AAUW CAOnline Book Group

Charms for the Easy Life

2012-02-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

Our February book selection is Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons (Putnam, 1993).
Review from Library Journal:

Like its predecessors, Ellen Foster (LJ 4/15/87), A Virtuous Woman ( LJ 4/1/89), and A Cure for Dreams ( LJ 2/15/91), this new novel depicts three generations of Southern women living together during World War II. Unworthy men marry into this formidable tribe, but they cannot break the women's circle of strength and grace. Margaret, the narrator, gently and humorously regales readers with the adventures of her grandmother, Charlie Kate, as a respectable yet unlicensed physician. Without losing her rural sensibility, Gibbons moves from her previous country settings to Raleigh, the capital of her native North Carolina. Her characters remain quirky without being quaint.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

2012-01-04T13:34:00.000-08:00

The January book selection is Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson (Random House, 2010). Booklist review:

Change is threatening the little world of Edgecombe St. Mary. Lord Dagenham is about to sell off part of his ancestral estate to developers, and Pakistanis have taken over the village shop. Major Ernest Pettigrew is definitely old school, but he has been lonely since his wife died, and though he is is prey to various unattached ladies it is with shopkeeper Mrs. Ali that he forms a bond, nourished by their mutual interest in literature. Meanwhile, his ambitious son Roger comes to town with a sleek American girlfriend and starts renovating a nearby cottage. And the village ladies are busy hatching plans for the annual Golf Club dance, for which this year's theme is An Evening at the Mughal Court. There is a great deal going on in these pages sharply observed domestic comedy, late-life romance, culture clash, a dash of P. G. Wodehouse, and a pinch of religious fundamentalism. First novelist Simonson handles it all with great aplomb, and her Major, with his keen sense of both honor and absurdity, is the perfect lens through which to view contemporary England.

The Warmth of Other Suns

2011-11-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

Our November selection is The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (Random House, 2010). From a Booklist starred review:

From the early twentieth century through its midpoint, some six million black southerners relocated themselves, their labor, and their lives, to the North, changing the course of civil, social, and economic life in the U.S. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wilkerson offers a broad and penetrating look at the Great Migration, a movement without leaders or precedent. Drawing on interviews and archival research, Wilkerson focuses on three individuals with varying reasons for leaving the South the relentless poverty of sharecropping with few other opportunities, escalating racial violence, and greater social and economic prospects in the North. She traces their particular life stories, the sometimes furtive leave-takings; the uncertainties they faced in Chicago, New York, and L.A.; and the excitement and longing for freer, more prosperous lives. She contrasts their hopes and aspirations with the realities of life in northern cities when the jobs eventually evaporated from the inner cities and new challenges arose. Wilkerson intersperses historical detail of the broader movement and the sparks that set off the civil rights era; challenging racial restrictions in the North and South; and the changing dynamics of race, class, geography, politics, and economics. A sweeping and stunning look at a watershed event in U.S. history.

Parrot and Olivier in America

2011-10-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Olivier is an aaristocrat, one of an endangered species born in France just after Revolution. Parrot, the son of an itinerant English printer and twice Olivier's age, always wanted to be an artist but has ended up a servant.

A willy funny and deeply tender portrait of two men who come
top form an almost impossible friendship, and a completely improbably work of art.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany

2011-07-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

Clara and Mr. Tiffany is our selection for August. Written by Susan Vreeland, it is a fictional account of Clara Wolcott Driscoll, who is said to have created many of the stained glass designs for the famous Tiffany Studios.

The novel is a portrait of a woman in the early 20th century, yearning to be recognized for her work and to have equality with her male co-workers.

Driftless

2011-06-27T10:14:00.001-07:00

Our July selection is "Driftless" by David Rhodes. He wrote 3 novels before being paralyzed in a motorcycle accident. This novel is a sequel to his last published work, "Rock Island Line", published 33 years ago. It is the story about life in Words, Wisconsin. One of our members who has read it describes it as "amazing".

Wooden Fish Songs

2011-05-23T10:23:00.002-07:00

Our June selection is a historical novel of the experiences of Chinese immigrant Lue Gim Gong, a nineteenth century horticultural pioneer. Wooden Fish Songs are the songs sung by Chinese women of their husbands, brothers and sons who went to" Gold Mountain" (America) in search of the good life.This story is told by the three women who knew him best: his mother in China, a New England spinster and a co-worker.

Join us to see how this author blends fact and fiction about a man who developed the new species of frost hardy oranges for which he is remembered today.

The Woman Warrior

2011-05-04T06:49:00.001-07:00

Our May book is "The Woman Warrior : Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts" by Maxine Hong Kingston. It is the story of a Chinese -American woman born in Stockton , CA and raised "among ghosts" Published in 1975, it vividly describes a life straddled between two cultures.

Discussion starts May 20th, 2011.

Remarkable Creatures

2011-03-22T06:00:00.001-07:00

Have you ever hunted fossils? Our April book selection is "Remarkable Creatures " by Tracy Chevalier. Set in England in the early and mid 1800's two women,unlikely friends , share a common bond of fossil hunting. Chevalier takes us back to a time of shifting social, sexual and political paradigms.

Discussion starts April 20th.

The Year of the Flood

2011-02-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

Our book for March is The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. Margaret Atwood is a prolific writer of poems, short stories, essays and novels. She has won numerous awards for her writing and is known for her portrayal of strong women characters. This novel takes us to a bioengineered society of the future. Is this book science fiction or as the author prefers "speculative fiction"? Only the reader can decide!

Discussion starts on March 20,2011.

Mountains Beyond Mountains

2011-01-31T10:24:00.000-08:00

Our Book for February is by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder. It is a story about a man who wants to change the world, Paul Farmer.

"Mountains Beyond Mountains is inspiring, disturbing, daring and completely absorbing. It will rattle our complacency; it will prick our conscience. One senses that Farmer's life and work has affected Kidder, and it is a measure of Kidder's honesty that he is willing to reveal this to the reader".NY Times Sunday Book Review - Abraham Verghese

Join us , our discussion starts Feb. 20, 2011

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

2011-01-13T12:56:00.001-08:00

Our selection for January is the best selling The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson. It is a thriller that deals with many complex issues especially involving women. If you have not read it now is your chance!!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

2010-11-30T09:04:00.001-08:00

Our book selection for December is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. This is a true story about the origins of one of the most widely used tools in science research today, HeLa cells. HeLa cells are an immortalized cell line that are ubiquitous in research laboratories throughout the world. Read on for the whole story!

The Help

2010-11-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

Our November selection is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. If you have not read this one yet now is your chance. This has gotten great reviews and everyone that I know that has read it has enjoyed it.

Read it and join us starting on November 20th for our online book discussion.

Dreamers of the Day

2010-09-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell is our October book . Agnes Shanklin, who is left without family after the Great War and the influenza epidemic, finds herself in the Middle East during the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference. It is a story of the Middle East as well as of a woman on the trip of a lifetime.

