Book club is going to a play for its monthly meeting. We picked an author we love, Nora Ephron. Her new off-Broadway play, “Love, Loss, and What I Wore,” has been highly recommended to us. I’ll let you know all about it.

So, just an observation. I love to read, but not everything is worth the time. I’m so tired of buying a magazine with a great hook for an article on the cover, and being so disappointed with the story. Either the magazines should calm down the hook or the article should live up to it. I enjoy looking at the fashion, but the articles should be better. There are a lot of writers out there (me included), and weight/diet can not be the only thing to talk about in the national magazines, including Oprah.

I like “Scientific American.” I like the writing magazines, and “Bookmarks” magazine. The specific genre magazines that teach us something about history, cooking, language, arts, etc. I don’t know maybe it’s an age thing. As you grow older (wiser?) you become more curious about the world around you. Just a thought.

I’M SO EXCITED!!! Our book club made it into “Bookmarks Magazine’s” Nov/Dec issue. (For anyone that doesn’t know about “Bookmark’s,” it’s a wonderful magazine for book lovers and book clubs. It comes out bi/monthly and has an easy website to navigate for information on books.)

What an honor! Only half our members were together for that picture, but we are all so excited.

Thank you very much “Bookmark’s Magazine.”

Book club had a lovely dinner at a local restaurant. Our book was “The Wednesday Sisters,” by Meg Waite Clayton. All who read the book liked it and have recommended it to their friends. I think it’s a good book club book. See my review under Pages.

It is so beautiful today, it makes life seem a little bit better, knee and all.

We have October’s book club this Friday and our book is “The Wednesday Sisters,” by Meg Waite Clayton.  The book is about group of women who form a writing group that meets every Wednesday in the summer of 1968.  It’s a perfect book for book club and for us to see how hard women’s lives were only 42 years ago.  I was 12 years old in 1968 and can almost feel my mother’s acquiescence as she tolerated the life my father and grandfather mandated.

Good book for discussion.  See my review under Pages.

If an orthopedic surgeon wants to operate on your knee RUN as fast as you can!!!!

I haven’t written because I’m recuperating from knee surgery.  I probably should have had a knee replacement, but instead the doctor tried to save my knee and here I am 4 months later still on crutches dealing with pain and swelling.

Well enough about me.  Our book club took the summer off primarily because I couldn’t move.  In September we went to a local restaurant and discussed the book “The Help,” by Kathryn Stockett.  All the ladies liked the book.  It gives the reader a chance to see the life of a maid in the South in the early 60’s.   See my book review under pages.

Once every year the book club goes to the movies.  This year we picked June and “Sex and the City.”  The movie was too unrealistic and hyper-exaggerated for these unsettled times.   Although we laughed out loud at some of the antics, we didn’t feel for the characters as we once might have.  Sex and the City is going the way of Dynasty and Dallas – it was fun while it lasted, but it’s over. 

Because it is a book club, I did talk about a book I read at dinner after the movie.  The book is “StrenghtsFinder 2.0.”   Gallup has prepared an online assessment to uncover your natural talents.  To take the assessment you have to buy the book, which gives you some background along with an access code to take the test.  I read the book and took the assessment. 

One of the ladies asked me how does that help you in any way, she doesn’t care for self-help  books. ( I’m  not a huge fan either, but every so often I thoroughly enjoy one. )

 I told her I wasn’t sure how this information helps me because I had just taken the assessment and hadn’t processed the information yet.   Of course, at 3:00 am the question came crashing into my hazy mind as I lay there trying to get back to sleep.

Through the fog in my mind the question started to roll around.  Slowly my conscious mind put the content into some recognizable form for me to comprehend.   So, my answer to my friend is this:

I have gone through most of my life believing I have no particular talent at all.  I make friends easily, and I have the gift of gab, but how could either one of these be a talent?  I went back to college in my forties to get a degree in journalism.  I like talking to people, I’m very interested in their stories,  and I thought journalism  would be a good choice for me,  but not because of a particular talent. 

The assessment has 34 talents and you are assessed with your top 5 talents.  My talents were assessed as 1) empathy;  2) adaptability; 3) winning others over; 4) communications; and 5) positivity.   I would have never guessed in a million years that any of these were talents (except communications).  I was so happy to see communications on the talent list because it reaffirmed my choice at college.  And that is why I believe it is important to know what you are naturally talented in, so you can build those talents into strengths in the business world.

Because my “talents” are not found on an SAT or college curriculum, I would have never known that they were worth developing  for the business world, not just my social life.  So, for me the assessment was valuable and informative, and I will seek to develop these talents in the future. 

And that’s what book club is all about – questioning, open communication between different viewpoints, listening and comprehending with an open mind, and of course, camaraderie and lots and lots of laughter. 

April’s book club was all abuzz. We had teenagers trying out for high school cheerleading teams and moms coming and going. An excitement filled the air, along with a little trepidation, which went well with the book, Colum McCann’s “Let the Great World Spin.” I loved the book, but book club was split on it. I really think it’s a great book for book clubs. The book left me with a sense of hope, and that was important at the time.

Patty and Denise sharing a smile for the camera.

Terry going to pick up her daughter.

February’s book club was held at my house on Friday, February 12, 2010.  We discussed all our favorite books.  My favorite book is Trinity by Leon Uris.  Teri’s favorite book is A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaed Hosseini.  Dawn loves all the Harlan Coben books and James Patterson.  Judi ‘s favorite book is Embraced by the Light by Betty J. Eadie, and The Reader by  Bernhard Schlink.  Patty loves Nelson DeMille’s books, Harlan Coben and the Harry Potter series.  Michelle doesn’t really have a favorite, but is thoroughly enjoying the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer.  Denise loved Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

Only about half of the book club was present at February’s meeting, so I will incorporate their favorites over time. 

March’s book is Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.  This was an Amazon top pick for 2009. 

Our pictures didn’t come out very good this month, except for the ladies who didn’t want their pictures taken.

Well, here we are in the beginning of a new decade and the book club is still intact.  We lossed a few people and gained a few others – but we held on to friendship and books.

We read “wintergirls,” by Laurie Halse Anderson to begin the new decade.  It’s a disturbingly real and powerful book about teenagers with eating disorders and their desire to just disappear.  I have posted under Pages a review of the book.

We had dinner and a wonderful discussion of the book at a Japanese restaurant.