Holiday Gathering

Hi everyone,

We have scheduled our annual holiday gathering. It will be at 6pm Thursday, December 10th at Esther's home. We will have our book exchange and be sure to bring books for children and we will wrap them there. We have decided to have a pot-luck. In honor of our foreign exchange student, we have chosen to have Afganistani food (or something with an Arab flair). Esther said she would do something with eggplant. Barbara will make a salad and Nancy will do something with chicken. So put on your culinary thinking caps. I'm sure it will be a fun and delicious event! See you there!

Thank you!

Esther, thank you for a wonderful, enjoyable evening for our book discussion of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. You always make it so inviting and nutritious. We have so much to be grateful for always.

Barbara

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

Thank you Chris, for your wonderful lasagne with roasted homegrown tomatoes, and ranch beef. What a treat to have friends who love books AND love to cook and eat together! Heaven.

I am thoroughly enjoying the letters of Juliet, and her correspondents in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I also love how vital and central books are to the lives of the various characters! I've thought about trying to make a potato peel pie, but not sure how it would turn out! Maybe I will have to divert from my usual soup and make a pork roast. ???

Remember the date -
Wednesday, November 11.
Esther's house.
4:00 PM

New Date for October

Our new date for book club is October 21 at
Chris's house at 6:00 PM.
Look forward to a good farm dinner! Yeah!
Here is a picture of the cover of the
1944 copy of Green Dolphin Street.

Green Dolphin Street

I am certainly enjoying Green Dolphin Street, although I am only a short ways into the book. I couldn't find an image of the original book cover, but did find several of Ms. Goudge. I believe the island of Guernsey is the setting of the novel. After a week vacation on the Oregon coast, the descriptions of the harbor, the various sections of town, and the clipper ship fit right into my imaginings of the lives of the first Oregonians. Another coincidence, we will next be reading (in fact it is now at the Entiat library) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Isn't it odd how one book choice seems to influence and enhance the next? I felt that Longitude gave a sense of understanding of the vagaries of the lives of our predecessors who traveled the oceans by ship more often than we do in the 21st century.

The real reason I am writing this entry is that Adrienne, who made this selection, is unable to attend a Tuesday or Thursday evening gathering due to a conflict with an evening class she will be taking. Best wishes to you, Adrienne in your new academic life! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe her goal is an RN degree. She would like us to consider a Wednesday, Friday, or Monday evening. Also, unfortunately for us, she will be unable to join us for future book reading and dinners due to the demands of school, and of course, needs of her darling family. I will call Chris and I hope that all read this latest missive. Personally I would prefer a Wednesday evening, but can adjust easily if that doesn't work out.

Longitude

Thanks go to Nancy for hosting the last meeting at her lovely home. The food was delicious, the view was incredible, and the company was delightful. We discussed the book Longitude, by Dava Sobel. We missed Adrienne, Chris and Claudia, and Melanie too! I hope that by posting here, we can coordinate our next meeting and all be on the same date and place!

We all really were amazed by the fact that the determination of Longitude was not something we had previously questioned, or thought much about. Our admiration for John Hamilton was very unanimous, and his aptitude and talent seems to have been less recognized by those who were in power at the time of his creation of the navigational clocks. Those who did realize his contribution were the captains and sailors who would put to practical use his inventions. We questioned why the solution to the longitude problem was not something we had learned about in school.

The author's thoroughness was noted and we all thought that the book was very well done, on a subject that would be foreign and fairly dry to many readers, including myself. I had to qualify my rating of the book as I listened to it on CD, (and watched the movie too!). Listening to a book is certainly a shortcut! I hope to hear from Debbie soon, about the final group rating, as I don't have it. As you might notice in the image I inserted here, there is an illustrated version of Longitude in publication

I have in my calendar that Chris (?) will be hosting the next meeting. I am going to email Chris to confirm this.. Our recent hosts have been :Nancy, Claudia, Adrienne, and Barbara - so the upcoming hosts should be Chris, Debbie, Gerry and myself - not necessarily in that order. Claudia and I were looking at the calendar today, and noted that the date we had chosen previously - September 23 (a Wednesday) is the same day as Entiat Open House. I do plan to attend the Open House, and we both thought it might be wise to give ourselves an extra week to read our next book, as it is fairly long. What do others think about postponing this for one or two weeks, either Wednesday, Sept. 30 or Wednesday, October 7? Please respond by comment, or by phone call to Esther at the library ( I will be on vacation from this Thusday, Sept. 3 through next week)

Green Dolphin Street, by Elizabeth Goudge - our next book - was chosen by Adrienne. First published in 1944, this magnificent epic of love, courage, and selfless devotion set in the Channel Islands and New Zealand in the 19th century is written with Elizabeth Goudge’s inimitable feeling for the intricacies of human emotions. Though the book is fiction, and the characters not portraits, it is based on fact. A stunning tale of loss and self-sacrifice, it is truly one of the most memorable love stories of the last century.

The following month Nancy's choice is going to be inserted as her title ,The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer is luckily available then, and would not be otherwise for at least another year. Barbara' choice Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger will follow.

Hope to hear from all of you soon!! Have a great Labor Day!

Book Choice

Hi Esther,

I was wondering if we could get the book "Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger. It is not on the list. If not, then my choice would be "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. I know it's a good-size book, but I think it's worth it. And if we have to change the order of book choices, no problem, whatever works for you.

Let me know.

Barbara