Upcoming First Friday Authors

First Friday Author - October 5^th 5-8 is Dr. William H. Littleton

A Ballad of Sixty-Six Days Charles Wesley at Frederica

This Ballad of Sixty-six Days was written as a tribute to the man who reportedly wrote 9000 poems and is considered the greatest hymnologist in the English language. Charles Wesley had no easy time on St. Simons, but it is hoped the Ballad will show him as a young man of conviction and honesty, also as one with whom to share a meal would have been a pleasure. Part I of the Ballad is informed by John Wesleys diaries and by the author s own experiences of life on St. Simons Island, such as being bitten by no-see-ums and watching herons and egrets fish for lunch. Part II derives from Charles Wesley s Journal covering the period of March 9, 1736 to May 12, 1736. Illustrations by Ed Cheshire.

First Friday Author - November 2 5-8
Mattie Brown & Ed Hose

Fletcher Fly Flips and Flees Florida Written by Mattie Brown and Illustrated by Ed Hose

An exciting tale of Fletcher Fly, who does not like being called a pest and dreams of being a “super fly.” Filled with exciting moments, and many pictures and words with the Fl blend. Fletcher Fly and Spencer Spider have quite an adventure!

There is still space in our Lunchtime Cookbook Club

Lunch Cookbook Club

Dates:  Tuesday Oct 9, Nov 13 and Dec 11at noon.

Cookbook:  Everyday Food:  Fresh Flavor Fast

 

 

There is still space in this new group.  Come join us for a delicious and fun lunchtime club! 

Nothing Daunted - Book Review

Nothing Daunted
By Dorothy Wilkerson

Everything was there to make this book a really good read. Two wealthy young women from Auburn, New York give up a very comfortable life and head west to teach school in the wilds of northwestern Colorado in the rural town of Hayden. They’re embraced by the community, find romance and have many challenges to face. One challenge is during the winter when they ride horses to school in snow that is as high as the horses’ withers. So why doesn’t this story grab you? To start it is stilted, reads like a textbook and goes off on so many tangents that it is hard to remember where you are in the story. The characters are never really brought to life and so you care for very few of them. Even the lead characters Dorothy and Roz seem peripheral to the history lessons that the author Dorothy Wickerson seems intent on delivering.

Nothing Daunted is not a book this group would recommend.

Submitted by Diane Vaughn

Five Quarters of the Orange 

by Joanne Harris

The ladies of the Hattie’s daytime book club had a very lively discussion about Joanne Harris’s book Five Quarters of the Orange. The book is the dark and depressing story of the Dartigen family living in the Loire River Valley in WWII during the German occupation. Fifty plus years later, Framboise Simon nee Dartigen returns to the burned out family home where she hopes for a new beginning. Her mother, Mirabelle, is still held responsible by the villagers for the terrible tragedy that took place during the war. Returning as a widow with her mother’s recipe book, Framboise restores the old homestead and opens a restaurant, setting a course that will reopen the past. 

The book discussion elicited comments such as “this family is so dysfunctional that they make mine seem normal,” “this should have been a short story,” and “evil, evil child.” Family, friends, acquaintances and country are all betrayed for such little gain. We also saw the price of drug addiction and the death of innocence. We didn’t like any of the characters and two members said this is the first book club read they didn’t finish. For me, it was a very emotional book and I had to stop and start many times. Everyone found the book to be well written but only one person said that they would recommend this book to others.

Was reading this book a waste of time? Personally I didn’t think so. This book, though not memorable, did shed some light on how a village coped during an alien occupation and asked the question would our town act the same. 

submitted by daytime club member Diane Vaughn