This past Saturday, the discussion group reviewed the 2008 book The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell
. The reaction was strongly positive; it is a witty and entertaining, but at the same time highly educational, look at the Puritans who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony and then the splinter colony at Providence.

A video of the author discussing the audio version of the book is online at:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/GmHEvgUWjVM" width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]

…and her interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show is at:

The Daily Show: Author Sarah Vowell

It’s worth a look.

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

Our next fiction work will be The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
. I probably don’t have to say much about this best-seller except that those who have read it are eager to do so again, and those who (like me) have only seen the movie are also looking forward to it. Because of busy schedules around Thanksgiving, we will meet to discuss The Help on Saturday, December 17, at Panera’s at 9:30 AM.

– Steve G