Another fun Meetup with my book lover friends, this time at Jim’s Restaurant. My Chicken Club Salad was delicious, and although the servers tried to be quiet, it was a challenge for everyone to get their meals and drinks without some interruption to the meeting. But it was also nice to eat with friends.

Here is the list of books we discussed, with links to Amazon.

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

Black Glass: Short Stories by Karen Joy Fowler

James Joyce in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern

So Nude, So Dead by Ed McBain

House of Echoes by Brendan Duffy

The Merry Maines: A Shaggy Cat Story by Garnet Quinn

Arabian Nights & Days: A Novel by Naguib Mahfouz

Hell with the Lid Blown Off: An Alifair Tucker Mystery by Doris Casey

Blood on the Water: A William Monk Mystery by Anne Perry

Storms of My Grandchildren by James Hanson

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

The Berlin Diaries: 1940-1945 by Marie Vassiltchikov

Middlemarch by George Elliot

The Train to Crystal City: FDR’s Secret Prisoner Exchange Program and America’s Only Family Internment Camp During World War II by Jane Jarboe Russell

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder

Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman’s Quest to Make a Difference by Warren St. John

George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade

The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan

The Given Day: A Novel by Dennis Lehane

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrente

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

The Trial by Franz Kafka

The Sun magazine

Yes magazine

The Progressive magazine

The Shadow Hunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath by Mimi Alford

The Rosie Effect: A Novel by Graeme Simsion

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller

Tampa: A Novel by Alissa Nutting

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse: A Novel by Louise Erdrich

Glasshouse by Charles Stross

U is for Undertow (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) by Sue Grafton

Engaged to Die (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 14) by Carolyn Hart

Wizard (Gaea) by John Varley

The Moon Maze Game (Dream Park) by Larry Niven and David Barnes

Dead on Cue by Anne Morice

Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames by Thich Nhat Hanh

Half a King (Shattered Sea) by Joe Abercrombie

The Orphan Master’s Son: A Novel by Adam Johnson

Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman

St. Burl’s Obituary by Daniel Akst

The Voluntourist: A Six-Country Tale of Love, Loss, Fatherhood, Fate, and Singing Bon Jovi in Bethlehem by Ken Budd

The Siege of Vienna: The Last Great Trial Between Cross & Crescent by John Stoye

Turkish Embassy Letters by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Vienna: A Traveler’s Literary Companion edited by Donald G. Daviau

Dear Life: Stories by Alice Munro

Runaway by Alice Munro

Too, Too Solid Flesh by Nick O’Donohoe

The Affinity Bridge (Newbury & Hobbes Investigations) by George Mann

Ghost a la Mode (A Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery Series Book 1) by Sue Ann Jaffarian

Murder at the Altar by Veronica Heley

Family Skeletons: A Spunky Missouri Genealogist Traces A Family’s Roots…And Digs Up A Deadly Secret (Torie O’Shea Mysteries) by Rhett MacPherson

The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived by Allan Lazar

Fan fiction at Archive of Our Own

Meeting at the Brook Hollow Library, lots of good books in the circle today. Mysteries, Proust, college education, and sci-fi were only some of the topics.

Join us on the second Saturday of each month: San Antonio Book Lovers Meetup

Strangers in Death by J. D. Robb
Bump in the Night by J. D. Robb
Out of this World by J. D. Robb
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Azlan
Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa
Killing the Spirit: Higher Education in America by Page Smith
Impostors in the Temple: The Decline of the American University by Martin Anderson
The Returned by Jason Mott
The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live—and How You Can Change Them by Richard J. Davidson and Sharon Begley
Sorry! The English and Their Manners by Henry Hitchings
The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
Hooked on Murder: A Crochet Mystery by Betty Hechtman
The Poyson Garden: An Elizabeth I Mystery by Karen Harper
The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson
Cinder: Book One of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Rebel Island by Rick Riordan
The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
Life after Life by Kate Atkinson
Help the Poor Struggler: A Richard Jury Mystery by Martha Grimes
Fine Just the Way It Is: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx
Austin City Blue: A Zoe Barrow Mystery by Jan Grape
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline: Stories and a Novella by George Saunders
The River of Souls by Robert McCammon
The World of Trouble: The Last Policemen III by Ben H. Winters
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
8 Weeks to Optimum Health by Andrew Weil
The Rules: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider
The Goliath Bone: A Mike Hammer Novel by Micky Spillane
The Beer Book by Bob Abel
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
Lone Wolf: A Novel by Jodi Picoult
The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Belgariad, Vol. 1: Books 1, 2, & 3 by David Eddings
Diary: A Novel by Chuck Palaniuk
The Green Smoothies Diet by Robyn Openshaw
Defending Jacob: A Novel by William Landay
Small Town by Lawrence Block
Stay Awake: Stories by Dan Chaon
Tuition Rising: Why College Costs So Much by Ronald G. Ehrenburg
The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  

Another great crowd—with three new members—shared their book adventures this month. Check out the San Antonio Book Lovers on Meetup.

