Author: Sandra Dallas
One-sentence summary: An elderly Colorado woman weaves together stories from her life while trying to reach a lonely young woman who is new to town.
B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 6
Our favorite thing about it: We liked some of the stories individually and appreciated the brief history of the town and the mining industry there.
Our least favorite thing about it: The novel was too formulaic and predictable for all of us.
Main Topics of Discussion: Storytelling, Quilting, Friendship, Tragedy, Character Development
Our favorite quote: “I’m gladder for my friends than I am for almost anything, maybe even quilting. I’m proud to say I have as many friends as I do quilts.” (p.119)
Notes: While all of us enjoyed parts and pieces of this novel, we were disappointed by a few things that kept us from rating this book higher. We liked a few of the stories as stand-alone stories and appreciated their drama. However, as parts of a whole novel, even these favorite stories fell short of making us care about the characters or eliciting any real emotion from us. We felt that the weaving together of these stories was weak and did not lend itself well to being presented as a novel. We felt the characters were often very one-sided and therefore, became annoying at times. We were most disappointed in the “convenient” and nicely wrapped-up ending. We were especially annoyed at the constant reminder by the author that the main character was “going to have to deal with” something before the end of the novel. Some things we did enjoy were the history of the town and getting a glimpse of what it might have been like to live their over the years as the main character did. Overall, a nice read, but nothing incredibly memorable or powerful about the story, characters or anything else.
Memorable Meeting Moments: Amberly got smacked in the face by a plate while awaiting dinner, Dara set a very sweet “Colorado” country-style table and gave us all small plants to take home, Stephanie got (almost all) of her birthday books :), and we discussed the pronunciation of “vehemently.”
What We Ate: Vegetable Puree Dip with Crostini, Biscuits with Butter and Raspberry Jam, Homestyle Pot Roast, Potato and Turnip Puree, Asparagus, and Dara's Lava Cakes. Yum!
One-sentence summary: An elderly Colorado woman weaves together stories from her life while trying to reach a lonely young woman who is new to town.
B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 6
Our favorite thing about it: We liked some of the stories individually and appreciated the brief history of the town and the mining industry there.
Our least favorite thing about it: The novel was too formulaic and predictable for all of us.
Main Topics of Discussion: Storytelling, Quilting, Friendship, Tragedy, Character Development
Our favorite quote: “I’m gladder for my friends than I am for almost anything, maybe even quilting. I’m proud to say I have as many friends as I do quilts.” (p.119)
Notes: While all of us enjoyed parts and pieces of this novel, we were disappointed by a few things that kept us from rating this book higher. We liked a few of the stories as stand-alone stories and appreciated their drama. However, as parts of a whole novel, even these favorite stories fell short of making us care about the characters or eliciting any real emotion from us. We felt that the weaving together of these stories was weak and did not lend itself well to being presented as a novel. We felt the characters were often very one-sided and therefore, became annoying at times. We were most disappointed in the “convenient” and nicely wrapped-up ending. We were especially annoyed at the constant reminder by the author that the main character was “going to have to deal with” something before the end of the novel. Some things we did enjoy were the history of the town and getting a glimpse of what it might have been like to live their over the years as the main character did. Overall, a nice read, but nothing incredibly memorable or powerful about the story, characters or anything else.
Memorable Meeting Moments: Amberly got smacked in the face by a plate while awaiting dinner, Dara set a very sweet “Colorado” country-style table and gave us all small plants to take home, Stephanie got (almost all) of her birthday books :), and we discussed the pronunciation of “vehemently.”
What We Ate: Vegetable Puree Dip with Crostini, Biscuits with Butter and Raspberry Jam, Homestyle Pot Roast, Potato and Turnip Puree, Asparagus, and Dara's Lava Cakes. Yum!
2 comments:
Great job, Rachel! You summarized everything really well. Love all the memorable moments from the meeting, so fun!!! That picture of the lava cake make it look so delicious... may have to make those again soon!
I am so glad we all make it such a priority to make it to EVERY meeting! Love you gals so much!
Okay, girls... I finally finished reading Prayers For Sale this weekend, so I feel I can now make an informed rating. I would rate it a 5.5. (I'm wavering between a 5 & 6.) Like was already mentioned at the meeting, I got a little tired of hearing about the thing that constantly "pricked at her heart" & enduring all the storytelling. The storytelling itself wasn't terrible... I just got tired of having to wait for yet another story to figure out how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. It was a slower read for me, because it just didn't grab me from the get go. I fell asleep way too many times reading it.
Okay, that's my two cents... a month late! :-)
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