Book Club meeting # 3 - Hurry Down Sunshine reviewed

The book at the center of our attention for the month of February was Hurry Down Sunshine, written by Michael Greenburg. Written from the point of view of the author he chronicles his daughter, Sally's experience with mental illness.

Meeting # 3 saw our most interesting and varied discussion to date. Most members agreed that too much time was spent chronicling the events leading up to and the first days of her breakdown while not provide enough detail on her long hospital stay and recovery. Members were left with unanswered questions and missing details. We did appreciated though, an update on Sally, in the final pages of the book.

Our discussion around the authors writing style established that many members found his style clunky and too and containing too many references which was distracting. While other members appreciated these situational references and thought it added to the overall story. And though it can be said that our Book Club members have a very high ratio of brains and beauty we still had to get the dictionary out to look up more than a few words.

What this book does well though, is it provides a picture of what mental illness can be like for family and for the person who is affliced. It is a must read for those who want more clarity and insight on a difficult to comprehend and very often misunderstood medical disorder.

In conclusion, Hurry Down Sunshine provided us with a forum for an excellent discussion where every member took away something different from this book. It is completely thought provoking and appears to be a very honest account of a short period of time in the author's life.

February's Pick - Hurry Down Sunshine

For this month's book, our lovely Kiki has chosen Hurry Down Sunshine by Micheal Greenburg. This memoir centers around the summer his teenage daughter Sally, who experienced her first manic episode the summer that she was 15 and is later diagnosed with Bipolar 1. Written through the author's eyes he describes her mania then later recounts her stay in the hosptital ward, the medication that changes her energy and personality, the medical staff and the other patients in the ward. It chronicals his struggle to understand her illness his guilt and the stigma of mental illness, and his unwavering support to help her overcome it.

Book Club Meeting #2 - The Handmaid's Tale Reviewed

The second official meeting of the Literary ladies is in the bag and dare I say it looks like we have a functioning (and very official) book club. Our dazzling fellow club member Jules is this months book selector and chose Burgoo on Main Street as the venue for our meeting (A very good choice, indeed). The LL member count is steadily growing with two new members P-Master and A-Red and this months meeting had a slightly better turn out than the first meeting with 5 members joining in the fun.

With a very busy summer including weddings and other such fun we found it tough to set a date for this meeting. And because of this the book was read by most members quite some time ago, not at all or in the very distant past but in the end we were still managed to combine what we remembered to discuss this book.

We agreed that the book contained thought provoking subject matter about a women's role in society past or present. And Kiki put it succinctly when she said 'that if any of us were put a similar situation no matter how we would like to react or what we think we would do in this set of circumstances, the reality is that most of us would probably conform to the new rules.' The book's author, Margaret Atwood makes an interesting point when she says "...There isn't anything in the book not based on something that has already happened in history or in another country."

Our readers enjoyed the novel and agreed that it was imaginative, but intense with some disturbing and unsettling themes. One sore point with some of our lovely ladies was the abrupt ending to Offred's story. When asked to give an average rating the Literary Ladies gave it a 4 out of 5.

After more discussion and some (slightly unsuccessful) reading aloud of our favorite quotes we got on with ordering of our dinner. A delicious combination of fondue, toasted sandwiches, salads and fruit.

We are all in anticipation of the next book selection which will be chosen by the sparkly and vivacious Kiki.

October's Pick - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

This month our book selection is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. This title was chosen by the newly coiffured and very fabulous, Jules who will also be hosting the upcoming meeting.

synopsis:
The Handmaid's Tale is set in the near future in the former United States of America, now called Gilead, a place controlled by a religious movement called the Son's of Jacob. The book's main character was arrested for being married to a divorced man and forced to change her name and become a Handmaid. Because of dangerously low reproduction rates, Handmaids are assigned to bear children for elite couples that have trouble conceiving. She lives a very restricted life where women are not allowed to read and can only leave the house on shopping trips. This book follows her day to day existence with flashbacks giving insight into what her old life was like.

Book Club Meeting # 1 - Summer Sisters Reviewed

Our first ever book club meeting was hosted by Miss T at her lovely apartment. Not all of our literary ladies could make it but it was a successful meeting even so. All member's brought a summer-themed snack while Miss T provided us with delicious sangria and gazpacho. Armed with energy following our tasty meal we got down to business.

Our discussion began with the characters of Caitlin and Vix, the two main characters in this story and who's relationship is the focus. Vix being smart and more serious of the two and Caitlin being wild and charasmatic. Their intense and tumultuous friendship gave us Literary Ladies a lot to talk about.

Summer Sisters had enough drama and interesting characters to keep us intrigued. We all agreed that this book was hard to put down and most of us read it in just a few days.

First Book Selection - Summer Sisters, by Judy Blume

This is the innagural posting of the Literary Ladies Monthly Book Club. The first email went out today, sent to us by our dedicated leader, Kiki to remind us all that we only have 28 days left to read our first selection.

We are all looking forward to getting started with our first book, Summer Sisters by Judy Blume, choosen by fellow clubber Miss T . While some of the ladies have already read this book it is the perfect summer read, a page turner brimming with sex, intregue and summer romance.

Synopsis:
Summer Sisters is a coming-of-age novel about two friends, Caitlin Somers and Victoria "Vix" Leonard, who spend summers together as teenagers. The girls are polar opposites, Caitlin being beautiful, lively and popular while Vix is a shy but intellectual wallflower. As the years progress the girls become closer and closer but soon find their friendship strained.