May 2021

Connie reviewed Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld.
 

April 2021

Tonya reviewed The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson.

March 2021

Trudy reviewed The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi.
 

February 2021

 

Judy reviewed A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

Updated List

 The reading list, as updated at January meeting:

January 2021

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Review:  Tonia

Spring 2021 Book List

I've tallied the results and we have six winners!  

Everyone who voted cast a ballot for The Geography of Bliss by Eris Weiner.  Have we ever had a unanimous vote?  Thank you, Rita, for that nomination.  It seems that we are all hungry for laughter and armchair travel during this tenth month of mostly staying home.

As always, the Long List (including titles that didn't make the cut) has been added to the List of Literatae Long Lists link in the upper right of the Literatae.blogspot.com page.

The results are below.  If you want to volunteer for a role, please visit the grid that will allow you to edit.

Date	Book	Reviewer	House	Dessert
February 9	A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
March 9	The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
April 13	The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
May 11	Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
June 8	The Vapors by David Hill
July 13	The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

December 2020

 

December 8, 2020

Dispatches from Pluto by Richard Grant

Review by Kathy

Spring 2021 Nominees

 The slide show of Spring 2021 Nominees is now available.  See all the titles, book jackets, publisher summaries, comments from nominators, and Fayetteville Public Library, Independent Bookseller (The Raven in Lawrence, Kansas) and Amazon availability.  They are divided into a Fiction and a Biography, Memoir, & Nonfiction section.  In an attempt to present them objectively, I arranged them by author.

The comment window is now open.  Send your comments on specific books to me by email by November 21, and I will add those to the slide show.  We may also have a Zoom session for comments during the comment window.  Ballots will be available on November 25.

You may need to click the present button in the upper right corner to view the presentation.  Then use the enter key or click your mouse to step through the slides.  If you want to return to an earlier slide, use the left arrow key to go back.  The escape key will get you out of the presentation at any time.

About the addition of Independent Bookseller:  I'm currently exasperated with Amazon (over their failure to vet cheap Chinese knock-offs), so I've provided an alternative to automatically buying our books from them.  I thought I might feature a different independent bookseller each season.  I know most of us are retired and on fixed budgets, and many of us -- like me -- are dedicated public library patrons.  But, it's just another option.  The Raven is a lovely bookstore, and I have ordered other books from them since the beginning of Covid.

A Rough Running List of Nominations

 Here's a rough, running nominations list.  Nominations due by November 10.

November 2020

 

November 10, 2020

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni

Review by D'Ann

Timeline for Spring 2021 Book Selection

I've heard back from quite a few of you and feel ok about moving forward with our book selection process. Thank you for all your positive comments! Doing this lets me keep some of my librarian skills in practice:)

Below is the timeline I've come up with, based on what we did last time. At the suggestion of more than one person, I've added a potential Zoom session on Tuesday the 17th.

The timeline shows title submissions from October 26 to November 10, but there's no reason we can't start submitting early. Remember, I need the title and author at a minimum, and add anything else you'd like to. I'll keep a running list of submissions linked to the blog -- just the raw information people send. I'll pull images, summaries, and availability in local libraries and online prices for the slide show. My job isn't difficult, but I need titles by the deadline.

Submit titles - 16 days >>> Oct 26 - Nov 10
Creation of slide show - 3 days >>> Nov 11-13
Comment window open - 7 days >>> Nov 14-21 -- perhaps a Zoom session on Tuesday the 17th?
Comments added to slide show / Creation of ballot & cheat sheet - 3 days >>> Nov 22-24
Voting window open - 9 days >>> Nov 25-Dec 5
Tally of votes & announcement - 2 days >>> Dec 7