Half The Sky : Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide

2010-08-29T19:58:00.000-07:00

Our September selection is Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. These two Pulitzer Prize winning authors take us to Asia and Africa to meet women who survive under dire circumstances and those who triumph as well.
Kirkus Reviews calls this book intelligent, revealing and important. Discussion starts on September 20, 2010.

Lttle Bee

2010-08-02T17:02:00.000-07:00

Our August selection is the story about the intersection of two lives. One a teenage girl from Nigeria and the other an affluent English woman, two strong but very different women. It is written by journalist Chris Cleave who uses his tools as a journalist to vividly bring this novel to life. Discussion will start on August 20,2010.

A Reliable Wife

2010-06-29T10:49:00.001-07:00

Our selection for July is A Relaible Wife by Robert Goolrick.This novel takes place in rural Wisconsin in the early 1900's. It is the story of a man and his mail order bride.I was a bit surprised by the comments from the reviews so all I will say is not to be fooled by the title.

Vanessa and Virginia

2010-05-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

This is the fictionalized story of the relationship between Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell. A different view of Virginia Woolf. Discussion starts June 20, 2010.

The Concubine's Daughter

2010-04-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Our May book is The Concubine's Daughter by Pai Kit Fai. It is the story of a mother and daughter's journey from rural China to Hong Kong on the eve of WWII.

Women of the Silk

2010-03-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

Our April book is Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama. It is the story of Pei, born into a traditional Chinese family, at the beginning of the 20th century. If you did not have a chance to read this popular novel before join us now as we revisit this book club favorite.

Mudbound

2010-02-23T14:03:00.001-08:00

Now for something completely different. Our March book selection, Mudbound by Hilary Jordan is the winner of the Bellwether Prize for Fiction. This novel takes place in the Deep South at the end of WWII. It is the story of two families whose sons, upon returning from the war to work the land, become unlikely friends.

Seal Woman

2010-01-21T15:04:00.001-08:00

Seal Woman by Solveig Eggerz from Ghost Road Press is the story of a young German woman whose World War II circumstances force her to start a new life. She answers an ad in the newspaper from Iceland, and winds up as the second wife of a man whose hard, lonely existence as a farmer is softened only by the presence of “the old woman,” who may or may not be his mother. Our Feburary book will take us to Iceland in the 1940's . The reviews for this novel have been wonderful. If you have a chance check out the author's website solveigeggerz.com. Talk to you on Feb. 20th.

Olive Kitteridge

2009-12-29T14:05:00.000-08:00

Our January selection takes us to the coastal town of Crosby, Maine. Stories about the life of Olive Kitteridge, a retired math teacher, as well as her family, students and friends are strung together for this novel. This book was selected as book of the year by many and was winner of the Pulitzer Prize. This should be a good one to curl up with by the fire. Our discussion starts on Jan. 20,2010.

December Book

2009-12-15T13:43:00.000-08:00

This month our book selection is Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Wall. It is a coming of age story set in rural Kentucky. Our discussion starts December 20, 2009. Join us for our last book of 2009

November Book Selection

2009-10-27T10:01:00.001-07:00

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safra Foer

Join us as we read a novel by acclaimed author Jonathan Safra Foer. It is a post 9/11 story, set in New York City, of a family told through the eyes of 9 year old Oskar.

Discussion will begin on November 20.

The House at Sugar Beach

2009-09-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

Return of the AAUW Online Book Group

Welcome back! Join us online as we start a new year of reading with AAUW. In October we will select a list for the remainder of the year as well as have the details for our online discussions.

I have taken the liberty of selecting the first book. It is The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper. Discussion will start on Oct. 20 2009 via listserv.

In the Eye of the Storm

2009-06-01T13:25:00.001-07:00

June diversity selection (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month):
In the Eye of the Storm: Swept into the Center by God
by Gene Robinson

Gene Robinson is bishop of the tiny, rural Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, but he's at the center of a storm of controversy raging in the Episcopal Church and throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion involving homosexuality, the priesthood, and the future of the Communion. This book offers an honest, thoughtful portrait of Robinson, the faith that has informed his life, and the controversy that continues to rock his Church.

Home Rich

2009-06-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

June financial literacy selection:
Home Rich: Increasing the Value of the Biggest Investment of Your Life
by Gerri Wills

Your home is the single most valuable thing you can own, yet making it pay can intimidate and confuse even the savviest investor. Now, in an indispensable new book, finance expert Gerri Willis leads you step-by-step through the entire experience of buying, maintaining, and selling a home, and shows you how to come out ahead–maybe even way ahead.

Strategic Organizational Change

2009-06-01T13:21:00.001-07:00

June organizational change selection:
Strategic Organizational Change: A Practitioner’s Guide for Managers and Consultants
by Michael Beitler

Strategic Organizational Change is written by a practitioner for practitioners. Much has been written about organizational change. Unfortunately, little guidance is provided for practitioners who are responsible for designing and implementing change — until now! In this book, Beitler begins by providing a systematic approach for diagnosing organizational problems. Then he offers his step-by-step approach for designing and implementing organizational change interventions. Everything is written in a practical, easy-to-follow style, with an abundance of checklists and practice tools.

Interpreter of Maladies

2009-05-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

May Diversity selection:
Interpreter of Maladies
by Jhumpa Lahiri

Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations. In "A Temporary Matter," published in The New Yorker, a young Indian-American couple faces the heartbreak of a stillborn birth while their Boston neighborhood copes with a nightly blackout. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession.

This title is on AAUW's Adelante book list because of our branch's recommendation. We discussed in it July 2007 on our book group listserv. Here's what I wrote in that group discussion:
I was fascinated by the multiple layers of cultural blending revealed in these stories
-- Indian-born living in America, American-born (of Indian heritage) visiting India, some told from the perspective of the adult immigrants, some told from the perspective of their American-born children.

One of the strengths of these stories is the vivid imagery. There were times when I felt I could feel the textures of the fabrics and smell the aromas of the foods. Perhaps it's because of my limited exposure to (and knowledge of) Indian culture that I found these stories so vivid. Yet what they ended up emphasizing was rather universal themes of loneliness, jealousy, vulnerabilities, infidelities and foibles. The one that seemed to stand out as more pointedly an immigrant's isolation in America was the story "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine," where a man is separated from his family, and watches the news with another Indian couple as they see the war in their homeland erupt over partition -- the adults' immersion in the news from India, whereas the child notices no other children in school are even vaguely aware of it.

Lahiri is a gifted writer, and each story had distinct, memorable characters. But by the time I reached the last one, I found myself aching for at least ONE happy ending. And, lo and behold!, that's what she gave me.

