i heart...

a lot of things. And one of them is my book club! We just celebrated our sixth anniversary as a group and I just want to make it clear that we have actually discussed the book every time we've met. Of course we also get in our share of socializing and eating--I think these ladies know more about me and my life than just about anyone else.

We started out as a neighborhood group when we lived at our last house but after most of the ladies dropped out, we picked up a couple of friends, a sister and some friends of friends which brings us to what we are today--seven diverse, interesting, intelligent, witty women--it's like a perfect cast of Survivor or any other reality TV series. We've got the perfectionist accounting professor, the farm girl from Grace, Idaho, the pithy interior designer, the twice-divorced independently wealthy computer chic, the gourmet state social worker, the opinionated accountant and me (insert your own description here).

We're all mothers and we all love books which are about the only things we have in common. OK, we have a little more than that but we all come from very different backgrounds, political and religious persuasions and we all have different perspectives on life which is why our group is just so darn good. Our gatherings are always packed with lively discussions and hilarious stories and very late nights--there's never a dull moment. I usually don't spend a lot of time other than at book club with these gals so I always look forward to the last Thursday of the month.

Our book for September was These is my Words by Nancy E. Turner and we all gave it a rave review. It's fiction but written in a diary format and is about 20 years in the life of a woman who lived in the Arizona Territories before the turn of the century. It's got history, action, romance, comedy, tragedy--everything you want in a book. Definitely a keeper and one I'll recommend to anyone and everyone. For posterity's sake, I thought I'd record all the books we've read over the last six years--not all of them are winners but they're all pretty good picks. I've highlighted my favorites with an asterisk. So without further ado, they are:

1. Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
2. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
3. A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel*
4. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
5. The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
6. Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
7. Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
8. The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas
9. Expecting Adam by Martha Beck
10. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
11. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn*
12. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand*
13. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
14. Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
15. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
16. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
17. The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown*
18. Follow the River by James Alexander
19. Atonement by Ian McEwan
20. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
21. Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
22. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen*
23. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
24. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks*
25. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
26. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
27. The Virgin's Knot by Holly Payne
28. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith*
29. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
30. The Enchanted April by Von Arnim*
31. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
32. The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald
33. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
34. The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
35. Push Not the River by James Conroyd Martin
36. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini*
37. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
38. An Idiot Girl's Christmas by Laurie Notaro
39. Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour
40. The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart
41. The Good Earth by Pearl Buck*
42. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen*
43. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
44. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
46. The Glass Castle by Jennette Walls*
47. Honeymoon with my Brother by Franz Wisner*
48. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
49. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens*
50. Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher*
51. The Librarian by Larry Beinhart
52. Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
53. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
54. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
55. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini*
56. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
57. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer*
58. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
59. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak*
60. The Christmas Wish by Richard Siddoway
61. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert*
62. Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles
63. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet*
64. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin*
65. Escape by Carolyn Jessop
66. Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas
67. 1776 by David McCullough
68. These is My Words by Nancy E. Turner*

Whew! That's a lot of books. Maybe you'll find one that you want to add to your list or recommend for your book club. Feel free to send me any suggestions from your book lists that you've enjoyed. In the meantime, happy reading!