Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Upcoming Book Club
The next meeting of the book club will be on July 7th. We are reading The Way the Crow Flies, by Annmarie McDonald. It is 700+ pages, so if you are not ready to pick it up and read from now until the 7th, join us anyway. At this meeting, we will be picking the books for the next several months. So come join us for a fun discussion (about the book and everything else), wine, treats and great company.
Day out in Llangollen - Plas Newydd
A group of us dressed in our raincoats carrying umbrellas descended upon the lovely town of Llangollen on June 25th for a day out. First we visited Plas Newydd, home of the "Ladies of Llangollen"; two runaways from Ireland who moved to the idyllic location of North Wales to live the remainder of their lives together in peace and romantic friendship. The house and grounds were beautiful and we learned about the lives of these two eccentric ladies. After our visit to Plas Newydd, we headed into the center of Llangollen to The Mill House for a nice lunch overlooking the river. Unfortunately the weather kept us from eating out on the decks overlooking the river, but we got a nice view nevertheless. Then it was onto shopping before heading back to Chester. On the trip home, we took a detour to the Aquaduct nearby. It is an iron bridge with water that narrow boats use to cross the valley. It is quite remarkable and is recommended for all to see!
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Thank you Martina!
We would like to say thank you to Martina for all her time, hard-work, dedication and friendship for the past few years! She and her family will be moving on and will be sorely missed. We plan to have a going-away party for her and her family and will let you know the details as soon as they are finalized. So please join us in wishing her and her family a safe and happy move and an easy transition into their new lives.
We will miss you!!!!!
We will miss you!!!!!
The Book Thief - by Markus Zazuk
On Writing the Book Thief:
The Book Thief was supposed to be a small book - only a hundred pages or so. When I was growing up, I heard stories at home about Munich and Vienna in war-time, when my parents were children. Two stories my mother told me affected me a lot. The first was about Munich being bombed, and how the sky was on fire, how everything was red. The second was about something else she saw...
One day, there was a terrible noise coming from the main street of town, and when she ran to see it, she saw that Jewish people were being marched to Dachau, the concentration camp. At the back of the line, there was an old man, totally emaciated, who couldn't keep up. When a teenage boy saw this, he ran inside and brought the man a piece of bread. The man fell to his knees and kissed the boy's ankles and thanked him...Soon, a soldier noticed and walked over. He tore the bread from the man's hands and whipped him for taking it. Then he chased the boy and whipped him for giving him the bread in the first place. In one moment, there was great kindness and great cruelty, and I saw it as the perfect story of how humans are.
When I remembered those stories, I wanted to build them into a small book, like I said. The result was The Book Thief, and it came to mean much more to me than I could have imagined. No matter what anyone ever says about that book, whether good or bad, I know it was the best I could do, and I don't think a writer can ask for more of himself than that.
Best Always,
One day, there was a terrible noise coming from the main street of town, and when she ran to see it, she saw that Jewish people were being marched to Dachau, the concentration camp. At the back of the line, there was an old man, totally emaciated, who couldn't keep up. When a teenage boy saw this, he ran inside and brought the man a piece of bread. The man fell to his knees and kissed the boy's ankles and thanked him...Soon, a soldier noticed and walked over. He tore the bread from the man's hands and whipped him for taking it. Then he chased the boy and whipped him for giving him the bread in the first place. In one moment, there was great kindness and great cruelty, and I saw it as the perfect story of how humans are.
When I remembered those stories, I wanted to build them into a small book, like I said. The result was The Book Thief, and it came to mean much more to me than I could have imagined. No matter what anyone ever says about that book, whether good or bad, I know it was the best I could do, and I don't think a writer can ask for more of himself than that.
Best Always,
The book club met last night to discuss our latest book, The Book Thief, by Markus Zazuk. It is a story told in the perspective of death as the narrator about life in Germany during World War II for a young girl and her family. It was a very interesting story that many of us found we could not put down after starting. The discussions of this book led to discussions about how different parts of Europe experienced "a different war" during WWII. It was an interesting and enlightening discussion for all. We had a great time and look forward to the next book, The Way The Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald. So if you are a quick reader (712 pages, small print), come join us on July 9th to discuss the latest. Even if you don't finish the book come and join us! Contact committee members or drop us an e-mail to find out the details of where and when.
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