Summer Book Club! The Well, Part 8...

*tears!*

It's the end of our Summer Book Club, and this Catholic librarian is feeling a bit emotional. It doesn't help that my kids are on a short overnight trip with their grandparents to a water park, and I'm all weepy about THAT, too.

#somanyemotions

My lucky husband. ;-)

But let's get down to business! The final segment in our Summer Book Club for 2017 is about to begin...grab your beverage!

All right, so we pick up with Shem and Mara on the run. They had met Mary, and are on their way back to Sychar, but with Mara trying to convince Shem that he must heed Jesus's call to follow Him. Shem, unlike Mara, is still very much unconvinced that Jesus is the Chosen One they've been waiting for. As Shem and Mara travel, they continue to grow in affection for each other. Shem decides that upon their return to Sychar, he will ask Mara to marry him.

When they return, they are happened upon by the roving band of bitter men that are always causing trouble in Sychar, i.e. Zevulun and his minions. 😒  They immediately accuse Mara of being just like her mother. Shem and Mara of course rightly deny this, but reason and honesty play no role with Zevulun. He drags them to the temple, where Mara is publicly accused of untoward behavior outside of marriage. Shem isn't too worried, because the punishment for this when both parties are unmarried is for them to get married. This is what they both want anyway. Right?

Mara does want this. But she feels deep in her heart that it would be wrong to prevent Shem from following Jesus the way he was asked to. She denies him her hand so that he will be free to follow Jesus's invitation.

Shem is devastated. This is a *very* powerful scene. 😢 And apparently, they now have to ask any of the other unmarried village men if THEY will marry Mara. If none of them will, she will be stoned.

😡

Shem is still begging Mara to marry him when Enosh steps forward. And so Deltaflute and Melanie were correct!

Enosh wants to marry Mara, AND he defends her good name in front of everybody, saying that he will pay a full dowry for her hand in marriage, though in this situation, it is not required (as a way to further humiliate the woman in question). Enosh loves her. Though Mara hadn't seen Enosh in a romantic light as of yet, she is very fond of him, and knows that he will be good to her. She believes that she will only continue to grow in her feelings for him, and so she accepts. They are betrothed on the spot, and Mara consents to a one day betrothal as a sign of good will towards Enosh's kindness and generosity to her.

While all of this is happening, Nava walks in. Not only is she healed, but so is Asher! His club foot has completely disappeared.

Shem is in disbelief, but Mara's dramatic actions, and Nava and Asher's healing, have a deep effect on him. For Mara to be so convinced that he must follow Jesus, it drives the point home to Shem that there is something special about Jesus. He has a change of heart and realizes that he wants to do as Jesus has asked. He will go to Jerusalem.

He and Mara have a painful goodbye. He knows that Enosh will take good care of her, Nava and Asher, but his heart is broken that he cannot be with her as he wishes. Mara is also crushed, but still optimistic as her wedding day dawns.

In the epilogue, our worst fears are confirmed: Shem goes to Jerusalem to do the Lord's work, and is stoned by an angry mob. He isn't afraid, knowing that he will be going to his eternal home with Jesus.

Holy smokes. This was powerful. I have to admit, even though I know how this story has to end, I felt frustrated with Mara for not just agreeing to become betrothed to Shem during that dramatic scene in the temple. Surely, saving herself from stoning and being able to be there to take care of Asher, and making a family with Shem, would be a good and holy thing! Even with my firm faith in our Lord, I struggled with this! Her faith is an inspiration to me.

And that moment with Nava and Asher walk in! *swoons* I had tears in my eyes.

My take-away on the love story is that Mara will grow to love Enosh romantically, and that the first tentative steps in that direction have already been taken emotionally. Plus, she trusts him and he makes her feel secure. She knows that he will make her happy. This gives me a warm and fuzzy.

All right, I NEED all of your thoughts now! I *cannot wait* to read the next two books in this series with you all!

Summer Book Club! The Well, Part 7...

Hi everyone! Hope you are all well today. We had a longer swatch of our book to read today (chapters 25-29), and Great Googly Moogly did it pack a punch! This is our penultimate week, and it was certainly a doozy. Grab your tea cup!

