The Girls From Ames update and whats next...

This is from Heidi about the discussion on The Girls from Ames and what she had to say about their conference call from the author:


Here is my book club summary for the Girls From Ames book:

The Girls From Ames book inspired us to look take a close look at the friendships we have today. The book gave some of us a thankfulness of the friendships we currently have, and others a chance to learn what a real friend is really about. The depth of our discussion was amazing! We shared stories of long term friendships, friendships drifting, friendships ending, and hard times when a friend was there for us.

I think that friendships do take a back seat when you are in your 20-30's and life is changing so rapidly with married life and children. I got a sense that all of us look forward to devoting more time to rekindling friendships as our children get older and less dependent on us. It was reassuring to talk about this phase in our life and realize that we are all so similar in our need for friendship. Friendship is a necessity for women!

We all had a person in the book with whom we related to the most. We had a great time discussing why we were most like one particular Girl from Ames.

The highlight of this book club meeting was having the author, Jeffrey Zaslow, conference in for our discussion. Also, Heidi's mom Skyped in for the discussion as well. We are very technologically savvy book club! We loved asking Jeff about more specific information about his book. He was very generous with his time since we were calling him close to his bedtime.

It was fascinating to learn that people who meet the real Kelly often tell her that they are the "Kelly" in their group of friends. Jeff said that most people either tell him that they love her or hate her. It was also interesting to learn that Sally said that she does not hold any grudges against the girls for her "intervention." To her it only happened "38 years, 10 hours, and 2 minutes ago". Ha, ha, ha! Obviously, she forgives them, but does not forget!

The most fascinating thing that Jeff talked about was how men just don't need friendships as much as women do. He told us the story about how he plays cards with a group of men every Thursday night. When he was writing this book and learning about friendships, he decided to ask his friend next to him playing cards, "do you know the names of my kids?" The man answered "no, but I can repeat them back to you if you tell me." This statement was a huge eye opener to us and we talked about how our husbands would be similar in their answers. This is just so hard to believe from a woman's stand point and maybe even a little sad???

Jeff told us that his paperback version of The Girls From Ames will be out soon with an additional 20 pages devoted to an update on the girls. We will look forward to that!

I enjoyed hosting!

- Heidi

So- what's next? I think we'll be taking a break for the holidays. I'd like to set up a date for the beginning/ middle of January. If you are interested in hosting and picking a book please let me know and I'll get a mass email out as well as post it on the blog. It would be nice start reading over the Christmas break. Thanks to all you ladies for participating and being a part of this! Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

The Girls From Ames

Hi All-

I apologize for being so behind. Whats new?! ;-)

We did have a very special meeting last month hosted by Corey where she had prepared authentic dishes from Italy, India and Indonesia! I actaully really enjoyed the Indian Cuisine- job well done my dear friend.

The discussion for Eat Pray Love was interesting and thoughtful. I think we all had pretty strong opinions of Liz a.k.a. "groceries" and it did make for robust rhetoric all around. Thank you Corey for hosting and the idea with the name tags. We all had to chose a word which represented us much like Liz discussed in the book- how each city is known for something. I think each name chosen at the meeting was very fitting for each woman there! I really do adore each one of you for being so open and excited for experiences like this!

Our next book is The Girls From Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow

Meet the Ames Girls: eleven childhood friends who formed a special bond growing up in Ames, Iowa. As young women, they moved to eight different states, yet managed to maintain an enduring friendship that would carry them through college and careers, marriage and motherhood, dating and divorce, a child’s illness and the mysterious death of one member of their group. Capturing their remarkable story, The Girls from Ames is a testament to the deep bonds of women as they experience life’s joys and challenges — and the power of friendship to triumph over heartbreak and unexpected tragedy.

The girls, now in their forties, have a lifetime of memories in common, some evocative of their generation and some that will resonate with any woman who has ever had a friend. Photograph by photograph, recollection by recollection, occasionally with tears and often with great laughter, their sweeping and moving story is shared by Jeffrey Zaslow, Wall Street Journal columnist, as he attempts to define the matchless bonds of female friendship. It demonstrates how close female relationships can shape every aspect of women’s lives – their sense of themselves, their choice of men, their need for validation, their relationships with their mothers, their dreams for their daughters – and reveals how such friendships thrive, rewarding those who have committed to them.

The Girls from Ames is the story of a group of ordinary women who built an extraordinary friendship. With both universal insights and deeply personal moments, it is a book that every woman will relate to and be inspired by.

Heidi is going to be hosting us for this discussion, I'll have her send out directions before hand. We'll be meeting Monday night @ 7pm on November 2nd. See you all then!

EAT PRAY LOVE

I know this is a little late, but better than never right? We had a wonderful discussion lead by Shari for our last book! Wasn't it a interesting read? If you didn't get a chance to see the movie, I would highly recommend it, and surprisingly for one, the movie was much less graphic than the book! Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana were great- seriously perfectly cast for these roles IMO.

