January 2017 Book Club

I do believe this is a first in a year. I will actually publish and update the blog the day after book club! I for one am happy to see 2016 come to an end. I'm looking forward to reading all the books this year.

Just like I have a problem believing that we have come to the end of another year - it is hard to get my head around the fact that I am writing January's blog. Yet, here we are battling the bi-polar weather of January. We've had a light snow and temps in the teens all the way to sunny and 76. Welcome to winter in Oklahoma. We actually postponed book club for a week due the icy weather and, only half of us could attend. We missed, Lou, Darby, Pam, Leslie, Carla A, Tammy, Terry and Denise. Diana hosted the annual pajama party. Laura brought a giant bowl of popcorn for the movie and "Not Your Father's Root Beer." Diana made an egg and sausage casserole, Lis brought a French Toast casserole that tastes like baked French Toast and Carla G brought marinated cherry tomatoes, cheese and, the OJ for the Mimosa's. Diana provided the champagne. Arnora brought the beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers.

In December, we read a Truman Capote short story. This elevated the group's curiosity about him. Most people were familiar with novel "In Cold Blood" and the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's, based on one of his novellas. We thought the first too dark so, we decided on Tiffany's. We arrived early at Diana's to watch the movie so we could compare and contrast them for our discussion.

It had been quite a while since I had seen the movie and even longer since I had read the book and, I enjoyed both. As usual, Hollywood tinkers with the book and there are a few differences. I thought, for the most part, they stayed true to the story but, there were a couple of obvious differences and, they changed the ending to give it a more palatable, "fairy tale" happy ending.

Paul Varjak, newly published and struggling author, moves into the building where Holly Golightly lives. Holly is beautiful and elusive, she has the beauty and fashion sense of an heiress but lives on the "kindness" of strangers. Men, whose cab fares and powder room tips help pay her rent. And, she litters her staircase with the broken hearts and hopes of the men she uses.  She is also paid to carry messages from a mobster, Sally Tomato,  in Sing Sing to his "attorney" once a week. She and Paul strike up a friendship and he becomes one of the many who is taken in by her charms. 

One of the changes is that the book is set in the war-time of the 1940's and the movie updated for the time of filming in the 1960's. Holly's lighthearted and cheerful persona is hiding a past she's runaway from and, she's been on her own since age 14.

Holly, is looking for a rich husband but all her efforts are thwarted for one reason or another. And, Holly has adopted a stray tom cat she won't name. She feels like they are the same type; vagabonds who don't belong to anyone. And, you can't have a name unless you belong.

Truman Capote has a very succinct writing style. His prose doesn't exactly read like poetry but it does evoke emotions and paints a vivid picture with few words. At first, Holly seems distant and indifferent. She studies up on the subjects of the interests of the men she is wooing. She captivates them with her attention and then withdraws it. Very effectively playing the seductive cat and mouse game. And, she manages to surround her self with wealthy and powerful players, if somewhat shady. She allows herself to be vulnerable with Paul because he reminds her of her brother, Fred, who is in the army.

The big difference that I saw between the book and the movie is that in the book, Paul is not a kept man. In the movie, he has a rich but, married benefactress that pays for and decorates his apartment in exchange for his sexual favors. He and Holly are two sides of the same coin. As their relationship deepens, they become judgmental of the others lifestyle and it causes them problems.

The other big difference is in the ending. In both movie and book, Holly ends up in a relationship with a wealthy and prominent Brazilian. He asks her to marry him but, on the eve of her flight to Brazil, she is arrested for her relationship with Sally Tomato. The Brazilian abandons her because he can't be associated with the scandal. She is still determined to use her ticket.

In the movie, she abandons the cat on the way to the airport but, changes her mind. She rescues the cat in the rain. The final scene has Holly and Paul embroiled in embrace kissing in the rain. Applause, applause, end scene.

In the book, Holly abandons the cat on the way to the airport - but gets on the plane leaving both the cat and Paul behind. She does make Paul promise to find "cat" and take care of it. He goes back later for the cat and finds it sitting in a window of an apartment having been rescued. Paul hears through the local bar owner about Holly's whereabouts after leaving Brazil but they are not reunited.

Honestly, this is one time when I liked both endings. The romantic in me (I know you don't think I have one, haha) is happy when they find the cat and get together. They are "made for each other."

But, the truer version, I believe is the book version. When Holly's much older husband shows up to try and take her home, she tells him that "Your mistake, Doc, was in loving a wild thing. You can never love a wild thing." Doc had rescued Holly and her brother Fred when they'd been abandoned by their own family. Holly is like the wild tom cat. And Paul's mistake would be in trying to love the wild thing. Holly's true nature would have her using ticket and chasing the ever elusive dream of finding the wealthy husband. I think, if the movie had played out, eventually Holly would not have been able to confine herself and I believe she'd have left Paul anyway, just at a later date.

The other debate that seems to go on around this story is whether or not to classify Holly as a full fledged prostitute. Was Sally Tomato her pimp? Maybe there was more to that story of her carrying the weather reports. Whether she was or not, it is made clear that she uses her sexuality to survive.

There are some serious subjects attacked in this book and, I like the way the movie treated them with a light-hearted humor. I particularly like the scene of them stealing the Halloween masks in the five and dime AND getting the cracker jack ring engraved at Tiffany's. It's very Pink Panther-like. The movie is directed by Blake Edwards, who also directed Pink Panther so that makes sense. Paul Varjak's only published work is called Nine Lives. That book sets the theme. Holly is like the book's title and the cat she won't name.  When we know her, she is only on life #2. This also makes me think she wouldn't have stayed with Paul in the end.