Soooo, a lot happened this week. :0 I'm going to mention the things that stood out to me, but I'm certain that not everything will come to me right away, since there was so much going on in these five chapters. But here goes: Shem and Mara are trapped in that creepy guy's (Silas? We'll go with Silas) fancy house. Mara is very uncomfortable with the way she is dressed and made up by the female servants in the house. For the first time, her hair isn't wild and tangled, and she has make up on her face, and both Silas and Shem take notice. Shem, though, is a gentleman, and thus is discreet in his admiration and is in Protection Mode to keep Mara safe. Silas, on the other hand, is still lecherous, and grows more so as he drinks. Everyone settles into dinner, and Mara is hurt by Shem's attempt to be dismissive and rude to her in a ploy to throw Silas off their plan.

As the dinner wears on, it becomes clear to Shem that Silas plans to get Mara drunk, take advantage of her, and then dispose of her. In order to do so, he most likely plans to dispose of Shem as well. Mara and Shem end up improvising a scheme of Mara getting sick to get them out of dinner and away from Silas.  Back in her room, Shem wants to escape, but Mara is too exhausted to travel. He decides they can sleep for a short spell before making their move, but when Mara is startled awake, she peeks outside to see Silas leading two Roman soldiers into the house. Not surprisingly, he has sold Shem out.

Shem and Mara make a hasty getaway out the window. They have a perilous journey over to the sea of Galilee, where they meet up with Zebedee, a friend of Shem's dad. He helps them out and finally gets them to Jesus. There, Mara has a Moment, and then runs away.

*long suffering sigh*

She now feels unworthy to talk to Jesus. Jesus seeks out Shem, and their conversation makes Shem all the more skeptical. Apparently, Jesus tells him that Shem will be the first of many, and that his name is now Stephen.

Am I the only one with a terrible sense of foreboding here?!

😱😰😱

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Jesus also gives Shem a message to relay to his mother, Mary. *sniffle* Zebedee aids them back to Nazareth so that they can see Mary, and I just LOVED this part. I loved that we got to visit with her. *heart* Mara asks Shem why the soldiers are after him, and he finally tells her. Interiorly, Shem comes to the conclusion that if he survives, he wants to live in Sychar permanently, working in his grandfather's olive grove, and marry Mara. At this point, they have no idea if Nava is still alive or not, and Shem knows that he loves Mara, and wants to provide for her and Asher.

After visiting with Mary, Mara has a change of heart. She wants to try and find Jesus again, who is now traveling towards Jerusalem. She has a feeling deep within her heart that Shem should accept Jesus's invitation to follow him. Although Shem doesn't agree, he does want Mara to have another chance to ask Jesus to heal Nava. They head on their way.

Oh boy. I just...these chapters really grabbed me. Does this mean that Shem is St. Stephen?! And does this mean that maybe Mara will end up with somebody else? Enosh, like Melanie mentioned? God forbid, the guy who seems to kill all of his young wives?!

GOOD GOLLY. Next week is our last week, and that will take us through Chapter 33 plus the Epilogue. We'll be discussing next Wednesday! *heart in throat*

Summer Book Club! The Well, Part 6...

Welcome all! We're actually nearing the end of our Summer Book Club if you can believe it. Today, we are discussing chapters 21-24, and after this we just have two segments left to go! In today's chapters, we witness a lot of character growth between Shem and Mara, and the story focuses solely on them and their dilemma. Let's grab our tea cups and get started!

So Shem and Mara are on the road to find Jesus. They encounter some challenges along the way, but Shem is always protective of Mara. When they get to their destination, they are disappointed to find that Jesus is not there, he has proceeded on with his disciples. Shem is concerned about continuing, because their chances of encountering Roman soldiers will increase, and as we know, this would be a death sentence for him if he is recognized. Mara though, does not know about any of this, and is determined to press on to find Jesus, with or without Shem. Shem will not allow Mara to go alone, so they continue together. They have a long talk about Jesus, and their differing feelings about Him and His message. Mara can't fully explain why, but she believes in Him. Shem is skeptical, and does not see how He could be the Chosen One. Not only that, but Mara's belief that Jesus could heal Nava from afar is utter nonsense to Shem. For the first time, they stew a bit over their disagreement.

Eventually, they encounter a man who knows Shem's father. He is very wealthy, and insists that Mara and Shem stay overnight at his house. Shem does not trust this man, and this man is super creepy and lecherous with Mara, but Shem knows that if they refuse his offer they will offend him. And offending this guy could set off a chain reaction that is VERY bad for Shem, given that he is a powerful man and he knows about Shem's prior run-in with the Romans. So Shem reluctantly agrees, telling Mara to stay silent. He has told Creepy Guy that Mara physically cannot speak to keep him from asking her anything and suspecting anything about her.

