November Book Club 2017

November is upon us and another fabulous Thanksgiving meal. Thanks to Denise and Don for hosting. A special thanks to Don who graciously agreed to help us take our updated "15 year" photo. We eagerly await the results (or, maybe not! haha). We did our traditional photo wearing black & white for continuity AND couldn't resist reprising our "Calendar Girl" version.  It was a lot of laughs!

We're going to do another photo in December to hopefully catch those who couldn't be here this time - so wear your red and green!

Denise provided us with turkey, ham, stuffing and gravy. Carla G brought sweet potato casserole, Tammy brought rolls and butter, Laura brought green salad, I provided a cranberry/orange relish. Barb and Carla A brought dessert; pecan pie and bread pudding, respectively. Darby brought rum cider, Diana brought her Cranberry Kiss cocktail and there were two Reislings and coffee. Arnora brought the beautiful floral centerpiece.

We missed Lis, Janie, Pam, Leslie, Terry and Lou. However, we were thrilled that Darby was able to join us. We haven't seen her in over a year and it was great to catch up.

Our book this month was The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Darby brought this to our attention as he had just received the Nobel Prize for Literature for his body of work. This is his most recent novel. He is probably most well known for his book, The Remains of the Day for which he won the Man Booker Prize in 1989. Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan but moved to England in 1960 when he was 5 and grew up there.

Unfortunately, for most of us, this book just didn't resonate.  Diana and Laura gave it the highest marks. Several were unable or, uninterested, in finishing it.  The premise of the story takes place in an English village sometime just after the reign of King Arthur, which puts in sometime in the 1100's after the war between the Brits and Saxons. An elderly couple, living in the village struggle with memory issues. For example, they have a vague memory of having a son and they think they know what village he is living in now, but little else is remembered. They decide to set out on a journey to the son's village - which they believe to be within a few days walk of their own. Along the way they encounter all of the traditional fairy tale and metaphorical characters you would expect.

A boatman ferry's couples across a "river" but, they can only go together if they provide individual stories to the boatman of their undying love. There is a medicine woman, a she-dragon, a monster that is beheaded and, a knight - Sir Gawain of King Arthur's round table. 

I, personally, was not resonating with the story or, connecting to the characters. It is told in third person, so I tried to give it a "Princess Bride" feeling in my head. I tried to envision the old couple as Billy Crystal and Carol Kane. But, I just couldn't get interested in it.

I understood the metaphors but, I thought this story has been told before and much better. I understood what he was trying to do with memory. And, most of us are at the time in life where we are dealing with this issue with our parents. This made it a difficult read for some - hitting too close to home.

It was a good discussion and the book received a decent rating of 3 and Carla's, "it was just fine."

Next month we will meet at Laura's and our book is The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. I just downloaded my copy on Audible. For our January book, I am bringing the book club kit from the Library for "Cooking with Picasso."

October 2017 Book Club

Diana did a lovely job of recapping book club and I have added a review of our book - The Haunting of Hill House
.

Good morning. It's a beautiful cool, crisp morning with just a touch of fall in the air. I'm enjoying a cuppa on my patio and thought I'd write this while our evening is fresh in my mind. We had a super delicious BBQ meal with all the fixings.  THANKS Arnora for hosting us and to Carla A for the awesome ribs and chicken. Dinner sides included, Janie's Baked Potato salad, Laura's Black-eyed Pea salad, Carla G's green kale salad, Sherrie's corn on the cob and baked beans, and Lis's sweet cornbread. Thanks to those who brought the following bread and butter, and mini tortillas. Terry made chocolate with salted caramel cupcakes, and Tammy brought a yummy cheesecake.

Most of us read The Haunting of Hill house and loved it. Carla G and Arnora liked it a little less, and Lis and Janie didn't get into it. The book rated 4.67. Laura gave several dramatic readings from the book, and had us laughing out loud. Spooky, haha!

A Gothic Novel is one that combines the motifs of mystery, doom, decaying old buildings with ghosts, madness and curses. Shirley Jackson combined all of those elements in The Haunting of Hill House. Gothic novels are also often very melodramatic i.e., exaggerated, sensationalized and over emotional. All of these elements combined made for most of us an interesting, entertaining and often comic "Ghost Story." In the version I had from the Metropolitan Library, the very British male narrator made the perfect foil for the story. I could imagine us sitting around the camp fire, roasting our marshmallows as he rubbed his hands together and, in a menacing tone growls, "and he who walks there, walks alone." It seemed that those that didn't enjoy it as much missed the humor in it. I too, was expecting something different when I started it. But, soon was in to the spooky spirit of the groaning house and odd characters who are brought together to try and confirm the supernatural goings on at this supposed Haunted House. As it turns, out the people were more haunted than the house. I personally enjoyed the writing and thought the opening paragraph was one of the best I've read. Authors Neil Gaiman and Stephen King cite her as an influence on their work. I thought it was a perfect read for our October-Halloween book club.

