March Book Club 2014

Looking In....

March Book Club apparently snuck up on several of us. I, for one, thought I had another week to read the book and I so I didn't get it done this month. Darby, Barb, Lou, Denise, Carla G, and Janie could not be with us and we missed them! Diana welcomed us with a glowing fire, grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato basil soup and apple pie. I actually brought bacon wrapped, cream cheese filled Jalapenos and they were so good I will be doing that again (compliments of IGA, I just put them in the oven.) Carla brought chicken noodle soup, Terry brought a lemon/pineapple upside down cake, Pam and Lis brought chocolates. Some good wines, coffee and tea complemented the meal.

Our book this month was The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and it sparked quite a conversation. Everyone agreed that the book was too long. But there was some disagreement with the parts that should have been cut. Even a review I read by Stephen King agreed it should have been better edited in that respect. With that, the book was fairly well received. It rated a 3.25 with one "I liked it" and one "I liked it okay".

Everyone seemed to have the same problems with the book. The first part of the book deals with the protagonist, Theo, dealing the sudden and accidental death of his mother in an explosion when he is about 13. He gets taken in by the family of a school friend. The father,who abandoned the family several years earlier, shows up later. A good deal of the book is about adolescent drug use. And most everyone felt that dragged on too long. Diana didn't enjoy so much of Theo's internal dialogue.

There was some discussion as to whether Theo could be counted on as a reliable narrative. Theo had post traumatic stress and bouts of amnesia because of drug use. And everyone agreed he had attachment disorder. Laura felt this made him unreliable. However, I offered that everyone has blind spots in their life and I don't think anyone is really a completely reliable narrator of their own life. "Perspective" was a word that came up quite a bit in the discussion as a theme as did "addictions". Most of the characters in the story had addictions of some kind.


I can say for myself, that it's usually easy for me to tell if an author is emotionally connected to their characters or not. And, if an author is writing about someone who is emotionally disconnected from their own life, it can be hard to connect to the story.

Laura said that some of the prose was philosophical and literary genius. But the story just wrung everyone out.  The group agreed the book had elements of The Girl with the Pearl Earring, Great Expectations, The Outsiders, The DaVinci Code and The Great Gatsby.

Diana felt that one of the messages of he book was that "life is survival".  Her list of survivors included; Theo, Pippa, Hobe, Popchick and The Goldfinch. The painting itself is the first survivor in the story since it is one of the few surviving paintings from 1645. Several people mentioned that they just kept waiting for things to get better for Theo. However, one of the paragraphs toward the end of the book that Laura read did leave a little room for hope at the end of the story.

After listening to the discussion it seems to me that this was intended as an epic story of one boy's life that was literally ignited with the explosion in the museum and the after math. It seems to have had its moments of genius but fell a little short of emotional connection for most.

Happy Valentine's Day - February Book Club 2014

And, we're off and running! Two months into a cold and snowy 2014 already. It was so nice to arrive at Janie's home with warm and glowing fire to greet us. Arnora further brightened up the evening with her red tulips! And, the warmth continued as we gathered for mashed potato martini's, sliced brisket and smoked turkey, Irish Soda Bread, two salads and Lis' delicious pineapple

sponge cake; her mother's recipe.

We were a small group this time as Pam, Lou, Laura, Terry, Darby and Carla G could not join us. We were sad that they missed out on our discussion of Malindy's Freedom. Our guest speaker, Metra Johnson, and Janie's friend and co-worker joined us. Janie knew about the book from Metra as her great-grandmother, Mildred Johnson and her aunt, Theresa Delsoin,  wrote the book about their ancestor. It was Malindy's life long wish that her life of slavery and overcoming it be remembered and told.

The story takes place between 1820 and 1865. Malinda is a freeborn Cherokee who is stolen from her family on a trip through Missouri. She is taken in by a white family but given over to the "Mammy" of the plantation to raise and lives most of her life thereafter in slavery. She eventually marries a free black man, has 5 children and works her whole like to keep heart and soul and her family together. Malindy's daughter, Ellen pays particular attention and wants the story told as much as her mother. She passes down the oral tradition and later Mildred and Theresa use census records and other sources to document the experiences they were told bringing the story to life in Malindy's Freedom.

