August - The Lion Women of Tehran

Alecia has picked The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali. Here’s some information about the book:

From nationally bestselling author Marjan Kamali, this perfect book club read is “evocative...and a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism” (People) set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran.

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams for a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions of becoming “lion women.”

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.

We will meet on Tuesday August 18, 2026, at 7:30 at Debby’s house. Happy reading!📚

 

July - Theo of Golden

Debby has picked Theo of Golden by Allen Levi for our book for July.  

Here is some information about the book: 

One spring morning, a stranger named Theo arrives in the small Southern city of Golden. He doesn't explain much about where he came from or why he's there-but when he visits the local coffeehouse, where pencil portraits of the people of Golden hang on the walls, he begins purchasing them, one at a time, and giving each portrait to the person depicted. In exchange, he asks only for the person's story. And so portrait by portrait, person by person, secrets are revealed, regrets are shared, and ordinary lives are profoundly altered.  

A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is an unforgettable novel about the power of generosity, the importance of connection, and the quiet miracles that happen when we choose kindness and wonder. 

We will meet on Tuesday, July 21, 2026 at 7:30 at Debby's house for our discussion. Happy Reading!

June - My Friends

Kellyn has picked our book for June. We will be reading My Friends by Fredrik Backman. 

Here is some information about the book: 

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.
Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.
Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.

We will meet on Tuesday June 16th at 7:30 pm at Debby's house to discuss the book. Happy reading! 

 

May - The Tipping Point

Donna has picked The Tipping Point by Malcolm for our book for May. 

Here is some information about the book.

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.

We will meet on Tuesday May19 at 7:30 at Debby's house to discuss the book. Hope to see you there. 

April - The Midwife of Hope River

Sarah Aina has chosen The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman for our book for April. Here's some information about the book: 

A remarkable new voice in American fiction enchants readers with a moving and uplifting novel that celebrates the miracle of life. In The Midwife of Hope River, first-time novelist Patricia Harmon transports us to poverty stricken Appalachia during the Great Depression years of the 1930s and introduces us to a truly unforgettable heroine. Patience Murphy, a midwife struggling against disease, poverty, and prejudice—and her own haunting past—is a strong and endearing character that fans of the books of Ami McKay and Diane Chamberlain will take into their hearts, as she courageously attempts to bring new light, and life, into an otherwise cruel world.

We will meet on Tuesday April 21 at 7:30 pm at Debby's house to discuss the book. Hope to see you there. Happy Reading!

March - The Secret Book of Flora Lea

Tracie has picked The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry for our book for March. Here is some information about the book: 

In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone—a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own.

But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, and she carries that guilt into adulthood as a private burden she feels she deserves.

Twenty years later, Hazel is in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore to a career at Sotheby’s. With a charming boyfriend and her elegantly timeworn Bloomsbury flat, Hazel’s future seems determined. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing an illustrated book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the imaginary world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years?

We will meet at Debby's house on March 17th at 7:30 pm to discuss the book. Happy Reading!

February - Akarne

Jess has picked Akarnae by Lynette Noni for our book for February.

Here's some information about the book:

The first of the five-part MEDORAN CHRONICLES offers a new slant on magical parallel worlds – it's Harry Potter meets X-Men, with a twist of Narnia. With just one step, 16-year-old Alex Jennings's world changes - literally. Dreading her first day at a new school, Alex is stunned when she walks through a doorway and finds herself stranded in Medora, a fantasy world full of impossibilities. Desperate to return home, she learns that only Professor Marselle can help her... but he's missing. While waiting for him to reappear, Alex attends Akarnae Academy, Medora's boarding school for teenagers with extraordinary gifts. She soon starts to enjoy her bizarre new world and the friends who embrace her as one of there own, but strange things are happening at Akarnae, and Alex can't ignore her fear that something unexpected... something sinister... is looming. An unwilling pawn in a deadly game, Alex's shoulders bear the crushing weight of an entire race's survival. Only she can save the Medorans, but what if doing so prevents her from ever returning home? Will Alex risk her entire world... and maybe even her life - to save Medora?

We will meet on Tuesday February 17 at 7:30 pm to discuss the book. Happy Reading!

January The Patchwork Girl of Oz

Melissa picked our book for January, The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum. We will meet on Tuesday January 20, 2026 at 7:30 at Debby’s house.

Here is some information about the book:

Set out on a quest full of magic and mayhem, and meet an unforgettable new heroine who proves that a heart made of fabric can be as true as any other.

When Ojo the Unlucky and his Unc Nunkie visit the crooked magician Dr. Pipt, a terrible accident turns Unc Nunkie and the magician’s wife to stone. The only cure requires ingredients from across Oz—and Ojo must find them. Joined by the irrepressible Patchwork Girl (brought to life by Dr. Pipt’s magic powder), the Glass Cat, and the Woozy, Ojo sets out on a desperate quest. But when he breaks one of Ozma’s laws in his search for a cure, he discovers that even in the magical Land of Oz, doing the wrong thing for the right reason can lead to the most unexpected consequences.

