Meeting Luis Alberto Urrea

Four of us members were able to attend an author's speaking engagement on Thursday, September 29th by the Mid-Columbia Library (Prosser Branch). The author/speaker of the evening was Luis Alberto Urrea. The event was held at Chiwana High School Auditorium at 7pm in West Pasco.

With an aire of distinguished monologue and incredible insight of mexican tradition and culture we were honored to attend but also honored to peer into his window and..learn. He was entertaining, with a comidic edge. Open to questions, and donating time to sign books, he came across down to earth and earnest. One couldn't help but respect his life while gaining a perspective during a state of admiration.

Mr. Urrea opened up about his family background with twists of personal unfortunate events and his life's turns of opportunity and accomplishments. These attributes and insights spill over into his books. I only have read one; The Hummingbird's Daughter. But, I think I speak for everyone in the club, that I look forward, am open, and sincerely want to endure another one of his impressive writing collection.

The Hummingbird's Daughter

October's Pick (October 11th's meeting) will be The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberta Urrea. Barb Shimek will be hosting. The meeting will be held at Becky's Coffee Corner at 6pm.

Last month, The Page Turner Book Club were invited to participate and read any book of our choosing by Luis Urrea. We were also encouraged to attend a speakers engagement which he, the author would be the guest. This event is to be held Thursday, Sept., 29th at 7 pm at Chiawana High School Auditorium in West Pasco.

Our group has chosen the title; "The Hummingbird's Daughter", a national best seller, to read and later discuss as a group for October's meeting.

September's Scheduled Book

Hello everyone!

Even though the heat of summer has not held back it's buzz of busy-ness, us members have managed to gulp a cold drink but gulp and relish our books as well. We've plunged and persevered through the sun's waves! Ahh,..."only more light to read by.", we say.

Our next and last summer's meeting will be on Tuesday, September 13th. It will be held between 6 and 7:30 at Becky's.

Attention newcomers; come early enough to take advantage of Becky's Coffee Corner's services for she closes at 6pm!

September's scheduled book will be; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Issacson. Dr. Mary Thomas will be hosting.

The Barnes & Noble Review:
In this engaging biography, journalist Walter Isaacson captures the gregarious essence of Benjamin Franklin, the Founding Father who has earned a special place in the pantheon of American patriots by dint of sheer approachability.
Brilliant but not intellectual, principled but not priggish, Franklin was an original thinker whose genius lay less in profound thoughts than in practical ideas and homely wisdom. As he rose in station from impoverished young printer's apprentice to venerable statesman and man of means, he hobnobbed with aristocrats, royals, and some of the greatest thinkers of the Enlightenment; but he never lost touch with the common man whose standard he carried proudly throughout his long, eventful life.

Franklin's glittering accomplishments -- the famous experiments and inventions, the stirring articles and treatises, and the shrewd diplomatic coups -- were fueled by pragmatism, entrepreneurial energy, and self-promotion, all solid middle-class values. Isaacson shows us how the enterprising young tradesman exaggerated (particularly in his writings) bourgeois virtues like industriousness, frugality, and honesty to create a new American archetype -- the self-made man -- and how this persona, which was both a reflection and a caricature of Franklin's natural self, worked both for and against him in his personal relationships.

What emerges from this lively study is the fascinating portrait of a flawed and complicated man: a canny charmer, a brilliant inventor, a gifted diplomat, and a public-spirited citizen, but most of all a passionate populist with an unwavering faith in the wisdom of his fellow citizens, whose vision of America shaped his own age and continues to influence our own. Anne Markowski

While yellow buses swarm and lazy flies haunt your windows, may you endure the long evenings, refreshing drink in hand and book planted on your lap. Onward Readers!
Nicole

NEXT BOOK: "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte

Take note that our next meeting will be on Tuesday, August 9th from 6-7:30 at Becky’s Coffee Corner in Prosser. We’ll be joining together this summer evening to discuss the book; Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Sarah Brana will be our host.

Come a little early - for Becky will be offering her services before the meeting!


A "hook" about the book;Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre (1847), is the famous tale of an orphan, who must overcome seemingly overwhelming odds to survive. This Gothic novel ventures into the nature of love, religion, an awakening, an exploration of the place and treatment of women and children, and much more--all in the form of a vivid adventure as Jane Eyre finds her way. Here are a couple of famous quotations from the novel:

•"It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it."
- Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre


•"If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends."
- Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

Source: http://classiclit.about.com/od/janeeyre/a/aa_janeeyrequ.htm

Coming up.....The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

OUR NEXT MEETING......

Tuesday, July 12th we will be meeting to discuss our next book; The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

We will be meeting at 6pm and meetings usually go until 7:30. Celeste' Lynn will be our host.

Come early to grab a beverage from Becky's Coffee Corner as she will be offering her services before the meeting.

So what do you need to do to prepare? Read your book, come, and join us!!

A "hook" about the book;

The Handmaid's Tale, a best-selling book first published in 1985, could have been marketed as a kind of sci-fi horror story. After all, it's a scary vision of a dystopian future, kind of like Brave New World, 1984, or even The Hunger Games. In this future, nearly all the women have become infertile, so the few who can still have babies have been rounded up, brainwashed, and assigned to powerful men in a twisted attempt to restore the human race.

( excerpt taken from http://www.shmoop.com/handmaids-tale/)

June 13th.....The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Next meeting will be on a Monday (not your typical 2nd Tuesday of the month), June 13th to discuss the book; The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. It will be at Becky's Coffee Corner in Prosser at 6pm. The meeting usually goes to about 7:30. Remember to read the entire book so that you will be able to join in on all the fun (discussion)!! This meeting will be hosted by Nicole Thomas.

Next Up......Da Ta Da Da

May 10th, Gulliver's Travels

The Page Turner Book Club will be meeting on the 2nd Tuesday of May (10th) at Becky's Coffee Corner from 6pm to 7:30pm to discuss the classic book; Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. The host of the evening will be Celeste' Lynn.

Be there a little early and Becky's Coffee Corner will be offering services (coffee, tea, etc.).

Come join us!