week of obama

I'm pleased to report that at the meeting tonight we had our most lively discussion ever. Thanks to Debbie W. to pinch hosting for Pia. I'm sorry, that some regulars weren't able to make it, but we were happy to welcome three new guests. Hopefully, they were not scared away and will return to be official "members." It definitely was timely for us to read Obama's book and even though not everyone had read/finished it, we all had comments about our new president and race relations in America.

It was a long two-year campaign; we heard speeches from both sides and endless speculation on the outcome, and finally the votes were cast. It was a hard-fought race, but Karen claimed victory and we will be reading Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs for our next meeting. It was first published in 1914, and the classic has been re-published many times, most recently last year. Perhaps, if you're nice, Karen will let you view her first edition copy. You can choose your favorite cover (I'm sure there are a lot more).


Nicolette will be hosting the next meeting on Sunday, February 15. An email and/or blog post will be sent closer to the date. We hope that you'll be able to make it, despite it being Presidents' Day weekend. There was also some discussion on a field trip to Karina's exhibit, Beautiful Science at the Huntington Library before the meeting. Interested parties can comment or email.

January meeting

Just a heads-up, I believe that Debbie W. is hosting this Sunday.

KPCC interview

I heard an interview on this LA author yesterday. (You can listen to it here.) I thought some of you might want to read her book, The Black Girl Next Door by Jennifer Baszile. It's a memoir, so we probably don't want to read it right after Obama's book, but I know some of you are interested in American race relations. She grew up as the only black girl in her class in Ranch Palos Verdes.