Our November book club will be at Denise's home. Darby will be visiting and we have chosen, The Buried Giant by Pulitzer Prize author, Kazuo Ishiguro. Now in our 15th year of book club, it's time for a new group photo. We'll take photos at both the Nov and Dec meetings. Photo theme for Nov is to mimic our 10th anniversary where we wore black and white for our first photo and then...well you know how the second photo goes! Props will be helpful, or essential, however your choose to look at it. We talked about, pumpkins, cornucopia, Fall leaves, etc. or perhaps our favorite, BIG Books! Photo theme for Dec is to wear something with red, and maybe for the second photo we hold a variety of Christmas/holiday props.

The December book club date is set, SATURDAY, Dec 2nd at Laura's home. We will read, Cooking for Picasso, by Camille Aubray recommended by Carla G. We found this book is available in the library's book club kits and we will have copies to hand out at the November meeting. The Watchmaker on Filigree Street may be our January book, but we'll wait to decide during our December meeting. That's all for now. It was a lovely evening under a full harvest moon, and some of us also enjoyed watching the Orr Family farm fireworks from Arnora's front porch. We missed Barb, Pam, Denise, Leslie, Lou and Darby. Hope all is well with you.

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The Buried Giant

The Buried Giant is a fantasy novel by Nobel Prize-winning British writer Kazuo Ishiguro, published in March 2015.

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Cooking for Picasso: A Novel

Destined to be a book club favorite - an utterly charming and entirely delicious novel of love, art and food, with a…

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September 2017 Book Club

August was a beautiful month for us here in the Midwest as we watched a full solar Eclipse in the Northern Hemisphere. While fires rage on the west coast and hurricanes pummel the Gulf and Atlantic, Oklahoma experienced one of the wettest and coolest Augusts on record in recent history. We moved into September with the huge, orange Corn Moon and very fall-like weather.

We convened at Carla Gibb's home for another great meal, book discussion on the patio and to celebrate her birthday! Carla provided two delicious pizzas, tea and wine. To complement the pizza we opted for summer salads:

Janie - Cauliflower salad

Denise - Fruit salad

Lis - Kale Salad and wine

Terry - Pear Salad

Tammy - Cabo Ceviche

Laura - Seasonal Beer

Sherrie - Texas Choc Cake/Cupcakes

Diana - Fresh whipped cream to top the cupcakes

Arnora - Fresh flower centerpiece

As different as all the salads were, the flavors worked exceptionally well together and demanded second helpings from most of us.

We know how to have a good time!

Randy was on hand nearby and we appreciated his taking a moment to snap an updated group photo. This month we missed Barb, Pam, Lou, Darby. We were happy that Leslie was able to drop by at the end of the evening after her son's football game.

There have been 30 years of
cover art for this book.

This month's book was The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. The premise of the story is a totalitarian society in an unknown part of the United States. It is ruled by a fundamentalist regime that treats women as property of the state. This place is faced with environmental disasters and a plummeting birth rate. In a desperate attempt to repopulate, the few remaining fertile women are forced into sexual servitude. The novel is the story of one of these "Handmaid's Tales."

All but two or three of us finished the book and it rated a 3.5. Published in 1985, this book  is a considered dystopian and cautionary tale. Laura remembers studying this novel in her college course and enjoyed rereading her original book that included her notes of the time.

Lis pointed out that Atwood was writing this book around the time of events and effects of the overthrow of the Shah of Iran. Most recently, we've seen this very thing carried out by the Taliban in Afghanistan. We like to think that it would be impossible for something like this to happen to women in the United States but, that is part of what makes this a cautionary tale. The overthrow of the Shah in Iran, for example was considered a peaceful revolution with many women at the heart of it. However, their desire to put the Ayatollah in place did not produce their desired effects.

Laura said that the novel was skillfully crafted as Margaret Atwood does not give any contextual history for the setting and story. You are never fully certain where the story takes place. Is this happening in a specific area of the U.S.? Or, is it happening throughout the country? The timeframe is also somewhat ambiguous. The book depressed Diana but, she gave it high marks for writing skill.

