The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain - March 26th 2017

The Red Notebook - Heroic bookseller Antoine Laurain comes across an abandoned handbag on a Parisian street. There's nothing in the bag to indicate who it belongs to, although there's all sorts of other things in it. Laurent feels a strong impulse to find the owner and tries to puzzle together who she might be from the contents of the bag. Especially a red notebook with her jottings, which really makes him want to meet her. Without even a name to go on, and only a few of her possessions to help him, how is he to find one woman in a city of millions?  More

NEXT Books club
February - cancelled moved to 

March 26th - Hostess Kathy Leblanc

Use the Genius Signup to let each other know if we are attending and what you would like to bring. Here is the link  to signup and see what others are bringing!

Upcoming Spring Dates (Contact Laurie to signup!)

- April 30th ( Easter is April 16th )

- May 21st and June 25th

Other recommended books:
The Chemist (Recommended by Terry)
Barnes and Mobel Best Sellers and Oprah's List 
(Recommended by Laurie)

• The Snow Child 
• Jack Reacher returns in another fast-moving, action-packed, suspenseful book from Lee Child.
• Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult http://www.jodipicoult.com/small-great-things.html

Welcome 2017 -- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - January 29th 2017

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Date; January  29th, 2017
Hostess -  Sylvia Pepin / Nicole Harri

Please email the hostess and use Genius Signup to let each other know if we are attending and what you would like to bring. Here is the link  to signup and see what others are bringing!

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - The debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives.

EVERY DAY THE SAME
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

UNTIL TODAY
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

Book Club discussion questions and more.

The Movie Trailer link

Interesting Infographic on How the World Reads

Upcoming Dates (Contact Laurie to signup!)

- February 19th

- March 26th

- April 30th ( Easter is April 16th )

- May 21st

- June 25th

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - Sunday Dec. 4th

Next Book Club Book is Sunday, December 4th @7:00 PM
Hostess: Mary Marotta

Our Book is My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry A charming, warmhearted novel from the author of the New York Times bestseller A Man Called Ove. Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother’s stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal. When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry is told with the same comic accuracy and beating heart as Fredrik Backman’s bestselling debut novel, A Man Called Ove. It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different.
Reading Group Guide

Hostess: Mary - Christmas 16"

• Thick n' Chunky Tortilla Soup (recipe)
• Sangria recipe/Christmas
• Spinach Salad link

Let's try using Genius Signup to let each other know if we are attending and what you would like to bring. Here is the link  to signup and see what others are bringing!

Reminder: Please bring along one wrapped book for our "Holiday Book Yankee Trade"

Dates for Spring 2017 : ( this will be our 9th year ! )

If any of these dates are in conflict with any big event or school event please let Laurie know. The dates below are all Sunday dates.

January  29th...Sylvia Pepin / Nicole Harris

February 19th

March 26th

April 30th ( Easter is April 16th )

May 21st

June 25th

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger - September 25th

Our next Book Club selection........."Ordinary Grace" by William Kent Krueger
Date: September 25th ------   Hostess .......Kelly Bell

From New York Times bestselling author William Kent Krueger comes a brilliant new novel about a young man, a small town, and murder in the summer of 1961.

New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were at the ready at Halderson’s Drug Store soda counter, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a summer in which death assumed many forms.

When tragedy unexpectedly comes to call on his family, which includes his Methodist minister father, his passionate, artistic mother, Juilliard-bound older sister, and wise-beyond-his years kid brother, Frank finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal.

On the surface, Ordinary Grace is the story of the murder of a beautiful young woman, a beloved daughter and sister. At heart, it’s the story of what that tragedy does to a boy, his family, and ultimately the fabric of the small town in which he lives. Told from Frank’s perspective forty years after that fateful summer, it is a moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God. 

Upcoming Fall Dates:
September 25th ------   Hostess .......Kelly Bell
November 20th or December 4th.....Mary Marotta

Resolve and Rescue: The True Story of Frances Drake and the Antislavery Movement - Sunday's Book Club, August 28th.

Updated date - Sunday's Book Club, August 28th !
Elizabeth  Raymond will be hostessing!
Our next meeting is ............................. Sunday, August 28th, 7pm
Our next hostess is ...........................Elizabeth Raymond,
72 Olde Tavern Rd.

