In the Vault

Another idea we discussed at the last Book Club was keeping a list of books we've voted on so we can add them to our choices later. In December, we voted on books that were given in the gift exchange, so we had a lot of good options! I'm listing the favorites here, with a brief description, and also tagging this post "In the Vault" so everyone can find it later. It should be a good reference for future book club ideas and just for good books to read on our own!

~ Lindsey

Lit: A Memoir by Mary Karr

The Liars' Club brought to vivid, indelible life Mary Karr's hardscrabble Texas childhood. Cherry, her account of her adolescence, "continued to set the literary standard for making the personal universal" (Entertainment Weekly). Now Litfollows the self-professed blackbelt sinner's descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness and to her astonishing resurrection.

Karr's longing for a solid family seems secure when her marriage to a handsome, Shakespeare-quoting blueblood poet produces a son they adore. But she can't outrun her apocalyptic past. She drinks herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her charismatic but troubled mother, reaching the brink of suicide. A hair-raising stint in "The Mental Marriott," with an oddball tribe of gurus and saviors, awakens her to the possibility of joy and leads her to an unlikely faith. Not since Saint Augustine cried, "Give me chastity, Lord but not yet!" has a conversion story rung with such dark hilarity.

Lit is about getting drunk and getting sober; becoming a mother by letting go of a mother; learning to write by learning to live. Written with Karr's relentless honesty, unflinching self-scrutiny, and irreverent, lacerating humor, it is a truly electrifying story of how to grow up as only Mary Karr can tell it.

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline 

Reporter Ellen Gleeson is on a quest to determine whether her adopted son and the boy in a “Have You Seen This Child?” flyer are one and the same.

Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter by Lisa Patton (A Memphis Author!)

Leelee Satterfield seemed to have it all: a gorgeous husband, two adorable daughters, and roots in the sunny city of Memphis, Tennessee. So when her husband gets the idea to uproot the family to run a quaint Vermont inn, Leelee is devastated…and her three best friends are outraged. But she’s loved Baker Satterfield since the tenth grade, how can she not indulge his dream? Plus, the glossy photos of bright autumn trees and smiling children in ski suits push her over the edge…after all, how much trouble can it really be?

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers (a favorite for many of us!)

The heroine, Angel, is a young woman who was sold into prostitution as a child. Michael Hosea is a godly man sent into Angel’s life to draw her into the Savior’s redeeming love.

Same Kind of Different as Me

A dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery.

An upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel.

A gutsy woman with a stubborn dream.

A story so incredible no novelist would dare dream it.

It begins outside a burning plantation hut in Louisiana . . . and an East Texas honky-tonk . . . and, without a doubt, in the heart of God. It unfolds in a Hollywood hacienda . . . an upscale New York gallery . . . a downtown dumpster . . . a Texas ranch.

Gritty with pain and betrayal and brutality, this true story also shines with an unexpected, life-changing love.

For those of you who are finished reading, let us know what you thought of this month's selection!

Books and...Bonfires?

Look out blogger world, our book club has arrived!  For three years now, our little group of girls has been meeting once a month to discuss a book, and well, anything else that might be on our minds.  Each month a group of us that went to college together discusses that month's selection.  We choose the following month's book selection at each meeting, and we have a different host each month.

Every year at Christmastime we do something a little special.  We get together like normal, but with a holiday twist.  We each bring a new wrapped book and play "dirty santa."  It's lots of fun and everyone goes home with a good read.  This year was..um....extra special.  It's become the tradition to have the Christmas book club at Meredith's house.  Meredith has a gorgeous home and always serves up delicious food.  Having just given birth, I was eager to try just about everything and drink an "adult beverage" or two.  I guess I'll blame my hunger and eagerness on my lack of coordination, but as I sat down with my plate full of treats and my cocktail napkin, I noticed that my hand appeared to be ON FIRE!

Yes, there was a candle on the end table.

Ladies and Gentlemen, do not count on me to pull through in a crisis because it was all I could do to just scream and wave the napkin around.  Well, at one point I started to blow which of course just fed the flame and spread it to the DRIED FLOWERS which were on the end table.  Everyone was screaming and the living room started to smell like smoke.  Finally, someone yelled out to Meredith, "Can I pour my drink on it??!? to which she answered screaming, "Do you have to ask?!"  At some point I mustered up the courage to extinguish the flaming napkin by way of the sink, and Meredith being the good on in a crisis filled up a pitcher and put out the fire.

Some how no one was really hurt (with the exception of a small burn on my thumb!) and nothing was damaged other than the napkin and the flowers.  After huge sighs of relied and LOTS of laughter, we finished our game of Dirty Santa.  Maybe it was all the smoke inhalation, but we came up with the idea to start a blog.

The format will be loose, but each month we'll post a description of the book along with an open question - how did you like it?  Then we'll leave it open to discussion.

We'll also post some more detailed discussion questions which we will discuss in our actual meeting.

I think this will be fun!  This also allows those of you outside of the Memphis area to join in remotely.

Stay tuned - I'll have the January selection up tomorrow!

~Heather