sametimenextmonth: October Book Club 2018

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

October Book Club 2018

Guest Blogger's and Book Review by Diana Beal and Lis Berry.

I was the host for October's book club. We missed Janie, who is still on the mend at home. Laura, Lou and Leslie were all involved in weekend football games. Denise is lying on a beach in Hawaii. And, Dean Darby is having a fun weekend celebrating her new promotion to Dean of Instruction. We all send our congratulations and look forward to celebrating in person some time soon!

Thanks to all her bringing the deliciousness to our meal. I provided the baked potatoes and meat toppings. Lis brought Brie and crackers and Pam brought homemade chicken and pork tamales. Tammy brought her bacon wrapped, cream cheese stuffed jalepenos and her Hello Dolly bars. Arnora brought the gorgeous bouquet of flowers that I will enjoy for at least a week.

Our book this month was The Immortalists. It is the story of the four Gold siblings, growing up in 1969's lower east side NYC. It takes the reader, or listener, on an epic saga. the siblings are told, by a fortune teller, the exact date of their death. This information changes the course of their individual lives. But, does it change their lives for the better or worse? Several of us connected with the golden- boy Simon the most. He is the first to die and just in his early 20's. When his father dies he decides he doesn't want to remain working in the family business and taking care of his elderly mother. His sister, Klara, talks him into going to San Francisco with her to see what their lives can be like out from under the shadow of the family business and religion. I could go on and on about Klara, Daniel, Varya and Simon. I will just say that Chloe Benjamin's writing made for a memorable story. I couldn't stop thinking about the characters and story after the book ended.

The book rated a 3.78. Sherrie, Barb and Pam didn't read, or finish the book. Just not the one for them this time.

Nov 2: Lis will host and our book is "Erotic Stories for Punjabi Women" by Balli Kaur Jaswai.
Dec 7: Laure will host and our book will be "Dirty Chick: Adventures of an Unlikely Farmer" by Antonia Murphy.
Jan 4: Tammy will host. January's book is recommended by Lily and is "The War That Saved My Life," by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

Sherrie mentioned that she'd like to do a Christmas project like the ones Darby used to do for us. This time, let's submit either the first novel remember reading, the most influential novel we remember from childhood or, if you didn't read much then... another novel with a brief description of how it impacted you.

Book Review by Lis Berry:

The book revolves around four siblings, two brothers and two sisters, and how they live their lives and the choices they make. As children, they see a fortune teller because the elder brother had heard that she could predict the day of your death. The elder sister, Varya, lives carefully and by reasons. She is a scientist and believes that she can discover how people can extend their lives. Curiously, she is the one that has been given the longest life prediction by the fortune teller. The 2nd brother, Daniel, and the one who talked the others into seeing the fortune teller, has been given a death around age 50 but, doesn't concern himself with it until memories are brought back into his life. The 3rd sister, Klara, always fascinated by magic, becomes an illusionist by trade. She is given a 30-year life span. The youngest brother, Simon, is given the shortest life span of 20 years. He lives his life without care or caution and tries to enjoy his few years to the fullest.

Curiously, the younger three die on the predicted day. Varya brings together the story with her realization that she has a son that she gave up to follow her goal of finding a pass to long life. As he comes back into her life when he is 26, he makes her realize that maybe she hasn't really lived at all.

To me, this book was less about the fear of knowing what day you die might loom over you and more about living life to the fullest, no matter the length. I felt that Simon lived more in his 21 years than Varya did in her cautious, very predictable and strategic life of 80 years. The story of Frieda, the test monkey that Varya nurtured from a baby to an adult, embodied this when the monkey finally seemed to fall into deep depression and didn't know how to pull itself out of it even when Varya tried to offer her enjoyable food and pleasure. Frieda didn't have either the physical or mental ability to deal with the sudden change. This seemed to be a turning point for Varya. She had a realization that that we cannot cheat death and by desperately trying to avoid painful feelings we may also deprive ourselves of pleasure. The book weaves a curious connection to a policeman that is fascinated by Klara and unintentionally leads Daniel to the fortune teller. Daniel seemed to have lived a fairly average life until he was forced to revisit memories through the policeman's questioning and information about the fortune teller. This reintroduction leads Daniel to try and redeem guilt feelings that he had pushed out of his mind by confronting her and the prediction of their death dates.

Some of us felt that all four siblings could have benefited from a long and deep regiment of therapy!

No comments:

2015 Hosts and Books

Jan 9 - Pam Boeck - All the Light We Cannot See
Feb 6 - Lou Christian - Alif the Unseen
March 6 - Terry Cummings - Kind of Kin
April 3 - Janie Tisdale - The Girl on the Train
May 1 - Arnora Parish - The Stolen Child
Jun 5 - Barb Barrow - The Elephant Whisperer
July 10 - Diana Beal - Lone Wolf
Aug 7 - Denise McGough - The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Sept 11 - Sherrie Phillips - H is for Hawk
Oct 2 - Arnora Parish - The Boy Who Drew Monsters
Nov 6 - Sherrie Phillips
Dec - Laura Madden - A Child's Christmas in Wales & Christmas Day in the Morning

The Honey Tree - Mary Oliver

And so at last I climbed

the honey tree, ate

chunks of pure light, ate

the bodies of bees that could not

get out of my way, ate

the dark hair of the leaves,

the rippling bark,

the heartwood. Such

frenzy! But joy does that,

I'm told, in the beginning.

Later, maybe,

I'll come here only

sometimes and with a

middling hunger. But now

I climb like a snake

I clamber like a bear to

the nuzzling place, to the light

salvaged by the thighs

of bees and racked up

in the body of the tree.

Oh, anyone can see

how I love myself at last!

how I love the world! climbing

by day or night

in the wind, in the leaves, kneeling

at the secret rip, the cords

of my body stretching

and singing in the

heaven of appetite.

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Lis and Diana's Review of Isaac's Storm

Lis said: This book centers around the devastating hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas, in 1901 and is blamed for the death of over 4500 people. Although the story wasn't a page-turner for most, it was full of interesting historical and scientific data while building up to describing accounts of the devastation and aftermath that the storm created. In my opinion, it is debatable whether the book should be considered a true fiction or a non-fiction. Hand in hand with the storm description, the book tells about the creation of the National Weather Service and the struggle that the organization went through to earn the people's trust. When looking back over the disaster, the author identifies areas of misuse and false pride - in the bureaucratic sector as well as the people's personal lives - that, if it had been overcome, might have averted some of the lost lives. Building up to the storm, the author touches on many historical facts surrounding the era, such as the state of Arkansas passing legislation a few decades earlier to legalize the proper pronunciation of its name to be "Arkansaw." Into this background, the author creates the characters that he was able to find in his research that made up the early Weather Service and some of the residence of Galveston, their spouses and children, making us shiver with dread over successful and unsuccessful rescue efforts. After bringing to life the unimaginable aftermath, with whole neighborhoods destroyed and bodies at every step, the book concludes with Galveston's recovery and a large chapter of Acknowledgements for the extensive support and research that the author relied on. I for one enjoyed the book immensely and, after the first third, found it difficult to put down till the end. Elisabeth Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine. I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

Diana said: The old saying, "hind sight is 20/20" comes to mind while reading the hurricane account of Galveston, Texas in 1901. Author Eric Larson's story reminded me of his first book we read, Devil in the White City, as he combined historical facts and real people while piecing together a plausible tale of personalities and lives. I have huge respect for writing historical fiction, as the writer not only has to devise an interesting story but also works as an investigator and researcher in the process. The first third of the story was slow and at times I found myself skimming the pages waiting for action. I think this may have been purposeful by Larson. As a reader I was going about my daily business and uninvolved like the townspeople of Galveston noting the changing winds and heading off to work. I took occasional notice of Isaac's trip to the American west by stage and his appearance as a "dandy", the use of telegraph as the primary form of communication from on location to another and it was surprising to find out the American and Cuban weather men held so little regard for each other. Americans found the Cuban forecasters primitive, romantic and unreliable. But once the hurricane was upon Galveston, I was spellbound for the remainder of the book. With the exception of once when I had to put the story down due to the brutal descriptions of decaying bodies which I found overwhelming. For me the story telling mimicked the event itself. Galveston and the rest of the U.S. were going along with business as usual, and then wham! A hurricane the magnitude no one expected or had experienced before bursts forth with action and drama and left no one untouched including me.

Lis' review of A Thousand Splendid Suns

The story playing in Afghanistan made it another compelling read and a walk through a different culture, very foreign to most of us. I had the fortune to have also read the book The Kite Runner by the same author and found that the two stories make great companion books, almost a must-read duo. Our month's selection takes us into the Arabic culture through the life of two women, one of them a servant girl's bastard child - and yes, I used the old fashioned term for illegitimate child on purpose to stay with the tone of the novel. The other woman is depicted as a well-educated, emancipated young woman from a progressive, westernized family. Through the turmoils surrounding Afghanistan's recent 30-year history, their lives intertwine with the same abusive husband and their attempt to deal with the changes brought on by the Russian occupation, the takeover of the Mujahedin and, eventually, the Taliban. The companion book, The Kite Runner, deals with the same political and social upheavals in Afghanistan but is told through the life of a man and his very devoted male servant. A Thousand Splendid Suns evoked a lot of emotion for most of us, feeling comfortable as well educated American women that have rights and can expect a certain social standing that greatly exceeds the animal-like treatment of our female Afghan counterparts under Taliban rule. Needless to say, we had a lively discussion about Afghanistan's troubles, the interactions of both women's parents' influences, their different upbringing, and how it made them relate to each other. We found similarities to the book Shanturam in this author's use of the cinema, especially Bollywood movies. One thing we did not discuss though that I found enticing, was the advantages of being able to skip hair and make-up treatments through the use of a Burka! Blue was, after all, the favored color of my youth, although I always preferred much darker shades. What do you think, ladies, Burkas in our future?

sametimenextmonth

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

October Book Club 2018

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