2023.02.27 Meeting Notes

Before I get started I want to remind everyone that we are meeting VIA ZOOM ON MARCH 27. The Zoom is below, and I will re-send it a few days before the meeting. I believe Cindy will be at the library zooming in, so worst case is you join her. She won’t be setting up the whole room zoom, but I bet she will let you sit next to her.
We welcomed several new members at the February meeting. And everyone gave me their email addresses, so we must have been on our best behavior. We welcomed Patricia, Laura, another Sharon, Jen and Michael. I have sent each of you a BookMovement invitation. If you don’t see it, please check your spam. It’s a site I use to send reminders and for everyone to put books on our list for the next vote.
Wow, what a discussion last month. Who knew Daisy Darker would create such a great discussion? Probably because we were so split on the scores, and it seemed that those who loved and hated it were equally passionate about their love/hate. If Alice Feeney only knew…..or maybe she does!
Whether you loved or hated the book, hopefully you enjoyed the lively discussion. And with 25 people in the room (and one on Zoom), lively might be downplaying it. I think it’s one of our largest meetings yet.
First to the scores. The book got five 10s, five 9s, three 8s, three 7s, two 6s, four 5s, two 4s, and one 3.
Those with the low scores were heard to say that the book was too much of a rip off of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, it was repetitive, it was slow, it was repetitive (heehee, see what I did there?), they didn’t buy Trixie’s involvement in the murders, they guessed Nana was involved, and it was sloggy. Several people thought the beginning was very slow. Others were sucked right in from page 1.
Those with the high scores loved the Devon/Cornwall location (Christina didn’t think it was Cornwally enough, though), loved the writing, loved the characters, loved the twist, didn’t guess anything and so were along for the ride. Melissa read it twice and she never does that. Cindy is very conservative with her scores of 10 and although she only gave this a 9, she considered giving it a 10. Allie recommended it to everyone she knows. I bought several copies and gave them to friends. Jose said it was one of the best books he’s ever read.
Jeff was disappointed that he figured out that Daisy was a ghost and Patricia was frustrated that she didn’t figure out whodunit. Amy was glad to see everyone die - we agreed that there were some deplorable characters in there.
We had fun going through all of the clues we missed that Daisy was a ghost, and boy were there a lot of them. We also talked about all of the great words of wisdom the author included, the one-liners that made us think. (Cindy sent us a list of her faves, see below for my list.)
I also found two things interesting about the discussion. 1) several people came in with one score and ended up raising it based on the discussion. We did a little experiment a few years ago where I had everyone give me their scores as they walked in the door and then we discussed the book and gave our scores again. We checked to see if anyone changed their score and it seemed that no one did. Everyone stayed true to their score. Maybe it was because that book wasn’t as lively a discussion, or maybe it was because we were all conscious of the fact that we were watching for it.
The second thing I found interesting was that many of the people who gave it a low score said that they thought the writing was great but they just didn’t like the story. 
We will be hosting a meeting of the 10 Club soon. Those who scored the book a 10 will see an invitation in their inbox. LOL, just kidding……or am I?
Need something to read? Someone recommended The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
See you all virtually on March 27 at 6:00 pm MST. We will discuss Stay Awake by Megan Goldin. I started it and it’s very different from her other novels.
=== DAISY DARKER QUOTES: ===
Families are like fingerprints. No two are the same and they tend to leave their mark. 
The lies we tell for love are lightest shade of white. 
Childhood is a race to find out who you really are before you become the person you are going to be. Not everybody wins. 
Some people drink to drown their sorrows, others drink, so they can swim in them. 
Families are like snowflakes, each and every one is unique. 
Doesn't everyone wonder who they might've been if they weren't who they were?
Sometimes people don't know they're in love until they're not. 
Taking the moral high ground can be an expensive route. 
Some marriages are held hostage by memories of happier times, others are imprisoned by the idea that parenthood can only be performed well in pairs. 
Nana: If you can't find your way back to happy, navigate to the place you know as less sad. 
You can get away with murder when everyone thinks you are dying. 
Life is a performance and we don't all like the scripts we're given. 
Sometimes we have to let go of what we had in order to hold onto what we've got. 
Nancy: We only really acknowledge the beauty or brilliance of someone or something when they die.
Secrets are like unpaid debts, they pileup and too much interest is best avoided. 
Unpleasant thoughts tend to outstay their welcome. Just like unpleasant people. 
When you know you can't make long-term plans, it's easy to let yourself make short term mistakes. 
Little girls who lose their fathers, spend their lives looking for them in every man they meet. 
Denial is often a down payment for future heartbreak.
Sometimes we love monsters without knowing that's what they are.
=== ZOOM FOR MARCH: ===
Kerry H. is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Crime & Beyond: Recurring Zoom
Time: Mar 27, 2023 06:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Every month on the Fourth Mon, until Dec 23, 2024, 22 occurrence(s)
Mar 27, 2023 06:00 PM
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