So whats next- you may have already guessed, but my dear friend Corey has so graciously offered to host this one! I know it will be a great discussion, as everything she touches turns to gold- seriously! We are going to meet Monday night October 5th at 7pm. I'll have Corey send out an email with directions as the date draws closer, but pick up a copy and get to reading this one! Also visit the authors website here: Eat Pray Love and get a feel for this great story!

The Time Travelers Wife

We had a great time last night! Thank you so much to Colleen for hosting us! The Cheetos were the perfect touch in honor of Melanie! It was really an interesting discussion especailly consitering the theme and subject of the book- which I think most of us were fairly certain we would definitly not like it. But alas- I think everyone who did read it actaully liked it. That Stephenie Meyer- I tell ya- she's got a way to captivate us with her out there subject but entirely passionate and cleaver story telling!

As for our next book- we've chosen The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.


Yes, it is a movie. Yes, it comes out next week I think. Yes- we are going to attempt at reading the book first, then going and seeing the movie together and then having a discussion on both! I'm really excited, this book was reccomended to me well over a year ago and I've just never got around to picking it up anywhere, and now that its a movie- even more reason for me to really read it!

Shari has offered to host our next meeting on Wednesday Sept. 9th at 7pm. We are going to plan to see the movie Saturday Sept. 5th time and place TBA.

Here is a link for the movie website with the trailer- it looks sooooooo good! Can.Not.Wait!

So- go grab your copy and a comfy nook to snuggle up in and get to reading! Enjoy the last few weeks of summer- they have flown by!!!

-Lyn

Long Beach Quilt Festival

Yesterday, my mom and I left at 7:21 am to head to Quilt in a Day to ride a charted bus up to the Long Beach Quilt Festival. Because of miscommunication between the store and the driver the bus showed up and hour and a half late. Why is this important? We were so anxious to get in we never did see the board to sign up to listen to Marie Botswick talk. I am sure that it was somewhere near the entrance, but the 450+ vendor booths selling quilting stuff was calling my name. I did find where she was signing books, and a lot of people were in the booth buying pre-signed copies of "A THREAD OF TRUTH". The two times I was there looking for her to say hi she was out seeing the show. I found out later that her talk started 20 minutes after we finally arrived.

I am really starting to enjoy this next book, it was a great choice Lyn. In honor of the meeting next week, I changed the blog background to reflect the Twighlight series also by Stephenie Meyer.

Kami

River's Edge Discussion Night

We had a great meeting tonight! We missed all of you who couldn't make it but hopefully you all can make it to the next one!

Mrs. Marie Bostwick was AMAZING! What an honor to have her call us on her own time and speak with us so openly about her writing and books! It was a pleasure to speak with her, and I am hoping to get a chance to make it out to Long Beach and meet her in a few months! If you were not at the meeting, but got a chance to read the book she'll be speaking at a quilt show in Long Beach and I'll post the info up here so if anyone would like to attend with me (I know Kami is going for the quilting aspect of it anyways, I'll trying to go so I can meet Marie) once I get more info on it!

Marie's daughter in law is also directing The First Wives Club in Balboa Park which she plugged for all of us listeners so if anyone is interested in attending the info is here

As promised, here is the recipe for the German dessert I made:
Rasberry Custard Kuchen

Also- Our new book will be The Host by Stephenie Meyer.


Don't let it intimidate you- it is a longer book, but its big print and although its slightly over 600 pages, a few of us have read her other series (Twilight) and were able to get through them very easily and quickly- so DO NOT BE SCARED or let the size of a book intimidate you! Give it a try and hey, if you don;t get through it all no biggie- no one will care- we are all mom's and totally understand! Right? Right!

Unlike the last book, you should be able to find this one literally anywhere! Possibly even strange places like gas stations or pharmacy! Just kidding- kinda. It really is everywhere because its hugely popular and has been on the NYTimes best sellers list since it came out! No joke- I found my copy at Marshalls for $10.99 Like I said- EVERYWHERE!

Colleen is so gracious to hostess us and our next meeting will be the first week in August. I'll put more info up as the date draws near and I firm things up with Colleen but that should give us all plenty of time. Happy reading all you wonderful ladies. Thank you all for enriching my life with your insight and perspective on literature! This is so fun!

Images

This doesn't give anything away in the book, but just a few imagines I found online that I thought put a nice mental picture to what we are reading about.


The Connecticut River Valley

Church in Massachusetts

Hanging tabacco leaves (1940)


Working the fields (late 1930's)


Tobacco farm in the Connecticut River Valley

The Lorelei- and her song

This is the Lorelei- its mentioned about half way through the book- if you've gotten to that part you'll know it, but I thought I'd post some pictures of it it. I've seen it in person while on the Rhine River in Germany 7 years ago. The story is exactly like Elise says from what I remember. I thought it was interesting enought to put up here because of the story of the Lorelei and how it might / does/ could blend into the story line- opinions?

