Thursday, February 3, 2011

February Book Club - The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Those who attended book club this month said they enjoyed February's book immensely.

It is the right of passage story about a young 14 year old girl called Lily, the relationships she shares with her neglectful and distant father, her nanny, the townsfolk of southern America, and the women who enveloped Lily and Rosaleen and took them in.

Lily's authentic and likeable character was discussed at length. The story was told through her eyes and in such a way that the reader couldn't help but be drawn into her world and that of the bee-keepers.

We followed and discussed our thoughts and answers to the guideline questions posted here on this website. The questions helped prompt us to a deeper level of thinking.

The book was full of issues between different characters, the country at the time (1964) in which the story was set, relationships, racial prejudice and questioned traditional family roles. The book is not predictable at all and the author's technique to build tension enticed us to turn the pages quickly to discover answers to our questions.

The author cleverly used motifs and symbolism to present ideas to the reader. The idea of a Black Madonna works well with the characters in the story. The idea of bee-keeping and the queen bee works well with the theme carried throughout the story.

We were all pleased that this book was selected for book club and would like to highly recommend it to other book clubs and anyone interested in a great tale that will touch the heart.

The next book featured for the month of March is: 'Mr Rosenblum's List' by Natasha Solomon.

Until next time...
happy reading

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Welcome into the World - Jacob Williams Giles

Recently, one of our lovely book club members gave birth to her second son. Cheryl sent me an email with some details about Jacob which I would like to share with our members.


'Jacob William Giles was born on 20th January 2011, five weeks early and
weighing 2.57kg (that's 5lb 11 oz).

He took us by surprise but fortunately was perfectly healthy for a premature
baby, and just needs fattening up.

Mum and bub were allowed home after four days in hospital and Jacob is now
feeding every 2-3 hours around the clock. Already his little calves are
getting some muscle shape and those cute little wrist and ankle wrinkles are
appearing. He is a champion feeder - knew what to do first time - and is a
very calm baby who feeds, sleeps and poos on cue.

It's been a whirlwind few weeks. We moved house back to Ashgrove a week
before Jacob arrived, and there were unpacked boxes everywhere when we
rushed off to the hospital in the middle of the night. David worked like a
Trojan to get the house sorted for our home-coming.

We've spent the last week at home together (all six of us, including pussy
cats) and are finally getting settled. Our back deck overlooks leafy
treetops and is very private and quiet even though we are only 200m from
Ashgrove central shops and supermarkets. David cooked up some steaks on the
barbie tonight and we enjoyed dining on the deck, listening to the cicadas
whirring and possums rustling in the trees.

David goes back to work tomorrow so then the fun starts, looking after an
active toddler and newborn. However, I am very content with 'my boys' and
there is nothing else I would rather be doing right now.

Joshua is developing fast and said a five word sentence yesterday, "That fan
on please Daddy". He is 20 months old now. He loves vegemite sandwiches,
his sit-in car (push-along with feet), steep slides and big swings, anything
that spouts/holds water (taps, hose, cat bowl, swimming pools, water
fountains), and of course he loves his Baby Brother.'



Congratulations Cheryl, David, & little Joshua on the safe arrival of baby Jacob. Novel Tea 'n Pages Book Club & Writers members wish you every happiness.

Introducing an Exciting New Component to Novel Tea 'n Pages Book Club

History:

Novel Tea 'n Pages Book Club celebrates its 1st birthday in April, just a few short months away. We are a fledgling club, but are finding our way and the ride so far has been a pleasant one.

We've found our numbers fluctuate at times, but this is quite natural and to be expected. People get busy with life and can't always attend, but they still manage to pop along when they can. Some slow down and manage their attendance well. Others decide they'll do their best to be committed and attend every month.

That's the great part about this book club. It is open to receive everyone, whether you've read the book or not or whether you can attend every month or not. Coming along for the social aspect helps develop friendships and sometimes members become inspired from listening to discussions and go home and read the next month's book. Some members who have joined initially didn't consider themselves readers, but have become readers since making an effort.

Whatever anyone's situation is, we embrace them and think they are all very important members. We are a very relaxed club and we welcome both established and new members at all our meetings. At this point I'd like to thank the dedicated members who come along and keep us ticking.  I'm really looking forward to what 2011 has in store for us.

New Developments:

From Novel Tea 'n Pages Book Club's inception at the beginning of 2010, I've always had in mind another component that I wanted to implement after the book club became established. I needed a little time to get a better feel for what I was doing. After playing around with some initial ideas, I finally introduced Novel Tea 'n Pages to the world and I hosted its first meeting in April 2010.

However, there is always room for improvement and it is my hope that club members will bring their ideas and suggestions along to the book club so that they can make this club their own. With fresh ideas, the club will not stagnate but grow, develop and change.

A New Concept:

It is with excitement that I introduce a new Writers component to the book club. When I thought up the name Novel Tea 'n Pages there were three components I had in mind; a trinity, so to speak (not of the religious nature, though). The first component was Novel (representing book club). The second component was Tea (representing refreshments and a social aspect) and the third component was Pages (representing a writers springboard).

These components represent three things I am passionate about and wish to share with others as my platform of influence, and they include books, coffee and of course, writing.

Currently, Novel Tea 'n Pages offers two of the three components. Now, I am happy to announce that beginning Saturday 19 February, Novel Tea 'n Pages will host its first Writers component in the form of an initial meeting with interested parties to develop an overview of future Writers' meetings.

The Shape of the Writing Component:

Novel Tea 'n Pages will offer a Writers Club for anyone interested in beginning or developing their personal writing projects. Writers will meet once a month and have the opportunity to engage with other people interested in writing and sharing their projects, sharing feedback and participating in short writing exercises. Both experienced and inexperienced writers are welcome to join. You do not need to be a book club member to join the Writers Club.

From now on the club shall be referred to as Novel Tea 'n Pages Book & Writers Club.

If anyone knows of someone who might be interested in participating in our Writers Club, please send this information to them. I invite all interested parties to contact me via Facebook or email to find out more details. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

So, until next time...
Happy reading & writing everyone...

February's Book Club - 'The Secret Life of Bees' by Sue Monk Kidd

Hi bookclubbers,

Tonight, Thursday 3 February, Novel Tea 'n Pages Book Club hosts its first meeting for 2011. Normally scheduled for the first Wednesday of every month, we had to change our first meeting's date due an unforeseen reason.

However, we are meeting up tonight and I hope you can all make it. I personally have missed seeing everyone and look forward to kicking off our reading season.

Just a reminder to bring along your ideas and suggestions for our 2011 reading list. Currently I am enjoying reading Natasha Solomon's first novel, 'Mr Rosenblum's List' and hope other club members are enjoying it too. This book is full of interesting issues and topics and I am sure it will make for a great discussion at our March book club.

Well I look forward to seeing you all tonight.

Until then...

happy reading...