Reaction to “The Glass Castle”
As a whole, the group rated “The Glass Castle” four stars out of five! As we each gave our final ratings comments were that it was an easy read, that it was thought provoking and a great way to initiate conversation.
February Meeting Rescheduled
The meeting originally scheduled for February 14 has been rescheduled to Thursday, February 17 at 7:00 p.m.
I hope to see you all there for an engaging discussion of “The Glass Castle”!
2011 Reading List
Welcome to a new year of Roselle UMC Reads!
This year we are continuing with selecting six months worth of books, so that we can all plan ahead and know what to expect. The book choices through June are listed below.
Additionally, this year we are introducing book notes and a book rating system. Beth Thessen has volunteered to be our recorder, and will post group summaries and comments for each book. At each meeting, prior to the discussion, each member will be asked to rate the book on a five star scale. Five stars is the highest rating a member can give a book, and half stars are acceptable! Our group star rating will be posted along with the summaries and comments.
New members are always welcome at any meeting! We love to meet new people and a variety of opinions makes the discussions much more interesting.
We meet on the second Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. The one exception for this year is the February meeting, which will be rescheduled for Valentine’s Day. We will post the alternative meeting date when the group comes to a consensus decision.
The 2011 Book Selections are:
February The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
March The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
April The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
May Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
June Traveling Mercies by Annie Lamott
July Crashing Through by Robert Kurson
Sara Gruen Event
For everyone who enjoyed “Like Water For Elephants,” our May book selection:
Sara Gruen will be doing a signing for her latest book “Ape House” at the Borders in Oak Brook this Saturday, October 9 at 2:00.
Sorry for the late notice! If you are interested in finding out more, you can click on the link below (scroll down for events).
September Book Selection
Our September book selection is Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.
Book Synopsis (from BarnesandNoble.com): Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family’s apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.
Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France’s past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl’s ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d’Hiv’, to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah’s past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.
Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.
We will meet on Monday, September 13 at 7:00 pm for our group discussion. New book lovers are always welcome!
Six months of book selections! What a great idea!
At the last meeting, the group was amazingly innovative, efficient and motivated and they chose not just the book for the next month, but the book selections for the next 6 months! So now we can all plan ahead, buy books on sale or put them on our birthday gift lists. (I was not present at that meeting so I cannot take credit for this great idea – kudos and accolades to the ladies who were part of this selection process!)
Our schedule for the next six months will be:
| August 9 | One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
| September 13 | Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay |
| October 11 | Loving Frank by Nancy Horan |
| November 8 | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot |
| January 10 | Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett |
All of our meetings are on the second Monday of the month at 7:00. Check the church calendar or website www.roselleumc.org for room location – it is subject to change as we continually seek the room that has the most comfortable chairs!
If you haven’t attended one of our discussions before, this is a great way to plan ahead to join us. You are welcome any time.
July Book Selection
Our next discussion will be on Monday, July 12. We will be discussing “The Next Thing On My List: A Novel” by Jill Smolinski.
From the publisher’s website:
After a car accident in which her passenger, Marissa, dies, June Parker finds herself in possession of a list Marissa has written: “20 Things to Do by My 25th Birthday.” The tasks range from inspiring (run a 5K) to daring (go braless) to near-impossible (change someone’s life).
To assuage her guilt, June races to achieve each goal herself before the deadline, learning more about her own life than she ever bargained for.
June Book Selection
Summer is coming, and it’s time to scale back and relax. After several months of reading about the holocaust, post World War II Israel, depression-era circuses and oppression in the civil-rights-era South, it is time to inject some light-hearted humor into our lives. Our June book selection fits perfectly with a summertime laid-back attitude!
For our 
June discussion we will be reading Golfing With God: A Novel of Heaven and Earth By Roland Merullo.
From the publisher’s website: Herman “Hank” Fins-Winston was a pro golfer destined for greatness. Now he lives in a condominium on the thirteenth fairway of one of heaven’s glorious courses – a fact he finds surprising and amusing, since for one reason or another, a fair percentage of golfers never make it to paradise. Hank is having the time of his afterlife until he’s summoned one idyllic morning to play a round with the Almighty. It seems that God is having some trouble with His game. As they play the heavenly courses, both in paradise and back on earth, Hank comes to realize that what began as a golf lesson has become a spiritual journey.
Please join us on Monday, June 14 at 7:00 p.m. as we kick off our summer discussions!
Book Ideas
When you come for our book discussion on Monday, remember to bring suggestions for our summer reading!
Blogger Crashes and Burns! May Discussion Update
The cardinal rule of blogging is “Never let your blog get outdated.” I have spectacularly failed on that account this month! Sorry to all of our loyal Roselle UMCReads! blog followers.
Our discussion for THIS COMING MONDAY May 10 will be about the book “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen. It can be a quick read so there may still be time to get through it if you haven’t started yet. And, remember there is no requirement that you complete the book – come and share what you’ve read so far and enjoy the company and conversation!
And, as an added bonus and apology for updating so late, following are some discussion questions from the publisher’s website to get your thought processes rolling:
1. To what extent do the chapters concerning the elderly Jacob enhance the chapters recounting the young Jacob’s experiences with the Benzini Brothers circus? In what ways do the chapters about the young Jacob contribute to a deeper understanding of the elderly Jacob’s life?
2. How does the novel’s epigraph, the quote from Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hatches the Egg, apply to the novel? What are the roles and importance of faithfulness and loyalty in Water for Elephants? In what ways does Gruen contrast the antagonisms and cruelties of circus life with the equally impressive loyalties and instances of caring?
3. Who did you, upon reading the prologue, think murdered August? What effect did that opening scene of chaos and murder have on your reception of the story that follows?
4. In connection with Jacob’s formal dinner with August and Marlena in their stateroom, Jacob remarks, “August is gracious, charming, and mischievous” (page 93). To what extent is this an adequate characterization of August? How would you expand upon Jacob’s observation? How would you characterize August? Which situations in the novel reveal his true character?
5. August says of Marlena, “Not everyone can work with liberty horses. It’s a God-given talent, a sixth sense, if you will” (page 94). Both August and Jacob recognize Marlena’s skills, her “sixth sense,” in working with the horses. In what ways does that sixth sense attract each man? How do August and Jacob differ in terms of the importance each places on Marlena’s abilities?
You can find more discussion questions at:
http://www.workman.com/more/readers-guides/Gruen_WFE_RG.pdf
and more information about the book at
http://www.saragruen.com/water.html
We look forward to seeing you Monday evening at 7:00. (Remember, we are meeting in room 15 downstairs.)
