Here is the list from the All Island Book Club meeting last week:

“And the Mountain Echoed” by Kaled Hosseini
“The Swerve by Stephe”n Greenblatt
“A Tale for the Time Being” by Ruth Ozeki
“Agent Zig-Zag” by Ben Macintyre
“1000 White Women” by Jim Fergus
“House Gir”l by Tara Conklin
“The Round House” by Louise Erdlich
“The Rosie Project” by Graeme Simsion
“The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown
“Zeitoun” by Dave Eggers
“Light Between Oceans” by M. L. Stedman
“The Lewis Series” by Peter May
“Operation Mincement” by Ben Macintyre
“The Keeper of Lost Causes” by Jussi Adler-Olsen
“My Beloved World/True American Dream” by Sonia Sotomayor
“Where Did You Go” Bernadette by Maria Semple
“Caleb’s Crossing” by Geraldine Brooks
“Mink River” by Brian Doyle
“The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles and Their Secret World” by Stephen Kinser

DECEMBER 13, 2011 

Meeting at Dayle's

Book: Beside a Burning Sea

We had a great potluck dinner for our meeting.

 Tuna sashimi, just like they ate in the book! (Well, maybe a few extra goodies . . .)

 And yummy appetisers before the Indonesian chicken skewers with peanut sauce and rice -wow!

After dinner, we discussed the book, which featured Haiku poetry. Sarah gave us an assignment to write our own Haiku, and here are the results:

The crisp cold clear night

Gives way to the spicy joyful warmth

Of the blessed holiday gathering.

Slow in the morning

Coldness, darkness makes me late

Frost on the windshield.

Icicle lights on

Only so many hours

Guarantee runs out

Before language counts

- no, I wanna 'lectric train

fine-ly four years old.

Cold day, nights so long

Kan arrives with storm and squall

Rose blooms forever.

Still in its coldness

Day awakens softly

and I am thoughtful.

Without the sun shining

coldness moves within and without

to carry us to spring.

Golden leaves glowing

full moon shadows under trees

owls huddled in cold

Tuesday, May 10 meeting

Sarah was our discussion leader for the May book, and she had some information for all of us:


I was very glad that we chose Aging with Grace for our book club and in last night’s discussion I mentioned some tips for healthy longevity. Follow this link and you will know how to add years to your life:  http://www.bluezones.com/live-longer/power-9/

Also, the School Sisters have a website with a very cool picture book online telling the story of their American founder:  http://www.ssnd.org/SSND_CarDream/CarolinesDream

Finally, I mentioned that our book won the 2002 Christopher Award and the list of awards is a source to be mined for more good books to read:

First presented in 1949, the Christopher Awards were established by Christopher founder Father James Keller to salute media that “affirm the highest values of the human spirit.” Their goal is to encourage men, women and children to pursue excellence in creative arenas that have the potential to influence a mass audience positively. Award winners encourage audiences to see the better side of human nature and motivate artists and the general public to use their best instincts on behalf of others. http://www.christophers.org

One of the books that recently received a Christopher Award is That Book Woman, by Heather Henson, illustrated by David Small.

At our April meeting, we decided to change how we choose books. Try something new this year!

Each member will choose one book, and also be the discussion leader. No voting or discussion!

Since there are 11 of us, we can start in September and go until July, taking August off, or using that month to choose books and set up schedules.

We can list our choices on this blog, up until September, when we'll want to finalize the list.

Tuesday, Oct 12 Meeting

"The Book Thief"

Tonight's meeting was at Denice's house at Useless Bay. She built a fire, where we gathered to enjoy the view of the moon over the water and our dessert, after the meeting. It was lovely! Thank you, Denice!

The meeting was interesting, too - Sarah did a great job as leader, and almost everyone liked the book and had plenty of comments.

We had a very productive meeting, choosing our year's worth of books, assigning Leaders and Hostesses and setting all the dates! Wow!

The new list is shown above - we have a wide variety of books to read.

Cathi, Karen and Madelyn enjoy Karen's deck.

Our reflections in the window behind Madelyn.

Karen talks to our two new members, Dawn and Denice.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, Sept 14, at 7:00 at Karen's house. We'll send directions out later.

It is our book-choosing meeting, so gather up those great books you have read over the past year. Remember, the book needs to be out in paperback, and it must be something you have read!

We'll also be welcoming two new members to our group, so it is sure to be a good meeting. See you all there!