March Book Club 2015

One Night Stand and an Electric Screw

Yes, ladies! Janie was celebrating her first full week of retirement from Tinker AFB and she celebrated by bringing a nice red wine to book club called “One Night Stand”. She paired that with her very high tech, battery operated cork screw! We definitely had some laughs with that!

We were a small but mighty crew of 7 and, we pronounced ourselves a quorum and voted on our next book, “The Girl on the Train.”  We were missing; Denise, Lou, Pam, Barb, Darby, Carla and Lis. So, that means that our lovely hostess, Terry, welcomed Diana, Carla A, Janie (obviously), Arnora, Laura and yours truly (Sherrie).  We had a very wonderful meal of fish tacos, hummus, beer bread, chips and salsa, guacamole, and a Mexican Chocolate cake with almonds. It was all “perfectly delicious!”

Our book, “Kind of Kin” by Oklahoma author, Rilla Askew, was a very good discussion and a much better book than my first impression.  Rilla Askew is an Oklahoma author and set her book in the small town of Cedar in SE Oklahoma.  The story revolves around “Sweet” Kirkendall whose father, Bob Brown, has been arrested for harboring illegal Mexican immigrants in his barn.  Bob refuses to defend himself on the charges.   Self-serving lawmaker, Monica Moorehouse has introduced legislation further for “English Only” so that Oklahomans don’t have to bear the brunt of expenses for translations. All the while, Sweet is trying to keep her disintegrating family from falling about.  She is caring for her husband’s dying stepfather, her sister’s son who has been abandoned and was being taken care of by her father and, her own son who bullies his cousin. To round things out, Sweet discovers that her husband is the one who turned in her father and Dustin. And, to top it off, Dustin runs away.  The author has personalized the issue of immigration as she studies the issues that dissolve families, dissect communities and split nations.

The story was layered and more emotional than I had expected.  To quote from an online review, “Sweet is continually called upon to make big decisions with enormous consequences, pitting her Christian ethics against her civic duties, in an effort to do the right thing.”

Laura was really bored with Monica Moorehouse.  She was a very static character who was shallow and self-absorbed. The only thing she really cared about was her appearance and what legislation she thought she could push through to get her the next step to Washington.  While I agreed with her assessment, I actually know people just like her.  I wasn’t bored with her so much as I understood the role she played as a catalyst for the legislation at the root of the story and her inability to make any kind of change.  Didn’t make me like her any better but, she served a purpose.

There are many more characters and much more action to the story.  I won’t take time to reiterate all the details here. The book was favorably received and rated 3.6. April 3 will find us at Janie’s house and our book will be The Girl on the Train. 

February 2015 Book Club

Book: Alif the Unseen Author: G. Willow Wilson

Hostess: Lou Christian 

Rating 3.6 

Arriving at Lou’s charming home and B & B we found it decorated for Valentine’s Day. The tables were beautifully set with red and white table cloths, candles and crystal confetti. I must say, that outside my family, you women are the loves of my life! Happy Valentine’s Day! Unfortunately, we missed Darby, Lis, Janie and Terry this month.

Our Valentine’s meal was delicious, as always. Lou served paprika and garlic chicken breast with roasted cauliflower. Barb brought salad, Diana brought hummus and bread, Carla A rice and warm spinach, Denise brought heart shaped sugar cookies, Pam brought Mediterranean deserts and I brought mixed olives and cheese. Jenny greeted us enthusiastically and Silky took a nap.

Our book this month was Alif the Unseen written by G. Willow Wilson and recommended by Pam.  Everyone, except Barb and Arnora, were very excited about the book. Barb and Arnora had a hard time getting into it. Barb doesn’t expect to finish though Arnora thought she might try again. Carla G had a hard time getting into the book but eventually liked it. The book was recommended to Pam by a friend who compared it to Harry Potter. There is a supernatural element to the book as the main characters mix with the supernatural elements of the various ‘Jinn’s” or Genies. However, it differs from Harry Potter in that our main and very human characters do not practice any magic. They are only able to see and communicate with the unseen world.