A little blurb about the Lorelei for you who like that kinda thing ( I do):


The Lorelei (also written as Loreley) is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, Germany, which soars some 120 meters above the water line. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there.

Lorelei is also the name of one of the beautiful Rhine Maidens who lured navigators of this river to their dooms with their alluring singing, much as the ancient Greek Sirens did.

The name comes from the old German words "lureln" (Rhine dialect for "murmuring") and the Celtic term "ley" (rock). The translation of the name would therefore be: "murmur rock" or "murmuring rock". The heavy currents, and a small waterfall in the area (still visible in the early 19th century) created a murmuring sound, and this combined with the special echo the rock produces which acted as a sort of amplifier, then gave name to the rock itself. The murmuring is hard to hear today due to the urbanization of the area. Other theories attribute the name to the many accidents, by combining the word "luren" (lurk) with the same "ley" ending, with the translation "lurking rock".

In folklore and poetry

The rock is associated with several legendary tales originating in German folklore. It appears in many forms. One of the legends is that Lorelei, a beautiful young maiden, committed suicide because of an unfaithful lover. She jumped from the steep rock into the Rhine River, thus killing herself. She then became a siren, luring shipmen to their fates with her hypnotizing voice. The echoing heard today is said to be Lorelei.

Something HUGE at our next meeting!

Oh My Ladies! Do I have a surprise for you?! I didn't want to say anything until it was confirmed but last night I received an email from....Marie Bostwick! She has go graciously accepted to do a conference call with us at our Book Club meeting! Can you believe it?! I am ecstatic, giddy and like a little kid who just got the approving nod from mom that ordering a triple scoop of chocolate ice cream before dinner was okay! Are you with me here?!

So...needless to say, do not miss this one! And...if you have other friends who are interested, please feel free to invite them to join us, by no means is this a closed club!

The only thing different will be that we'll meet a little earlier since Ms. Bostwick will be calling us from the east coast. The call will be at 6pm, so I'll open my house to come over at 5ish. Perhaps a pot luck kinda dinner before the call? What do you all think?

Ms. Bostwick also gave me a little hint on the book, its basically out of print now, so if you have yet to get your copy she offered me this site from her local book store they should have new and signed copies available!

So..really now...order...get to reading...and see you soon!

* I thought I'd post the email from her so you all could see for yourselves:

Hi Lyn,

Forgive me for taking so long to get back to you. I've been crashing a deadline and am way behind on just about everything.

Yes, I'd love to talk to your group. And I think the 8th of June could work. If if could be a little earlier, that would help - by 7 your time I'd be a mess. Any chance we could do it at 6?

Also, I am absolutely TERRIBLE about remembering things, so I highly recommend that, after we agree on a date and time, you send me a reminder email a couple of days before. Maybe on Sunday.

I haven't discussed RIVER'S EDGE in a while, so this will be fun for me. I'm sure we can work something out.

Blessings,

Marie Bostwick

Oh, also, I checked out your blog and saw the trouble you're having getting hold of the book. I wasn't surprised, its pretty much out of print now. However, if you contact my local bookstore, www.hickorystickbookshop.com, I think they still have new copies. They would be full price however but chances are they'd have signed copies available. Just thought I'd let you know.

*****
Yay! Can't wait!

Book for the month of May

I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures this past week of our Book Club Meeting! Let me set the scene for those of you who were not there:

Upon entering Kami's house we were greeted with candle light, antiquish books resting upon lace, quilts and beautiful wood, face open with beautiful flowers carefully placed on and around the books! Tea, tea and more tea and a little coco (it was fitting for the book) in the most exquisite tea cups and sauces. Delicate spoons and flatware for stirring cream and sugar and tiny forks for nibbling a delicious individualized strawberry shortbread cake desserts in the fanciest glass goblets! It was...heaven! The atmosphere was swelling over with an old English charm (again so fitting for our book)! Thank you so much Kami for putting so much thought and preparation into planning out our meeting...what a gem you are!

As if that were not enough, she also had the book on CD on her Ipod which she played excepts from as we discussed and divulged into a very dark and Gothic novel about love, loss, mystery, ghosts, graves, and twins!! Really, truly, this was a very fascinating book and if you did not get a chance to read it, it would be a great summer read. Don't let it slip off your list of "to do's" as far as books are concerned!

We also decided on our next pick, which is River’s Edge by Marie Bostwick The story of a young German woman, Elise Braun, who is sent to live with distant relatives in the tobacco growing region of the Connecticut River Valley just prior to the outbreak of World War II. I'll be happy to host this one. We'll meet Monday June 8th 7pm at my house. Please click on the link... this author has a great website with lots of info about her and the book!




