Book GROUP


​BOOK GROUP
Organized in 1930
Leader: Malou Hurst
Assistant Leader: To be announced
Secretary/Treasurer: Sandy Mefford
E-mail: Beth Taylor  ​
NOTE: Please see below for details regarding the May 24, 2021 information for the luncheon.
Meeting:  4th Monday, 1:00 p.m. at Christ United Methodist Church, 3440 Shroyer Rd., Dayton
PLEASE scroll down (below the program information 2020-2021) for a list of books suggested for summer reading.  NOTE: There are four lists:  Summer 2020, followed by Summer 2019, Summer 2018, and Summer 2017.
Specific Book Club program dates, hostesses, and reviewers for 2020 - 2021:​
September 28, 2020 at 1:00 p.m.  NOW CANCELED (as of August 24, 2020)
     Hostesses:  Marge Lane, Myrna Miller, and Malou Hurst              
     Reviewer:  Ruth Hoecker
     
​October 26, 2020 at 1:00 p.m.   NOW CANCELED (as of August 24, 2020)
     Hostesses:  Marsha Tolle, Marge Weeks, and Margie Newman                
     Reviewer:   Judy Nassmacher        
 
February 22, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. NOW CANCELED (as of February 18, 2021)
     Hostesses:  Karen Weglage, Diana Kaylor and Willa Jean Smalley
     Reviewer:   Kathy Hodges
 
March 22, 2021  at 1:00 p.m. NOW CANCELED (as of February 18, 2021)
     Hostesses: Pat Smith and Judy Nassmacher 
     Reviewer:  Jean Mahan
 
April 26, 2021 at 1:00 p.m.  NOW CANCELED (as of February 18, 2021)
      Hostesses:  Jean Mahan and others to be announced
      Reviewer:  Malou Hurst
           
May 24, 2021 at Archer's Tavern, 2030 E. Dorothy Lane, Kettering, OH 45420
     Luncheon at noon and a sharing of books for the summer at 12:30 p.m. !
          Please bring along your short list (from one to five titles) of good books to share with the group. 
            (Please write these down on an index card to turn in.)
          NOTE: If you do not wish to join those who are dining, feel free to come at 12:30 p.m. to share the book list.
          Questions?  Contact Beth Taylor (beth45429@yahoo.com).
     NOTE: Please contact Malou Hurst at gmlhurst@aol.com or call her to let her know if  you are coming - or not.
       Write up to five books / authors on an index card to mention and turn in for compilation. 
       You will received the entire list soon after the meeting.
       (If you cannot attend, please email your reading list to Malou.)
 
Please note that the May 2021 luncheon, members brought their reading suggestions to the luncheon to share.
These books are arranged two ways:
  • Click HERE for the list by members (and the authors and/or books that each one recommends);
  • Click  HERE  for the list by  author and/or book titles.
Here are some book suggestions, from August 2020 through the present:
  • A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles.
    Not a spy novel but a story of an aristocrat sentenced to life in a hotel during the Russian Revolution
  • A Sense of Civility, by Amor Towles
    This is the first novel that Towles wrote.
  • Books by Horatio Alger and John Galsworthy
  • The Little Book, by Selden Edwards (Reviewed by Malou Hurst in the November 2020 newsletter)
  • The Promise, by Ann Weisgarber (Reviewed by Malou Hurst in the December 2020 newsletter)
  • ​Beneath A Scarlet Sky, by Mark Sullivan (Reviewed by Malou Hurst in the April 2021 newsletter)
  • Storyville, by Lois Battle (Reviewed by Malou Hurst in the May 2021 newsletter)
  • Sweet Water, by Chrsitina Baker-Kline (Reviewed by Malou Hurst in the June 2021 newsletter)​
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SUMMER 2019: Recommended Book List for summer reading:
           (Recommendations from those present at the May 2019 luncheon meeting)
  • The School of Essential Ingredients by Eric Bauermeister (a debut novel)
  • The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
  • Moloka'i and Daughter of Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
  • Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier
  • The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
  • The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
  • Archie Meets Nero Wolfe by Robert Goldsborough 
    (Rex Stout's estate gave permission to Goldsborough to continue the Nero Wolfe stories. Excellent!)
  • The Swap by Nicole Graves
  • Room on Rue Amelie by Kristen Hamel
  • The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster, illustrated by Jules Feiffer 
    (This is supposedly a child's book, but if read again as an adult, it's still fun!)
  • The Girl With Seven Names: Escape From North Korea by Hyeonseo Lee
  • Send Down the Rain by Charles Martin 
    (Interesting twist!)
  • A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meisner
  • Becoming by Michelle Obama 
    (Personal, powerful,intimate and inspiring memoir of the former First Lady)
  • The 18th Abduction by John Patterson and Maxine Poetro 
    (A new woman's murder club novel)
  • The Perfect Circle by Lucinda Perry
  • The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman   
    (A story about generations of a loving family and some great recipes)
  • Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate 
    (Real life scandal. Memphis adoption  organization kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country.)
SUMMER 2018: Recommended Book List for summer reading:
           (Recommendations from those present at the May 2018 luncheon meeting)
  • BEACH HOUSE FOR RENT by Mary Alice Monroe
  • BEARTOWN by Fredrick Backman
  • HERO OF THE EMPIRE by Candace Millard
  • THE HIGH TIDE CLUB by Mary Kay Andrews
  • Jeanne M. Dams – author to try
  • THE OLD MAN’s WAR series by John  Scalzi
  • THE PASSAGE TRILOGY by Justin Cronin
  • THE PATRIOT THREAT by Steve Berry
  • THE PERFECT STRANGER by Megan Miranda
  • A PIECE OF THE WORLD by Christina Baker Kline
  • MY SISTER’S KEEPER  by Jodi Picoult
  • SMOKE by Dan Vyleta 
  • THE STARS ARE FIRE by Anita Shreve
  • Susan Wiggs – author to try
  • WENCH by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
  • THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW by A.J. Finn
  • WONDER WOMEN, The quest for Perfection by Debra L. Spar
SUMMER 2017:  Recommended Book List and Authors for summer reading: 
             (Recommendations from those present at the May 2017 luncheon meeting)
​     Authors:  
  • Jeffrey Archer (Bestseller 19 times in fiction, 4 times in short stories,
    and in non-fiction)
  • Susanna Kearsley (Former museum curator, avid amateur genealogist,
    and writer of modern gothic novels that interweave contemporary
    ​suspense and romance with historical adventure)
  • Elmore Leonard (Writer of forty-five novels and nearly as many western and crime short stories across his career that spanned more than six decades)
​     Books and their respective authors:
  • The Couple Next Door: A Novel by Shari Lapena  
  • Einstein: HIs LIfe and Universe by Walter Isaacson
  • Everything You Want Me to Be: A Novel by Mindy Mejia
  • The Ex: A Novel by Alafair Burke
  • The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
  • The Girl with No Name: The Incredible Story of a Child Raised by Monkeys by Marina Chapman
  • Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance
  • The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman
  • People of the Lakes (The First North Americans series, Book 6) by Kathleen O’Neal Gear
  • Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life by Sally Bedell Smith
  • Room by Emma Donoghue
  • True Colors by Kristin Hannah
  • Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird
  • The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman