(August) September Book Clubs

September was a double month of book club! Two times the fun!

Month: August 
Hostess: Chrissy
Book: The Weirdness by Jeremy Bushnell
Food: Greek Pizza, cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, fancy cupcakes
Wine of the Night: A luscious merlot


It was a hot fall day the day we met for Chrissy's book club, which seemed appropriate due to the fact that Chrissy had August, although we had to meet in September. The end of August was just so crazy for everyone - vacations, and in the case of Mary, her little baby boy's surgery. Little Will had had surgery just a week before, and was in attendance so we could all coo over him. Chrissy's cats have never seen a baby, and they were very curious about him! He took it all in stride, as he has cats at home himself. 

Speaking of cats, this book. I wish we could say we liked it, but we just didn't. It was not what we expected, which was a Neil Gaiman/Christopher Moore blend. For us, this book just didn't work. I am going to say it was just too weird, even for me. 

We caught up on each other's lives, as it had over a month since we had all been in a room together, hanging out.  All in all, it was a fun, low-key, mellow kind of evening, the kind you would expect from an early September evening, that was warm and humid, even better to have been spent with your close friends.

Month: September
Hostess: Mary
Book: The Beekeeper's Ball by Susan Wiggs
Food: Homemade veggie lasagna, butternut squash soup, chips and salsa, chocolate cake
Wine of the night: A Trempranillo

What a perfect month for a book about honey! Bees are out in full force here in September, as they make their final hurrahs before winter hits. I can't imagine a fall without bees buzzing around the apple cider and donuts! 

It had been another warm fall day, too warm in my opinion, but the evening was cool. We all one by one filed into Mary's house, which was warm and bubbly from the sounds of the soup on the stove.


When the author Susan Wiggs found out that our book club was reading this book, she awesomely sent us a little care package! Inside were coasters, sticks of honey, tea, and bookplates. We loved the coasters, that say "My wine club has a reading problem," especially since we like to call ourselves the Bottle of Wine Book Club.

We all settled down with our soup, eating and talking about this and that. It was fun because we had just gathered together two weeks ago, for Chrissy's book club. It was a double book club month! 

I had fun discussing this book, talking about the flashbacks and how they made me cry. Mary and I disagreed and debated on which book was better, The Beekeeper's Ball, or the first in the series, The Apple Orchard. I firmly believe that Beekeeper's was better, although I did enjoy them both. I feel this one had more feeling, and I liked the main character better as well. I had been curious about her in The Apple Orchard, and was happy when she got her own book. If you want to check out my reviews, you can find them here and here. 

Have any of you read either of these books, or The Apple Orchard? What are your thoughts?