20th Anniversary of Book Club

 

We love all the beautiful women that have been a part of Book Club these past 2 decades!

In Attendance, July 25, 2023 at Joy's Home:

Front: Lynn Lambert, Molly Fedrick, Marain Bell, Hillary Nelson
2nd row: Joy Paet, Ari Theel, Val Diamond, Maria Nakata,
Moana Piena, Cortney Nadig, Amanda Peterson, Ale Portal

So very grateful to all that have brought treats throughout the years!

Cortney provided scrumptious cinnamon cupcakes
and raspberry cupcakes to honor 20 years!

The Minute-to-Win-it Candid pics for your enjoyment

Ale and Moana at the Pencil Hold Challenge

Ari and Marain

Way to stack those 6 dice Lynn!

Moana Piena 20 year Book Clubber
and expert "Can-delier" Stacker!

Amanda made quick work of the Nut Stacker Comp!

Here's to many more years of reading enjoyment and Book Club comradery!

Our August book on deck to read next: Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson

16th Anniversary

This wonderful June evening we met at Joy's home
as we celebrated 16 years of Book Club.

In attendance:
Joy, Judy Lemmons (visiting from VA), Kanoe, Maria, Malani, Jamie, and Cortney

We searched for upcoming books that would fill our minds and interests. I think we did a great job compiling a group of books to finish out 2019.

At the close of our evening, Cloe, Mehana and Amber (our 2019 grads) joined in for a game of "Oh, Heck"

...played with Rook cards.

 Did we start something!?

Side note, if you look up the rules to "Oh, Heck" . . . the www isn't so discretionary as to use the word Heck.

And now the Book Choices for the remainder of the year! Please let me know if you would like to Host. . . . . . . . .

July: The Sunflower by Richard Paul Evans
We are reading The Sunflower again. Favorite author, favorite one of many of his books.

August: The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

September: What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

October: Tell Know One by Harlan Coban
Another book to read again by a favorite author with a talent for suspense.

November: The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee

December: The Man who Invented Christmas by Les Sandiford

Our 15th Anniversary Celebration July 26, 2018

***UPDATE 9/19/2018***

Book selections for November, January & February

What a wonderful evening!

We opened by welcoming all with this beautiful poem written by Julia Donaldson.

Cortney, McKinley, Jamie, Moana, Joy, Maria, Lauren

Welcome to McKinley and Maria!

Thank you both for sharing a little about books you love.

I think we all received excellent suggestions.

Moana was our winner of the pencil balance/toss/catch game. 11 pencils! Way to go! 😄

Welcome McKinley!

~*~*~*~ bookmarks and pens ~*~*~*~

For the rest of the year:

August ~

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

September ~

Beauty by Robin McKinley

October ~

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

November ~

Tisha The story of a young teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness by Robert Specht

December ~

The Mistletoe Secret by Richard Paul Evans

January~

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

February ~

Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova

It's so awesome to get together once again!

Thank you to each of you that were able to make it and celebrate together.

In attendance at Joy's home:

Jamie Dugay

Cortney Nadig

Lauren Snow

AND Sarah Ohki

Jamie, Sarah, Joy, Lauren, Cortney

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker

Happy 13th Anniversary to all our Book Club Members Past and Present!
Our June and July Book was The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker suggested by Cortney

In attendance at Joy's home:
Jamie, Cortney, Lauren, Kat and Joy

The discussion questions we followed for The Art of Hearing Heartbeats:

1. In your opinion, what does the back-and-forth between Julia’s and U Ba’s narratives add to the telling of the love story between Tin Win and Mi Mi? How do these stories interrelate? 

2. Tin Win is born to parents who abandon him as a child but Mi Mi is born into a close-knit family. Mi Mi’s mother, especially, adores her daughter. Do you see this developmental difference reflected in the adult each one becomes, or in the way the two relate to one another?
3. After he loses his sight, Tin Win spends several years in a monastery under the tutelage of the abbot, U May. In your opinion, what does U May model for Tin Win? How does Tin Win grow in these years?
4. Tin Win’s wealthy uncle, U Saw, finances Tin Win’s eye operation and subsequent education abroad. But to U Saw’s discredit, his motives are self-interested, and for his own convenience, he obstructs all communication between Tin Win and Mi Mi. Is U Saw portrayed as a villain—or is he even villainous?
5. A portion of the novel is in the form of letters. Does this change the mood or the flow of the novel? The way you see the characters?
6. Tin Win and Mi Mi develop an intense, literally symbiotic relationship: he walks for her; she acts as his eyes. They become inseparable, but then they are separated for decades. Given what you know about each character, how do you think they are able to withstand the time apart?
7. Discuss the role of memory in the novel, both individual and collective.
8. Burma (now known as Myanmar) was occupied by the British from the nineteenth century until 1948. How important is this colonial history to the major events of the novel?

