Just finished My Name is Mary Sutter, historical fiction set in the Civil War era. Very good read, strong female character with the other characters just as believable as Mary. Well researched. The war scenes were very detailed and gave me a very good vision of the horror of the field hospitals that were constructed during the battles. Hospital is too strong a word but the conditions that are described in which the surgeons and nurses dealt with during the fighting stayed with me even after I finished the book.
Back to more YA fiction - The Boy Book by E. Lockhart. Very entertaining. Funny, on target observations of teenage boys.

Well we finally met to discuss The Lace Reader. Unfortunately too much time had passed to really discuss it however it seemed that none of us really liked it and two people actually figured out the mystery well before the end of the book. The rest of us clearly just read to enjoy the story! Despite having poor memories for that book we did discuss lots of other books we were reading, had read or were planning on reading. The Invisible Bridge, Stephen King, some YA books ( my latest thing is reading YA fiction). I suggested The Hunger Games series- can't wait until the third book comes out August 24th. Our September book is My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor.

Just finished a great fun YA read My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison. Witty and humorous based on several fairy tales. I thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn't put it down. Looking forward to reading more by Janette Rallison. I checked out her blog which is fun to peruse ( www. janette-rallison.blogspot.com). Really enjoy the YA selections I have read this summer.

Okay, it looks as if everyone has finally finished The Lace Reader. Contrary to the usual summer mode we will actually meet in August to discuss TLR ( since we didn't discuss it at our "last" meeting in June). Hope it is a good discussion. I already know that one person really didn't like it so that will definitely spice the discussion.

Ahh the end of the year busyness- graduations, final exams, getting ready for summer etc. Our group met last week but only one person had finished The Lace Reader. So we had no discussion because none of us wanted to have the ending revealed. We selected a time to finish the book and discuss it. We agreed to meet the third week of August for w(h) ine and cheese and to discuss the book. We did manage to select a few books for the upcoming fall which I will post later. We never seem to lack for suggested summer reads. It's funny how almost everyone manages to show up when we have a potluck dinner affair! On another note I just finished the latest Jacqueline Winspear "Maisie Dobbs" novel which I thoroughly enjoyed. Love the writing style and the heroine Maisie Dobbs a strong, independent young woman making her way in post WWI England as a not so traditional private investigator.

Tomorrow night is our last meeting until September. We have a potluck dinner which is always interesting and delicious, and then talk about summer reads- suggestions, what sounds good, what we hope to read, and then try to find a book for September so we can read that during the slow days of July and August. For the first time in awhile we have read a book for June- The Lace Reader. I sent out questions this afternoon in the hopes of generating a good discussion tomorrow. I am struggling getting through this book although it is interesting and I have been to Salem a couple of times. Once with my family so my daughter could visit and learn more about the area during the witch hunt and another time with my daughter and 3 of her friends for a Harry Potter (4 days) conference! That was an amazing experience.

Well not our usual discussion last night. Four of the group had graduates ( 3 college, 1 high school) so we were a little distracted. Most weren't that excited about the main character Olive in the beginning of the book however she did grow on us by the end of the book. As I am not a fan of short stories I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy the format of this book. It is set up as a series of short stories with Olive the thread throughout. I enjoyed the writing style of Elizabeth Strout.
Our next book for the last meeting before our summer break is The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry.

Tonight we meet to discuss Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I also read Amy and Isabelle by ES and enjoyed that story as well as OK. Will be interesting to hear others thoughts regarding OK.

Really good discussion of A Widow's War. Lively and spirited. Our next book is Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout set in Maine. The Lace Reader was suggested for our June book. It is set in Salem Massachusetts which will continue our unplanned theme of books set in New England.

I really enjoyed A Widow's War. While I found it to be a slow start I thought that Sally Gunning captured the era quite well, even down to the speech patterns of the characters. It was interesting to find how connected her family was to the area. At the end of the book she explained her research, her reasons for writing this particular story and how the past is connected to the current especially the geographic layout of the towns. Can't wait to meet tonight with the other members to get their feedback.

This week is National Library Week. Head off to your library and select some books!! I have always loved being in a library and if I could do it over again would major in library science. I spent hours in the library as a child. Later, as a parent, I volunteered in the children' s department when my kids were young. When looking at colleges both my kids always checked out the college library before taking the campus tour. Both went to schools with beautiful libraries. Currently I am serving on the town library board. Very interesting. Support your local library, one of the best uses of your tax dollars.

Tonight we met to discuss The Secret Scripture. Great discussion. Several different interpretations of events in the book. Everyone seemed to like the book. Very interesting. People liked Sebastian Barry's writing style and phrasing. Very lyrical in many instances. The questions really helped with the discussion. Next book is The Widow's War by Sally Gunning.

Finished The Elephant Keeper. While I am glad I read it I was not driven to read it and sometimes I found other things to do instead of reading which is unlike me. Not sure what I'll read next. Very intrigued by a newly published book-The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot which is the story of a black woman whose cancer cells were harvested without her knowledge back in the 50s.

Continue my reading of young adult fiction. The latest book was Into The Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern. Really captured the angst, over analyzation, confusion of a high school sophomore "nerd" and her development into her own person. Very enjoyable.
Have started The Elephant Keeper. Not sure about this.