Next Meeting Date

Hey Ladies,

Check your calenders and let me know if Friday, March 9 at 8pm would work for our next book club date.  The plan is to gather at Aunt Sharon's house in Palatine.  Once again, we did some "brainstorming" while drinking and tossed around the idea of hiring a limo to take us city dwellers out there and back.  I wanted to get a head count to see who might be interested and then I could get more of an idea about cost.  So, let me know if this date works and if you'd be interested.  All I have to say, is what other book club hires a limo??  None, the answer is none. Let's make history ladies :)  

P.S. I think my last post might have been a little confusing... just to clarify, we will be discussing Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children at this meeting.

Fancy Pants Book Club

There is something about mimosas that makes me happy :)  Big thanks to Burke who provided countless bottles of champagne (actual count, five), not to mention the Irish Coffees, for our last gathering.  Nice work ladies!!  After much discussion and countless refills, we managed to plan out the next two book club meetings, including activities.  Ohhh get ready!!  For our next gathering, we will be reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.  I'm thinking that we will get together around early March (need to verify dates with Aunt Sharon), so keep a look out for that email shortly.  This is a short book and an easy read, according to Ang and Erin, so we should have no trouble getting through it quickly.

Then, our next meeting will take place on Sunday, April 15 where we will have our first ever BWBMYKSBC outing!!!  (Miska gets all the credit for finding this one!)  Elmhurst College is hosting a lecture with Erik Larson, where he will be partly discussing his book In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin.  This book is pretty lengthy, so I figured I would give everyone the heads up, if they wanted to get a jump on it.  More information about the "outing" will follow, once we get  a head count.  But, we were thinking that we could meet up at a restaurant beforehand for apps and some cocktails then head over for the lecture. The event is FREE, thats right FREE, but we would need to get there about 40 mins before the lecture to get seats (according to the gentleman I talked to).  Break time is over people!!  It is time to get back to reading, once again!!

The Main by Trevanian



REMINDER!!!!!

Just a reminder that we will be getting together at Burke's apartment, this Saturday, February 8 at 11:00am to discuss The Main.  As shocking as this may seem, there are no discussion questions for this book (I need to stop doing this to myself) and I am only on page 40... sooooo, please bring discussion questions, if you have any, and I will do my best to knock out this book and get some up here before Saturday.  If that doesn't happen... MIMOSAS FOR EVERYONE :) See you all then!!!!! 

Date Picked

I know that I am totally slacking here... Please forgive me for being extremely off task this month with the updates and scheduling!!  But I think I FINALLY I got my act together!!  [insert golfer's clap here] 

We will gather to discuss The Main on Saturday, February 11 at 11:00am at Burke's new apartment (please email if you need the address or directions).  I haven't started reading the book yet but I've already received several complaints about it... again SORRY... so let's make sure we have an ample amount of snacks and beverages to tide us over.  This might be totally self serving because I feel like if you are liquored up and constantly eating, you can't yell at me as much :)  Hope to see you all there for an Amazing Valentine's Day celebration!!!  Boys be damned!! 

Let's Pick a Date

I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season (yes, I'm aware it is almost February and I'm a little behind the 8-ball on this one, very sorry) and you enjoyed a little relaxing time off from work/book club.  But, now it is time to ... 

so we can line up our next meeting and get back into the book club rhythm!!!  I seriously apologize for not sending this out a lot sooner!!  Burke will be hosting the next gathering and we have picked a weekend that will hopefully work for everyone.  Please let us know which date works for you...  

• Friday, February 10th 
• Saturday, February 11th 
• Sunday, February 12th 

Time suggestions would also be helpful if you have restrictions.  Now it is time to call and harass Barnes and Noble because my book has not come in yet.  A curse to you E-Reader people!! 

Christmas Break Book

It brings a tear to my eye as I think that two years have passed so quickly!!  However,  I have to say, we are still going strong.  A big thanks to Ang, who put together a wonderful spread this past weekend, and not only had a Mimosa bar but a Bloody Mary bar as well.  Amazing!  For our next book, we are going to switch up genres a bit and go the action/adventure/crime solving route.  The Main by Trevian, is a "gripping tale of death and danger, of action and mystery" which includes thieves, prostitutes, a teeming underworld, a cold blooded murder and an unusual and remarkable hero.... We figured it was a perfectly heartfelt book for this time of year :)  Burke offered to host the next gathering and we are still working out a couple of dates, so I will send out a couple options shortly.  However, I figured the book might make for a nice stocking stuffer if someone still had an opening on their Christmas list.  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver

REMINDER!!

I just wanted to send out a quick reminder that we will getting together on Saturday, December 10 at 11:30am at Ang's house.  I'm super excited to test out this new meeting day because it will open up an entirely new world of possibilities:)  Please shoot me an email if you need directions or have any questions about what to bring.  The discussion questions are below, however, I got them from the publisher and am a little disappointed by what they had come up with.  I will try to come up with a couple doozies before the week is over and add them to the list.  But if anyone else wants to come up with a couple more to suppliment, I think it would be most beneficial. 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. In The Post-Birthday World, we get to see Irina lead two very different lives based on a choice she makes between two men.  Have you ever wondered what your life would be like had you chosen a different path?

2. In each universe that Irina inhabits, she is drawn to the man she let go.  Do we always want what we can't have?  Why are the choices that we didn't make so appealing in retrospect?

3. In the characters of Lawrence and Ramsey, Irina is offered the choice between two opposites: where Lawrence is predictable, Ramsey is wild; where Ramsey is extravagant, Lawrence is disciplined.  Do you think that by casting the men so differently Shriver is portraying general male stereotypes, is there some truth in these characters?  What are the pros and cons of each man as a partner?  Do women prefer one type to another at different times in their lives?  Why?

4. Is Irina the same person in her relationship with Lawrence as she is in her relationship with Ramsey?  Do you think that the person you're with determines the person you are, or would you be the same person no matter whom you're in a relationship?

5. Irina is happy and unhappy in both universes, with both men.  Who do you think Irina is happiest with?  If she had both men before her and could see her different lives with each, which man would she choose?  Which man would you choose to be with?

6. Irina is a self-sufficient and highly successful woman, yet throughout The Post-Birthday World she believes that her ultimate happiness will come from a man.  Does Irina's recognition that she needs a man in her life characterize her as a throwback to a pre-feminist era, or can she need a man in her life and still be self-actualized?

7. Children are completely absent from this story.  How does this affect the characters, their decisions and their relationships?

8. How much of a choice about the person we end up in a a relationship with has to do with fate and how much ahs to do with the decisions we make over the course of our lives?  And are the decisions you might make in your 20's different from the choices you'd make in your 30's, 40's, or 50's?

NEW QUESTIONS:

9. If you were Irina's mother, Raisa, how would you have handled the two scenarios she was presented in the book?  More specifically, how Irina introduced her to Ramsey Acton or Lawrence's outburst at lunch (pg 354-355)?

10. As Irina is talking with her mother (pg 317), she explains that "falling in love isn't something that you decide to do, any more than you decide on the weather.  It descends on you like a hurricane." She then proceeds to question her own actions and trys to reason whether "emotions were bombardments to which you were helplessly subjected or contrivances with which you were actively complicit.  Are they something you suffer or something you make?  You can control what you do but can you control what you feel?"  Which feelings/emotions, if any, do you believe were out of Irina's control?