Women's Book Group

This group meets every first Saturday at 9am in the Fireside Room. We share a continental breakfast and discuss the month's book. The group is open to all women.  All women are welcome to attend.

2010 Women's Book Group List

JAN 2 -- "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet," by Jamie Ford. The owner of the Panama Hotel, at the edge of Seattle's old Japantown, finds belongings left in the basement by people sent to internment camps during World War II. Henry Lee sees a parasol he believes belonged to Keiko Okabe, his friend from decades earlier when they were in school. He goes into the basement, looking for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure.

FEB. 6 -- "The Spaces In Between," by Rory Stewart. A uniquely insightful, witty and understated ethnology by a man who walked and talked his way across Afghanistan, and who had previously walked across Nepal, India and Pakistan, to fulfill an avid interest in Medieval History. An extraordinary travel log by an extraordinary diplomat turned walking-historian of the Middle Ages. Rory Stewart, Ryan Family Professor of the Practice of Human Rights and Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, studied at Oxford and served briefly in the British army before working in the diplomatic service in Indonesia and as British representative to Montenegro. 

 FEB. 27 -- Westminster member Jessica Maxwell will sign copies of her book, "Roll Around Heaven," in The Gallery. Buy it that day or buy it earlier and bring it for her autograph.

MARCH 6 -- "Roll Around Heaven," by Jessica Maxwell, an adventure writer who never gave God a second thought. Then, she says, "He/She/It grabbed me by the ear, marched me into the divine principal's office, and told me to quit goofing off and start paying attention." One reviewer calls it a "Lucille Ball trips over God" adventure. Jessica will join us for the discussion.

APRIL 3 -- "Brother, I'm Dying," by Edwidge Danticat. A memoir of Danticat's journey from Haiti at age 12, leaving behind the uncle who was like a loving father, to join her parents in New York City. She makes a new life in a new country while fearing for the safety of those still in Haiti as the political situation deteriorates. A reviewer calls it "a deeply affecting story of home and family, of two men's lives and deaths, and of a daughter's great love for them both."

MAY 1 -- "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. A tale of the Isle of Guernsey during World War II when the occupying Germans discovered several people breaking curfew. In a spur-of-the-moment alibi, the "society" was born. "A charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters," says one reviewer.

JUNE 5 -- "The Book Thief," by Markus Zusak. Written for adults, it has been marketed as a young adult book. Death, a sardonic character, is narrator of the World War II story of Liesel, who is sent to live with a foster family after her Communist mother is arrested. She steals her first book, "The Gravediggers Handbook," at her brother's burial. Max, a Jew sheltered in the household, writes their experiences in copies of Hitler's "Mein Kampf" after painting white over the Fuhrer's words. It's a story of love and hope amidst tragedy.

JULY 3 or 10?? -- Read one or both: "My Life in France," by Julia Child; "Julie & Julia," by Julie Powell. Child's memoir is really a love story: She loved Paul Child, she loved France, she loved French cooking and she loved life. Powell, bored with her secretarial job, set out to create the 524 dishes in Child's classic cookbook in 365 days. "This is a joyful, humorous account of one woman's efforts to find meaning in her life," says one reviewer.

AUG. 7 -- We Share Our Summer Reading.

SEPT. 4 -- "A Flickering Light," by Jane Kirkpatrick, is based on Kirkpatrick's grandmother's life as an early photographer in Minnesota. One reviewer says a compelling portrait of the time is captured in period detail: the dangerous chemicals of photography, debilitating and frequent illnesses, the routine constraints on women's choices. Yet, it's a hopeful coming-of-age tale.

OCT. 3 -- "The Midwife," by Jennifer Worth. A memoir of Worth's experiences while delivering babies in the East End slums of post-war London. One reviewer says, "She never pretends that the East End was anything other than what it was: a hard place to live where people still found things worth living for."

NOV. 6 -- Books by James Thurber: "The Thurber Carnival" or "Thurber Country" or "The Years with Ross," his account of life with The New Yorker editor Harold Ross. He also wrote short stories, including "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," regarded as one of the best short stories of the 20th century.

Dec. 11 -- Holiday Gathering -- To Be Announced