The highlight of our evening was being able to speak to Theresa Delsoin by phone. We sat rapt and enthralled as she expanded on the story and her personal journey of writing the book. She and Mildred worked together at a distance to write the book then persevered to get it published and have it accepted into the Missouri Historical Society.

Perhaps one of the most remarkable parts of the story is that Mildred had worked as a domestic all her life for the Symington family. In the end, descendants of that family, Stuart Symington and Anne Symington edited the book.  Theresa spent many long conversations with Stuart Symington as they wrote and edited. Stuart was dealing with a deep guilt and shame about slavery and his families part. Theresa was dealing with long held anger. As they worked on the book, they worked through their emotional wounds and came to a place of love, forgiveness, and healing. In fact, one of the main themes in the book is Malindy's perseverance in believing that freedom would come and that if she didn't forgive when it did, she'd continue to be imprisoned by her own emotions.

Theresa brought us to tears and applause with her passionate plea. For much has been accomplished but there is still much work to do. Her words and her emotion brought to mind Martin Luther King, Jr.  We are all one, and we must continue these conversations so that we we see our similarities and not our differences. And we are all part of that conversation.

Theresa is a remarkable woman who has led a remarkable life. And she has written a second book with Christopher Desloge called: From Etc; An Amazing Conversation Between a Descendant of a Slave Owner and a Slave. Christopher reached out to Theresa through Stuart Symington. They had a seven month conversation that is now this book. She is turning this text into a play.  She also recommended that we read a book called Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the World by David Davis.

I for one, was very honored to have been in that room last night.  And as I write this post about slavery that takes place in Missouri, I looked up to see my Pandora playing a cool jazz number "Two for the Road" on an album titled "Missouri Sky". The musicians are Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny - both from Missouri. AND the album was released in February of 1997.  I will close with that perfect bit of synchronicity.

Diana will host our March book club and our book is The Goldfinch.

New Year - January 2014 Book Club

Happy New Year 2014. We had our annual Pajama Party at Darby's. And, it was a great night. We missed Janie, Barb and Lis. The rest of us donned our pj's, bathrobes and fuzzy slippers for a relaxed evening with a Mimosa or Mexican Hot Chocolate. As you can see from the photos, we enjoyed an evening Brunch of egg & sausage casserole, cinnamon french toast, cheese, fruits, banana nut waffles and a scrummy pineapple dessert.

We kicked off 2014 with Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. This book is considered Young Adult and a 75% autobiographical novel (the authors estimate). Arnold Spirit, Jr. is a 13 year old living on an Indian Reservation in the mid 1990's and told from his first person perspective. As Lou said, this book gave us insight into a life and lifestyle that we would not normally have had. Darby offered us a quote from her boyfriend, Nate, "Having been a 13 year old boy, this was the most authentic representation of that time in life." I may have paraphrased that a bit. Arnold, the the author, was born with too much fluid on his brain resulting in life threatening surgeries that should have left him brain damaged. However, the most damage that seemed to result was that his head was little larger than normal. Arnold is a kid with great "spirit" indeed, as his last name implies. He is resilient to the core and doesn't let family dysfunctions and tragedies do him in. He stands up to bullies, eventually making them his friends. The pivotal moment in the book is when he realizes that he is studying from the same text book that his mother had used 30 years ago. In a fit of anger, he throws the book at t his teacher. But, rather than be angry with Arnold, his teacher understands. His teacher apologizes for all the way in which he as harmed the Indians on the "res" and tells Arnold he must get of it in order to live any kind of life. The best that Arnold can do at the time is to ask his parents to take him off the reservation to the mostly white school in Rearden. To his surprise, his parents support his decision and Arnold's future is forever altered.

The book is funny and poignant. It is hard to watch one so young suffer so much loss. But, the book is also infused with humor and hope. Arnold is a very endearing character and wise beyond his years. He never gives up but he also knows when to step back and let nature take its course. As it does with his friend Rowdy. Rowdy, is angry and feels abandoned that Arnold is leaving the "res" for another school. He punished Arnold by withdrawing from the friendship. But, rather than let that hold him back, Arnold lets Rowdy take his time to process and move through his feelings. In the end, the friendship resolves.

