Book Club Update

The book club convened at J's house tonight. The proceedings kicked off with some cute, tiny sloppy joes, a bucket of grilled KFC chicken, some tasty pasta salad, a layered Mexican dip, and a cake from Kroger's shaped like a watermelon. Oh yes, we were in food heaven! Shortly after eating, we congregated in the pool and discussed our latest book, Holmes on the Range.
Most members gave it a mostly favorable review even while noting it wasn't really their type of book. DaddyP is currently reading my copy and intends to read Book Two in this same series. I believe there are 4 books total, but I do not know how many in our group intend to continue with the series other than the member who recommended the novel.
If you haven't already checked out the book, you can read about it here. I think in order to truly enjoy this novel you might first need a love (or healthy respect) for, first of all, a western novel. Second of all, and most importantly, you must love a mystery. The mystery in question in this novel is a murder that needs solving, and these 2 (one is illiterate) cowhands decide to try their hand at figuring out who the guilty party is. Like I said, this book is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but it's neat to read a book in a group to decide what you did like about it and to pick apart what you didn't. I can honestly say that I've never really read an honest-to-goodness mystery, and I'm glad to have this book to fill that spot. With our previous hostess being a mystery lover, this title was a shoe-in for her to recommend. I know that were it not for being a part of this book club, I would NEVER had read Little Dorrit or Holmes on the Range.
See there? Proof already that this book club is broadening my mind. Now if we don't stop with the random and fattening food choices, it'll be more than my mind that is broadening. Haha.
At each book club meeting, the person hosting the club gets to choose the next novel to be read. We always have one book that everyone has to read. It's like our focal book. In addition to that book, we also have several other books to share/recommend/suggest that we may or may not opt to read. While discussing our focal book, we'll also have these side books to discuss with whomever happened to have read them. This month, along with Holmes, one of the other books that we selected was What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman. Ya know, I honestly didn't like this book. I liked the plot and where it COULD have gone. Instead, the storyline seemed to get out of hand. Like the author got crazy and then couldn't pull the story back in tight enough to end it on a reasonable note. I had high hopes for the book, but I figured out the 'twist' long before I think it was supposed to obvious. The only other book that I can compare my dislike to this one would be The Memory Keeper's Daughter which I initially chose because I liked the cover (and because the odd little man at the bookstore said it was "wonderful.") This novel was such a disappointment to me. The plot had such potential, but the story just seemed to spiral out of control in such a Jerry Springerish way that I totally lost interest about halfway through the book. To me, these two books were very similar in that they both let me down equally. Haha.
And so, drum roll if you please, our hostess tonight, J., informed us of our next read that we will be discussing at Olive Garden (yay!) Here is some info in case you are interested!
(Sidenote: We also discussed our Netflix interests tonight, and several gals have Lost in Austen waiting in their queues. Can't wait to get mine in to watch! Curious to know if and when you watch it too!) I'm very curious about next month's book. T.Spoon will be choosing that one, and one never knows about her. We'll just have to wait and see, but for the month of July, we're reading about the Mormons!
Must be off to bed now. Cousins2 are sleeping over tonight, and I'm beat from getting up way earlier than I wanted this morning and then having the brain strain of hiring committee added to the day. BARF! Hopefully the cousins and kids will sleep late (haha) in the a.m. We're heading to see Ice Age tomorrow, and I think I'm as fired up as the kiddos!