November book club recap

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What we read:


Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Winter Garden by Kristin Hanah (my review)
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (my review)

What we ate
We opted to meet at a local bookstore, which was lovely, but they don't offer food or drink. One intrepid member brought some Trader Joe's dark chocolate peppermint bark, so we had a little something to nibble on!

The consensus
In the true holiday spirit, none of us managed to read all three books! Most of us read two of them, and we had some nice discussions. We all enjoyed Winter Garden, but it was nice to see one member point out some continuity inconsistencies. After hearing them, I was shocked I hadn't noticed them, but I was so wrapped up in the emotions of the story, I perhaps wasn't reading with an editor's eye. We did all agree that all three books were worth reading, so I do hope to make time for Unbroken. (Thanks to Heather's awesome review at Raging Bibliomania, I could still participate a little bit in that discussion!)

In January, we'll read...

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

This book club loves to read the book before the movie, and many of us enjoy mysteries, so we opted to pair a lighter, funnier read, One for the Money, with Stacy Schiff's biography about Cleopatra. Now tell me: have you read either of these titles? What did you think?

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Comments

  1. AndiDecember 1, 2011 at 11:17 AM

    This book club of yours sounds like a lot of fun. I also really like the idea of reading more than one book, as discussion of a single book can get a little drawn out OR not prompt enough discussion. This idea is kind of like "overplanning" for a class I teach and seeing what happens. I like the preparedness aspect. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. ZibileeDecember 1, 2011 at 1:24 PM

    Oh, thanks so much for the link to my review and the kind words! I am very impressed with your book club! You guys read two or three books per month? That seems incredible, when our club sometimes can't even manage just one! I also loved the choices that you made, for both last month and the coming month! I wish I was closer so that I could join in!

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  3. AnonymousDecember 1, 2011 at 2:39 PM

    I've read Cleopatra. It's interesting, but can be a bit dry in parts.

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  4. AudraDecember 1, 2011 at 4:55 PM

    I'm envious of your book club! I got kicked out of mine for missing one of the meetings. I'm only slightly bitter.

    I have the Cleopatra bio but haven't started it yet -- will look forward to your review. I admire the amount of reading your book club does in a month!

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  5. BDecember 1, 2011 at 5:30 PM

    I haven't read either by my mom and my sister both adore the Janet Evanovich series.

    Your book club really knocks 'em out! I know book clubs that read one book total for two months.

    ReplyDelete

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