Discussing MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS

Posted by admin on 08.06.2010 at 4:51 pm

Last night my chapter of the Better World Book Club got together to discuss MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS at the Whole Foods on Ponce de Leon Ave in Atlanta.

I personally liked the book, but overall the group’s reviews were lukewarm.

The book, a memoir by Rhoda Janzen, is about her returning to her Mennonite family after her husband leaves her for a man he met on gay.com.  If that wasn’t enough, she can’t afford the mortgage on her house and she ends up with a nice collection of broken bones from a pretty bad car wreck.

We all agreed that the premise was good, but generally the feeling was that Rhoda didn’t really give us the truth.  Either that or she somehow doesn’t feel pain.  We enjoyed her humor and loved her Mom, but wondered how she really felt.

She generally seemed pretty nonplussed by things that would’ve sent most women into years of therapy or to the bottom of big box of wine.

And as for the title, though she did go back to her Mennonite family – her Mennonite-ness wasn’t really an issue.  Going back didn’t seem to bother her and no one really seemed bothered that she had left the fold in the first place.  Janzen did include a really good primer on the religion at the end of the book but we would have liked to have seen more of that woven throughout.  And while we’re talking about the title, I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a black dress at all.  I know I’m being literal here, but I think the point is that what could’ve and maybe should’ve been something like a clash of cultures was more like a dull thud of cultures.

Alas Rhoda really does have impeccable comic timing in her writing along with a biting wit and I really did enjoy getting to know her through the book.

Have you read it?  What did you think?

Wondering what the heck the Better World Book Club is?  Check it out at http://www.betterworldbooks.com/bookclub.    Join us.  Next month we’re reading SOUTH OF BROAD by Pat Conroy.  (Want 10% off and free shipping, use the code BOOKCLUB10 at checkout and save!)

Have your say » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Atlanta, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, Rhoda Janzen, Whole Foods, Whole Foods Market

Book Club Update

Posted by Dana on 01.14.2010 at 3:49 pm

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged about the Better World Book Club and a lot has happened since August!  We’ve been reading some great books and we are starting some live meetings at participating Whole Foods Markets in the Atlanta area.

We’re now announcing books a month ahead of time so that you can participate in our online and local discussions.  Our newest pick – which we’ll be discussing the first week in February is THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz.

Stay tuned for details on a twitter discussion – and also feel free to comment right here on the blog!

Our January pick is AWAY by Amy Bloom and the local discussions are taking place tonight at 7PM participating Whole Foods Markets.

Previous picks include:

OUTCASTS UNITED by Warren St. John
THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

Have a book you’d like to suggest? Want to set up a live local meeting near you? Email me at bookclub@betterworldbooks.com.

Have your say » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Amy Bloom, Annie Barrows, Atlanta area, Away, Better World Book Club, Junot Diaz, Mary Ann Shaffer, Outcasts United, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, Warren St. John, Whole Foods Markets

Better World Book Club: The Shadow of the Wind

Posted by Dana on 08.20.2009 at 11:44 am

Don’t forget to sign up for the Better World Book Club.  Discuss the monthly pick with us here on the blog or take it back to your neighborhood book club.  We set you up with everything you need for your meeting…. a synopsis of the book, discussion questions and even a great recipe.  Sign up by going to manage subscriptions now.

Our Latest Pick

THE SHADOW OF THE WIND by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

If your book club has ever read a book where you struggled to find something to talk about, you will really appreciate THE SHADOW OF THE WIND.  There is so much to talk about with this book, I barely know where to begin.

From its Russian doll  – book within a book style to its use of religious imagery to the often parallel lives of two seemingly unconnected characters you will not run out of conversation.  I promise.

Our book, THE SHADOW OF THE WIND is about a book that Daniel Sempere finds in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books Read more…

4 Comments » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Baked Goat Cheese in Tomato Sauce, Better World Book Club, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Discussion Questions, THE SHADOW OF THE WIND, Whole Foods

Better World Book Club: The Art of Racing in the Rain

Posted by Dana on 07.15.2009 at 9:56 am

Don’t forget to sign up for the Better World Book Club.  We pick a new book each month that you can discuss with us here on the blog or take it back to your neighborhood book club.  We even set you up with everything you need for your meeting…. a synopsis of the book, discussion questions and even a great recipe.  You can sign up by going to manage subscriptions now.

