<p>^LOL…perfect. alh, I hereby declare you our official sequel-writer!</p>
<p>Alh-funny how many of us were interested in Celia’s storyline. Good happy ending for Celia and Minny. What about Skeeter?
Alh wrote- “I am hanging around waiting for the remailing real-life book club reports”</p>
<p>Shout out to Ag54, March, 12rmh18 two weeks, and Bookworm -April.</p>
<p>Bromfeld wrote:
5)’ The book made me wonder if I would have stood up to the Hillys of the world or if I would have turned out to be spineless like Elizabeth? I like to think I would have stood up for what I believed, but being the lone voice of opposition when everyone around you believes something is not easy. I really admire the white people from the South who were supportive of blacks during the Civil Rights movement."</p>
<p>You have posed a very interesting, thought provoking question! Bingo.</p>
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[quote="Mary13]
So that leaves us with:</p>
<p>The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zaf</p>
<p>I just noticed:</p>
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<p>Actually a review of The Shadow of the Wind confused me by referring to satanic elements continued from The Angel’s Game: "From Publishers Weekly -
Ruiz Zaf</p>
<p>Zafon wrote “Shadow of the Wind” first, and it’s a solid stand-alone book. He then wrote the “prequel,” The Angel’s Game," also a fine book by itself. When I was reading that one this past summer, it took me a while to get the timing straight to see how it fit in with “Shadow of the Wind.” Here’s what Zafon has to say:</p>
<p>“Some readers often ask me if The Angels Game is a prequel or a sequel. The answer is: none of these things, and all of the above. Essentially The Angels Game is a new book, a stand-alone story that you can fully enjoy and understand on its own. But if you have already read The Shadow of the Wind, or you decide to read it afterwards, youll find new meanings and connections that I hope will enhance your experience with these characters and their adventures.”</p>
<p>I believe he envisions 4 books in total, with some elements/characters/locations that run through all of them. IMO, he’s a great story teller.</p>
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<p>^ This made me think of one our previous CC selections, American Wife. Remember Priscilla Blackwell’s (Barbara Bush’s) rather icy, class-driven relationship with her black maid, Miss Ruby? (Had the two literary worlds collided, Priscilla and Hilly would have been good friends, I think.) Yet by the end of American Wife, Miss Ruby’s granddaughter Jessica has been educated in a private school alongside the well-to-do Blackwell children, and is anyone’s equal. But you know…come to think of it…the role that Jessica has at the end is Assistant to the (white, wealthy) First Lady. For all her education and breaking of racial barriers, Jessica’s still “The Help,” isn’t she? </p>
<p>Sorry to drag in a past work, but I just thought of that—and it wouldn’t have occurred to me if I hadn’t read The Help and become a bit more enlightened in the process.</p>
<p>Re our next selection: </p>
<p>SJChessMom, your vote has been duly counted! </p>
<p>Paging mafool…Does the list ignatius summarized above (post #143) contain books that you haven’t already read?</p>
<p>Faline2 and bookworm…Is it a pro or a con for you if we read a book (i.e., The Elegance of the Hedgehog) that you are currently reading for your RL book club?</p>
<p>Since we have several good choices, we could line up a couple for future months. If you recall, last year we chose June, July and August books all at once so that people could read ahead if desired, or simply get free shipping from Amazon. :)</p>
<p>Mary…you all go right on with the Elegance of the Hedgehog…I still have my own Book Club titles each month to do…thank you for asking.</p>
<p>Re the Glass Castle…I am going to post a “Brag.” I live not far from West Virginia and am descended from some mighty poor residents of that state. Seriously. Poor. In SW Virginia we have a chip on our shoulders about our second class schools etc compared to sophisticated Northern Virginia (NoVa) and so West VA gets a lot of ribbing around these parts…we need someone to be superior to you see.</p>
<p>Same thing as when I lived in South Carolina and people were always saying “thank God for Mississippi” …don’t give me a hard time now…I bet you haven’t met up with Strom Thurmond on your college campus like I have. (!!) I bet Marc Sanford is not a graduate of your college. South Carolina managed to be “ahead of Mississippi” in stats and such…</p>
<p>OK…back to my promised Brag. </p>
<p>I do have a great Book Group…we read serious Lit. When we read The Glass Castle, we were able to have a member of the author’s West Virginia high school class join us and it was just amazing what she remembered about the author and her family and life and how others viewed her in her high school. </p>
<p>I highly recommend The Glass Castle. The conversation seemed to be centered on the parents and the mystery of their psychological profiles and the danger and suffering that they visited on their children. There was an amazing discussion on the mystery of the parental neglect issues but also an amazing acknowledgment that the author chose not to put medical labels on her parents…instead she simply told her story beautifully and artfully and we all came to know her parents sans labels in the medical model.</p>
