Our October choice was Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Michele hosted the gathering.
Sunday
August/September Book Choice and Dinner 2021
July 2021 Book Choice and Dinner
Circe by Madeline Miller was our July book choice, and Sally was our lovely hostess for our summer dinner party.
Here is a brief summary from Goodreads:
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.
And for a little something extra you might find this of interest:
Her Voice, At Last: Authors Madeline Miller and Victoria Schwab Discuss Miller’s New Novel, CirceJune Summer Reading 2021
First in person beehive gathering since February 2020
Here is part of an overview by Kirkus Reviews 2020:
A study of swimming as sport, survival method, basis for community, and route to physical and mental well-being.
For Bay Area writer Tsui swimming is in her blood. As she recounts, her parents met in a Hong Kong swimming pool, and she often visited the beach as a child and competed on a swim team in high school. Midway through the engaging narrative, the author explains how she rejoined the team at age 40, just as her 6-year-old was signing up for the first time. Chronicling her interviews with scientists and swimmers alike, Tsui notes the many health benefits of swimming, some of which are mental. Swimmers often achieve the “flow” state and get their best ideas while in the water.
Her travels took her from the California coast, where she dove for abalone and swam from Alcatraz back to San Francisco, to Tokyo, where she heard about the “samurai swimming” martial arts tradition. In Iceland, she met Guðlaugur Friðþórsson, a local celebrity who, in 1984, survived six hours in a winter sea after his fishing vessel capsized, earning him the nickname “the human seal.”
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.
Gathering was hosted by Lori at her lovely home with an inviting swimming pool.
Perfect way to kick off Summer!
Tuesday
February/March 2021 Book Choice
Here is selection of a book review from ForewardReviews 2017:
Ellen Marie Wiseman gathers potent Gothic elements in The Life She was Given to examine the impact of
child abuse across generations. A sumptuous plot balances horror and tenderness to reveal lesser-known facets of history.
In the 1930s, Lilly, a daughter held captive in Blackwood Manor’s attic, is sold to the circus. In the 1950s, Julia, a runaway teen, inherits the family manor and horse farm, where she uncovers lies about her past. Coralline Blackwood is an exacting matriarch who wields the Bible as a weapon.
As each character grows, their histories overlap; the secret that binds them lies at the heart of the book’s tragedy. The Life She was Given is a vibrant maze of desires. The sharp divide between expectations and painful truths, mothers and daughters, past and present, culminate in a sensational finale."
January 2021 Book Choice
The Girl with 7 Names by Hyeonseo Lee was our Dec/Jan read.
A non fiction first hand account of escaping from North Korea
2015 Startribune review:
"No sooner do I achieve something than I become unhappy with myself for not doing better, and achieving the next thing," she writes. Even on a South Korean TV program with other defectors, she notes that she cried less than others. Her mother, meanwhile, still dreams about the relatives they left behind.
Her book shows that the years between her escape from the North and her arrival in the South were far more perilous. China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand (though to a lesser degree) pursue and persecute North Koreans with a ferocity that seems unconscionable to Americans, even compared with our pursuit of terrorists and border crossers. Lee developed survival skills, quickly picking up Chinese and exhaustively saving money for bribes she knew she would need to pay, bribes that again and again saved her."
Toronto Star Review July 2015
"Indeed, while the greatest strength of this book is its clear, observational style (Lee thanks a co-writer, David John, in the acknowledgments), almost equal is Lee’s candor about the toll that this kind of life takes on an ordinary citizen. For instance, upon her defection to South Korea (where she now lives), she reflects on the long-standing effects that the “old mentalities” have on defectors. “Paranoia, a vital survival tool when neighbors and co-workers were informing on them, prevented them from trusting anyone,” writes Lee. Depression and anxiety are also common.
She’s also honest about the complexity of her relationship with her former homeland, including her continued love of country, and fragmented identity (the book’s title reflects her continued need for new disguises during her escape). “Leaving North Korea is not like leaving any other country. It is more like leaving another universe,” she writes. In the epilogue, she admits that bouts of self-loathing still challenge her as an adult."
Monday
Voting on our next books
Here are all the books that were nominated this session, the ones in yellow are the selected books followed by our proposed reading schedule/meeting dates.
Afterlife- Julia Alvarez
American Dirt - Jeanine Cummins
Anxious
People - Fredrik Backman
Apeirogon- Colum McCann
Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver
Beartown- Fredrik Backman
Caste -
Isabel Wilkerson
Circe-
Madeline Miler
Deacon
King Kong- James McBride
Death of Vivek Oji - Akwaeke Emezi
Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence - Doris Pilkington
Ghost Boys - Jewell Parker Rhodes
Girl
with the Louding Voice -Abi Dare
Giver
of Stars - Jojo Moyes
How to be an Antiracist - Ibram Kendi
How we Fight For Our Lives - Saeed Jones
Interior
Chinatown- Charles Yu
Invisible
life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab
Life
she was GIven - Ellen Wiseman
Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa
Mexican
Gothic- Silvia Moreno Garcia
Midlight
Library - Matt Haig
Mrs
Everything - Jennifer Weiner
My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell
Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead
Only Harmless Great Things -
Pale Faced Lie - David Crow
Sold on a Monday- Kristina McMorris
Bluest Eyes - Toni Morrison
Vanishing
Half- Bret Bennett
This is how it always is - Laurie Frankel
Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
When we were Colored - Eva Rutland
Why we
Swim - Bonnie Tsui
Year of Wonder - Geraldine Brooks
Zoom only meetings
Friday March 5- The life she was given by Ellen Marie
Wiseman
(Public School Spring Break March 26-April 4)
Friday April 9- Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Friday May 7- Midnight Library by Matt Haig
(Mother’s day Sunday May 9th )
Possible in Person Beehive Meetings so please volunteer to
host!
Friday June 18 -Why we swim by Bonnie Tsui
Friday July 23- Circe by Madeline Miller
Friday Sept 10- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Friday Oct 15- Mexican Gothic by Silva Moreno-Garcia
Friday Dec 3 – Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner Holiday
Cookie Exchange
2022
Friday Jan. 14-Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Friday Feb. 18- Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Friday March 25- Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
(Public school Spring Break April 9-17)
Friday May 6-Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
(Sunday May 8th is Mother’s Day)
Friday June 17 Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
Friday July 29 Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Voting time !
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