Rocket Boys

Stacie came down to our side of town to host last night at Kacey's house. We had great discussion about Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam. Most people agreed that his mom was the favorite character. Stacie was able to understand the father and appreciate his character more. Rocket science was in its infancy at the time and seemed like a silly dream to most people. The movie name, October Sky, was an anagram for Rocket Boys since the name turned some people off to the movie. October was the month that Sputnik went up. We learned about the 1950's from those that lived it and from statistics. Buying a home would be a whole lot cheaper, but on $3200 a year it would still be something to save for. For dessert we had a yummy jello dish. Anything anyone wants to add?

Next month we are meeting at Kacey's again and we are reading Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan. Adrienne is gonna host for the first time. March 28th, be there.

Fresh Apple Cake w/ Brown Sugar Glaze

Many people asked for this recipe. So, since we are keeping the blog I am gonna use it to share the recipe. (Originally found on lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com)


Fresh Apple Cake w/ Brown Sugar Glaze

Apple Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped apples
• 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)

Brown Sugar Glaze:

• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon heavy cream

For the cake: Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch pan (round or square) and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.Stir with a whisk to mix everything together.
In a large bowl, mix the eggs with a hand mixer til light in color and foamy. Add the oil and vanilla and beat well.
Stir in the flour mixture with a spoon and continue stirring the batter til the flour disappears. Add the apples and nuts (if using) and stir to mix them into the batter.
Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Place the hot cake on a wire cake. While it's still hot, prepare the glaze.
For the glaze: Combine all the ingredients into a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Cook for 3-5 minutes.
Spoon the hot glaze over the still hot-from-the-oven cake. Let the glazed cake cool completely before serving straight from the pan.

Our 3rd year!

We kicked of our year of reading last night. I will give you break down of the books that were suggested, the book and host(ess) for next month and you can check out the side bar for the year schedule. (I did not list the book chosen for book club reading on their month so we don't have repeats.) Yay!

Mindy suggested:
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate
The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright
Jenny suggested:
The Snow Angel by Glenn Beck
(the book she thought was called Bright Angel is not.)
Michele H. suggested:
A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
The Great and Terrible series by Chris Stewart
Michelle L. suggested:
The book she chose will be her book in November (see sidebar)
Adrianne suggested:
Al Capone Does my Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
Heidi suggested:
Austenland by Shannon Hale
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
Stork by Wendy Delsol
The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
Stacie suggested:
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
Kacey suggested:
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton*
House at Riverton by Kate Morton*
Jeannie suggested:
Return From Tomorrow by George Richie
Time for Andrew by mary Downing Hahn
Children of the Dust Bowl by Jerry Stanley
Mickey suggested:
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn
Nightmare Mountain by Peg Kehret
A Dog Named Kitty by Bill Wallace
Tennyson by Lesley M.M. Blume


*Not recommended for book club reading necessarily


Stacie is hosting next month at Kacey's house. The book is Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam

To Keep or not?

I started the blog so we could review the books we read in book club. If people couldn't come they could still see what they missed and maybe add ideas or questions. It was also to keep track of dates and changes. The blog is very much neglected and not as I envisioned. Most people don't even read it or know how. What are your thoughts? (All 4 of you.) With the facebook group is this even something we want to keep doing or worrying about?

Tomorrow

Seriously. How awful am I at blogging? Goodness. We are having book club tomorrow night. The book is Now and Forever by Ray Bradbury. It contains 2 novellas. Jenny Tyler chose the book, but I believe we are meeting at Kacey's house @ 7:00. We will try to make a plan for next year as well. (At least I am assuming this is the case.)

2 weeks

In 2 weeks we will be discussing Sarah Plain and Tall and Skylark by Patricia MacLachlan. I will be hosting here at my home. If you really like the books and feel that they were not long enough you could read the sequels, Caleb's Story, More Perfect than the Moon and Grandfather's Dance in that order. They are good reads as well. If you still need to read the books I have copies but I will need them that night to discuss. Happy reading!

13 Reasons Why...

In honor of our latest read I will be summarizing our discussions with...

13 Reasons Why... We Did Not Like This Book.

Okay, that is just a little too harsh. I think overall most agreed it was a very good discussion book and a topic that should be addressed, along with being a well-written, interesting book. But it was definitely a downer... and unlike most of our recent downers, one some of us had trouble finding common ground with.

So lets just stick with 13 discussion topics.