There was quite a bit of discussion about the current political climate. Denise mentioned the fact that recently, a dress code was imposed by the Speaker of the House that requires an appropriate dress code for women that includes not baring their shoulders or wearing open toed shoes.  Most businesses have some sort of basic dress code. I don't have a problem with that. I've seen companies that relaxed dress codes to "casual" and you really do have to tell some people not to wear tank tops, cut offs or, flip flops to work.  But, telling a professional woman that she can't wear a sleeveless dress into a House meeting starts to cross some tricky lines that worry me. Many laws and freedoms can be taken away from you bit by bit while you aren't noticing. In both Iran and Afghanistan - the wearing of the niqab, hijab and burkas rise and rise and fall with regimes. 

Leslie said that she listened to the book on Audible and that the author's voice, as well as the narrator, sounded just like Darby. I'm sure this will please Darby to no end and Atwood is one of her favorite authors.

Next month we will meet at Arnora's home. By then, she will be Arnora Kearns and we all congratulate her and Stan on their marriage and wish them much happiness. Our book will be The Haunting of Hill House in honor of Halloween. Denise will host in November and we will have our annual Christmas book club at Laura's.

August Book Club 2017

Tammy hosted August Book Club at the "ponderosa". It was a beautiful August night. We are having very mild weather for this time of year. We had our meal inside but, took the discussion outside as the sun set. The moon was working its way to full, there was a mild breeze and we were surrounded by 4 o'clocks and Humming Bird moths.

Tammy kept our meal in theme with this month's book; Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. She made Chicken Satay, pork stir fry with rice and Asian broccoli. Carla Gibbs brought lettuce salad with Mandarin oranges, and Diana and Sherrie contributed spring rolls. Laura brought lemon bars and Singapore Slings (say that real fast 3 times! haha. I almost typed Slingapore!). Terry brought sugar free blueberry pie and we had fortune cookies and fruit.

Lou was able to join us this month but, we missed Lis, Janie, Darby, Pam, Denise, Arnora and Leslie.

 The book rated a 3.2 for those who read it and, a "I liked it just fine," by Carla A. Tammy said she liked it find but, didn't feel the need to read the sequels.


 

Lis missed out on book club but wanted to contribute her review here - as I did not read this month's selection, I give you her review below.

Next month's book is Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale." For Hulu subscribers, this has been turned into a series.

Our October read is "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson.

 

Ala may!!! There are so many anecdotes that I cannot list them all.

This was a fun read to me when accepting it as a comedy and a mockery to Asian High Society. The book is, like Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, written as a satire to make fun of ultra-rich people’s excess and societal interactions, where there are “normal rich” and “stuck-up rich”. I couldn’t help but think of the Kardashians, The Hiltons, or even the Trump empire with their glitz, glamour, and control. This Beau Arts social circle draws a big difference between “new money” and “old money” and everything is about being accepted or having more than someone else.

Like a teenager’s love fantasy, the book is about a self-made woman, Rachel, of good standing falling in love with a good-looking college-grad and professional, Nick, that, she later finds out, is actually super rich, born into money of which the sum can hardly be exhausted. When Nick invites her to accompany him on a trip to Singapore and his family for a local wedding, she is unknowing and unprepared of the family’s wealth and social standing. Through friends and family members, she gradually figures out that Nick is extremely wealthy, that he is a highly sought-after bachelor, and that she is seen as a moneygrabber. Nick is completely oblivious and thinks that his family will love Rachel for her friendliness and openness, just like he does. Rachel is thrown into a whirlwind of this society, sometimes as the entertainment to be made fun of, sometimes as a tag-along. Nick is taking the opportunity to catch up with old friends and family. Both are not ready for the obstacles that their relationship is creating.