The book starts out with an old man, Reza, in Persia, at an undetermined time in history, taking dictation of a collection of stories from a “Jinn” with yellow eyes. After each days dictation, when the ink is dry, he mixes a very special varnish that he coats the pages with. This varnish keeps the book intact for more than 700 years. The book becomes the Alf Yeom and is at the center of the story. Unlike the priceless stone of our last story, the Alf Yeom not only brings unlikely characters together, but its mystery figures prominently throughout the story.

In a modern time in an unknown Muslim country, the Alf Yeom falls into the hands of Alif, a young computer programmer. Alif writes programs that protect his clients from hackers. He is in love with Intisar, a young woman out of his league and caste and engaged to another. Intisar breaks off the relationship and tells Alif she doesn’t ever want to see him again. She must marry the man she is engaged to. Heartbroken and angry, Alif tries to write a program that will identify Intisar no matter what device she might use to search him out on the internet. In his attempts to become invisible to her he outwits himself and writes a program that works better than he intended. It takes on a life of its own.  As it turns out, Intisar’s fiancé is a powerful member of the State who is quickly on to Alif and wants his knowledge. Very quickly, Alif and his childhood friend, Dina are on the run from this man and the state. Intisar has possession of the Alf Yeom. She has paid a handsome price for the book to use as research for her dissertation. She manages to put it in the hands of Alif. In his efforts to outsmart The Hand (what he calls the state) he and Dina find themselves in the Immovable Alley meeting with Vikram the Vampire and the veils between two worlds are lifted. 

Though Alif is not a teenager, I viewed this as a kind of coming of age story. Alif, is having his first love affair and circumstances separate him from his family. He’s forced to find his way in a dangerous world and fight is demons along the way. The book is fast paced and mysterious. It kept me turning the pages to find out what happened next.

The book is full of paradox: The mythical vs virtual; Irrational vs transcendent; East vs West; Philosophy vs religion; magic vs coding; and Government vs freedom.

The author is a comic book artist turned author and an American convert to Islam. She has woven together many layered and varied elements. It would not be a far stretch to imagine that she based the character of “The Convert” on herself.  

The book rated  3.6, one “I really, really liked it a lot” and one “I really liked it whole hundred ba-gobs!” A book that many want to read again.

Our next book is “Kind of Kin” and can be found on Amazon as a Kindle download for $1.99.

January 2015 Book Club

Book: All the Light We Cannot See Author: Anthony Doerr

Hostess: Pam Boeck

Rating: 

We kicked-off the New Year at Pam Boeck’s home; warm and cozy and smelling wonderful as we gathered on a pretty chilly January night. Thanks to Don, Denise was able to be with us. She is recovering nicely from her knee surgery but not up for the long drive.  Unfortunately, Arnora and Barb were feeling under the weather and Laura and Terry were out of town.  The rest of us convened for a vegan sweet potato chili, green and pasta salads, bread, appetizers and two desserts! Pam made an oatmeal cake and Carla A made bread pudding with chocolate sauce.  Congratulations to Darby who returned from her trip to the Bahama’s as a newly married woman! What a great trip they had and we are all excited for her new journey.

Our book this month was “All the Light We Cannot See.” NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
by Anthony Doerr.  The novel is about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

Last month, I was jet lagged and slept through the discussion. Thanks to Laura, our guest book club reviewer! This month, I got smart and recorded the discussion so I wouldn't miss anything.

Most everyone really liked this book. Darby led the discussion. She didn't particularly like the writing in the beginning but enjoyed it more as she got into it. She liked how the story juxtaposed the war with nature, music and art. Marie was studying the ocean snail and they go on living regardless of the damage the war was doing. Life is going to continue no matter how you try to bomb everything out, steal the art, squelch the creativity. Life is going to rise again in the grass, the flowers, the songs. Marie is so drawn to the snails.The war is not defeating them.