Arnold also seems to be able to step back and look at his parents with wise observation. He sees their flaws and dysfunctions but he seems to intuitively know that he can't change them. And flawed as they are, he can love them for what they do offer him. And they do offer him love and support. They want him to have better, be better and they do make sacrifices to get him to the school in Rearden.

We didn't really touch on the fact that we still have Indian Reservations in this country.  There are 310 still in the U.S. Arnold calls them death camps, where they interred Indians and waited for them to die out as part of an "ethnic cleansing." Lou, was correct that we don't technically have reservations anymore in Oklahoma. Before statehood,  the entire Oklahoma Territory was a reservation divided up by mostly the 5 civilized tribes that were moved here in the 1830's; the end of the Trail of Tears. Before statehood, however, they were renamed as Oklahoma Statistical  Areas or given Tribal Jurisdiction. Some were event sold to non-tribal members. The difference being now that they though they still live on the "reservation "lands they are allowed to govern themselves.

Arnold's "diary" is a brief one covering the first year he went to Rearden High School. But it touches on adolescent themes of; coming of age, sexuality, disenfranchisement, Indian History, alcoholism, poverty, friendship, family dysfunctions, death, love, resilience and hope.

It packs more of a "punch" (pun intended) than one would gather from a first glance and rated a 4.2



                                                   

  

December 2013 Christmas Book Club

December Book Club found us all, plus one, at Laura's on Sunday afternoon, December 15. Denise's friend, Karen, was visiting from the Phoenix area. It is truly, "One Amazing Thing" when we are all able to be at the same place at the same time. I believe Christmas 2010 was the last Christmas Book Club where we were all together.

Laura has now been in her new home just over a year and this is the 2nd time she has hosted book club. We were greeted by her beautiful Christmas decor, lighted taper candles on the table and the smells of some really great food! Laura provided us a main course of two fish; Salmon and Tilapia. There were two salads, Spanakopita, sweet potatoes, bread, potatoes au gratin, and a butternut squash and mushroom lasagna and Darby's baked fudge.

After dinner but before book discussion we exchanged our cards and gifts.Notable among our gift this year Carla Gibbs designed a Shelfari page just for book club. It includes all 142 books we've read and their ratings. It was suggested that we also place books here for future consideration. Everyone has access to the Shelfari page through Carla's log on and password. If you lose or forget it, contact Carla or me.

This month's book was "A Tale for the Time Being" by Ruth Ozeki. Here, I am going to post the description from the website. About half of the group was able to finish the book. And, while there was discussion, those that read it didn't want to ruin it for those who hadn't so they avoided talking certain specifics and the end. I will update this discussion in a month or so. Those that read it, with one exception, loved it! Diana enjoyed parts of it, but found other parts too painful and overall it wasn't her favorite. So far, for those who read the book, it rated 4.1.

A Tale for the Time Being

“A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be…”

Spanning the planet from Tokyo’s Electric Town to Desolation Sound, British Columbia, and connected by the great Pacific gyres, A Tale for the Time Being tells the story of a diary washed ashore inside a Hello Kitty lunchbox and the profound effect it has on the woman who discovers it.

November 2013 Thanksgiving Book Club

This Thanksgiving had about half the group traveling elsewhere. Missing were

 Darby Johnsen, Carla Bachus Anderson, Sherrie Phillips, Barb Burk Barrow, and Janie Hudgins Tisdale. But those who were able to make it had a wonderful time, new home blessing, birthday and book club night at Pam and Dave's new home. Fortunately, no one had to learn new directions. Just went to the old house and looked across the street! 

Because I was one of the "travelers", this blog will be shorter than normal.  I have stolen Diana's notes from our Book Club Facebook Page.  

"One Amazing Thing" was well liked rating 3.78, and while many of us wished the author had given us a real ending, others in our group were fine with the ending, preferring to image that Uma and the others survived to live more stories. After reflecting on our discussion, I do think the author's ending was appropriate; it is possible the characters didn't survive and to close with that outcome would have been very sad. The author instead gives the reader the option to image either a fateful event albeit with reconciling relationships, or a promise of reconciliation with more to come.