You can also catch the selections AND discuss the book here on the blog and on the new book club page.

Our Latest Pick

THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein

I don’t mind a little crying over a good book if then end justifies the tears.  In this case, the ending and much of went on in the middle was predictable, but the book was ultimately worth the tears.

The story is told by Enzo the dog – who is nearly a human trapped in a dog’s body.  Frustrated by his lack of opposable thumbs and his inability to speak, he makes an interesting observer and sometimes participant to the life of race car driver Denny Swift. Read more…

2 Comments » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Allrecipes.com, book club, dana barrett, Discussion Questions, Enzo, Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain, The Secret

Better World Book Club: The Accidental Bestseller

Posted by Dana on 06.19.2009 at 8:12 am

Don’t forget to sign up for the Better World Book Club.  We pick a new book each month that you can discuss with us here on the blog or take back to your neighborhood book club.  We even set you up with everything you need for your meeting…. a synopsis of the book, discussion questions and even a great recipe.  You can sign up by going to manage subscriptions now.

You can also catch the selections AND discuss the book here on the blog.

Our Latest Pick

THE ACCIDENTAL BESTSELLER by Wendy Wax

Last month I promised you a great beach read for June…so here it is.  To me a beach read is not necessarily all lightness and fluff, but rather a page turner where you care about the characters and are left feeling upbeat or hopeful at the end.  Wendy Wax’s latest doesn’t disappoint.

The Accidental Bestseller does for (or to) publishing what The Devil Wears Prada did for fashion mags:  gives you an under the covers look into a world you wouldn’t otherwise get to see.

Wendy uses the backdrop of the publishing industry to explore friendship, marriage and career and introduces us to four unique women who struggle with all of it.

Here’s a couple of questions the book brought up for me:

Does you career define you?  What would you do if you woke up one morning and it was over?

Do your friends have to know everything about you in order for them to truly be your friends?

How much would you risk to help a friend?

And here’s some trivia for you…there’s a character named after me somewhere in the book.  The first person to comment here on the blog with the page number I appear on gets a $25 gift certificate!

For more discussion questions and a tasty summer recipe, check out the book club email and feel free to leave some comments and let me know what you thought of the book!

– Dana

2 Comments » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Beach Read 2009, Better World Book Club, Summer Read 2009, The Accidental Bestseller, The Devil Wears Prada, Wendy Wax

Better World Book Club: Ella Minnow Pea

Posted by Dana on 05.28.2009 at 10:54 am

Don’t forget to sign up for the Better World Book Club Newsletter.  Our monthly book club email includes a synopsis of the book, discussion questions and even a great recipe.  You can sign up by going to manage subscriptions now.

You can also catch the selections AND discuss the book here on the blog.

Our Latest Pick

ELLA MINNOW PEA by Mark Dunn

I actually read Mark Dunn’s Ella Minnow Pea several years ago for a book club I was part of and it stuck with me, so now I want to share it with you.  While clearly a literary exercise (as letters fall off a statue – they are removed from the written and spoken vocabulary of an island community by its totalitarian government), it is also a really good story and a thought provoking political statement.

I have read other books that felt like literary exercises to me.  Some work and some don’t.  The one that pops into my mind first is Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.    The book was very highly acclaimed but I found myself distracted by some of his literary devices, and for me that took something away for the book.  I felt like it was a project for a graduate level writing class.  It would get an A for sure, but I want to feel the emotion and discover the plot rather than be cleverly deviced to death.

Read more…

2 Comments » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Author Mark Dunn, Book Club Pick, book reviews, dana barrett, Ella Minnow Pea, Everything is Illuminated, jonathan safran foer, literary devices, literary works, Mark Dunn

Better World Book Club: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Posted by Dana on 04.20.2009 at 5:35 pm

Still not signed up for the Better World Book Club Newsletter?  Our monthly book club email includes a synopsis of the book, discussion questions and even a great recipe.  You can sign up by going to manage subscriptions now.

