The Page Turners Meet Again

The Page Turners took December off and returned from our winter hiatus tonight.  It was good to get back with the group.  Our newest member, (not sure about her blog name), picked the book and the restaurant.  Our book was, Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn.  This is a good pick.  I rated it a strong 4.  Everyone enjoyed this book. 
Gone Girl is a mystery filled twists and turns.  One might think they have it solved and and it goes in another direction.  Early on I felt arrogant thinking it was too easy.  I was wrong.  This is a story that makes one rethink good guy, bad guy.  Nick and Amy are a married couple.  Nick wakes up on their anniversary, goes downstairs and sees Amy cooking breakfast.  Nick goes to work and receives a call from his neighbor that the front door of his house is standing open.  Nick goes home to find the living room ransacked and Amy missing.  The book jumps from Nick describing the investigation and Amy's story being told through seven years of her journals. 
We had a great discussion.  It is always interesting to listen to each person's take  on events in the book.  Jersey Girl loves a twisted character.  The Old Lady wants a BIG ending, fireworks will do it for her.  I like my books to end all wrapped up with a nice bow.  We all bring it to the table for some great conversation. 
I also need to mention the restaurant.  It is called Sweet & Spicy Grill.  The menu was huge.  I had prime rib penne salad.  Delish!!  Even better than that was the Milky Way Latte.  Yummers!  Starbucks needs to add that to their menu.  Maybe, McDonald's would be more affordable.  I would like to go back to Sweet & Spicy Grill just for coffee and dessert.
I need to share the best work conversation of the night.  Our department is GROWING and GROWING.  Last week 15 new people came onto the floor in our area.  That is a lot.  I was talking about how I do not immediately start friending up to the new people. We had 20 new people join our department last Spring.  That is just in our area.  The two other areas have been adding people too.  It is over whelming!!  So I am done meeting new people and learning all their names.  It is too much.  Plus, you can warm up to a new person and later find out they are odd.  They might say, oh I don't know, have a dead dog's paw tattooed on their arm with name, date of birth and death.  Just as an example.  Soooo anyways, I like to sit back and wait.   Most of the time I like to eat lunch alone and read.  No need to meet everyone.  Our book club Newbie came in the first wave of people.  She said she felt a little awkward because she was new.  The Old Lady says, no not you.  You can in the first wave before it got bad. We used to live in a little town (small teams), now we live in a city.  There are all kinds of neighborhoods in the city.  Good places and bad places.  I added that we like going to the city for the museums.  Our Newbie is a pleasant museum.  There are others that a very loud, honking, traffic jams. I just made that part up.  The noise gets ridiculous!   We miss our little town.  Old Lady used to live on the same street as me.  Then she got moved a couple blocks away.  She would always come over and visit.  She would say she was going over to the "street" to chat.  It was nice.  Small town friendly.  Small town charm.  Those days are gone.  Now we are expected to stay on our own streets, in our own homes.  No traveling from neighborhood to neighborhood.  Blah!  It is an exhausting place to live. 
Let me end on something more positive.  I had a very tough time deciding on a book for next month.  The Old Lady wanted me to go with Glass Castle.  I toyed with that one for a bit.  I thought about The Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux.  It looks like a lame paperback but I love, love, love the story.  I almost threw that in at the last second.  Instead I picked..........drum roll...............A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick.  This is a favorite of mine.  Here is a bit of the description:

He placed a notice in a Chicago paper, an advertisement for a "reliable wife." She responded, saying that she was "a simple, honest woman."  She was, of course, anything but honest, and the only simple thing about her was her single-minded determination to marry this man and then kill him, slowly and carefully, leaving herself a wealthy widow.  What Catherine Land did not realize was that the enigmatic and lonely Rlaph Truitt had a plan of his own.

If you are looking for a book to take you out of your comfort zone, this is it.  It is described as, "A Real Page Turner."  What a coincidence.  That is exactly what we were looking to read!