March 2015: Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple + Our 5th Anniversary!

From the 2013 Hachette Book Group paperback:

"When fifteen-year-old Bee claims a family trip to Antarctica as a reward for her perfect grades, her fiercely intelligent but agoraphobic mother, Bernadette, throws herself into preparations for the trip. Worn down by years of trying to live the Seattle life she never wanted, Bernadette is on the brink of a meltdown. As disaster follows disaster, she disappears, leaving her family to pick up the pieces. Which is exactly what Bee does, weaving together emails, invoices, and school memos to reveal the secret past that Bernadette has been hiding for decades.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette is an ingeniously entertaining novel about a family coming to terms with who they are, and the power of a daughter's love for her imperfect mother."

Author bio, click here.

We will meet to discuss Where'd You Go, Bernadette on Thursday, March 26, 2015 at 7pm at the Atlantic Highlands branch of the Monmouth County Library, located in downtown Atlantic Highlands at 100 First Avenue (inside Borough Hall).

This March meet up will mark our 5th Anniversary! Help us celebrate our birthday; we'll have tea and treats! Here's to many more years of reading together, great discussions, and laughter!

February 2015: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

From the 2004 B & N Classics paperback edition:
"Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte's only novel - remains one of literature's most disturbing explorations into the dark side of romantic passion.

An unpolished and devastating epic of childhood playmates who grow into soul mates, Wuthering Heights revolved around the willfully childish Catherine and the dark Heathcliff, who, in the words of Charlotte Brontee, "exemplifies the effects which a life of continued injustice and hard usage may produce on a naturally perverse, vindictive, and inexorable disposition." Heathcliff and Cathy believe they're destined to love each other forever. But when cruelty and snobbery separate them, their untamed emotions literally consume them.

Set amid the wild and stormy Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights is widely regarded as the most original tale of thwarted desire and heartbreak in the English language."

Your edition of Wuthering Heights may differ than the one featured here, this shouldn't be an issue!

Wikipedia bio of Emily Bronte: Click here.
Poetry Foundation bio of Emily Bronte: Click here.
Encyclopedia bio of Emily Bronte: Click here.

We will meet to discuss Wuthering Heights on Thursday, February 26, 2015, at 7pm, at the Atlantic Highlands branch of the Monmouth County Library, located at 100 First Avenue in downtown Atlantic Highlands (inside Borough Hall).

In the event of inclement weather, please look for an email update from AHLEBC right before the meeting date. If you are not on our email list, please send an email to ahlebc@gmail.com / ahlebcATgmailDOTcom requesting to be added to our email list.

January 2015: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd + 2014 Holiday Party Recap!

From the 2014 Viking/Penguin hardcover edition: "Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimkes’ daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Sue Monk Kidd’s sweeping new novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday in 1803, when she is given ownership of ten-year-old Handful, who is to be her waiting maid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty-five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement, and the uneasy ways of love.

As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.

Inspired in part by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in search for something better, and Charlotte’s lover, Denmark Vesey, a charismatic free black man who is planning insurrection."

We will meet to discuss The Invention of Wings on Thursday, January 29, 2015, at 7pm at the Atlantic Highlands Branch of the Monmouth County Library located at 100 First Avenue (inside Borough Hall) in Atlantic Highlands.

Looking ahead, here is the list of books for 2015 (starting with February):

Feb - Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
March - Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
April - Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck
May - The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
June - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
July - Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
August - Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis
Sep - Middletown, America by Gail Sheehy
Oct - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Nov/Dec - The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

Now it's time for our Holiday Party Wrap-Up from 12/4/14!

Here are the results for the most and the least favorite books we read in 2014:

Favorite - The Light between Oceans
Runner up - The City of Ember
Least favorite - The Prince

And here are some photos from our Seabiscuit chat and Holiday Party:

Photo credits: Lori M.

Photo credits: Jo W.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Here's a virtual sparkling cider toast to a healthy and Happy New Year for 2015 and here's to another year filled with more great discussions!

Nov/Dec 2014: Seabiscuit (An American Legend) by Laura Hillenbrand + Holiday Party Info!

From the 2002 First Trade Paperback edition:

"He was a cultural icon. A world-class athlete. A champion who triumphed over terrible handicaps to become a legend of the racetrack. No other racehorse has rivaled Seabiscuit's fame or his sway over the Nation's imagination. Now Laura Hillenbrand unfolds the spellbinding story of this marvelous animal, the world he lived in, and the men who staked their lives and fortunes on his dazzling career. A riveting tale of grit, grace, luck, and an underdog's stubborn determination, Seabiscuit is an American classic."

A New York Times Notable Book.

For the Wikipedia author bio, click here.

For the author's facebook page, click here.

For an article about the author living with chronic illness, click here.

With Thanksgiving falling on the last Thursday of this month, we will meet to discuss Seabiscuit on Thursday, December 4, 2014, at 7pm at the Atlantic Highlands Branch of the Monmouth County Library, located at 100 First Avenue (inside Borough Hall). We will also have our annual Holiday party on December 4th, during which we will hold our annual Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down review of our 2014 books!  (If you are unable to attend, you may leave your votes on the next post here on our blog where we will share the results in January, or reply to one of your AHELBC emails with your votes).  Also, if you wish to bring in gently loved/used books for a book exchange, please feel free.  Any books not taken home will be donated to the Free Books cart in the Library.  Please feel free to bring something festive & delish to share with the group as well!

