October and November

In October, we went to see the movie adaptation of Angie Thomas's book The Hate U Give. And boy, did we all like this movie! I'd say it had us on the edge of our seats; but the truth of the matter is we were pulled back in our seats, as if we were trying to pull away from the tension on the screen. But the movie also made us laugh, we liked the family dynamic, and we thought the acting was terrific. Most of all the movie did what the movie and the book are meant to do - it made us think. It opened some eyes.

Unfortunately, we didn't plan ahead to have a drink in the theaters bar after the movie so we would have had a chance to sit down and talk about it. We definitely recommend seeing this movie; and going with a book club is a great idea - just make sure you plan to have time to talk about it.

This month we read The Wangs Versus The World. Linda pointed out that the movie from October and the book from this month give our group of white suburban middle-aged women great glimpses into other cultures. Ann was not a fan of the book; she felt like she would have gotten more out of the book if she had a great knowledge of Chinese culture and history. But the rest of us did enjoy it.

I'd tell you more about our discuss about this book except that we didn't much talk about it. Having just come off an election (in which one of our members was running for office and another had worked election day), we had a lot to talk about regarding that. Plus, you know, the usual catching up with each other, especially since we didn't get much of a chance to talk to each other in October.

Next month we aren't reading a book so that we all have more time to enjoy our families and friends over the holidays. Or try to be less stressed at least. We will meet and award prizes to the people with the most points earned this year and do a couple of other fun things.