Chair: Janet Siedlecki - 826-7896
The Book Group meets on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 1:00 p.m. Please call Janet for more information, or if you are interested in attending.

Jaunary 11th:  Book club 2012 started out with an exciting book and a great lesson for all.   We met at Robin Oquist's house Wed.January 11th and had 11 women attend.

The book was Testimony by Anita Shreve. It started out with a bang, In 2006 4 teenage boys and one 14 year old girl away at a boarding school. One night of fun ,dancing, drinking, and wild sex.This night is a night they or the town of Avery will ever forget. The boys and the girl didn't think about what their few moments of craziness would cost them and the lives of everyone around them. The death of one of the boys was devastating, the parents how they hung in there and tried to go on with life.  I think all young teenagers should read this book.

We had a great discussion and a few different views on the book a couple of ladies read the book twice. I will re-read the book this summer with my 14 year old granddaughter.  -- Robin

December 21  The Book Club met at the home of Beth Hines to discuss The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. The characters were Quoyle, his Aunt, Petal Bear, Wavey, and the children. When the story begins Quoyle marries Petal Bear and she is a loser.
Quoyle and Petal Bear have two daughters. Early in the story she leaves him and dies a terrible car crash. First, Quoyle who is a weakling has to take care of the girls. Next, his parents commit suicide and he is left with their ashes. His Aunt comes for the ashes and actual provides a new life option for Quoyle by taking him to their ancestral home in Newfoundland. Quoyle learns his family history. His Father was just a horrible person. His foggy mind set clears from all his misconceptions about himself. With his new awareness in his abilities it allows him to accept a job. He starts the job at the Gammy Bird as a reporter of shipping news and soon earns the title of managing editor. He gains confidence from his position and the responsibility that goes with all of his new life. His new found courage and success in this life in Newfoundland leads him is to want to have a new life and a good one! With a genuine love in his life he soon joins forces with Wavey and they live happily ever after.

We started out this meeting with a Christmas Celebration with terrific finger foods and an exciting gift exchange.

The discussion was different because Beth only asked each person 2 questions. They were did they like the book and why did the author tell this story? Great topics and discussion.

November 9th  Twelve of us gathered at Lynn Leissler’s home to discuss Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum.  In WWII-devastated Weimar, Germany, young Anna becomes mistress to an SS officer in order to save her life and that of her toddler daughter, Trudy. As happens in such cases, including hostage situations, she grows to love him, although we all agreed it was “love” only in a twisted sense.  The man is a brutal lover, a sadistic monster in the Hitler war machinery, and Anna does what it takes to physically and emotionally survive.  An American soldier rescues her at the Allied Liberation, but she never truly accepts his love or her life as a wife on a Midwestern farm.  Driven by shame, she closes the past, choosing distance and silence with her daughter.  Decades later, Trudy, then a college professor, takes on a project interviewing civilian German war survivors.  Through these interviews, both women collide headlong with the past.  Anna still refuses to deal with it; Trudy insists.  The book closes with some issues resolved, others on their way. A delicious read, as was the apfel küchen (apple cake) Lynn served with butter sauce.

October 12   We met at the home of Paulette Marshall Vigil and discussed two different books. Paulette’s selection was” The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. It is a timeless story of the testing journeys we all take in our lives that are sometimes natural maturity or magical fate. This story took place in ancient times. Some of the women in the group couldn’t see the correlation between Santiago’s twists and turns to learn life’s lessons from ours. Perhaps it was because the lessons came in male examples vs. female thoughts. It was about the faith, power and courage we all have within us to pursue the path that should lead us to the best people we can be. We have to know how to look in our hearts and be present to what it is telling us. In this story Santiago’s path was filled with examples of distraction, lessons, and magic. He started as a young boy and as the journey took him full circle and he matured he came to realize his dream, destiny, or Personal Legend was actually right in front of him-- before he even started his journey. Call it luck or fate if we have a dream and follow our hearts advice there is no magic as to why our dreams come true. However, if we encounter mystery and distractions we’ll all get there but it will take us in circles too. We all have to learn our lesson in our own way before we become an Alchemist.

The second book we discussed was the final edition of the Josephine Bonaparte trilogy. It was called “The Last Great Dance on Earth” by Sandra Gulland.  This was the story of the intimate love affair called marriage between Napoleon and Josephine. It was the adoration that women dream of from their man. Josephine had his love and respect. And she gave him her devotion, friendship, trust, and love right back. They would have lived happily ever after if Josephine could have given Napoleon an heir. Because she could not produce an heir his family conspired against her at every turn. During their marriage he was guilty of many affairs. Napoleon told Josephine that as Emperor it was” his right” to have other women. It was heart wrenching to go through the divorce from Josephine’s perspective because of their love. The divorce was strictly political; it was demanded because of loyalty to France and marrying a woman who would provide the heir to the throne. When he left Josephine they separated as friends. His brilliance in battle was only good when he was with Josephine. So down he tumbled soon after his second marriage and the heir was born.. These three books added much to our book club and each discussion about those books. We would recommend these stories to any women. Curl up with these good books and learn about love, life and loss taught by the women in France.