First Bookclub of 2013

Our first bookclub of 2013 was held last Saturday hosted by the domestic goddess that is Shinners. We were supposed to meet in February but the date was rescheduled as baby Adam was poorly. The book under discussion was ‘How to Talk to a Widower’ by Jonathan Tropper. All agreed it was a good read and it looks like our new year’s resolution is holding fast as most of us had read the book. Long may that last! I especially liked the part about the bunnies.
Lots of good news since 2012 with new houses, new jobs and new babies on the way, 2013 is already looking busy and getting off to a good start for some. Shinners had a lovely spread of homemade sausage rolls, salads and had been baking up a storm including a Swedish apple cake and a carrot cake. We all asked for the recipes. And of course Adrienne brought her by now infamous and obligatory fairy buns. We had a lovely afternoon of lovely food, company and conversation. It was a small get together as Amers had jetted off to Madrid, Li was sick, Debs dropped by for a short visit and being between e-mails and changing jobs poor K was out of the loop and had missed the rescheduled date.

So the next book is, Debs suggestion, How We Met by Katy Regan.

Summary: A contemporary story of love, friendship and grief, told with Katy's inimitable laugh-out-loud humour, poignancy and heart.
There are some people you can’t imagine life without.
Liv Jenkins had been meticulously planning her ultimate to-do list – from the outrageous to sensible – of everything she longed to do before her dreaded thirtieth birthday, but when tragedy struck she never got the chance…
Two years later, Liv’s five closest friends have come together on the anniversary of her death and have made a pact: they will complete Liv’s to-do list in tribute to her memory.
Over the next year, before what would’ve been Liv’s thirtieth birthday, her friends set out to complete the tasks. But along the way deeply buried secrets, silent guilt, unrequited love and years of lies, rise to the surface rocking their friendships.
When they reach the end of Liv’s list the final task shakes the group to their core and they realise that they must face their futures and the consequences of their pasts, and with Liv’s help, live the lives they have always dreamed of.

Taken from: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15847922-how-we-met

Happy Reading!

Ennis Bookclub Festival: March 1-3

The Ennis Bookclub Festival has been announced for 2013. The Ennis Book Club Festival is a terrific social and literary gathering bringing together book club members and readers from Ireland and beyond. The festival is supported by Clare County Library and includes author readings, discussions, workshops and walking tours through the narrow streets and lanes of Ennis. We offer sessions on running book clubs, advice on reading lists, poetry, events as Gaeilge, and an opportunity to compare notes and meet with other readers. Combine your love of reading with a great weekend away!

In honour of the Gathering 2013, there is going to be the first Giant Book Club Gathering:

It will be take place on Friday the 1st of March and will be hosted by acclaimed Irish author Joseph O'Connor where he novel Star of the Sea will be discussed.

Summary:
This brooding historical fiction chronicles the mayhem aboard the Star of the Sea, a leaky old sailing ship crossing from Ireland to New York during the bitter winter of 1847, its steerage crammed to the bulkheads with diseased and starving refugees from the Irish potato famine. Amongst the passengers are a maidservant with a devastating secret, bankrupt Lord Merridith and his family, an aspiring novelist and a maker of revolutionary ballads. All in search of a new home in the Promised land, each is yet connected more deeply than they can possibly know... and a camouflaged killer is stalking the decks, hungry for vengeance and absolution. The novel takes the form of a personal account written by passenger G. Grantley Dixon, a New York Times reporter who intersperses his narrative with reportage and interviews as he describes the intrigue that unfolds during the 26-day journey.

Authors and speakers for 2013 include: Marina Lewycka, John Banville, Joseph O'Connor, the BBC's Fergal Keane, Michael Harding, Conor Brady, Mary O'Rourke, Aine Lawlor, Brian Lucey, Belinda Jack, Michael Smith, Royal Shakespeare Company's Education Department, Elaine Byrne, Tony Curtis, Dennis O'Driscoll, Margaret Hickey, Kate Bateman, Anne McCabe, and Clare Three Legged Stool Poets. Check out the complete Festival Programme on the website. The full programme and ticket booking will be available towards the end of January.

Christmas Bookclub

This year’s Christmas bookclub was held on Friday 28th December in Brasserie 66. It was a lovely ending to a fabulous book-filled year full of Christmas cheer and high jinks. The book this time was The Cutting Season by Attica Locke. Those who had read the book found it slow-moving. We all went for their delightful Christmas menu which was good value at 33 for a starter, main course and dessert. The food was delicious and they offered a choice of either dessert or a Christmas cocktail. Many of us partook of the cocktail. Debs gave us all a lovely gift of homemade face cream made from meadowsweet she collected on our bookclub away trip in the summer. We also had the first bookclub awards where everyone received an award certificate and we each made a speech. All awards were courtesy of Billy Bear and the following were presented:

Val received the Good Conduct Award. She would also have won best attendance if she had bothered to show up – only kidding we know she was ill! I got the doctors cert to prove it!

Adrienne was presented with the Teddy Bear Award. Also if there was an award for best buns, Adrienne would have also won this as her fairy cakes are legendary. She is also our newest member.

Trish received the Computer Whizz Award for keeping the blog going single-handedly, not that anyone reads it! Ironically as most people know I am also the technophobe amongst us but am still surpassing Debs on this score, just about as she is catching up fast!

Amers was presented with the Outstanding Reader Award. She is our little bookclub swot, every bookclub needs one!

Shinners won the Helping Hands Award. She is also our newest mammy and one of our founding members.

Debs received the Happy Face Award. She was also contender of best storyteller – can anyone forget her been stung by a swarm of bees story?

Ciara got the Shining Star Award. She is also our best/only overseas/international member

Lisa was presented with the Playing Well with Others Award. She is also a fellow technophobe!

Kathryn received the Bright Idea Award. I was running out of ideas/valid categories at this point! Although she could also have won best attendance or best organiser if Billy Bears had some foresight.

Everyone also wins Hostess with the Mostess awards – there wasn’t enough to go around!

So onto another year, 2013 beckons and the next book up for discussion is How to Talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper:

Summary:
A portrait of a modern guy in crisis, Tropper's third novel (Everything Changes; The Book of Joe) follows Doug Parker, whose life is frozen into place at 29 when Hailey, his wife of two years, is killed in a plane crash. Unable to leave the tony suburban house they once shared, he spends his days reliving their brief marriage from the moment he found her sobbing in his office over troubles with her first husband. At the same time, Doug's magazine column about grieving for his wife has made him irresistible to the media (book deals, television spots and the like are proffered) and to a wide array of women who find him "slim, sad and beautiful." Though stepson Russ is getting in trouble at school and Doug's pregnant twin sister, Claire, moves in, no amount of crying to strippers can keep Doug from the temptations of his best friend's wife or Russ's guidance counselor. Alternately flippant and sad, Tropper's book is a smart comedy of inappropriate behavior at an inopportune time.
Additional Info from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Widower-Bantam-Discovery/dp/0385338910

The next bookclub date for your diaries will be Chez Harmo on Saturday 9th Feb for lunch (anytime time after 2pm) and maybe even some book chat.....depends on how good we've been adhering to our resolution to actually read the books this year.

Happy Reading and Happy New Year Bookclubbers!