September Book Club 2026

Before I get into the book discussion, I want to remind everyone that on October 4, we will meet at Carla G's. Our book is "Culpability." Our November book club will meet on the 8th, as Arnora is out of town the first week. November's book is "Finding Me."

This month's Book Club replaces a retreat. We decided to have lunch out and visit The Paper Pages Book Store in Crescent, OK, to discuss Mona's Eyes. 

We met at Twin Lakes Restaurant for lunch and then met at the bookstore for our discussion. We missed Carla A, whose son and daughter-in-law were in town. Tammy and Maria were going to join us, but Tammy wasn't feeling well.  We also missed Barb and Janie. 

The novel, written by Thomas Schlesser, shows the healing powers of slow looking at art.  Mona is ten when she has a medical event that causes her to temporarily lose her sight. At first, they cannot find a diagnosis for the condition, and they decide to monitor her as well as prescribe hypnosis. 

Her grandfather, a former war photographer, has another idea and decides to take her to a museum once a week instead of therapy. He introduces Mona to a different masterpiece each week, where they practice "long looking" at and discussing the piece at length. 

Mona's family is also struggling at home. Her father's vintage-goods and curiosity shop is failing. He is hiding his fears and shame in alcohol.  Mona’s mother is working hard, trying to hold the family together. 

Mona's grandfather ignores the therapist's appointments. Instead of taking her to the appointments, he takes her to a museum.  Each week they talk about one painting, its history, and the artist. He looks at the pieces with Mona and asks her questions to consider that teach her life lessons. They visit the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, and the Centre Pompidou. 

As their year comes to an end, Mona discovers that it is a locket from her deceased grandmother that triggered the loss of her eyesight. The story of her grandmother's activism and deliberate plan to die triggered the psychosomatic event.

Along the way, Mona finds a figurine that is worth a lot of money, and her dad's business is saved. Mona and her dad are healing at the same time. 

When we look at art, we are always confronting the past. We confront the artist's past and the historical details of the times they lived in. While we confront that past, we are allowed to connect and confront our own, if we but take the time. 

Art is often someone else's processed trauma. You cannot truly see the present until you dare to look slowly and deeply at the past. Slow looking at art, slow reading literature, and listening to soft instrumental music regulate the nervous system. It can be as healing as meditation.

I was confused, at first, by the cover art. Why use The Girl with the Pearl Earring when Mona is named for the Mona Lisa? It turns out that Vermeer's painting is nicknamed The Mona Lisa of the North. It hangs in The Hague and not in Paris. Using it as the cover expands the discussion of the art. 

The book had mixed reviews. Some had a hard time getting into it. Most enjoyed the discussions of the art, but a few had a difficult time connecting to the family drama. Overall, the book was rated 3.91.

Diana closed out the meeting by reading to us from her photo book of the rescued Pelican from Ski Island earlier this year. We brainstormed some ways to fundraise for Wild Care Oklahoma who rehabbed the Pelican and returned it to the wild. 

August Book Club 2026

Laura was our host for August. We were excited that Tammy and Maria were able to join us from Sayre. It was good to meet Maria!

We missed Carla A, whose son got married, was in Dallas. Both Janie and Denise had family in town. Carla G was in Dallas! 

We had a light summer supper. Laura provided a smoked chicken salad and a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Barb and Diana brought delicious cheeses and crackers. Tammy and Maria brought Shrimp Ceviche and chips. Arnora brought the flowers and nuts. There was plenty of wine and cold beverages.

I apologize for not getting to this sooner, but I’ve been distracted with my move back to Norman. I have wanted this for a long time and am glad it’s finally here. But the logistics of moving are exhausting. I’m on the last of it, thankfully! 

Ann Patchett’s most recent novel is titled “Whistler.” The cover, at first, seemed confusing. The story didn’t seem to be about the horse. But the story was more layered and nuanced than I first thought. The story revolves around Daphne, who is married to Jonathan. On a trip to the MET in New York City, Daphne is reunited with a stepfather, Eddie, whom she hasn't seen in over 40 years.

Over the next months, Daphne and Eddie reconnect while Jonathan helps his sister clean out their mother's home in Wisconsin. Both Daphne and Eddie are reflecting on their pasts and their families of origin. 

