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| Vel’ d’Hiv |
The meeting date... April 27, 2012.
To Refresh your memory... here is a summary from www.Shelfari.com:
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life. Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.What we said... Everyone thought it was a good book that was quick to get through. As the author finished Sarah's perspective, most of us found we missed her and couldn't wait to keep reading to find out what happened. Julia's sections from then on had Julia painted as a bit high maintenance and a little too obsessed with the Sarah situation. The story opened our eyes to the whole France involvement in the Holocaust.
On another note ... Our tappers have exciting news to share - the teacher is opening her own studio right in Elma. That means more classes to choose from. Take a look at her website BuffaloDanceCenter for all the info. Several of us are looking forward to checking out what the ballet fit class has to offer.
by the way...
Check out the book that Kim spoke of:
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L.James. Here is a summary from www.Shelfari.com... any takers? a summer read?When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time.Also...
Erotic, amusing, amazing and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.(372 pages)
Sue D. has a copy of House Rules by Jodi Picoult. Contact Sue if you would like to borrow it sometime.
Here is a summary from www.Shelfari.com:
... a summer read?
Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject -- in his case, forensic analysis. He's always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do...and he's usually right. But then his town is rocked by a terrible murder and, for a change, the police come to Jacob with questions. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger's -- not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, flat affect -- can look a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel. Suddenly, Jacob and his family, who only want to fit in, feel the spotlight shining directly on them. For his mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication of why nothing is normal because of Jacob. And over this small family the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?
Emotionally powerful from beginning to end, House Rules looks at what it means to be different in our society, how autism affects a family, and how our legal system works well for people who communicate a certain way -- and fails those who don't.(532 pages)
