We gain so much by reading

We met at Maureen's to enjoy a recipe of Ethiopian cooking and discuss this epic novel, Cutting for Stone. A novel, as Claudia said, of love and betrayal, compassion and redemption...resilience, fortitude and the fragility of life. Add to that learning about a country and political events with a heavy dose of medical intertwined. It was a complex tale with many quotables by this eloquent writer:


"Life is like that. You live it forward, but understand it backwards."



"Wasn't that the definition of home? Not where you are from, but where you are wanted?"

The Slipper Story, whose moral is that you own who you are, "not only our actions but also our omissions become our destiny."

"we are all fixing what is broken, it is the task of a lifetime. We'll leave much unfinished for the next generation."

The rankings were high; between 5 and 6, for 5.4 average.

Hopefully our absent members can make the next meeting April 23 at Chris's; and Nika rejoining us.
We need to remind Ann at Book Club NCRL of our schedule for upcoming books.

Our Jar

Don't forget our upcoming meeting March 5, 2020 at Maureen's.  We'll make our jar grow!

An Evening at the Pub n Grub

Nice to see everyone who made it to the Entiat Pub-n-Grub for our January meeting.  With two books to review and a new meeting schedule to decide, we certainly had a lot to discuss.

The Christmas Jars by Jason F Wright was our holiday read.  We found this book sad but also uplifting as it illustrates the goodness in people's hearts goes around.  It is a reminder that every day we should write a note of what you are grateful for.  Maureen came up with the wonderful idea of starting our own book club Christmas jar.  We all contributed our change and dollars and will do the same each time we meet.  At our December meeting we will decide what to do with what we have collected.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens was our other book to review.  Some of us found the "nearly impossible reality of the main character being able to self-teach herself with a little reading help from her friend" (Judy B) a disappointing aspect of the story, but we enjoyed the author's beautiful descriptions of the marsh and the creatures that lived there and found the story compelling with an unexpected ending.  "We are shaped by the children we once were."

Here is the meeting schedule we have set up for 2020:
March 5th at Maureen's home review "Cutting for Stone"
April 23rd at Chris M's home review "I'll Push You"
June 4th at Chris P's home review "The Library Book"
NO MEETINGS in July and August
September 10th at Debbie G's home review "Educated"
November 19th at Judy S's home review "Me Before You"
December 10th at Claudia's home review Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory"