Thursday, September 30, 2010

Book Club

Before I share about book club, I have to share my miraculous news - I fixed my bed!  I tightened up some "support" rods, put the "Jacob ladder" wooden boards back, I think it is tigher than it was ever before and the true test of me sleeping on it last night - it didn't collaspe!  However, if it does collaspe - that IS IT - it will be firewood!

I was invited to "ACS moms" book club last night.  Since it was the beginning of the school year, it was a time of sharing books we read over the summer and deciding which book to read for the month.

The house was in walking distance from me, which was good....  There were 10 of us there, most people I knew.    Most of these ladies/moms have children in elementary or middle school and of the 9 others - I have taught 4 of the moms' sons (3 my first year and one last year).

I was glad and appreciatative to be invited/included in their book club.  I sort of feel younger and I am probably the youngest but I definitely look the youngest too.  Most people I meet think I am in my late twenties not late thirties!

Many people brought 4-5 books to share (English books are hard to find and/or really expensive to buy)  There are no public libraries, not even for the Greeks.

Okay, so all of you who know me, I am not an avid reader (not like my mom), though I did read 8 books this summer!  It was unbelieveable how many books I HAD read that were brought out onto the table.  So people would I haven't read this book yet but heard it was good - and I would say "Oh I have read that book, it's about.... "  The Glass Castle, The Book Thief, Sarah's Key, Guernsey Island and the Potato Peel Society, One Day, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Island - I felt quite knowledgeable and sophisticated!!!!!

I was encouraged to read a book called Say You're One of Them by Uwen Akpan - 5 short stories about children fighting for survival throughout Africa.  Also on my nightstand I have The Happiness Project (which I think ties so well into my life this year), The Return (written by the same author who wrote The Island - Victoria Hislop) and The Help.

So the book they decided to read was the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- I was the only one who had read it and really thought everyone else should read it!  This way I still can still contribute to the discussion on Nov. 3 and have time  to read some other books on my nightstand!

Does anyone else have any recommendations for books we should read?

The book club gang and others are going to watch Eat, Pray, Love next Thursday evening. We are getting the whole movie theater to ourselves!


This is refreshing for me.  I am doing things which I was never able to do or just too tired to do.  I am already enjoying my year off - more to come on my reflections of September...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jill,
How about a Jane Green book or Kate Morton.
Glad to hear all is going well.
Love Helen

Lauren Guy said...

I will give my 2 cents' worth. I read. A lot. So much that I bought an iPad mostly for reading. (English books are so $$$ here) and it costs 9.99 to download a book from the Kindle app on the iPad. In my opinion, Eat Pray Love was horrible. I couldn't get past the first section where she was in Italy. The Steig Larsson trilogy is FANTASTIC so I think Dragon Tattoo was a great choice! I read all the books you read this summer and all were great. Here are some suggestions: Water for Elephants, The Shadow of the Wind, Like Water for Chocolate, and anything by Jodi Picoult or Tracy Chevalier!

Happy reading, Jill!