There were a few more discussion questions but we felt The Art of Hearing Heartbeats was sufficiently discussed out.

Next fun topics of conversation went in three directions: FOOD, MUSICALS and BOOKS

FOOD Establishment recommendations:

Cortney suggested Big Kahunas by the airport to try the BBQ pizza and the club sandwich
Big City Diner multiple locations, Joy's favorite: Paniolo Chicken Salad
Jamie mentioned Mexico in Kalihi 
We all want to try Coquitos in Waianae for Puerto Rican, Colombian & Caribbean selections
Lauren felt North Shore Tacos are the closest to Cafe Rio on the island
Then Cortney mentioned Hughley's for southern food. That place is high on my to-go list.
Queen Street Cafe & Grill has awesome firecracker Chicken. yes, please.
Dixie Grill got some not so great reviews from our bookclubbers.
And one of our favorite group places to eat is Cattle Company and their hot fudge cake. We've had too many farewells at Cattle Company though.

MUSICALS:

Cortney has an affinity for Musicals! How awesome is she?! So I picked her brain. Some favorites she mentioned: Singing in the Rain, The King & I, White Christmas, that one she watches every year. Then we found out Cortney's favorite Christmas CD is Martina McBride.

Kat mentioned the musical Urinetown of which we thought was You're In Town ....nope. Urinetown. hahaha

The Paet family favorite Musical is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Bless Your Beautiful Hide! And I like Chicago, too. We all LOVE The Sound of Music. I'm surprised none of us mentioned Grease, however!

BOOKS:

Our August Books for the month will be the Stung series by Bethany Wiggins. 

Book ONE: Stung

Book TWO: Cured

This series is Moana's suggestion and Cortney and I read them. They are super quick reads and both very good.

Each book is approximately 300 pages. So we will all need to get crackin'!

Also mentioned for possible future reads:

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline, 278 pages

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum, 497 pages

The Secret Keeper (478 pages) and The Lake House (593 pages) both by Kate Morton

And Finally, Pebble Ice or Nugget Ice is to be found at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf or in a pinch at Sam's Club in their cafe. Aloha!!

Celebrating 12 Awesome Years of Reading!

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers *11th Anniversary*

Book Selection for July:
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
California's gold country, 1850. A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep.

Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child she survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and dead inside.

Then she meets Michael Hosea. A man who seeks his Father's heart in everything, Michael obeys God's call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel's every bitter expectation, until despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw.

But with her unexpected softening come overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. And so Angel runs. Back to the darkness, away from her husband's pursuing love, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does ... the One who will never let her go.

Our 11th Anniversary of Book Club! We met at Cortney's Home and talked about this really intriguing book. There was lots of opportunity for discussion.
  
In attendance: Cortney, Joy, Jamie, Kanoe and Amalie

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County 6/26/2013 ***10th Anniversary***

Our June Book for the month:
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker



We had a fun time at Joy's house. Oh the treats were so yummy!
Thank you to all that attended:
DeAnna Dotson, Ashley Mafi, Kanoe Aken, Jamie Dugay, Cortney Nadig, Krystal Ava, Lethena Lott and Joy Paet

We celebrated our 10th Anniversary a month early.
I love this picture:

10 Years of Book Club

The book for next month is AnguiSH by Lila Felix

AnguiSH by Lila Felix is available on Kindle or Nook format for $3.99.
Unfortunately, it isn't yet available at the Hawaii State Public Library.

Happy 8th Anniversary!!!

We have a book for August!

 

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman comes highly recommended by Molly Koch and Sarah Ohki!

~ from goodreads.com:

Steel Magnolias meets The Help in this Southern debut novel

sparkling with humor, heart, and feminine wisdom.

This will be a book with much opportunity for discussion.

**8/16**Update****

Our August meeting will be

Tuesday, August 30, 2011.