While Daphne and Eddie spend time together, Daphne learns information about the two years that Eddie lived with her mother and her sister. She and Eddie bonded over books. Eddie and her mother both worked at a publishing company. There is a car accident at the end of the two years. Eddie and Daphne survive, but Daphne's mother blames Eddie and divorces him. So goes the story Daphne is told. 

Whistler is the name of a horse in a story that Eddie was trying to get published. It was the true story of a horse who came back for his rider after several days, after an accident, and rescued her. Eddie tells Daphne the story to distract her while they are trapped in the car. Whistler comes back for his rider, in a way, like Eddie comes back for Daphne. He didn't come back for Daphne's sister, Leta. 

Though there is a big reveal about why they truly divorced. Ann Patchett has a subtle way of introducing the information. 

Daphne's life holds a lot of trauma. Her biological father is emotionally distant when she was a child. But they reconnect when she is an adult, and he is dying. She takes him on a trip, and he dies next to her on a plane. The story ends with Eddie and Daphne at the MET. He leans into her and closes his eyes. You are left wondering if he has died or not. Patchett starts the book with them meeting in the MET and ends it there. 

Throughout the story,  Daphne is always stoic. She is writing about all of the things she is discovering, but we don't see an emotional reaction. In fact, the only emotional reaction is Daphne's mother sobbing when she is leaving Eddie and his friend, Polly, sobbing because she thinks Eddie is dying. 

There are so many levels to this story and so much more that could be said, and it made for a great discussion. We even cycled back briefly to my Antonia.  The book, on rounding up, rated a 5. 

Our September book club (can you believe we are there already?) will be our day trip to Paper Pages Bookstore in Crescent. We will be discussing Mona's Eyes. 

Our October Book is "Culpability" by Bruce Holsinger, and we will meet at Carla G's. 

We had a really good discussion, and the book, rounded up, is rated 5.

 

July Book Club 2026

Barb, Sammy, and Asia hosted the book club for us on a beautiful July night. Not quite as hot as it has been, but not quite cool enough for the patio.

We were thrilled that Darby arranged some of her summer vacation to visit with us. We missed Lis and Arnora, who are on a mission trip to Costa Rica. 

Barb made a cold Gazpacho soup and peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Carla G brought chicken salad and crackers, and Carla A brought a green salad with a homemade vinaigrette. Janie brought both regular and guacamole deviled eggs. Diana brought croissants and chocolate croissants. 

Denise brought corn and bean dip with Fritos. Pam brought Sangria, we had red and white wine, and tea. 

Our book was "My Antonia" by Willa Cather. She is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author for "One of Ours," but we decided on Antonia. 

The story is told in memoir format as Jim Burden remembers his profound, lifelong bond with Antonia Shimerda. Jim is orphaned and sent to live with his grandparents in Blackhawk, Nebraska, where he meets Antonia, a resilient Bohemian girl. It captures the immigrant experience, the harsh prairie life, and the enduring power of memory. The novel covers the time period from the late 1800s to 1910 and bridges the gap between the 19th and 20th centuries. 

Jim is a reliable narrator of events but an unreliable interpreter. He records events correctly but sees them through the eyes of nostalgia.

I thought that “My Antonia” had similar themes of nostalgia to last month’s book, “Travels with Charley.” Both Jim and Steinbeck are trying, in their own ways, to connect with a younger version of themselves. 

Steinbeck realizes the places he left behind have changed, but so has he. He is happy to return to the person he has become and the life he has. It only took him three months and 10,000 miles to figure it out. Antonia, however, helps Jim understand that the people we love, those who have formed us, are never lost to us, they live in our hearts. The book rated a 4. 

We decided to switch books for August. We will be reading Ann Patchett's new book, Whistler. Our host is to be determined. 

June Book Club 2026

 

Books 287, 279 meetings, 23 retreats/outings, and 288 blogs!

This year, we are reading two Pulitzer Prize-winning authors. Willa Cather in July. And this month is John Steinbeck. 

Diana hosted this month and, in keeping with the book's road trip theme, provided us with a lovely picnic-style meal. We enjoyed two types of Croissant Chicken Salad sandwiches, accompanied by potato salad, baked beans, and deviled eggs. We had Angel Food Cake with strawberries, whipped cream, and brownies. She also had Champagne, which we mixed with strawberry lemonade and other assorted wines, and tea. 