The reason for the trip is the wedding between friends Collin and Araminta. To unsuspecting Rachel, this would be just an event, while to the Singapore high society it turns out, it will be THE EVENT OF THE YEAR between two extremely rich families. All local gossip columns are lit up with it. What a shame that, after spending $40 million on the wedding, the guests still judged the event by what was NOT offered. A circle of would-be friends snub the exquisite dinner for a quick flight on their private jets to get, what they deem, decent food. Not even Araminta can enjoy it because she is too distracted about Astrid, Nick’s cousin and Araminta’s friend by reason of wealth, not wearing her latest purchases to the events. Since Astrid is known for her up-to-date Haute Couture wardrobe, this makes it difficult for the bride to know what she needs to look for to bring her own wardrobe up to the latest fashion. While Araminta seems very nice to Rachel at their first meeting, I felt like the author eluded to a sinister side that might have had Araminta set Rachel up as “entertainment” for her bachelorette party, given that she, the bride-to-be, might have known how her friends would react to an outsider and how unprepared to the financial excesses Rachel would be. Rachel doesn’t realize what bucket of worms she is opening up when she, without afterthought, refers to her meeting with Nick as a “catch”. To the money-grubbing single girls of the party, this reference confirms their opinion of Rachel and she instantly creates jealous enemies and a nightmarish encounter with a dead fish. (SPOILER ALERT) I wondered how many readers guessed that the fish had been planted by jealous Francesca – who has her eyes on Nick for his money - being in cahoots with Eleanor, Nick’s mother. Francesca’s last resort for trying to break up Nick and Rachel comes at the wedding, when she drops the bombshell of a long-past threesome between herself and Nick, coming as a surprise to all. While Nick’s mother goes above and beyond to break up Nick and Rachel, I held out hope for Rachel throughout the story that she would be accepted – until even Nick’s revered grandmother spoke and turned Rachel away.

Nick’s cousin and confidant, Astrid, a nonchalant, more open-minded, character seems to not give much value to people’s wealth. She doesn’t flaunt it but she still is able to quietly take it for granted. She feels that it is perfectly normal for her to spend thousands of dollars on a new wardrobe each season, while she hides her purchases from her husband, Michael, – who is “just well to-do” (or rich in my circles) – to keep from making him feel bad about not being able to fully support her spending habits. While Astrid seems to be non-judgmental of wealth, she seems to have lost touch of what it means to be wealthy. Her spending worries are not about having enough food to eat but are about making Michael feel bad. Still, the author allows Astrid to have a sweet and sincere personality. One of the shocking parts in the story is the affair that Michael seems to have behind sweet Astrid’s back, that (SPOILER ALERT) later turns out to be an attempt of driving Astrid away because Michael can’t stand the pressure of being part of this extreme society anymore. I couldn’t help wonder if a marriage between the story’s heroes, Rachel and Nick, might turn out similar to Astrid and Michael’s, a strained relationship that cannot bridge born-into ultra rich with just well-to-do.

A small but entertaining character is “Radio 1 Asia” who the author wisely uses in the story, an objective gossip about everyone. This friend of the family could be easily swayed and used to pass on information with a smile. He helps Rachel through some of her tough moments just because he wants to be in the know and likes passing gossip. I felt like he was one of Rachel’s alleys just because he wasn’t interested in bringing her down.

Still, even with all that excess, the story shows that people aren’t happy unless they can cut each other down, or because they cannot keep up with someone else, or just because of the constant pressure to portrait some expected image. This is well displayed when we find out about Collin’s depressions that he battled since early childhood. I almost felt a little bad for Collin when we read about his bachelor party that turned into a disaster for Colin and Nick. But Collin had allowed it to be planned by a friend that was known for his excess in everything “manly” and was misusing it for trying to make an impression and keep the financial connections happy. The party ended up being a testosterone debauchery with dog-fighting, high-stakes gambling, and high-end hookers. I was actually proud of Nick, Nemet, and Collin for finally making the decision to sneak off and leave their own party.

After everything that happened to Rachel during the trip, I thought it was funny that the news of the three-some was the thing that finally threw her over the edge – not the sideways looks, not the judgmental comments, not the excess, not the jealous competition. A true teenage googly-eyed romance story. It deviates when Rachel, through Eleanor’s meddling and attempts to break up the relationship, discovers details about herself and her own parents. Had I to guess at the gender of the author, I would have thought the story created by a woman because I related so well to the female characters and didn't see trends towards males characters in the story that we often see from male authors. As long as the story can be read as a satire, I think that it is excellently done and I am looking forward to the other two books in the trilogy.

 

 

July Book Club 2017

Due to the July 4 holiday next week, we moved book club to June 30. We missed Elisabeth, Denise, Janie, Leslie, Pam, Barb, Lou and Darby. The rest of us dined on a variety of "carnival foods". Terry provided meat and Pita for Gyro sandwiches and corn on the cob, Tammy brought the toppings and grape leaves or Dolma's, Janie dropped off the Tzatziki sauce. Carla G. brought mini hot-dogs and popcorn, Diana brought carrot cake. 

