sametimenextmonth: December Book Club 2019

Sunday, December 15, 2019

December Book Club 2019

This December meeting wraps up 2019 and brings us to our Blog #148 and Book # 212. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the year goes.

Our book this month, The Giver of Stars, has women friendships as one of its themes and Janie beautifully reminded us all of the privilege we have of being in each other's company for so long.

As I write the last blog of each year I am reminded of the "seeming coincidence" of typing a zip code into Oprah's website to see if one of her book clubs was forming in my area. That link led me to Diana and Barb and eventually to "the fun book club!" I often puzzle at the directions your life can take with random moments and decisions. Joining this book club was one of the best decisions I have made. My life has had a lot of twist and turns in the years since we met. I know my life would not have the light, the depth of emotion, the laughter and the magic it has if I had not pushed that button. Oh, I would made it through I'm sure but, my life has been made all the richer by knowing you all and sharing your journey.

But, before we talk about the book let us relive for a moment our warm and cozy welcome at Laura's. Per our Christmas Tradition, Laura hosted our Annual Christmas Tea. This year Laura had house guests her daughter and finance and their two dogs and two cats. The animals didn't seem to mind and, in fact, I think enjoyed lurking around looking for scraps.

Book club members went all out on finger foods and desserts. Laura provided tea and scones. Diana brought croissant chicken salad sandwiches. Lis brought sausage pinwheels and mini cheese sandwiches. Terry brought ham, Gouda and cranberry mini tarts, Carla G brought a cranberry and nut cheese log, Janie brought a coffee-chocolate cake, Barb brought deviled eggs, Pam brought a veggie tray. Tammy brought cake pops and cookies and there was wine and Apple Pie Moonshine and Arnora brought the beautiful flowers.

We saved our gift exchange for after our book club discussion and there were lots of fun, good tasting and good smelling gifts for all.

We missed, Leslie, Denise and Carla A and as always, Darby and Lou. Darby did a Face Time with Diana and I on the drive over and updated us on the goings on in Chicago. Diana, Liz, Arnora and Laura had visited Lou in Florida recently. Our long time connections are still going strong even if the distance is greater between some of us.

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes was a big hit scoring a 4.5. Of those attending the discussion only Terry had not quite finished. Arnora led the book discussion questions and we have a lively conversation.

The Giver of Stars follows the lives of 5 women living in rural Kentucky in 1937 who volunteer to become traveling librarians taking books to the rural families of their small community during the depression. Though the characters are fictional there was, in fact, a mobile program started by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Some of the themes addressed in the story are: Women and their gender roles in society socially as well as familial, women's equality, sexuality, domestic abuse, friendship, economics, big business vs. worker equality, racism and the importance of education.

That's quite a lot to pack into 592 pages. But, I thought the author did a seamless job of interweaving the themes through the lives of the women. Alice Wright meets Bennett Van Cleef and his father on their grand tour of England. They have an attraction and Bennett proposes. Alice is eager to leave her family life and intrigued to be moving to a city in Kentucky. Her husband is handsome and his father is the rich mine owner in town. Unfortunately, things go sour on the wedding night as Jeff Van Cleef is a an overbearing, domineering man who controls his son in every possible way and is oppressive to Alice. Jeff and Bennett have rather misled Alice. She finds that she is living in a rural community in Kentucky and not a genteel southern city. Alice, out of boredom, frustration and a need to assert herself against her father-in-law volunteers to deliver books. Gradually, she makes friends with Margery who, though she is a native of the community, in an outsider in her own way. When her father-in-law becomes violent, Alice takes refuge with Margery. Not only do we address the themes mentioned, but there is a Hatfield and McCoy type feud between Margery O'Hare's family and the McCulloughs who are hermits in the hills. When the drunken McCullough is found dead after a snow storm, a pregnant Margery is arrested.

The women rally around Margery, one of McCullough's daughters even testifies on her behalf assuring her acquittal. Alice finds a way to divorce her husband to be with a man who loves her. Margery marries the father of her baby and the other girl's lives are rather neatly tied up.

I thought the story was well told, and had plenty of suspenseful scenes that kept me coming back. The story of the traveling librarians was knew to me. We all agreed the book reflected issues that continue to be ongoing even today. In fact, Janie reminded us that Dolly Parton has a program of traveling book mobiles still taking books to people in rural communities.

The old saying still proves true, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

January book club will be our annual pajama party at Diana's and our book will be Erin Morganstern's The Starless Sea.

I've updated the 2020 meeting schedule.

1 comment:

Laura Madden said...: Thank you, dear Sherry, for being our official documentarian all these wonderful years! I often scroll back and re-read the blogs. your efforts and consistency is a gift and a blessing to us all!; December 26, 2019 at 7:29 AM

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

Sunday, December 15, 2019

December Book Club 2019

1 comment:

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