Travels with Charley, published in 1962, is considered a travelogue by John Steinbeck. Feeling that he'd lost touch with the America he was famous for writing about, he took off on a 10,000-mile, three-month road trip with his French Poodle, Charley, to reconnect with it. 

The two traveled in a custom camper he named after Don Quixote's horse, Rocinante. He was warned that traveling incognito would be difficult, as he was so widely known. He did take precautions, only to discover no one recognized him at all.  Steinbeck was 58 and not in the best of health when he headed out on this excursion to rediscover what "Americans are like today." 

His travels took him from Long Island through New England and on to the Pacific Northwest.  From Seattle, he follows the coastline to his childhood home of Salinas. Here, he finds the truth of Thomas Wolfe’s novel, “You Can’t Go Home Again.”  

Our consensus was that Steinbeck was really searching for a sense of nostalgia and a longing for the self he'd been when writing those stories. But progress, industry, and population explosion had changed the topography. And, Steinbeck was not the same. 

Steinbeck was looking for the “authentic” America. But America is too big with too many diverse regions. There is no one-size-fits-all American. 

The last leg of the trip finds him road-weary and exhausted; all he wants to do is go home. So, in the end, he did "go home again." But it was to his current self, his current life, his current wife. 

There were those who critiqued the book as not fully factual. He combined characters and left out parts where he stayed in nicer hotels. But, we didn't think it was that kind of travel book. He wasn't recommending places and giving reviews, and he met too many people to record them all. So, making composite characters only made sense. 

I’m glad to have been on the road with John and Charley. It tells me that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It reminded me of the road trips Carla and I took on Rt 66 to complete our passport books. That was a couple of months of memorable experiences I could never have predicted. It started out as a kind of scavenger hunt, but turned into a journey of discovery of our state. 

The book rated a 4. 

Next month, we will be at Barb's on July 12. We have switched our Willa Cather novel to My Antonia.

May Book Club 2026

 

Books 286, 279 meetings, 23 retreats/outings, and 222 Blogs

A beautiful spring day at Denise's for a lakeside discussion of Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. There was a light breeze, but the temperature could not have been more perfect. 

We were all present and accounted for except for Barb and Janie. 

Denise had BBQ turkey and beef, BBQ beans, Coleslaw, and White Chocolate Vanilla Bundt cake with ice cream.  Lis brought three different kinds of cornbread. Carla G brought homemade pickles. Arnora brought cherries and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. There was a lot of wine and other beverages.

We had a great discussion about the book. So many of us have connections to rabbits and hares. 

The book inspired talk of more than just hares. Chloe's experience with the hare and leverets inspired her to investigate the hare's environment. As a reporter in her day job, she has started addressing some of the more disastrous effects of humans on wildlife. 

Diana had a rabbit take up residence in her vegetable and herb garden for a couple of years. The rabbit had several kits over that time. Denise's daughter, Lauren, is working on a project with Eagles and Hares. Unknown to us, until the book, there is open hunting of hares. They are the only wildlife that doesn't require a permit or hunting season. Consequently, there is a diminishing population, and that is contributing to a diminishing Eagle population. Hares are a major source of food for Eagles. My son and his family had a rabbit for several years, and they were devastated when she passed away recently. 

The story was entertaining, informative, and poignant. 

I was reminded of Watership Down and saw several comparisons. In Watership, we got the impact of the environment from the rabbits' point of view, and in Raising Hare, we see the impact on a person caring for wildlife and the environment.  

Diana shared some notes from her Fitbit chat Coach. She fed it information about her day, and it asked what book she was reading for a book club. It came back with comments and points for the discussion.

1. The burden and the beauty of caring for something or someone

2.  Trust versus companionship

3.  The concept of freedom

4.  Slowing down. Here, we brought up the effects that slowing down during the COVID pandemic had on people and how it rejuvenated nature. An unexpected consequence.

5.  Domestic versus wildlife. Chloe was determined to let the Hare stay in as wild a Habitat as possible while she protected it. She was determined not to make it a pet.

6. The impact that the relationship with the Hare had on Chloe

7. And, finally, nature versus humans. 

Everyone enjoyed the book, and it rated 4.15 and two, "I liked it very much." 

