River Run Book Club: Meeting on May 31, 2015 at Diane's New House

Report for the May meeting was written by Lori.

The May book club meeting was special in several ways. First, we got
to see Diane's new house, which all agreed was lovely and
well-designed. Second, we saw the return of our migrating
participants, it was so wonderful to see Joy, Patricia, and Celia back
in New England after such a long, hard winter. We did miss those of
you that couldn't make it and hope to see you in June.

We discussed "Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See. At first pass, most felt
the book was okay, well written, but nothing special and we wished it
had more substance. However that being said, it turned out that
everyone there had actually finished the book, and it also generated
LOTS of discussion. The main topics discussed were relationships
between sisters, family dynamics, and discrimination of Chinese in
California. After reading this book, many of us were made aware of
historical events we previously hadn't thought about, such as the
Japanese invasion of China that was part of this book. This book was a
set-up to a sequel, "Dreams of Joy", where the daughter goes back to
China and is stuck there during the cultural revolution. I had also
read the sequel and recommended it very highly. We felt that "Shanghai
Girls" would have been better if it were shortened and combined with
the sequel to make one long book.

We made the decision to continue with Anne Tyler's "A Spool of Blue
Thread" for the June book club. We discussed the policy of choosing
older books that would be more easy to obtain from the library, and
decided that once in awhile it would be okay for the group to chose to
read a newer book even if it means buying it. We also discussed that
the submitted lists should have enough options (ideally at least 4) so
that there are plenty of choices if the group doesn't want to pick the
"newer" books. It was also brought up that those of us not in the
Thornton Library System often end up needing to buy the books anyway
and so may be less concerned about occasionally choosing a newer book
that we would have to buy. We also brought up the point that for those
who read on Kindle, it seems to be less of an issue to pick a newer
book since on kindle, the cost of a new book is the same as the cost
of an old and sometimes the older books aren't available on kindle. In
any case, people should put the book choices they are most interested
in on their list, and each time the group can decide.

The next meeting is June 28th at Joy's house, and we will discuss "A
Spool of Blue Thread" by Anne Tyler.
The July 26th meeting will be at Judy's house, and we will read "A
Reliable Wife" by Robert Goolrick. The August 30th meeting will be at
Celia's house. The book will be picked at the next meeting. Kathy has changed places with Judy and will send a list of books.

Hope you can all make it in June. Looking forward to the next time.

Lori