Blue Lights – Joan Didion
The Last Victim – Karen Robards
Mysteries of Winterthurn – Joyce Carol Oates
Princess Elizabeth’s Spy – Susan Elia Macneal
In a Far Country – John Taliaferro
Killing Jesus: A History – Bill O’Reilly
Spending Spree – Ryan Wiley
Lessons from Madame Chic: 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned While Living in Paris – Jennifer L. Scott
The Noticer: Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective – Andy Andrews
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game – Michael Lewis
The Tell Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for What Makes Us Human – V. S. Ramachandran
City of Dark Magic – Magnus Flyte
The Map of Time – Felix J Palma
Deadly Night (The Flynn Brothers Trilogy) – Heather Graham
Vanish: A Rizzoli and Isles Novel – Tess Gerritsen
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 – Marcus Latrell
Diary: A Novel – Chuck Palahniuk
Survivor: A Novel – Chuck Palahniuk
The Fifth Elephant (Discworld) – Terry Pratchett
Bringing Yoga to Life – Donna Farhi
Shambhala Sun magazine
Doc: A Novel – Mary Doria Russell
Raising Steam (Discworld) – Terry Pratchett
Brilliance – Marcus Sakey
At Home: A Short History of Private Life – Bill Bryson
The Julius House: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery – Charlaine Harris
Elegy for Eddie: A Maisie Dobbs Novel – Jaqueline Winspear
Unfamiliar Fishes – Sarah Vowell
The Dark Tower series (7 books) – Stephen King
Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution – Nathaniel Philpot
Orphan Train: A Novel – Christina Baker Kline
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Barrows
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and The Mistakes we Knew we Were Making – Dave Eggars
Powder Burn – Carl Hiassen and Bill Montalbano
Trap Line – Carl Hiassen and Bill Montalbano
Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World – Cataline De Erauso
A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One – George R.R. Martin
The Cold One – Christopher Pike
Frankenstein: Lost Souls: A Novel – Dean Kontz
Black Moon: A Novel – Kenneth Calhoun
The Mad Sculptor: The Maniac, the Model, and the Murder that Shook the Nation – Harold Schechter
The Gatekeepers #1: Raven’s Gate – Anthony Horowitz
The Travis Club – Mark Louis Rybczyk
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner
The Romanovs: Autocrats of All the Russias – by W. Bruce Lincoln

Not a huge group this month at the San Antonio Book Lovers Meetup, but some interesting variety in reads. Bill finished the poling for our future location, and we will start meeting at the Brook Hollow Library next month (Yay), with the La Madeleine location still a possibility for those days we are unable to use the room at the library. We are also planning a movie date for “Monuments Men” next Saturday afternoon (and Jane is planning another fun dinner in April). Thanks, everyone!

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
The Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Rabbit Redux by John Updike
Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War by Robert M. Gates
Sunset Limited by James Lee Burke
The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted by Mike Lofgren
Victoria’s Daughters by Jerrold M. Packard
Elegy for Eddie by Jaqueline Winspear
Alexander Hamilton: A Life – by Willard Sterne Randall
Back Bay by William Martin
Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray
Silent Witness by Richard North Patterson
Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young
Dark Specter by Michael Dibdin
Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley
Divergent by Veronica Roth
A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Hood
The Night Gardener by George C. Pelecanos
The Cold Moon: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel by Jefferey Deaver
The Cold War by Priscilla Roberts
Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries by Jon Rohson
Avalon by Mindee Arnett
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
The Sun magazine
Poppy Done to Death; A Bone to Pick; and Last Scene Alive (Aurora Teagarden mystery series) by Charlaine Harris
Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II’s Greatest Rescue Mission by Hampton Sides
What I Did for Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Islands by Anne Rivers Siddons
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan
Mysteries of Winterthurn by Joyce Carol Oates (creepy)
Jungleland: A Mysterious Lost City and a True Story of Deadly Adventure (P.S.) by Christopher S. Stewart
The Mysteries of Beethoven’s Hair by Russell Martin (non-fiction)
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Edsel & Witter
Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing (Quick & Dirty Tips) by Mignon Fogarty

There were 28 members and friends today at La Madeleine to talk about their books and swap a few, too. Here is the extensive list:

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright
Foundling (The Foundling’s Tale, Part One) by D.M. Cornish
Leviathan (Leviathan Trilogy) by Scott Westerfield
Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century) by Cherie Priest
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Rising Tide by Lynn Steigleder
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan
Upstream and Other Poems by George Nash
Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown by Michael Shermer
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Free on Kindle)
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? by George Carlin
The Soprano Sorceress (Spellsong Cycle #1) by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera) by Jim Butcher
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
Pararescue: The True Story of an Incredible Rescue at Sea and the Heroes Who Pulled it Off by Michael Hirsh
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson
Rabbit Redux (Harry Rabbit Angstrom) by John Updike
Too Much Happiness: Stories by Alice Munro
The Outcasts: A Novel by Kathleen Kent
The Signature of All Things: A Novel by Elizabeth Gilbert
Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen
Death Penalties (A Luke Abbott Mystery) by Paula Gosling
Rosewater and Soda Bread: A Novel by Marsha Mehran
La Salle’s Ghost by Miles Arceneaux
Ten Billion by Stephen Emmott
The Double (Spero Lucas) by George P. Pelecanos
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
The Hound and the Falcon by Judith Tarr [The Isle of Glass, The Golden Horn, and The Hounds of God]
The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be by Farley Mowat
The Boy Kings of Texas: A Memoir by Domingo Martinez
The Bat (Harry Hole novel #1) by Jo Nesbo
Vanish (Rizzoli & Isles) by Tess Gerritsen
Gone for Good by Harlan Coben
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Alchemist by Paula Coelho
Pulse by Patrick Carman
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
The 4-Hour Chef by Timothy Ferriss
The Jasmine Moon Murder (A Tea Shop Mystery) by Julia Childs
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
For a Queen’s Love: The Stories of the Royal Wives of Phillip II (A Novel of the Tudors) by Jean Plaidy