Sept 2022-The Authenticity Project

It’s been a while! A few months to be exact — Life caught up with me (Kimy) the organizer of our book club. Travel, estate sales, then more travel….. Europe to be exact! Glad to be back on track for the time being and on to book club meetings!

Our Sept book is The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley. For author bio click HERE . Ms. Pooley sounds like she would be a great fit for our book club! Read her bio you’ll see! Our Sept meeting was held at Laura Lee’s lovely home. I always smile when entering your house. It’s so open and welcoming. We had a small group with much to catch up on! Our dear Carol who is also English took the Queen’s passing quite hard. We all mourn with the Royal Family. What an amazing and full life. Carol brought these fabulous English cookies and pudding. I could have eaten ALL the cookies – they were a mixture of soft cookie with an orange cream middle! Small group of Eileen, Laura Lee, Jules, Carol and myself. Our meetings are a combination of catch up, book club, and whatever path of conversations that takes on is quite magical.

Those who read the book did enjoy it. Book Club questions can be found HERE. We all discussed who our favorite characters were – mine was Julian. I had such a clear picture of him. And the twist at the end re: Mary! Oh my!!

What would you write about if you had the chance to add your story into the green notebook. I would write something along the lines of “Hi I’m Kimy. I’m a small business owner who is a complete workaholic. I own three Scottish Terriers named Pip, Cricket and Bumble. I’ve lived an interesting life to say the least. I adore travel and the thought of a new trip either by car, train or plane is always on my to do list. There’s so many wonderful things to see and do there doesn’t seem to be enough time! Even though I’m very social I’m also a mixture of an introvert meaning I work from a very quiet space. I found myself working from my bed surrounded by dogs during the pandemic. I seem to have kept this mode going to this very day. I’m up for a new right knee in a few months I’m nervous and excited all at the same time. Tired of the pain and inability to do a lot of physical things I want to do.” Something along those lines I think. What would you write?

I can’t believe it’s already September. I blinked and we are almost to the holiday season. Holy snap. Hope you’re reading something wonderful. I’m listening to the new Stephen King novel called Fairy Tale on Audible. Very good so far. Different for him…. can’t wait to see where it leads.

Happy trails to all and will see you next month for our October meeting. Cheers!

P.S. Today is Sept 11 — we will never forget!

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Jan 2022 – American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Can you believe we are at the end of another month already?? Wow! Happy 2022 everyone!

Our January book was quite intense. American Dirty by Jeanine Cummins was very controversial being that it was written by a non-immigrant. A portion of the public felt that the author had no right to author such a personal immigrant journey without actually being an immigrant. Complete BS in my book. It was an amazing book portraying the struggles of immigrants who flee the cartel. Most immigrants who cross over borders through the desert are FLEEING for their lives — they can’t go through normal channels to escape cartel – because the cartel is EVERYWHERE in Mexico! From the gov’t to police, to business, to border patrol – everywhere.

I learned SO MUCH about the process and the horrific revenge of the cartel. It’s horrifying. It’s a very complicated matter. We all enjoyed the book – although as gruesome as some of the details are. How lucky are we to live in the USA!

Author bio click HERE

Book Club discussion questions click HERE

For a video of THE BEAST – freight train

You can also find very graphic videos on youtube re: cartel killings — it’s violent and enraging! This is a recent US family killed in mexico by the cartel HERE

Book Club was held at my Airbnb (Tally Ho Let’s Go – ATL) located in Center Park a historic section of East Point, GA. Great group discussion! Great nibbles as well!

See you next month!! Our Feb book is The Paris Bookseller – it’s about the famous bookstore called Shakespeare and Co in Paris! It’s delightful thus far!

Book club is part literary, part social part therapy. The comradery of the ladies is the BEST EVER!

To book club!!! :::turning cartwheels:::::::

P.S. I told the group that we have thousands of followers from all over the world who find our book club website. The interesting fact is that the #1 book club meeting and book they are looking for is Tara Westovers book Educated. Interesting indeed!

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#Historicollegeparkbookclub

#americandirt

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#jeaninecummins

#bookclubrocks

Nov 2021 – Strangers at the Feast by Jennifer Vanderbes

Happy post Thanksgiving and welcome holidays!!!! The past two years have been a weird blur with covid etc. It truly feels as if we are getting back to a normal life routine – thankfully. Book club is one of those very important norms for me! Screw the zoom meetings – give me in person face to face!

The November book Strangers at the Feast is also an Oprah Book Club suggestion. This was also suggested by a dear friend who thought it a page turner.

Our November meeting was held in my home (Kimy) located in a petite historic district called Frog Hollow in East Point Ga, about 15 minutes SW of the city (Atlanta Ga). I adore historic homes and old neighborhoods. There’s just a charm you can’t get with new homes. My three wee scottish terriers Pip, Cricket and Bumble were VERY excited to have company. Sorry to Laura for all the licks!!

For author bio click HERE

For book club questions click HERE

Thanks for everyone who came out for book club on this chilly evening in Atlanta! I managed to decorate a wee bit for a more festive feel. We had a great core group. Plus a few of the guys for the food of course! We delved into the book club questions with the main line of talk being what a mother would do for her children and how different parenting styles affect the children. We all understand the complex nature of blight in neighborhoods and gentifrication and how that also is a complicated issue. We felt horrible for Kijo who was a good kid – just taken down a wrong path for breaking and entering which is NEVER a good idea. Without giving spoilers – read the book!

From our book club to yours – We hope your holidays are the bomb!

xo Historic College Park Book Club – Atlanta GA

#kimykennedy #atlantabookclubs #historicollegeparkbookclub #strangersatthefeast #oprahbookclub #bookclubrocks #jennifervanderbes

Sept. 2021 – The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Our September book was a complicated one for sure. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Author Bio HERE Not a light read – things to watch and learn about yourself – the ‘what ifs’ of life. If something had changed and you had gone down a different path. The regrets of life. How you live with regrets? We had a fantastic deep discussion about many of the issues surfaced from this book. Matt Haig had a mental breakdown in his 20s – which resulted in much of The Midnight Librarys themes.

We met in the lovely home of dear friend Robin – in Center Park – located in a quaint historic district of East Point Ga. Completely enjoyed it ladies!!!! Thanks for hosting Robin!

#historiccollegeparkbookclub #kimykennedy #atlantabookclubs

Aug 2021 – The Year of the Storm by John Mantooth

Many of you may remember our prior meetings with author author Hank Early – well… Hank and John Mantooth are the same person. We began reading Hank Early years back and have had the author visit us multiple times. We ALWAYS enjoy hosting John and his lovely wife Becky (and thier local friend who lives in Atlanta). John and his wife live in Birmingham. Both are educators. The Year of the Storm is actually an older book John published decades ago. We REALLY enjoyed the book. A true southern gothic tale. I was sooo happy to host our meeting this August. My home is located in a quaint historic district of East Point Ga. Our area is called Frog Hollow. My house is Speckled Egg Cottage. We had a very engaging meeting with John. Thank you for coming!

For summary and to purchase John’s book click HERE . A real page turner! I literally could not put it down. I read it completely in a few days. It was that feeling of wanting to know what exactly happened and the Why of it all. You’ll see!

I began taping our meeting – realized after 5 minutes it had stopped! Here’s the first half. Click HERE Unfortunately I could not get the second half to ever upload! Ugh!

Make sure you follow our blog of lovely of ladies (and guys sometimes) for our adventures in book club!

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