Diana interjected that art and music is the thing that pulls us back together after the violence. The arts are transcendent.  Werner knew he should report the broadcast but he couldn't. It reminded him of his childhood and his sister.  Even Volkheimer knew and was affected. He gave the rifle to Werner, "Go, take the rifle. Do what you have to do." It's speaking to humanity after all they've been through. Some were reminded of scenes from Shawshank Redemption.

What stood out to Denise was how brave Etienne became in the end. After all his post war traumatic stress, he pulled himself together and left his house to search for Marie. And, he kept looking for Marie's dad.

Darby said that the journey was more important than the ending. That as monumental as the stone had been in the beginning of the story, in the end it didn't matter whether it was in the model of the town, or the sea, or who had it. It was how the stone brought people together that was the important thing.

Every time Claire de Lune was mentioned, Carla G stopped reading and found the music on You Tube and listened to it. Most thought this book would make a great movie and everyone wanted to see the models that Marie's father made for her.

I liked the book in the beginning. I thought it had lovely language and I was intrigued by the characters and the mystery of the stone.  I agreed with many of the above comments and, I too enjoyed the natural element of the story that juxtaposed the ocean and the snails showing how nature is not phased by the war.

However, about mid-way the story started to drag for me. The mystery of the stone never materialized. While Darby she was glad that the story was not about the stone but how it brought people together, I was disappointed.  I wanted something more mysterious. 

The story reminded me of The Book Thief in the way it was about children during the time of WWII. It reminded me of Hugo in the way that Werner tinkered with radios the way Hugo worked on the automaton. And, the ending reminded me of Cold Mountain in the way the story leads you expect the two main characters will have some kind of relationship but spend the whole book apart, and come together in the end for the briefest of moments before one of them dies. I liked it find – I just had higher hopes for it.

November-December 2014 BookClub

Book: Middlessex  Author:
Hostess: November Carla Gibb/December Laura Madden
Rating: 4.39

Guest Reviewer for Middlesex: Laura Madden. The book rated a 4.39 from the 7 members who completed it. January's book is "All the Light We Cannot See" - January 9 at  Pam Boeck's house.

I waited to write November’s blog until we had finished the book club discussion of Middlesex. The book was big enough and, with the holidays, we decided to make it a two month discussion. However, as often happens, we weren’t all at the same place in the book so the discussion in November stalled a bit. Also, I was jet lagged from my recent trip and asked Laura to write the review of the book. Thanks, Laura!

Carla G hosted our November book club and the food was wonderful as always. She provided smoked turkey and brisket. There were deviled eggs, potato casserole, and salad. Diana made Vodka Cranberry Kiss cocktails and we had our usual assortment of fine wines, coffee and tea. Liz brought her bacon wrapped green beans, always a big hit. Arnora brought tomatoes with melted cheese and we had stuffing.  It was truly a great night with us all gathered around the table.

Our Christmas tradition has become a sleepover at Laura’s. Her recently finished patio was a treat with its pergola and fire pit for late night chats. We were only missing Denise, who was recovering from surgery, and Tammy. Tammy hopes to join us in January before going back out on the boat.

We had a lot of travels and big news in December. Since Thanksgiving, Lis has been to India. Diana and I had our much anticipated trip to Italy. Darby announced she’s moved up her wedding date (this blog stays in book club), Barb has decided on a local location for her wedding in October. Carla G is going to renew her wedding vows in Las Vegas this year. It is “The Year of the Book Club Brides”. Laura decided on a Greek theme for our Christmas meal.  The food was great – and pictured here.

Laura was afraid that her review of Middlesex was too long. But, it was an epic story, so I’m going to include it in its entirety. Thanks, Laura!

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002. It is a story of gender identity, cultural identity and three generations of struggle with fate vs. chance or perhaps destiny vs. free will.  The timeline in the narrative jumps around through three generations of a Greek family that migrates to Detroit.  The epic story gradually unfolds and we learn bits of information through a non-linear storytelling style.  Some in the group did not like this aspect of the narrative. 

