Oly Reads discussion

Do we want to meet again in January? Possible dates...
Friday, January 15
Saturday, January 16
Friday, January 29
Saturday, January 30
Does anyone have a preferred location? Possibilities: new Cajun joint A2 (not a lot of vegetarian options there, but they do have great french fries and should have their liquor license soon), Peppers Mexican, we could revisit the Spar, there was mention of the Tofu Hut in Lacey?, Mekong, or somewhere else entirely. If you have a suggestion for a location, I'd love to hear it.

No idea what the acoustics are like in the "Tofu Hut", but QB is pretty good, if you can exert some influence over the house rules...

I vote for NOT the 15-16 since it's a 3 day weekend and I'm usually out of town. I do vote for 29 or 30.

And I vote for A2 or Tofu Hut or Peppers but am open to anywhere.

Definitely not the 15th (I have my first ever LA after-hours teen event that night!), but I could do the 16th, 29th, or 30th.

I'm kinda eager to try A2 since I've never been there, and I worry that Peppers might not be getting enough business in their new location so I'd like to patronize them. And Tofu Hut would be fun (also worried about them). But I'm not anti-anywhere. :)

A2 now has beer and wine, too. I'll ask them how they feel about a big party, and whether they would prefer a Friday or Saturday night.

I talked to A2, they can't take reservations. I'm going to check in with Ben Moore's and Pepper's and see who can accommodate us the best. Stay tuned!

Okay! I like Peppers a little better than Ben Moore's for atmosphere.

Just got off the phone with Pepper's and they were happy to take a reservation, so Pepper's it is! Friday the 29th, 6pm. I'll post it on the events calendar, too.

Yippee! I better do some reading!

Like you aren't already, Jackie! :)

Diane aka Ruby called me from Pepper's on Friday night. She's so excited to come to book club that she showed up a week early! Luckily, she had a margarita anyhow. Unluckily, she chose the mango margarita, which she found to be unsatisfying.

If you're doing a count on how many will show up at Peppers, I told someone about this book group. She is not yet on Goodreads but may show up.

I'm not really doing a count- I told them it would probably be between 8 and 14 people, but I'm sure they are happy for the business... thanks for letting me know though, Kate!

Wow, 15 people talked about over 40 books this month! We had four new people- Robin, Ruby, Brynn, and Misha. Brynn was our first under 20 attendee, so that was exciting. Hope we didn't scare the n00bs too much. I've added all of the books (including Zach and Lindsey's, who forgot about book group, but happened to be eating with family at the table next to us) to the Goodreads bookshelf. If you click on the "view" next to the book, you can see who mentioned it and if it was recommended. If I wrote "discussed by...," that means that the person either hadn't finished it or wasn't crazy about it. If the person liked it, I wrote "recommended by..." Feel free to add on or fix anything I wrote- this is a collective bookshelf! Next meeting is on Saturday, February 27th- we're taking suggestions about where to meet. I'd like it to be somewhere that serves alcohol, will take a big group, and isn't overwhelmingly noisy. Until next time, book compatriots...

My pleasure! I'm always impressed with the variety- I love how everybody brings something different to the group.

Agathafrye wrote: "Wow, 15 people talked about over 40 books this month! We had four new people- Robin, Ruby, Brynn, and Misha. Brynn was our first under 20 attendee, so that was exciting. Hope we didn't scare the..."

I love your vocabulary selections: discussed and recommended. So classy!

Don't forget "serves food" for our wishlist of location qualifiers... I'm not sure our ideal exists...

I had a great first time, not only did I get to hear (and see) about books that I would have never otherwise thought of (and some that I do NOT want to think about again ... ahem), I even got to borrow a book to read (thanks, Robin!) while I wait for some books that I put on hold at TRL. AND that was also the first time I had ever eaten at Peppers (and only the second time that I have had a drink there ;-)

SO here's to Oly Good Reads, looking forward to this month's get together (how about the special back room at Mekong? they serve beer, maybe wine, not as FUN as Pina Coladas, but definitely quieter ... )

I'll check out Mekong and report back if nobody objects strongly...
Maura, I do try to be classy! (and fail)

Okay, I reserved Mekong's back room for Saturday the 27th at 6:30. They tack on a gratuity of 18% for parties of 12 or more- just giving y'all a heads up. I'll add this to the events calendar!