<p>Just let me know, I am looking to start a new book. The Glass Castle is on my list but can wait if everyone picks something else.</p>
<p>Mary-- all clear on that list! But really, I am fine–fine I tell you–if a book that I have read is selected. Especially if it is one I liked and would want to share!</p>
<p>Faline, I agree with your thoughts on The Glass Castle completely. </p>
<p>It may also provide an interesting contrast between her parents and the involved parents here on CC!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the titles - my list is growing quickly.</p>
<p>Elegance of Hedgehog is enchanting. Whether its chosen here for book club or not, its worth a read. The characters and the philosphy and love of literature/grammar/words is so fresh.</p>
<p>One of the many things I appreciated about The Glass Castle was the lack of hysteria, name calling, and self pity in the telling of the tale.</p>
<p>^^^^ Agree, mafool. She just told her story. I enjoyed the book, too. Haven’t read her latest, “Half Broke Horses,” which tells the story of her grandmother and mother.</p>
<p>So many good ideas have been offered by one and all—so many good books to choose from! As ignatius said, I want to read them all. But for the time being, how about going with SouthJerseyChessMom’s suggestion:</p>
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<p>This works for me, too. We could read The Shadow of the Wind first (April), followed by *The Elegance of the Hedgehog<a href=“June”>/i</a>. But we’ll hold on to the list we’ve compiled and refer to it next time we go through the selection process. So then the books on the back burner are (in no particular order):</p>
<p>The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls</p>
<p>Is that o.k.?</p>
<p>The Shadow of the Wind is an older book, so I hope there are still enough people out there who haven’t read it and are interested in discussing it. However, here’s a good sign: My local library carries the book, but it’s currently checked out and has 18 holds on it. 18 people in line for a book published in 2004 must mean something, right? (Of course, it could just mean my town has a poorly stocked library :).)</p>
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<p>Thanks Mary13. (I just typed Mary12 - lol. Would that mean you had been demoted?)</p>
<p>And now back to The Help :)</p>
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<p>I think Hilly would have rejected her regardless as Celia had Johnny and Hilly didn’t. However, I think Celia’s background made it easier for Hilly to reject her and the other women to follow Hilly’s lead. If Celia had been all that and more in a good way, Hilly still would have rejected her but taken a less obvious route.</p>
<p>Sounds good to me. My “second” would really be a third. How do we establish that something like a consensus has been achieved?</p>
<p>I’ve read Shadows of the Wind but I can’t wait to see what you folks think of it. I loved it by the way.</p>
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<p>What are your first and second choices? Nothing is written in stone. I didn’t mean to jump the gun if we want to discuss our options further. I’ll be starting the thread for the April selection soon (tentatively, The Shadow of the Wind, barring objections), but we have lots of time until June and don’t need to make a decision on that one now. </p>
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<p>We don’t. It’s probably the worst voting system ever. 
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<p>We’ve read six books so far, and during the selection process, everybody has always been shockingly agreeable and easy to please. (The Election and Politics thread, we are not.) People throw out suggestions and we narrow them down based on the whim of the moment: “I’ve read that”…”The hardcover is too expensive”…”I’d rather read something more uplifting”…”less than 1000 pages please”…that sort of thing. Usually, I make the final choice for no reason that would stand up in a court of law—You may impeach me at any time! :)</p>
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<p>I’m playing with quotes this morning. I’ll venture to guess that mafool went to second the choices then realized that she followed SouthJerseyChessMom (original suggestion), Mary13 (intrepid cc book club originator), and me (lowly participant). She had to “third” her approval or perhaps “fourth” or “fifth” it. (But maybe I read it wrong.) </p>
<p>And back to The Help or rather American Wife:</p>
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<p>Interesting. I think that when you reach a certain job level, i.e. Assistant to the First Lady, that you’ve gone beyond being “the help”. Jessica seems such a match for the job she gets. Alice needs a combination of grace and competence layered with trust and discretion and she finds it in Jessica - I doubt that race mattered an iota. (I picture Alice keeping in touch with Jessica through the years - continuing to share books. It seems such a natural choice to hire her.)</p>