Dewey: the small town library cat who touched the world

I'm totally enchanted with this book...if you weren't an animal lover before reading this book, you're sure to question why you haven't welcomed a personality as charming as 'Dewey' into your life....

Book Group Christmas Party

Last Tuesday was such a relaxing and fun evening spent with book friends as we discussed our December book selection, The God of Animals, by Aryn Kyle.... indulged in holiday goodies...and exchanged books with one another.


Here's the book that I drew in our exchange:

Summer mornings on the front porch

What my book group's reading:

We'll gather in August to discuss "Justine", the first of Lawrence Durell's 'Alexandria Quartet' series.

Our July discussion centered around Iris Murdoch's, 'The Bell'.

May found us reading and discussing, "Little Big Minds", by Marietta McCarty.

Our April book group selection for First Tuesday was a very poignant memoir by Abigail Thomas, Three Dog Life.

Desert Queen, by Janet Wallach, was our March book. I'm not sure we had this in mind when we chose it last fall, but it will tie in nicely with Women's History Month!
For some Middle Eastern flavor, I brought along dates, pita bread, olives, hummus, and tabouli for us to sample as we discussed the book and I believe that this just might have been one of our best book group get togethers, yet....

Sharing books with friends....

One of my favorite places to stop in and check out used books is our local Goodwill. I picked up a couple of contemporary classics for my 'third daughter' (Molly's best friend), Katlyn. I think that I piqued her interest with Fahrenheit 451 and Flowers for Algernon ;-)

Molly, on the other hand, has been reading The Rest of Her Life, by Laura Moriarty. I'd picked it up when I went to the author's reading (as well as having a great chat with Laura!) at the Kansas Book Festival this year.

Good friends, Mary Jo and Ervin Grant, invited us over to their home for dinner last weekend and Ervin sent me home with this book. If you can't quite read the subtitle, it says it all about the premis of the book - 'America's century of regime change from Hawaii to Iraq'.

Oprah's new book selection

I was intrigued by Oprah's invitation to join her first-time, online book discussion...live with the author, Eckhart Tolle.

What's Capturing My Attention, of Late.....

Browsing through the stacks of books at Dillon's (I am totally devoted to a grocer who prioritizes books and designates a special spot in the store for showcasing current books!), I came across a couple of books by former members of the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints sect in Texas and Arizona. One thing led to another and I was on an independent study of Mormonism, polygamy, and the FLDS. As a book group facilitator, I receive advanced copies each month from various publishing houses. This past spring, The Nineteenth Wife, by David Ebershoff, came in the mail and I've been enthralled with this novel, based on historical facts around early day Mormonism and Brigham Young. In addition, I picked up Escape, by Carolyn Jessop and Stolen Innocence, by Elissa Wall (non-fiction about their experiences as children growing up and in becoming wives in the FLDS sect), Under the Banner of Heaven, by Jon Krakauer, and Red Water, by Janet Freeman. You can read more about them by clicking on the titles above.