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.

July 2014 Book Club

Since Sherrie was on an adventure, Janie Tisdale is this month’s guest blogger for the first time.

July is typically a tricky month for getting our large diverse group of women all together at the same time. July 2014 proved no different. I had to miss the last few meetings. I really needed a Book Club fix. I was determined to make it to Barb’s recently remodeled home, even if I had to be late. For me, Book Club is like that old friend you don’t see for a while but, when you do, after two minutes and a round of hugs, it’s as if you never missed a thing. Though small in number this month; the conversation, food, beverages, and companionship was just what I needed. Ah…home…at last.

The menu consisted of a delicious salad supper. The food was superb, from the appetizers to the Godiva chocolates for dessert!  We got so wrapped up in eating the meal and talking that we forgot to take a picture of the feast before we devoured it. So a group picture of those who came is the substituted picture and you will have to use your imagination to savor what the food looked like.

Central Oklahoma was hot and extremely humid, due to the abundance and frequency of rain for the month of June. Between the unhurried meal, soothing conversation, hot humid weather, and a perfect full moonlit night, I wasn’t sure if I was in Norman, OK or the middle of Mississippi. It turned out to be a perfect lead-in for the book selection, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin.

This spellbinding novel opens like many of the stories of the Deep South. It is a story of contrasts but this book is not what it seems on the surface. Mr. Franklin very carefully weaves a story of two protagonists with the chapters of the book often alternating in time. It opens with Silas “32” Jones as an adult. He is now the town constable dealing with everything from rattlesnakes in mailboxes to a murder of a local small-time drug dealer. This isn’t an usual workday for the poorly paid police officer whose main job is to direct traffic twice a day as the workers arrive and leave the mill. There are murders in the book, but pay them no mind; its core is the early brief friendship of Larry & Silas.

In the late 1970’s, they formed a friendship for a short but very pivotal time one summer. This happened at a time when racial tensions were still strong but they were in a bubble of sorts out in the rough timber of the large acreage that belonged to Larry’s father. Larry Ott was white, and the only child of working-class parents while Silas “32” Jones was raised as an only child in a black, single-parent household, transplanted from urban Chicago to the backwoods of Chabot, Mississippi. Their worlds were as different as night and day, yet for a few months, the boys were about to step outside of their circumstances and share a special bond. Unfortunately, this fragile bond is fractured once outsiders become involved.

Larry had always been the “different” kid in the class. Outnumbered by race, he suffered from an early bout of stuttering, battled several childhood illnesses, and was asthmatic. Add to the mix his love of reading Stephen King novels and you have a perfect outcast. He became known as “Scary Larry.” Silas, on the other hand, made his way through those awkward years taking a different path. He handled his situation as many young people moved from a large city to a small town. He wanted a ticket out and relied on his athletic ability to get away but not before tragedy strikes the town. 

When they both were still in high school, something terrible happened one hot summer night that had the town still talking about it years later. Larry took a girl named Cindy to a drive-in movie, and she was never heard from again. She was never found and there was no confession, but all eyes rested on Larry. Everyone knew Larry was weird to begin with, now the town decided he had a dark side too. This broke the friendship apart and Silas left town to stake his claim to fame in baseball at Old Miss.

Over twenty years have passed. Larry lives a solitary existence, never able to rise above the whispers and conjecture. Silas has returned to Chabot as a constable with all traces of his “northern” mannerisms gone. He & Larry have no reason to cross paths until another young girl disappears. Once again, the town blames Larry. Who else could it be? Then there’s an attempt on Larry’s life. Now these two men are forced to confront the past they’ve ignored or buried for years.

Part of our discussion dealt with the strong racial overtones throughout the book that made some of the readers uncomfortable. For some, it bordered on stereotyping and others found it hard to believe it exists as Mr. Franklin portrays it. However, those of us who have strong ties to the South, affirmed this is quite typical even today. It’s just not on the surface as it was in the 60’s, especially when inter-racial dating and the glass ceiling of class status is involved.

Throughout the book, there seemed to be this foreboding that things are not going to end well. With each chapter, one got the feeling that things were slipping and only getting worse. You hope against hope that it will brighten for Larry but the deck is stacked against him with years of isolation and general hatred of his very existence. Silas knows things but he’s not talking. Why? There are reasons, but not what you suspect.

Overall the book rated 4.45, receiving a wide spread on the scores. Those who finished the book expressed happiness with the ending. That may have had something to do with some of the higher ratings. Those who rated it lower seemed to struggle with the author’s portrayal of the bigotry and why Larry stayed and why Silas came back. Regardless, it was a book that brought a great deal of discussion about how much times have progressed but have they really changed that much after all? Change comes slowly and even slower, when situations seem to hold it back. This book has many twists and turns that keeps the reader engaged.

While I was listening to this on CD and all during the discussion, I kept thinking about a magnet I bought that reminded me of living in a small rural community in my late teens. It says “There’s not much to see or do in a small town, but the talk sure makes up for it.” That pretty well sums it up for Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter for me. It doesn’t matter about the time or place; it’s all about the talk of the town.

June 2014 Book Club

This day finds us at the halfway mark of 2014. This is the Chinese Year of the Horse and it is certainly galloping past us. It has been a beautiful spring with no storms to speak of and temps that have not veered over into summer just yet. June's book club found us congregating on Pam's patio. It was so nice outside that we spent most of our evening there enjoying the lighter summer salads, and chicken and veggies off the grill. Lou made blueberry cheesecake pops and Laura brought peanut butter mouse.

