In December, the evening group will be exploring the rural boyhood of the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter.

Jimmy spent his early years in a small town in depression era Plains, Georgia which is located in southwestern Georgia sandwiched between Columbus and Albany near Americas. He describes in detail his day to day life as well as the political and social culture of the time, including the state of race relations as he remembers them.

The book has it’s moments of dryness but is overall a very interesting and educational read.

The month of December has daytime group borrowing a selection that was adored by evening group, Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum.

This gut-wrenching novel explores the extents a Mother will go to to provide for and to protect her child. This book offers a different take on your usual WWII Germany story and is as tearjerking as it is absorbing.

The October book for the daytime group is a happy return to Philippa Gregory’s depiction of Tudor period life with The Boleyn Inheritance.

Another exciting novel filled with intrigue and deceit, yet enlightening and informative. We see Anne of Cleves take the throne and be set aside, we see Katherine Howard take the throne and then lose her head, and we see Jane Parker Boleyn witness it all as she spirals into madness all while Henry VIII arrogantly rules with fickle mind and an iron fist.

Terribly entertaining! It was a disappointment to have read the final page knowing that you had finished the story.

The September book for evening group was Deep South by Nevada Barr. This book was a vivid look at the less than glamorous side of southern living. A murder mystery wrapped around civil war history and teenage melodrama set amongst the verdant wilderness of the Mississippi delta.

The book, another installment of the Anna Pigeon mysteries, was an easy read but sadly biased against Southern culture….not that what was written was not true. Only, Nevada Barr fails to depict the more…ameniable aspects of Southern life.

The mystery itself was only slightly predictable with plenty of red herrings to throw you off the sent. A good read for a quiet weekend.

The daytime group will meet at Sue S’s home on Sept. 8th to dicuss Ken Follet’s World Without End. This much awaited sequel to Pillars of the Earth is a wonderful work of historical fiction!

Having never read the original I was concerned that I would not quite understand what was happening but this turned out not to be an issue. The stories seem to revolve around the same cathedral but have a completely different cast of characters. Rich in detail and intrigue this fat ol’ book was soon devoured!

This is a wonderful vacation read! I can’t recommend it enough.

The evening group will meet at my home on August 26th to discuss the Booker prize winning novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle.

This book is an interesting glimpse into the mind and thought processes of a 10 year old boy growing up in Dublin, Ireland. If ever there was a book that made me glad to be raising girls this is it. Paddy’s escapades and youthful foibles are illuminating and confusing at the same time. How hard it is to truly understand what is rolling around in the heads of boys!

While more of a book about childhood than of Ireland, it does offer some hint to the Irish family culture…but not enough for my tastes.

This site is very much in it’s infancy and like with any infant it is yet to realize it’s full potential so I ask you to bear with me while I explore the site.