Rich Woman

2009-05-01T06:01:00.000-07:00

May Financial Literacy selection:
Rich Woman
by Kim Kiyosaki

Written by Kim Kiyosaki, the wife of bestselling author Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Woman is for women who insist on being financially independent — without depending on a man, family, company, or government to take care of them. In her book, Kiyosaki applies the same moneymaking strategies that have made Rich Dad, Poor Dad one of the great publishing success stories of all time — but in a voice that is aimed directly at women. No matter what your financial background is or your current job situation, Rich Woman provides the essential road map for any woman who aspires to be financially free.

Changing Minds

2009-05-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

May Organizational Change selection:
Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People’s Minds (Leadership for the Common Good)
by Howard Gardner

Drawing on his innovative thinking on multiple intelligences (e.g, Frame of Mind) and his own experience, the Harvard psychologist presents a new framework for analyzing "levers" that trigger/thwart changes of mind exemplified by historic and current change agents in diverse fields.

What Is the What

2009-04-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

April Diversity selection:

What Is the What
by Dave Eggers

In a heartrending and astonishing novel, Eggers illuminates the history of the civil war in Sudan through the eyes of Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee now living in the United States. We follow his life as he's driven from his home as a boy and walks, with thousands of orphans, to Ethiopia, where he finds safety — for a time. Valentino's travels, truly Biblical in scope, bring him in contact with government soldiers, janjaweed-like militias, liberation rebels, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation — and a string of unexpected romances. Ultimately, Valentino finds safety in Kenya and, just after the millennium, is finally resettled in the United States, from where this novel is narrated. In this book, written with expansive humanity and surprising humor, we come to understand the nature of the conflicts in Sudan, the refugee experience in America, the dreams of the Dinka people, and the challenge one indomitable man faces in a world collapsing around him.

The 250 Estate Planning Questions Everyone Should Ask

2009-04-01T16:39:00.000-07:00

April Financial Literacy selection:
The 250 Estate Planning Questions Everyone Should Ask
by Lita Epstein

How can you provide a financially sound future for your loved ones while avoiding estate planning or even making a will, unsure about how to effectively plan for the disposition of your assets? Estate planning is essential-no matter how much money or property you intend to leave to your heirs. In this handy Q&A guide, you'll find answers to all your questions about taxes, gifts, wills, will substitutes, and much more.

A Survival Guide to the Stress of Organizational Change

2009-04-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

April Organizational Change selection:

A Survival Guide to the Stress of Organization Change
by Price Pritchett and Ron Pound

Make sure your people know how to manage their own stress! Teach your employees and managers to cope successfully with today's accelerating rate of change and assume much more personal responsibility for their own emotional well-being. This handbook will show you how to cut healthcare costs, overcome the "victim" mentality in employees, reduce resistance to change, improve morale and quality of work-life, and protect productivity and profitability.

Triangle

2009-03-01T08:02:00.000-08:00

March diversity selection:

Triangle by Katharine Weber.

If this looks familiar, it should! This title made the AAUW Adelante list thanks to a recommendation from our branch's book group after we read and discussed it. Take a look at our past discussion. Here is Adelante's summary:

By the time she dies at age 106, Esther Gottesfeld, the last survivor of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, has told the story of that day many times. But her own role remains mysterious: How did she survive? Are the gaps in her story just common mistakes, or has she concealed a secret over the years? As her granddaughter seeks the real story in the present day, a zealous feminist historian bears down on her with her own set of conclusions, and Esther's voice vies with theirs to reveal the full meaning of the tragedy.

A brilliant chronicle of the event that stood for ninety years as New York's most violent disaster, Triangle forces us to consider how we tell our stories, how we hear them, and how history is forged from unverifiable truths.

Insurance for Dummies

2009-03-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

March financial literacy selection:

Insurance for Dummies by Jack Hungelmann

Insurance For Dummies introduces readers to the basics — as well as the more complicated issues — of every kind of insurance. Packed with expert advice and step-by-step guidance, it shows you how to find the right amount of protection at the best possible price, for you life, health, car, home, and anything else you can think of.

You Don't Need a Title to Be a Leader

2009-03-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

March organizational change selection:

You Don't Need a Title to Be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere Can Make a Positive Difference by Mark Sanborn.

In his inspiring new book, Mark Sanborn, the author of the national bestseller The Fred Factor, shows how each of us can be a leader in our daily lives and make a positive difference, whatever our title or position. Through the stories of a number of unsung heroes, Sanborn reveals the keys each one of us can use to improve our organizations and enhance our careers

The Souls of Black Folk

2009-02-02T09:05:00.000-08:00

February diversity selection (Black History Month):

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois

The first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University, Du Bois was a sociologist, historian, novelist, and activist whose astounding career spanned the nation’s history from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement. In The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903, Du Bois argued against the conciliatory position taken by Booker T. Washington, at the time the most influential black leader in America, and called for a more radical form of aggressive protest—a strategy that would anticipate and inspire much of the activism of the 1960s.

Du Bois’s essays were the first to articulate many of Black America’s thoughts and feelings, including the dilemma posed by the black psyche’s “double consciousness,” which Du Bois described as “this twoness—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings . . . in one dark body.” Every essay in The Souls of Black Folk is a jewel of intellectual prowess, eloquent language, and groundbreaking insight. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the struggle for Civil Rights in America.

Planet India: How the Fastest-Growing Democracy is Transforming America and the World

2009-02-02T09:02:00.001-08:00

February financial literacy selection:

Planet India: How the Fastest-Growing Democracy Is Transforming America and the World by Mira Kamdar

India is everywhere: on magazine covers and cinema marquees, at the gym and in the kitchen, in corporate boardrooms and on Capitol Hill. Through incisive reportage and illuminating analysis, Mira Kamdar explores India's astonishing transformation from a developing country into a global powerhouse. She takes us inside India, reporting on the people, companies, and policies defining the new India and revealing how it will profoundly affect our future — financially, culturally, politically.

Leading Change

2009-02-02T08:58:00.001-08:00

Organizational Change title for February:

Leading Change by John P. Kotter

Geared toward managers and business students, this leadership guide identifies an eight-step process that companies must go through to achieve their goals. It also details change issues, the force behind successful change and future trends for organizations. To help illustrate principles, the author provides interesting stories and examples.

The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies

2008-12-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

January Diversity selection:

The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies
by Scott E. Page

In this landmark book, Scott Page redefines the way we understand ourselves in relation to one another. The Difference is about how we think in groups--and how our collective wisdom exceeds the sum of its parts. Why can teams of people find better solutions than brilliant individuals working alone? And why are the best group decisions and predictions those that draw upon the very qualities that make each of us unique? The answers lie in diversity--not what we look like outside, but what we look like within, our distinct tools and abilities.

