The Locale: Online with Kristine
The Book: At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves.
The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.
Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.
The Dutch House is the story of a paradise lost, a tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance, love and forgiveness, of how we want to see ourselves and of who we really are. Filled with suspense, you may read it quickly to find out what happens, but what happens to Danny and Maeve will stay with you for a very long time.
http://www.annpatchett.com/the-dutch-house
Sarah's Summary:
I enjoyed seeing all of you again on Sunday and can’t wait to actually SEE you in person!! Truthfully, I miss your cooking 😉 We are beginning to think you don’t like us, Lori!
Even though the ending was too perfect for a lot of us, I don’t believe anyone hated The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. It wasn’t my favorite by the author but I did like it- Her writing is rich, characters flawed. It was a perfect read for these strange times. Thanks for changing it up, Kristine! I love how even though we are all stuck at home (most of us working remotely for the first time) we can still find things to talk about, LOL. No one has taken an interesting trip or run a marathon or done much of anything aside from home improvements (and many of us are still working 40 hours a week and home schooling to top it off) 😊 Life marches on…
We are meeting, probably virtually again, on June 14th to discuss The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow. Tassy is “hosting."
We voted on Jolynda’s suggestions and picked The Glass Hotel by the Station Eleven author (I just realized you didn’t put the authors in your email, Jolynda!). I’ll look it up when I go to put it into the spreadsheet.
We picked July 12th for that call/meeting.
Happy quarantining for those of us who are still working from home as things begin to “open up”- don’t kill your families and I won’t judge for day-drinking.
The Vote: Jolynda presented...
- Year One by Nora Roberts
- The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel WINS!!
- Pachinko by Min Jin Leen
Up Next: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow, hosted by Tassy on June 14th.
Next to Present: Brenda
Then:
- Susan
- Gina
- Jana
- Susan H.
- Sarah
- Jessica
- Kristine
- Holly
- Tassy
- Jolynda
The Locale: Online with Holly
The Book: Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.
The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.
What happens to them--and to the men they love--becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.
Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic--a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.
https://www.jojomoyes.com/books/the-giver-of-stars/
Sarah's Summary: Thanks for hosting our first, and probably not last, virtual book club, Holly & Jana! I think it went well, considering. It was lovely to see your faces (Susan H. we need to get you on video!)and our growing hair. 😂
We had a great turnout (we missed you Lori!) and I look forward to trying it again next month when Kristine hosts “The Dutch House” by Ann Patchett, a last minute substitute since The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson was on the same topic as The Giver of Stars.
The Giver of Stars was a light read, and I think most of us enjoyed it. The characters were not overly developed, the story not deep, but it was just what a lot of us needed at this time in our lives. 😬
Holly, I know we all want your husband to say safe in these uncertain times and I thank him and everyone in the healthcare field for continuing to take care of our needs and putting their lives, and their families health, at risk.
On a lighter note, while I can not recommend to Brenda where to find TP right now, this article gives some insight into why we are experiencing a shortage.
https://marker.medium.com/what-everyones-getting-wrong-about-the-toilet-paper-shortage-c812e1358fe0
Happy reading, stay safe, stay sane and I look forward to seeing y’all May 3rd!
The Vote: Tassy presented...
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow WINS!!
- The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
- Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan
Up Next: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, hosted by Kristine on May 3rd.
Next to Present: Jolynda
Then:
- Brenda
- Susan
- Gina
- Jana
- Susan H.
- Sarah
- Jessica
- Kristine
- Holly
- Tassy
The Locale: Jessica's
The Book: The nail-biting climax of one of the greatest political victories in American history: the down and dirty campaign to get the last state to ratify the 19th amendment, granting women the right to vote.
"Anyone interested in the history of our country's ongoing fight to put its founding values into practice--as well as those seeking the roots of current political fault lines--would be well-served by picking up The Woman's Hour." --Margot Lee Shetterly, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Hidden Figures
Nashville, August 1920. Thirty-five states have ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, twelve have rejected or refused to vote, and one last state is needed. It all comes down to Tennessee, the moment of truth for the suffragists, after a seven-decade crusade. The opposing forces include politicians with careers at stake, liquor companies, railroad magnates, and a lot of racists who don't want black women voting. And then there are the 'Antis'--women who oppose their own enfranchisement, fearing suffrage will bring about the moral collapse of the nation. They all converge in a boiling hot summer for a vicious face-off replete with dirty tricks, betrayals and bribes, bigotry, Jack Daniel's, and the Bible.