Carla and I ran to the liquor store to add to the wines and had a mini-book club section with the "Trent" who works there. When I mentioned it was wine for a book club, he wanted to talk about the classics. There were threats of severe weather. But, while there was some light mist and a bit of lightening, all was well in Bradford Place II.

Our book this month was "The Book of Speculation" a debut novel by Ericka Swyler. Carla A. recommended the book and was relived that is was well received.

The framework of the novel is told around the life of Amos, a mute boy abandoned by his family in the 1790's and a descendant, Simon, a present day librarian. Simon receives a mysterious book that contains his grandmother's name. This book has a lot of moving pieces so, I won't try to give the full details here. The mystery revolves around the women in Simon's history, including his mother, who all drowned on the same day in July, though years apart. Simon's sister returns home simultaneously with his receiving the book and the mystery begins to unfold. There is a lot of symbolism in the book and it is full of feminine mystique. Water, in many forms, mermaids, an ancient Tarot card deck, the book, the carnival and family secrets. The story is masterfully told and moves effortlessly from the past to the present. The story had elements and reminded us of: The Sepluchre and Night Circus. The rated a 4.15 of those who had finished.

August 4th book club (can you believe it) will be at Tammy's and our book is "Crazy Rich Asians."
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June Book Club 2017

 

We have officially hit the halfway point of 2017. The REALLY BIG NEWS this month is that Arnora and Stan are engaged! I can’t believe she waited  through dinner before she told us.  The official wedding will be sometime in September and intended to be a private, family affair. However, I vote that we give her one really big bachelorette party!

 

This month, Lis hosted and we were greeted by her beautiful pink roses at the door. She went full blown Presidential Election on the décor. If it didn’t move, it was covered in red, white and blue! She themed the menu to the earlier days of the White House when the Roosevelt’s took office and America was going into WWII and still in a great depression. Lis made a ham and scalloped potato main dish along with summer sausage. Janie made a delicious cornbread salad, Tammy brought watermelon salad, Diana brought greens, and Laura brought a red, white and blue dessert Trifle made with lemon pound cake, Mascarpone cheese, blueberries and strawberries and Arnora brought the floral centerpiece. We were well represented on the wine and coffee front, as well. We really missed Denise and Leslie who were derailed at the last minute. Pam, Barb, Carla G and Terry were also unable to make it.

 

Our book this month was a biography, Eleanor and Hick. Eleanor Roosevelt had played a minor character in our May book, The Muralist and we were intrigued about aspects of her personal life and longtime relationship with journalist, Lorena Hickox.  The book was well-received and rated a 4.4.

 

Franklin Roosevelt was elected to four terms as President and, in fact, died in office during his last term.  The Franklin and Eleanor were married for 40 years and had six children, one of whom died not long after his birth.  Eleanor had a sad childhood having lost both parents by the time she was 10. She was raised in a chaotic and dysfunctional household by extended family.  She was the favorite niece of her uncle and then President, Theodore Roosevelt. Franklin was a cousin to Teddy and a 5^th cousin to Eleanor.  They fell in love and married, much to the dismay of his mother.  Things started to go wrong early in the relationship. Franklin had been hoping for a wife who adored him but, wouldn't direct him and FDR’s mother was a constant presence in their lives. Eleanor was practical and constantly tried to direct him. In NYC, their town houses had adjoining rooms on three floors with Sara.  Eleanor hired a social secretary, Lucy Mercer only to discover later that FDR and she were having an affair. This broke her heart. Sara doted on her son and Eleanor always lived in homes bought and decorated by her and/or in the Governor’s mansion or White House.

 

Though FDR promised to end the affair with Lucy, they continued to see each other intermittently over the years, their meetings sometimes arranged by FDR’s daughter. In fact, Lucy was with him the night he died. FDR had at least 4 other documented affairs during their marriage including a 20 year relationship with his own secretary, Missy Lehand.

 

Lorena Hickox was a journalist. She and Eleanor began their relationship after the Lucy Mercer affair. Hick lived in the White House and traveled extensively with Eleanor.  Eleanor and Hick moved about in a rather large circle of lesbian women.  The relationship with Hick lasted over three decades. Eleanor also had important relationships with at least two men. What I took from this book was that I would not classify her as simply lesbian. I think she loved FDR deeply but in one of her quotes she stated “sometimes you just know that you can’t be all things to one person. And, you have to be ok with letting them get their needs met elsewhere.” Eleanor seemed to me to be a person who loved the person and it was irrespective of sexual persuasion.

