October/November

Hey there bookclub world. We're reading a long one, so we better take our time.

Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos

I will be hosting at my apartment. Meeting on Wednesday December 2nd at 7 PM.

Here's what we didn't pick.
Pieces of the Heart by Karen White
Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson, with Gabrielle Charbonnet

For those of you who like to get the book right away, or at least go pick it up and not place an order and wait for delivery, I've got a little tip for you. At Barnes & Noble.com, which I have included hyperlinks to each of the titles, you can actually check the stock of the local stores. Just enter your zipcode and it will check the stock. You can click 'Pick Me Up' and it will send a message to the store to pull the book in your name. You will receive an email from BN.com once a bookseller has located the book and placed it on hold for you. You will have 3 days to pick it up from the cash registers at the store. Great feature, yes?

You can also purchase directly online - including used copies that are less expensive.

If you would like to give your business to my Barnes & Noble store (#2921 - 4550 University in WDSM), we can certainly place an order to be shipped to the store. As always, I am willing to purchase multiple copies at a discounted rate if anyone is intersted. Just shoot me an email and I can work it out.

Peace out home skillets.

Next Month's Selection - Poisonwood Bible

Hello ladies. We had a lovely time at Vanessa's home. Thank you for hosting even though you weren't feeling the greatest. The falafel was awesome.

We got to visit with Finn. What a cute little man. I even got the pleasure of being spit up on! Sweet!

We have selected The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver for the March title. We will be meeting at Amy's home in Ankeny on Wednesday April 8th at 7 PM. Directions will follow closer to the date.

For those of you that are interested, the Chrysalis Foundation (funder of the after school groups I work with) will be hosting their annual HerStory event on Tuesday April 21st. It is not nailed down, but fairly certain that it will be at the Scottish Rite Consistory at 6th and Park from 5 to 7. We will have Lolo Jones as our honored guest. There will not be a lot of marketing for this event. It is not a fundraising event, although donations are accepted at the event. It is merely an opportunity for the girls to showcase what makes their group unique, visit with other Chrysalis After School (CAS) participants and community members. They also recognize a handful of juniors and seniors in high school who have been a part of CAS in the past and continue to thrive as young women. It's a really nice event. I will send an invitation via email when that is created.

Books we didn't select:
The Stone Diaries
My Life in France

Recipes
please email me if you didn't get the attachments in the email(s) I sent to the group.

That's all for now!

As always, it was great to see you all!

beth

January/February Book Update

Hey there ladies. We will be meeting in about 6 weeks. We will meet on Wednesday March 4th to discuss Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott at Vanessa's home. She lives near Martine, so explicit directions will have to follow closer to the date. At that point, we will have a new member to our book club family. Meghan is due any day and wishing it were tomorrow I'm sure. Hang in there lady. You're doing a great job. Hopefully we will get some quotes from the delivery suite posted in her blog either during the labor or shortly following the birth of the little fella.

Some of you were requesting recipes. I'm trying to find a way to add them to the blog site. I'll figure it out over the weekend.

Later folks. I've got some connect the dots page-a-day calendar to do.

beth

During the month of Des Moines

Hello again ladies. I've taken it upon myself to update the blog again. I've listed the books we did not select, as well as the official book club choice for the month of Des Moines.

We had a lovely time at Brooke's home on Wednesday. She has a secret recipe for a caramel dip that is like crack. Damn you! Her co-worker made her promise not to share the recipe. Of the ladies present, only one finished the book, again. Twas alright. We managed to get a lot of discussion out of the parts we did read, so go us!

Brooke will lead us through a discussion of The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty on Wednesday January 14th. I will be hosting that evening. We'll start at 7 PM. Hopefully, I will have my apartment ready, but be on your toes, I may host at a restaurant.

In other non-book club news, Carissa is serving on the board of directors for the Des Moines Gay Men's Chorus. Their holiday performances are Des Moines 18th & 19th at the Temple for the Performing Arts. A group of ladies expressed interest in going together for the Friday night performance. Getting a little dolled up. Having a few cocktails (or mocktails). General good times had by all. If you're interested in attending either night, contact Carissa for tickets.

That's about all. I hope everyone had a lovely Turkey Day. Mmm, food coma.....

It's been a long time since we've been here

but here we go.

I'm not as good at this as Meghan, Jess and Martine have been with their diligent posts. Someone complained last week at book club that we don't update this blog any more. You too can participate in this blog. We may need Meghan's assistance to give the newer members the ablility to post.

Our next book will be The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson.

It's a lovely story about growing up in Des Moines, Iowa in the 1950s. Being one of those born & raised in Des Moines folks, I think I'm going to like it. He talks about landmarks and things that we may be able to recognize as individuals currently living in the Des Moines area. Annie also mentioned that she sat next to a man on an airplane that has some connections to the Des Moines Playhouse making the book into a play in the spring of 2009. We'll have to keep our eyes out and it can be another book club outing.

I am working on updating the list of books we have read and those we have not chosen. I hope to complete that tonight, but given that I mooch my internet connection from other people's wireless networks, my access to email has been pretty sketchy the last few days. If you have any other titles to add to the list, please log-in and update our layout.

Not sure what else I have to add on behalf of the book club. I've had more sleep since the last time we met, so I feel way more better. I enjoyed the World Food Festival! I'm looking forward to seeing you all again sooner rather than later. I have really enjoyed the last few book club meetings. Thank you for continuing to make an impact on my life ladies and not kicking me out. Much love to all of you!

This Month's Read

Hey all -
Well, the get together on Wednesday was a success. Much love to everyone that made it and hope all the folks caught with assorted sniffles are feeling better.
We even managed to get a Noah sighting in the mix :)

We did select a new book for the next meeting.
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud. Check out other reviews here.

Annie has graciously agreed to host the next meeting. We are planning on October 17, 7PM - ish.
Details will of course follow.
Hope everyone is doing well.

August Announcement

Ok everyone -
We did decide on Widow of the South
I have sent an email with a date of August 23, at my house.
I would love to get back together this month -- it will be our 2 year anniversary!!
Who would have thought we would make it this far?
Hope to see you all there.
Meghan