Category: Uncategorized

Welcome to April’s Online Book Club discussion! This month, we’re reading Home Fires by Julie Summers. 

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

Home Fires is a non-fiction account of the Women’s Institute during World War II. The Women’s Institute is a volunteer organization in Great Britain and other countries that helped the war effort by running canteens, knitting scarves for the troops, and collecting herbs for medicine. Most famously, the women used every available scrap of land and every scrap of produce to produce 12 million pounds of jams and preserves to help feed the nation, which experienced heavy rationing. The book uses both historical research and personal interviews to give a complete picture of life for women during World War II. 

https://youtu.be/aPFKOnfTwnU

If you want to follow along with us, but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the British television series, Home Fires. Check out the above trailer if you’re curious to find out more, and feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you are only watching the series and not reading the book.

Make sure to read the preface and foreword and the first three chapters before joining us next week. I’m really excited to hear what you think in the comments section!

Welcome to the last week of our Online Book Club discussion of Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan!

Did you enjoy the end of the book? Did it end the way you thought it would? What was the most surprising thing to you? 

I think the most surprising scene was the one in which Eleanor revealed that Rachel’s father wasn’t dead—both because it revealed that Rachel wasn’t who she said she was, and because of how Eleanor ambushed her with the information. I couldn’t believe how cold and unfeeling Eleanor and Su Yi were in that section. Rachel was obviously really upset, but they kept pushing. 

I was also really surprised when Michael revealed that he wasn’t actually having an affair. He was just looking for a way out of his marriage to Astrid. I thought that section was incredibly sad, particularly how Michael always felt like he wasn’t good enough for Astrid. The book kind of ends hopefully with Charlie suggesting that Astrid not file for divorce for a year so she and Michael can have time to figure things out. 

At the end of the book, Rachel’s mom reveals that Rachel’s biological father’s name is Kao Wei, and he is still alive, although he doesn’t know that Rachel is his daughter. I think that Rachel is going to try to find him, don’t you? Do you think he will be a character in later books? I think there is more to his story. 

Rachel and Nick get back together at the end of the book, but the last thing we know from his grandmother is that if he and Rachel marry, he will be disinherited. I’m glad that Nick stands up to his family, but I’m worried about the repercussions of him breaking from his family. Do you think he will be able to stay with Rachel and reunite with his family? 

If you loved this book and want to see how the story progresses, make sure to check out the second in the series, China Rich Girlfriend. And, if you enjoyed the movie, check out this article that gives a few peeks into the sequel that will come out in a few years. 

Check out my list of similar titles, too, if you loved the story and want to read or watch similar things!

I hope you enjoyed the book this month, and I hope you’ll leave your thoughts in the comments section. I am really curious to hear if you enjoyed the ending and want to read the second book in the series. 

Make sure to join us next month as we read Home Fires by Julie Summers. I hope to hear from you before then!

Welcome to our third Online Book Club discussion of Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. 

How did you enjoy this section? Are you anxious to find out what happens to Rachel and Nick, or are you so worried about Rachel’s situation that you are having a hard time reading? I definitely felt a lot of stress for Rachel throughout this section. 

One of the main causes of tension is the extravagant bachelorette weekend. They travelled to an island, picked out designer outfits, and had indulgent spa treatments. What a weekend—except that the company that Rachel had was so terrible. The gossipy comments were mean enough, but that gutted fish prank was just too much. If I were Rachel, I wouldn’t have been able to make it through the weekend. Nick didn’t have much more luck with the bachelor party planned by Bernard, did he? As soon as I started reading about the dog fight, I knew that the weekend was going to be a disaster. 

Rachel’s first meeting with the family went pretty well, but she still hasn’t met Eleanor. If the end of the section is any indication, that meeting won’t go as smoothly. Were you surprised that Nick’s grandma was so kind to Rachel? Did you expect her to be more cold? What did you think about the other family members? Do any of them stand out to you? 

