Baby Finley has arrived!

Finley Marin Ross

Born 3:17pm, Sunday, November 26th, as the snow was falling (yup - we have some snow in Seattle) 21 inches - 53.5 cm (Finley's length, broken down for those both south and north of the border - take one or the other, she is not 21 inches plus 53.5 cm long!) 8 lbs, 1 oz brown hair (for now... Jenn promises it will turn red, one way or another!)

Congratulations Jenn & Neil!

Mountains Beyond Mountains - Read by 11/3/06

Welcome back to Bookclub! Our Pick for this period is Mountains Beyond Mountains - a nonfiction book which happens to be the UW Freshman class "Common Book" for this year.

We're also changing our monthly meets to every 2 months which will hopefully give everyone the opportunity and time to finish a book. The next get get together is scheduled for Friday November 10th, 7pm. Hosted by Martha. Please send me an email if you haven't received the Evite.


Adult/High School-Thought-provoking and profoundly satisfying, this book will inspire feelings of humility, admiration, and disquietude; in some readers, it may sow the seeds of humanitarian activism. As a specialist in infectious diseases, Farmer's goal is nothing less than redressing the "steep gradient of inequality" in medical service to the desperately poor. His work establishing a complex of public health facilities on the central plateau of Haiti forms the keystone to efforts that now encompass initiatives on three continents. Farmer and a trio of friends began in the 1980s by creating a charitable foundation called Partners in Health (PIH, or Zanmi Lasante in Creole), armed with passionate conviction and $1 million in seed money from a Boston philanthropist. Kidder provides anecdotal evidence that their early approach to acquiring resources for the Haitian project at times involved a Robin Hood type of "redistributive justice" by liberating medical equipment from the "rich" (Harvard) and giving to the "poor" (the PIH clinic). Yet even as PIH has grown in size and sophistication, gaining the ability to influence and collaborate with major international organizations because of the founders' energy, professional credentials, and successful outcomes, their dedicated vision of doctoring to the poor remains unaltered. Farmer's conduct is offered as a "road map to decency," albeit an uncompromising model that nearly defies replication. This story is remarkable, and Kidder's skill in sequencing both dramatic and understated elements into a reflective commentary is unsurpassed.Lynn Nutwell, Fairfax City Regional Library, VACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

My virtual thank-you note!

Hello everyone!

A belated "thank you" to NOBC for the baby gift to our account at Baby Diaper Service. The book club's gift will take care of about five weeks of diaper service for us - no small thing considering that we still use about 140 diapers each week! The diaper service has been great because we don't have to worry about running out of diapers, late night trips to buy more diapers or how to dispose of or wash diapers. Thanks so much for contributing to our account!

Though I haven't really been reading books or making it to bookclub recently, I'm still dreaming about doing those things and reading about reading books. A good-looking list of recommended books for women appeared in today' Seattle Times. The list is in the Gender F supplement and includes a review for one book which ends with the sentence, "This is a women's book-club offering if there ever was one: Read her, get mad, be thoughtful." Hmmm.... It looks like all the books are non-fiction so maybe not what NOBC is looking for but some of you may be interested in checking it out. The article should be available online or on my refrigerator door for the next several weeks.

Thanks again for the baby gift! I hope to read a book and see you all soon.

Becky

Wicked - The Book & Musical (Aug-Sept 2006)

Well, unfortunately tickets sold out quickly for the show. So I'm taking suggestions for an alternative book unless you'd still like to read this.




From Publishers Weekly: With a husky voice and a gentle, dramatic manner that will call to mind the image of a patient grandfather reading to an excited gaggle of children, McDonough leisurely narrates this fantastical tale of good and evil, of choice and responsibility. In Maguire's Oz, Elphaba, better known as the Wicked Witch of the West, is not wicked; nor is she a formally schooled witch. Instead, she's an insecure, unfortunately green Munchkinlander who's willing to take radical steps to unseat the tyrannical Wizard of Oz. Using an appropriately brusque voice for the always blunt Elphaba, McDonough relates her tumultuous childhood (spent with an alcoholic mother and a minister father) and eye-opening school years (when she befriends her roommate, Glinda). McDonough's pacing remains frustratingly slow even after the plot picks up, and Elphaba's protracted ruminations on the nature of evil will have some listeners longing for an abridgement. Still, McDonough's excellent portrayals of Elphaba's outspoken, gravel-voiced nanny, Glinda's snobbish friends and the wide-eyed, soft-spoken Dorothy make this excursion to Oz worthwhile.

