Sarah's Key

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

The group met at Jessica's house for some great discussion.  Those present were: Jessica, Kristen, Emily, Elissa, Sheila, Jackie, Debbie, and newcomer Erin.  We enjoyed some great desserts including brownies, lemon bars, smores chex mix, and cookies with our talk.

We all agreed the book was very sad and somewhat disturbing in some parts. Many thought the main character Julia really went too far when jumping from country to country with child in tow to find out about Sarah.  However, when put in Julia's shoes a few of us thought we might need to know what happened to her too, but not by being so impulsive.  We all wished for a different outcome for Sarah.  Many of us really despised the character of Betrard, Julia's husband. We also learned much about the occupation in France that we were not aware of. This book was really similar to the last book with the historical references. 

I just read that Sarah's key will be a movie released sometime next year.  " G illes Paquet Brenner's movie Sarah's Key adapted from Tatiana de Rosnay's novel will be released in Europe and the USA between October and spring 2011. "www.sarahskey.com

It will be interesting to see how this novel is portrayed on the big screen. I wonder if it has brought some awareness to the suffering of people in France, especially Paris during this time.   I think Adventures in Bookclub will have to go see the movie!!

Our next book will be:  The Scent of Rain and Lightening by Nancy Pickard we will meet on November 30th at Kristen's house.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

September 27th, 2010

The Adventures in Book Club group met at Kim Norton's house. Kristen, Sheila, Kim, Emily, Jessica, and Jackie were present.  We had a fantastic time! Special thanks to Kim and her mother Mary for providing us with a traditional Thai meal. They served us dinner on dishes that Mary had brought home from Japan from when she taught there.  Our first course were homemade spring rolls followed by traditional Thai soup.  The main course consisted of rice, chicken and beans, and very yummy Thai pan noodles.  For dessert we enjoyed DELICIOUS Bananas foster.  During dinner members also enjoyed tea served in authentic Japanese teapots and cups and Sake plum wine.  We also did the traditional "pouring of tea" learned in the book where you do not pour your own tea.  I have included pictures of dinner below....

Discussion of the book occurred with the help of questions that Kristen had brought. Many of us were not aware of the camps that the Japanese were forced to leave their homes to live in after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  This brought up some interesting discussion about 9/11 and the changes in our country. Many of wondered if we hadn't learned from the experiences of of WWII would our country have done some similar to those from Middle Eastern decent. 

Many of us also spoke with some family members who were alive during the time period of the these camps and found out that those that even fought in the war thought this was horrible that they did this to Japanese-Americans.  The book was fiction but was based on real historical events.  Some of the places were real in the book, the Panama Hotel for example which was a major symbol in the book. They found the belongings of many Japanese-Americans in the Panama Hotel (right) that had been left when they were forced to go into camps across the country and could only take what they could carry. 

 This book was historically informative but also had a love story.  While discussing the book, most of us believed that Henry's wife Ethel did not know of Henry's father's interference with the letters that Henry had written to his first love, Keiko while she was in one of these camps.  Henry was Chinese and Keiko was Japanese.  Henry found a jazz record that had brought him and Keiko together as children at the Panama Hotel.  This record is based on a real jazz musician Oscar Holden (below)

The book was enjoyed by all and would be recommended to interested in a good story and history.

The next book chosen is Sarah's Key byTatiana de Rosnay. Adventures in Book Club will meet at Jessica Baker's house on Thursday October 28th, 2010. 



Oscar Holden

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

August 23rd, 2010

Part of the reason why the group chose this book was because it was coming out as a major motion picture that August.   So we decided that we would go the movie then discuss the book and look at the movie differences. 

Kristen, Elissa, Emily, Jessica, Shelia, Debbie, Amy, and Jackie all met a the theater for the movie.  Afterwards we had some discussion. 

The book had mixed reviews.  Several people really enjoyed the book and would read it again.  One member even said that she was inspired by the book. Another member said that she would read it again because she could find something new each time.

A few others did not like the book that much.  Comments were made that they couldn't get into the book and it was hard to read.  One member thought it was quite boring. Some members stated that the last chapter in Indonesia was the most enjoyable and India was the hardest to get through. 

Overall, I think everyone enjoyed the movie!

The next book chosen was Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. 

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bon's

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, by Lorna Landvik

This was the very first meeting of our book club.  We met at Emily Mach's house on July 16th, 2010.  Emily was 3 weeks away from having a baby. (: 

Those that attended were Emily Mach, Jessica Baker, Sheila Hoppe, Elissa Heibel, and Kristen Gausman.  Kristen brought questions for discussion.  Everyone reported that they enjoyed the book and the group shared many stories and some tears when discussing the topics in the book.  This book was very appropriate for the first book club meeting since it was about a book club that met over many decades and brought a group of woman together for a lifetime. We hope that our book club experience will be as great as the characters in the book.

The guests enjoyed ea claires, truffles, cheese dip and Banana sip sop!! 

The next book was decided to be EAT, PRAY, LOVE