Astrid and Eddie stand out to me in this section. Astrid is dealing with a lot since she believes her husband is having an affair. Despite that, she seems kind and genuinely nice, and not snobby the way you might expect. Eddie, on the other hand, does not seem nice. He treats his wife so unkindly. And, he has so many opinions about what clothes his whole family needs to wear! I couldn’t imagine spending too much time with him. 

This section ends with Eleanor learning something from a private investigator, and making an ominous declaration that she is going to descend on Singapore for the wedding. The girls with her predict Rachel won’t make it through the weekend. What do you think Eleanor learned? Do you think Eleanor is going to do anything to Rachel, or will she just be dismissive and unkind? 

Do you have any guesses about how the book will end? Are you surprised that Rachel has been able to keep it all together even though she has faced some unkind treatment and comments? 

If you’re curious about whether the people described in the book are like people Kevin Kwan knows in real life, check out this article from Refinery29. It’s really interesting and offers some behind-the-scenes information about the creation of the book. Kwan also talks more about his childhood in the video below. 

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the comments section. Make sure to read the end of the book before checking back with us next week! 

Welcome to week 2 of our Online Book Club discussion of Crazy Rich Asians!

I think the prologue really sets the tone for the book. From these first couple of pages, we see that Nick and his family are super-wealthy, and they aren’t easily intimidated. They are also really close-knit, with cousins and aunts and uncles all living near each other. Wasn’t it fascinating that Nick’s mom faced embarrassing discrimination but was able to use her money to get the last laugh? 

When a girl in the restaurant takes a picture of Nick and Rachel, it flies around the globe at a shocking speed. Wasn’t that astonishing? I can’t imagine living under that kind of scrutiny. I think the saddest part was that Rachel had no idea it was happening. I was frustrated that Nick didn’t give her more of a clue about what she should expect by visiting his family. When he finally tells her about his family later in the section, she is hurt and becomes nervous about the trip. Do you blame her? 

Since Nick is so secretive to Rachel about his family, it’s not really surprising that he was equally cagey about Rachel to his family. Do you think Eleanor might have been more open to Rachel if she had heard about her from Nick, instead of learning about Rachel from her friends? What do you think of Eleanor and her circle? Do you think you would be brave enough to join their group? 

It’s interesting to see the contrast between generations in this first section. The older generation, like Eleanor and Alix, are more conservative, and in Alix’s case, have been accused of being “cheap.” The younger generation like Astrid and Eddie are more interested in spending money and having luxurious things. Astrid has quite the collection of jewels and couture clothes, doesn’t she? Did you enjoy reading the chapter that explained her background and introduced her marriage? Even though Eddie and Astrid are both interested in nice things, they seem totally different from each other. How do they treat money differently? 

This section ends before Rachel actually meets the family, but before the section ended, Rachel and her friend Peik Lin realize that Nick’s family is “richer than God.” How do you think this information will color the initial meeting between Rachel and Nick’s family? Do you think they will all be kind to one another? Do you think Rachel will have any embarrassing faux pas? 

The movie adaptation of this book is exciting and culturally significant because it is the first major Hollywood movie since 1993’s The Joy Luck Club to feature an entirely Asian and Asian-American cast in a contemporary setting. If you want to learn more, watch the video clip below in which Henry Golding and Constance Wu, the lead actors in the movie, talk about themselves and the cast. 

You can also check out this article in which Suyin Haynes, a Time editor explains why the movie was important to her. 

I can’t wait to hear what you thought about this first section. Please make sure to leave your thoughts and guesses about the plot in the comments section. And make sure you read the 18 chapters of part 2 for next week. 