The gender identity issue is traced back to a genetic mutation of the brother/sister Greek immigrants, Lefty and Desdemona Stephanides, as they created a new past and new future for themselves when they fled war-torn Smyrna.  They broke all social and moral taboos by deciding to give in to the convenience of their desire for each other and get married. It was only after they had conceived a child that Desdemona realized that they had truly tempted fate.  She feared that their indiscretion might actually bring about some sort of tragedy with their offspring.

The narrative takes us through cultural identity issues beginning with new immigrants assimilating into an industrialized Detroit and navigating through the depression, prohibition, World War II, Race Riots, socio-economic profiling, and finally economic success and down falls.  This aspect brought about some great discussion from Darby as she has been to Detroit and has witnessed some of the cultural and economic issues facing that city. Indeed, this could be the story of any family in America following the American Dream– except for that genetic mutation on the 5^th Chromosome!! Desdemona and Lefty moved in with a cousin who also came from Smyrna.  Was it fate or chance that these cousins conceived children on the same night and that those children would grow up to repeat the family history?  Fate was tempted again when Milton fell in love with his second cousin Tessie.  This union of cousins had Desdemona again worrying about the genetic legacy of her indiscretion. 

Enter Calliope-- Desdemona and Lefty’s grandchild—offspring of cousins— born with “ambiguous genitalia” as a result in both parents sharing the same mutation on their 5^th Chromosome. Was it chance or fate that an aging immigrant doctor attended the birth and the abnormality was completely undetected until puberty?  This childhood experience gives rise to a whole gender identity debate of nature vs. nurture.  Our group had some pretty profound discussion on this issue. And then we see this family again experiencing social and moral taboos when Calliope begins to be attracted to other girls. At that young age there was no specific discussion that it was wrong – although confused, Calliope felt different and kept these desires and sexual ambiguity a secret. Even after being interviewed by the gender specialist, Doctor Luce, Calliope continues to answer questions based on social norms, not true feelings.

Ultimately Calliope runs away after reading the patient records and begins living as the boy that his hormonal profile declared him to be.  When faced with the surgical option necessary to continue life as a girl, Cal adamantly chose to accept his body the way it was.  Again there was some lively discussion about choice in relation to gender identity. In the end, we get the idea that Cal was well adjusted in his body and after meeting Julie Kikuchi, it seems he will be able to have a relationship with the lights on!

In the end, I am glad to report that the end of the Hercules Hotdog legacy coincided with the revelation of how Chapter 11 got his name!!! And since Cal is living in Berlin, as an American Diplomat, I can conclude that the Stephanides’ American Dream is still alive, albeit re-envisioned, for this 3^rd generation androgynous Greek immigrant.

October Book Club 2014

Happy Birthday this month to Barb and Pam. We were sorry they had to miss as well as, Darby, Terry, Lou and Carla G.  But, it was really great to have Tammy with is us again and to meet her friend, Michele.  Tammy and Randall have wintered their boat in Guatemala and she may be able to join us for book club for the next couple of months.  She also offered her brothers lodge to us a potential retreat location if we can find a date that works.

 

Diana hosted this month’s book club. She served a sweet and; spicy turkey chili that was perfect for this time of year. Arnora really out did herself and made warm brie and fig preserve pastries. Tammy brought cornbread, Lis brought a meat pie pastry. Lis brought a really savory bacon wrapped asparagus and wine. Laura, Denise and Janie brought beer and wine. For dessert, Carla A. brought apple pie, I bought the ice cream and Arnora provided the Kahlua.

Tammy also brought us a gift she made. She gave each one of us a necklace she made. Each piece contains two lines from the poem "The Honey Tree" by Mary Oliver. If you were unable to attend, Diana has one for you.

Tammy offered up this month’s selection, The Sea The Sea by Iris Murdock. It was the winner of the 1978 Booker Prize. Tammy said she read it while on the boat and out to “sea”.

The book sparked a lively discussion. Tammy said she picked it for us because she remembered that Laura was often commenting on the narrator of our novels and whether we considered them reliable or unreliable narrators.  She felt that our narrator, Charles Arrowby was an unreliable narrator. Charles has recently retired from the English theatre where he worked over the years as actor, playwright and director. He has never married, nor wanted to, but has left a string of ex-lovers in his wake.  As the book opens he has taken up residence on a remote English peninsula in an ancient house called Schruff where he intends to write his memoirs.