Arnora made it back from her trip to the UK in one piece and we were glad to have her back. We missed Janie because her surprise birthday party earlier in the day went longer than expected and Terry could not be with us.

July's book club book is "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter" by Tom Franklin at Barb's. Carla G pointed out that in August we will be reading our 150th. In August, we'll be at Denise's house for a sleepover to celebrate. Bring your suggestions for August's book. We may want to revisit a favorite book in honor of this momentous event.

Our book this month was The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro. The synopsis of the story is that our protagonist is a struggling artist who copies the master art works for a reproduction company.  A previous relationship went south when she let her married-artist boyfriend take credit for a painting she did. She is black-balled in the Boston art community when she tries to set the record straight and he denies it. Sometime later she is approached by a gallery owner and art dealer to make a copy of a Degas painting called "After the Bath". This painting was one of 13 stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in 1990. The painting has now surfaced and the idea is that Claire will copy the painting for an interest buy and the original will be returned to the museum.

The story is told from three vantage points; Claire's present day circumstances, Claire's past relationships with Issac and the letters of Isabella Stewart Gardner's letters to her niece chronicling her relationship with Degas.

The mystery begins when immediately Claire recognizes that the Degas is a very good forgery and she begins a relationship with the gallery owner Aidan Markel.

For this month, we had set out to find a fun book that was lighter in subject matter than our past couple of selections. I believe we succeeded.  The consensus that it was entertaining but not great literature. It was a light mystery with a lot of interesting information about art, forgeries and copies.  Before I read the book I didn't realize the difference. It is not against the law to copy an original painting or event to sell it, as long as you are clear it is a copy. The forger tries to pass his work off as an original and that is where the problem lies. According to the book about 40% of paintings sold into private collections are forgeries.

We all agreed that Claire was naive in her relationships with men and that got her into trouble both times. Some of the dialogue was a little "cheesy" and in the end she solved the mystery and was on her way to becoming a famous artist - "All's well that ends well," comes to mind. The book rated 3.72.

I will not be with you in July - so I will be looking for a guest blogger ....

May 2013 Book Club

In the news "if it bleeds - it leads!" Thankfully, there isn't any bloodshed in my "lead" story but it's still worth reporting. I was having lunch with Arnora this past week and she informed me that her car had been broken into. Well, not so much broken into as entered in the middle of the night because she left it outside and unlocked and items were missing! The rascally thief had run off with her book on CD from the Library and a small hardcover notebook I'd given her at Christmas before last (the irony!) However, the last laugh is on our thief. He/She neglected to hit the eject button on the CD player and will be mightily confused by the story. The Library was willing to work with her and will simply report the book missing. Considering the caliber of the thief, my guess is they will return the CD's to the Library book drop under cover of darkness. All is well, that ends well. 

Another happy ending was the ending to the work week and a book club sleep over at Laura's! We had a very tasty assortment of salads, served with Gazpacho, breads and various cheeses and dips. Terry topped it off with a coconut cream cake. Diana made a cocktail called "Dark and Stormy" and Carla A provided us with John Collins (not Tom, he stayed home). This was graduation weekend and try as we might, we just couldn't figure out a night when everyone could be there. We missed Lou, Denise, Barb, Pam, Janie.

Being out at Laura's made us feel like we were spending a weekend away in a wooded lodge. It was lovely to wake up to the trees and the birds at the feeder. We had a late breakfast of scrambled eggs, homemade scones and assorted fruits with our morning coffee. But, all this comes after our discussion of this months book, The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri. We had previously read her book of short stories "Interpreter of Maladies." 

The Lowland is about two brothers, Subhash and Udayan, who are growing up in the 1960's in India. They are teenagers as Indira Ghandi takes office and the "Naxalite" movement is taking shape. A group of people whose intent it is to eradicate inequity and poverty. But as all rebellions are - they are considered subversive. The two brothers are opposite in their temperament but inseparable.That is until Subhash goes to America to study and Udayan becomes more and more involved in the movement and marries a girl not approved of by his parents. Udayan's death brings Subhash home. As the ever dutiful son and brother he arranges to marry his brother's widow and to raise her unborn child as his own. "Udayan is a victim of his own self-made political violence and Subhash becomes a victim of his own goodness." quoted from Amazon's review.  The rest of the book is about how the family copes with the death of this favored son, brother and husband. 

One of the central themes, as Darby pointed out, was time. The author takes care to describe the internal relationship that the characters have with time. Their different perspectives and how they use time in various ways that help them cope with their loss. The book comes full circle at the end with Udayan and Gauri's daughter, Bela, combining the restless nature of her parents with her desire to become as good a mother as her uncle was a father to her. Another review I read pointed out that, while this is a multi-generational family story and these characters live in close proximity, the book is about their aloneness and how they try to avoid those closest to them. 

The book was well received. All nine present had finished the book (or were within a few pages.) The book rate a 3.93275 (or something like that, haha, it rated a little better than pi).

June's book club will be at Pam's. A late breaking development. We opted to put off The Invention of Wings as some were tired of the subject of slavery and others were hoping for a novel with a lighter tone for the summer. Instead, we will read The Art Forger.