May

31

The Sunday Salon 5.31.09

2009 at 12pm     Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky

tssbadge1 Oh, what a week it’s been! I can only imagine how exciting this post would be if I had attended BEA this week, but I’ll try to keep it interesting nonetheless. I kicked off the week by surprising hubby with a quick trip to DC for his birthday. We both took Tuesday off as well, and I can’t say I was too happy about returning to the real world on Wednesday, but it was pretty wonderful to only have a three-day workweek.

This week, I read and reviewed The Little Book by Selden Edwards and Lost Boy by Brent W. Jeffs. I’ve also finished The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, which is my last book for the Book Awards Challenge, and I’ll be reviewing it later today.

Other highlights of the week:

I lost my book club virginity!

And many of you shared great suggestions from your own experiences with book clubs.  My group, comprised of me, a high school English teacher, a high school librarian, an author, and three other avid readers, chose The Help for our first discussion, and I couldn’t have been happier with that decision. I loved the book when I read it a few months ago, and it was well-received by the group as well. A few interesting things that came up in our conversation:

  • In addition to examining relationships between women of different races, Stockett really nailed the dynamics that can occur between women friends and the fear that even adult wome have about crossing the “queen bees” of their group.
  • We found it interesting that though Minnie certainly understood the way Hilly’s group of friends worked, she never took it upon herself to try to help Celia navigate an entree into the group, but she did sit with her and provide comfort during her miscarriage.
  • Many of us felt that we didn’t like Skeeter as much as it seemed Stockett wanted us to. She occasionally came off as entitled and a bit whiny, and we questioned her motives for wanting to help Aibileen and Minnie and the members of their community tell their stories.
  • We had mixed reactions to Skeeter giving the women money to tell their stories. We agreed that it was right for her to share the proceeds from the book with them, but the fact that she paid some of them to motivate them to tell their stories made some of us uncomfortable, but it made others feel better about the situation as it indicated that she wasn’t just using the women.
  • Along the same lines, we wondered if it shouldn’t have taken longer for the women to warm up to Skeeter and the idea of taking such a large risk for a person they hardly knew.
  • We all agreed that part of Stockett’s brilliance was that she made all of her characters three-dimensional and flawed. We couldn’t totally love or hate any of them, even Hilly, who treated others horribly but was very good with her children.

Our next selection is The Gargoyle, which I am so excited to discuss with this great group of women. It’s been almost a year since I read it, so I’m also looking forward to a re-read and seeing what I pick up on the second time around that I missed initially.

BEAtwittyparty was a raging success!

Marked primarily by the fact that I, at one point, got kicked off Twitter for exceeding the hourly limit, whatever that may be.  I think there were close to 100 of us participating, and I could barely keep up with the conversation. Okay, I couldn’t keep up with most of it, but it was crazy fun to see everyone chatting, and I gave away a ton of books.

  • Ti won a copy of Bought by Anna David, Laura won House and Home by Kathleen McCleary, and Heather, Mary, Meghan, and Melissa each won a copy of Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos.

Thanks again to everyone who participated, ran giveaways, and donated prizes. I hope to attend BEA next year and meet you all in person!

And now, for Sunday

I think I’ve finally recovered from my Twitter hangover and from a busy night at the Relay for Life yesterday, so I’ll be spending the day with my fun weekend read, Nancy Bachrach’s The Center of the Universe, watching some of The X Files, season 2 on DVD with hubby, and generally doing as little as possible.

What have you been up to this weekend?

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No Responses to “The Sunday Salon 5.31.09”

  1. Meghan on May 31st, 2009 3:12 pm

    Your book club sounds awesome so far! I would be excited to reread and discuss The Gargoyle too. I think there is a lot to play with.

    With regards to The Help, I also really appreciated the three-dimensional characters. I definitely remember feeling that Skeeter didn’t appreciate what she had even though she’d collected the stories of so many women. I loved the different perspective and the authenticity of the characters’ voices. It was great.

    Thank you so much for hosting the BEA twitty party! It was a fantastic time, although I don’t think anyone could keep up with the conversation. =)

  2. stacybuckeye on June 1st, 2009 3:48 pm

    I’m so glad that your book club was a good experience. It sounds like you had a wonderful discussion. I’ve resisted Twitter, but your party did tempt me. Maybe next time. It sounds like you had two very success events last week :)

  3. Kim on June 2nd, 2009 12:37 pm

    This is what I say about my book clubs: we always have an interesting conversation, most of the time it’s about the book.

    Thank you for the giveaway! I’m thrilled I won something!

  4. Ti on June 2nd, 2009 12:51 pm

    I somehow missed this post in my reader the first time around. The TwittyParty was a lot of fun. I had a hard time keeping up with pizza in the oven and the like but it was a hoot just trying to keep up.

    I sent you my mailing addy in a separate comment so let me know if you did not get it.

  5. bermudaonion on June 2nd, 2009 7:53 pm

    Your book club sounds great – I need to find one now.

  6. Marie Burton on June 10th, 2009 9:37 am

    Just wanted to let you know that I received the books from Tundra.. I was so confused as to why I got them.. when I won children’s books I was picturing more of a little kid book… and these are big books, that actually look interesting enough for me to read them. When my daughter settles in for the summer I may see if she is interested in reading them with me. Either way, she’ll read them someday, I will definitely, & maybe my son will be a reader too when he stops destroying the house in his toddler ways..
    So .. thanks :)

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