Resolve and Rescue; The true story of Francis Drake and the antisalvery movement" by Mark Bodanza

Also if enough of us read Kelly Bell's summer selection ........"The Weight of Water" by Anita Shreve

Resolve and Rescue: The True Story of Frances Drake and the Antislavery Movement 

Where Frances Drake saw injustice, she tried to right it, and where freedom was denied, she fought to secure it. In Resolve and Rescue, author and historian Mark C. Bodanza explores the life of this Massachusetts woman who took up the cause of the slave early in the antislavery movement. He shows how, in an age dominated by men, Drake never allowed the disadvantages suffered by her gender to impede the great object of her work, the end of slavery in America. Resolve and Rescue narrates the story of this woman, born in 1814, who had an uncommon energy. She toiled for more than two decades to end slavery in ways great and small, including the promotion of some of the greatest speakers of the abolition movement. Her efforts were not limited to speeches or theory, but she publicly participated in the rescue of many fugitive slaves, including the first test case in New England under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850; Bodanza also demonstrates that her fight wasn't limited to ending slavery, as she worked tirelessly for racial equality and women's rights. Resolve and Rescue shares the life story of Frances

Next Book Club - May 22nd / Hostess Kelly Bell
More local information-  Leominster's Southeast School renamed for abolitionist Drake
"Drake was a Leominster abolitionist who, according to City Councilor Mark Bodanza, speaking in support of the name change, accomplished the most "significant historic act ever on Leominster soil." The home Drake and her husband, Jonathan, owned was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and one refugee they helped on his journey to freedom was Shadrach Minkins. He was captured by federal marshals after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act. His subsequent rescue from a Boston courtroom by a crowd of black men who then sent him to freedom on the Underground Railroad led him to the Drakes' home.

"We'll revive her as part of the general legacy and past of Leominster. The naming of this school will rebuild what we've lost. This is a piece of our past that we need to revive," said Bodanza, who, during his presentation held up a small beaded purse Minkins sent to Drake after he found his freedom in Canada.

"It's something we can be proud of, not only because of the important history involved in it, but because of the moral lesson that this lady will give to our children and to all of our citizens for a number of years," Bodanza said."

The Pocket Wife : a novel by Susan Crawford

Our next meeting is ............................. Sunday, April 10th 2016 *updated Change!
Our next hostess is   ............................Lou Ann Arquilla, 35 Kendall Hill Rd.
Our next Book Club selection......." The Pocket Wife : a novel " by Susan Crawford

The Pocket Wife : a novel " by Susan Crawford

An amazing talent makes her debut with this stylish psychological thriller—with the compelling intrigue of The Silent Wife and Turn of Mind and the white-knuckle pacing of Before I Go to Sleep—in which a woman suffering from bipolar disorder cannot remember if she murdered her friend during a breakdown.

Dana Catrell is horrified to learn she was the last person to see her neighbor Celia alive. Suffering from a devastating mania, a result of her bipolar disorder, Dana finds that there are troubling holes in her memory, including what happened on the afternoon of Celia's death. As evidence starts to point in her direction, Dana struggles to clear her name before her own demons win out.

Is murder on her mind—or is it all in her head?

The closer she comes to piecing together shards of her broken memory, the more Dana falls apart. Is there a murderer lurking inside her... or is there one out there in the shadows of reality, waiting to strike again? A story of marriage, murder and madness, The Pocket Wife explores the world through the foggy lens of a woman on the edge.

SPRING 2016:
April 10th...........Lou Ann Arquilla
May 22nd ............Kelly Bell

Rose Harbor in Bloom by Debbie Macomber - Date: Sunday, January 24th 2016

Next book club, - Rose Harbor in Bloom; Debbie Macomber
Hosted by Joanne Smith.
Date: Sunday, January 24th 2016 (updated!)

 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Hailed as “the reigning queen of women’s fiction” (The Sacramento Bee), Debbie Macomber is renowned for her novels of love, friendship, and the promise of fresh starts. Now Macomber returns to the charming Rose Harbor Inn, where each guest finds a second chance and every room comes with an inspiring new view.

 Since moving to Cedar Cove, Jo Marie Rose has truly started to feel at home, and her neighbors have become her closest friends. Now it’s springtime, and Jo Marie is eager to finish the most recent addition to her inn. In memory of her late husband, Paul, she has designed a beautiful rose garden for the property and enlisted handyman Mark Taylor to help realize it. She and Mark don’t always see eye-to-eye—and at times he seems far removed—yet deep down, Jo Marie finds great comfort in his company. And while she still seeks a sense of closure, she welcomes her latest guests, who are on their own healing journeys.

 Annie Newton arrives in town to orchestrate her grandparents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration. While Annie is excited for the festivities, she’s struggling to move on from her broken engagement, and her grandparents themselves seem to be having trouble getting along. Worse, Annie is forced to see Oliver Sutton, with whom she grew up and who has always mercilessly teased her. But the best parties end with a surprise, and Annie is in for the biggest one of all.

 High-powered businesswoman Mary Smith, another Rose Harbor Inn guest, has achieved incredible success in her field, yet serious illness has led her to face her sole, lingering regret. Almost nineteen years ago, she ended her relationship with her true love, George Hudson, and now she’s returned to Cedar Cove to make amends.

Compassion and joy await Jo Marie, Annie, and Mary as they make peace with their pasts and look boldly toward their futures. Rose Harbor in Bloom is Debbie Macomber at her heartwarming best.

Spring 2016 !!!

- March  27th

- May 22nd or June  5th