First published in 1913, The Patchwork Girl of Oz is the seventh book in L. Frank Baum’s classic Oz series.

Books From Our December Book Basket Party

Our book basket party was fun. 

Princess Bride and ROUS

So many cute baskets

Here are the books that were exchanged at the book basket party. 

Happy Reading!

December Book Basket Party

 

For December, we are not choosing a book to read. December is a crazy busy month. But we want to still get together and talk about books. 

Last fall several of us attended a book basket party. It was so much fun and we decided we would like to do that for our December Book Club. Here are some examples of a book basket

Here is an example of a book basket. 

We would like everyone to bring a book basket to share. 

Get a copy of a favorite book of yours, that we haven't read in book club. 

Find a container to put the book and several little items that go along with the book. 

Here's another book basket of goodies. 

Another themed book basket. 

At the book basket party, we will each get an opportunity to give a teaser about our book and the items in the basket. After we have seen each of the baskets, we will each draw a number. We will then go in order of our numbers to pick a book basket. When it is your turn, you can choose a book basket from the table or you may 'steal' a basket from someone who already had their turn. A book basket may only be stolen twice. 

Our Book Basket Party will be on Tuesday December 16 at Debby's house at 7:30 pm. Get your book basket ready for the party. You may bring a treat to share also. See you at the party!

Eight Flavors Fun

Alecia lead a great discussion about the book Eight Flavors and also had some yummy foods for us to try with the flavors from the book. The book focused on black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and Sriracha. 

We started with garlic knots. 

Next we had lettuce wraps with soy sauce, garlic, and sriracha

At the end of the discussion, we had Black Pepper Brown Sugar Cookies - a recipe from the book; icing was optional.

We also had vanilla bean ice cream. 

Here's the recipe for the cookies

Black Pepper Brown Sugar Cookies

4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more to top the cookies

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon coriander

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

Zest of one orange

Juice of 1/2 an orange (about 1/4 cup)

2 large eggs

1. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients and spices.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add butter, sugar, and orange zest. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium high until light in color. Add the orange juice, and then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

3. With mixer on low, add the dry ingredients slowly. Stop and scrape the bowl, then continue mixing until combined. Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill at least 1 hour and as long as overnight.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a generously floured work surface and with a floured rolling pin, roll dough 1/8 inch thick. Using a pepper grinder, crack fresh pepper over the surface of the dough and then gently press the pepper in with the rolling pin. 

5. Cut into desired shapes using a cookie cutter or knife. Bake on a cookie sheet 10-12 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet halfway through, until the cookies are brown around the edges. Allow to cool completely on wire racks. 

Here is a link to a video to watch the author making these cookies.

November - Eight Flavors

Alecia has picked Eight Flavors The Untold Story of American Cuisine by Sarah Lohman for our book for November. 

Here's some information about the book: 

The United States boasts a culturally and ethnically diverse population that makes for a continually changing culinary landscape. But a young historical gastronomist named Sarah Lohman discovered that American food is united by eight flavors: black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and Sriracha. In “a unique and surprising view of American history…richly researched, intriguing, and elegantly written” (The Atlantic), Lohman sets out to explore how these influential ingredients made their way to the American table.

She begins in the archives, searching through economic, scientific, political, religious, and culinary records. She pores over cookbooks and manuscripts, dating back to the eighteenth century, through modern standards like How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. Lohman discovers when each of these eight flavors first appear in American kitchens—then she asks why.

We will meet at 7:30pm on November 18 at Debby's house for our discussion.  Happy reading!

 

October - We Had To Be Brave: Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport

Sarah Cox has chosen We Had To Be Brave: Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport by Deborah Hopkinson. Here's some information about the book:

Sibert Honor author Deborah Hopkinson illuminates the true stories of Jewish children who fled Nazi Germany, risking everything to escape to safety on the Kindertransport. An NCTE Orbis Pictus recommended book and a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable Title.

Ruth David was growing up in a small village in Germany when Adolf Hitler rose to power in the 1930s. Under the Nazi Party, Jewish families like Ruth's experienced rising anti-Semitic restrictions and attacks. Just going to school became dangerous. By November 1938, anti-Semitism erupted into Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, and unleashed a wave of violence and forced arrests.

Days later, desperate volunteers sprang into action to organize the Kindertransport, a rescue effort to bring Jewish children to England. Young people like Ruth David had to say good-bye to their families, unsure if they'd ever be reunited. Miles from home, the Kindertransport refugees entered unrecognizable lives, where food, clothes -- and, for many of them, language and religion -- were startlingly new. Meanwhile, the onset of war and the Holocaust visited unimaginable horrors on loved ones left behind. Somehow, these rescued children had to learn to look forward, to hope.

