December 2008 Christmas Letters

Well, our December discussion was fun and festive. We met at Cindy D's house which was decked out in Christmas decor. We discussed our book, Christmas Letters by Debbie Macomber. Most of us thought it was a fluffy, no brainer book, but nice at this time of year when our minds are full of shopping lists, baking, running to see this family and that friend. We thought it didn't have enough discussion about Christmas letters. That would have been better. :) We took our tally and our descriptive words and here they are.....


4.9 is what we rated it and here are our words -
Airy
Silly
Quick
OK
Fluffy
Trite
Sweet
Light

Nov. 2008 - The Ultimate Gift

We all settled into Julie's home theater room to watch our Movie Tie-in, The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall.

The movie was pretty different from the book, but most of us enjoyed both. The book was a little treasure full of life's lessons. The movie was touching and had a little bit of romance.....more of a chick flick. :)

Our book for December is Christmas Letters by Debbie Macomber. We'll meet at Cindy D's house on Dec. 18th. Here is a little tidbit to get you excited.

October 2008 - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

We enjoyed a tasty Chinese dinner at Tami's house this month for our October book, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. There were egg rolls, wontons, chicken dishes, soups, YUM! We had so much fun that we forgot to take a picture of the entire group. A couple of chickees had left when we took the picture, but we all had a good time discussing the book and, Oh, the foot binding!

Here are our words to describe the book and how we rated it...

We rated it an average of 7.9 on a scale between 1-10

our words about it...

Culturally oppressive
deceptive
horizon expanding
eye opening
thought provoking
shocking
heart wrenching
challenging
intimate

Our November book is called The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall. It is a wonderful, quick read. I already got it, read it and want my kids to read it. This month's theme is Movie Tie-in and we'll be meeting at Julie F's house for a night of a movie, popcorn, chocolate, soda or other beverages! :) Here is a little tidbit about the book to get you excited..

Red Stevens owned everything a man could ask for and gave his family a piece of that everything. However, right before he died Red Stevens realized one thing. Red looked down along the long list of things he gave his family and suddenly came to the conclusion that he had given them nothing by giving them everything. While most of his family were lost causes because of his mistake, one stood out with potential to learn. That one was in store for the year to end all years. That one was his nephew Jason.

and the movie...
The Ultimate Gift

Watch your emails in a few weeks for directions to Julie's house! :)

The Giver

We met at The Log Den. Apparently, they have just changed the menu, so some of the food was kind of, well, not what was expected. The inside of the restaurant was beautiful. We had a good time talking, as usual! Of course, we talked about the book AND so many other things.

We talked about things like Stirrings, Sameness, cults, love and families. Overall, we all thought the book was ok, not great, but just ok. Here are the average and our words to describe the book......


Average was 6.5

Our Descriptive words....

Weird
Disturbing
Lacking
Truman Show
Controlled
Fantasy
Disappointing
Unfinished
Intriguing

The Nanny Diaries

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I was slacking and didn't update this after our fun night at Lori's watching the Nanny Diaries. The good news is, I'm doing it now!! :)

It all happened on a Thursday night! hee hee We all gathered at Lori's house to snuggle in to watch the Nanny Diaries since we had all just read the book. Most of us were pretty disappointed in the book and the movie. It was entertaining, sure, but the movie only followed the book a little bit. There was a nanny. There was a mom, cheating dad and little (cute) boy. Harvard Hottie was even in the movie, but the movie ended sweetly, unlike the book. Oh well. It was fun to gather with the girls. Here are our ratings and comments......

Book Rating average -6.25
Movie Rating average - 5.1
Comments (we didn't stick to the One Word Rule) ~

So Different
Book More Engaging
Harvard Hottie
Thought the Movie would be funnier
Hit It
Well Written
Different - too close to real
Fun style writing
slow movie/ fun book to read
Too real

The Quilter's Apprentice

We had a wonderful time discussing this month's book, The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini. We were supposed to meet at Jan's house, but she had some kind of major plumbing issues, so we switched and had it at Cindy's house. Of course, Jan cooked some SUPER YUMMY desserts (nobody was surprised at how beautiful the food was). See for yourself.


