Rotary Club of Olympia
Virtual Happy Bucks
Thanks to everyone who responded to the request for book and media suggestions! Before we get to that, an announcement from President Colleen:
The Thurston County Food Bank is deemed an essential service to our community during this pandemic, and they are in desperate need of volunteers to bag up food for their FORKids program, the same program we helped them with last month. If you are healthy and able, I've set up four shifts to help out on Thursday, April 2 at the Thurston County Food Bank Warehouse at 2260 Mottman Rd SW, across from SPSCC. Can you give an hour or more of service to others in great need of food? We need no more than five people per shift to adhere to the social distancing requirements.
The shifts are:
- 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
- 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
- 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
- 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
There's a break in between shifts to allow for restocking of items. Young adults are welcome to join you! To sign up, please reply to this message, email me at colleen@sawstonwealth.com, or visit our Facebook page and note in the post about this opportunity which shift you'd like.
If you can't join us in person, I ask you to please consider making a donation of whatever you can to support the Food Bank. They are helping every feeding program in Thurston and Lewis counties, and they can buy food in bulk much faster and more economically. Here is a link to their website to contribute directly to them: https://thurstoncountyfoodbank.org/donating-money/
Happy Bucks
- Chuck Fowler - I missed the March 9 meeting, and my March 6th 82nd birthday Happy Bucks announcement, but here’s a photo of the octogenarian “Birthday Boy” celebrating with a shot of Irish Crème, in observance of both my big day and also our missed special St. Paddy’s Day meeting that Colleen had planned. However, knowing our fun and party-loving club and members, I’m sure that once we flatten our current health crisis curve, the celebrations and spirits will flow once again. Finally, my birthday year check for the Fred Balz Community Development Fund is in the mail – really!
Book/Media Club Recommendations
Wow! We received a lot of great recommendations! Thank you!
- Steve Bean - Books: “Guilty, Not Guilty” by Felix Francis or any book by Sheldon Siegel or Mike Lawson.
- Kalo Wilcox - For a good belly laugh go to YouTube to find Lucille Ball’s skit where she & Ethel are working the line in a chocolate factory. We laughed so hard we snorted!
- Geoff Crooks - Daniel Defoe’s “A Journal of the Plague Year.” It purports to be a first person account of living through the plague in London in 1665. Defoe wrote it in 1722, though, so it really qualifies as a very early example of historical fiction. Quite believable in its details, which sometimes have echoes in our current situation, though it was indescribably worse.
- Gloria Strait - I just finished Michael Lewis's book, “The 5th Risk" about the civil servants who work, often unseen and unappreciated, for the Federal Government. Excellent true interviews and profiles of very interesting people and agencies. Michael Lewis wrote "The Big Short" about the financial meltdown and the sub-prime mortgages causing the 2008 Great Recession. Also, if members have not read Bill Brower's book, "Red Notice," it is compelling and very much as true today as when it was written. Both Skip and I read it as if it were a novel and not the true story of his being targeted by the Russian Government.
- Nate Naismith –
- Any of the novels by William Kent Krueger or C.J. Box. Each of these writers has written an extensive series of crime/mystery novels based on one character. For Krueger it is Cork O’Connor, a sheriff in rural Minnesota. For Box it is Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden. I’d recommend you start at the beginning of each series for the greatest enjoyment.
- If you like high tech suspense, the Daniel Suarez books are very compelling.
- Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch crime novels are another great read (again, start from the beginning if possible) and there is also the “Bosch” series on Prime Video
- Judy Henderson –
- “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson (book and current movie), true story
- “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” (book and movie), true story
- “Code Girls” by Liza Mundy (book about WWII, movie in production)
- “Educated: A Memoir” by Tara Westover (book and true story on 60 Minutes)
- “The Overstory” by Richard Power, a powerful book to make you think
- “The Library Book” by Susan Orlean (true story about Los Angeles)
- “How the Post Office Created America” by Winnifred Gallagher
- Books and Movies Judy and Steve used to prepare for their Russia Friendship Exchange:
- HBO series: “Catherine the Great” starring Helen Mirren
- Netflix BBC: “Empire of the Tsars”: 3-part excellent series by Lucy Wolsey
- Netflix: “The Last Czar”
- “Gentleman in Moscow” book by Amor Towles
- “Catherine the Great” by Robert Massie (nonfiction)
- “Peter the Great” by Robert Massie (Pulitzer prize but we preferred “Catherine the Great”) nonfiction
- “Madonnas of Leningrad” novel by Debra Dean (about dementia and Washington State)
- Joe Scuderi – The following are notes from the last Book and Media Club meeting. We are going to try to do the next one on Zoom on April 14.
- Sam reported on “Where The Crawdad’s Sing” and Bill Bryson’s “The Body” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43582376-the-body and https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36809135-where-the-crawdads-sing
- Warren on “Inner Fish” and Rachel Maddow’s “Blowout” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1662160.Your_Inner_Fish and https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45897523-blowout
- Felix on Sinclair Lewis’s “Work of Art” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/761334.Work_Of_Art
- Bonnie on Fredrick Backman’s “Bear Town” (about hockey and male violence in Scandinavia). She also reported on “Bliss” (5th Avenue Theater) and “Emma” (the movie). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52292127-bear-town https://www.5thavenue.org/show/bliss and https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9214832/
- Larry on Brad Meltzer’s “The Plot To Kill Washington (The First Conspiracy)” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39863169-the-first-conspiracy
- Nancy reported on Olivia Hawker’s “One For The Blackbird, One For The Crow”… (Wyoming historic fiction) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41692854-one-for-the-blackbird-one-for-the-crow
- Suzy reported on car research (Honda Pilot vs. Kia Telluride)
- Connie on Rudolph Wurlitzer’s “Nog” (a counter culture novel set in 1968) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1237451.Nog
- Mark on the Forester’s “Hornblower” Series, the similar O’Brien series (Master & Commander), and “Young Theodore Roosevelt in the Badlands” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84748.Mr_Midshipman_Hornblower https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77430.Master_and_Commander and https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9580530-theodore-roosevelt-in-the-badlands
- Geoff on “When We Were Orphans” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28923.When_We_Were_Orphans
- Beth on “The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39665277-the-five-wishes-of-mr-murray-mcbride
- Susan and Pat both encouraged us to read our Rotary Magazines. Pat liked “Bound Together” from the Rotary Mag. Susan read Broken For You (notes attached) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/96702.Broken_for_You
- Pat also liked “Heart of a Woman” by Maya Angelou and “Before We Were Yours” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32148570-before-we-were-yours https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5160.The_Heart_of_a_Woman
- I did not take notes on who reported on “My Name Is Eva” by Suzanne Golding (apologies) (but notes are attached). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51848253-my-name-is-eva
- I did not report, but I did go see “The Highest Tide” at Harlequin. I recommend it (both the book and the play) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/94673.The_Highest_Tide http://events.seattlepi.com/event/the-highest-tide--u1u9skhhxe