Book Club Update

My book club met last night over Greek food and discussed The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Watson. A few ladies liked it a fair bit and would recommend it to others, but the majority of us weren't that crazy about it. We liked the premise of the book, but didn't like the main characters much or the pace of the book. And there were a few plot lines that were dragged into the story that never seemed to get developed and just left us scratching our heads.

The next book club selection is The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. I've heard fabulous things and look forward to reading it.


Book Description
Abducted as an 11-year-old child from her village in West Africa and forced to walk for months to the sea in a coffle - a string of slaves - Aminata Diallo is sent to live as a slave in South Carolina. But years later, she forges her way to freedom, serving the British in the Revolutionary War and registering her name in the historic "Book of Negroes". This book, an actual document, provides a short but immensely revealing record of freed Loyalist slaves who requested permission to leave the US for resettlement in Nova Scotia, only to find that the haven they sought was steeped in an oppression all of its own. Aminata's eventual return to Sierra Leone - passing ships carrying thousands of slaves bound for America - is an engrossing account of an obscure but important chapter in history that saw 1,200 former slaves embark on a harrowing back-to-Africa odyssey.



Another book I read last month was The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. I also listened to it on the audio book as I drove to work and back. I loved the story, the writing, the characters............ and absolutely hated the ending. But that said, I would read it all over again and recommend it to my friends. :-)