I did go into Barnes and Noble earlier this week and they DO NOT carry it (or so they told me) and also informed me they could not order it. Hum? So, again I ordered my copy on Amazon (a used hard cover in excellent condition for only $2.30 with tax and shipping only $6.49! Deal!) Good luck finding your copy's...let me know if anyone finds it somewhere locally and I'll post it along with an email to everyone.

*** Just as a side note- Our last book I ordered online used from Amazon and it took much longer than I expected to receives it so weeks later when I did get it, I ripped open the package and noticed a...different...smell. It wasn't bad, just kinda old, a perfumery fragrance. The cover was different than the pictures I saw online and the pages had a slight yellowish tint to them. After demolishing the packaging I pieced it back together and realized my book came from London! I was a little excited to discovered it because it felt like I had a little piece of something different, something someone else had love the heck out of and then passed it along to me. Yeah...I'm kinda weird with sentimental junk like that! Anyways, what struck me even more was after I dove into the first few chapters to realize the story was focused around an English Novelist (Vida Winter) and an English biographer (Margaret Lea) who owned a rare and used bookshop in the London area. It gave my little treasure that much more meaning and that "different" smell kinda provoked a little delight and reminder each time I open the pages and breathed in its fragrance!

Okay...enough of my rambling...I'm sure not every purchase on Amazon results in such wordy little rants...ha!

Okay Book Clubbies....Find your books....get to reading...and get ready for another amazing book club night....I'm hoping to pull a few surprises this time! :-)


-Lyn

Charles Dickens in his study- by Buss

This is mentioned in the book and thought I'd post it here.
-Lyn

Read the book online!

Not sure how I stumbled upon this but I did find (I think) the entire book online. Just in case you like reading on your computer Here it is. I'm going to start on it while I wait for my paperback to be delivered! So excited to have found this! Thanks Google!

-Lyn

Thirteeth Tale Deals!

I just purchased the book on Amazon used for $3.99!! With Shipping it was under $7! Deal! There are a bunch of people selling it used there...just as an FYI! Also- Leah told me that she found her copy along time ago at the used book stores inside the Library...you may want to check there also. Katie already requested her copy from the library and got it- so there are a lot of options to find the book aside from getting it at Barnes and Noble! Happy Reading!

-Lyn

April's Book

I enjoyed listening to everyone talk about "The Shack" last night. I definately got more out of the book by listening to others viewpoints.

I thought that I would post for everyone the book that I picked for next month. It is "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield. I am planning to post the book review from Amazon, just to give you a little more information on it. (but I am not sure how successful I will be.) For those people who questioned how long the book is, I just check and it is 432 pages.

Now, I must admit that I woke up in the night questioning my decision to pick this book. I kept thinking "I am subjecting all of these lovely Christian women to this dark (gothic?) tale", but it is highly praised in the reviews on Amazon, and maybe I am only remember some of the stranger aspects of the book. I look forward to the rest of you reading it and being able to hear your feedback.

Remember we are meeting on April 27th at my house I will send out an email with directions closer to the time.

Kami

$8.49 at Costco

Just wanted to let everyone know I picked up the book yesterday at Costco for $8.49. They had quite a few of them so if you shop there...its probably a really good buy. I also didn't realize, it is a fairly short book, so it shouldn't be too much trouble to get through. I'm planning on starting it today or tomorrow. Til later...

-Lyn

Welcome to the Sequestered Nook!

Hi Ladies!

Welcome to the Blog! I am so excited about our adventure together in this book club!

As for a little explanation to the name. I love this quote and always have, as it always fits my mood when I am really into a good book. I never have any problem curling up with a cup of hot coffee and big blanket in the winter or towel in the sun in the summer and becoming totally and irrevocably involved with a book. It never ceases to amaze me how easily I find myself creating my own physical and mental "nooks" when I get into reading. I hope that this little blog can help serve as part of that special nook for us as a group to examine the books we get into!

With that...our first book as been picked by our Hostess for this month:



Our first book is The Shack by William P. Young. If you click on the blue link to the left it will take you to the books website. There you can read the forward and he first chapter of the book online if you wish!

Katie said she has found the book at Costco for close to $8. You can order it here from Amazon for $8.24. Barnes and Noble has the book listed for $14.99. If anyone else finds it cheaper, please list it here and let us know.

Katie has also offered to Host the first Discussion Group which will be on Monday night, March 23rd at 7:00pm at her house. She'll send out directions as the date approaches!

Again, I can't tell you all how excited I am about this group. Please use this blog as a forum to post and share about the books we are reading (without giving away the ending or important parts of course.) I'll be posting all our books and meeting dates up here, so please check back often!

-Lyn