My impression is that he was a composite, for me, of Richard Burton, David Niven and Rex Harrison, all of whom are English actors who shared some of the same qualities. I described Charles to the group as either a being a borderline personality with sociopathic tendencies or having narcissistic personality disorder.  It turns out that our author was a psychology major, so this all made perfect sense to me. 

Also, after the fact, I read a review that described Charles as an egomaniac.  This by, by definition is one who is self-obsessive, follows his own ungoverned impulses, is possessed by delusions of personal grandeur and feels a lack of appreciation.  So, I wasn’t too far off the mark.

The author during the writing of this book.

In the first few paragraphs Charles describes himself as “not a womanizer” but then proceeds to give a laundry list of the women he has left in is wake and he may have loved one or two but used even them. That pretty much set the tone for me and let me know he did not see himself with any objectivity and without that you’ve lost all reliability.

I found the book to be an interesting case study of his personality disorder. However, the stream of conscious writing style and the tedious details made it difficult to stay engaged.  The discussion of this book is what made it interesting rather than the book itself.  Of those who read the book, it rated a 3. Two more are finishing and we had one who “didn’t read it but enjoyed the discussion.”

For the next two months we’ll be reading the Pulitzer Prize winning Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.

September 2014 Book Club

After the "long hot - dog days of summer" (what I refer to as August!) I think we're all happy to see overcast and drizzly September arrive! Denise hosted this month and we missed Janie, Lou and Darby.  Denise did her best to find us some Dandelion Wine, however no distributor would deliver to Oklahoma. Lis did manage to get us some Dandelion Tea, jelly and tarts! Thanks to Natalie who contributed the jelly from the Tea. Dandelion Wine was not our book this month. That was an earlier Ray Bradbury selection. This month's book was a sequel to that - Farewell-Summer. In these books the author deviates from the Sci-Fi genre most people know him by and writes semi-autobiographically of his childhood in Waukegan, Illinois. 

Farewell-Summer is a fitting title for our September book club as we are, indeed, bidding Farewell to Summer. It is a coming of age story. Doug and Tom are brothers who are looking for adventure in their small town, fighting off growing up and aging and being guided by their wise and kindly grandfather and a couple of other older curmudgeonly gentlemen in the town. There are boyish hi-jinks and shenanigans, of which they aren't very good at hiding their trail! A haunted house, a first kiss and a passing of the torch of manhood. The book really is about the awareness of aging as we move from childhood into adulthood. The boys looked at the older men in town and did not want to turn into them. The older men looked back at the boys and their youth and it made them cranky to be burdened down with the responsibilities of adulthood and the ailments that come with aging. But in the end, there is a truce and a poignant understanding. Several of us were surprised at the poetic language.

I did not bring this up at book club but wanted to recount it here as it relates to the story. In about 2000 as I was going through my divorce I had the most interesting dream.  I was in the home we lived in when Kyle was 5.  I woke in the middle of the night to hear him whimpering. I went to his room to comfort him (notice I did not "pad" down the hall, haha). He was lying in bed in a little short set I remembered to well - the pants were light blue, the shirt a red/white/blue stripe. As I sat down beside him to pat his back - I realized that I was the present day me - revisiting the past. As I comforted him, I knew that I knew him in a future life. It was the oddest feeling of a time warp because the dream was so "real" I felt I was living in the past, my present, and our futures all at the same time, if that makes sense.  I think I cried for days after that dream because I felt so lucky that I was able to "time travel" so to speak and hold that little child in my arms once more.  The book had that sort of effect on me. It's like the men and the boys are living in their presents, their past and their futures and having to reconcile the time gap. It had a very nostalgic feeling.

We had, as always, a beautiful meal. Denise provided chicken salad, Pam a Brussels Sprouts salad & lentil soup, Carla G fruit, Carla A brought Chicken Noodle and Hungarian Mushrooms soups. Barb brought lemon tarts and Lis, as mentioned above, the Dandelion items. 