Through the moving and often heart-wrenching personal accounts of Kindertransport survivors, critically acclaimed and award-winning author Deborah Hopkinson paints the timely and devastating story of how the rise of Hitler and the Nazis tore apart the lives of so many families and what they were forced to give up in order to save these children.

We will meet at 7:30pm at Debby's house on October 21 to discuss the book. 

 

September - The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife

Debby has picked The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston for our book for September. Here's some information about the book: 

“A funny, heartfelt story about found family and seeing the silver lining in life. Fans of A Man Called Ove and Remarkably Bright Creatures will especially enjoy this new novel.”—Library Journal

A zany case of mistaken identity allows a lonely old man one last chance to be part of a family.

“Would you mind terribly, old boy, if I borrowed the rest of your life? I promise I’ll take excellent care of it.”

Frederick Fife was born with an extra helping of kindness in his heart. If he borrowed your car, he’d return it washed with a full tank of gas. The problem is, at age eighty-two, there’s nobody left in Fred’s life to borrow from, and he's broke and on the brink of eviction. But Fred’s luck changes when he's mistaken for Bernard Greer, a missing resident at the local nursing home, and takes his place. Now Fred has warm meals in his belly and a roof over his head—as long as his look-alike Bernard never turns up. 

Denise Simms is stuck breathing the same disappointing air again and again. A middle-aged mom and caregiver at Bernard's facility, her crumbling marriage and daughter's health concerns are suffocating her joy for life. Wounded by her two-faced husband, she vows never to let a man deceive her again.

As Fred walks in Bernard’s shoes, he leaves a trail of kindness behind him, fueling Denise's suspicions about his true identity. When unexpected truths are revealed, Fred and Denise rediscover their sense of purpose and learn how to return a broken life to mint condition. 

Bittersweet and remarkably perceptive, The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife is a hilarious, feel-good, clever novel about grief, forgiveness, redemption, and finding family.

We will meet at 7:30 on September 16 at Debby's house to discuss the book. Happy Reading!

 

August - Pride and Prejudice

 

Corinna has chosen Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen for our book for August. We will be meeting on the fourth Tuesday (August 26) since the third Tuesday is the day before school starts. 

Here is some info about the book: 

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet live with their five daughters. Jane, the eldest daughter, falls in love with Charles Bingley, a rich bachelor who moves into a house nearby with his two sisters and friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy. Darcy is attracted to the second daughter, Elizabeth, but she finds him arrogant and self-centered. When Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, she refuses. But perhaps there is more to Darcy than meets the eye.

We will meet at 7:30 on August 26 at Debby's house. Hope to see you there. 

July - The Alloy of Law

Donna has picked The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson for our book discussion in May. 

Here is some information about the book: 

Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Kelsier and Vin have passed into the realm of history and myth, and the world of Scadrial is on the verge of modernity. In the frontier lands known as the Roughs, the old magics are a crucial tool for those who establish order and justice.

One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn, who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After twenty years in the Roughs, tragedy has driven Wax back to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties of the head of a noble house. But when a gang of Allomancers turn to train robbery and kidnapping, Wax will soon learn that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.

We will meet at 7:30 on July 15 at Debby's to discuss the book. 

Happy Reading!📚

June - The Life & Loves of Becca Valentine

Sarah has picked the book The Life and Loves of Becca Valentine (The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine) by Laura Pearson for June

Info about the book:

These are the things Becca Valentine doesn’t know yet:

She doesn’t know that two men are about to come into her life. Both seeking her heart.

She also doesn’t know that everything rests on her love story.

Because there are four children she might have. And Fate has a secret little twist for Becca: if she doesn’t choose the right man at the right time, she may never meet those children.

But what if someone could influence her to follow her heart? Even if they knew it might risk their own chance of coming into being? Because the other thing Becca doesn’t know is that somewhere – in a place they call the Beforelife – there are four beings waiting. And where they are, almost anything is possible…

We will meet on June 17 at 7:30 to discuss the book.

Planning ahead, Donna has picked The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson for our book for July.

Happy Reading!

Cherry Pie Cookie Bars

Kellyn had some yummy cherry themed treats for book club. Here's the recipe for the Cherry Pie Cookie Bars she brought. They were delicious. 

May - Tom Lake

Kellyn chose Tom Lake for our May book. 

Here's some information about the book: 

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.

We will be meeting on the fourth Tuesday in May since Debby's having cataract surgery the third week. We will meet on Tuesday May 27 at 7:30 at Debby's house. 

Happy Reading!

April 2025 - The Midnight Library

 

Tracie has chosen The Midnight Library as our book for April. 

Due to Spring Break, we will be meeting on the fourth Tuesday of the month. So we will meet on April 22, 2025 at 7:30, at Debby's house. 

Here's some information about the book:

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

I've read the book already and I'm looking forward to our discussion. 

Happy Reading and hope to see you there!