Introducing: Flavia de Luce!

A few of us in book club are more than a little excited for the rest of you to meet a delightfully dry, brilliantly precocious girl by the name of Flavia de Luce.  She is the star of our next book "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" or, (if you already have the other book) "The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag".  There was a bit of debate at book club last night as to whether we should read the second one, as was originally posted as our book for November, or switch to the first book in the series.  The books don't necessarily go in a certain order.  Meaning, you could read the books out of order and not miss much.  There are a few references to events that happened in previous books, but nothing crucial.  However, I think we all came to the conclusion that starting at the very beginning is a very good place to start.  So, over the next few cold, windy snowy rainy and generally unpleasant weeks, I encourage you to curl up w/ your favorite blanket and Alan Bradley's "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie".  You will enjoy every bite!

The Future is Before Us

Thanks to everyone that came to book club last Thursday, we had a lot of fun with lots of laughter. We had quite a few people come that hadn't been before, so it was awesome!

We will still meet the first Thursday of every month, but we'll leave it up to the host what time is best for them. Here is the list of what we came up with, all of which is subject to change, of course.

OCTOBER 6th (Kim Gordon) Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
NOVEMBER 3rd (Delvonie Kidder) Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
DECEMBER 1st (Lisa Knudsen) The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley
JANUARY 5th (Richelle Kimball) Christmas Notes by Clint Cox (yup he's the plumber here in E-town)
FEBRUARY 2nd (Holly Pipes) A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
MARCH 1st (Lorna Olson) TBD but we're thinking a romance of sorts, she's going to do some research for something not too smutty! :)
APRIL 5th (Erin Larsen) Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
MAY 3rd (Rachel Wade) Mark of Royalty by Jennifer Clark and Stephonie Williams (or possibly watch the new Jane Eyre movie)
JUNE 7th (Telasia Chidester) Divergent by Veronica Roth
JULY 5th (Brittany Lund)
AUGUST 2nd (Lauriza Olson)

And there it is...if anything is wrong send an email to everyone or make a comment and let us know.
Happy reading ladies! :)

The Help (Movie) & Book Ideas

Many laughs and, we'll admit a few tears, were shed last Saturday night as we enjoyed watching The Help! It was fun to sit down and have a delicious, uninterrupted meal and chat with friends beforehand. Thanks for driving through the rain to get us there Lorna and Juli! We'll have to do this again!!!

Next month we want to sit down and discuss some ideas for next year! Come with a few book ideas and your calendar so we can get a tentative schedule. This will help us to find books in advance and hopefully give more of us an opportunity to completely read through them before we meet each month. 

We generally get together the first Thursday of the month. Look for an email in the near future to find out details. If you don't receive emails about book club, and would like to, then contact one of the beautiful people in this photo!

Posted by Britt

For August: The Help revisited

For our August meeting, it was decided that we would go as a book club to see The Help.  It is coming to theaters on August 10th, though we might not see it here in E-town until a bit after that.   However, I have it on good authority that The Help will very likely be coming to Ephraim.  If not, we may have to travel and have our husbands babysit for an entire evening.  Darn!   Our plans also include going out to dinner.  If anyone has an opinion on whether or not we should travel to see the movie and eat out, speak up!  Personally, I can't wait!

Wrapping up The Ladies Auxiliary

We had a great time last night at Charlynn's house!  


Those in attendance included: Lisa K., Kristen W, Erin J, Brittany L, Juli A, Holly J and Charlynn C.  


