Challenge 2012
I’m writing today to extend a challenge. But keep reading, this isn’t going to hurt.
We are halfway through our fourth year together as a book club. Some of you have been here from the beginning, some joined along the way, and others of you have yet to make your first appearance.
You’re the same today as you’ll be in five years except for the people you meet and the books you read.” -Charlie “Tremendous” Jones
The Challenge: Create a reading goal for your year.
See, that’s pretty simple, huh? It could be something as simple as reading four books this year or all twelve book club titles. It could be that you’d like to come to three book club discussions or maybe ten.
It doesn’t have to be a book club related, it could be a personal reading goal. Maybe you don’t call yourself a “reader” yet. Check out Audible.com and listen to books while you’re cleaning or exercising. Did you get a new iPad or Kindle for Christmas? Maybe you can try to read two books a month or what about 52 books in 52 weeks?
I’d like this challenge to be a way to encourage you, not to create stress.
Last year my goal was to read 30 books. I met that goal around October or so, I ended the year with 38! GoodReads.com is my favorite way to keep track of what I’ve read. A simple easy site, plus there’s a free app for my phone. If you join GoodReads, come find me (Sarah Ronk) and our book club (Broadened Horizons). It’s fun to look back at your year through book titles!
This year my goal is to read more biographies and fiction. It looks like my year won’t have as much free time as 2011, so I’m not making a numbered book goal. These two genres are ones I enjoy, but I just don’t get too very much.
Now, what do you say? Leave a comment and share your goal! One of you lucky lady will win a $10 Amazon giftcard! If you join (or are already a member of) GoodReads leave an another comment for an extra entry! (Sorry, this giveaway applies to local book club ladies only. You must be present at our Jan. 12, 2012 meeting to win. Contest ends Jan. 11th.)
Good luck and happy reading!!
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The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
January 12, 2012 @ 7:00pm
BRING A FRIEND MONTH
Paradise Bakery and Cafe
Introducing… The Help
For one summer during college I worked at a country club in one of the ritziest suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. I worked in the “play room” where I essentially babysat the country club members’ kids while they ate lunch, went to the pool, or attended a workout class. I didn’t mind watching the kids (most days), but I definitely felt like a second-class citizen working there. We could only enter through the laundry room door (never the front), we had to stay as out-of-the-way as possible and cut through the locker rooms to get to other places in the building instead of walking through the halls, and on really busy days at the club like the Fourth of July, we had to park out in a field and walk about a half a mile to the building so the members and their guests could use the staff parking spots. We were expected to try really hard to address all of the members by name, but I had people whose kids I watched very regularly who would introduce their kids to me every time they were dropped off, which showed they didn’t even notice the same person was watching their children over and over again. Later, when I would tell people of my experiences working there, I would jokingly refer to the myself and my fellow staff members as “the help,” since it seemed like that was how the members viewed us.
Although I had that summer feeling like “the help,” my experience pales in comparison to the characters in our January book, The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, the book focuses on the relationships of several African-American maids and their white employers. For the maids, their employment is more than just a summer college job—they have few options to do much else. They also have to deal with a culture where racism is deeply embedded, which affects how they are treated in their work. The book tells of what happens when the daughter of one of the prominent white families in the town begins to realize how differently her friends’ maids are treated from the ways white people are treated.
So what about you? Have you had an experience that helped you identify on some level with the characters in The Help? If you’ve finished the book already, what do you think? If you haven’t gotten the book yet, there’s still some time to put it on your Christmas list. We hope you can come join us on January 12 at 7 p.m. at Paradise Bakery and Café at Hamilton Town Center. Don’t forget that it’s also “Bring a Friend Month.” This is the perfect book to get someone plugged into the Book Club. We can’t wait to see you all there.
Happy reading!
2012 reading list (vlog)
January: The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Bring a friend month)
February: Happy To Be Here by Garrison Keillor
March: Emma by Jane Austen
April: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (Tea party)
May: A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle
June: Les Mis by Victor Hugo (picnic)
July: Walking/Nature by Emerson and Thoreau
August: The Hiding Place by Ten Boom
September: Ivanhoe by Walter Scott (dinner party)
October: No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
November: A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
December: The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens (Christmas party)
This would be a great little list to save to your phone or print and keep in your purse! Anytime you’re out and about check the used book stores and sales racks for some of these great titles! We always meet on the 2nd Thursday of the month!
Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Janet, Gwynne and Sarah
A Christmas party recap
Book Club Thursday
Christmas lights, book discussion, and a heavenly hot chocolate bar… book club Thursday’s are the best!! Especially when they come in December because that means our discussion is paired with our annual Christmas party!
If you weren’t able to come last year, or the year before, or the year before that, this isn’t to be missed!
We’ll be discussing A Year In Provence. We’ll provide the treats and goodies. Just bring your lovely selves and a wrapped book for the exchange.* We’ll have a stress free night this busy Christmas season! (Maybe that last one is your favorite reason to come?!)
Please let us know if you’ll be joining us and if you need directions to Sarah’s lovely home.
See you Thursday at 7:00pm!
* We are playing the secret book swap game again this year!! Please bring a USED copy of one of your favorite books wrapped (and unlabeled) for our book swap game.
A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle: An Introduction
Who wouldn’t want to spend a year in the South of France? I’m thinking old cobblestones and outdoor markets, an abundance of farm and wild animals accompanied by charming and quirky characters, and scenery that would bring me to tears.
Most of us probably can’t afford an actual year in Provence, but A Year in Provence? Totally fits the budget! It’s funny. It’s nostalgic. It’s travel writing at its best!
Join Peter and his wife as they face many of the everyday challenges we do, just in a more interesting place! Then, join us for the Christmas party on December 8th at 7pm. See you then!
Velma will not be spoiled:
A Year in Provence transports us into all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life and lets us live vicariously at a tempo governed by seasons, not by days.