November/December

Hi ladies!
First of all, a big thank you to Clara for hosting the Still Alice party - a great read.

Our November/December hostess is the lovely and talented Alexis, and she has chosen The Birth House, by Ami McKay. Here's the blurb:

The Birth House is the story of Dora Rare, the first daughter to be born in five generations of Rares. As a child in an isolated village in Nova Scotia, she is drawn to Miss Babineau, an outspoken Acadian midwife with a gift for healing. Dora becomes Miss B's apprentice, and together they help the women of Scots Bay through infertility, difficult labours, breech births, unwanted pregnancies and even unfulfilling sex lives. Filled with details as compelling as they are surprising, The Birth House is an unforgettable tale of the struggles women have faced to have control of their own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine.

I would say that is sounds amazing, but I confess, I'm writing this blog really late and I've already read it - it's incredible! What a wonderful choice - thanks Alexis!

See you Dec. 5th.

S

New Order

As promised, I've updated our hosting order... schedules got a bit conflicted this month, so Clara's hosting in October and hopefully Althea can host in November. As we're getting together late in both these months, a few of us were talking about skipping December altogether - it's always difficult during the holidays anyway. So here's the new (tentative) list!


Clara - October
Althea - November
Sarah D - January
Alison - February
Rachel M - March
Rachel P - April
Alexis - May
Kathleen - June


S

October!

Hey there ladies,
Thanks for coming out to September's party - A Reliable Wife was pretty steamy, but I think it led to some great conversation. Thanks to Sarah D and Alexis for letting me host at their place!

And now, on to October. We've got the schedule sorted out now, and Clara will be our next lovely hostess. As for November, stay tuned for updates!

Clara's choice for our next read is Still Alice by Lisa Genova. Here's the blurb:

Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer's disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what it's like to literally lose your mind...
Reminiscent of A Beautiful Mind, Ordinary People and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Still Alice packs a powerful emotional punch and marks the arrival of a strong new voice in fiction.

Sounds great! See you on October 31st.

S

September's Pick

Hey there Princesses!
Hopefully everyone's enjoying the beautiful summer we've been having.

Thanks so much to Kathleen who hosted a lovely evening to discuss Death with Interruptions!

And now, on to September.
Our next hostess will be me - Sarah R. The book I've chosen is called A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick and here's the blurb:

Set in a small Wisconsin farming and manufacturing town still crumbling a decade after the depression of the 1890s, A Reliable Wife tells the story of Ralph Truitt, a wealthy businessman who advertises for "a reliable wife" in newspapers across America. The woman he chooses, Catherine Land, describes herself as "a simple, honest woman," but in truth she is both complex and devious - not the missionary's daughter she claims to be in her letter to Truitt but a courtesan of great beauty, kept by men and haunted by a terrible past. Catherine's plan in accepting the marriage offer is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on though, is the passion she finds in this seemingly solid, forthright man - a man who also harbours secrets and whose own past is far from pure.


Looking forward to it! I'll be hosting at Sarah and Alexis's place so stay tuned for an email!

Happy reading,
S

The Next Cycle

Hi ladies!
We're now officially on the third cycle of our fantastic book club! Because of that, I'm going to list the order of hostesses for the next round - this is just based on the order we hosted last time, so if we need to make any changes we can totally do that.

Here it is:

Sarah R - September
Althea - October
Clara - November
Sarah D - December
Alison - January
Rachel M - February
Rachel P - March
Alexis - April
Kathleen - May

We'll probably shake it up a bit... I know December is always a difficult month and there was also talk of doing another mothers get-together. Althea might want to host on her own, Kathleen might not be back in the city yet... you get the idea. But I promise to update the list whenever there are changes!

Sarah R

Meeting Update

Hi ladies,
Just to make sure we're all on the same page, our next meeting will be on Monday, July 19. Please note the change!

S

A Little Summer Reading

Hey there Princesses!
First of all, thanks so much to Alexis for hosting a great discussion about Olive Kitteridge! It was an interesting book that really made us think about life - great pick!

Now that it's summer, we have one of our founding members back in the city and we're looking forward to her hosting our next party. Welcome back Kathleen!

Kathleen has chosen a book that sounds amazing. It's called Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago. Here are the deets:
On the first day of the new year, no one dies. This of course causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, morticians, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially celebration. Flags are hung out on balconies, people dance in the streets. They have achieved the great goal of humanity: eternal life. Then reality hits home, families are left to care for the permanently dying, life insurance policies become meaningless, and funeral parlors are reduced to arranging burials for pet dogs, cats, hamsters, and parrots. Death sits in her chilly apartment, where she lives alone with a scythe and filing cabinets, and contemplates her experiment: what if no one ever died again? What if she, death with a small d, became human and were to fall in love?


Sounds great!
Happy reading
S

June's Read

Hey there Princesses,

First of all, I'd like to give a big thank you to Rachel P. for hosting the fantastic Mother's Day Brunch! We all had a great time and I think our mothers/grandmothers did too.

And now, on to June!

June's hostess is Alexis and she's chosen Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Here's the blurb:

At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn't always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive's own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.

As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life - sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition - its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.

Sounds great!

Happy reading,

Sarah R

Mother's Day Book Brunch!

Hola Princesses!

Thanks to Rachel M. for her wonderful party to discuss last month's book. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was such a touching story.

Now, on to May. As you know, Rachel P. is going to be hosting this shindig on Saturday, May 8th and we're bringing our mothers along for the ride! The book for this month is called Fault Lines by Nancy Huston and here's the blurb:

Narrated by four children from different generations of the same family, Fault Lines is a tale of a present haunted by the past. From California to New York, from Haifa to Toronto and Munich, its stories unwind back through the years until, reaching the Second World War, the devastating secret at the heart of the family's history is finally revealed.

Domestic in focus and epic in scope, Fault Lines is a poignant and captivating piece of storytelling, revealing what can happen when past and present collide...

Sounds great! Check your Email for more details on May's party, ok?

Happy reading,

Sarah R

Our March Book

Hey ladies,

So I think we can all agree that The Help was a fantastic read! Thanks Alison!

Our book for March has been selected by Rachel M, and is called Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Here are the deets:

Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is on a mission to find the lock that matches a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. As he roams the five boroughs, Oskar encounters a motley assortment of people who are all survivors in their own way. His journey concludes in an emotional climax of truth, beauty and heartbreak. Foer once again demonstrates his ability to evoke and unravel the most personal and complex matters of the heart.

Sounds great! Happy reading ladies :)

February's Book

Hi princesses!

So, last month's book - Lullabies for Little Criminals - was a big hit. Thanks to Sarah D for the fantastic party and wonderful discussion.

And now, on to February's book!

Our hostess next month is Alison, and the book she's chosen is called The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Here's the blurb:

Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

Sounds great! See you at our next meeting - February 7th at Sarah R's house!

Happy reading :)

S