The Difference reveals that progress and innovation may depend less on lone thinkers with enormous IQs than on diverse people working together and capitalizing on their individuality. Page shows how groups that display a range of perspectives outperform groups of like-minded experts. Diversity yields superior outcomes, and Page proves it using his own cutting-edge research. Moving beyond the politics that cloud standard debates about diversity, he explains why difference beats out homogeneity, whether you're talking about citizens in a democracy or scientists in the laboratory. He examines practical ways to apply diversity's logic to a host of problems, and along the way offers fascinating and surprising examples, from the redesign of the Chicago "El" to the truth about where we store our ketchup.

Page changes the way we understand diversity--how to harness its untapped potential, how to understand and avoid its traps, and how we can leverage our differences for the benefit of all.

Nice Girls Don't Get Rich

2008-12-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

January Financial Literacy selection:

Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich: 75 Avoidable Mistakes Woman Make With Money
by Lois P Frankel

Do you have outstanding balances on your credit cards? Are you afraid to change jobs? Will you retire with nothing? If you answered yes to any of these questions, behaviors that you learned as a girl may be denying your prosperity. Now, with the same frank advice and empowering information that made Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office a bestseller, Lois P Frankel, Ph.D. tackles the 75 money mistakes that stand between women and the wealth they deserve.

First, Break All the Rules

2008-12-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

January Organizational Change selection:

First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization present the remarkable findings of their massive in-depth study of great managers. In today's tight labor markets, companies compete to find and keep the best employees, using pay, benefits, promotions, and training. But no matter how generous its pay, or how renowned its training, the company that lacks great front-line managers will suffer.

Buckingham and Coffman explain how the best managers select an employee for talent rather than for skills or experience; how they set expectations', how they motivate people by building on each person's unique strengths; and, finally, how great managers find the right fit for each person, not the next rung on the ladder.

The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe vs. Wade

2008-12-01T16:34:00.000-08:00

December Diversity selection

The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe vs. Wade
by Ann Fessler

In this deeply moving and myth-shattering work, Ann Fessler brings out into the open for the first time the astonishing untold history of the million and a half women who surrendered children for adoption due to enormous family and social pressure in the decades before Roe v. Wade. An adoptee who was herself surrendered during those years and recently made contact with her mother, Ann Fessler brilliantly brings to life the voices of more than a hundred women, as well as the spirit of those times, allowing the women to tell their stories in gripping and intimate detail.

Buffet: The Making of an American Capitalist

2008-12-01T16:30:00.000-08:00

December, Financial Literacy selection

Buffet: The Making of an American Capitalist
by Roger Lowenstein

Starting from scratch, simply by picking stocks and companies for investment, Warren Buffett amassed one of the epochal fortunes of the twentieth century — an astounding net worth of $10 billion, and counting. His awesome investment record has made him a cult figure popularly known for his seeming contradictions: a billionaire who has a modest lifestyle, a phenomenally successful investor who eschews the revolving-door trading of modern Wall Street, a brilliant dealmaker who cultivates a homespun aura.

Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions

2008-12-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

December, Organizational Change selection

Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions
by John Kotter, Holger Rathgeber, Spenser Johnson, and Peter Mueller (Illustrator)

Our Iceberg Is Melting is a simple fable about doing well in an ever-changing world. Based on the award-winning work of Harvard's John Kotter, it is a story that has been used to help thousands of people and organizations.

The characters in the story, Fred, Alice, Louis, Buddy, the Professor, and NoNo, are like people we recognize — even ourselves. Their tale is one of resistance to change and heroic action, seemingly intractable obstacles and the most clever tactics for dealing with those obstacles. It's a story that is occurring in different forms all around us today — but the penguins handle the very real challenges a great deal better than most of us.

The New Recruit: What Your Association Needs to Know about X, Y, and Z

2008-11-07T16:18:00.001-08:00

November 2008 Organizational Change selection

The New Recruit: What Your Association Needs to Know About X, Y, and Z
by Sarah L. Sladek

The Baby Boomer generation has sustained membership associations for quite some time. As that era nears an end, it's time to start thinking about X, Y, and Z -- the next generation of association executives, board members, and volunteers. The New Recruit brings to light the challenges that Boomer-centric membership associations are experiencing and viable solutions that association executives can implement to successfully recruit and retain younger generations. The only succession plan a membership association has is the continuation of its membership. The New Recruit will teach you how to survive the post-Boomer era and create an association for the next generation.

The American Dream vs. the Gospel of Wealth

2008-11-07T16:10:00.000-08:00

November 2008 Financial Literacy selection

The American Dream vs. the Gospel of Wealth: The Fight for a Productive Middle-Class Economy
by Norton Garfinkle

Norton Garfinkle paints a disquieting picture of America today: a nation increasingly divided between economic winners and losers, a nation in which the middle-class American Dream seems more and more elusive. Recent government policies reflect a commitment to a new supply-side winner-take-all Gospel of Wealth. Garfinkle warns that this supply-side economic vision favors the privileged few over the majority of American citizens striving to better their economic condition.

Green Grass, Running Water

2008-11-07T15:53:00.000-08:00

The Diversity selection for November 2008

Green Grass, Running Water

by Thomas King

Green Grass, Running Water is the story of five Blackfoot Indians in the town of Blossom and its nearby reserve, whose very different lives nevertheless continually cross. Alberta, a university professor who wants a child but not a marriage, is involved with two men who seem to represent opposite possibilities: Charlie, a flashy lawyer, and Lionel, a self-effacing TV salesman. Latisha, Lionel's sister, runs the Dead Dog Cafe, a local hangout and tourist trap. And then there's Eli, who moved to the city and its white man's establishment, never intending to look back to Blossom or the reservation's ancient way of life. All the while, four old Indians, escapees from a mental institution, drift mysteriously and hilariously in and out of time, from the beginnings of the universe to its undecided future. Wildly combining Native American and Western spiritual traditions in the stories they tell, they attempt to recreate and reorder the world. And the trickster Coyote follows along, wreaking havoc as he prowls through the novel. This is a rich tale, weaving subtle, magical humor, revisionist history, muted nostalgia, and sacred humanity into one bright, whole cloth.

Not Guilty! The Good News for Working Mothers

2008-10-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

The Organizational Change selection for October is
Not Guilty! The Good News for Working Mothers
By Betty Holcomb

In this provocative work, Betty Holcomb offers a fresh and thoughtful analysis of the real costs and benefits of women working outside the home. Puncturing popular myths, she takes a hard look at decades of research and shows that working mothers suffer stress, fatigue, and guilt, not as a natural outgrowth of juggling a job and family, but because of stereotypes, hostile workplaces, and policies that have yet to catch up with real life. With the right support, she argues, the revolution of the working mother could lead to richer and more satisfying lives for women and children — and men — alike.

