The Secrets Between Us By Thrity Umrigar

Please join us in reading The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar for our book club monthly read!

We will be reviewing the book, along with our book club discussion questions for November 30, 2018.

Summary

Poor and illiterate, Bhima had faithfully worked for the Dubash family, an upper-middle-class Parsi household, for more than twenty years. Yet after courageously speaking the truth about a heinous crime perpetrated against her own family, the devoted servant was cruelly fired. The sting of that dismissal was made more painful coming from Sera Dubash, the temperamental employer who had long been Bhima’s only confidante. A woman who has endured despair and loss with stoicism, Bhima must now find some other way to support herself and her granddaughter, Maya. Continue reading “The Secrets Between Us By Thrity Umrigar” →

The Mars Room Book Review

The Mars Room: Book Review By Dinh.
4.5 stars out of 5 stars

Read synopsis.

Find Rachel Kushner: Website| Facebook |

Review:

I am so glad that we chose to read The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner for our book club monthly read. It is not my usual type of read and it’s nice to go outside the comfort zone once in a while.

I have not read any of Rachel Kushner’s work. She is known for her best selling book The Flamethrowers (2013), which was a finalist in the 2013 National Book Award and a NY Times top 10 books of 2013. Her works also include the short stories in The Strange Case of Rachel K (2015), and Telex From Cuba (2008). Continue reading “The Mars Room Book Review” →

The Mars Room Book Club Discussion Questions

Read The Mars Room synopsis.

Discussion Questions:

1. One of the last paragraphs at the end of the book says, “I emerged from the the tree and turned into the light, not slow. I ran toward them, toward the light.”

What do you think about the ending? Did the ending surprise you? Did you like it, and was it what you expected?

2. Romy talks about paths that everyone is on. Jackson, Romy’s son is on his path, and she on hers. In the last page of the book it says “I gave him life. It is quite a lot to give. It is the opposite of nothing. And the opposite of nothing is not something. It is everything.

What do you take away from that? Is she talking about her life, or life in general? Continue reading “The Mars Room Book Club Discussion Questions” →

Guiness World Records 2018 Book Review

Guiness World Records 2018: Book Review by Dinh.
5 out of 5 stars

Review:

I haven’t picked up the Guinness World Records book to read in a long time. My twelve year old son loves the trivia of new and amazing world records and he recently got the 2018 edition from the library to read. He started asking me “Did you know this….” and ” Did you know that…” so I ended up looking and reading the book.

Before long, I got completely pulled in. I am not surprised I got sucked in because I like that sort of thing. I like to watch the Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Contest in Coney Island on July 4th each year, and when in the UK, I like to watch the World’s Strongest Man Contest. Continue reading “Guiness World Records 2018 Book Review” →

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

Please join us in reading The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner for our book club monthly read!

We will be reviewing the book along with our book club discussion questions for October 31, 2018.

Summary

From twice National Book Award–nominated Rachel Kushner, whose Flamethrowers was called “the best, most brazen, most interesting book of the year” (Kathryn Schulz, New York magazine), comes a spectacularly compelling, heart-stopping novel about a life gone off the rails in contemporary America. Continue reading “The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner” →

The Recipe Box Book Review

The Recipe Box: Book Review by Arlene.
4 stars

Check Synopsis

Find Viola Shipman: Website | Facebook |Twitter |

Review:

I felt this was the perfect time of year, with autumn fast approaching, to do a review of The Recipe Box. My daughter Kim gave me this book as one of my Mother’s Day gifts this year.

This wonderful “sweet book” delves into the deep emotional ties of family and especially the relationships of mothers and daughters and grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Continue reading “The Recipe Box Book Review” →

The Recipe Box Book Club Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think about the author Wade Rouse using his grandmother’s name as a pen name in honor of her?

2. Do you have your own recipe box or have you been handed down a recipe box from your mother or grandmother?

3. We are living in the age of technology so when you are looking for a recipe do you immediately go to the internet or do you have a cookbook or cookbooks you use? Continue reading “The Recipe Box Book Club Discussion Questions” →

The Woman In The Window Book Review

The Woman in the Window: Book Review by Dinh.
4.5 stars

Synopsis:

Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare. Continue reading “The Woman In The Window Book Review” →

The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman

Please join us in reading The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman for our monthly read!

We will be reviewing the book along with our book club discussion questions for September 30, 2018.
Summary

Growing up in northern Michigan, Samantha “Sam” Mullins felt trapped on her family’s orchard and pie shop, so she left with dreams of making her own mark in the world. But life as an overworked, undervalued sous chef at a reality star’s New York bakery is not what Sam dreamed. Continue reading “The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman” →

Little Fires Everywhere Book Review

Little Fires Everywhere: Book Review by Dinh.
5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis:

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community. Continue reading “Little Fires Everywhere Book Review” →