Are you currently a member of a book club? Chances are most of you understand what a book club does and perhaps have been a member of one or two over the years.
Recently, I was invited to my friend Barbara’s book club as a guest. Barbara came up with a creative idea and was taking her book club to a whole new level. She thought it would be unique and fun to try to connect personally with the author of this month’s book so she arranged a Skype “date” with the author, Leslie Maitland.
I felt very strongly that I needed to tell you about this “adventure” of mine because it was so out of the ordinary and something that will stay with me for a very long time. This book moved and enlightened me and I had no idea how much I did not know about WWII until I read it. Which is kind of embarrassing! She manages to weave history of the war and an extraordinary love story at the same time.
We read the book Crossing the Borders of Time: A True Story of War, Exile and Reclaimed Love by Leslie Maitland. Here is a brief explanation of the story:
” Investigative reporter Leslie Maitland grew up enthralled by her mother’s accounts of forbidden romance and harrowing flight from the Nazis. Her book is both a journalist’s vivid depiction of a world at war and a daughter’s pursuit of a haunting question: what had become of the handsome Frenchman whose picture her mother continued to treasure almost fifty years after they parted? It is a tale of memory that reporting made real and a story of undying love that crosses the borders of time.”
To sit face to face with the writer of this extraordinary book was truly a thrill for me. Typically, we would sit around the room and discuss a book… which is rather mundane compared to this experience! She was so gracious and very curious about what we thought about the book. Imagine that! Leslie gladly spends her time speaking about the book and she was open to any type of question from our group. She lives on the East Coast and spoke to us via Skype until nearly 11:30pm EST in the evening. That is dedication!
This is Barbara’s family room as we are skyping with Leslie on the big screen. How cool is that?
If you are interested in buying the book and possibly connecting with the author Leslie Maitland, you can go to her website LeslieMaitland.com. There are links right there that take you wherever you may want to buy it, be it Amazon (including the audiobook that she recorded), B&N, an Indie bookstore, or as an ebook purchase.If you and your book club choose to read it, you can contact her via email to set up your own Skype meeting.
LIFE is full of interesting possibilities, we need to grab them and SHARE them. As Empty Nesters we can enlighten and enhance the Empty Nests of many people by sharing what is happening in our world! I hope this inspires you to read the book, or at the very least pick up a new book to read.
Any stories you want to share? Please do! We are waiting!
Best to you!
Suzanne
The book sounds very interesting – I love anything to do with history. I would have never thought to try to contact the author through Skype. I did email an author once and had a short dialog with her. Thanks for the idea!
Val – I can’t tell you how much history I learned! It was a great way to learn about history and read an amazing love story as well. Thank you for stopping by!
Oh wow! That’s pretty cool that the author was willing to participate in your book club! Unfortunately, I’ve never been a part of a book club. I long for the day when I can get back to the joy of reading a book on a regular basis! Hopefully it will be sooner than later!
I’m visiting you from the SITS Comment Love event. Have a great week!
Tonya, life gets in the way sometimes and we can’t always get the time to read. Thank you for stopping by and for your comment. Have a great week!
oh, awesome! I read more than I do anything else, and yet, I’ve never been a part of a book club! I would love to do it, and having the author join in?!? How amazing is that! Thanks so much for letting me know about this book – looks great!
Hi Suzanne! I am in an IRL book club. Its so neat you were able to Skype with the author, I have thought about doing that but I don’t think jK Rowling would do that for us. We are currently reading through the Harry Potter series so our kids read the books and participate in the meetings too. Its fun, on a different level than when its all adults and serious fiction/non fiction.
This sounds like an interesting book. Its embarrassing how much I don’t know about World war 2 too! 🙂
I blog about books too so hope you will pay mea visit too. Stopping by from the SITS commentathon!
How neat to actually talk to the author during a book club. What a fabulous idea!
I’m part of an online book club but have never been a part of a local one.
Woah, that sounds amazing. I’ve never been part of a bookclub (only online), but I’d love to! 🙂
Hi there SITStah! What an exciting experience to have! I have never been a part of a book club, but have found the idea enticing. I’m not sure I would have thought about doing a skype meeting with the Author, but I’m sure there would be other Authors would be willing to so this as well. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for your comments SITSah! All authors are different, but this one was particularly interesting. The subject of the Holocaust is so sensitive and the book was written so poignantly.
Nope. I’m not a part of a book club but I would love to be. I didn’t do as much reading as I would have liked last year so I am more than making up for it this year. I’m already on my 3rd book and looking to expand my horizons in terms of the types of books I read.
I’ll definitely check out the book that you suggested. #SITS
Ask around your neighborhood, or some of your friends and just start a book club of your own. It can be a very simple thing to do and quite fulfilling. Thank you for checking out my website. What books have you read this year? I would love to know.
I just added this book to my Goodreads list – thanks for the review. How exciting that you got to meet with the author!
Hi Suzanne, I belong to a book club too in my Empty Nest years and it is so meaningful. We call ourselves the “Global Minds Book Club” because we are people from around the world reading books from around the world and discussing them in Istanbul. We are about three years old and this month we will have our first author visit live and in person as we discuss the book. I have written a couple posts on my book club but I will share this one because I think your club would love this book and it is about to be made into a movie: http://empty-nest-expat.blogspot.com.tr/2012/03/africa-day-global-minds-book-club.html
Hi Karen:
I can’t thank you enough for sharing your post about the African book. I would have never learned about it, without you! I love your Global Minds Book Club! What an incredible opportunity to share your ideas with people from around the world. I think that traveling as well as living in other parts of the world allows you to meet people and have experiences you never would have imagined. I will share your post and look forward to connecting again soon. Thanks again!
Visiting from SITS. I love reading books but have never joined a club. This book sounds great and I love the Skype idea!