Meeting at Jan's November 2007

Hi Ladies,
I tried to fool you and change my address, but you all found me anyway! That's OK, it was a fun evening, complete with a number of other botched date/location confessions. It made me feel much better. I enjoyed sharing our thoughts about our book Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick. Most thought that this book belonged in the same league as two of our other favorite history based books--John Adams and Team of Rivals. Barbara Ruder remarked that if more history was written like this, kids would enjoy it a lot more. We agreed that it was well researched, as evidenced by the huge "notes" and bibliography sections. The characterizations were very detailed, especially those of Benjamin Church and Miles Standish. Our very own Sara Bostock is indeed related to Benjamin Church's grandfather! The one negative consensus was that the details of the many wars in the second half of the book were too lengthy and confusing.

Our December meeting will be at The Mandarin Gourmet in Palo Alto on Wednesday, December 5th, beginning at 6:30. RSVP to Laurie Hills. The December assignment is to read something "Christmasy", your choice. Be sure to bring a festively wrapped book that you have enjoyed, complete with a short note describing why you enjoyed it and consider it a special book. Choose a book that has not been a part of our recent book club selection.
January meeting--home of Kathy Spieker (book--Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle)
February meeting--home of Bev Guichard
March meeting--home of Barb Reis
October meeting (2008) has been claimed by Barbara Ruder who will organize tables at the CAR Author Luncheon

Suggested books:

Away, by Amy Bloom
World Without End, by Ken Follet
My Sister's Keeper, by Jody Picoult
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K.Rowling

Suggested movies/plays/TV:

Golda's Balcony--Theatreworks
American Gangster
Dan In Real Time
Bee Movie (although Marcia says it's "totally anatomically incorrect"!)
KQED American Experience biographies
It Happened One Night (or current movie) at Stanford Theatre

Road trip: The Charles Schultz Museum, Santa Rosa

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving, everyone,
Jan