9 of us chicks gathered to talk and eat. Cindy even made a few of the quilt blocks and printed out some of them so we could actually see what they looked like. Jan found some questions about the book, and we TRIED to stay on task, but usually went off on some crazy tangent and laughed a lot. One of us even read the wrong book. Now she's a month ahead! :)

Here are our descriptive words about the book and our overall rating was 6.1325. :)
Pleasant
Heartwarming
Sew Sew (She JUST HAD TO use these words, but she really liked the book)
A Stitch (hee hee, another play on words. Silly chicks)
Cozy
Cutsie
Friendship
Fresh Air

Our next book is the Nanny Diaries. It's our Movie Tie-in book so we plan to meet at Julie F's house to watch the movie. Grab a copy and we'll see you Thursday May 15. Here's a tidbit to get you excited....

The book.
The movie.

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

Here are the long awaited pictures of our latest discussion of The Good Earth. I'll have to post the numbers later since my kid took the car with my purse in it! ;)

Our discussion was held at Mary's house. Wasn't the table set beautifully??












This dessert was Good Earth! Yummy














These were Red Eggs ~ Pickled eggs. They were delicious!












And here is a picture of the wonderful man who parked our cars so we wouldn't have to walk in the snow and mud. Thanks Randall!!

The theme of the month was chinese and we had some delicious food and, of course, GREAT discussions about the book and SO MANY other things.

The book for our April 17 meeting is The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini. This is under the Wisconsin Author category. It will be a dessert discussion at Jan's house, so just read the book and come enjoy the food, discussion and chick friends!

The Sunflower by Richard Paul Evans

Our evening was spent at Cindy's house. We crammed 12 people into her small dining area and enjoyed DELICIOUS Peruvian food. There was chicken, beef, sweet rice dishes, ptotatoes and salads. We filled our stomachs with great food, and discussed The Sunflower by Richard Paul Evans. Here are our ratings and descriptive words....

The overall rating on this book on a scale from 1-10 was 7.625
Our words were...
cute
enticing
heart-warming
influential
whimsical
motivating
far fetched
inspirational
introspective
flowery
adventurous
vacation

Our next book discussion will be held at Mary's house on March 20. The book to read is The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. We will be having a Chinese themed dinner. Below are recipe links. :)

http://chef2chef.net/recipes/section/chinese/page1.php
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/chinese/
http://chinesefood.about.com/library/blrecipe.htm

Thr3e by Ted Dekker

Wow, it was an exciting evening for the book club chicks at the Nightingale Supper Club. We missed all of you who couldn't make it. Here we are at the restaurant.

As usual, we rated the book and described it in one word. Here are the ratings and words.....
Suspenseful
Curious
Unpredictable
Disturbing
Frustrating
Reviting
Intense
Intriguing
Scary

Rated - 8.65

The most exciting point of the evening was when Cindy tried to catch the place on fire. Somehow she flicked the napkin from the appetizer basket over the candle. It caught fire and it took a while for it to kick into her brain to put it into the water. It was quite funny and we even entertained the other diners. Here is what was left of the napkin.


Next month's book is The Sunflower by Richard Paul Evans. Here is a preview to get you excited....

Just a week before their marriage, Christine's fiance calls off the wedding, leaving her heartbroken. With hopes of helping her through a difficult time, Christine's best friend Jessica enrolls them both on a humanitarian mission in Peru, to work at an orphanage called El Girasol — The Sunflower.

It is while working at the orphanage that Christine meets Paul Cook, a successful and charismatic American doctor who has fled the States after one fatal day took away his career, his faith, and the woman he loved.

Unplanned events lead Paul and Christine into the jungle of the Amazon, where Christine must confront her deepest fears, and she, and Paul, must both learn to trust and love again.