January Book Club

Just last week, we had our very first book club meeting for the year, and what a great start to 2011.  Not only did we double our size at our very first meeting in 2011, but we have trippled our membership base!  Thank you ladies for bringing along your friends and welcome new members!


My favorite part about our book club is that the group continues to be diverse bringing a fantastic mix of opinions and knowledge to each meeting.  Well, we all do have one thing in common...our passion for reading.  Actually, there are two things as I cannot leave out our love for wine!

FAVORITE QUOTE of the Meeting:  "It's not shallow it's eclectic" (CC)

For January, we decided to start the year off with everyone getting to select their own book for the month to read.  And speaking of diversity, we had everything covered in this group - Young Adult, Bestselling Fiction, Comedy, Romance, Christian Fiction, and Biographies.

Here is a list of what everyone read and what they thought about the book.  If there isn't at least one book on here that you can relate to or find to enjoy, then you might be (dare I say) on the wrong blog.  As I said, I think we have every potential subject covered.  Or at least the important ones.  Great job ladies!

• Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family                                 by Condoleezza Rice  - "Literally gave me chills!"
• Someday by Karen Kingsbury - "Cried all the way through this one!"
• Jane by April Lindner - Remake of Jane Eyre for the teen audience.
• Matched by Ally Condie - Follows the Young Adult "formula" (I am hooked & bought it myself to read)
• The Strain by Guillermo del Toro
• Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks - "Suspenseful"
• Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin - "All time FAVORITE author."  Good read.
• The Reef by Nora Roberts
• The Bride Quartet Series by Nora Roberts
• The Confession by John Grisham - "Last third of the book kept me on edge."
• Straight Talk, No Chaser by Steve Harvey - A great follow up to the first book.
• Room by Emma Donghue - "Not worth all of the hype."
• Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler - "Funny"  It is Chelsea after all!
• Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia de Rossi - "Graphic, detailed, and eye-opening"
• Helen of Pasedena by Lian Dolan - A thumbs down...
• Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick - "Really good.  A smutty Little House on the Prairie."
• Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother's Compulsive Hoarding by Jessie Sholl
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - Did not find this as good as the first two.

Year in books: 10 books we loved reading by USA TODAY

USA Today published their top 10 books from 2010 they'd recommend.
Click HERE for the link to the USA Today article.

FICTION

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

The most buzzed-about book of the year — a sprawling, addictive yarn about the way we live now — lived up to the hype.

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes

This startlingly vivid account of U.S. Marines fighting in Vietnam makes a reader feel as if he's experiencing boots on the ground.

So Much for That by Lionel Shriver

This delicious black comedy about cancer and health-insurance woes (tough sell!) nabbed a well-deserved National Book Award fiction nomination.

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

A sweeping and fascinating epic that follows five families at the outbreak of World War I, the first installment of a planned trilogy.

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

A delightfully smart debut novel, filled with humor and heartbreak, about the likable misfits who work at a struggling newspaper.

NON-FICTION

Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon

Anne Frank's struggle to endure under the Nazis is brought to harrowing, powerful life through the graphic-novel format.

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

An epic job of reporting tells the history, in novelistic detail, of the great migration of blacks from the South and how it changed the entire nation.

Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell

A moving yet unsentimental memoir of Caldwell's friendship with writer Caroline Knapp, who was dying of cancer.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Oprah Winfrey (who has bought the rights) is among the fans of this moving true story about a black woman whose cells were used extensively in research after her death — without her family's knowledge.

Just Kids by Patti Smith

In this lovely memoir (winner of the National Book Award for non-fiction), rocker Patti Smith celebrates the time when she and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe were young, art-obsessed bohemians.

Use What You Have To Get What You Want

by Jack Nadel

http://ideasthatmeanbusiness.com/about/

With so many people these days starting over in the work force or looking to change their career, this book is a great read to kick start you on your new path.  

Jack Nadel is a decorated U.S. Army air Corps navigator that started his career as an American entrepreneur in 1946 with a high school education and no money.  He is now 87 and has 65 years of success.   He shares his rules for success in his book Use What You Have To Get What You Want sharing 100 specific lessons and ideas that mean business.  Jack Nadel has created thousands of jobs and products as he built Jack Nadel International into a powerhouse global leader in promotional products.

My favorite part about what this book has to share is their profound statement that "you do not need to learn anything new, but you must learn to use what you have."  Therefore, we all should be able to not only learn something new but to be able to apply it to our current situation or plans.

The Test - Can you find a book for everyone in your family?

The answer:  YES!


So, for Christmas, I did a test to see if I could find a book for everyone in my family.  Sure, I could find a book, but could I find one that they actually wanted, one that they would actually open up???


So I went on my mission.  For the women in my family, I had the opposite problem.  Narrowing down which book I wanted to buy.  They are avid readers like myself.


I bought A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick for my sister and Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls.  Both books came highly recommended to me by other avid readers, so I assumed I could not go wrong.  Plus, I am guessing that they will switch the books once they have read them...


But the real challenge was for the men in my family.  My brother does not read much, but he does enjoy John Grisham.  So, naturally, getting him The Confession seemed like a no-brainer.  And I was right.  He was excited to get it.  Now, for my other brother, that was a different story.  He has a lot of interests that have a ton of books about them - military, history, sports, and electric guitar.  But, he is not much of a reader.  So I solved the case when I found a great book about legendary guitar players that taught how to play their key songs.  Genius...  He not only loved it, but it was a book he would not have bought for himself.


Two men down, two to go...  My cousin also does not read (apparently, the women in my family have sucked up the reading gene).  But, he is a new, single father of a two year old.  I found a great book on parenting infants to toddlers with month by month explanations of what to expect.  An overall reference guide for him to answer the basic questions.  Unless he is a horrible liar, which I seriously doubt, he was also thankful for the book.  Whew...


Now, for the final, and maybe most difficult, man my brother-in-law.  He recently just got his paramedics license and was DONE with reading.  But, I was not about to give up or leave him out.  So I kept my eyes open as I perused the bookstore for idea's.  Thank goodness he has a sense of humor, and that Jon Stewart released Earth (The Book): A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race.

Result is that if you think hard enough of the interests of the person you are buying for, then you are most likely going to find a book for them that they could not only use but love.