How to Invest $50-$5,000

2008-10-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

The financial literacy book for October is:
How to Invest $50 – $5,000: The Small Investor’s Step-by-Step Plan for Low-Risk, High-Value Investing
by Nancy Dunnan

Today money -- and what to do with what's left -- is on everyone's minds. How to Invest $50 – $5,000 has been a trusted adviser to investors for twenty years. This ninth edition has been completely revised and updated to cover the full range of small investing—from selecting a bank to saving for college and retirement to making sense of financial pages. Step-by-step instructions guide even the most inexperienced investor through the maze of stocks, bonds, treasuries, mutual funds, and more, with new sections on how to recognize a swindle or scam; what to do when fired; ten sources of instant cash; and the top 25 online financial Web sites. These low-risk, high-value tips are perfect for every investor.

Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia

2008-10-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

The DIVERSITY book for October is Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia by Pamela Spiro Wagner and Carolyn S. Spiro
Growing up in the fifties, Carolyn Spiro was always in the shadow of her more intellectually dominant and social outgoing twin, Pamela. But as the twins approached adolescence, Pamela began to succumb to schizophrenia, hearing disembodied voices and eventually suffering many breakdowns and hospitalizations. Divided Minds is a dual memoir of identical twins, one of whom faces a life sentence of schizophrenia, and the other who becomes a psychiatrist, after entering the spotlight that had for so long been focused on her sister. Told in the alternating voices of the sisters, Divided Minds is a heartbreaking account of the far reaches of madness, as well as the depths of ambivalence and love between twins. It is a true and unusually frank story of identical twins with very different identities and wildly different experiences of the world around them.

SEPTEMBER-Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

2008-10-15T09:21:00.001-07:00

The September selection on the topic of ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE is:

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam.

Once we bowled in leagues, usually after work; but no longer. This seemingly small phenomenon symbolizes a significant social change that Robert Putnam has identified and describes in this brilliant volume. Drawing on vast new data from the Roper Social and Political Trends and the DDB Needham Life Style -- surveys that report in detail on Americans' changing behavior over the past 25 years -- Putnam shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and social structures, whether the PTA, church, recreation clubs, political parties, or bowling leagues. Our shrinking access to the "social capital" that is the reward of communal activity and community sharing is a serious threat to our civic and personal health.

SEPTEMBER-Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Childhood

2008-10-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

September was Hispanic Heritage month, so the reading selection was:

Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Childhood by Elva Trevino Hart.

Barefoot Heart is a vividly told autobiographical account of the life of a child growing up in a family of migrant farm workers. Elva Trevino Hart was born in south Texas to Mexican immigrants and spent her childhood moving back and forth between Texas and Minnesota, eventually leaving that world to earn a master's degree in computer science/engineering.

SEPTEMBER: A Random Walk Down Wall Street

2008-10-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

I'm a month late at posting this -- apologies! But with all that has happened in the markets over the past several weeks, this is an appropriate time to begin a new series on our book blog, where we'll look at various titles from AAUW's 2008-2009 Adelante reading list. Each month we'll feature the titles for financial literacy, diversity, and organizational change. Here's the first one...

A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing (9th ed) by Burton G. Malkiel.

Updated with a new chapter that draws on behavioral finance, the field that studies the psychology of investment decisions, here is the best-selling, authoritative, and gimmick-free guide to investing. Burton Malkiel evaluates the full range of investment opportunities, from stocks, bonds, and money markets to real estate investment trusts and insurance, home ownership, and tangible assets such as gold and collectibles. This edition includes new strategies for rearranging your portfolio for retirement, along with the book's classic life-cycle guide to investing, which matches the needs of investors in any age bracket. A Random Walk Down Wall Street long ago established itself as a must-read, the first book to purchase before starting a portfolio. So whether you want to brief yourself on the ways of the market before talking to a broker or follow Malkiel's easy steps to managing your own portfolio, this book remains the best investing guide money can buy.

Announcing New Adelante Book List(s)

2008-09-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

AAUW's Adelante book list(s) for 2008-2009 are now posted on the Association website. The colorful new format offers three lists this time instead of the usual one: Diversity, Financial Literacy, and Organizational Change. Plenty of food for thought and discussion!

Please note that CAOnline Branch is cited in the introduction for helping develop the list. That's because we suggested five books, two of which made it onto the diversity list, Triangle and Interpreter of Maladies. Browse all the selections at ¡Adelante! Books of the Month 2008-2009 and start planning your winter reading. It's just around the corner.

Feel free to comment here on the book blog when you read Adelante books throughout the year. They may not be on our branch list but your reviews or observations will be enjoyed by all and will help keep blog discussion lively. To do so either add a "comment" to this post or create a new post of your own.

July's Book: Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

2008-06-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current.

So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives.   

In this ambitious debut novel, fact and fiction blend together brilliantly. While scholars have largely relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America’s greatest architect, author Nancy Horan gives full weight to their dramatic love story and illuminates Cheney’s profound influence on Wright.   

Drawing on years of research, Horan weaves little-known facts into a compelling narrative, vividly portraying the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual. Horan’s Mamah is a woman seeking to find her own place, her own creative calling in the world. Mamah’s is an unforgettable journey marked by choices that reshape her notions of love and responsibility, leading inexorably ultimately lead to this novel’s stunning conclusion.  

Elegantly written and remarkably rich in detail, Loving Frank is a fitting tribute to a courageous woman, a national icon, and their timeless love story.

June Book: On Agate Hill by Lee Smith

2008-05-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

This is the last book of our current six-month's list. Your new board will soon be ready to consider ideas for a new book group format. They will welcome your suggestions.

This is the story of Molly, a 13-year-old orphan and survivor of the Civil War. Having lost not only her family but her world she sets out to create a new life, chronicling it in a diary discovered during historic restoration in 2003. The author's website describes this novel as:

"An authentic American saga, bittersweet as an Appalachian ballad, peopled with wonderfully vivid characters, so brilliantly constructed we never even notice the quilt-like artfulness of its design."

Read more about the book, the author and her other work at http://www.leesmith.com/works/agatehill.php

May Book: Triangle by Katharine Weber

2008-04-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

Triangle by Katharine Weber

Esther Gottesfeld is the last living survivor of the notorious 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire and has told her story countless times in the span of her lifetime. Even so, her death at the age of 106 leaves unanswered many questions about what happened that fateful day. How did she manage to survive the fire when at least146 workers, most of them women, her sister and fiancé among them, burned or jumped to their deaths from the sweatshop inferno? Are the discrepancies in her various accounts over the years just ordinary human fallacy, or is there a hidden story in Esther’s recollections of that terrible day?

Esther’s granddaughter Rebecca Gottesfeld, with her partner George Botkin, an ingenious composer, seek to unravel the facts of the matter while Ruth Zion, a zealous feminist historian of the fire, bores in onthem with her own mole-like agenda. A brilliant, haunting novel about one of the most terrible tragedies in early twentieth-century America, Triangleforces us to consider how we tell our stories, how we hear them, and how history is forged from unverifiable truths.

Discussion: Knots

2008-04-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

Although I am still reading this book, I would like to begin the discussion. I really like this strong, determined heroine, and the book paints a vivid picture of war-torn Mogadiscio. However, I am struggling with the author's use of English. At first, I thought it merely a bad translation, but after a bit of research I learned that he has written the book in English.

