We Jumped on The Help's Bandwagon

Since we had a book club meeting tonight, and it's exactly 4 months to the day since we discussed The Help, I (Kristin) figured it was about time I finally got on here and posted about it! Sorry for the delay!

Let me take you back. The day was August 15, 2011. I had turned 29 the day before. It was sweltering outside. (I assume. I don't actually remember, but let's never forget the hottest summer ever. Gross.) I had freaked everyone out at our last meeting by declaring that we didn't have any choices to vote between for our next book. I had chosen one book and that was that. But I knew everyone wanted to read The Help and the movie was coming out, so I was excited about the idea of pairing our discussion with a trip to the theater. When choosing the menu for that night, I wanted to try to make something new and something that fit with the Southern theme of the book, so I found a recipe for chicken and dumplings. And, of course, for dessert I made a chocolate pie. If you've read the book or seen the movie, you'll understand why. I used a slightly different recipe than Minny though...

When we sat down to actually discuss the book, we focused a lot on the effect of having multiple narrators on the story. We'd been exposed to that in Little Bee and I was interested to see if people liked it better or worse here. I definitely found both of our narrators in The Help to be more likable and thought it was great to get first person accounts of both sides of the stories. That same week, my Entertainment Weekly had a cover story on the movie and an editorial article on some of the negative aspects of this book, which honestly I hadn't thought about, so I brought that up and we discussed that a little too. After dinner, it was fun to see the movie, which we all thought was great, but definitely left out so much of what we loved in the book. So if you've only seen the movie, pick up the book too! The story gets so much deeper, especially the Constantine plot, and there are also way more laughs in the book.

Our scores were:
Stacey - 9
Camille - 9.5
Allison - 8.5
Erin - 9.5
Kristin - 9.5
Jen - 9.75 (conveyed to me by phone a couple weeks later)

Up next, Erin will fill us in on our discussion of Bossypants by Tina Fey!

The Girl's Guide to Homelessness

Let me tell you a little story:

When I realized it was my turn to pick the ol’ BC book, I decided I really wanted to read a book about something I was interested in. So naturally, I picked a book about running! Born To Run, by Christopher McDougall – it was SOOOO good! I was super pumped to share this treat with my sweet sisters of soul, to give them some insight into what makes my little runner’s heart beat slightly faster than it probably should (I just like running, I’m not necessarily good at it). Then I thought, hey…maybe I’ll give them choices, just to be nice. So I did, and much to my surprise (not really), my fun and exciting running book was unceremoniously cast aside. And mocked. I’d like to take a moment to thank my sole soul sister who voted for this great read, Sarah. Even though I’m pretty sure she voted for it as a joke, or simply because she knew she wouldn’t have to read it – I still appreciate the gesture, all these many months later!

We ended up reading another wonderful book, The Girl’s Guide to Homelessness by Brianna Karp. This book is a memoir written by an intelligent, witty, and brave woman (girl? Am I old enough to call her a girl?) who shares her story of transitioning from a life most of us call “normal” to living out of a trailer in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Brianna brings the reader along as she scrambles to keep herself above water, and opens the reader’s eyes to a world we often try to shut out. While the majority of us would not care to admit this, most of us are only a couple/few paychecks away from losing the things we hold onto so dearly: homes, cars, and other things that make us feel secure and safe.  The author reveals the reality of living out this nightmare, only to show us that circumstances don’t necessarily define us, and that experiencing the things we fear the most often reveal and refine our character. The book is full of tid-bits about Brianna’s childhood, family, experiences, and many times of grief and loss. We all, through reading her book, experienced a taste of the author’s anguish, frustration, and eventually her joy and triumph as well. And, we learned SO much about the way we view people experiencing homelessness, the stereotypes we hold, and the judgments we often pass on people. For me, it was truly convicting, and I’m so grateful for Brianna’s willingness to share so openly about her experiences.

