Friday Morning Bookclub

January 15, 2016

A Little Help…Please!

Filed under: Couples meetings — susanbright @ 12:45 pm
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Every April we have a couples meeting where we invite our husband, significant other or a book lover friend to an evening dinner meeting. It is always a challenge choosing a book that appeals to both men and women and is a good discussion book.

Some of the books we have read in the past are:

The Triple Agent

In The Garden of the Beast

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The Plot Against America

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Unbroken

Devil in the White City

We do our best to keep it on the shorter side to encourage everyone to actually read the book and in the past have enjoyed some lively discussions. Of course the delicious pot luck dinner which follows our book discussion is always the highlight of the evening!

It may seem a little early to choose a book for April, but we want to give those busy men plenty of time to read. Have you read any books which you think may fit the bill? Any recommendations?

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January 19, 2014

We Need Your Help! And BTW…What Is The Opposite Of Chic Lit?….Male Tale?

Filed under: Couples meetings — susanbright @ 9:23 am
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man and woman readingEvery April we invite our spouses or significant others to a pot luck dinner meeting…and yes…the men actually read the book!  We lure them in with the promise of good food and good company and on that end we have always been successful. The most important component and the most difficult is choosing the right book, a book that both the men and the women will enjoy. Unfortunately we often over compensate, trying so hard to stay away from anything that may be considered chick lit that we select a book that could be considered the very opposite of a chic lit…a MALE TALE!

We need some suggestions and we need them soon. Our men like to have plenty of time to read their book and prefer it to be of reasonable length. A few of the books we have read at past couples meetings are: Unbroken, In the Garden of the Beast and The Triple Agent. Have you read a book recently that you think both men and women would enjoy reading and discussing? A book that would not fall under the category of chic lit, or male tale?

And by the way…does anyone have a better term for the opposite of chic lit?

April 16, 2012

What Is Wrong With The Friday Morning Bookclub?

Filed under: Couples meetings,In The Garden Of The Beasts,Unbroken — susanbright @ 10:54 pm
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This past weekend we held our annual “couples” meeting, an evening we all look forward to. A lot of thought goes into choosing the book for this special meeting. No Chick Lit allowed! We search for that perfect book. A book that the men and the women will enjoy. Apparently this is no easy feat as we have gotten it wrong the last two years! Perhaps wrong is too strong a word, however we definitely have not gotten it right!

Last year we read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It seemed to be THE book to read. Everyone was talking about the amazing story of Louie Zamperini. Yes, it really was an amazing story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption, however The Friday Morning Bookclub did not seem to be as impressed with the book as the rest of the world! Surviving 47th days at sea on a raft, fending off sharks and eating raw fish is quite impressive, but even that gets old after umpteen pages. Although some of our members enjoyed the book, others struggled to finish  it. On a scale of 1-5, we gave Unbroken 3 omelets.

This year we went with In The Garden Of The Beasts by Eric Larson, yet another highly acclaimed book, and yes another WWII non fiction book. Reading about William E. Dodd, America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s regime and his wild daughter Martha sounded fascinating.  Unfortunately some of us were disappointed. Different book, same results. This certainly was an interesting topic yet several of our members didn’t even bother finishing the book.

So what is wrong with The Friday Morning Bookclub? Are we more critical than most? Are we that hard to please?  It looks like in our quest to find a book that the men will enjoy, we end up with a book that no one actually loves. Maybe next year we should try something totally different. Enough with the heavy-duty non fiction!  Enough World War II! What about a good mystery or even a little fantasy. We have a whole year to work on it and try to get it right.

And here they are. The men in our lives.

Complete review of In The Garden of the Beasts coming soon!

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