October 2014: Dear Life (stories) by Alice Munro

From the 2012 Vintage International paperback edition:

"In story after story in this brilliant new collection, Alice Munro pinpoints the moment a person is forever altered by a chance encounter, an action not taken, or a simple twist of fate. Her characters are flawed and fully human: a soldier returning from war and avoiding his fiancée, a wealthy woman deciding whether to confront a blackmailer, an adulterous mother and her neglected children, a guilt-ridden father, a young teacher jilted by her employer. Illumined by Munro’s unflinching insight, these lives draw us in with their quiet depth and surprise us with unexpected turns. And while most are set in her signature territory around Lake Huron, some strike even closer to home: an astonishing suite of four autobiographical tales offers an unprecedented glimpse into Munro’s own childhood. Exalted by her clarity of vision and her unparalleled gift for storytelling, Dear Life shows how strange, perilous, and extraordinary ordinary life can be."

Winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize In Literature. (Click here for the NY Times article - spoilers may be possible).

For the Wikipedia bio of Alice Munro, click here. For the author's facebook page, click here. (She has no official website).

We will meet to discuss Dear Life (stories) on Thursday, October 30, 2014, at 7pm in the Community Room of the Atlantic Highlands Branch of the Monmouth County Library located at 100 First Avenue inside Borough Hall in downtown Atlantic Highlands. Lori will bring candy so feel free to bring something in keeping with the (Halloween) holiday! Any questions regarding treats, please email Lori at AHLEBC@gmail.com.

September 2014: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison + Photos from Elita's Bon Voyage Party!

From the 1995 Vintage International paperback:

"First published in 1952 and immediately hailed as a masterpiece, Invisible Man is one of those rare novels that have changed the shape of American literature. For not only does Ralph Ellison's nightmare journey across the racial divide tell unparalleled truths about the nature of bigotry and its effects on the minds of both victims and perpetrators, it gives us an entirely new model of what a novel can be.

As he journeys from the Deep South to the streets and basements of Harlem, from a horrifying "battle royal" where black men are reduced to fighting animals, to a Communist rally where they are elevated to the status of trophies, Ralph Ellison's nameless protagonist ushers readers into a parallel universe that throws our own into harsh and even hilarious relief. Suspenseful and sardonic, narrated in a voice that takes in the symphonic range of the American language, black and white, Invisible Man is one of the most audacious and dazzling novels of our century."

Biography information on author Ralph Ellison (spoilers are possible):

Wikipedia, click here.
BIO Channel, click here.
Library of Congress, click here. 

Invisible Man is longer in length than the books we usually read so that members have the time to read our monthly selection along with their personal reading, so if you're unable to finish reading the novel, please don't feel badly or let it discourage you from coming!

We will meet to discuss Invisible Man on Thursday, September 25, 2014, at 7pm at the Atlantic Highlands branch of the Monmouth County Library, located at 100 First Avenue in downtown Atlantic Highlands (inside Borough Hall).  

Here are photos from our August meetup on 8/28, during which we had a going away party for founding member, Elita:

August 2014: The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson + Reminders

Murder, Magic, And Madness At The Fair That Changed America

From the First Vintage Books Edition 2004:
"Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larsen's spell-binding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men - the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America's place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling. Erik Larsen has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction."

For the author's site, click here. (Spoilers may be possible). 

Reminder: Our August meeting will be the last one co-founder Elita will attend. Newer members may not know Elita very well because she hasn't been able to come recently, but she still plays a very big roll behind the scenes of AHLEBC. Also, if it wasn't for her, there wouldn't be an evening book club or evening bookclub blog! Lori and Elita started it together and without her encouragement it never would have been possible. If you have time, please stop by to say good-bye and wish Elita well. We will have cake and sparkling cider for her send-off.

Also: We have a few months in 2015 still open for members to pick a book for! They are August, October, and November/December.  (Since Thanksgiving 2015 falls on the last Thursday, we will not meet in November 2015, we will meet on the first Thursday in December 2015). Even if you don't yet have a book in mind, but one of those months works for you, please let Lori know and she can put you on the schedule. If anyone would be interested in facilitating the novel Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, please let Lori know. You can email her at ahlebc@gmail.com.

Our schedule for 2015 so far is as follows:

Jan:  The Invention of Wings by Susan Monk Kidd
Feb:  Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
March:  month taken, book not chosen yet
April:  month taken, book not chosen yet
May:  Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (this title may change)
June:  Possibly something by a Russian author
July:  Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Aug:  Open
Sept:  The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Oct:  Open
Nov/Dec:  Open

We will meet to discuss The Devil In The White City and say goodbye to AHLEBC co-founder Elita on Thursday, August 28, 2014, at 7pm at the Atlantic Highlands Library branch of the Monmouth County Library located at 100 First Avenue in downtown Atlantic Highlands (inside Borough Hall) where copies of the book are available at the front desk.