I should also note that, just as I finished reading this book (I read it on two flights because it was so engrossing), I found the author on twitter, started following her, and mentioned her in a tweet. Not 5 minutes later, she thanked me for mentioning it! AND said that if our book club wanted to interview her, she would try to make that happen!!! I, of course, freaked out, because she is totally famous, and I cannot handle having contact with famous people. But I’m sure it would have been so great and insightful to hear from her directly regarding her book. Sorry, book club, for my weird quirks that keep you from being able to experience things like this! However, you (blog readers) should check out her blog at  http://girlsguidetohomelessness.com/ or on twitter (@tGGtH), a she is continuing to advocate for people who are homeless! Yaya!

Here are our ratings:

Allison: 6.9

Stacey: 7.5

Kristin: 8.5

Erin: 8.35

Camille: 8

For our book club, I fired up our grill (the one we couldn't use for the first 2 years of being the Adams Family because we lived in an apartment) and made hot dogs. I think they were kind of gross, sorry friends! But I did make a twinkie cake thing, which consisted of halved twinkies, chocolate pudding, the top half of the twinkies, whipped cream, and crushed peanut butter cups. Very sweet, but I think pretty good.

As a side note, you should read Born to Run in addition to this book - it really is a great story about some fun people who share a love of running. And it paints a good picture of the Tarahumara culture!

Love, Ladybugs, and Literary Liberty,

Camille

ROOM

Well, Allison here. I think it's funny when we tell our audience who's writing the blog in that fashion. It sounds antiquated. It reminds me of a Sesame Street character, but I can't quite put my finger on the name of that mysterious moppet.

In May, our book club selected ROOM by Emma Donoghue. I will give you enough detail about the book to get you interested- telling you more than that could potentially ruin the book. Though, I suppose that's the case with most fictional works. The story is told from the perspective of 5-year-old Jack. Jack lives with his mother in a room and has never been fortunate enough to see anything outside of those walls since his birth. Of course, the reader's main goal then revolves around finding out the circumstances surrounding Jack and his mother's confinement. The language Donoghue uses to describe the inner thoughts of Jack clearly portrays her excellent skills as a writer. Because Jack has never experienced life in the "real world", the small details of his daily existence maintain much significance. Jack refers to each object in the room as though they were friends - Bed, Sink, Rug, Lamp - rather than giving them status as a lowly common noun. His mother does her best to provide for Jack through creative daily activities, but as he discovers more about his current situation and his mother's past, Room no longer seems appropriate for the development of the mother/son duo.

For knowing very little about this book, we were all fairly impressed. It was especially interesting to see how well it tied with previous books we've read. Though challenging at first to read a story from a 5-year-old's perspective, we all grew to enjoy the writing style. Once the reader gets past the first few chapters, the pacing of the story really picks up and continues through the rest of the novel. The ending provides a great deal of closure and prevents the reader from throwing the book against the wall out of frustration due to loose ends. Donoghue wraps the whole story up in a nice, neat little package while giving the reader a great deal to ponder.

Ratings:
Sarah -9.8
Allison - 9
Kristin - 9
Stacey - 9
Erin - 9
Camille - 8

For the book club meeting, I ushered each of my guests into my bedroom and forced them to to stay there for appetizers and dinner. I labeled several of the objects in my room as proper nouns to keep with the theme. We did enjoy a lovely dessert spread of Central Market delights upon the escape from Room. Some of us chose to reenact some of the events in the story, so you will likely not understand every picture. BUT you will "get it" after you read the book - which you should definitely do!

Look out for Camille's post in July about The Girl's Guide to Homelessness!

Born in the Big Rains

LAME.  I should have written this right after book club so I could actually remember things!  This is Sarah.  If Kristin were writing this, she'd have remembered everything for me.  But rules are rules and you're stuck with me (who are you anyway? Are you a book-clubber?).  So here goes a detail-less ramble that I hope you enjoy :).

