The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, November 21, 2019, at the Merriam Park library in St. Paul. In attendance were Francis, Tashina, Margaret, Jim and me. This month's book was "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller.
The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, October 17, 2019, at the St. Anthony Park library in St. Paul. In attendance were Azad, Tom, Al, Andrea, Joe and me. For snacks, Azad provided date cookies and Andrea provided dates. The book for this month was "Nowhere a Story of Exile" by Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte.
We all were of the opinion that it was a very worthwhile book to read. Azad was very impressed that the author was able to turn her diary pages, which were written when she was about 11 to 13 years old, into such a powerful account of her experiences.
The ACOM Book Club met on September 19, 2019, at the Merriam Park library in St. Paul. In attendance were Tom, Peter, Azad and me.
One reason for the low attendance might be the book selection for the month: "The Making of Nagorno-Karabagh: From Secession to Republic" edited by Levon Chorbajian. While it is definitely a worthwhile book and contains a lot of information on an area that none of our other books has covered, it was very difficult to obtain copies of. Neither the Ramsey County nor Hennepin County libraries have copies. Three Minnesota university libraries have copies, but they are a bit more difficult to get (but that's how I got a copy to read). Copies are available from Amazon or some used book stores, but are quite expensive (more than $60.) Because of this, only Azad and I had read the book.
The ACOM Book Club met on June 20, 2019, at the St. Anthony Park library in St. Paul. In attendance this month were Tom, Lowell, Andrea, Azad and me, a reasonably sized group for June.
Nibbles this month were ... nothing? Well, meeting in the library tends to suppress the red wine and chocolates tendency. Although, nobody ever checks on us. Maybe in September ?
The book for this month was by Lou Ureneck, alternately titled "The Great Fire" and "Smyrna 1922". (Honestly, the soft cover and hardcover editions have different titles but the identical contents.)
The five of us all agreed that we really thought that it was a very good book. The author wrote with a style that drew us in and made us want to continue reading, even though the content was, in many cases, making us absolutely sick to our stomachs.
The ACOM Book Club met on May 16, 2019, at the St. Anthony Park library in St. Paul. In attendance this month were Francis, Jim, Margaret, Azad, Joe, Peter, Andrea and me (a nice, large group). Nibbles this month included date filled pastries from Azad, fruit coated walnuts from Margaret (Sujuk? Rijok? Western Armenian? Eastern Armenian? Who knows, I'm Swedish!!!), and a mix of almonds & raisins from Andrea.
This month's book was "Three Kisses of the Cobra" by Z. T. Balian. Everyone seemed to like the book to different degrees and in different ways. Many of us had objections to different areas of the book, too.
The ACOM Book Club met on March 21, 2019, at the St. Anthony Park library in St. Paul. We had a nice sized group meeting this month. In attendance were Azad & Karen, Tashina, Al, Francis, Peter, Tom & me. The book for this month was Chris Bohjalien's "The Light in the Ruins". If you're searching for the connection with Armenia in this book, it's simply the racial identity of the author.
The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, January 17th, 2019, at Francis Bulbulian's house. In attendance this month were Francis, Azad, Jim & Margaret, Tashina and me. Francis provided drinks and munchies, Azad brought some nice brownies.
The book for this month was "Not a Creature Was Stirring" by Jane Haddam, a murder mystery in which the primary character is Gregor Demarkian, a retired FBI agent.
The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, November 15, 2018, at Francis Bulbulian's house. In attendance this month were Francis, Azad, Peter, Kassian (Natasha) and me. The book under discussion was
"Archeology of Madness: Komitas, Portrait of an Armenian Icon" by Rita Soulahian Kuyumjian.
The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, October 18, 2018, at Leroy Erickson's house. It was a small group this month with only Francis, Azad and Leroy in attendance. We shared an apple pie, fresh apples and pistachios.
The book for this month was "Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work" by Hayden Herrera.
The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, June 21, 2018 at Judy Ohanessian's house. Judy provided pita bread and hummus, a salad and a nice dessert, along with red and white wine.
Attendees this month were Tashina, Judy, Andrea, Francis, Al, Joe and me. The book for this month was "Mayrig" by Henri Verneuil
The question was asked as to why Henri Verneuil changed his name from the Armenian one, Ashot Malakian. Nobody had a ready answer.
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The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, May 17, 2018, at Leroy Erickson's house. Attendance this month was sparse with only Al, Judy, Francis and Leroy attending. The book for the month was "Hummus and Homicide" by Tina Kashian.
A special treat for the month was a hummus bar and crackers provided by Judy. She made four types of hummus - sun dried tomato, roasted garlic, spinach & lemon and traditional with cumin. I added red and white wines and some honeycrisp apples to complete our snacks.
The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, March 15, 2018, at Francis Bulbulian's house. Attendees this month were Azad, Karen, Joe, Judy, Francis, Natasha, Andrea, Dana and me. Unfortunately, Barb wasn't feeling well so she didn't sit in with us. This month's book was "The Spice Box Letters" by Eve Makis.
The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, February 22, 2018, at Joe Tashjian's house. Attending the meeting were Natasha, Barb, Tom, Fran, Dana, Joe, Al, Francis, Cynthia and Leroy. Andrea joined the group by way of a phone call. Our book for this month was "Silences: My Mother's Will To Survive" by Alice Agnes Tashjian, the mother of Joe and Fran.
Joe and Fran mentioned that their brother Ed wrote the preface to the book.
The ACOM Book Club held its first meeting of the new year on Thursday, January 18, 2018, at the home of club member Tom and his wife Jennifer. We had a large gathering this month with 12 members and/or visitors in attendance: Tom, Jennifer, Mark, Caren, Leroy, Cynthia, Andrea, Azad, Karen, Kristi, Tashina, Joan, and, not to be left out, Maggie. There were many treats to eat and good wine to drink.
The book for this month was "An Armenian Odyssey: From the Euphrates to the Mississippi" by Mark and Thomas Keljik. This "book" is actually an offprint of one chapter from the "Modern Greek Studies Yearbook", Volume 32/33 for 2016/2017, which is a publication of the University of Minnesota. The chapter is a short biography of the life of their grandfather, Bedros Keljik. Mark and Tom provided printed copies of the chapter for everyone to read. There has been enough demand for it that they had to make a second printing!