1 - Was any of the tape recipient's role more important than any other? Overall we felt like all of the negative things that happened to Hannah built upon each other. Some of them were more serious than others, but they were all significant in her downfall. It also seems like any one of the people involved could have, with different actions on their part, done a lot to help Hannah out of her downward spiral.

2 - Are the tapes more powerful than a suicide note? We had an interesting discussion on the power of hearing someone speak beyond the grave. Even in more positive notes, like a video left after the passing of a grandparent, it is an extremely powerful way to get a message across. We also talked about how most high school age students have had little to no experience with death. To not only hear about the death of a fellow student but to then hear her voice again as she describes your past actions would be very powerful.

3 - Where were Hannah's parents through all of this? Almost everyone noticed at some point that she doesn't really talk about her parents. But someone brought up that Hannah is talking about all of these events after they happened and concentrating on sending a message to the 12 recipients more than giving a full account of everything going on in her life. Her parents involvement, whether it was absent or negative, did not seem important to Hannah.

4 - What do we think about Mr. Porter (the counselor)? Again someone (why can't I remember who said what at book club last night?) brought up that near the beginning of the book, they made it clear that Mr. Porter was not a trained counselor but just an English teacher filling in for the time being. While it was obvious that he missed some very major signs that should have been followed up, I think we felt more sympathy for the man than anything. It was clear that Hannah was just looking for the final excuse to do something she was planning on doing anyway. Now to have that one moment come back to him in those tapes and receive what she considers one of the main reasons she decided to end her life would be an incredibly hard thing to deal with.

5 - What did we think about the main character (Clay?) Linda and other agreed that we were glad the main character did not have a significantly negative role in Hannah's life. It was much easier to listen to his thoughts and narration than it would have been to listen to someone who had been cruel to Hannah. We were also very glad that at the end of the book, he did not take his experience for granted but instead reached out to someone sharing some of the same signs of depression that Hannah had shown.

6 - Were Hannah's experiences unusual? Whether it was ourselves or through the people around us, most of us felt Hannah's experiences were pretty typical of high school. There were some experiences that were definitely more extreme during the end after she had, in essence, given up, but the rumors, teasing, cruel behavior from jealous peers, etc. were not unique experiences. One thing we spoke at length about is how things affect different people. While some people will hear something and will instantly find offense or dwell over it, others will let it go right over their heads and not think about it again. Many people who go through similar experiences can still find happiness and joy in life. Especially with the support and knowledge of the gospel, we all felt like many can overcome those situations and still be able to recognize the blessings in their lives. But those more prone to depression or those who are easily offended can be very affected by those kind of situations, as Hannah obviously was.

7 - Which then led to our next discussion, how do we treat people? It is true that little things can make big differences in other's lives, but many of us felt that, though we would not intentionally offend, a sane person cannot spend their day wondering how every word they say affected every person they spoke to. Especially when words were not shared with malicious intent, it can be exhausting to worry about every spoken word.

8 - Why we had trouble relating to the book? As a group of grown women very much out of high school (thank goodness!) we have gotten past the time of life when everything was about "me". It was difficult for some to get back in that mindset to relate to Hannah's experiences.

9 - Someone mentioned the pioneers and said "theirs was the physical challenge, ours is the mental and emotional", or something to that effect. We spoke briefly about times in history when people went through truly terrible ordeals that make high school look like heaven when people wouldn't have even considered taking their own life. The two things we thought contributed to our more modern views on suicide are 1) a lack of faith in God, and a decrease of the belief that those who committed suicide went to hell 2) a lack of work or other laborious tasks, instead lots and lots of easy free time.

10 - After reading an article about the author, he mentioned that some critics thought the book would glorify suicide. But instead, most of his fan mail was from teenagers who found that in the end of the book, after reading all of the things that happened in Hannah's life, they still wanted her to be alive. They found reasons for her to live that she didn't see. And they also saw that even though she got her message across to all of those people, how sad it is that she doesn't get to experience any of the change in these people's lives because she is gone.

11 - This book seems to be best suited for adults with teenagers so they can be aware of signs and they can be more willing to discuss and talk to their children about things going on in their life. It is also a good book for teens, if nothing else for them to get a glimpse into how their behavior and actions could be affecting others.

12 - We also got to look into the life of Mickey, who was not only a beautiful woman but who also shared those fantastic genes with her family and has a beautiful progeny! Happy birthday!

13 - Fantastic hostesses, Linda and Michelle and fantastic treats.

Thanks everyone for participating! Isn't book club the best?!!!

Next month... Sarah Plain and Tall and its sequal Skylark. Plus come prepared to discuss your favorite childrens book. Bring a copy if you can!