Friday Morning Bookclub

4th Annual Gaithersburg Book Festival, May 18, 2013: A Review By Ann

susanbright — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:27:35 +0000

Pretty unbelievable but I won. I won an IPAD! I found out two days after the festival. And, I was already going to tell everyone how great this festival is anyway. Susan and I had attended last year with Dana who also won an IPAD (Obviously every bookclub member should go to the festival with Susan!!!) and while the weather wasn’t as great this year, the authors and the format for talking about the books was just as engrossing. I found the caliber and the breath of author presentations more enriching than the Baltimore Book Festival too … but hopefully that one will grow.

The format of the sessions I attended was author interviewing author. The process of creating the narrative, the discipline of writing, and how characters are developed was as much of each authors story as the actual book they were discussing. Briefly, here are the some of the authors and books that they were talking about – most had published multiple books.

The author Vaddey Ratner, who wrote IN THE SHADOW OF THE BANYAN: A NOVEL was definitely the most contemplative and poetic. She was five years old when the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia’s came to power in 1975. It is a fictionalized work that parrallels her personal tale of survival. I have not read her book but I was struck by her grace and eloquence. You could feel her emotion and desire to memorialize the loved ones she lost and document the atrocities, while writing a story that is filled to an even larger extent with opportunism and beauty

Jami Attenburg was just a hoot. … fast-talking, honest to the point of bluntness. I thought THE MIDDLESTEINS a beautifully written book, very wry and sharply funny. It peels back the layers of one family’s struggle to hold together even as its members fall apart. Each family member gets their own voice. The author interviewing Jami said something about the book along these line that really resonated with me: Sometimes all Jami needs to capture a soul is a couple of sentences. It’s true.

Therese Anne Fowler’s book, Z: A NOVEL OF ZELDA FITZGERALD, sounded really really great and well researched, which impresses me in fictionalized historical novels. According to the program, it is named “one of the most anticipated books of 2013.”

Susan asked Caroline Leavitt of the The New York Times best-seller, PICTURES OF YOU, if she would come to our bookclub to discuss her new book Is It Tomorrow and she said yes! Frances De Pontes Peebles, author of The Seamstress told Susan she would Skype with us. Both of these books sound amazing!

A book of parallel historical and contemporary fiction that I think we might like for bookclub is, THE HOUSE GIRL, by Tara Conklin. See what you think.

I have not done the day justice but I do hope you can join us at the 5^th Annual Gaitherburg Festival. Who knows … in addition to a fantastic day, you might win an IPAD!

The Friday Morning Bookclub Gives The Triple Agent:The Al-Qaeda Mole Who Infiltrated The CIA 3.77 Omelets

susanbright — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:27:25 +0000

Amazon readers gave The Triple Agent 4.6 stars

Goodreads readers gave The Triple Agent 3.97 stars

The Triple Agent, written by Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Joby Warrick is a well researched and compelling book about the 2009 suicide attack in Afghanistan that killed 7 CIA agents.

Sad new reality, CIA’s darkest hour, tragic but true and Taliban bearing gifts are just a few of the phrases used to describe this book. A quick read with a lot to say!

Two Books In One Month….Yes! We Can Do It!

susanbright — Sat, 11 May 2013 01:11:29 +0000

We were so very excited to receive Advance Readers’ Copies of Barbara Delinsky’s latest book Sweet Salt Air. It looks like just the kind of book we need to read after just finishing The Dinner, a very disturbing book! Sweet Salt Air is about two women, their friendships and yes their secrets. Charlotte and Nicole used to be the best of friends, but they had grown apart, each going their own way. When Nicole invites Charlotte to join her at her family’s island house where they had once spent their summers, to work on a cook book, Charlotte cannot refuse. Between them lies an explosive secret. Sweet Salt Air is a book about friendship, secrets, betrayals and forgiveness.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes is being described as a heart breaking romantic novel. Will is an unhappy, angry 35-year-old man and he has every right to be so. Once active, he has spent the last two years as a quadriplegic. Louisa is a 26-year-old girl hired by his mother to help keep his spirits up. “They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose.” Get your Kleenex ready….you are going to need it!