Since I was coming back to the States to pop out kid #2, the Sissies were so kind as to let me weasel in a book club choice.  I knew I wanted to pick a book that was relevant to my life in Ethiopia, and I had just read a book called "Born in the Big Rains." It's a memoir of a Somali girl.  I've read a few other books that were similar but this one was fresh on my mind and more easily accessible (I think) than some of the other ones.  I actually would have rather chosen one of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's books, "Infidel" or "Nomad" but they are both really long and "Nomad" isn't in paperback yet, so I'd be breaking the rules.  Rules are rules.  They are, in fact, NOT made to be broken.  That's a stupid outlook on life.  Am I supposed to start an entry by talking about the books I didn't choose?  That's probably against the rules...

SO - "Born in the Big Rains" is about a Somali girl named Fadumo who grows up on the Steppe as a nomad (like, legit nomad) camel and goat-herder.  She ends up going from the middle of nowhere, to a town, to a city, and eventually to Europe.  The book is really just her story, but her path is directed by an event that happened (as it does to 98% of Somali girls) when she was around eight years old.  Fadumo went out with her mother into the desert where they met up with an old woman with nasty, rusty tools, who performs female circumcisions.  It's also called Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or female genital cutting, and third degree circumcision, which most Somali women undergo, is essentially where this nasty old woman removes everything having to do with the genitalia, and sewing it all up, leaving a hole the size of a match head for urine and menstrual blood to pass.  As you can imagine most women end up with an incredible array of health problems related to this procedure, and many die from shock, infections, or later on in life during childbirth.  

Fadumo ends up with severe health problems, even in the joints of her fingers because of her circumcision.  She ends up in Europe passed around under the care of different distant clan relatives.  

The book gives a little insight into the incredibly rich and complex Somali culture, but mainly sheds light on the issue of FGM, and helps us see this - if I may be so blunt - evil practice from a first-hand account.  

Honestly, FGM is something I think about a lot in Ethiopia - the effects of it, the beautiful women I know who have been circumcised, the health issues that these women carry around their whole lives, and of course the emotional and relational problems that are attached.  

Why would an entire people group of around 15 million people practice such a thing?  What it mainly stems from is the belief that women are to blame for the lustful thoughts of a man, and that a woman's God-given sexuality is evil.  Even if a woman is fully covered and a man looks at her and lusts, it's her fault.  Not his.  Women's genitals are removed and sewn back together with the idea that it will keep her pure (keep her from sexual enjoyment) and make it easy to tell if she stays a virgin or not.

Thankfully, we have the Word of God to teach us that women were created in the image of God - and she is very good.  We know that men and women are equally loved by God, one is not elevated above the other (different, but equal), and that both are responsible for their own sins before a holy God.  A woman's sexuality, just like a man's, was made GOOD, by GOD, to be enjoyed like crazy within marriage.  

Anyway, I could really go on all day about this and think out loud about how to chip away slowly at this issue, but I'm done for now.  I'm not even going to proof-read this!  How 'bout it!

And the ratings go as follows:

Stacey - 7.75

Erin - 7.25

K$ - 9

ARoss - 7.9

Camille - 8

Sarah - 8.362 (to make a point...)

Over and Out.  

By the way, the author is Fadumo Korn.

And if you want to read other books like it you can read Aman, Nomad, Infidel... and you can watch "Desert Flower," a movie about the Somali supermodel Waris Dirie.

Little Bee

Stacey here. The WORST BLOGGER EVER award should probably go to me since we met back in February, tomorrow is May 1, and I am JUST now blogging about our book. However, I think I redeem myself a little bit by including PICTURES with this post! Yay!

Anyways, the book I chose for us to read was "Little Bee". I don't want to give too much away about it because the main event in the book is pretty much what the entire novel is about! In fact, this is what the back of the book says: "We don't want to tell you what happens in this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know enough to buy it, so we will just say this: This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again- the story starts there... Once you have read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please doesn't tell them what happens. They magic is in how the story unfolds."