When we leave off, Shem is lounging with their host, trying to get him to believe his story that Mara is his cousin, and that they are on some innocent errand. He wants to escape without this guy getting offended or suspicious of them. The guy, though, appears to be a bit of a hothead, and I am very anxious for Mara's safety. Shem and Mara need to press on the next day to get to Jesus, but their host wants them to stay for several more days. Now we need to see what happens the next morning. 😬

I enjoyed the dialogue this week between Shem and Mara very much. Mara's childlike faith in Jesus is very inspiring to me, though I relate to Shem's initial skepticism quite strongly. I am incredibly worried for both of them, and positively FLEW through these chapters. Next week we have 5 chapters (25-29) instead of the usual four, and I'm rather glad, because I didn't want to stop reading! Even though Nava didn't appear in these chapters, I still felt her presence. Her conversion and courage in promoting honesty and integrity, and in protecting her son, are an inspiration to me. I really hope that she makes it, and that she can continue to be a witness for Jesus's message.

What did YOU think this week, dear reader?! I'd love to hear from you!

Summer Book Club! The Well, Part 5...

Welcome back, everyone! Our book is getting so good, isn't it?! This week we read chapters 17-20, and we are officially at some serious action. Go grab your coffee or tea!

All right, so we had left off at the trial. Chapter 17 lays out the trial details, and as is not unexpected, the entire thing is the doing of Zevulun, and he has recruited some additional bitter followers that he has worked up into a frenzy about the entire situation. Alexandros is there as a witness. 😡 Shem tries to help, but he is overpowered by the bloodthirsty crowd. Nava admits her guilt. She takes responsibility for her poor choices, and asks for her husband's forgiveness. I really admire the way that she is changing her life.

Her husband still loves her, but he is hurt, and allows himself to be dissuaded from his sympathetic feelings by the crowd. Nava is sentenced to death and immediately taken out to be stoned.

This scene was amazingly powerful. I have always tried not to think about how a person was actually stoned to death, and this reenactment made it abundantly clear how this will all go down. Shem and his grandfather are trying to help, but we as the readers feel as powerless as they do as they try to fight their way through the ravenous crowd. My heart was beating a mile a minute as I read along.

Nava is eventually knocked unconscious by a blow to the head as she tries to protect Asher, who has skirted in to her aid. I think the others believe Nava is dead, and Shem's grandparents take her back to their house in the hopes she could possibly recover. Meanwhile, Mara realizes what happened, and is initially upset that she wasn't made aware of her mother's trial. Everyone settles down a bit as they care for Nava. Mara comes to the realization that the only way her mother will wake up is to be healed. And the first person that comes to Mara's mind as a healer is Jesus. She sets off to find him.

Everyone tries to talk her out of it, as Jesus has moved on to Galilee by this point, and the journey would be dangerous for her. She refuses to give up, so Shem accompanies her. He knows that they will face many challenges as they make their way. Mara is in danger as a Samaritan female, and he himself could be recognized from his incident with the Roman soldier. They forge on.

I'm worried for them. I feel so upset about Nava. But I'm so happy for her that she has experienced this rebirth in her soul. Her husband came around at the end and tried to save her, and I'm hoping that this means there is hope for their relationship as well.

I was so moved by this section of chapters. I can't get over the unjust way women were treated in this society. And the general lack of charity or compassion, which unfortunately carries forward to this day in many ways. I love Mara and Asher so much, and I now feel so bonded to Nava and her struggle to do the right thing. We can all relate to this, yes? What did you think, dear ones?! Next week we read chapters 21-24!

Summer Book Club! The Well, Part 4...

Welcome back everyone! It was an action packed segment of chapters for us this week, yes? We read chapters 13-16, and quite a bit happened. Let's dive right in!

We had left off with Nava encountering Jesus at the well and returning to Mara a changed woman. As we pick up the story from there, we can see there there has indeed been an encompassing change in Nava. Not only is she passionate about Jesus being the One they have been waiting for, her life is now seemingly devoid of mental illness - she's up and about, taking care of Asher and their home. The fact that Jesus interacted with her at the well is shocking to her and everyone else in their village.

