Book Club & English Tea Party

As I mentioned in my previous post, my book club just finished reading Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.  We met tonight to discuss the novel, and in honor of the English setting, we decided to have a tea party.  I made a pie, Annie made scones, and Jill brought several different varieties of tea.  There were seven of us.  The talk was lively, the smell of the teas was heavenly, and the scones were delicious!  Tonight was SO much fun.  My house still bears the lingering scent of the teas and oh, I wish it would smell this way all the time!  We all had such fun that it seems the tea party is going to become a staple in our gatherings, and that makes me happy.
For next month, we're going to read Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent.  For the month following that, we'll read Jane Eyre (which I have read previously and loved.)  Then for October, we'll read Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.  I've never read any of Agatha Christie's work, but having seen several of her Poirot mysteries performed for the BBC's "Masterpiece Mystery" television series, my interest has been piqued and I am very much looking forward to that read!

My poor, neglected blog...

I promise, I've not been neglecting my books.

Not on purpose, anyway.

I have been caring for my grandmother since mid-October, and while at the beginning, I had a lot of free time, the last several months were incredibly demanding.  That being said: if you happen to be a caregiver, I admire you, and I understand fully now how difficult it is and, in spite of the difficulty, how rewarding it is.  If you know a caregiver, please thank them and hug them and pray for them every chance you get.  Until you take on something like that, you cannot know what it is like.

Grandma passed away on the Fourth of July.  She claimed her freedom from pain, and I'm happy for her.  I miss her SO much, but she is not to be pitied.  "Do not pity the dead, Harry.  Pity the living."  

Caring for her at the end was all-consuming, but I usually managed to read myself to sleep, at least.  I was so constantly tired that I'd only get through a few pages at night before exhaustion would overtake me, but I'll go ahead & list off what I read.  I'll just do short notes on them.  In no particular order (because I can't remember!) here they are:

I did re-read Harry Potter 5-7, as I said I intended to do.  Cried my way through Deathly Hallows.  Let me just say, for the record, that Neville Longbottom is my favorite character in the whole thing, much like Sam is my favorite in Lord of the Rings.

Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult

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My book club read this one.  It was chosen because several of the other women had read some of Picoult's other books, and they were clean (this is a group of ladies from church, after all) so we went into this one with no trepidation.  OOPS.  There wasn't anything super-graphic, but it was just graphic enough to be uncomfortable for a setting like ours.  Also had somewhat incestous overtones and definite pedophilia.  I was NOT impressed and our group didn't even bother to meet to discuss it because we were all so thoroughly disgusted.

I WAS, however, impressed with my Nook!  This book was the first I read using it, and while I wasn't crazy about the material, I did fall in love with the method!  I won't be using the Nook exclusively, but I've already downloaded a few more books for it!

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

This one immediately followed SOTHW and was SUCH a refreshing change!  It was my pick :-D  I have long loved the David O. Selznick/Alfred Hitchcock film, and have been intrigued by the book for years.  I was happy to finally have a chance to read it!  My group meets this Thursday to discuss it, and I think it just might turn out to be the best we've had yet.  To honor the English setting, we're planning to have tea and scones, complete with pretty little teacups and everything.  Comments thus far indicate that everyone has loved it, making this read the first that we've all had positive & enthusiastic thoughts about.

I found Rebecca to be haunting and mesmerizing.  I was sucked in immediately by the oh-so-familiar opening lines (the film begins verbatim from the novel!) and could not put it down. And I really didn't put it down...I started this one after Grandma passed, so there really wasn't much distraction.  This one will definitely be forever treasured.  I'll need to find a hardcover (possibly vintage?) copy.  HIGHLY recommend this one.

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

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I'll be honest...I couldn't get into this one.  I tried.  OH I tried.  This was another for my book club, and its beginnings were just so horribly sad that I just couldn't deal with it AND with what was going on with Grandma and her rapidly declining health.  Some day, I'll restart it and get through it, but I just couldn't handle it at this particular point in my life.

Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall & Denver Moore

Again, this was a book club pick.  As I'd read it before, I only sort of skimmed it, but still loved it.  It is a truly inspiring story of the most unlikely friendship, made all the better for the fact that it is completely true.

A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

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As with the two previous Flavia de Luce mysteries, I adored this book.  Flavia has not yet failed to delight and intrigue me, and once again, has left me hungry for the next installment of her wonderfully, entertainingly, macabre young life.  It is due out in November!

I think there were some others mixed in there, but they're not coming to mind at the moment.  If I think of any more, I'll post them!

Confession

I have a confession to make.

I absolutely LOVE Harry Potter.

I needed a mental break from reading new material, so I decided to re-read the last three Harry Potter books. The first four, I'd already read several times, so I didn't go back to the beginning. From the fifth book on, however, I've read only once, and knowing that an awful lot had been left out of the movies, and that, therefore, my parents would have a LOT of questions about the films, having never read the books themselves, I decided to refresh myself before they see the films based on the seventh book.

I say all of that simply to say that I am NOT neglecting my precious paper companions, but simply revisiting old friends...friends who are quite thoroughly reviewed by better critics than I, and which I therefore do not feel the need to critique :-)

Do let me say this one thing, though: the final chapters of books five and six are, if anything, more heartbreaking the second time through. I'll be keeping kleenex nearby for the re-reading of the seventh.