April 2018
Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally
Sometimes it happens. Sometimes you don’t read a book. I completely missed reading this book. I can’t remember why and that bothers me a little. I normally will read every book. I guess missing one every once in a while is ok and not that bad. So, I will have to rely on the other Dine and Opiner’s for this book discussion. I hope that they will comment and/or email me so that I can add their opinions on this book… and any other book discussion.
July 2018
Educated: A Memoir by Tata Westover
What can we say about this book that hasn’t already been said? This book was a wonderfully captivating read. As a whole we, D&O, enjoyed the book and could not stop talking about all of the cringe worthy stories. A few D&O ladies were quick to be able to share moments from their life that were crazy, a way of connecting with the author. We discussed the idea of how people remember things differently. There were so many moments when discussing different parts of this memoir.
We even began google searching, at the table, information on the author and her family; trying to find anything that would fill in the gaps/questions that we began to point out and discuss. This book, we all agreed, is one that we would recommend to another reader.
March 2018
The book pick for March was The Power by Naomi Alderman.
To be completely honest. I am drawing a blank on this book. I remember a funny thing that happened, to me not in the book. I ordered the book and it arrived. See, normally I go to the locally owned book store, this time around I didn’t. I knew I wouldn’t have time til a few days later and I wanted to start reading this book; so I ordered in online. When the book arrived I was reminded as to why I like to go into book stores… you see the book that arrived was the correct book- only in Spanish. Now, I did take Spanish in high school; however my capability to read this book, in Spanish, was beyond me. So I am hoping that a few of the other Dine & Opiners can help me out and share their opinions on the book!
August 2018
For the month of August we read Less by Andrew Sean Greer. The Dine & Opine Ladies definitely had a few thoughts on this book. It received mixed reviews. The readers that did not completely enjoy the book felt (and I am paraphrasing here) disconnected. Many missed the humor that the author was portraying. The Dine & Opine ladies that enjoyed the book- really enjoyed the book.
Being one of the D&Os that enjoyed the book, here are my thoughts on Less. Using a writing technique that makes everything in a book seem simple is not an easy task. Throwing in the sense of humor that comes across with ease; truly makes this book a delightful read. With all characters the reader will feel a connection and not even realize how much of a character’s development will have taken place until the end of the book. Arthur, an unaware genius, is a lovable aging man facing self awareness and future path of his life. The characters that surround him help in building the background information of Arthur’s character.
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate.
Where to start? First, months ago I had began typing this post and I had thought that I had saved it to come back to proof before posting. Sigh. I didn’t save it and for some reason (technology hates me sometimes) the auto save function didn’t save anything except the title. So here we are now! Months later and it is my goal to get this blog up to date and it all starts with this book.
Before We Were Yours- Book Discussion- take 2.
This book. Even though it has been months since I have read this novel and since the Dine & Opine discussion, I still remember so many points of discussion. All members were in agreement that this book is amazing. Building this story around the history of stealing children and selling them, with higher authorities in the know, created an unforgettable read.
One point of discussion that came up during Dine & Opine’s conversation was regarding adoptions. There are so many questions that come to mind surrounding adoptions. When adopting a baby/toddler- when do you, the parent, tell the child? Is it something that you choose to acknowledge immediately? Or is it something that you choose to wait til a time that works for everyone? When adopting an older child- there are memories that the child has, perhaps traditions (holidays) that they, the child, might want to hang onto and continue. How do you, the parent(s), work with the child to make them feel at home?
These questions, and many others were asked during our discussion. I think one reason is that in this heartbreaking story, the children never had a say, no one listened. They were made into new personas and had to live their storylines set up by complete strangers. The new parents unaware, for the most part, of the truth behind these orphans were then trying to build a family with a fictional glue.
February’s book pick offered the Dine & Opine ladies a genre that we haven’t read in a while… Thriller. For myself, coming off of ready All the King’s Men, this was a nice brain break read. Now, don’t take that to mean that this book is a no-need-to-think book. This book definitely doesn’t fit in that category.
When I read thrillers, mysteries, who-done-its books- normally I can tell early on who did what, why and so forth. This book – I HAD NO CLUE. Think Gone Girl but different (I figured out Gone Girl before the twist was given). And in this book, the book with TWO authors, there is more than one twist. There are multiple and they are surprising.
This book received an all around THUMBS UP from the Dine & Opine Ladies!
Now time to read March’s book- The Power.
Did you read The Wife Between Us? Did you like it? Dislike it?
So it has been awhile since I have posted anything on here. I really dropped the ball! Hopefully you are following us on Social Media and know that we haven’t disappeared. The Book for January was All The Kings Men. I feel as though I shouldn’t write a post about this book… I didn’t finish the book. Now, that is not to say I didn’t try. BOY did I try…three or four times.
Luckily, during this book’s month- we, the ladies of Dine and Opine, went on a weekend getaway. During this weekend we enjoyed watching the 2006 movie adaptation featuring Sean Penn and Jude Law. Now the movie was, at least for myself, really good and it actually helped with getting me motivated to keep reading. The only downside was that the movie covered everything I had already read and only a few things that I hadn’t read… and I had about 250ish pages still to read. hmmmm. So I tried to keep reading and I finally (And not overly excited to fail at not finishing the book) gave up.
So did all the D & O ladies give up? NO! Did some enjoy the book? YES! Do I think that I will ever finish the book? I have no idea. Actually that’s not true. In this case, I can say at this moment… I do not foresee myself picking up that book to start reading it again any time soon!
Did you read the book? Did you like the book?