We decided, for September's book club, we would take a day trip to the Paper Pages bookstore in Crescent. It will be an easy and pleasant drive to include lunch and whatever else we might get up to. 

Our remaining dates for 2026

June 7 - Diana will host our discussion of "Travels with Charley: In Search of America" by John Steinbeck.

July 12 - Barb will host our discussion of "One of Ours”by Willa Cather. 

Aug 2 - Janie will host our discussion of "We the Women," by Norah O'Donnell. 

Sept 12- will be a Saturday day trip to Paper Pages Bookstore in Crescent. We will discuss Mona's Eyes. 

Oct. 4 - our host will be Carla G

Nov 1 - our host will be Arnora

Dec 6 - we will have our traditional Christmas party and discussion at Laura's. 

April Book Club 2026

 

Welcome to April's Book Club hosted by Carla G. We missed Pam this month. 

To our great delight and surprise, Laura, with the help of her daughter, Megan, had used AI to create a wall of pencil portraits of all our members! It was beautiful and emotional. Carla G and Laura were already there. Carla A and I were the next to discover the wall over the coffee maker. Then, we got to watch everyone else discover it as they came in. We got to take our beautiful portraits home. 

The food was amazing as always. Carla G made a Portuguese chicken, and Laura
used the same marinade for the roasted potatoes. For appetizers, we had cheeses, nuts, and fruit, and lemon cake for dessert. Lis and Diana brought Port in honor of Theo, and Arnora brought the beautiful floral bouquet. 

This month's book is Theo of Golden. This book has been getting a lot of great buzz, and Pam recommended it. Written by Allen Levi, the story is about a mysterious, kind stranger named Theo who arrives in the city of Golden, Georgia. Theo begins a mission to buy 92 pencil portraits from a local coffee shop and return them to their subjects. In the process, Theo makes friendships and changes lives with his generosity. Themes explored: Anonymous kindness, wonder, and the power of small, attentive acts. Everyone loved the book, and it received a rating of 5. Carla A loved it so much she actually gave it a number this time! 

Our book for May is Raising Hare, and we will meet at Denise's. 

March Book Club 2026

 

In Memory of

Jacob Tipton

Book Club this month takes on a somber atmosphere as we mourn the loss of Jacob Tipton, son and brother of Tammy, Randall, and Lily. We know that there are no great words of wisdom at a time like this. But what matters is that we show up for each other.  I experienced that with my recent illness and recovery. We show up in the good and the hard times. It doesn't change the circumstances, but it eases the pain to know that we are held in the arms of people who care. I felt that every hug we exchanged was a hug for Tammy by proxy. I look forward to seeing her soon so that we can hug her in person. 

285 Books, 278 Meetings, 23 Retreats/Outings, 221 Blogs 

March Book Club hosted by Arnora was the first time in several months that all of our local members were

in attendance!  Arnora made her delicious "comfort" meatballs and incredibly rich and tasty mashed potatoes. Carla G brought a green salad and Maple Grove Balsamic Dressing. The dressing was very popular. Carla A brought Brussels Sprouts, and Laura brought Strawberry Shortcake. Lis brought a really soft and yummy bread. 

We ate first, and then we did a craft project to send to Tammy. Barb had the idea from our retreat last summer at Tammy's lodge. Our book was "Other Birds," and we made bird mobiles. Barb saved the pattern. We made the birds out of white and gray cardstock to emulate the Mourning Dove, and everyone wrote quotes and prayers for the family, and we embellished them with ribbon. Lis also had a card for her that we all signed. Barb is putting it all in the mail to her. We had Aperol Spritz and a couple of bottles of wine. Arnora, who always brings the flowers, had three bouquets for us. One was flowers from Stan, and another from a casino night. All of them brought in some Spring!

Our book was "The Correspondent," by Virginia Evans, an epistolary novel. The protagonist is a retired, divorced lawyer in her 70s. Sybil von Anrwerp's life is told through correspondence with friends, family, famous authors, and even a customer service rep she befriends. There are themes of aging, forgiveness, finding connection, leading to personal transformation through personal loss, and seeking reconciliation. Everyone enjoyed the book, and it received a 4.4 rating. 

Carla G is hosting on April 12. We moved this month's meeting due to Easter. Our book for April is Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. May's book is Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton.