March Meeting

The March meeting was at Lindy's house - lightly attended.   We must all be busy lately!

Note from Lindy:

Not many of us in attendance.  We had good discussions anyway.  April 25 we will be meeting at Claire's home.  The next book is "The Good Goodbye" by Carla Buckley.  The jacket cover says she lives in Chapel Hill so Claire plans to get in touch with her to attend our next gathering.

Here are a few photos that Diane sent.

Be sure to check out the list at the right of "other books" we've been reading for ideas!

February meeting

Finally a February meeting with no snow!!!

Pittsboro temperature was about 70 degrees as we arrived at Donna's house....much different than previous years!!

Great discussion about this month's book - The Girl Next Door.

Hostess Donna had to choose among the books she's accumulated....

Drum roll......

The March book read is:

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu

And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts

by Joshua Hammer

 To save precious centuries-old Arabic texts from Al Qaeda, a band of librarians in Timbuktu pulls off a brazen heist worthy of Ocean's Eleven.
In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that had fallen into obscurity. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu tells the incredible story of how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist and historian from the legendary city of Timbuktu, later became one of the world's greatest and most brazen smugglers.

In 2012, thousands of Al Qaeda militants from northwest Africa seized control of most of Mali, including Timbuktu. They imposed Sharia law, chopped off the hands of accused thieves, stoned to death unmarried couples, and threatened to destroy the great manuscripts. As the militants tightened their control over Timbuktu, Haidara organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali.

Over the past twenty years, journalist Joshua Hammer visited Timbuktu numerous times and is uniquely qualified to tell the story of Haidara's heroic and ultimately successful effort to outwit Al Qaeda and preserve Mali's—and the world's—literary patrimony. Hammer explores the city's manuscript heritage and offers never-before-reported details about the militants' march into northwest Africa. But above all, The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is an inspiring account of the victory of art and literature over extremism.

 

January Meeting

Thanks to Vilma for being a great hostess!!

After a brief tour of Vilma's new and lovely kitchen improvements, we had a nice discussion of our book - One Good Dog.  Most everyone liked the book - but MJ had some thoughtful comments based on her ownership of a pit-bull mix.  She emphasized that this book seemed to romanticize the pit-bull breed - and she pointed out that this author had never owned a pit-bull.  Since she doesn't really know what's involved,  she  probably shouldn't allow this book to encourage others to take on ownership of dogs that had been used to fight. 

After a brief discussion about several members' trips to the "Women's March" -both in Washington, DC and Raleigh,  we discussed the "other books we're reading"...lots of books read since our Christmas meeting at Carol's....lots of bad weather!!  Check out the link to the right - sounds like there are several books that are really good.


Next month's book is The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell. Be sure to get this particular book since there are several books by this title!!! You can get this book for $4-5 from Amazon (used book) or Half.com.   Donna is hosting next meeting -  Tuesday February 28th at 7pm.  Hope it doesn't SNOW this time!!!

Christmas 2016 Meeting

Thanks to Carol for hosting our Christmas meeting!!  As always, she is a gracious host!  Lots of fun discussion.....and we DID actually discuss this month's book selection - mostly points were raised about racism.

Random photos of the lovely ladies....

Drawing "numbers" for the "Dirty Santa" gift exchange game.

Brodie checked in to see what was going on.....then he retired to his sleeping pad.....

Gift exchange -  good fun!

All the loot!

Several gifts were "stolen"....

Good fun!!

Be sure to check out the link to the right of "Interesting Books" other members are reading if you're looking for ideas.

See you in January at Vilma's house -  wishing everyone a safe and happy Holiday!!

October Meeting

Thanks Diane for the photos and Lindy for the summary.

The book this month, True Believer by Kati Marton was almost universally disliked!!  Several ladies did not read it....but that's OK!!   Luan says that she is unlikely to take recommendations from NPR interviews in the future!

Great spread, Claire - a big hit was the peanut-candy corn combo that tastes like a Payday bar.

Nice to have a visit by Charlee!

Our next book is "Small Great Things" by Jodie Picoult.  It deals with racism.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 6 at Carol's home.  We will discuss the book and do our regular "Dirty Santa" gift exchange and possibly play a game -  Luan brought up a new game that could be fun to play called "Catchphrase".

Be sure to check out the link at the right for other book ideas - our members have been busy lately!

September Meeting

We had a great crowd at Luan's for book club!!


Cute napkin.....and not true!!  Haha, well, maybe for some.....

 As always, Luan put out a nice yummy spread for us to nibble and chat around!

And we had a fun discussion - a little bit about our mystical book this month, The Wood Wife.  Many liked the book, several hadn't read it.  Happy to report that no politics were discussed!!

Next months book will be a non-fiction book about a Communist spy in America in the 1920-30's!

True Believer by Kati Marton.  The meeting will be at Claire's house and hopefully it will be wonderful fall weather for a meeting on her lovely back porch!

Stay tuned for an invite from Carol's in-house movie theater to view "Me Before You" in the coming weeks.

And just a little look ahead - remember, no November meeting since it always interferes with Thanksgiving plans.  And Carol will host our "Christmas/December" meeting on December 6th for celebration and "dirty Santa", so start thinking of a fun inexpensive gift to share!

And finally, remember to take a look at the "Interesting Books" link at the right for reading ideas from the members.

August Meeting

Great meeting with lots of ladies attending!

We welcome Kerry to our group - hope you can join us in the future.


Thanks to MJ for inviting our author this month - Sharon Graham.  Great discussion of her book - Karma's Little Helper.

The author - with one of the actual inspirations for the book.

Beautiful bottle given to her years ago.

Scenes from the evening:

Next meeting will be the 4th Tuesday of September at Luan's house.

Be sure to check out the link on the right for "Interesting Books" other members are reading.