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Members Favorite Reads
See what other women in your community are reading...
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book club
Members Share Their Favorite Reads
Can a book change your life? Our members believe they can and convene once a month to read, discuss and share.
The Book Club which is held the 3rd Tuesday of each month and meets at Laniakea from noon to 1pm (brown bag). All members interested are invited to attend and bring a book or a suggestion for a future club selection.
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Book Club Latest News
Next Meets
Tuesday, November 17th
 November's Book Club selection is Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh.
Put Out More Flags is Waugh's superb send-up of "smart" England, the bohemian crowd, as World War II approaches.
Not even the traumas of World War II could put Evelyn Waugh's delightfully satirical pen on hold; the horrors of war expose the grimness beneath his humor and invite a new kind of irreverence. Consider a scene in "Put Out More Flags" (1942) in which a woman's husband has just been killed in combat and the man with whom she's been having an affair wastes no time in proposing marriage. Her lackadaisical response to this most solemn of requests: "Yes, I think so. Neither of us could ever marry anyone else, you know."
Like Wodehouse, but with greater subtlety, Waugh finds an underlying silliness in all types of characters and sets them up to be knocked down like ducks in a shooting gallery. Waugh's great insight was the immediate recognition of the potential humor of the war's impact on the British class conflict, and therein lies his brilliance. His books are funny, but more importantly, they're every bit as intelligent, perceptive, and well-written as any "serious" novel, whose level of social consciousness they rival. The twentieth century needed an Evelyn Waugh, and we certainly could use one now . Read more
For more information about the Book Club email Judy Allen or call 695-2629.
Last Book Club Selection
To suggest the next Book Club selection or write a review click here
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See What Started the Buzz...
Speakers Meda Chesney-Lind and Maile Meyer shared their top 5 books and why women read what they read at April's Lunch Club Event "Top 5 Books Every Woman Should Read". This event started the conversation!
Meda Chesney-Lind is a Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa Bio
Maile Meyer is owner of Native Books Na Mea Hawaii Bio
Watch the entire April 7th Lunch Club event!
Meda Chesney-Lind, Maile Meyer - April Lunch Club Event - 28.16
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Book Club Selection - November 2009
Put Out More Flags
By Evelyn Waugh
 Put Out More Flags is Waugh's superb send-up of "smart" England, the bohemian crowd, as World War II approaches. Making a return appearance, Basil Seal this time insinuates himself into an odd but profitable role in the country's mobilization.
Not even the traumas of World War II could put Evelyn Waugh's delightfully satirical pen on hold; the horrors of war expose the grimness beneath his humor and invite a new kind of irreverence. Consider a scene in "Put Out More Flags" (1942) in which a woman's husband has just been killed in combat and the man with whom she's been having an affair wastes no time in proposing marriage. Her lackadaisical response to this most solemn of requests: "Yes, I think so. Neither of us could ever marry anyone else, you know."
Like Wodehouse, but with greater subtlety, Waugh finds an underlying silliness in all types of characters and sets them up to be knocked down like ducks in a shooting gallery. In "Put Out More Flags," he dredges up some characters from previous novels and introduces them into comic situations within the context of the incipient European war (1939-1940). Foremost among them is Basil Seal, a thirty-six-year-old who is as unemployable as a six-year-old. His mother tries to help him get a prestigious position in the Army, but he blows it when he unintentionally and unknowingly insults the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Bombardiers. Fortunately, he is able to get a job with the War Department where he discovers that the secret to success is to level charges of Communism and Nazism against his (mostly) innocent friends and inform on them.
Waugh's great insight was the immediate recognition of the potential humor of the war's impact on the British class conflict, and therein lies his brilliance. His books are funny, but more importantly, they're every bit as intelligent, perceptive, and well-written as any "serious" novel, whose level of social consciousness they rival. The twentieth century needed an Evelyn Waugh, and we certainly could use one now".
Put Out More Flags
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Book Club Selection - October 2009
The Glass Castle
By Jeannette Walls
 Jeannette grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever.
Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to a dismal West Virginia mining town -- and the family -- Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.
What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.
"For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots. Now she tells her own story".
The Glass Castle
A Book Club Review
Book Club Update
By Jerri Patton, Member
Five of us enjoyed a lively discussion of the The Glass Castle at the October meeting. We give it a Four Star Rating (there was one holdout in the voting). We all related in one way or another to the story of Jeannette Walls and her unusual childhood. Each of us commented about our own childhood and family and the ways in which our experiences resembled or differed from the Walls tales. In this way, we came to know each other better, which is part of this book's appeal. We also discussed a new book by Jeannette Walls, Half Broke Horses, a prequel to The Glass Castle. In Half Broke Horses Walls uses her grandmother's voice to create an imaginary memoir of her grandmother's life, which in turn explains a lot about her own extraordinary life story. We recommend both books.
Our reading selection for the November 17th discussion is Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh, which is available at the library. See you on the 17th!
A Book Club Review
A New Kind of Hero
By Cynthia Fisher, Member
 I will be the first to admit that when something goes wrong I look for the reason behind it. Oftentimes, or maybe I should say most times, looking for that reason involves me also looking for something or someone to blame. I usually find a way to blame myself but I am definitely guilty of pointing fingers at other people or, when all else fails, blaming the universe for working against me.
Because of these thoughts, what struck me most about Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle is the lack of blame and bitterness. She doesn’t hide the truth about how she grew up: the extreme poverty, what would be considered by many as abuse, the missing positive role models and support that you would expect from parents, the instability of never truly having a home. But what Jeannette doesn’t do is ask the ever famous question “Why me?”. Instead of a story about difficulty she shows us a tale of strength. Where there should be reports on the failures of misguided parents, we learn about siblings banding together against nearly impossible odds to help each other move forward. What should have been a book with a depressing ending is a book that leaves me filled with hope. I can admire Jeannette for doing what it has to take to survive and to live with a family with so many problems that even after reading her story, it is hard to imagine how they ever managed to persevere but more then that, I can admire her for coming through extreme adversity and still having the strength of character to love and care about her family. At one particularly difficult point Jeannette’s mother tells her “Everyone has something good about them…You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that”. Perhaps that is the way Jeannette is able to view her family and maybe this is a way we should look at life in general. There are bad times, some worse then others, some more harsh on different people but that is not all there is. Mixed among the trials and tribulations there are love, hope and dreams, if we are only willing to see them. Maybe if we learn to look forward instead of back in bitterness, we will start to build a Glass Castle of our very own.
So, from The Glass Castle and from Jeannette Wall I take away not only an interesting story that exposes me to another way of living but a new perspective on looking at my own problems and difficulties. Her ability to share her trying story and to not come across as bitter or even as victim, to me, makes her a new kind of hero.
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Book Club Selection - September 2009
Shibumi
By Trevanian
 October's Book Club selection is Shibumi by Trevanian. When this novel was first published in 1979, the leading critics had a difficult time classifying the work. It wasn't exactly an espionage thriller or an epic, but it seemed to touch upon many genres and themes. Shibumi is a fictional biography, half saintly ascetic, half Vandal marauder - a medieval anti-hero. Nicholai Hel is your vintage 'man-against-the establishment' with a mind like a steel trap and the tastes and lifestyle of an 18th century aristocrat. His pedigree is a throw back to the German/Russian elite, where generations of breeding and culture have contributed to his unusual character. Nicholai is a man without a country, a natural mystic, philosopher, linguist, master of Go, a complex Japanese board game of high strategy, and most importantly, a self trained assassin for hire who is expert in the arts of naked/kill. More than this, he is a seeker of spiritual perfection, his ultimate goal being that hard to define state or condition known as "Shibumi".
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Book Club Selection - August 2009
Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen
By Julie Powell
 Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen is the story of Julie Powell's attempt to revitalize her marriage, restore her ambition, and save her soul by cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I, in a period of 365 days. The result is a masterful medley of Bridget Jones' Diary meets Like Water for Chocolate, mixed with a healthy dose of original wit, warmth, and inspiration that sets this memoir apart from most tales of personal redemption.
