The Literary Wineaux Society

LWS March Book Club: '11/22/63' by Stephen King

Wed, Mar 25 · 6:30 PM MST

Mise en place, 13610 North Scottsdale Road, Ste. 14, Scottsdale, Arizona 85254, United States,, Scottsdale, CA, US

Hello Wineauxs...

We're stepping back in time to one of my favorite eras of fashion, architecture, cocktails and decor -- Midcentury Modern!

You voted and the March Book Club Selection is...

11/22/63 by Stephen King

• A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR
• WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE

Description:
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King—who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer—takes readers on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.

It begins with Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, whose life is upended when his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And the dying Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in the world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere and to the small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love. Every turn leads eventually to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.

Book Details: Amazon Link
Published Date: November 8, 2011
Page Count: 880 pages
Audiobook: 30 hours, 4 minutes. Narrated by Craig Wasson (L.A. Confidential)

PS. This is a beast of a book. The longest one we've ever read or will read, BUT it's a challenge! Don't feel you need to finish the entire book. Take your time and read or listen mindfully what you can. The book has spectacular reviews and if anything come for the curated wine experience!

Location: Mise En Place. Lynn has a rep from Napa Valley coming to host a special tasting for us. $25 per person includes wine tasting and charcuterie

Buzz Books & Bubbles + Movie PROJECT HAIL MARY

Fri, Mar 27 · 6:00 PM MST

Location not specified yet

It's another Buzz Books, Bubbles & MOVIE!

We will be reading and discussing Andy Weir's super popular book Project Hail Mary and seeing the movie starring Ryan Gosling.

The Book... (amazon link)
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to solve an impossible scientific mystery—and to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

THE MOVIE - WATCH THE TRAILER
Please note: This movie is expected to be one of the biggest films of the year as far as box office. So we are seeing it a week after it premieres. I will let you know the showtimes and theaters and how to purchase tickets in advance so we are all sitting together. We will see the movie closest to a 6pm start time. The movie is THE LONGEST RYAN GOSLING MOVIE EVER MADE lol, not sure if this is a sell for you, but the movie is 2 hours, 36 minutes.

LOCATION FOR DISCUSSION - within walking distance of the theater after the movie. The location will be announced once we have showtimes.

LWS April Book Club: Theme - OVER THE RAINBOW - VOTE NOW!

Wed, Apr 29 · 6:30 PM MST

Mise en place, 13610 North Scottsdale Road, Ste. 14, Scottsdale, Arizona 85254, United States,, Scottsdale, CA, US

It's Time to VOTE for April Book Club! What are we going to read this month? The theme is OVER THE RAINBOW, inspired by the classic colors of the rainbow we have 6 books that represent each color of the rainbow and 1 representing the pot of gold at the very end!

Please cast your COLOR in the Comments below prior to March book club where I'll make the announcement. I've added Amazon Links to further research the book (description, reviews, reading or audio sample) and uploaded the book covers to photos.

And the nominees are....

1. Red Clay by Charles B. Vancher - An astounding multigenerational saga, Red Clay chronicles the interwoven lives of an enslaved Black family and their white owners as the Civil War ends and Reconstruction begins.
In 1943, when a frail old white woman shows up in Red Clay, Alabama, at the home of a Black former slave--on the morning following his funeral--his family hardly knows what to expect after she utters the words "... a lifetime ago, my family owned yours." Adelaide Parker has a story to tell--one of ambition, betrayal, violence, and redemption--that shaped both the fate of her family and that of the late Felix H. Parker. Amazon Link

2. There, There by Tommy Orange - In the weeks leading up to the Big Oakland Powwow, a disparate but interconnected group of urban Native Americans living in Oakland prepare for the festivities. Among the attendees of the powwow are the lost and insecure Tony Lineman, a young man whose shame over having a face marked by fetal alcohol syndrome leads to his involvement in a scheme to rob the powwow; Octavio Gomez, a drug dealer and the mastermind behind the scheme; and Dene Oxendene, who’s hoping to honor his recently deceased uncle’s legacy by collecting the stories of other Native Americans living in Oakland for a documentary film. Interwoven with these central stories are the tales of a number of other individuals who are interconnected in unlikely and amazing ways—though they are often unaware of the deep ties, both cultural and familial, which bind them to one another. Amazon Link

3. Sisters in Yellow by Mieko Kawakami - Coined as the Japanese Breaking Bad, this is a bold novel of sacrifice and the tumultuous bonds of sisterhood, set in the gritty Tokyo of the 1990s. Hana has nothing – she’s fifteen years old and living in a tiny apartment in a suburb of Tokyo with her young mother, a hostess at a local dive bar. They have no money, no security. Then Kimiko appears. Kimiko is older, a bright light in Hana’s dark world. Together they set up Lemon, a bar that, despite its shabby setting and seedy clientele, becomes a haven for Hana. Suddenly Hana has a job she loves, friends to share her days with, and the glittering promise of money. She feels like a normal girl. She feels invincible. But in the narrow alleys of Sangenjaya, nothing is as it seems. Soon all of Hana’s hope, her optimism, and her drive will be pushed to the limit . . . Amazon Link

4. Belle Greene by Alexandra LaPierre - A novel based on a true story. New York in the 1900s. A young girl fascinated by rare books defies all odds and becomes the director of one of the country’s most prestigious private libraries. It belongs to the magnate J. P. Morgan,darling of the international aristocracy and one of the city’s richest men. Flamboyant, brilliant, beautiful, Belle is among New York society’s most sought after intellectuals. She also hides a secret. Although she looks white, she is African American, the daughter of a famous black activist who sees her desire to hide her origins as the consummate betrayal. Torn between history’s ineluctable imperatives and the freedom to belong to the society of her choosing, Belle’s drama, which plays out in a violently racist America, is one that resonates forcefully, and illuminatingly even today. Amazon Link

5. Scarlet in Blue by Jennifer Murphy - A beautiful and gripping psychological novel about a mother and daughter who, after a lifetime on the run from a dark and dangerous past, land in a small Michigan town that may hold the key to ending their fugitive lifestyle. For Blue Lake’s entire life, she and her mother, Scarlet, have been on the run from HIM—the man who Scarlet, a talented and enigmatic painter, insists is chasing them. But now, at fifteen years old, Blue has begun to resent the nomadic life that once seemed like an adventure, increasingly unsure what to make of the phantom pursuer she’s never seen. She only yearns to settle down in one place, to live a normal life. Amazon Link

6. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi - Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. They live in a beautiful house, with a caring family, and attend an exclusive missionary school. They're completely shielded from the troubles of the world. Yet, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, things are less perfect than they appear. Although her Papa is generous and well respected, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home—a home that is silent and suffocating. As the country begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili and Jaja are sent to their aunt, a university professor outside the city, where they discover a life beyond the confines of their father’s authority. Books cram the shelves, curry and nutmeg permeate the air, and their cousins’ laughter rings throughout the house. When they return home, tensions within the family escalate, and Kambili must find the strength to keep her loved ones together. Amazon Link

7. Theo of Golden by Allen Levi - One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…His name is Theo. And he asks a lot more questions than he answers. Theo visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits of the people of Golden done by a local artist. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their “rightful owners.” With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered. Amazon Link