Did anyone else have trouble reading the book because of the awkward language?

I would also like to know if Cambara's impulsive decision to travel to Somalia rings true with other readers. To me, it makes all the subsequent action a little hard to justify.
Harriet T.

Book Browse: Now in the Blog Links

2008-04-09T05:35:00.000-07:00

Harriet Tower recently shared a wonderful website with us via the book group listserv. You can now access that website from Links for Readers at the left of this page or by clicking the title of this post.
Thank you Harriet!

April Book: Knots by Nuruddin Farah

2008-03-19T04:55:00.001-07:00

A new novel from one of the world's great writers-an extraordinary work set in Mogadiscio, Somalia-that both breaks new ground and brings the author back to his literary roots.

Quoted from the Penguin Group website:

"Called 'one of the most sophisticated voices in modern fiction' (The New York Review of Books), Nuruddin Farah is widely recognized as a literary genius. He proves it yet again with Knots, the story of a woman who returns to her roots and discovers much more than herself. Born in Somalia but raised in North America, Cambara flees a failed marriage by traveling to Mogadishu. And there, amid the devastation and brutality, she finds that her most unlikely ambitions begin to seem possible. Conjuring the unforgettable extremes of a fractured Muslim culture and the wayward Somali state through the eyes of a strong, compelling heroine, Knots is another Farah masterwork."

For the author's biography and list of his books click on the title of this post.

Discussion: Ten Days in the Hills

2008-03-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

One thing you can say about Jane Smiley is that she never writes the same book twice! Her themes vary widely and her inspirations come from all sorts of sources. In A Thousand Acres, she used King Lear’s tale, and the springboard for Ten Days in the Hills is Boccaccio’s Decameron.

In the Decameron, ten voyagers escaping from the Black Death spend ten days together, during which time each of the travelers tells one story each night, the bawdier the better, to the rest of the group. The ten people brought together for our ten days in the hills have been prompted to gather together because of the shocking outset of the Iraq War.

I know some of the readers in our group did not appreciate the stories these ten people told and experienced, but l think they may have been different reactions had they been prepared about what to expect when they began reading. I enjoyed the book tremendously because of the satire of Hollywood, the movies, and the fads of movietown. As a regular reader of the LA Times, I am exposed daily to news from the movie capital and its denizens. There was a lot of “spoof” of all that, along with anti-war sentiment, in this novel.

Smiley’s strength is in her characterization. Many of these characters are true to life and some of them caricatures. I believed in and was entertained by each of them. I think at first glance it appears that nothing much really happens in this book, but after careful consideration it becomes clear that many of the relations undergo major alterations – mother-daughter, long-time lovers, childhood friends all change perceptions of one another. Mostly, though, it was rollicking good fun.

New Feature: Receive Blog Posts in Your Email

2008-03-02T08:45:00.000-08:00

In response to reader requests I finally found a way to email these posts to you:
Put your email address in the box on the left, then click "Subscribe".
That's all there is to it.

Enjoy, Mary Rack

March Book: Ten Days in the Hills

2008-02-16T05:01:00.000-08:00

"Over the course of the next ten life-changing days they share their stories of Hollywood, past and present; they watch films in Max's screening room; they gossip by the swimming pool; and they have sex in the many bedrooms. The tension mounts and the sparks fly as Smiley delivers and exquisitely woven, virtuosic journey towards possible redemption."--Back cover.

To read about author Jane Smiley and her other books click HERE. I enjoyed A Thousand Acres which won her the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1992 and was adapted for film in 1997 with Jason Robards and Jessica Lange.

Another Review of The Inheritance of Loss

2008-02-16T04:50:00.000-08:00

Jeanne L. was pressed for time so I agreed to post her very interesting observations:

I listened twice to the unabridged audio version. The Indian reader helps Western ears appreciate the cadence of Desai's words and the richness of her descriptions, even the humor (the list of puddings -- too funny). What a word wizard. Yet her subject is the despair of people caught between values of East and West, who want something better, only to be humiliated and forced back to where they came from. I read Biju and the tutor as two sides of the same coin. Both are deluded, and both use lies to cope with their disillusion. They struggle with impossible parameters. It's the human condition, stripped to the bone.This comment was helpful to me--

"In this alternately comical and contemplative novel, Desai deftly shuttles between first and third worlds, illuminating the pain of exile, the ambiguities of post-colonialism and the blinding desire for a better life, when one person's wealth means another's poverty." (Pub. Weekly)

We certainly see the pain of exile! When the judge returns from England, he sets up another kind of exile where he loves only his dog. He was the most unsympathetic character to me! I couldn't work up much sympathy for Gyan either, yet I will never forget Biju's return to his father, stripped in all ways of illusion. If there's a noble moment in the book, that's it.

I don't see scorn, Mary. I do see struggle against overwhelming odds, and failing. Biju's struggle is obvious; then there's the old priest who has 'no bum left", the judge with a house as decayed as his values, and Sai. She fares best in my reading. I can't say I "liked" the book, but the writing is exquisite. I'm going to look for some comments by the author.

The Inheritance of Loss - Review

2008-02-15T13:14:00.000-08:00

The style of this book suits its subject, “the human condition” and our struggles to adapt to environments in which chance places us. Its quirky and creative descriptions combine to weave a rich mosaic of conflicting worlds and people tossed about like flimsy ships on the waves of historical conflict.

But I can’t figure out the writer’s purpose. There is not one “sympathetic” or even good character in the book, nothing praiseworthy, no satisfying outcome. The story is unremittingly ugly and filled with hopelessness, an odd contrast with its exquisitely drawn word pictures of landscape and mountains, their flora and fauna.

The author describes her characters with scorn. She recounts their actions and feelings in the crudest terms, from petty selfishness through utter greed to uncontrollable urges to torture others. She apparently sees no hope for us and nothing good in humanity. The only beauty she sees is in the world of nature, tantalizing and out of our reach.

February: The Inheritance of Loss

2008-02-07T03:44:00.000-08:00

Discussion begins February 15 on this prize winning novel.

"In a crumbling house in the remote northeastern Himalayas, an embittered, elderly judge finds his peaceful retirement turned upside down by the arrival of his orphaned granddaughter, Sai, but their world--and Sai's romance with her handsome Nepali tutor--is threatened by a Nepalese insurgency. "
http://books.google.com/books?id=KiQvrLTTYtAC

For background on book and author click Kiran Desai

Water for Elephants: Comments by Mary

2008-01-15T05:00:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed this story very much until I hit a snag: the identification of August as a paranoid schizophrenic. My defenses rose. I shifted into "activist mode" and determined to alert the author to her error. Unwittingly, I'm sure, she had dealt yet another blow to a huge and pathetic population, the mentally ill. I sent the following to her via her publisher:

Why did you identify August as a paranoid schizophrenic in Water for Elephants?

