September 28, 2024

It's so frustrating to have such a wonderful gathering and, again, forget to mark it with a photograph! That's the 2nd month in a row that has been the case. 

Our meeting was at the beginning of a long hot spell (for our area of Northern California, at least.) We shared our adventures and happenings, then got down to expressing our enjoyment in our latest read, James by Percival Everett, though we collectively wondered about a choice the author made as the book came to its climax. Several of us even found time to refresh our memories by reading Huckleberry Finn. 

Of course, politics were a lively topic of discussion and frustration therefore we mutually decided to delay our next meeting until after the election. Because of our extended time frame, we chose not one but 2 books to read for our next meeting, The Art of Power by Nancy Pelosi and A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci.

July 28,2024

 A new venue and the smiles continue!

A lovely sunny day couldn't beat the happiness of our rare late summer gathering. We lunched and shared our travels, triumphs and travails. When we got around to discussing our assigned book, Did I Ever Tell You by Genevieve Kingston, as a whole we were filled with empathy for the writer's account of the heartbreaking loss of her mother and the affect it had on her life. It deeply touched all our hearts and was even more impacting with the recollections of Trey with personal connections to this remarkable family, sharing their deep despair.

We assigned Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale as our book for next month and if we finish that with time to spare, we can reread Huckleberry Finn to ready us for our next assigned read, James by Percival Everett.

June 22, 2024

You would think when our gathering lasted over 3 hours that somewhere in that time a picture of us would have been taken, but it wasn't. It's amazing how much we have to share, how dependent we are on our meetings to catch up on what had happened to us in the past month. It takes time!

It's a rare happening when we read a book where one of us is personally acquainted with the author, but this coming month celebrates that. One of our members has a deep and personal relationship with Genevieve Kingston, the author of our next read, Did I Ever Tell You? We are all excited to read a book by this exceptional young woman.

May 11, 2024

 

Our May gathering happily found us all together again. It was a very special gathering with each of us sharing our triumphs and struggles, our upcoming events and plans. As Chris wrote after our meeting, "Let me count the ways I love all of you.. you are: supportive, understanding, gentle and kind, non-judgemental and more."

Is it any wonder this amazing gathering of women is so precious, so vitally important to each of us? Reading books together has been a catalyst for deep connection and support.

Our book from last month, A Confederacy of Dunces, was barely discussed, I'm afraid. And it wasn't chosen as a favorite. Our book for next month is Loitering With Intent by Muriel Spark. It is described as light hearted and that's something most of us will enjoy right now.

February 10, 2024

Meeting once again on a sunny Saturday morning and enjoying our morning beverages and freshly baked scones, we gathered to catch up on each others' lives and discuss our latest read. It's amazing how powerful and supportive our book club is in our lives.

We discussed the enjoyment of our assigned book, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, and happily assigned The First Ladies for reading next month.

 

January 13, 2024

Darn it all! Yet another month when we forgot to take a picture. Though 3 of us were missing, we remaining 7 were cozy from the cold drizzle on the large dining area table just inside the front doors of Penngrove Market. We snacked on their delicious and freshly baked scones - our monthly treat - and shared all that had happened in our lives in the last month. As usual, a lot had happened, both good and not so good. We also talked some time about our last read, Mother Land by Leah Franqui, pondering her transplant to India and the difficulties/delights of the extreme societal difference. 

We chose The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride for next month's discussion. Maybe next month I'll remember that picture!

