Thank you for Visiting

This book club provided an opportunity to discuss books with authors from 2009 - 2013. I like to think we were a group of daughters, sisters, wives, mothers, well... women finding time to meet while juggling daily life. I hope you enjoy exploring The Manic Mommies Book Club Archives. We read 46 books over the years, with audio or written author discussions for each book read documented on this blog. Note: The audio archives are no longer available on iTunes. ~ with kindness & gratitude, Mari

Love in Mid Air: Discussion Recap

Every once in a while I read a book that really makes me think, evaluate friendships, love and life - Love in Mid Air is one of these books.

We had a wonderful conversation with author Kim Wright, discussing the book, writing process and much more. 

Love in Mid Air explores the friendships, marriage and happiness - or should I say, the quest for happiness and love.

If you were not able to join us and have a question for the author, leave a comment to this post or email me and I will reach out to Kim. 

This months call is edited down to just under an hour:



Click above to listen (there is an option to download). The audio clip is also available to the right of this post.

We have a few book bloggers in the MMBC, click on the links below to see what they are talking about and their thoughts on Love in Mid Air:
Every Day I Write the Book
PeetSwea

June 2010 selection: How Clarissa Burden learned to Fly

We will be discussing How Clarissa Burden learned to Fly with the author on June 16 (8PM EST). Watch for details as we get closer to the date.

A 24 book giveaway will be posted to the Manic Mommies website within the next week.

Synopsis: How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly is the transcendent story of a young woman who, in a twenty-four hour period, journeys through startling moments of self-discovery that lead her to a courageous and life-altering decision.

Author Q&A:

Tell us a little about yourself:  I live on a sandbar in the middle of nowhere with my husband (I’m a newly wed with a marriage not yet two years old) and four dogs. We have no full-time neighbors save for a few folks down the road. A mama bear and her cub live in the back yard next to the bay. I keep the dogs in at night because of coyotes. I love it here. It gives me all kinds of time to think. I love to cook and fish. I love bad TV and good books. I garden; trying to coax life out of the sand is a mad act committed by a happy woman. I bird watch. I teach folks who love words and who have stories they must tell. I work on environmental and family violence issues. And I’ve taken up genealogy; what I’ve discovered never ceases to amaze, clarify, and confuse.

Do you write daily?  I surely try.

What was it like getting your first novel published?  My experience was totally a-typical and was one of the few times in my life when all the stars fell into harmonious alignment. I was in grad school and my professor, Carolyn Doty, said I needed to send my thesis (my first novel Sugar Cage) to an agent. She provided me a list of five names. She said, “When the first person on the list rejects the book, send the manuscript immediately out to the second person.” That process seemed way too logical for my artist’s brain, so I gazed at the piece of paper and tried to divine which name proffered good luck. The third one down was Joy. Easy wheezie. I sent the manuscript to her and, low and behold, she loved it. Within about a month, she’d sold it to an editor at Putnam whose name was Faith. Both Carolyn and Faith have passed away, but I still have Joy in my life and my editor ever since Remembering Blue is named Deb. She has brought me great luck too. Perhaps it’s the three-letter thing that’s working for me.

What do you think of the electronic book (kindles and such)?  I think they’re very, very cool. I don’t own one but I sat beside a woman on a plane last weekend who had a Kindle. I asked her to show me how it worked. Pretty impressive, I must say. And I’m totally excited about the Ipad—I’m a big Apple fan. I don’t think books you hold in your hands will ever go away, but these new devices aren’t going anywhere either. They’ll become more sophisticated even as they’re used by future generations of readers who are totally accustomed to the virtual world. I also think that there’s every possibility that people will read more because where they go, so too does their library.

What is one tip that you can share with aspiring writers? Feed your mind: read, read, read.

What are you reading now? I reread the Great Gatsby once a year. And it’s that time of year again. Also, I’m looking very forward to reading Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna.

Just for fun:
- Favorite Season: Spring. We’re on the migratory path for monarch butterflies so it’s pretty awesome. Also, an astonishing variety of birds migrate through here. For the same reasons, I love fall.
- Morning or night: Morning, definitely.
- Favorite ice cream flavor: Rum raison
- If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go: Africa

The Yellow House: discussion recap

If you haven't had a chance to read The Yellow House, everyone who read the book would say they highly recommend it.

One of the gals reading with us read it in one sitting, she couldn't put it down.  I received an email thanking me for a sleepness night from someone else (jokingly of course) and Jen read the book twice!

We had about a dozen women on the call and just as we were starting to discuss the book we encountered some technical difficulities forcing us to reschedule.  The MMBC readers stayed on the call to discuss the book and we came up with several questions.

Take Two: Patricia and I met to discuss the book and had a wonderful discussion.  I hope I asked all of your quesitons but if I forgot something, feel free to email me or leave a comment and I will reach out to her.

The call is about 45 minutes - spoiler alert... we did talk about the book, in detail. 



Click above to listen (there is an option to download). The audio clip is also available to the right of this post (or click below).

Note: There is a little organic noise througout the call - I was using a new mic that is SUPER sensitive :).  I had the window open, it was a beautiful spring day in Omaha, and if you listen hard you will hear some activity outside.  It doesn't disrupt the call, promise.   ~ next month I will attempt to record the call in a closet, with a glass of wine and good conversation with friends... that might be worth a picture ~

Our May selection is Love in Mid Air, we will be discussing the book with Kim Wright on May 19th.