You write with lovely sensitivity about the realities of growing old, so I was shocked at your insensitivity in using that particular clinical diagnosis to explain August’s cruel behavior. I would have expected you to write with equal sensitivity about mental illness.

One of the worst problems faced by the mentally ill and their families is stereotyping based on myths about their illnesses. Sadly, your book, read by clubs all over the country, adds to our burden by fueling that fire of misunderstanding.

Quote from the Mayo Clinic website under “Misconceptions About Schizophrenia”:

“Although some people with schizophrenia develop violent tendencies, most don't. Many withdraw into themselves rather than interact with others.” http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/schizophrenia/DS00196/DSECTION=2

My 51-yr-old paranoid schizophrenic son has always been and remains a gentle soul. No medication makes him that way. His paranoia makes him fear familiar people and objects so periodically he runs away and hides. There is no cure, no help. It is a nightmare for the patient and heart-breaking for his family.

Perhaps you have not witnessed a bright and happy son begin hearing voices and become fearful when riding in the car. Perhaps you have not endured doctors, hospitals, and programs in vain as you watched his life and future disintegrate. If not, perhaps you could listen to those of us who have and apply your skills and sensitivity to telling our story.

Observations About The Covenant

2007-12-14T05:33:00.000-08:00

I was disappointed in what I expected to be a really good book. The story was woven around some of today’s deadliest and most difficult realities but I thought it was handled awkwardly. The primary plot was obvious, the characters were as simple as stick-figures, and there were too many sub-plots. It almost seemed that the author was using these complex human and political issues to create a soap opera. Maybe she is just developing her skills.

A New Release by A Wise Woman

2007-11-18T10:57:00.001-08:00

I'm using our book blog to share my excitement with you. I hope you will do the same when you find a book that begs to be shared!

Kanter's latest book, America the Principled, 6 Opportunities for Becoming a Can-Do Nation Once Again, was released October 23, just before she spoke to the City Club of Cleveland. Her talk, based mainly on the book, seemed to be aimed directly at me. I was so inspired I went right out and bought it.

It was Kanter who in 1975 introduced me to "diversity" as an issue in her classic video A Tale of 'O': On Being Different, now one of the world's most widely-used diversity tools. Click HERE to learn more about this wonderful change agent and educator.

Mary

December Book: The Covenant by Naomi Ragen

2007-11-15T15:58:00.001-08:00

The Covenant is the story behind the headlines we read every day, the heart-wrenching reality of modern life, where terrorists reign and average citizens find themselves at the pivot of politics and history.
"A thrilling page turning from start to finish, Naomi Ragen's The Covenant is not only a mesmerizing tale with fine drawn characters, it is a story of truth and integrity, a multi-generational novel love, friendship and duty. This is a MUST READ book. It is Naomi Ragen at her finest hour."
- Faye Kellerman, author of Street Dreams
Both quotes from http://www.naomiragen.com/BooksToc.htm

Discussion begins December 15.

Observations about The March

2007-11-15T12:31:00.000-08:00

Dear readers,

This was a treat. I love reading Doctorow purely to enjoy his prose which sometimes borders on poetry. I follow happily as he weaves together familiar names, places, bits of history and trivia into new and fascinating patterns. It's like meeting old friends unexpectedly in a foreign country. I read his Billy Bathgate and Ragtime long ago, both of which I recommend. And The March sent me scurrying to the library for more of his books.

It reminded me a little of The Widow of the South for its personalizing of General Sherman's devastating march across Confederate states. But it did so much more. It analyzed the actions and looked into the hearts of people in all walks of life on both sides of the war: foot soldiers, officers, slaves, deserters, suddenly homeless homeowners, and suddenly free and equally homeless Black people who became a second army in Sherman's wake.

Those intimate vignettes seemed completely natural. Not once did I say to myself "Would a real general or slave or dispossessed land owner have thought or acted that way?" Then I listened to an interview with Doctorow. In describing himself he said a real writer can speak authentically even for the sort of person with whom he has no experience. I guess he was right. Anyway it sounded authentic to me.

Characters appeared and disappeared, in and out of The March. Some died. Some drifted drifted away and I did not miss them. But there were a few I'd like to read more about. Calvin, for instance, would likely recover his eyesight and have a career in the north as a photographer. The further adventures of white Pearl (who was really Black) and her white Stephen would make good reading. And I recognized the name Coalhouse Walker and learned he's the father of Coalhouse Walker Jr, in Ragtime. I hope I'll meet some of these and others in one of the books waiting for me on my coffee table.

Mary Rack

November's Book, The March by Doctorow

2007-10-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

" Edgar Lawrence Doctorow is widely recognized as one of America's great masters of the historical novel. He is the author most recently of The March (2005), a fictional account of General William Tecumseh Sherman's infamous military rampage from the burned-out ruins of Atlanta to the Atlantic ocean, and north into the Carolinas, leaving a path of destruction that affected the South for generations. The March recently received the 2006 PEN/Faulkner Award and the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the 2005 National Book Award."

From the website: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/doctorow.html

Discussion begins November 15.

October Book

2007-09-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

Discussion begins October 15.
The Q & A below opens an interview found on the publisher's website, clickable below the quote:

"Q: Why did you choose to make the character of Franzisca Schanskowska the centerpiece of City of Shadows? What drew you to the great Anastasia debate?
A: I am always fascinated by frauds and Schanskowska was fraudulent, literally, on a grand scale. DNA has proved that she couldn't have been Anastasia. What is interesting is I'm pretty sure she'd convinced herself that she was the lost Romanov—I used to be a newspaper reporter and covered some big murder trials in which the accused had obviously made himself/herself really believe he/she was innocent, though the proof was damning. The ability of the mind to fool itself is extraordinary."

http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/29454/Ariana_Franklin/index.aspx

Love & Other Impossible Pursuits-Sandy's Review

2007-09-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

Waldman’s characters are so vividly drawn, so real in their insecurities and vulnerabilities – their ability to create havoc in the lives of the ones they love. Emilia’s voice rings true, with an honest description of her own selfishness amidst her pain. The jilted ex-wife is despicable for the ways she manipulates her young son in her anger, yet shows a level of kindness and compassion that is unexpected… and believable. The portrayal of the insufferably pretentious parents of the nursery school, and the particular snobbery of Manhattanites was deliciously real, as was the obnoxiously precocious voice of 5-year-old William. (Waldman may live in Berkeley, CA, but she sure knows New York!) Best of all, Waldman has given us a story that ends with redemption and second chances that feel real (and hopeful!). I have read Waldman’s “Daughter’s Keeper” and highly recommend that one, if you liked this one. (Different setting, different source of tension, but equally well written and strong on character development and depiction of the complexities of relationships).