This Complete Book List with 2023-24 additions

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
A Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons
Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson, Ph.D.
Patty Jean's House of Curl by Lorna Landvik
Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman
Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul by Jack Canfield, et al
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
All True Travels and Adventures of Liddia Newton by Jane Smiley
At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
Women of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
Traveling Mercies by Annie Lamontt
The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K Rowlings
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Chicken Soup for the Unsinkable Soul by Jack Canfield, et al 
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink 
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 
Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher, Ph.D.
Redemption Song by Bertice Berry
The Wedding by Dorothy West
The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
Drowning Rita by Christina Schwarz
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
The Devil's Dream by Lee Smith
Earth Abides by George Stewart
The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett
Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Liar's Club by Mary Karr
Daughter of Fortune by Isabella Allende
Christmas on Jane Street by Billy Romp, Wanda Urbanska
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross
Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Picher
The Hungry Ocean by Linda Greenlaw
A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
Case Histories: A Novel by Kate Atkinson
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg
The Book of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring
My Life in France by Julia Child
Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
The Elegant Gathering of White Snows by Kris Radish
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
The Wild Trees by Richard Preston
A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
Plain Truth by Jodi Piccault
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch
The Book Borrower by Alice Mattison
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama
It Ain't All About the Cookin' by Paula Deen
What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Julie And Julia by Julie Powell
Olive Kitterridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig
Jarrettsville by Cornelia Nixon
Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire
The Vision of Emma Blau by Ursula Hegi
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
See You Everywhere by Julia Glass
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Raising Jake by Charlie Carillo
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Prayers For Sale by Sandra Dallas
20 Years Younger by Bob Greene 
Odd Girl Out by Rachel Simmons
Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Holes by Louis Sachar
La Cucina by Lily Prior
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Straight White Male by Gerald W. Haslam
A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Moorland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
The Time Traveler's Wife by Aubrey Niffenegger
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Giovanni's Light by Phyllis Theroux
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
Sleep Toward Heaven by Amanda Eyre Ward
Stern Men by Elizabeth Gilbert
California Uncovered: Stories For The 21st Century by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Editor), et al
How To Be Lost by Amanda Eyre Ward
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio : How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less by Terry Ryan
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
The Tale of Hill Top Farm by Susan Wittig Albert
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight : An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller  
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Faithful Place by Tana French
Major Pedigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman
Sarah's Key by Titiana de Rosnay
Unbroken by Laura Hillenband
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
How High the Moon by Sandra Kring
The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Caribou Island by David Vann
In An Instant by Lee and Bob Woodward
Straight Man by Richard Russo
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Bossypants by Tina Fey
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
The Light Between Oceans by M.L.Steadman
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Persia Cafe by Melany Neilson
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Redfield Farm by Judith Coopey
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
Night Gardening by E.L. Swann
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 
Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee
The Botticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato
Go With The Flo by Judith Dechesere-Boyle
The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown
The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout 
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
The Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
Life after life by Kate Atkinson
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George 
Lottery by Patricia Wood
Radical Remission by Kelly Turner
How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman 
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson 
The Shack by Wm. Paul Young
Shanghai Diary by Ursula Bacon 
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles 
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
The Secret Wife by Gill Paul
The handmaid's tale by Margaret Atwood 
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid:A Novel by Bill Bryson
The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig
Still Life by Louise Penny
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan 
The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
Christmas on Jane Street by Billy Romp, Wanda Urbanska  
Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman
I Thought You Were Dead by Pete Nelson
Becoming by Michelle Obama 
When Heaven and Earth Collide by Alan Cross 
Educated by Tara Westover
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
I'd Rather be Reading by Anne Bogel
Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Stroud
The Librarian of Burned Books: A Novel by Brianna Labuskes
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
West with Giraffes by Linda Rutledge
Grandma Gatewood's Walk by Ben Montgomery
The Mother Land by Leah Franqui
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Loitering With Intent by Muriel Spark
Did I Ever Tell You? by Genevieve Kingston
Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale
James by Percival Everett

December 9, 2023

 

 

 

In what, because of the pandemic is now an unusual location, we happily gathered in December in Barbara's lovely home already bedecked with cheerful Christmas decor. It was fabulous for all of us to be once again in the embrace of a loving home and it made our gathering that much more memorable,

We enjoyed a delicious potluck brunch, discussed our assigned book, Grandma Gatewood's Walk, and decided to add Mother Land by Leah Franqui for next month. And, of course, we caught up on each other's lives. Support, friendship and love are the reasons our book club is so much more than a gathering to discuss our reading.

October 7, 2023

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday when our group last got together. We had each thoroughly enjoyed reading our last book, Remarkably Bright Creatures, and shared our appreciation. We look forward to reading West to Giraffes for our upcoming gathering in November.

As always, we shared our month's news and rejoiced or commiserated, but always supporting each other. What a remarkable gift our friendship is.

September 2, 2023

 NO WAY! When I saw the last time I'd updated our blog I was, am, shocked! We've met several times over the last few months, read several books, and shared many happy times. Oops!

But on with the now. Our last gathering was at our currently designated meeting place, Penngrove Market, on a Saturday morning at 10:00. We aimed to have everyone present, but life has a way of interrupting plans so 3 of our members weren't able to attend. The remaining 7 of us of chatted and updated everyone about all that had transpired in the 2 months since our last gathering. As I recall, we didn't actually discuss the book. It had been so long I honestly hardly even recall the title much less story details. (Actually our book was The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont. Apologies.) Nonetheless conversation managed to span the hours. 

Our next book assigned (which WILL be discussed) is Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.

April 29, 2023

What to say about a perfect, quite remarkable gathering? Boy, we're lucky!

We all were invited to Carolyn's house to celebrate Barbara's surprise birthday party. Knowing Carolyn, we all expected it to be special, but it was quite simply beyond that. The food, the laughter, the cocktails, the friendship all made for a most outstanding birthday celebration. It was very special for our birthday girl, Barbara and all of us shared in the joy of the day.

We had time to talk, share and to discuss the book we all read, Olive, Again and assign a new book, The Librarian of Burned Books: A Novel by Brianna Labuskes. Our continued friendship is one of our most precious gifts. How lucky we are to have such a special group of friends.

March 25, 2023

 

Once again enjoying the inside space of Penngrove Market, an abbreviated number of us met to talk about our book and the world situation. It was mentioned that our normally laughing cohort was much more serious this month and it was no wonder as we discussed the sad situation in our schools, treats to democracy, the problem of misinformation and on and on. Nonetheless did manage smiles for the above picture.

We all enjoyed last month's book, Lessons in Chemistry, and, though there is still a long way to go, we appreciated the advances in equality the book so aptly illustrated.

 Our next month's book is Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout which builds on our previous reads of Olive Kitteridge and the Burgess Boys.