July

Now here's a book that brought out all kinds of feelings among the group! Ann loved it; Nancy was at the other end of the spectrum. When the book was selected, it was understood to be a book about a dysfunctional family. What a surprise to find out that  incest was at the center of the storyline!


As uncomfortable at that made all of us, we had no problem talking about the way Engel uses it in the book. We talked about whether or not the incestuous relationships were believable, the reality of incest in people's lives, and the fallout for the victims.

The publisher didn't include discussion questions for the book, but Lisa prepared some based on posted reviews of the book and interviews with Engel. In fact, though, we had no problem talking about the book at all - we talked about this book more than we've talked about most other books. Curiously, even though we shot holes in a lot of the plot points, we all had an appreciation of the way Engel structured the book, the way she wrote about small town, Midwestern life, and the main character, Lane.

I don't know that we would recommend the book to other book clubs. Given the subject matter, it would certainly be something that might be a trigger for some people.

Because the book is set in Kansas, we enjoyed several corn dishes and Kansas beer. Nancy even made cookies with nuts, because the grandfather in the book is "nuts," she said!

Time To Fire Up Your Competitive Spirit and Pull Out Your Scorecards!

Now, I know you all love our book club but life gets in the way. How about I give you all a little incentive to, oh say, read the book? Come to the meetings? Can I tempt you with some prizes and a little competition?

Starting in July, you'll have a chance to earn points in several different ways. At our December meeting, prizes will be awarded. The top two point totals will win bookish prizes (and by "bookish," I might mean a bottle of wine to drink while you read a book!) and the person with the least points will win a lovely white elephant gift (I might have more fun with this prize than the other two!).

Here's how you can earn points:

• Finish the book - 10 points
• Host a meeting - 10 points
• Attending a meeting - 5 points
• Organize a book-related, non-meeting event - 5 points
• Attend a non-meeting event (seeing an author, seeing a book-related movie, go to a play, do an activity you were inspired to do because of a book) - 3 points (an extra point if you've gone with book club friends)
• Introduce a new member - 3 points
• Recommend a book 1 point (2 points if your book is added to our reading list)
• Submit a question regarding the book - 1 point 

If you can't come to the meeting, but have finished the book or if you've gone to a non-meeting event that qualifies, please let me know by email so I can add your points. There are a lot of movies come out this year that are based on books, so there will be a lot of opportunities to earn points just by going to the movies! I'll try to be better about keeping the calendar updated with bookish events on the website (http://omahabookwormsbookclub.blogspot.com). Let me know if you think of any other ways we could earn points!

**Sunday, July 15th is your first chance to earn points - please see Linda's email!**

June

We had a good turnout last night for our discussion of Little Fires Everywhere and a good discussion. We tried something new this month. Instead of just having a list of questions, we took drew rounds of questions from a basket. Not only did that put each person with some questions they had to answer but holding that question in your hand was a good reminder that we still had book discussion to continue with when we got off track.

We largely stuck to the publisher's questions for the book, although they were tweaked some and we didn't include all of them. This allowed us to talk about character development, the different kinds of mothers, the setting of the book and how it impacted what the characters did. We spent a lot of time talking about the open-ended questions Ng left for readers to consider. A lot of our discussion had to do with surrogacy: the way it was accomplished here, the difference it might make if neither of the prospective parents were a biological parent, and whether or not we would be able to carry a baby as a surrogate. We also spent a lot of time talking about adoption, the role race plays in adoption, and what happens when a birth parent decides they want their child back. We had to remind ourselves frequently that Ng has set this book twenty years in the past and then we worked to remember what the world was like at that time.

Those of us who had read the book enjoyed it and we would definitely recommend it for other book clubs. There were enjoy wider topics discussed in this book, too, so that those who hadn't read the book could also jump into the conversation.

Thanks to Ann for hosting and all of the yummies and to Lisa W. for sharing books!