December we meet at Laura's home and it is hoped that we can allow another change, meeting Sunday, the 15th at 5 p.m. instead of Saturday. The Blanchard football team is having a great season, and our hostess may have conflicts with Saturday but won't know until closer to the date. Please like if Sunday will work for you. We actually met last December on a Sunday and it was a good time for most as long as we knew in advance.

Enjoy the photos from book club. Sure hope we can all be together in December. 

October Book Club 2013

October finds us celebrating book club and gorgeous fall weather at Carla Gibbs' home. The house is decked out in fall colors and we're ready for Halloween. The food was perfect for this time of year. Carla made two variations on chili: a vegetarian and chicken & navy bean. Side dishes were a salad and baked potato. Cheesecake along with a chocolate and Bundt cake rounded out the meal with our usual assortments of wines, tea and coffee. The atmosphere and was warm and cozy and the food was of the comfort variety.

In attempting to keep with a Halloween theme and also tagging off of last months book, we picked Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. In last months book, our heroine was reading an Agatha Christie novel  and spent time at the Club 21 in NYC.  Carla G discovered that, coincidentally, Club 21 is owned by a company called Orient Express. So it seemed meant to be. Agatha Christie is a prolific and well known  writer of murder mysteries. She published books between 1920 and 1976, the year she died. In biographical material I found she has sold 4 billion copies of her books and is 3rd in popularity only to Shakespeare and the Bible (in that order).

The book sparked quite a lively conversation in spite of the fact that most of us felt it was formulaic and lackluster. It rated a 3.3. For one thing, this particular book was published in 1936 and technology has come a long way since then. Most people are filled with sophisticated detective processes thanks to shows like NCIS and Law and Order, just to name a few. In Ms. Christie's books her detectives rely on more simple methods of deduction. And, trapped on the train, our intrepid detective, Hercule Poirot, does not have even the simplest of methods at his disposal. He is relying solely upon his keen methods of observation and his interrogation skills. I found Hercule quite comical - and someone did offer that they thought he was the inspiration for the comedic Pink Panther movies. As our story opens Hercule has just solved a murder and has boarded the train. Just as the murder happens the train is stuck in snowstorm.  And just as the mystery is solved, the train mysteriously jolts forward. The cast of characters ranks at an even dozen, which factors prominently in the story. At first, they seem like any random and odd assortment of travelers thrown together by circumstance. But our razor sharp Poirot soon learns that they are all connected in someway, even down to the trains porter, to an earlier kidnapping and murder of wealthy families child. This part of the story reminded me somewhat of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. As in all of her mysteries the murder happens early and the story revolves around the figuring out, by process of elimination, which of the cast of characters committed the crime. This book has a twist ending with two possible scenarios; either none of them did it, a stranger enters & exits the train having committed the murder OR, they all did it. 

It really has a most humorous ending. The victim has been poisoned by his assistant and then one by one all 12 passengers come into his room and stab him as a symbolic act of the pain he has caused. He is the person responsible for the crime of kidnapping and murdering the child. He deserves to die. So Hercule decides to tell the police it was the stranger and lets all the others off the hook. The funniest part of the whole book to me is that such a famous and accurate detective was asleep in the next room while 12 people lined up in the hall and walked in and out of the room and stabbed a man 12 times.

The most interesting thing to me about Agatha Christie is that after 14 years of marriage, her first husband asked for a divorce. He was in love with a woman named Nancy Neele. When he left Agatha to spend the weekend with his mistress, Agatha staged her own disappearance. She left her car, with an expired license and some clothes in one location and no one could find her for 10 days, despite the fact that about 15,000 police and volunteers were looking for her. When she surfaced she was at a hotel registered as Mrs. Theresa "Neele". She did go onto have a long and loving marriage with her 2nd husband who was an archaeologist. He was 14 years her junior. Their travels gave her lots of material for future books and they were married 46 years and died two years apart in 1976 and 1978 respectively.

