July 26, 2009 - Meeting at Claire's Bretton Woods Home

First of all....Stephanie, we missed you and hope that you are feeling better and will be back with us soon.

We were blessed with NO RAIN today. The clouds over Mt. Washington cleared and we could see the entire ridge from Claire's deck. Nearly all of us made this meeting.....not because we enjoyed reading "Garden in the Dunes" but because we looked forward to sharing a summer afternoon together. We were determined to be there rain or shine.

"Garden in the Dunes" seemed to be a book that the majority of us struggled to read. For many the story got dragged down in descriptions of the desert and plants. Others enjoyed every word and found the beauty in it. We discussed the strength of the female characters.....and the weakness of the male figures. Feel free to add your comments at the end of this posting.

Diane presented us with options for our September book. They were:

"Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese

"The Girl who Played with Fire" Stieg Larsson (this is a sequel to "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo"

"The Help" Kathryn Stockett

"That Old Cape Magic" Richard Russo (soon to be released)

"The Apostle" Brad Thor

.....and the majority vote went to "The Help"

Next Meeting: August 30, at Celia's
This will be a Garden Party in Celia's Gazebo. For this "semi-formal" occasion, please dress accordingly.....dress and hat requested. A prize will be given for the "most original hat". This could be interesting!! I will bring my camera and post the results.

Book: "The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud"
Book is available at Thornton Library

Marlena suggested that we hold our September meeting at the William Tell Restaurant, if it opens by that time.

Claire grilled hot dogs and hamburgers.....baked stuffed eggplant....made two kinds of potato salad. We added our salads, snacks, and desserts. Quite a feast. Thank you, Claire.

Mary Jo sent photos taken at the meeting. I have tried to transfer them from the email to this page without success. Sorry....wish I knew how to do this.

Just spoke with Selena. She said that it is difficult to obtain newer, popular, books. New Hampshire State Library system does offer "Book Bags" with multiple copies of a book. Perhaps in the future, we should take a look at that listing since these books will be easier to obtain. Go to http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/services/librarians/bookbag/a.html That is just a page with some of the "A"s..... Click down below for the letter of the author's last name. We might use this website to choose future books.

Recipe for the Orzo Salad can be found at http://riverrunrecipes.blogspot.com/