There is a lot of time here spent on how Samaritans were seen by other people at that time that I did not fully realize. I did a little research on my own to understand how their faith was different from other Jews, as I was confused by this distinction. I love learning new things!

Nava actually gains some acceptance from a few kind-hearted villagers who are curious about Jesus and take him and his followers in for the night (Shem's grandmother and grandfather). There is, of course, still considerable backlash against Nava, and now new mistrust of Jesus and his sympathy with Nava. We spend some time getting to know Jesus and his apostles, and about the different reactions to them and their teachings. A lot of trepidation in the town, to be sure.

Creepy Alexandros returns and is abusive when Nava refuses him for the first time (big surprise there 😡). As well, Nava tries to spare Mara the knowledge that Zevulun has instigated a trial against her for adultery. When we leave off, the trial is just about to start, and Mara has been sent off on an errand so that she will not be aware of what is going on.

So! I really enjoyed the increasing action of the narrative. It's so refreshing to see Nava interacting with her children in this new way, and to see her clearly so rejuvenated physically, emotionally and spiritually. This all makes things infinitely easier for Mara, another perk, though I know that their danger has increased in other ways - Alexandros and Zevulun falling at the top of that list. Shem continues to grow into his role in his grandfather's olive grove, and it's lovely to see how he's noticing nuances amongst these new friends and family in his life.  This includes Mara, of course, and we're all still waiting to see how these two can end up together. As chapter 16 closed, my heart is hurting for Nava. Really looking forward to picking this up again over the weekend!

Next week we will discuss chapters 17-20. What did you all think of this week's chapters?!

Summer Book Club! The Well, Part 3...

We've made quite a lot of progress with our little book club, haven't we? We're now on chapters 9-12, and nearly halfway through the book! Things are really heating up for Mara and Shem in Sychar, aren't they? Let's get into the action of the week!

So, this week's selection started off with a bang. Shem is hanging out with his grandmother when one of the village gossips comes around. Alexandros comes up in the context of him selling jewelry at the market, and gee, where has he been? Shem, not realizing the gravity of the information he possesses, innocently mentions that he's seen this man's donkey over at Mara and Nava's house. He figures this must be a relative of Mara's. That, of course, is not the case, and the gossipy woman jumps on this tidbit immediately. His grandmother tries to shut things down, but the damage has been done.

Shem feels sick to his stomach as he sees the information making it's way through town, and what this will mean for Mara and her family. Zevuluh, the man Nava broke betrothal with all those years ago, takes it up as a personal vendetta to get Nava kicked out of town. Zevuluh's wife is downright rude to Nava in front of the entire village while everyone is out observing Passover. Nava does not take this lying down, and I can't totally blame her, but she does not consider the position she is putting her children in. Their situation is now much more dire than ever, because the townspeople will begin withholding the food offerings they had previously donated to the family.

And speaking of poor Mara...major squink factor comes into play in that her uncle has received an offer of marriage for her hand. This man is old enough to be her grandfather, and has already had two young wives who have had "accidents" after failing to produce an heir for him. I have no problem with big age differences in relationships, but not when one of them is still a teenager. Good heavens! The uncle wants her to accept the offer, because this would mean the family would not be cast out and starved. The prospective husband, unsurprisingly, given what we know about him, does not want to take Nava and Asher in, but he will provide food for them. Nava would have to begin caring for Asher, and do we really think this plan has a chance of success?

Poor Mara would be selling her soul, and perhaps even her life, to provide for her family. Meanwhile, Shem has growing feelings for Mara that he doesn't quite know what to do with. He just feels awful for his inadvertent role in her current predicament. And he doesn't even know yet about the marriage proposal.

When we come to the end of chapter 12, Nava is at the well. She knows that she has been nothing but a hindrance to her children, and thinks it would be better if she took her own life. She is contemplating throwing herself down the well when Jesus approaches. Her conversation with him changes something in her, and she finds new life in his words. She leaves the well with a reinspired lease on life, and rushes off to tell Mara about what happened. This is where we leave off.

What did you all think?! Quite a lot happened this week. I am so drawn into Mara's story at this point, I am absorbing all of the details like a sponge. I outwardly cringed when Shem let the cat out of the bag, but obviously, it was an innocent accident. I feel so bad for both of them. I'm happy to see Shem growing into his role in his grandfather's business, and I like where that part of the story is going for him. I just worry for Mara. Who knows what Alexandros and this violent marriage proposal guy have in store for her. The end of chapter 12 with Nava is intriguing, and we still have so much of the book to go. That happened a lot earlier than I was anticipating. I wonder where the story will go from here?

