Throwback Thursday September 23, 2021

 

This is a note to self to register for the fall season of my book group.  Old cartoon!

 

 

DOA's Monthly Wrapup

Gardening

It was mostly a gardening month.  I'm now looking at a big fall list that includes bringing in all my clay and ceramic pots for the winter, and tucking all of my garden shelves and plastic ornaments into the shed.

Also on the fall list is washing all of the windows and screens.  Someone nearby has a Cottonwood tree that floats little cottony bits out that my screens love to snare.  Also, in the dead of winter, there are those rare bright sunny days and you want every ray of the sun to sparkle it's way right into the house.  My houseplants will thank me.

State Fair

We visited the fair this year, and walked just about everywhere but in the Midway.  I used to like to stroll down through The Midway because there were exciting, thrilling new rides each season.  It was fun to watch them, and hear all the screams of delight.  It seems that the danger days are over.

Book Groups

I joined two book groups, both Mystery.  I really like them both.


Recipes

I only tried one new recipe this month.  It is Chocolate Chip Loaf from the Love From the Oven site.  It was simple, not too sweet, and surprisingly filling.   I need butter on top of any quick bread, and that made it extra lovely.   I made it yesterday morning, and it tasted just as good this morning, sipping some nice coffee alongside it.

https://www.lovefromtheoven.com/chocolate-chip-loaf/

Mine looked pretty much like this picture from the site, so ta da.

Speaking of recipes, I wrote up the new Baking Blogs I've found, but logged out of blogger without saving the configure blog list box.   Zzzzz don't mess with your blog at midnight.   I've fixed it and the links are now all there.

I'm hoping to once again to try one new recipe per week.   I've a nice little stack of printed and saved recipes from various sites.  If I could get myself to rough out a full month's menu, I could get the one per week.

Craft Ideas I Admired This Month

I wanted to note here a couple of neat blog posts from others on my blog list.

From Flamingo Toes, a set of embroidery hoops with a combination of painted/embroidered little houses.  It is so wonderful.  

https://flamingotoes.com/stenciled-neighborhood-embroidery-hoop-art-gallery/

 In My Own Style had a great post on tackling projects large and small.

https://inmyownstyle.com/free-printable-diy-decorating-project-planner.html

It is so hard to know where to start sometimes, and she gives good advice, plus has a project plan template you can use to organize and visualize how to get your project done.   I think it could be adapted to any type of household or craft project you'd like to work on.

This post puts the blog at 26 posts for the year.   As we know, the goal is 100.  I'm planning to make good progress towards my goal in September.

Lots of TV to talk about despite not a single new broadcast television show being of interest to me.

Promoting Your Book Discussion Group in the Twin Cities

I have always wanted our library to have a page on our web site providing information about local book discussion groups.  As with many things this is apparently not possible.

 In answer to a recent question "Where and how can I promote my book group?"

Meetups.com has a nice page for book groups.  There may be a membership and or charge but people can search by geographical area and type of group so it is a nice resource.

Start a Facebook Group page.

Start a Blogger Blog for your group.

Contact your community newspaper to see if they will accept announcements for your next meeting and selection.  Usually they want notice two weeks in advance.

As always, I'm a huge fan of the online Patch newspapers which do a great job with up to date nicely wriiten articles about virtually everything going on in the community.

See if your church or city hall allows bulletin board flyers.

Cartoon Day: Keeping up with the Bestsellers

Click to enlarge. The Toonlet link left the final panel off, gasp.

National Reading Group Month October 2009

Celebrate October with National Reading Group Month. Begun by the Women's National Book Association in 2007,they promote reading groups, give suggestions for reading, and they select an annual best reads for book groups.

Selections for 2009 are:

Appassionata by Eva Hoffman
The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James
The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey
Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal by Julie Metz
While I'm Falling by Laura Moriarty
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
Cost by Roxana Robinson
Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie

Visit their site for descriptions and links to other sites with more in depth treatments of the books and questions for discussion.

Other great Reading Group Resources are:

Book Group Buzz from Booklist Magazine This is my favorite blog and guide for book group and reading information. They are updated daily, enthusiastic, creative, and a pleasure to read.

Reading Group Choices Advice on starting a group, lots of book suggestions with "conversation starters" and book background. They have a whole page of links to other reading group guides.

Check to see if your library system subscribes to Novelist. This database gives background on books and authors, lets you search for Read-alikes, Award Winners, and book discussion guides.

MinnPost's Book Club Club



Brand new this September from online site MinnPost is their Book Club Club which they mean to be a club made up of existing Minnesota book clubs—a community of engaged readers. Book clubs of all sizes, themes and types that meet anywhere in the state are welcome to join. Membership is free.

Here you will find articles about books and book discussion, a list of Twin Cities area bestsellers, a list of book groups in Minnesota (your group can be can be added to the list anytime). Comment on any of the ongoing topics, find a group to join. I think the overall hope is to have a single place for readers to talk about the books they love.

Talking about Mysteries

I attended my first ever book discussion group this morning. We had a small but very lively group. We agreed to read a variety of mystery subgenres, and that we would rotate into the mystery mix novels of suspense as well.

We wanted to be able to read older classic titles and authors as well as newer titles and authors. The older authors can be a problem just because often it is difficult to find multiple copies of them for a whole group to read.

In cases like these we will read any book we can find by that author for the discussion, and we will discuss their work more generally and look for common themes and perhaps methods of presenting and solving crimes.

I've agreed to do the author background, discussions and read-alikes.

This will be alot of fun, and I'm glad I chose mysteries as my first experience with book groups.

These are our first selections:

February

Daughter of Time/Josephine Tey

March

Murder in the Vicarage/Agatha Christie (Note the group is meeting Tuesday March 17th instead of Tuesday March 10th this month.)

April

Any book by A. A. Fair

May

The Devil's Teardrop/Jeffrey Deaver

June

Woman in White/Wilkie Collins