So glad to hear it, Misha! You can thank Ruby/Diane for the suggestion.

I like the food at Mekong, and hopefully we will all be able to hear everyone talk! Raina suggested bringing a flask for those who need their mixed drinks (I'll bring the little paper umbrellas ;-)

I'm looking forward to trying a new place and I do hope that since we'll be in a back room, it will be quieter.

Sooo... I just noticed that the Asylum Street Spankers are playing in Seattle on the 27th. How many people who were planning on coming wouldn't be able to make it if we bumped the group up to Friday the 26th? I really like the Asylum Street Spankers!

Anyone? Anyone?

I CAN make it to book group on Friday, the 26th!

I can come on Friday, as long as it's not too early. I work until 6:00 p.m.

I think I'm going to call them and see if we can move it to Friday night. I'll keep you all posted...

I can make it on Friday.

I will be there on Friday, the 26th. I was holding off on saying anything since Ms Agatha had asked who couldn't change to Friday. Also, had to laugh when i saw Misha's post, I thought she was referring to her right or left limb.

Kate, ha!

The arm doesn't know what the leg is up to...

thank you for the laugh. I needed it desperately! See you next week.

I'm tacking this on to the January group because I'm too lazy to start a February thread. We had a nice time at Mekong last night- my daughter Cleo joined us, we got to see Diane and Marlys again, and there were three other second time Oly Readers- Misha, Ruby, and Robin. Kate, Jackie, Raina, and myself were also there as per usual. Hope I didn't miss anyone. I'm adding everybody's suggestions to the Oly Reads shelf- again, if you want to see who talked about it and whether they liked it or not, click on "view" to the right of the book. We're going to shoot for Saturday, April 24th for our next meeting, and I'm going to look into Bamboo on 4th because Ruby sleuthed out that they have an upstairs room that's available for reservations. I'll also be sure to find out what time they close since we unintentionally closed Mekong down last night! Signing off til next time...

April 24th is the Procession - it might not be the best meeting date, unless it's someplace other than downtown.

Glad you all had a good time!

The Procession! I don't think we're going to want to meet that day anyway. Ms Agatha, I think we need to re-think this. What about the following weekend?

Oh god, you're right! We'll revisit the dates on here.

April 30th not work for anybody? It's so far away!

Friday the 30th works for me! Thanks for the heads up about Procession, Meghan!

Friday the 30th works for me but I think May 1 doesn't, so Friday yes, Saturday no.

Friday the 30th works for me, too.

Are bookgroup meetups still happening? I'd love to go to one soon!

Wow, I feel like I'm way too late for this party. Are some of you still meeting/discussing books?
Thanks, Jim

We do, Jim and Corrine! We've fallen down a bit on the pre-planning, but we'll try to get something a bit more organized together after the holidays. Thanks for the interest!

Your books have been discussed in this group, Jim!

anything planned for January 2012? Is it a specific book we read and discuss or discuss our favorite books?

We're working on booking a meeting for mid-January. TBA soon. We don't all read the same book. Instead, we all take turns highlighting exceptional books we've read since the last meeting, while eating and drinking. :) Hope to see you at the next meeting! Stay tuned!

Just in case anyone is reading this and not in the Oly Reads group...
We did go ahead and book an official OlyReads event for Monday, January 21st (also known as MLKJ Day, so hopefully most people are off work), at 4pm at Al Forno in Olympia. Check the Oly Reads events for more information and to RSVP. Hope to see many of you there!

Thanks for coming, everyone! We had 21 people and Al Forno was awesome about opening an hour early and letting us take over the restaurant for three hours! The books we talked about are now on the Oly Reads bookshelf. Let me know if there are corrections, etc.

Thanks for putting it together and facilitating so well, Raina!