Summer Book Club! The Well, Part 2...

Hi everyone! Time for our weekly book club chat, and it's really getting good, yes?! Pull up a chair with your tea cup.

*heart*

Today we're discussing Chapters 5-8 of The Well by Stephanie Landsem. Last week was definitely a setting-the-scene type of feel, and now we're moving more into character development. Here are the most significant things I remember from this deeper foray into the book:

Shem is adjusting to life in Sychar. He's come to see the life of an olive farmer as satisfying in a way that he did not expect. He's also grown in love and respect for his grandparents. He tells them the truth about why he has come to Sychar, and how his father wanted him to be dishonest about it, as well as his plans for the future. His grandparents respect his honesty.

Shem also meets Mara at this time. She's a little in awe of the handsome stranger, and he finds her just odd at first in her skittishness. But we're clearly about to move into him finding out more about her and her warm and generous ways towards her family. I'm excited to see how a friendship blossoms between them.

Poor Mara is still busting her backside caring for the family because her mother is often too ill to get out of bed. She's trying to teach Asher to walk since he is getting so much bigger, and she cannot carry him for much longer. She also finds out some shocking information about her mother backing out of a betrothal that her own father had set up for her, bringing shame onto the family. This piece of family history explains some things to Mara about the way her mother is treated amongst the other villagers.

The one day Mara's mother is able to get out and about and do the shopping, she comes home to find the creepy Alexandros being creepy with Mara. My heart is just in my throat about where this particular storyline is headed. :-\ But her mother doesn't see him as creepy at all. She seems him as this exotic friend who comes into town to romance her. She spends the evening talking to him, and then clearly intends to have him spend the night. The awkwardness of this situation for Mara is painful to read about.

Once Asher is safely sleeping, Mara runs off for some alone time and bumps into Shem. That's where we leave off.

These chapters really grabbed me. I read them even faster than I read the first four! We're getting deeper into Mara and Shem's world, and they are both very likeable characters. I SO want Mara to end up with Shem, and thus not only find a good man as a partner, but also get her family out of the poverty they currently live in. Naturally, I envision lots of roadblocks along the way. And gosh, the way people treated each other! The differences in social class, as well as how (some) men treated women. It's startling. Mara is clearly a lovely young woman who gives of herself so readily for the betterment of her brother and mother. I want her to have a happy ending.

What did you all think?! Do write in!

Summer Book Club! The Well, Part 1...

Well HELLO there, friends! Good to be with you on this book club Wednesday. This is the first part in an 8 part series, as we read The Well, by Stephanie Landsem. This is the first book in the Living Water Series, which take events and people from the Scriptures, and draw them out into full length fictional stories. This book in the series chronicles the journey of the woman at the well, from the Gospel of John. Today in part 1 of our book club posts, we'll be discussing chapters 1 - 4. *beams*

All right, SO, I'll be honest right from the outset and admit that this is not the book I voted for in our poll. :0 I loved the premise, loved that it was based on Scripture, and that this book had come recommended by a friend. It absolutely deserved a spot on our voting list, but I tend to gravitate towards lighter, contemporary fiction. Thus, naturally, I voted for the cat in the library mystery book. 😂

So I started this book unsure of how my impression would turn out. I was worried that it might contain heavy material I wouldn't enjoy reading as much. That being said, I demolished the first 4 chapters lickety split, and while the setting is certainly not "light," it is quite thought-provoking, and the story is paced very well.

We have 2 main characters at the outset. Mara, our intended woman at the well, and Shem, a boy from a wealthy family who is going to be sent to Sychar, Mara's Samaritan village, due to an altercation he has with a Roman soldier in his hometown. Indeed, there are some things that happen early in the book that make a person wince. Mara's sweet little brother Asher, whom it sounds like was born with clubfoot, is seen as being punished for "sins" given his medical condition. The perception is that they are the sins of his mother, who is estranged from his father. Mara also knows that her mother is engaging in inappropriate activity with another man, and she is desperately trying to hide this information from the rest of the village, who would shun the family if they found out, and cut off their limited food supply.