When we first meet Julie, she's a frustrated temp-to-perm secretary who slaves away at a thankless job, only to return to an equally demoralizing apartment in the outer boroughs of Manhattan each evening. At the urging of Eric, her devoted and slightly geeky husband, she decides to start a blog that will chronicle what she dubs the "Julie/Julia Project." What follows is a year of butter-drenched meals that will both necessitate the wearing of an unbearably uncomfortable girdle on the hottest night of the year, as well as the realization that life is what you make of it and joy is not as impossible a quest as it may seem, even when it's -10 degrees out and your pipes are frozen.
Powell is a natural when it comes to connecting with her readers, which is probably why her blog generated so much buzz, both from readers and media alike. And while her self-deprecating sense of humor can sometimes dissolve into whininess, she never really loses her edge, or her sense of purpose. Even on day 365, she's working her way through Mayonnaise Collee and ending the evening "back exactly where we started--just Eric and me, three cats and Buffy...sitting on a couch in the outer boroughs, eating, with Julia chortling alongside us...."
Inspired and encouraging, Julie and Julia is a unique opportunity to join one woman's attempt to change her life, and have a laugh, or ten, along the way. --Gisele Toueg
A Book Club Review
By Linda L. Fong, Member
 What do you do when you are depressed with your relationships and frustrated at work? Get BUSY and challenge yourself with a new a hobby! That is exactly what Julie did in her book “Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen” as she engaged herself in cooking through Julia Childs cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”, and braved the world of cyberspace by posting and writing a blog about her experiences.
The newly formed YWCA Book Club had mixed reviews about this book. Over all it was thumbs up for the funny challenges and successes that Julie Powell met in her year of cooking and blogging. One thumb sideways, (ok, but would not recommend) for the “reality show” feel of the book, and one thumbs down (didn’t like enough to finish the book, and strongly would not recommend) for the use of vulgar language and writing style.
“Bon appetit!” (Enjoy a good book!)
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Book Club Selection - July 09
Lost Generations: a Boy, a School, a Princess
by J. Arthur Rath
 The author, Mr. Rath, attended and joined the lively discussion. See photos below
In 1944, J. Arthur Rath, a part-Hawaiian boy from a broken home, entered the Kamehameha School for Boys as an eighth-grade boarder. Thus began Rath's love affair with an institution that he credits with turning his life around, with giving him and other disadvantaged children of native ancestry -- Hawai'i's "lost generations" -- the confidence and support necessary to make something of themselves.
J. Arthur Rath spent his early childhood shuttled between relatives and foster parents in Hawai‘i and the mainland while his single mother, Hualani, struggled to make a living. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, his grandparents sent him to the Big Island and Konawaena School, where he heard the Kamehameha Schools boy choir at a school assembly. The performance made a deep impression on Rath, and a year later, in 1944, he entered Kamehameha as an eighth-grade boarder. Thus began Rath’s love affair with an institution that he credits with turning his life around, with giving him and other disadvantaged children of native ancestry—Hawai‘i’s "lost generations"—the confidence and support necessary to make something of themselves. This is the story of that love affair. It is also the story of Rath’s recent battle, together with other alumni, for the integrity of his beloved Kamehameha against the school’s trustees and their organization, the powerful Bishop Estate.
Intelligent and impressionable, Rath spent an idyllic four years at Kamehameha. In a lively talk-story manner, he reminisces about campus life and his classmates, many of whom became lifelong friends and influential members of the Hawaiian community. Years later Rath, a successful retired businessman, would call on these same friends to hold Kamehameha’s trustees accountable for their mismanagement of Bishop Estate’s vast financial holdings and ultimately their failure to carry out founder Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s mandate to educate Hawaiian children. Rath draws on his many personal ties to the school and the estate to provide surprising revelations on the trustees and the "Bishop Estate Scandal," which made headlines daily throughout the mid-1990s.
Lost Generations: a Boy, a School, a Princess
Book Club Selection
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