Coronado!

 Dear Bookclub,
Our trip to Coronado was a fantastic holiday retreat. We must do it again.It was rejuvenating to be together in such a festive setting. So great to be together!

 Trudy and I prepared for everyone's Tuesday arrival starting Monday morning, checking in, eating lunch on the beach and then renting bikes. We explored Coronado via sidewalks and streets, mustering our inner-child energy....

 .... until sunset.

Primavera welcomed us for a three hour dinner; currently plotting a way to get back there soon.

Tuesday morning, Trudy and I jumped on bikes again, keeping a close eye on the skies which stayed gorgeous long enough for us to spend a few more hours crisscrossing the island. Tuesday also brought Terry, Terrie, Wanda & Ginger and we had our first 'meeting' with wine and generous lunch plates at Rhinoceros Cafe.  A few showers did not keep us from peeking into some shops, although we headed back to the Del for real shopping and tea. Honest, it was tea. After a short rest, we met at the tree (see above photo). A round-table-elegant dinner at 1500 Ocean was both rollicking and relaxing. Now, if we were 20 years younger, I am sure the party would have continued elsewhere but it was 10ish and we were beckoned by bedtime.

Wednesday morning we managed to be hungry again with scattered breakfasts. We joined the beach walkers and flocked to the amazing sand castles. Wanda hunkered down to finish the book and is out of the photo, back in the rotunda of the hotel, reading away.

Reality began to loom as we packed up our bags to check-out and convene for our official bookclub meeting at Sheerwater for lunch. Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Lowland" provided thought-provoking discussion and was well-liked by all. Trudy suggested three fantastic titles for our next-in-line selection: "The Aviator's Wife", Patchett's "This is the story of a Happy Marriage", and Maynard's "At Home in the World".  "The Aviator's Wife" will be the choice although I encourage you to read all! Some movies were recommended and just for everyone's notes: "The Sessions" and "Half the Sky". In lieu of gifts to each other this year, donations were made in the bookclub's name and included donations made to Oasis Haven, Salvation Army (holiday meals drive),Catholic Relief Services for Typhoon Haiyan & Semper Fi .... I'm sorry - I didn't record all the recipients so this among others. This gesture felt so right!

Hoping everyone has their Christmas to-do's in check with the peaceful launch of the season, sharing this precious time together.

 

Merry Christmas & Jolly Reading!
LK 

December Retreat!

Dear Bookclub,
Our December meeting will be Wednesday, December 4 at the Sheerwater Restaurant at the Hotel Del Coronado at noon.
Trudy and I will be headed to Coronado tomorrow and looking forward to everyone else arriving Tuesday. Yahoo! Lots of opportunity for catching up, shopping, bike riding, beach walking, ice skating, sipping, spa, talking, talking, talking- whatever appeals.

 A relaxing retreat awaits!

  

Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Lowland" will be discussed. I am nearly finished ... it is a swift read and should inspire good discussion with its thought-provoking twisted tale. A story you will long remember; if you haven't started it, you could begin now and finish in time, no problem!

Happy Reading,
LK

PS Just a reminder that in lieu of gifts, please make a donation to a favored charity in the name of our book club and please present your choice at our luncheon. It will be interesting to share about the details of our causes.

December Bookclub is coming soon!

Dear Bookclub,
I just got back from Atlanta and as I unpacked my bags, I became excited thinking about the next time I would be using these bags again. Our get-away to the Hotel Del Coronado is right around the corner!

I know that Trudy and I are planning to spend Monday- Wednesday on this holiday outing... anyone else able to stretch our December 'meeting' into two nights? Our meeting is truly scheduled for Wednesday 12/4 lunch (Jhumpa Lahiri's, "The Lowland", will be discussed).

 Anticipate a fun Tuesday of shopping, walking, biking, ice skating, whatever appeals! I can arrange dinner plans for that Tuesday night as well... any ideas?

Read on!
LK

November 12 Bookclub

Dear Bookclub,
We will be meeting at the RB Inn at 12:30 to discuss "Reading Jackie".

See you there!

Happy reading,
LK

PS: Notable that 50 years ago, November 22, 1963, was the assassination of President Kennedy. From Wikipedia's Jackie O's blurb for your interest:

Assassination and funeral of John F. Kennedy

Main articles: Assassination of John F. Kennedy, State funeral of John F. Kennedy, and [[John F. Kennedy autopsy|John F. Kennedy autopsy]]

Jack and Jackie at Love Field in Dallas on the day of the assassination

The Presidential limousine before the assassination. Jackie is in the back seat to the President's left

Jackie, still wearing the now blood stained pink suit, stands alongside as Johnson takes the oath of office.

On November 21, 1963, the First Couple left the White House for a political trip to Texas, stopping in San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth that day. After a breakfast on November 22, the Kennedys flew from Fort Worth's Carswell Air Force Base to Dallas' Love Field on Air Force One, accompanied by Texas Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie.^[53] The First Lady was wearing a bright pink Chanel suit.^[5][6] A 9.5-mile (15.3 km) motorcade was to take them to the Trade Mart, where the President was scheduled to speak at a lunch. The First Lady was seated next to her husband in the limousine, with the Governor and his wife seated in front of them. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife followed in another car in the motorcade.
After the motorcade turned the corner onto Elm Street in Dealey Plaza, the First Lady heard what she thought to be a motorcycle backfiring and did not realize that it was a gunshot until she heard Governor Connally scream. Within 8.4 seconds, two more shots had rung out, and she leaned toward her husband. Another shot struck the President in the head.^[54] Shocked, she climbed out of the back seat and crawled over the trunk of the car. Her Secret Service agent, Clint Hill, later told the Warren Commission that he thought she had been reaching across the trunk for a piece of the President's skull that had been blown off.^[54][55] Hill ran to the car and leapt onto it, directing her back to her seat. The car rushed to Dallas' Parkland Hospital, and on arrival there, the president's body was rushed into a trauma room. The First Lady, for the moment, remained in a room for relatives and friends of patients just outside.
A few minutes into her husband's treatment, accompanied by the President's doctor, Dr. Malcolm Perry, she left her folding chair outside Trauma Room One and attempted to enter the operating room. Nurse Doris Nelson stopped her and attempted to bar the door to prevent her from entering. She persisted, and the President's doctor suggested she take a sedative, which she refused. "I want to be there when he dies," she told Burkley. He eventually persuaded Nelson to grant her access to Trauma Room One, saying: "It's her right, it's her prerogative."^[54]
Later, when the casket arrived, the widow removed her wedding ring and slipped it onto the President's finger. She told aide Ken O'Donnell, "Now I have nothing left."^[53]