Mara is bearing all of this emotional burden, plus the women of the village aren't treating her very nicely, seeing her as being less than them given her dire financial situation. Her mother, who rarely gets out of bed, is obviously suffering from a severe case of depression, but of course no one knew what to do about that back then. My heart just broke for the family.

Then we have Shem, who is injured by a Roman soldier while trying to protect a woman from the soldier's unwanted advances. Another wince worthy moment. Women are not treated or seen very highly in this society, and it is difficult to read about. Shem is sent away by his father, to protect him from a death sentence by the Roman soldiers, though his father isn't exactly sympathetic about the whole situation. But the scene with Shem's escape from his village over to Sychar was quite compelling.

These first 4 chapters certainly grabbed me. I read them all in a single sitting. I found the story intriguing, and the characters very relatable. I'm curious to see where the story is headed once Shem reaches Sychar, and I'm assuming, meets Mara.

What did you all think of chapters 1 - 4? Next week we'll move on to chapters 5 - 8!

Official Summer Book Club timeline!

Good afternoon friends! I'm happy to be with you today, as, if I'm being totally honest, it's been a rough couple of days. Both kids had allergic reactions or some kind of a virus over the weekend ("strip down, I need to inspect your red spots again!!"). So a lot of time was spent on aforementioned rash inspection, calls to the pediatrician, and administration of TLC. Everybody is fine now, but it was a stressful go. I don't have a ton of brain power to write a witty post, but I thought I'd be up to planning out our Summer Book Club. So let's have at it!

The consensus was weekly posts/discussions, biting off about approximately 4 chapters at a time. I still want to give time for people to procure the book and start reading, so how about we start the week of June 18th. That's the feast of Corpus Christi, which feels like a good omen. ;-) I'll aim for the book club posts to be on Wednesdays again, so that would mean our first discussion would take place June 21st. Sound good?

Our timeline would look like this:

June 21st - Chapters 1-4
June 28th - Chapters 5-8
July 5th - Chapters 9-12
July 12th - Chapters 13-16
July 19th - Chapters 17-20
July 26th - Chapters 21-24
August 2nd - Chapters 25-29
August 9th - Chapters 30-33 plus Epilogue

What do you think? The penultimate week has 5 chapters because there isn't an even number, and the last week has the addition of the Epilogue, but the others are all 4 chapters. I think this is doable!

Summer Book Club update!

Happy Thursday all! Our book club poll is closed, and our big winner is The Well, by Stephanie Landsem!

As a reminder, this is scripture-based historical fiction, and our description is thus:

In the rich tradition of Francine Rivers’s Lineage of Grace series, comes a beautiful retelling of the biblical story of the woman at the well—bringing to life this poignant young woman struggling to survive love and heartbreak.

Could he be the One we’ve been waiting for?

For the women of the Samaritan village of Sychar, the well is a place of blessing—the place where they gather to draw their water and share their lives—but not for Mara. Shunned for the many sins of her mother, Nava, Mara struggles against the constant threats of starvation or exile.

Mara and Nava’s lives are forever changed with the arrival of two men: Shem, a mysterious young man from Caesarea, and Jesus, a Jewish teacher. Nava is transformed by Jesus, but his teachings come too late and she is stoned by the unforgiving villagers. Desperate to save her dying mother, Mara and Shem embark on a journey to seek Jesus’ help—a journey that brings unexpected love and unimaginable heartbreak.

This is actually the first book in a series. The Thief (about the Roman centurion, Longinus) and The Tomb (about Martha) also chronicle the lives of figures in Scripture. I'm so fascinated by this concept! And I have heard excellent things about this series.

All right, let's talk timing and spacing. I'm open to starting anytime beginning in mid-June to July 1st. I just downloaded it (the book is $9.99 right now for Kindle, slightly more for a new paperback copy, but keep your eyes peeled, because it has gone on sale recently!), and this book is about 285 pages long, with 33 chapters plus an epilogue. That's a lot of chapters, but they are only 10-15 pages each, and this is fiction pages, not heavy non-fiction/spiritual reading. So, we have a few choices:

If we do a weekly discussion, I'd say we should bite off 4 chapters at a time. I don't want the book club to take longer than 2ish months/8 weeks. Or, we could do a monthly post starting in June and read the book in thirds. That translates to 11 chapters per month. Thoughts?! Leave me lots of comments, please. *beams*