Welcome to March’s Online Book Club discussion! This month, we’re reading Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

Crazy Rich Asians is a contemporary romantic story filled with family drama, incredible riches and luxuries, and lots of gossip. Rachel Chu heads to Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, not knowing that his family is both super-wealthy and super-intimidating. As soon as they land, she immediately feels opposition from Nick’s family and realizes that she might be in over her head. Rachel has to learn how to operate in this new social sphere, all while trying to stay true to who she is. The book is lots of fun, so I think you’ll enjoy reading along with us this month.

If you want to follow along with us, but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the 2018 movie adaptation, Crazy Rich Asians, starring Constance Wu. Check out the above trailer if you’re curious to find out more, and feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you are only watching the movie and not reading the book.

Make sure to read the prologue and part 1, the first 18 chapters, before joining us next week. I’m excited to hear your thoughts in the comments section.  

Welcome to our final Online Book Club discussion of Friday Night Lights!

What did you think of the ending? Were you surprised that the team didn’t win the state title? What did you think of the afterward? 

Could you believe that the fate of the Permian team rested on a coin toss? That is just such a weird, and kind of unfair way to decide which teams would go the playoffs. I would have been so nervous that I probably would have just dropped the coin on the floor.

I was so frustrated by the Carter Cowboys and the grade scandal described in chapter 15. It was so upsetting to read about Gary Edwards’ grade change and the horrible treatment that Will Bates had to endure for giving Gary a fair grade. Could you believe that Bates had to move to a new building, teach a new subject, and endure a year’s probation, just for giving a student the grade he deserved? I was flabbergasted by the whole thing. I have heard stories like that come out of colleges, but I didn’t think things like that would happen at high schools. It was sad to read about. If you’re interested to learn more about the Carter team, check out the video below. It’s a trailer for an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about the players and the team. 

If you enjoyed the afterward and seeing where the boys were 10 years after the events of the book, you might be interested to check out another follow-up that H.G. Bissinger wrote for Sports Illustrated 25 years after the book was published. Make sure to watch the video clip at the top because it shows some of the former players talking about their experience. I think Brian Chavez’s story is really sad—make sure to leave me a comment to let me know what you thought of his story after he graduated from Harvard.

I hope that you enjoyed reading with us this month. Please let me know any of your thoughts in the comments section. I really want to know what you thought of the last section, especially the parts about the Carter Cowboys.

If you enjoyed Friday Night Lights, check out this list of books and movies with similar themes. Make sure to let me know if you check out anything on this list!

Please make sure to join us again next month as we read Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. It’s a different type of book than Friday Night Lights was, but I hope you’ll enjoy it just the same.

Welcome to week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of Friday Night Lights. 

How did this section treat you? Are you enjoying the way that narrative is unfolding, or do you wish there was more action? I find the history sections a little boring. Do you enjoy those parts? 

Bissinger didn’t give a very positive view of the academic vigor of Permian High, did he? It was really sad to read chapter seven and all the descriptions of the classwork and classroom management. The food science class appeared to be the most pathetic, but some of the other classes seemed lackluster as well. I thought it was interesting how many of the teachers commented that the students at Permian weren’t like students used to be. I still hear teachers say things like that, so it seems like students are constantly changing, for better or for worse. What was your impression of the descriptions of the school day? Were you surprised? Were you surprised by the way that athletes were treated in the classroom? 

I was most surprised and disappointed by the descriptions of the girls who humiliated themselves to get close to the football players. The girl who carried books for the boys was especially heartbreaking for me. One of the girls mentioned in this section, Brigitte Vandeventer, the homecoming queen, has had a pretty interesting life since leaving Permian. Check out this article if you’re interested to read what she’s been up to. 

The other parts of this section that really stood out to me were the descriptions of the extreme wealth in Midland. Could you even believe the money that was flowing through Midland? I loved the descriptions of Aaron Giebel and his five private planes and three private pilots, and the story of his scheme to breed “super cows” was pretty interesting as well. 