November's book club will be at Pam's new house. Location: directly across the street from the old house. Our book is "One Amazing Thing."

September 2013 Book Club

Illustration by Anthony Russo (Sunday Book Review)

Welcome to September's Book Club - hosted by Terry. What a night! Terry's backyard was so welcoming. We could smell the charcoal from the street and the Chimenae was glowing.  From our emails I had thought we were having a simple dinner. Terry's best loved Pear Salad, some bread, some dessert. But, knowing these women as I do, I should have known better! Carla A brought so many things I know I won't get them all. She brought roasted chicken in a light cream sauce with potatoes and carrots. The chicken just melted in your mouth. And she and Lou both brought asparagus, which figured promptly in the meals in our story. Terry grilled vegetables, fruit and shrimp for us. There was crab dip and chips and Janie brought two kinds of bread. Carla G topped off the meal with a dessert everyone has a different name for; chocolate and vanilla pudding with flour/butter/nut crust and topped with cool whip! Tea, 7 Deadly Zins and Two Buck Chuck Wines rounded out the evening. Last night were were missing Pam and Laura.

Our book was Rules of Civility, a first novel for Amor Towles. It is the story of a year in the life of Katey Kontent as she attempts to rise in the ranks of 1938's New York City and the accidental love triangle that changes her trajectory. We all agreed it was great writing; atmospheric and poetic. Laura (by email) said It was both character and geography driven and that it was "a slice of life in a city she loves." Every time I picked it up I felt I was transported into Katey's skin. His attention to detail added to the atmosphere of the story without being tiresome.

The epilogue comes first in this story. Katey has married and is in her late 50's when she and her husband stumble across a photographic exhibit of subway photos taken by Walker Evans and she sees two photographs of Tinker Grey. And then the story goes back in time and begins on the last day of 1937 as Katy and her friend Eve Ross meet handsome and well-to-do Tinker Grey at a not so fashionable NYC night spot.  Katey is a typist in NY law firm, Eve his her roommate. The two girls "subtly" vie for Tinker's attention and he seems happy to play along - until another "accident" changes everyones course.  In 1938 the "Roaring Twenties" have given way to The Great Depression.  America is in recovery and nearing the end of the Depression as we teeter on the edge of WWII. And this is where we find our cast of characters. 

A central theme in the book is that a chance encounter or cursory decision in one's twenties can shape one's course for decades to come. Do you think this is true to life? Were there casual encounters or decisions that you made, which in retrospect were watershed events? We had a really in depth discussion about this. As we talked we realized that you do have a certain amount of control over life in the decisions you make. Those decisions move your life in one direction. However, there are things that happen to us all the time; a stranger you meet and marry, an accident that maybe leaves you with injuries you didn't count on, a company closes, a relationship ends, etc. And there is a difference from events that influence your life as opposed to events that impact them. Those are two different words. Influence seems a softer word. A great teacher that influences your choice of career is different from a car accident that "impacts" you and forces a change upon you. And, I think both are true. 

It was a great discussion and we got deep! But that is the  beauty of our group. It's not a therapy session.  But great fiction always reflects back to us our emotions and often helps us work through some struggle we are having. And we do that in a safe and loving, non-judgmental environment. 

The book referenced several other authors. Darby and Terry recognized a portion as being based on a T. S. Eliot Poem - The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Agatha Christie's mysteries are mentioned and Amor Towles' writing is likened to Fitzgerald and Capote. The book rated a 4.53

Next month is hosted by Carla Gibbs and we chose to tag off this months book and picked an Agatha Christie; Murder on the Orient Express.  

In November we'll be reading a book recommended by Pam; One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni.  A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, recommended by Laura will be our December book. 
Book club dates will change to Saturdays for the next three months.

Below are two links: one to Walker Evans photos and the other is a history and photos of the 21 Club with the Lawn Jockeys.



https://www.google.com/search?q=walker+evans+subway+photos&rlz=1C1TSNP_enUS497US497&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=6AU2UomxMKmT2gXMjYDoAw&ved=0CC4QsAQ&biw=1366&bih=667&dpr=1


http://www.21club.com/web/onyc/history.jsp