7:30 PM at Joy's home

It will be an excellent opportunity to share book titles and suggestions for the rest of the year.
We will meet at 7:30PM at my home. Email me for directions! joyfulpie@aol.com

For example:

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo

I'm reading this now, it was passed on to me by Sally Holstein. It's astounding and very special.

**update 8/6/2011** Really sweet book and a quick read.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosna 

This suggestion is from our very own Sarah Ohki. I've had this on my 'to read' shelf for a couple years and think this will be a captivating read. *On a side note, this book was recently made into a movie and is in select theaters now.

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine certainly looks intriguing and is a suggestion from Rachel McGovern. It's also been on my 'to read' list and one I think would garner some fascinating discussion at book club.

It would be wonderful to have the remainder of 2011's book choices mapped out. I am especially interested in what anyone would have us read as an October(Halloween) book or December(Christmas) book.

The possibilities are truly endless! I am so excited to get together with everyone again!

Happy Reading!!

 ~Joy

Happy 7th Anniversary!

While there wasn't a Book Club meeting planned in July, we had a couple opportunities to celebrate. For Laura's birthday many of us met for dinner on July 14 at Aunty Pasto's in Kunia. Then for the opening weekend of Twilight: Eclipse, a group of us watched a matinee at Regal Theaters, July 3.


Aunty Pasto's July 14, 2010

Leticia Davis, Veronica Peterson, Laura Smith, Shelley Atkinson,
Cortney Nadig, Joy Paet, Sarah Ohki, Cindy Barton, Julie Basham

Our August meeting will be held on 8/18/2010 the book is
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
We will meet at the Kapolei Consolidated Theaters lobby at 7:00 for the 7:30 showing.

The Glass Castle - 7/16/08

Happy 5th Anniversary Book Clubbers!!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable time at the Paet home on Wednesday night.

The Poet Spotlight was given by Joy.

From Runny Babbit - a Billy Sook by Shel Silverstein:
Runny be quimble,
Runny be nick,
Runny cump over the jandlestick.
But now -- what smells like furning bluff?
Guess he didn't hump jigh enough."

We talked a little about The Glass Castle and then time sure got away from us!

Ah, the snacks sure were yummy, anyway. *grin*

Some interesting quotes & questions:

"I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster."

"Mom told us we would have to go shoplifting.
"Isn't that a sin?" I asked Mom.
"Not exactly," Mom said. "God doesn't mind you bending the rules a little if you have a good reason. It's sort of like justifiable homicide. This is justifiable pilfering."

HOT TOPIC: When Jeannette and her brother find a diamond ring, they immediately want to sell it for food, but their mother keeps it to "improve her self esteem." Really? REALLY?

"Mom and Dad liked to make a big point about never surrendering to fear or to prejudice or to the narrow-minded conformist sticks-in-the-mud who tried to tell everyone else what was proper."

HOT TOPIC: Was the U-haul the best place to ‘store’ the Wall’s children on their trip across country? Really? REALLY??

And finally, a lesson on self-reliance anyone?

...the wood was chewed through everywhere. We kept stepping on soft spots in the floorboards, crashing through, and creating new holes. "Darned* if this floor isn't starting to look like a piece of Swiss cheese," Dad said one day. He told me to fetch him his wire cutters, a hammer, and some roofing nails. He finished off the beer he was drinking, snipped the can open with his wire cutters, hammered it flat, and nailed it over the hole. He needed more patches, he said, so he had to go out and buy another six-pack. After he polished off each beer, he used the can to repair one of the holes. And whenever a new hole appeared, he'd get out his hammer, down a beer, and do another patch job.

In attendance:
Joy, Molly, Moana, Arielle and Trisha

We had fun answering trivia questions from our book choices from July 2006 - July 2008. I only did the two most recent years instead of five because, well goodness, it is a lot of books!

For the Month of August we will be reading "These is My Words" by Nancy E. Turner.

**UPDATE** Congratulations to Sarah & Takuya and family on your newest arrival. Kenji Cavalier Ohki was born July 22nd. We know you are enjoying your new son.

Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix 7/21/07 *Movie Night* FOURTH ANNIVERSARY

It's been four years of reading together! Let's celebrate!



This month is Harry Potter book five - The Order of the Phoenix.
(and at 870 pages, y'all better get crackin'!)
Then on Saturday evening, July 21st let's go see the movie .





So happy reading - for some of us rereading - or just wait for the movie. =)