So see? I would love to tell you lots about the book, but the back cover specifically tells me not to... I will say that it is a GREAT book! It's always a little intimidating to start a book that you know NOTHING about, but this one doesn't disappoint. The main character, Little Bee, is a Nigerian refugee living in the United Kingdom. She reconnects with a woman from her past and the story goes from there. As mentioned in the description, they are connected through something that happened in the past. Chris Cleave is the author of the book and did a great job at winding the different cultures and different personalities together. "Little Bee" isn't always an easy read. In fact, there are some parts that are pretty detailed and hard to read. But, there is actually some funny moments to it, too! There's a four-year-old boy named Charlie that provides some good comedic moments - he lives in his Batman suit and refuses to take it off... ever.

Like I said, I can't get into too much detail on the plot, but it's one of those books where you can't help putting yourself in the story and asking "What would I do?" I highly recommend reading it! On a side note, they're making a movie about it and I think Nicole Kidman is going to be in it... Should be good! 

Here are our ratings for this book:

Stacey: 9.25

Allison: 8

Kristin: 8.5

Camille: 7.9

Erin: 8.5

And some fun book club pictures!

Reading little Jase a bed time story, as all good book clubbers should do.

Honorary member for the night.

Why not?

Every book club, we pass our "Reading is Sexy" pin (it is!), as well as the purse that we share!

I thought this picture was too funny not to post...

Read this book!

Krunk in Kaufman

Allison, here. I'm not posting about a book, but I am posting about a yearly tradition that we have as a book club. Graciously, Erin's parents invite us out to their home in Kaufman, TX each year. Her mother cooks delicious meals accompanied by elaborate place settings, decor, games, and countless goodies...all theme based, of course. Our past themes include "Back to School", "Independence Day", "The Beach", and "Fall".

The first year, we sat around after dinner and wondered what one does in Kaufman (well actually Scurry...just outside of Kaufman) for fun. We scoured Erin's closets and found all sorts of entertaining wardrobe options from past decades. Naturally, we clothed ourselves in these relics and played the role of one who might wear the selected outfit. With our new duds, adventuring seeking personalities, and a cemetery just down the road, it only seemed natural to go on an outing. We posed by grave stones and freaked ourselves out by the mysterious glowing light off in the distance. Some were brave...I cowered out of fear that we might be caught or attacked by who knows what.

Thus, the tradition continues...though now we bring our costumes in tow. We age, but fully embrace our youth each year. There's always a new adventure that awaits us...hay rides, new stories by Uncle Mark, ant bites, a scavenger hunt, teenagers making out in the cemetery...all contributing to the formation of new memories and the strengthening of our bond as Sisters of Soul.

I teach school and plan to use Animoto on a project with my kids at some point. So, I created a video of our adventures to experiment with this new tool.

Enjoy!

What We've Read

Here is the complete list of books we have read, in the order we read them:

1. The Book of Bright Ideas
2. The City of Ember
3. A Long Way Gone
4. Night
5. The Princess Bride
6. The Pleasure of My Company
7. The Thirteenth Tale
8. The Bell Jar
9. The People of Sparks
10. The Reason for God
11. Escape
12. The Taming of the Shrew
13. The Name of This Book is Secret
14. Sarah's Key
15. Twilight
16. Spirit of the Rainforest
17. The Neverending Story
18. The Year of Living Biblically
19. And Then There Were None
20. Same Kind of Different As Me
21. We
22. A Thousand Splendid Suns
23. Enslaved
24. Shadow of the Wind
25. The Nanny Diaries
26. The Year of Fog
27. Agnes Gray
28. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
29. Mr. Lincoln's Wars
30. The Hunger Games Trilogy
31. The Maltese Falcon
32. Little Bee

The Maltese Falcon

Hello! This is Erin, blogging to you about an hour and a half before we will meet to discuss the book that we picked after this one, so I figured it was about time to post my blog entry!