You can also catch the selections AND discuss the book here on the blog.

Our Latest Pick

HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET by Jamie Ford

As you can imagine, I love books and authors and love to do what I can to help promote them.  It’s not just my current and former life as a bookseller that makes me feel this way — I have always loved books.  So, when I come across a debut novel like this one, I am especially happy to be able to help get the word out.

Jamie Ford’s HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER & SWEET has officially become one of my new favorite books.  Ford paints a personal picture of race, culture, family, love and loyalty in the 1940s in America.  He shows us, through the eyes of children, a time we, as Americans, would rather forget; when Japanese Americans were rounded up and forced to live in internment camps.  It is a politically important story for sure, but it is the personal story that sweeps you up and makes you unable to stop turning pages.

I loved Henry, both as a child and as a man.  He is loyal, brave and young Henry seems wise beyond his years.  What did you think of his quiet disobedience of his father?  What about his father’s rule that he could only speak English at home when his parents only spoke Cantonese?  Keiko and her family were so very American and worldly and open.  Read more…

4 Comments » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Better World Book Club, book club, dana barrett, fiction, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Jamie Ford, Japanese internment camps, World War II

Better World Book Club: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Posted by Dana on 03.14.2009 at 6:19 pm

Still not signed up for the Better World Book Club Newsletter?  Our monthly book club email includes a synopsis of the book, discussion questions and even a great recipe.  You can sign up by going to manage subscriptions now.

You can also catch the selections AND discuss the book here on the blog.

Our Latest Pick

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

This is one of those books that I have been curious about for awhile.  It was somewhere on my list of books to read, but just had not risen to the top.  I think it finally jumped to the top of the pile after I saw Slumdog Millionaire, which is based on the book Q & A by Vikas Swarup.  Of course the main thing these two books have in common is that they take place in India, but after seeing the movie, I was interested in reading more about the country and the culture.

I actually really loved this book.  Though I have to say I am a bit surprised that I do.  In fact, the last book that I reviewed in which the main character was a murderer (we learn that very early on, so I’m not ruining anything for you) was Almost Moon by Alice Sebold which I struggled with a bit.  Read more…

1 Comment » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Aravind Adiga, book club, fiction, Q & A, Slumdog Millionaire, The White Tiger, Vikas Swarup

Better World Book Club: Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

Posted by Dana on 02.06.2009 at 1:31 pm

Are you all signed up for the Better World Book Club Newsletter?  Our monthly book club email includes a synopsis of the book, discussion questions and even a great recipe.  You can sign up by going to manage subscriptions now.

Our Pick for February 2009

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

This month we’re talking about Loving Frank.  It’s a fictional account of Frank Lloyd Wright’s tragic love affair with Mamah Cheney. The book is very well researched but is fictionalized so that the author would have the freedom to invent the personal details of the relationship that will never be known.

I have always loved Frank Lloyd Wright’s design aesthetic and so that made me curious about the man.  The book does not paint him in the best light, but I think I tended to want to give him a pass because he’s Frank Lloyd Wright.   When my local book club discussed the book,  many of the women were very upset Read more…

Have your say » | Tagged Better World Book Club, book club, Frank Lloyd Wright, Loving Frank, Mamah Cheney, Nancy Horan

Better World Book Club: Run by Anne Patchett

Posted by Dana on 12.12.2008 at 12:31 pm

Welcome to the Better World Book Club!  This is a monthly feature in which we’ll send you a fabulous book pick, our own discussion questions to encourage friendly debating at your next book club meeting, and fun recipes for snacks to munch on. In other words, you do the reading, we’ll do the preparing. We’ll also be holding our own discussion about the book here on the Better World Blog, so stop by, hear what others have to say, and share your own opinion. Use the “Share This” button at the bottom of the post to forward this recommendation on to all of your book club besties-let the discussions begin!  (To sign up for the newsletter go to manage subscriptions).

Book Club pick for January:

Run by Ann Patchett
“Since their mother’s death, Tip and Teddy Doyle have been Read more…

1 Comment » | Tagged Better World Book Club, ann patchett, book club, book discussion, run