February 2026 Sunriver Scene - Flipbook - Page 22
Sunriver Books announces February Book Club selections
By Deon Stonehouse
February is a great month for
reading. Darkness arrives early
in the evening, and there is a
definite chill outside, making
staying inside and reading a
good book in a comfortable
chair quite attractive.
Enjoy reading in the evenings, then attend a book club
meeting to join other readers
for a lively discussion.
Book clubs meet on Mondays via Zoom and in-person.
Email sunriverbooks@sunri
verbooks.com to register to
attend a discussion.
Mystery Book Club
The Mystery Book Club
members will discuss “The
Impossible Fortune” by Richard Osman at 6 p.m. Monday,
Feb. 2 via Zoom and at 4:30
p.m. Monday, Feb. 9 at the
bookstore in The Village at
Sunriver.
Elizabeth, Ron, Ibrahim
and Joyce are members of the
Thursday Murder Club at their
retirement village in England.
The latest excitement is the
wedding of Joyce's daughter.
Grieving the loss of her husband, Elizabeth reluctantly
attends Joanna’s wedding where
she is forced to smile and celebrate with her friends.
Joanna is a hotshot in the
world of finance, so the wedding is quite a shindig. Sitting
by herself at the reception for
a quiet moment, Elizabeth is
approached by Nick, a close
friend of the groom.
Nick confides to Elizabeth
that someone is trying to kill
him. He explains he found a
bomb under his car. He tells
Elizabeth he has heard about
her through a friend and would
she mind helping him discover
who wants him dead.
Like a warhorse hearing a
bugle, the old spy perks up her
ears, a gleam shines in her eyes,
and it is game on!
Discovering who wants to
murder Nick is one of several
problems the four friends need
to solve.
Ibrahim’s project of luring
Connie, the area’s foremost
drug dealer, onto the straight
and narrow has hit complications.
Ron’s children, Suzi and Jason, are trying to keep a secret
from him. They do not want
him to know Suzi has left her
husband, Danny Lloyd, who
is a dangerous criminal with a
violent tendency.
Jason is a former boxing
champion who has his own
contacts and can handle himself in a pinch. Suzi sends her
son to stay with her brother.
This causes Ron to become
suspicious of what’s happening.
He gets involved regardless
of his children’s best efforts
to keep their secret until the
danger is over.
What I like most about “The
Thursday Murder Club” series
is the portrayal of older people
as functional humans with
interests, friends, desires, and
most of all, skills. It isn’t like
they retired and lost their capabilities.
They had responsible jobs.
Elizabeth was a spy, and she
‘The Impossible Forture’ and ‘The Lion Women of Tehran’ are
the featured Book Club selections for February.
has maintained many useful
contacts.
Red Ron was a force in the
labor movement, and he still
has contacts with all sorts of
dodgy characters. Ibrahim was
a respected psychiatrist, and
Joyce was a nurse.
Combining their skill sets,
they are able to aid and occasionally out maneuver the
police because of their backgrounds and training, not
because the police are inept.
The police are competent, good
people, but they don’t have the
same contacts as a high-level
spy or the underworld connections of Red Ron. I also enjoy
the portrayal of an intelligent
younger cop being mentored
by a capable superior officer.
Humor, interesting plots and
great characters all make this a
mystery series to enjoy.
Please don’t judge this excellent series by the Netflix show.
Given a dream cast, some of the
best actors on the planet, and
an interesting story, the Netflix
production chose to abandon
much of the plot and make
the characters appear silly. The
comedy reflects the director’s
roots directing “Home Alone,”
instead of embracing the more
adult tone of shows like “Slow
Horses” on Apple TV based on
Mike Herron’s excellent series.
Fiction Book Club
The Fiction Book Club will
discuss “The Lion Women of
Tehran” by Marjan Kamali at
6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 16 via
Zoom and at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23 at the bookstore in
The Village at Sunriver.
“The Lion Women of Tehran” is a beautiful story about
the bravery and determination
of Iranian women. Starting
back in the days of the Shah,
when Ellie and Homa are
school children, the story progresses to current day when
the women of Tehran risk their
lives to protest their brutal
subjugation under the religious
zealotry of the government.
Homa is a larger-than-life
character, willing to sacrifice
much to change the cruel
treatment of women in a patriarchal society. Her family is
not wealthy, but they are rich
in kindness and caring. Homa’s
father is proud of his daughter’s
ambition to be a lawyer and
then someday a judge, to be
someone who fights for the
rights of the people. She studies
hard, excelling in school.
Ellie is from a wealthy family,
but their fortunes change when
her father dies, forcing mother
and daughter to move to the
poorer part of Tehran. Her
mother, proud of her ancestry,
views working as beneath her
station and takes this reversal
hard. Homa befriends Ellie,
giving her a safe haven within
her family’s embrace.
Ellie spends much of her
time with Homa, either at
school or with Homa’s family.
Ellie’s ambitions are to marry
a good man and have a family of her own. Ellie’s family
fortunes change again when
her mother remarries, a gentle
man who believes in educating
women. Once again Ellie and
her mother live in the wealthier
parts of town, with servants and
money to spend. Ellie goes to
a prestigious school and loses
touch with Homa.
The girls are reunited as
Homa grows into a brave
Turn to Books, page 25
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FEBRUARY 2026 SUNRIVER SCENE
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