I knew I was going to have a really hard time picking a book to follow The Hunger Games trilogy, so I didn't even try very hard. I picked three book options that I had picked for earlier book clubs, but were not picked. The choices were White Noise, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and The Maltese Falcon. We ended up with The Maltese Falcon, and I was excited to read one of the books that had made it on to several lists as one of the best mysteries of all time.

We got together in late January to discuss the book. I had set up a "Maltese Falcon Malt Shoppe" dinner for the girls, which really had nothing to do with the book other than "Malt," but I thought it would be fun anyway. We discussed different points of the plot, but focused on the novel's main character, Sam Spade. Sam Spade, detective, and womanizer, seemed pretty consistent throughout the book until the very end. We all agreed that his actions in the final scene were very surprising. We all expected something different from him or a bigger twist, like some of the more modern mysteries we have grown accustomed to. I enjoyed the old, film-noir feel (can you say that for a book?) throughout the whole story. However, overall, I think we were a little disappointed.

Our ratings for the book were:
Stacey: 6.25
Camille: 6.5
Allison: 5
Kristin: 7
Erin: 6.5

I'm curious if our ratings would have been any higher if we hadn't just read one of the best book trilogies of all time right before it. Probably not.

Look for our next blog, which will be written by Stacey about Little Bee!

The Hunger Games Trilogy

Hello readers! Kristin, here, FINALLY writing our first book club blog!

Way back in September 2010, at our annual sleepover in Kaufman, it was my turn to pick the next book - a fact that I remembered as we were bringing our stuff into Mark and Karen's house. Usually I would have spent a few days before book club coming up with the best ideas I could, but with all the other stuff going on with Jen and Sarah in town, it completely slipped my mind that I picked next. After some quick iphone BarnesandNoble.com browsing, I brought 2 suggestions to the table: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Hunger Games. Obviously, the vote went to The Hunger Games. To be clear, we were only required to read the first book of this trilogy. But as you know if you've read it, these books are way too rad to stop at just one. Everyone enjoyed the first one so much that we were all rushing around to find the 2nd and 3rd ones to borrow. (This is where I give a huge shout out to my dear Emily Neuberger, who was willing to loan her copies to some people she'd never even met! We love you!) Since we were enjoying them, we decided to push book club back to December to give everyone time to finish the whole trilogy.

When we finally got together to discuss the trilogy, we were on our annual Christmas outing to Dallas to exchange gifts and have dinner at Margarita Ranch. We spent some time simply discussing what we all liked and didn't like about the story, characters, and writing. Most of us seemed to think that the 2nd and 3rd were not as good as the first, but were still really great (as you'll see reflected in the ratings below). I don't want to get too specific with details of what we talked about, because I want to be spoiler-free for people who still haven't read the series. I'll just include some of the questions we discussed.

- Team Gale or Team Peeta? Why?
- Would Katniss have acted differently if the games weren't televised?
- Why do you think everyone watched the games for over 20 years and never tried to stop them?
- If you were chosen for the games, how would you have acted?
- With the current popularity of reality tv, do you think this could ever happen in America for real?

When we finished our discussion, we wrapped up with our traditional rating of the book ceremony. Since we read a trilogy, we all gave a 1-10 score for  each book individually and then for the trilogy as a whole. Here's how it went down:

Kristin: 10, 10, 10 - 10 (clearly I loved it)
Camille: 9.67, 9.5, 9.5 - 9.5
Erin: 10, 9.5, 9.5 - 10
Stacey: 10, 9, 8 - 10
Allison: 9.75, 9.25, 9 - 9.5

I think it's safe to say we would all highly recommend this series to anyone! Check it out, if you haven't read it. And if you have, post some comments and let us know what you thought!

Stay tuned for next time, when our blogger will be Erin, and our book will be The Maltese Falcon!