This section finished with Permian losing another game and the town losing their minds over the loss. I could not believe the reactions of the town towards the coach. I played sports all through my life, including varsity soccer during college, but I have never experienced the level of intensity and pressure that these boys faced. I can’t imagine getting “For Sale” signs in my yard after losing a game. I can’t imagine writing a scathing letter to the newspaper slamming a high school coach. I can’t identify with that behavior at all. Have you had experiences like this when playing a sport? Have any of you coached a sports team and faced intense scrutiny? 

If you’re interested to watch any videos of games from this 1988 season, check out Mojoland, a fan site for the football team created by a Permian graduate. This section has videos—the first one listed is an event that occurs in chapter 13, so I might not watch that video, but some of the others are interesting. Let me know what you think in the comments section. 

I’m interested to hear what you thought of this section and if you have had any sports experiences that are similar at all to the experiences of the players in the book. 

I hope you’re able to finish the book before joining me next week!

Welcome to week 2 of our Online Book Club discussion of Friday Night Lights.

How did you enjoy the first six chapters of the book this week? Were you immediately drawn into the action? I was hooked on the story as soon as I read the preface. 

The thing that stood out to me most was how much pressure these boys were under, and how they survived the intense scrutiny and expectations placed on them by the entire town. It’s hard enough to meet the expectations of family members—I can’t imagine having to please a whole town with my athletic ability. Their bodies were under incredible pressure as well. They put themselves through so much strain to play through injury. In the beginning, we see how Boobie Miles lost his position after suffering a torn knee ligament, so I can understand why the boys would want to play through pain, but it still made me sad. At one point, the author recounts how townspeople would call the trainer’s office to get updates on injured players. I don’t think that would fly today. 

I was also struck by all the details about the Pepettes, a group of senior girls who each supported one of the players, in this first section. I was shocked that the girls went to so much personal expense to create yard signs for the players. Can you picture a yard sign that would cost over $100? They must have been incredibly elaborate! I don’t think I have the expertise to create that kind of masterpiece. The girls also had to supply the players with weekly treats, scrapbooks, and extras like travel pillows and towels. They were sure a dedicated bunch to do all of those things for the players. Did your high school have similar traditions? Do you think it was fair that the Pepettes had to do so many things for the players? 

Throughout Bissinger’s analysis of Odessa, he recounts the deep-seated racism that covered the town. Bissinger described the bitter fight over desegregation of schools, and he described the wide-spread use of racial slurs. He also indicated in chapter 5 that African-American athletes at Permian were respected for their athletic ability, but they weren’t respected as people or intellectual beings. I think what was most unsettling to me was the fact that while I was reading, I kept wanting to say, “the things Bissinger wrote about are a 1988 problem, not a 2019 problem.” However, I know that isn’t the case. This article from ESPN documents some of the racist incidents that occurred in sports in 2017. 

Chapter 6 ends with the team losing against Marshall. How do you think this loss with affect their season and their playoff hopes? Do you think they will be able to come back from the loss? 

If you’re curious about what Odessa is like now, explore the Downtown Odessa website to see what the city is up to lately. It’s interesting to see how it has changed since Bissinger wrote about it. 

I hope you enjoyed this first section and that you are excited to keep reading. Make sure to read chapters 7–12 before joining us again next week. I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments section. 

Welcome to February’s Online Book Club discussion! This month, we’re reading Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger. 

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Make sure you check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

Friday Night Lights is a gripping true story about a high school football team in Odessa, Texas. The book follows the team through a full season, and it explores a town’s obsession with football and how that obsession shapes the players, the school, and the other students. This story is mostly about people, so even if you don’t like sports, you can still enjoy this book. 

If you want to watch along with us instead of read with us, you can always check out the 2004 movie, Friday Night Lights, starring Billy Bob Thornton. Check out the above trailer for the movie if you’re on the fence about joining us this week. Feel free to leave comments on the blog posts, even if you are just watching the movie and not reading the book with us. 

Read the first six chapters before joining the discussion next week. I can’t wait to hear what you think in the comments section.