted something, according to my personal philosophy.  But nothing inspired me, then.  I also knew something would happen at Book Club.  It usually does.

The book club has been going on for years and years.  It's beyond ten years.  The name is Argonauta, because the first book we ever read was Anne Murrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea, and in it she talked about the seashells, Argonaut.  They travel the seas, and that, to us, conveys adventure.  Hence, we chose Argonauta as our Book Club's name.

Hors D'oeuvres

Tonight, we discussed The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.  Keeping with the flower theme, our hostess had flowers around her living room and dining room.  Her dining table was beautifully set with hydrangeas.  We all love hydrangeas, but in The Language of Flowers, they meant dispassion.

For hors d'oeuvres we had shrimp with two kinds of dips, a couple of cheeses, chili, etc.  Of course, the wine was whatever your little heart desired: white, red, or rose.

Desserts

We discussed the book and relished the food and wine.  We all loved the book.  We also planned to go to Nantucket or Block Island to see the daffodil festivals; but of course, we won't.  The fun is the planning.  "Getting our act together" is difficult.

Boston Cream and Carrot Cake

After the book discussion, we adjourned to the dining room.  Here our hostess outdid herself.  A big bouquet of hydrangeas was the centerpiece, with candles.  At each table setting was a little gift, for each of us--a ladybug planter.  In the ladybug was a tea rose.  The beverage was decaffeinated tea or coffee.  The wine was still available.  We had cupcakes to accompany our drinks.  We had two kinds of cupcakes.  One choice was Boston cream cupcakes.  The other was carrot cake with cream cheese.  I had both.  Don't think I'm a pig; I cut each one in half.  So it was really only one cupcake.

Ladybug Planters

Something happened while we were departing that made tonight different from all other book club nights.  As I was leaving, I heard "help," "help."  I looked at the direction the cries were coming from.  I thought I saw an animal running up and down beside the driveway.  One of us ran over to the "animal" and was talking to it.  Then the scene became clearer.  It wasn't an animal running back and forth; it was a hand waving help.  Someone, somehow, had fallen in the snow, right beside the driveway.  Then the one who was helping, got pulled down into the snow, trying to pull the other one out.  Now there were two in the snow.

Others ran to help and pull them out.

Not me; I was taking pictures to post on Facebook.  I only had my phone.  It was dark and the driveway didn't have enough light.  So what you are seeing is the backside of the one, trying to pull up the other.  I wish the picture had come out better.  They will never live this down.

As I said before, Argonauta conveys adventure.

What you are looking at is Monique trying to pull Linda out of the snow.
Don't ask how she fell into the snow bank.
What happens to Argonauta, stays with Argonauta.

My turn to host, next month.

My New Book Club

My new book club has potential.  Its location is the lower level of a church.  I won’t say “basement,” because the noun, “basement,” would belie this “basement.”  It’s too cheery; there’s too much natural light, and atmospheric warmth, for this location to be labeled, “basement.” 

But let’s get back to the book club.

There were eight of us there.  We filled the room.  And every single one of us had something to say.  Everyone added to the discussion.  We laughed together (at men) of course—did I mention that the book was Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts.   What a book!  This country would not “be,” if it were not for our “Founding Mothers,” (wives of the Founding Fathers.)  Go read the book.

We shared our thoughts.  We accepted opposing opinions.  That’s what makes for a good discussion group.  I’m going to enjoy this book club.  Its name is Books in the Cellar.  I’m kidding.  It really has no name, but since its location is the cellar, basement, lower level of St. Mary’s Church, we refer to it as “St. Mary’s Book Club.”

Argonauta Picks

As usual, the Argonauta Book Club ate a gourmet brunch at Jayne's. Here are this year's picks:

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Patzsch

Wench by Dolen by Perkins-Valdez

A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver

the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Beyond the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

The Dovekeeper by Alice Hoffman

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

I know the spelling is bad but we'll still be able to access the books.  Can't wait to read them!

Book Selections

The Argonauta Book Club

The Argonauta Book Club has met and made its selections for the next year.  The choices are:

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Greater Journey by David McCullough
Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
What Remains by Carol Radziwill
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Since Mary Oliver didn't publish this year, we couldn't decide on what poetry book to read.  So one meeting we'll bring a favorite book of poetry and have a poetry reading.

The Best Reason to Belong to a Book Club

Here's the Argonauta Book Club.  We've been together so long, I can't remember why or how we began.  I remember,"who."  Thank you Maureen.  I miss you and love you.  It must be over ten years ago.  We have grown into our own community.  We're best friends and family.  We're the best kind of family because we picked each other to be related to.  Actually, that relationship has become more important than book discussion.  Sometimes, when I tell others about the Argonauta, they're interested, until I tell them that sometimes no one has read the book.  And you can go to the book discussion without having read the book.  Then they'll turn up their nose and say that there looking for a serious book discussion group.

