September Meeting

Well hello there, bookworms! September has been a bit busy for us but we managed to read and successfully discuss The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. This was such a fun meeting for all of us!

A was the host and she just moved into this adorable carriage-house apartment. It's beautiful and we were all extremely jealous! Right before everyone arrived she texted us that she had to go pick up the pizza so she left her house unlocked for us (insert bug eyed emoji!!). We checked the corners and closets before making sure it was safe :) Katie popped in the taco dip and we were mesmerized by her oh-so-Pinterest-y kitchen while daydreaming of our own "someday apartments."

A arrived back with the pizza and she introduced us to sesame seed pizza crust. It is just delicious and it's a free upgrade at most pizza places! She also introduced us to her shy cat Cocoa. We poured ourselves some wine and we all sat on the floor while devouring our food. At this Wine & Spine meeting we had:

-sesame seed pizza

-taco dip

-chips, pretzels, and dip

-cheese & crackers

-cannoli dip

-chocolate chip cookies

-wine, of course

Please just look at the assortment of wines...

I mean, come on! We were in heaven! Thank goodness most of us wore leggings or stretchy pants because we definitely needed that extra room. We chatted about our lives, including our jobs, school, new boy updates, and changing planners. N and R (pseudonyms for two of our members) realized they are more alike than anyone thought was possible.

Eventually we started to discuss the book and we all agreed this was our favorite so far! Thanks to Zap's mom for the recommendation! LB loved the discussion questions in the back of the book; she was our discussion leader for the night. 

And of course, like always, we have to take a group picture to commemorate the meeting. 

We had to take a selfie on the staircase to fit us all in the picture :) Too many friends for a photo is not a bad thing to have!

*Review of The Rosie Project is coming soon!

Still Alice Review

Yes! We are finally reviewing Still Alice by Lisa Genova.

Like we said before, this book hit home for a lot of us because of our different families' situations. Many of our grandparents are older so we had so many text-to-self connections with this book! 

Disclaimer: only 3 of us successfully read this book in its entirety because of the extreme sadness. Therefore, this review is shorter than usual because only three people could comment on it :)

We all agreed it was sad. I mean, that goes without saying. The story follows Alice, who had a Ph.D in linguistics as she discovers she has early onset dementia. The book details how she and her family are coping with this heart-wrenching disease. We all agreed that John, Alice's husband, was not the greatest. Yes he had his shining moments and was somewhat supportive, but we hated how Alice's disease made him cold. We DID NOT support the ending at all. 

The relationship between Alice and her children was beautiful, especially between Alice and her daughter Lydia. Lisa Genova had such a way of writing the book that the reader felt every ounce of heartache and fear that Alice and her family felt. It takes a talented author to be able to create such a feeling. 

Although we enjoyed the writing style of Lisa Genova and the themes throughout the book, we still had a hard time getting over the sadness of the book. As hard as it is, we have to give Still Alice a 3-wine glass rating. Don't get us wrong, it was an excellent book. But the big picture ideas had us feeling more depressed about the world than before.