Some things we discussed were:

• We were all in agreement that being an Orthodox Jew is much more demanding than being an active, full-time member of the LDS church.
• Kristen Weller related a similar incident that happened to a teacher in her small community.  Nothing was said outright, but the teacher was basically forced to leave her position because people didn't want her teaching their children provocative/controversial material.  Obviously, this book really resonated with Kristen and we so appreciated her sharing her experience.
• We discussed the difference between the letter and the spirit of religious law.  Most of the women in Memphis obeyed every law because they had to.  With the exception of Mimi and Batsheva, these women never really thought about the spiritual meaning behind what they were doing.  One example was when Batsheva used the Mikvah.  Tziporah saw only the practical reasons for using it, not the spiritual.
• It was unanimously agreed upon that Orthodox Judaism was not a religion that is easy on women.  Can you imagine having to scour your house from top to bottom for every single holiday?  And there were a lot!  And the baking!  Oy!

Thank you to all of you who came (and those who didn't, but read the book anyway!) and made the evening wonderful.  We have decided on something for August, and it's gonna be great, so stay tuned!

On a more personal note....

How do you think this book compared to our own Mormon community?


Were there any characters that you related to or felt were justified in their actions towards Batsheva?


How do you respond to someone whose actions/choices seem a bit "unorthodox" in regards to being LDS?


What makes a religious community strong?  Is it unity?  Diversity?  Individual faith?  Refreshments?


Could this book just as easily be called "The Relief Society"?

Points to Ponder: The Ladies Auxiliary

Here are some things to think about before we meet next week!

1. The novel opens with an almost pastoral description of Memphis's Jewish neighborhood, typologically evoking a "city on the hill" image. How do the themes that imbue this first scene set the tone for the rest of the book?

2. Find a passage in which a Jewish ceremony is described. In what ways does Mirvis show the myriad, even contradictory, meanings that it contains for each of its participants?

3. The use of the first-person plural pronoun for the narrative voice emphasizes the collective, uniform nature of the community. The story is told not by any one member of the community but by a chorus. How does Mirvis play with this voice to emphasize moments of dissension or doubt? At what points is the voice the least omniscient?

4. What did you make of the seeming role reversal between mothers and daughters, with the mothers portrayed as naïve and the daughters as more perceptive and worldly?

5. What do you think will happen after the end of the novel? Will Batsheva stay? To what extent will she be integrated, if at all?

6. How do you imagine Ayala to be five or ten years after the end of the novel?

7. This book, with its independent, proud heroine, could be read alongside Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (even down to the strange apparitions in the sky). How do they both explore issues of tradition, tolerance, belief, individuality, and forgiveness? In what important ways do they diverge?

8. What characters did you identify with most? Was it always Batsheva?

9. Do you think Yosef's doubt about Judaism predated Batsheva's arrival? Or did it grow out of their conversations?

10. Was there ever a point where you agreed with those who thought that Batsheva had "crossed the line"?

11. How and where does Mirvis blur the division between religious faith and small-town provincialism?

12. Do you think it is possible to carve out a space for individualism within an orthodoxy? Is what Batsheva attempts even possible or, in the end, do you have to choose one over the other? (Perhaps think of other stories--Voltaire's Candide, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Henry James's Daisy Miller--in which someone presents a challenge to an established order.).

13. What do you make of the vision in the sky that ends the novel? How can it be read along with the opening scene of the novel?

Save the date!

The details about our July meeting are as follows:
When: Thursday July 7, 2011 @ 8:00 pm
Where: Charlynn's house (post a comment w/ your name if you need directions)
What: The Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis

Redefining the word 'groupies'

First of all, I have typed the word 'groupies' so many times, it doesn't even look like a real word anymore.  That said, the standard definition of a groupie is a person who follows a band or celebrity around hoping to get to know them better.  That's a pretty puritan definition, and we all know what groupies are all about.  But, wikipedia also defines a groupie as an enthusiastic or uncritical follower.  I like that much better because that is exactly what our book club is.  We are book enthusiasts.  We are not critical of books in general.  We may have some constructive criticism about a specific work of literature, but I think that is a key characteristic of a true book groupie.  And so, I am pleased to introduce this blog as a means to share information regarding our wonderful group of literary ladies.  Here we will post about books we have read, books we are going to read, where we will meet to discuss the book and so forth.  Now without further ado, read on book groupies, read on!