December Books 'n Bars @ Rock Bottom Brewery

I forgot to recap December's Books 'n Bars! It hit me yesterday while running that I forgot, I can't believe I did that.

Oh, well. Better later than never, I say!

The Wednesday after Christmas we met at Rock Bottom Brewery, which is a chain restaurant that brews it's own beers. There are 35 restaurants located in the US and each one brews different beers. I love brewery's like this, but haven't visited Rock Bottom that much, so I was excited when it was suggested. (Also? I really like beer. It's kind of ridiculous).


I was first introduced to breweries like this when I lived in Kansas City. We would would go to McCoy's in Westport all the time and I fell in love with their raspberry brew. Now, I cannot get enough of it, and I can never seem to find it! I think Court Avenue Brewery (for you locals) downtown has it sometimes, but not all the time.

So, enough about beer and the "bars" part, let's talk about the "books" part, shall we?

In December we chose to read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This book had been sitting on my shelf unread for quite a while now, so I was excited that we chose to read it. Unfortunately, I did not manage my time well in December and on the day we were scheduled to meet, I still had 250 pages to go...

Luckily, I did it. Yes, I skimmed quite a bit, but I don't feel like I missed anything! I had a little time before meeting to scan some reviews and summaries online, and from what I can tell I didn't miss anything.

Everyone in the group enjoyed it, a few of us weren't finished (hello, December is BUSY!) so we didn't discuss too much.

What we did discuss was the unique aspects from this WWII book we did enjoy. First of all, it's narrated by Death. I had to remind myself several times that it's not the main character talking, it's Death talking!

I also wasn't prepared for the main character to be a young German girl. I just naturally assumed it would be a Jewish protagonist. I began to adore her though, and really wanted to just hug her so many times. It's so easy to assume that during WWII all German's were bad (obviously a vast generalization), but it is so shocking to me how little they knew. How many lies they were told. It's heartbreaking.

Overall, this is definitely a book I recommend, not only for the content, but for the unique perspective and the unique way it is written!

For January we are switching gears a little and reading some non-fiction to appeal to some of the male members of the group (hi, guys!) and attract more members! C'mon guys, don't you want to be in a book club?! (lol)

So, we are reading Packing for Mars by Mary Roach and we're meeting on Tuesday, January 31st at Raccoon River Brewing Co. (another brewery - I am a happy girl!). Check out the event page here! If you're in the area, I hope you consider joining us!

Happy Reading!

Books 'n Bars (October)

On October 26th we met for our fifth meeting of Books 'n Bars and it went great!

For those of you that are new (welcome, btw!) I crossed 'Start a book club' off from my bucket list this past summer and friends of mine, colleagues, class friends, and friends of friends have kept it going for almost six months now! I couldn't be happier and am so excited to see where it goes from here!

Since starting the club, I have received emails from authors (umm, wow!) and have discovered that there are WAY more readers than there are non-readers out there. We even had our first guy member join us a couple months ago! (I believe he is earning some major brownie points with his girlfriend ... ;) )

The books we have read so far are:

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
The Help
Secret Daughter
The Murderer's Daughters

The bars we have been to are:

Saints (in Beaverdale)
Tally's
Mullet's
High Life Lounge

Last month we read Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and met at Star Bar. Star Bar is the ultimate after work happy hour spot, located just west of downtown Des Moines on Ingersoll it's location is perfect for anyone working in the area. None of us work in the area, but that didn't stop us. Our goal is to check out a new bar each month, preferably a local bar.

We had great conversation about Middlesex and pretty much everyone had a different opinion. A couple of people loved it, a few were so-so, and most of us just didn't enjoy the content.

Middlesex is about a girl named Calliope that is a hermaphrodite. The first half of the book covers Calliope's family history and the incest that has created this abnormal gene that caused Calliope's condition. She doesn't know for sure that she is a hermaphrodite until very late in the book, when she finds out the truth her doctor wants to do surgery to complete her female organs but she doesn't want the surgery.

I wasn't a huge fan of the book, and struggled through most of it. The text is very dense and the description is over the top. Jeffrey Eugenides is a beautiful writer and I love the way he writes, I can see why he won a Pulitzer for it, but I felt several areas were over emphasized. I would have rather learned more about Callie as a girl, and then Cal as a boy. Instead, we learned more about the family history.

I didn't hate Middlesex. But, I didn't love it either. I'm glad I was able to finish it, but it's not a book I would recommend to others.

For November we are reading We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver and we're meeting at another downtown bar, this time at The Lift.

If you're in the area we would love to have you! We're meeting at 7:30 on Wednesday, November 30.

What books have you read lately? Do books that have won awards, such as the Pulitzer, make you want to read them?