Thursday, February 11, 2016

The Booking Mamas' February 2016 Meeting

The Booking Mamas
A few weeks ago, I shared that my book club, the Booking Mamas, was selected to be a Book Club Girl Book Club! So far, we have received some fun swag including Betsy-Tacy totes, free books, and cute wine openers. As great as those treats are, what's even better is that we will receive books (that we select) for our group for the entire year.

Our first selection was WHAT REMAINS OF ME by Alison Gaylin. I admit that the book sounded terrific based on the description, but I wasn't sure it would make for a great discussion. It ends up that we did actually discuss the book for some time... which isn't always the case with our group!

We met on a snowy Tuesday evening to discuss this book, and I was concerned that we wouldn't have a good turnout. It ends up that we had all ten show up and even one new member. Now we are eleven -- how exciting! Fortunately, my good friend suggested taking a photo because we never have everyone at a meeting.

It would thrill me to say that we all loved WHAT REMAINS OF ME; however, that wasn't exactly the case. I will share my thoughts later in a review, but I think I can speak for almost everyone when I say that the story itself was pretty good. There were lots of twists and turns and quite a few surprises. The issue most of us had was in the presentation. The book dragged in a few places, and the transitions between the present (which was 2010) and the past were confusing at times. In addition, it just seemed that everything was wrapped up a little too neatly -- all of the characters were accounted for; and the reader was left with virtually nothing to ponder.

For March, we decided to read the surprise book that was sent to us last week -- THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE by Joshilyn Jackson. I am super excited to read this novel because I love Joshilyn Jackson, and all of the women seemed to think it would make a great book club pick!

Thanks to Harper Collins and Book Club Girl for making 2016 a great year for the Booking Mamas!



4 comments:

bermudaonion said...

Sounds like a fun meeting! We never think to take photos.

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

Have for with Book Club Girls! Our group loved it and we had some good reads we may not have picked on our own. We love to take pictures in our group. Thanks for the thoughts on the book - I am curious about your review!

Kate Unger said...

Sounds fun! Aren't book clubs the best? I love that you write recaps of your meetings as well. Enjoy the next book. That's on my list too.

Beth F said...

You are off to a great start! Can't wait to see what else you read through the Book Club Girls!