Member Profile

Name : DesaRae J.

My Reviews

 
Fun, Interesting, Inspiring
Loved this book! I'm so glad our book club chose it - it was wonderful!

At our book club, we discussed which of the characters we most identified with. Interestingly, all 5 of the women were chosen by someone. Faith was the character the majority of us felt an affinity to. I don't think I would have picked this book up at the book store- I'm so glad our book club chose it. I loved it so much that I have bought Patty Jane's House of Curl! DesaRae (NY CG Spouses Book Club)

 
It surprised us how much we all enjoyed the book!

Our book club used a "majority" rule to pick this book - to some groans from those who don't like horror books and were afraid of anything by Steven King. Then I heard more groans as the books arrived because it was so BIG - over 600 pages.
I personally haven't read Mr. King for years and was reluctant to dive in, however, the book was completely amazing.
At our meeting, we had a GREAT discussion about why certain things happened at the end they way that they did. We had "Duma Key" inspired food which included key lime pie and seafood and beer.
The book has a great plot that moves very fast. It's funny at times and very touching. We all really liked the main character and felt that he taught us about making the best out of a terrible situation.
Our entire book club gave the book 5 out of 5 stars - it is definitely one of our favorite reads. Highly recommended!
DesaRae
New York Coast Guard Spouses Club

 
Most of the club liked this book

Many members greatly enjoyed this book - while others found it predictable. All of us thought it was a nice, easy summer read. This was a good book. I think most of us liked Landvik's "Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bon's" better.

The Double Bind: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian
 
Interesting, Dramatic, Brilliant
Enjoyable book with a twist ending

Our book club had a great discussion about this book. I had to go to the author's website (chrisbohjalain.com) to help unravel what "really" happened in the book. Without spoiling anything, let's just say that most of us were confused as to figuring out what was going on. But once cleared up, the light bulbs went on, and we had a great talk about the different characters in the book. One profound thought was that sometimes the people who need the most help are the ones who completely focus on helping others. We all know people like that. It made for really great spin-off stories. Overall, we liked the book and recommend it.

 
Epic, Dramatic, Adventurous
Long, but excellent book club book!

Everyone in our club gave this book between 7 and 9.5 stars (out of 10). The main cons of the book were its length and Follett's tendency to expound on little details.
The members of our club all enjoyed the characters in the book and how their individual stories all became weaved together. No one thought it was a particularly religious book - even though one of the main characters was a priest. The Good vs Evil element of this book was great. Follett certainly knows how to make a person HATE a character. It was an incredible read and we recommend this book with no reservation.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
 
Dramatic, Insightful, Interesting
Depressing, but good book

On a scale of 1-10, most people in our club gave this a 5-7 rating. It was well-written, but depressing. We all knew there was going to be a murder of a 14 year old girl when we chose it, but still, it was a little disappointing. One point that we all agreed on was (SPOILER ALERT) was that her choice to have have sex during her one chance to come back to earth instead of lead someone to her body was immensely disappointing. Also, we wanted to see the killer get caught, thus the ending felt like a let-down. Our best discussions were over who could identify with the mother and why. Over all - just a fair book.

Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
 
Fun, Romantic, Optimistic
Club rated the book on average 6 out of 10 stars

This book was a fun, light read - but didn't give us a whole lot to talk about at our book club. Everyone in the club gave it either 5 stars or 7 stars (out of 10). We all liked the book, but no one loved it.

 
Insightful, Inspiring, Life Changing
Glad to have read it - but hardly anyone wanted to discuss it.

This book was great - a real eye-opener. It wasn't a great book club book though, because people seemed to want to avoid talking about religion. This book had a high vote among our club to read it, but only 3 people came to the book club meeting. Religion can be such a polarizing topic, and our book club consists mainly of neighbors, so perhaps people stayed away from the discussion because of the fear of offending a neighbor with their personal religious views. All who provided input on the book said that they were very glad to have read it - no matter what their religious background was.

The Fig Eater: A Novel by Jody Shields
 
A historical fiction/murder mystery novel that is not a crowd pleaser.

We asked the 6 members who came to book club to discuss the Fig Eater to rate it on a scale of 1-10, 1 being absolutely horrible and 10 being absolutely wonderful. 3 of the 6 gave it a 0. I gave it the highest number with a 5. The chief complaint about this book was all of the extraneous information that the book includes that doesn't further the story and doesn't seem relevant to anything except the author showing off her research. Every mystery throws in a few "red herrings" to push a reader off the trail, but the amount of red herrings in this book was exhausting. Also, there were SO MANY threads left hanging at the end that 2 people said they threw the book when it abruptly ended. It's redeeming quality is that it made for entertaining discussion because everyone wanted to talk about what they hated most about the book.

 
Fun, Inspiring, Optimistic
Author called into our meeting - and everyone LOVED the book!!

This book is our favorite of the past year or so of book club selections. Every person rated it a 8-10 out of 10 and raved about it as being fantastic. The best part of our book club meeting was when Jill Smolinski called in to our meeting and talked to us for 20+ minutes. What a FANTASTIC lady. We were blown-away by her, the book and just the fun we had discussing it. We brought our own bucket lists and talked about why we have certain things on it. It was a wonderful time, and we all highly recommend it for all book clubs to choose.

 
Fun, Adventurous, Inspiring
We LOVED this book & the author called into our meeting!

This was a great book for a book club - we had a terrific discussion about the places she visited and what we would do with a year off. Our book club members have lived all over the country, including several places in Alaska, and we found all of her writing to represent the places true and honestly. We loved her sense of humor! Ms. Orion also sent us personalized book plates for our books and called into our meeting for about 30 minutes - we loved it! Overall, this was one of the best books we have picked all year.

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