Well, of all the things that I could have predicted for my future, Lou selling the her B & B and the new owners hiring me to manager it was not one of them. But, that is what happened and I came on board in July. So, in keeping with tradition, I hosted the book club at the Holmberg House. It was a gorgeous night and after dinner we held our discussion on the front porch. We were thankful that Lou was in town to join us but, sad that Terry, Barb, Darby and Carla G could not join us. Our love and prayers are with Carla as she takes care of her mom at this difficult time. 
This months menu was inspired by the fact that New Mexico Hatch green chili's are in season. I picked up some and Carla A roasted them. I found a simple Green Chili & Chicken casserole that turned out pretty good and Carla A made rice and beans. Denise brought a beautifully layered fruit salad, Janie brought a cornbread salad and Liz brought a Kale salad. Diana brought guacamole, Lou brought a delicious gluten free Mexican wedding cake, Arnora brought the chocolate and Pam provided the Sangria. We had 100% happy plates at the end of the meal. 
Our third book in our "series" of animal themed stories was H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald. This was not a novel but a memoir of a woman's journey through her grief at her fathers sudden passing. She is a professor and a falconer and chooses to train a Goshawk as a way to manage her grief. She parallels her personal story with that of T. H. White. He was also a professor, author and sometimes falconer. She is fascinated with his story, as well as the stories of other similarly like minds through history. Some of the group did not care much for the technical and historical details she provided. It made the story difficult to connect to emotionally. I read T. H. White's novel, The Once and Future King, in high school and it was one of my favorite books and I have very fond memories of my English teacher reading the book aloud to us everyday. However, his personal story is a lot more difficult to take and his treatment of hawks did not sit well with some. However, she is a beautiful writer and many of her descriptions were quite poetic. She takes us on the journey of grief through the shock, as her dad's passing was unexpected and sudden, to denial, anger, sadness and acceptance. At first, she isolates herself with the bird as her excuse. She is depressed and works at becoming invisible, not only to the hawk, but to the community around her. She isn't paying her bills, her job is in transition, she must move house. She is resentful of the demands made of her. But, as she works with the hawk she has many self-revelations and eventually she seeks the help of a doctor and resumes her life in the community. The story is layered and subtle and she talks about man and nature and our ill effects on it.
Denise's daughter is a falconer and she loaned Denise several of her bird "hoods" to show us. Denise found parts of the story difficult to take because some of the descriptions and the necessary obsessions of training a hawk were too familiar.
The book was generally well received and rated a 3.64. We all agreed that we had learned a lot from our reading of man and animal. Since next month will be Halloween, we've decided on a scary story by Keith Donahue, The Boy Who Drew Monsters.
