Discussion 2 - The Violets of March

I feel, like it has been foreeever since the first discussion, but I guess that's what happens when we have an extra Friday in the month! ;)

Greetings and Happy Friday.  It’s Lisa of Lisa’s Yarns.  I hope you all enjoyed Violets of March as much as I did. I had been looking forward to reading it since it first came out and I was not disappointed.  I read it in a span of days, staying up past my bedtime on the final night to finish it as I just had to see how it would all turn out.  For me, it’s always a sign of a good book when I am willing to break my strict bedtime rule.  ;) 

While I loved the book, there were some things that bugged me.  For instance, I didn’t find Greg & Jack’s characters super believable…  Maybe I am just too cynical these days, but the professions about her beauty, etc, seemed a bit overdone and made me roll my eyes a bit.  And it annoyed me how she was willing to accept the mysterious nature of her relationship with Jack.  But besides that, I really loved the book and was surprised by the ending.

 Now for the discussion questions…

1. What role does Bainbridge Island play in this story? What makes it unique? What does the island offer Emily that she can't get from her life in New York?
2. Both Bee and Elliot harbor guilt about the night of Esther's accident. How do you feel they handled the situation? Would you have protected Elliot the way Bee did? Would you have gone down after Esther the way Elliot said he had wanted to?
3. What do you think about the fact that Esther was living all this time?  What do you think about the fact that she kept in touch with Henry, but never made contact with her child?
4. Elliot says that he and Esther were “soul mates,” and Emily's relationship with Jack mirrors that sentiment. Do you believe in soul mates? What role does timing play in these two couples' relationships? What could Esther and Elliot have done differently to be together.

Thanks, Lisa! I really enjoyed this book too, and can't wait to discuss Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah in April.  Discussion dates will be April 13th and 27th! Hope you will join!

I'm back!

We had soooo much fun. It was definitely a needed break and it also brought up once again, how pretty Tennessee is, and how much I want to move there! I have some photo's I will share and some adventures that I will share, but today I am going to be busy enjoying the 80 degree weather that we are being blessed with, oh and catching up on all the blogs!

I am just into the third book of Middlesex. Bad, bad I know. But I will finish it. Just was too busy having fun on vacation to read ALLL the time! Though, I have to say the incest stuff is a bit much for me. Like, there aren't enough people in Detroit that you have to marry your cousin? UH NO.

In other news, our April's Group Read will be Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah.


Goodreads.com descrpition: From the New York Times bestselling author of On Mystic Lake comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship...

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable.

So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.

From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success...and loneliness.

Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her...how she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend...

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart...and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone's Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it's the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It's about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you---and knows what has the power to hurt you...and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you'll never forget...one you'll want to pass on to your best friend

Have a fabulous weekend! Hope you are doing something fun!

March's Group Read is...

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides...





Back Cover: Middlesex tells the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family, who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City, and the race riots of 1967, before they move out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret, and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.

I can't wait to read and discuss this one! I got it for Christmas in 2008 and never got around to reading it. I have an never-ending TBR pile.. :)

March Group Read Suggestions

Anyone have any suggestions for what we should read in March?

Books we have already read are:
I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

If you've thought about joining us before but have not, why not use the inspiration that March is Reading Month to join in!!

Just leave a comment with 1 or 2 book selections by Tuesday, February 23rd to have yours be included in the poll that will be posted Wednesday morning in the sidebar of my blog. That poll will be up until the 27th with the winner being announced next Sunday, February 28th.

Can't wait to read another book with you ladies!