Following a handful of remarkable women who led their respective forces into battle, along with appearances by Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Frederick Douglass, and Eleanor Roosevelt, The Woman's Hour is an inspiring story of activists winning their own freedom in one of the last campaigns forged in the shadow of the Civil War, and the beginning of the great twentieth-century battles for civil rights.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35743037-the-woman-s-hour
Sarah's Summary: Thanks for hosting Sunday, Jessica. As always, the food was amazing (I need to go to Chicken Salad Chick more frequently) and I really enjoyed my limoncello and prosecco! It was delicious! The decorations really made it- we missed our chance for our photo op! I was embarrassed that I had not finished the book but I was in good company. I actually purchased this one so perhaps I will finish it eventually. It was fascinating time in our history and I, like Holly, don’t remember learning much about it, perhaps a line in a history book. We certainly should teach our kids more detail about the 19th amendment and the struggles for sure.
We elected to meet at Cascades, weather permitting, the Sunday afternoon of Word of South (April 5th) for a picnic. If the weather doesn’t cooperated (and history shows it is often wet) Holly will host at her house. Otherwise, it sounds like a lovely opportunity to have a picnic in the park, surrounded by all things literature. I suggest we regroup closer to the date to look over the schedule for Sunday to see when/were to meet. I am slated to be in Fort Myers for soccer that weekend but if that changes, I’ll be there! As a reminder, we are reading “The Giver of Stars” by Jojo Moyes.
Keeping with the theme, we voted to read “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” by Kim Michele Richardson for our May meeting at Kristine’s house. I have the date of that meeting as May 3rd, please correct me if I’m wrong.
Next up to present is Tassy and after her Jolynda. Safe travel for those going away for Spring Break and we’ll see you all in April!
The Vote: Kristine presented...
- Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang
- The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson WINS!!
- Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden
Up Next: The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes @ Holly's on April 5th.
Next to Present: Tassy
Then:
- Jolynda
- Brenda
- Susan
- Gina
- Jana
- Susan H.
- Sarah
- Jessica
- Kristine
- Holly
The Locale: Sarah's
The Book: In 1962, at the age of eleven, Carlos Eire was one of 14,000 children airlifted out of Cuba, his parents left behind. His life until then is the subject of Waiting for Snow in Havana, a wry, heartbreaking, intoxicatingly beautiful memoir of growing up in a privileged Havana household -- and of being exiled from his own childhood by the Cuban revolution.
That childhood, until his world changes, is as joyous and troubled as any other -- but with exotic differences. Lizards roam the house and grounds. Fights aren't waged with snowballs but with breadfruit. The rich are outlandishly rich, like the eight-year-old son of a sugar baron who has a real miniature race car, or the neighbor with a private animal garden, complete with tiger. All this is bathed in sunlight and shades of turquoise and tangerine: the island of Cuba, says one of the stern monks at Carlos's school, might have been the original Paradise -- and it is tempting to believe.
His father is a municipal judge and an obsessive collector of art and antiques, convinced that in a past life he was Louis XVI and that his wife was Marie Antoinette. His mother looks to the future; conceived on a transatlantic liner bound for Cuba from Spain, she wants her children to be modern, which means embracing all things American. His older brother electrocutes lizards. Surrounded by eccentrics, in a home crammed with portraits of Jesus that speak to him in dreams and nightmares, Carlos searches for secret proofs of the existence of God.
Then, in January 1959, President Batista is suddenly gone, a cigar-smoking guerrilla named Castro has taken his place, and Christmas is canceled. The echo of firingsquads is everywhere. At the Aquarium of the Revolution, sharks multiply in a swimming pool. And one by one, the author's schoolmates begin to disappear -- spirited away to the United States. Carlos will end up there himself, alone, never to see his father again.
Narrated with the urgency of a confession, Waiting for Snow in Havana is both an exorcism and an ode to a paradise lost. More than that, it captures the terrible beauty of those times in our lives when we are certain we have died -- and then are somehow, miraculously, reborn.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201113.Waiting_for_Snow_in_Havana
The Vote: Holly presented...
- The Girl They Left Behind by Roxanne Veletzos
- How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It by Arthur Herman
- The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes WINS!!
Up Next: The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine F. Weiss @ Jessica's on February 23.
Next to Present: Kristine
Then:
- Tassy
- Jolynda
- Brenda
- Susan
- Gina
- Jana
- Susan H.
- Sarah
- Jessica
- Kristine
