Monday, March 17, 2008

March Minutes

March Minutes for the Salem book club

A. Six members present. Where were YOU?:)

B. Discussion of Imperial Woman
1. Power is not for everyone...why didn't Tsu Hsi get this?
2. Loving a child does not mean that you completely indulge them - in fact, it may be the opposite.
3. How much of Tsu Hsi's story was factual? What was made up? We are curious.

C. Other discussion of China
1. Watermelon seeds (eaten like sunflower seeds here) - just don't leave the shells on temple steps.
2. Eunuchs. Lots of discussion, all of which I've been banned from repeating. Sorry.
3. Temple of Heaven (in Beijing) - could have been a temple of Christian-like worship originally, before dragon-worship came into dominance?

D. Book schedule
1. April 26th- Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Pulitzer Prize winning book by Michael Chabon.
2. May - back to classics with Last of the Mohicans My mom just finished it and loved it.
3. June - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Starr and Liz are backing this one up. Coming of age novel.
4. July - Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier (Girl with a Pearl Earring) We'll read it despite the "sweeping generalization" that we all want to always be in England...just because that where a lot of the classics take place!

1 comment:

Noel said...

Top five reasons my wife did not come to book club:

5. We needed to decipher the Northwest Airlines web site checked baggage weight restrictions from Fargo to Beijing.

4. Got engrossed with Google Earth's 3D representation of the mountains north of Beijing where the Great Wall tourist access is.

3. Needed to download simplified Chinese fonts so software like Google Earth and MS-Word worked correctly for trip planning.

2. Need to sign wife up for World Perks so she can start earning her own free tickets.

and

1. The (male) cat and I didn't want her discussing eunuchs.