Family members depart the U.S. Capitol after a lying-in-state ceremony for the President, November 24, 1963

After the president's death, she refused to remove her blood-stained clothing and regretted having washed the blood off her face and hands. She continued to wear the blood-stained pink suit as she went on board Air Force One and stood next to Johnson when he took the oath of office as President. She told Lady Bird Johnson, "I want them to see what they have done to Jack."^[56]
Kennedy took an active role in planning the details of her husband's state funeral, which was based on Abraham Lincoln's. The funeral service was held at Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Washington D.C., and the burial at Arlington National Cemetery; the widow led the procession there on foot and lit the eternal flame at the gravesite, a flame that had been created at her request. Lady Jeanne Campbell reported back to The London Evening Standard: "Jacqueline Kennedy has given the American people... one thing they have always lacked: Majesty."^[57]
Following the assassination and the media coverage which had focused intensely on her during and after the burial, Kennedy stepped back from official public view. She did, however, make a brief appearance in Washington to honor the Secret Service agent, Clint Hill, who had climbed aboard the limousine in Dallas to try to shield her and the President.
In September 2011, audio tapes of Jackie Kennedy were released that had been recorded in 1964 after her husband's assassination. They were not supposed to be released until 50 years after her death (she died in 1994). Approximately 8.5 hours in length, the tapes contain an interview with Arthur Schlesinger Jr., in which Jackie reveals her thoughts on a wide range of topics, including the vice-president, Lyndon B. Johnson, and civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. She also discusses how she refused to leave her husband's side during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when other officials had sent their wives away for their safety.^[58][59]

Surprise! An Amendment

Dear Bookclub,
One month of our new meeting date policy and a bump in the road. We knew it would happen, just not sure exactly how it would play out. Easy resolution (too bad we can't help the government's health insurance website) proposed by Terrie G:

If a hostess has a conflict with our bookclub meeting date on the first Wednesday of the month, she can rearrange  and coordinate a new date.

Voila! Wanda has coordinated a new date for the November's meeting is Tuesday, November 12. Location to be announced but will be someplace local. Thank you Wanda for implementing and thank you Terrie for the suggestion.

 The March selection taken from the following choices submitted by Terrie at the last meeting will be:

** "We are Water" by Wally Lamb ***

also considered....

"The Silver Star: A Novel" by Jeannette Walls
"The Signature of All Things" by Elizabeth Gilbert

Happy Halloween from Whiskey

 

 

Read on!

LK

October bookclub news

resonating

"Big Brother" continues to resonate as I slowly process the long ago devoured pages. Shriver's stories seem to linger. Wednesday's lunch at Searsucker lent an appropriate and really fun setting for our discussions. Currently cleansing my palate with another page-turner for my 'other' bookclub, "The Aviator's Wife",  and will then begin "Reading Jackie". 


Touted as the biography of the last third of her life, William Kuhn documents her career as an editor, one that lasted longer than either of her two marriages.

Hope not to get too distracted by the mention of the one hundred books she brought to publication.

Happy Reading!
LK

Books!

Our selection for December will be "The Lowlands" by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Terrie's suggestions for the March selection are:

"We are Water" by Wally Lamb

"Silver Star" by Jeannette Walls

"The Signature of All Things" by Elizabeth Gilbert

Please email your vote for our March 2014 selection!
Thank you and happy reading :)
LK

Welcome!

Welcome to The Little Book Club blog. It was time to move to this next step... our newsletters will now be a little more organized and interactive with the blog format. I hope you enjoy it. Our name is slightly morphed from "Lynn's Book Club", which I do appreciate(!), but hope this new tag, "The Little Book Club", will have a place in your heart too.

Dee DeTarsio's visit with our group last Tuesday was such a treat! Thank you Terry for making it happen.

Next month's meeting will begin the new date convention with the first Wednesday of the month. October 2nd will be Terrie's choice (yet to be announced) for the discussion of "Big Brother" by Lionel Shriver.

December's celebration will take place at the Hotel Del Coronado on December 4. We plan to check in as early as possible on December 3rd to enjoy the activities and festivities: biking, skating, shopping, walking the beach, etc. I am proposing that lunch on December 4 can be our 'meeting'. In lieu of gifts, please make a donation to a favored charity in the name of our book club and please present your choice at our luncheon. It will be interesting to share about the details of our causes.

Responding to the posts can be tricky at first but please do it! You will have to use a gmail account and perhaps adjust some settings. Please let me know if you need help. I am hardly an expert, but I can google for solutions and hold hands over cyber space with  you! Try it, you'll like it!

Also, I recommend bookmarking this link for future quick reference. Never need to print anything again and you can easily access past posts, dates, selections, etc.

Happy Reading!
LK