The book rated a 4.25 and all present had actually finished the book! Farewell-Summer, as it turns out is a flower - a late blooming aster and Denise brought in the last blooms of her Hydrangea for us to enjoy. Several of us spent the night and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and coffee before heading home.

October's book club will be at Carla G's home. Tammy Tipton will be joining us and she suggested our next read - The Sea The Sea by Iris Murdock. We are really looking forward to that!

AUGUST 2014 BOOK CLUB

I just have to start off this blog by saying how wonderful the summer has been. We've been riding the wave of moderate summer temperatures and intermittent rain. Once again, we found ourselves sitting outside with a cool breeze and the August Super Moon rising above us at Arnora's. Our intrepid hostess made us a crockpot version of Cordon Bleu that went very nicely with our novel, The Philosopher's Kiss set in the mid-1700's Paris. We had two versions of brie and fig on toast points, two salads, two loves of French Bread, a quiche and a peach pie. Well fed and comfortable we set about to discuss this months book. We missed Denise, Lou and Carla A.

Written by German author, Peter Prange, the book revolves around the publication of the first encyclopedia. The book starts off with a jolt. Our protagonist, Sophie Volland witnesses the execution of her mother at the tender age of ten. Accused of being a witch and an adulterer by a man in a plumed hat, she is hanged then burned. Sophie is taken in by the Abbe of the town and later moves to Paris for better opportunities where she marries one man (Sartine) and then meets Denis Deiderot. He is working on the controversial encyclopedia. Over the course of the story the book is being written and published, then banned several times. It is an age old argument of Reason vs. Faith, Science vs. Religion. The lofty goal of the encyclopedia is to gather all the current knowledge of the day into one place and to be sold by subscription. It is several years in the making leading up to the French Revolution.  Sophie is one of the few women in her circle at the time that can read and write. This is heresy in society except for the very wealthy women. Deiderot encourages her to write articles for the encyclopedia under a male pen name. This eventually backfires and ruins their relationship for a time.  Part of the story includes King Louis XV, his mistress, Madame Pompadour, and other religious, political and philosophical figures of the day, all fighting for and against the Tree of Knowledge that this new book represents. It was quite revolutionary for its day. In the end, the stories of Sophie, her husband, Sartine, Deiderot and the man with the plumed hat converge. And our story ends after the publication of the encyclopedia a midst the horrors of the French Revolution.

I really enjoyed the book. This is historical fiction, but Mr. Prange's writing style is very fluid and brisk. He keeps the chapters short, which I think gives the brain the illusion that you are reading faster than maybe you are. And, he doesn't mire the story down with too much detailed description. He paints a very vivid picture with dialogue and an economy of words. I found many passages to be rather humorous and even though there were a couple of graphic torture scenes, I was able to skim over them for the gist without too much trauma. I learned a lot in the reading of this book. As I was in grade school in the 1960's we had a volume of the Encyclopedia that had been given to us by a neighbor. It never dawned on me that people almost lost their lives to see it published or that controversy surrounded it. As with many historical novels, this one led me to our current version of the on-line Encyclopedia - Wikipedia.  I realize this may inflame Darby who finds it wholly inaccurate (tongue-in-cheek.) However, it is at the fingertips and I searched out several people and subjects regarding the subject and time period that enhanced my reading of the book.

Just as I was starting the book, Carla and I went to the OKC Museum of Art to see the exhibit Gods and Heroes. This is an exhibit of works from the Ecole des Beaux Art in Paris. The very first painting in the exhibit is one of King Louis XV and many of the paintings were done for competitions within the school at about the time our story takes place.  It was a wonderful synchronicity that also enhanced my reading of the book.

There were only about 3 present who managed to finish the book. Most were within 40-60 pages of finishing and plan to do so. It has rated a 4.25 and a "liked it very much". We'll update the rating as other finish.

September's book club will be our sleepover at Denise's and our book is the Ray Bradbury, "Farewell Summer."  September people - by the time we meet again - fall will be fast upon us.