Sorry! I have been so slow with the Blog have had some computer problems.   I hope the list of book we have read is all caught up and is correct. 

I have really enjoyed all of the books we have picked.  I especially enjoyed "A Long Walk to Water".

I am looking forward to ready the new books, "The Continuous Atonement" and The Continuous Conversion". 

Lindsey we will miss you at our monthly get togethers.  We wish you and your family much success and happiness on you new adventure.

The Continuous Conversion by Brad Wilcox

For some in the Church, the message of Christ does not fall on deaf ears, it falls on discouraged ears. Many of us feel defeated- like we can never do enough and are forever falling short. Brad Wilcox points out that some people see only two options-being perfect or giving up. But learning takes time and practice. This book helps us re-examine how we view the Atonement and the process of change. Critics sometimes argue that Church members think we "earn" our way into heaven. Brother Wilcox teaches that we're not earning heaven, we are learning heaven. We're not working our way to heaven, we're preparing for it- practicing for it. Through simple yet powerful analogies and moving personal experiences, he teaches that one of the grand miracles of the Atonement is not just that we can be cleansed and consoled, but that we can be transformed.

The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox
I ll never do it again, we say and then we do it. 
Most of us realize that perfection is a long term process, but when we find 
ourselves making some of the same mistakes over and over again,
it s easy to lose hope.
However, Brad Wilcox points out that the Lord s Atonement will be available 
as long as the perfecting process takes. Even if we mess it up again week after 
week, he helps us start over.
Filled with personal stories and parables, this book presents sublime truths about
the Atonement in fresh, simple ways that will have you saying,
I've never thought of it like that before.
As the author urges, If at first you don t succeed even if at second or third or
fourth you don t succeed, don t find excuses.
Find the Savior and the blessings of His continuous Atonement.

We chose "Austenland" by Shannon Hale (who lives in Utah and also wrote "Goose Girl" and "Princess Academy"). Here is a summary:

Because her obsession with Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice," is ruining her love life, Jane Hayes is delighted when she gets the chance to take a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women.

We also chose "Joseph and Emma: a Love Story" by Marsha Newman (who also wrote the "Lightning and the Storm" series and also lives in Utah). Lindsey will invite her to come to an upcoming Book Club (March or April) so let's try to read this 2 part series before she comes. 

Emma Hale was a favorite child of Issac Hale. Even though her father did not approve of Joseph Smith, her love for the young prophet became the driving force of her life. This is the story of how Joseph and Emma met, fell in love, married, and then went on to carry out the divine work Joseph was called to do.

Joseph and Emma: A Love Story gives the reader an appreciation of major LDS Church historical events from the perspective of the Smiths' personal lives. This book poignantly illustrates the heartbreak of losing their first son at the same time they lost the sacred 116-page manuscript of the Book of Mormon. It paints a vivid picture of the organization of the church, the unforgettable episode of the Three Witnesses, and the supreme efforts of the impoverished saints in building a temple to the Lord. Experiencing history through the eyes of Joseph and Emma gives the reader an understanding of the depth of love and devotion they felt for one another.

Book Club was great, as always! We chose to read:  A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. When the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, eleven-year-old Salva becomes separated from his family and must walk with other Dinka tribe members through southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in search of safe haven. Based on the life of Salva Dut, who, after emigrating to America in 1996, began a project to dig water wells in Sudan.
AND your choice of these four books by Kate Morton:

The Forgotten Garden.  Kate Morton. After discovering that she was abandoned by her birthmother in 1913, Nell embarks on a life-long quest to discover her true identity. After her death, her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search. Soon, Cassandra finds herself at Blackhurst Manor, investigating the doomed history of the Mountrachet family.

The Secret Keeper. During a party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is dreaming of the future. She spies a stranger coming up the road and sees her mother speak to him. Before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy. Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress, living in London. She returns to the family farm for Dorothy's ninetieth birthday and finds herself overwhelmed by questions she has not thought about for decades. From pre-WWII England through the Blitz, to the fifties and beyond, discover the secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds--Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy--who meet by chance in wartime London and whose lives are forever entwined. "The Secret Keeper" explores longings and dreams, the lengths people go to fulfill them, and the consequences they can have. It is a story of lovers, friends, dreamers, and schemers told--inMorton's signature style--against a backdrop of events that changed the world.

The House at Riverton. In the summer of 1924 : on the eve of a glittering Society Party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.

The Distant Hours. 

It started with a letter. A letter that had been lost for a long time, waiting out half a century, stifling summer after cooling winter, in a forgotten postal bag in the dim attic of a nondescript house in Bermondsey. Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon with the return address of Millderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother's emotional distance masks an old secret.

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I am looking forwar to reading this book. 

BOOK CLUB IS ON NOVEMBER 15, 2012 @ 7:00 PM AT JANEAL'S HOME. 

We may have the author of the Lightening and The Storm, Marsha Newman in attendance.