Well, that's exactly what we're not.  We're a serious group/club/family made up of people--and those people are the very ones we're serious about, not the book.

Anyway, next month's book is Still Alice by Dr. Lisa Genova.  I would have never picked this book to read on my own.  It's about Alzheimer's.  Sounds like it will be depressing, doesn't it?  Specifically, it's about early onset Alzheimer's.  We follow Alice, who at age 50 discovers that she has Alzheimer's.

The only reason I'm reading it is because it was Monique's pick.  She said we'd like it.  I have the library's copy.  God bless the Franklin library.  They gather enough books for our Book Club and hold them in reserve for us members to take out.  And I didn't want to buy this book; I didn't think I wanted to even read it.  So the library book is perfect.

I'm about half way through it and it's a really good read.  The book is written in the perspective of Alice, who has Alzheimer's.  It's very, very different.  And I like it.  That's the best reason to belong to a Book Club.  You read things you never would have read, were it not for the Book Club.

Book Club

The Argonauta Book Club met at Jayne's house for Brunch and book selection.  As usual, Jayne out did herself with her selection of food: quiche, fruit, mimosa, pancakes, and I'm afraid I don't remember what else.  Fantastic!  Jayne is a gourmet cook.

The book club received its name from the very first book we ever read, Anne Murrow Lindberg's Gifts from the Sea.  In Gifts from the Sea,


The Argonauta is an unusual creature that is not attached to itsshell at all. It is a cradle for the young, held in the mother Argonaut's arms until the egg hatches and swims away. The shellis then left behind while the mother sets out to seek a new life. The author sheds any melancholy and allows herself to be entranced by the concept of the Argonauta shell. It is freer than the other shells and is the best representation of the middle years of life. The children have gone and the mother is left to venture out to sea in search of the unknown next step.


We felt that we had reached this point in our lives, as the sea shell, Argonauta, searching for adventure.  Also, we remembered the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts and felt that being Argonauts was a noble thing to be.  Hence, the name.


We didn't have any rhyme or reason for choosing our books.  They're just books we wanted to read.  We didn't pick out 12 books for each month, however.  We left room for us to decide later.


Our list:


Sept:    Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Oct:     The Help by Kathryn Stocket
Nov:     Still Alice by Lisa Genove
Dec:     The Swan by Mary Oliver
Jan:     The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson
Feb:     Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Mar:     The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
Apr:     Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
May:    What is the What by Dane Eggers


Any suggestions?

We are Blessed

In Book Club tonight we discussed Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie and Ina Rilke. Naturally, we talked about China. The Cultural Revolution wasn't that long ago. We marveled at the changes in China. We speculated upon the changes to come.

The discussion also made us appreciate how lucky we are to live in this country. We can read and own books. We have libraries. We can have discussion groups, like my own Book Club, the Argonauta. The concept of freedom really hit home in us women.

We thank God that we live here, and now, at this time in history.

Stuffed Tomatoes

Book Club is serious business. I took a couple of days off from work simply because I was the hostess for this month's book club.

I needed one day to prepare and one day to recuperate. You probably think I jest. Let me explain:
My home is well lived in--cluttered. I have to clean.
The appetizers are more important than anything else.
The book discussion is just an excuse for us friends to gather.
The wine has to be good. Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir and in my case some rum to spice the hot mulled cider. (It's cold outside.)

So I began the day, shopping for ingredients. I was making stuffed tomatoes. Lest you think I'm some kind of slacker, let me set you straight. I am talking about stuffed CHERRY tomatoes. Yup, the teeny ones. Cleaning the house takes time, too.

I prepared stuffed cherry tomatoes and a four layer dip for appetizers. The cherry tomatoes were a hit! Every single last one of them was eaten. The dip was good, too. I placed the dip in the middle of three different kinds of crackers.

The wine was Cavit's Pinots. The cider didn't go over that well. Only two imbibed.

After the wine and appetizers, and discussing the book (The Shack by William Young), we adjourned from the living room to around the dining table, for coffee/tea and dessert. It really doesn't matter what the dessert is, the tone has already been established by the appetizers, book discussion and wine. But we had brownies. That's all. Brownines with nuts, and plain brownies were dessert. Of course, they were good.

I needed a second day off from work because the meeting was at my house. That means I didn't have to drive home.

Do I have to draw you a picture?