Persepolis - a night with the author

Our current book is Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. For our June get-together I'd like to invite you to an evening with the author hosted by the Seattle Public Library June 2nd at Town Hall near St. James Cathedral. It begins at 7:30. If you'd like to sit together I suggest meeting in front of Town Hall between 6:45-7pm. Afterwards we can find a nearby restaurant or bar for drinks & food.

I've already read the book and throughly enjoyed it! There's also 'Persepolis II' which I'm eager to pick up. Dana and I still have extra copies and I'll be glad to mail you book if you can't find it at your local library. Don't forget to bring the books back so Dana can return them to the Library. I really do encourage you to read this one, it's both funny and sad as well as interesting and the 'graphic' format made it a quick read. Share this one with your friends/sig others and bring them along on 6/2/06!

The next book after Persepolis will be "The Eight" by Katherine Neville. A mystery/action novel that hope you find a fun and easy read. You'll have 2 months to read this one - we won't be getting together for regular book club until August but I will be having a bbq sometime in July (more to come later)


That's all for now & hope to see you in June!
Mellaney

May 06 Book Selection - Persepolis

For May we're going to be following the Seattle Reads Program and read the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.

I'd like us to participate in an evening with the author in lieu of our regular meeting. Friday June 2nd at Seattle's Town Hall Eighth & Seneca from 7:30-9:00 pm. Dana is going to find out about borrowing books. More info to come later.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Pantheon Books, 2003) is a "wise, funny, and heartbreaking memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution."
Marjane Satrapi was born in 1969 in Rasht, Iran. She grew up in Tehran, where she studied at the Lycee Francais before leaving for Vienna and then going to Strasbourg to study illustration. She currently lives in Paris, where her illustrations appear regularly in newspapers and magazines. She is also the author of Persepolis 2, Embroideries, and several children's books.
Persepolis is a memoir in graphic novel form, the first graphic novel in the eight years of "Seattle Reads." We can't think of a better choice than Persepolis, to introduce readers to the format, especially for readers who may have resisted, thinking comic books are for youths.
Reading Persepolis together, we will explore Iranian history and the Islamic Revolution, the human cost of war and political repression, all relevant topics in current times. Through programs and panel discussions, we will also explore the growing popularity of graphic novels.

April Book Selection - Geek Love

The book to read for April (by May 4th) Is Geek Love by Katherine Dunn - Here's a brief synopsis:

Geek Love is the story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias set out–with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes–to breed their own exhibit of human oddities. There’s Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family’s most precious–and dangerous–asset.

(click on the book to see the discussion questions on Reading Group Guides)

Rate this book. On a scale of 1-5:
1-It sucked, burn it.
2-The movie was better.
3-Was good, only fell asleep a few times.
4-I really, really liked it! No, really I did!
5-Awesome, I'd tell two friends, and they'd tell two friends, and so on...

Books we've read...

Books Read or Currently reading:

Wicked - Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory McGuire Read by 9/23/06
The Eight by Katherine Neville Read by 8/4/06
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Read by 6/2/06
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn Read by 5/5/06
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold Read by 4/7/06
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey Read by 3/10/06
The Kite Runner
Great Gatsby
The Preservationist
Grapes of Wrath
Angels & Demons
The Eyre Affair
The Corrections (part 2)
The Corrections (part 1)
Jitterbug Perfume
Middlesex
The Red Tent
Secret Life of Bees
Brothel - Mustang Ranch & Its Women
Solomon Sisters Wise Up
A Home at the End of the World
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

Reading Wishlist

Books are subject to change and can be added to at anytime. Please comment if you'd like to add or take away a book.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
The Eight by Katherine Neville
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kindsolver
Hotel Honolulu by Paul Theroux
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
The House of Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
The Color of Water by James McBride
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Charon
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

March Book Selection - Lovely Bones

We'll be meeting at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park at 7:30opm, April 7th. There's a common area with big tables and a food court. Don't forget to bring any books you want to swap and also show us what you've been reading (outside of book club).

17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, WA

Lovely Bones is the book to read for March, finish by April 7th. I cheated and read this back when we first created our list. I think it'll be a good one for discussion.

When we first meet 14-year-old Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. This was before milk carton photos and public service announcements, she tells us; back in 1973, when Susie mysteriously disappeared, people still believed these things didn't happen. In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death, and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself. (It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swingset.) With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief--her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor--and begin the difficult process of healing.

Rate this book:
On a scale of 1-5:
1-It sucked, burn it.
2-The movie was better.
3-Was good, only fell asleep a few times.
4-I really, really liked it! No, really I did!
5-Awesome, I'd tell two friends, and they'd tell two friends, and so on...