As a side note, I noticed in acknowledgements at the back of the book that Waldman wrote this book at the MacDowell Colony, and I recently saw a segment on PBS’ NewsHour about the MacDowell Colony and how it provides a place where artists can work on their craft. Take a look:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec07/macdowell_08-24.html

September: Love and Other Impossible Pursuits

2007-09-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

Discussion will begin Sepember 15.

Read about the author and her other works at

http://www.ayeletwaldman.com/

The Madonnas of Leningrad, Mary's Report

2007-08-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

This was a beautiful, sensitive book about people who seemed real. I wanted to read fast to know how it ended and I wanted to read slowly to savor it. I couldn't put it down so I guess I'll have to read it again, very slowly!
Four years ago while in St Petersburg I spent a day at the Hermitage and this book make it real for me again. It also recalled my own mother's Alzheimer's. Dean's description of the victim's reaction to it seems likely to be right and oddly comforting, while the family are just achingly real. Her characters are believable but I did wonder if a woman could deliver a healthy baby after so long a time with so little to eat. The book seems to be well researched so it must be a miracle of nature.
Like Sandy I had trouble with the god on the roof. It didn't seem to fit and I wished it weren't there. Maybe on that second reading it will make sense.
I admired all the book's vignettes, even the cruelest, but my favorite was The Baths. I could absolutely feel Marina's many emotions. They came to the surface one after the other like layers of an onion being peeled away, until at last there was ". . . nothing more delicious than this feeling, like sliding into a vat of warm honey."
I also enjoyed the author's essay "On Visiting St Petersburg . . . Finally." I liked her as she described herself and I hope she will write more.
Mary

The Madonnas of Leningrad: Sandy K's Report

2007-08-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Book Group,
Our discussion of this month's book was supposed to begin yesterday, but I was on the road and didn't have email access. I DID, however, read the book, and here are my comments: This is an art historian’s dream novel – and the term “dream” has several layers of meaning in this fascinating story. What a remarkable look at the ways in which we can find beauty in the world amidst horrific ugliness! The imagery is staggeringly powerful, with a grimly realistic picture of the slow starvation of all those people as the Germans closed in on Leningrad. One of the images that will stay with me for a long time is Marina taking the boys on a tour of the Hermitage and their rapt attention as she describes the beauty in the portraits that are there only in her mind, having long since been removed and stored to protect them from the bombing. The author gracefully juxtaposes this with the elderly Marina, befuddled and wandering from Alzheimers, but eager to show her rescuer all the small beauties in the world around them.Dean clearly is familiar with the ravages of Alzheimers (her acknowlegements include mention of grandparents as inspiration for part of the story), and doesn’t gloss over the immense tragedy for the individual suffering from the disease, as well as her husband, struggling to care for her. Yet Dean manages to give her character an amazing dignity and tie together Marina’s past struggles with this new challenge to memory. After all, weren’t the months of starvation spent memorizing every image in the Hermitage? Even the ones she had never seen herself! And I also loved the tie between the daughter trying to draw sketches of her mother with Marina’s memory of one of the people in the ccllar drawing pictures of all of their lives as it was then as a record of what they survived … in case they didn’t survive to tell the story themselves. But it wasn’t just the memorization that marked this tie between past the present. It was also this incredible spark through the darkest moments to be able to notice and be moved by things of beauty. Survival takes on a whole new meaning through this story. I read so many books (and have such a terrible memory!) that I often have trouble remembering book titles, but I may be able to remember this one in the future because of the way Marina’s pregnancy and the miracle of a healthy child in these conditions makes her another one of the madonnas depicted in the art work that fill her mind. I loved how, when they reunited at the end of the war, Dmitri deliberately decides not to question for a moment that the toddler is his son. His love for her, and his joy at finding her in such an unlikely way, are more important. I was a little confused by her rooftop encounter with the “god.” It seemed so real to her, that I thought it was real, too …. and couldn’t figure it out until I realized it had to be a hallucination brought on by her starved condition.
Sandy

August: The Madonnas of Leningrad

2007-07-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

Click the link at the left to read about the author, this book and her other work. And for a real treat take a virtual tour of the primary location of the book, Russia's State Museum the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad:

http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/index.html

Good Reads website

2007-07-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

Another great tip from Jeanne!

http://www.goodreads.com

Just learned about this new social networking site where you can list books you've read
or are reading, rate and review them, and share with friends. Lots of fun.

Titles for July Through December

2007-06-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

July - Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri, 1999
August - The Madonnas of Leningrad, Debra Dean, 2006
September - Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, Ayelet Waldman, 2006
October - City of Shadows, Ariana Franklin, 2006
November - The March, E.L. Doctorow, 2005
December - The Covenant, Naomi Ragen, 2005

Recorded Books Are Handy for Some Readers

2007-06-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

Jeanne shares the following with us:
"I already put in my 2 cents about Folly, but wanted to confess I am addicted to recorded books. Reading that way requires a different attitude, but it's great to be able to read and do something else -- like driving -- at the same time. One thing I've found -- all 'readers' of audio books are not equally good. Some in fact are pretty dreadful. If I get one that's bad, I don't listen but take it back to the library asap."

"I tried very hard to figure out how to load books onto an IPOD. Was not successful. Maybe we can chat privately about my problems this process!"

Mary Russell on the Internet: A Discovery

2007-06-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

Dear fellow readers,

As I explore the world of "virtual communities" I encounter old friends, my family, and some interesting information. Today's discovery is Mary Russell's new MySpace website. You may recall her, the heroine of Beekeeper's Apprentice, the first book in Laurie R. King's series about Sherlock Holmes' wife and partner. For an old gal Russell sure is up to date! And Laurie King certainly is creative in promoting her books.

Click http://www.myspace.com/maryrussell to visit her page.
"Mary Russell" maintains a blog and has many "friends" which will soon include me. You may want to become one too, but be warned: cruising the virtual world can be habit-forming. Otherwise, why would I be doing it on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon?

While at MySpace be sure to have a look at our new branch entry at http://groups.myspace.com/aauwcaonline
There's not much there yet so feel free to join and add your own comments.

Happy Reading!
Mary

June, 2007: Folly by Laurie R. King

2007-05-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

Folly, a Macavity Award Winner and a Booksense Choice, was written in 2001. According to King's website it "... nearly emptied Random House, New York, as half the staff came perilously near to deciding that if Rae Newborn could go to an island and rebuild an old house, why couldn’t they? After all, they didn’t begin with her problems, did they?"

Discussion will begin here June 15.

May, 2007: To Play the Fool by Laurie R. King

2007-05-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

"Among the shrubbery sleepers in Golden Gate Park lives a man who calls himself Brother Erasmus. He carries only a staff, dresses in rags and speaks only the words of the Bible and Shakespeare. Erasmus ministers to the homeless and preaches to Berkeley seminarians, who see him as a modern St. Francis. He is also wanted for murder. From this risky material…Laurie R. King has crafted To Play the Fool, a thoughtful and compelling character study with a crime at its core." (San Jose Mercury News)

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