 

We all agreed that we were happy that she also could get her needs met in the best way she could at a time when her life style would have been deeply disapproved. We also agreed that FDR’s affair with Lucy Mercer, even though she was deeply hurt, empowered her to find her own source of fulfillment. She did that in her personal relationships and as she championed the cause for women and the underprivileged. It was a fascinating time in political history and politics absolutely shapred the personal lives of Franklin and Eleanor. This is a fascinating family and, if you haven’t seen it, the Ken Burns documentary on the Roosevelt family is on Netflix.

 

July book club will be held on June 30 due to the July 4 holiday. Terry will host and our book is The Book of Speculation.

 

 

May Book Club 2017

Welcome to May 2017 Book Club at Diana's. We are coming up on the end of the first half of 2017 already! Feels like we are time traveling forward at a breakneck pace. We missed Pam, Lou, Darby, Leslie, Carla G and Janie. The rest of us dined on Diana's quiche accompanied by Carla A's Caprese salad and bacon.  Tammy brought a scrumptious Reuben dip, Denise brought a beautiful fruit salad, I brought croissants, Champagne and Peach Nectar for Bellini's Laura finished us off with a Lemon Pound Cake for dessert and Arnora brought the beautiful spring bouquet.

Our book this month comes From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Art Forger and is a thrilling new novel of art, history, love, and politics that traces the life and mysterious disappearance of a brilliant young artist on the eve of World War II.  Alizée Benoit, an American painter working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), vanishes in New York City in 1940 amid personal and political turmoil. No one knows what happened to her. Not her Jewish family living in German-occupied France. Not her artistic patron and political compatriot, Eleanor Roosevelt. Not her close-knit group of friends, including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Lee Krasner. And, some seventy years later, not her great-niece, Danielle Abrams, who while working at Christie’s auction house uncovers enigmatic paintings hidden behind recently found works by those now famous Abstract Expressionist artists. Do they hold answers to the questions surrounding her missing aunt?

Tammy recommended the book and we all heartily agreed as we had enjoyed the Art Forger. But, Tammy ended up not caring for the book at all. On the other hand, Carla Anderson "liked it a whole lot!" And, the rest of us fell somewhere in between. Most of us liked the story and what we learned about the art world at the time of WWII. While Hitler was plundering Europe of some of the world's finest art, the US Government set up a program called the Works Projects Administration to carry out public works projects such as roads and bridges. In a much smaller project, Federal Project Number One, the WPA employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects. Some of America's greatest Modern Artists (as named above) were part of this project.

The story goes back in forth in time as Danielle tries to authenticate, what she believes, are portions of a mural that her great aunt created for the WPA that disappeared when she did. We see that Danielle is still receiving the same kind of resistance and dismissal in the current day art world as her great aunt did 70 years earlier.  Her efforts take back in time to 1940's New York City but also to Paris where Alizee's family is desperately trying to receive Visa's to the US to avoid the German concentration camps across Europe.

Though this book was published in 2015, before the current administration took office, the new immigration policies and deportation laws mirror quite closely what was happening leading up to WWII with the Jews. Today, it is the Muslims but it seems someone is always the "immigrant nation" who is not in favor. "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

We all agreed that we would have liked to have had Danielle's character a bit more fleshed out. It was harder to connect emotionally with her character. But, we enjoyed learning about some of the artists of the day that were on the brink of discovery. The book had us discussing the mental health of artists in general. It also brought us to the subject of art as propaganda or rebellion. It is both. During the time of the WPA there were artists who "toed the party line" and those who tried to convey a message through their art as Alizee did with her mural and Picasso did, for example, with his mural, Guernica.  This paining is considered one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history.

As one point of local interest I pointed out paintings that are hanging in the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art at The University of Oklahoma. Many of the paintings that were created under the WPA were collected for a travel exhibit that went oversees. Somewhere along the path of the exhibit, about 60 of the paintings were suddenly deemed inappropriate. They did not convey the image of a prosperous and exuberant America. They pointed more to the truth of a country that had been deeply affected by the war, an eight year drought and a great depression. These 60 paintings were removed from the exhibit and stored in a warehouse where they were discovered some 60 years later. The paintings went up for auction and the "Fred" purchased a dozen or so for a song. For example, the one by Georgia O'Keefe was purchased for $50.

The book rated a 3 and an "I really, really liked it a lot!" Laura recommended our next book, "Eleanor and Hick" about the love story of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her secretary.  Eleanor figured promptly in The Muralist and we her story has peaked our interest.