Please join us in reading Sweet Salt Air AND Me Before You!

Rate The Book: The Dinner By Herman Koch

susanbright — Fri, 10 May 2013 01:10:23 +0000

Help us rate our books. All votes are welcomed!

This Month’s Book: The Dinner….In Three Words

susanbright — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:23:50 +0000

This month’s book, The Dinner is being described by The Wall Street Journal as the European Gone Girl.

Here is what some of our readers have to say:

Quick, disturbing read

Good psychological thriller

Major moral dilemma!

disturbing, distressful, demented

Sick, Sick, Sick!

What a family!

How would you describe it ….In just three words?

A European ‘Gone Girl‘ – Wall Street Journal

The Art Of Work By Phaye Poliakoff-Chen

susanbright — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:50:50 +0000

It is always exciting when someone you know has a book published, so when Carol (a member of The Friday Morning Bookclub) told me about this book written by a friend of hers, we thought it would be a good idea to write a little something about it on our blog.

A note from Carol:

I am excited to tell everyone that my friend, Phaye Poliakoff-Chen, a writing instructor here in Baltimore at Goucher College, just published a book of short stories. I became engrossed in the vignettes from this book. We can see bits of ourselves in her characters…..and feel compassion. In The Javon, a middle aged woman sits in a hospital room in an ordinary vinyl waiting room chair beside her dying father. Her thoughts, her reveries, could be ours. Her characters remind me of Anne Tyler’s or Joyce Carol Oates’ characters: they are kind, awkward, good, reticent, quirky, down on their luck, and decent.

I highly, highly recommend this book. It’s available on Kindle and hardcover. I hope to have her do a reading with the book club!

check it out: The Art of Work: Phaye Poliakoff-Chen: 9781935961925: Amazon …

The Triple Agent: A Review By Bob

susanbright — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:06:08 +0000

This past Sunday, I went with my wife to The Friday Morning Bookclub’s annual couple’s pot luck dinner meeting and discussion. A good time was had by the 18 attendees. We reviewed The Triple Agent by Joby Warrick. It was a lively discussion with fervor and intensity as it was just days after the terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon and capture of the second perpetrator.
The book chronicles the events leading to the New Years eve 2009 suicide attack that killed nine CIA and FBI agents and two Afghani employees at Khost Military base in Afghanistan. The suicide bomber was a religious Jordanian physician/ zealot and Al-Qaida supporter recruited by Jordanian Intelligence and the CIA . The book is an easy read and very enlightening about our war against Al-Qaida.
Among the many comments there were the following conclusion that most agreed upon:
A religious zealot will never be converted
Mistakes were both made by CIA/FBI hierarchy and the inexperienced leadership at Camp Khost. Each group was so anxious to get what they felt was outstanding intelligence that normal safety protocols were abandoned.
Guarding against terrorist attacks has and will remain a way of life in our world.
Americans serving in the CIA, FBI and Military against the war on terrorism are extremely dedicated to their dangerous mission. They make numerous and tremendous sacrifices to protect our country and it’s citizens. We owe them a debt of gratitude.

I recommend the book and rate it a 4+

Rate The Book: The Triple Agent By Joby Warrick

susanbright — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 01:09:22 +0000

Help us rate our books! All votes and comments are welcomed and appreciated!

This Month’s Book, The Triple Agent………….. in Three Words

susanbright — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:15:56 +0000

The Triple Agent is a FRIGHTENING FACTUAL ACCOUNT of the events that lead Humam Khalil al-Balawi, a Jordanian doctor to leave his family, put on a suicide vest and blow himself up along with seven CIA agents.

Here is what some of our readers have to say:

Sad new reality

War on terror

Taliban bearing Gifts

CIA’s darkest hour

Tragic yet true

They got us

How would you describe The Triple Agent……………. in three words?

A Quick Review Of This Month’s Book: The Triple Agent, By The Author Himself!

susanbright — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:31:42 +0000

This month’s book, The Triple Agent is a fascinating account of the tragic 2009 suicide attack in Afghanistan, which killed 7 CIA operatives and the events that led up to it.

For a quick review of the book check out this interview with the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, and author Joby Warrick:

Charlie Rose – Joby Warrick