Truman Capote was disappointed with the movie. He had written it with Marilyn Monroe in mind. But it has stood the test of time as a Hollywood Classic.

The book rated a 4 for those who were in attendance.

Tammy will host book club in February! We will get to see her newly remodeled home. Our book author Michael Chabon's "Moonglow."

December Book Club 2016

"And so this is Christmas... and what have you done? Another year over, a new one just begun!"

Each year, when I write the Christmas book club blog, I am always amazed that the year is over. And what a year it has been. So much change and transition for most of us this year.

First, I want to thank Diana for taking over the blog for me a good part of this year. My life's challenges didn't leave much room for reading or writing. I appreciated Diana recording the history!

Among the many changes this year, Darby and Nate made the big move to Chicago. But, in her leaving, she introduced us to Leslie. We are so grateful that she is here. Tammy and Randall bought a home in the Blanchard area and plan to stay! And several of us experienced close personal losses. Among the many challenges I had this year, the one constant in my life and always at the top of my gratitude list is this wonderful group of women and the love, support and friendship you all provide. It's wonderful to have you to celebrate with and to know that you are also there during the tough times.

That said, welcome to our December 2016 Book Club and Tea Party. We were missing Pam, Lou, Janie and Darby. But, Laura opened her home to the rest of us with a beautiful tea party as you will see from the photos scattered throughout this post. Laurie's home was beautifully decorated, warm and welcoming.  And those who could, spent the night. Doug was a gracious photographer and took our traditional Christmas photo posted above. For those that stayed over, we were treated to a breakfast casserole with fruit and coffee.

In recent years, we have decided to forgo the usual novel. The holidays are so busy that we have instead chosen to read poetry or short stories. This year's story is Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory." It is a warm and nostalgic memory of a seven year old "Buddy" and his 60 year old cousin who is a grandmotherly figure. They have lived in the same house with other relatives as long as he can remember. The story takes place sometime around 1940 in  the years coming out of the Great Depression and just entering WWII. The family lives in a rural setting and is very poor. However, Buddy and his cousin save their pennies all year so they can make fruitcakes for Christmas presents. They even send one to President Roosevelt. They cut their own Christmas tree, make ornaments out of construction paper and exchange hand made kites for their own presents. Buddy is writing the story 20 years after it takes place. The following year he was sent to boarding school and life goes on. He continues to correspond with her until her death. I have always enjoyed the few things I have read by Truman Capote. He has a way with language that is concise but descriptive. This whole story takes places on six typed pages.  Everyone liked the story and it whetted our appetite.

We had our annual gift exchange of baked goods, ornaments, candles and tea towels. Diana put together a notebook of favorite book club recipes and comments from the blog. It is something we can add to in the coming years.

January's book will be Capote's "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Most are familiar with the movie staring Audrey Hepburn. Diana will host our traditional January pajama party.

November Book Club 2016

Welcome to November 2016 Book Club hosted by Carla Gibbs. We had a beautiful night for this Thanksgiving meeting. As we move in to November we're still in the low 70's and high 60's during the day but, the evening temp of 54 was perfect for having our discussion near the fire pit on Carla's new patio. We missed Leslie, Lou, Arnora, Janie, Darby and Barb. We wish Barb a speedy recovery from her recent surgery. As for Darby, we are just jealous. She was able to attend at least one of the Cubs home games and got to revel in their first World Series Win in 108 years. We all agreed whether we were baseball fans or not that this was an exciting year! We were excited to include my sister, Karen Brackeen, who was visiting from Roanoke, Texas.

As usual, everyone out did themselves on our meal. As the hostess, Carla provided turkey breast, gravy, wine & tea. Terry brought excellent dressing. Laura brought holiday potatoes and Liz brought sweet potato casserole and her Mayan Hot Chocolate. Tammy brought roasted brussel sprouts with bacon, Diana brought pumpkin pie and Denise brought Holiday Cookies. Pam brought rolls. My sister contributed mini gingersnap muffins and wine.

Our book, Anna and The Swallow Man rated a 4 out of 5 and we had a very interesting discussion. The book opens in 1939 in Krakow, Poland as events are leading up to Hitler's WWII. Anna is seven as the book opens and her linguistics Professor father has been rounded up in one of the first waves of the Jews being sent to the concentrations camps. Anna observes a man who seems to be able to communicate with the Swallow bird and soon they form an unlikely pair trying to survive "off the grid" as the war progresses over the next four years.  As we discussed the book, it dawned on me that their journey was similar in nature to the Exodus.  Led by Moses, the Jews wondered in a circle for 40 years only 11 miles from their promised land.

We never do find out the true identity of The Swallow Man but the narrative alludes to the danger of anyone finding out who he is. Without saying it directly, we are led to believe that he has something to do with the invention of the atomic bomb and he does not want to be the instrument of global death. The Swallow Man is kind to Anna and protects her fiercely. He becomes a surrogate father and it is also hinted that Swallow Man had previously lost a daughter. Anna and The Swallow Man are always walking and always on the move to avoid detection. They do not use their real names or tell the truths about where they come from. The make temporary friends along the way to survive.  And their survival requires that they see and do some rather unsavory things. Denise deduced that Swallow Man had Graves disease that had to be treated adding additional complications to their journey.

The story ends with Anna on a boat moving through the fog to an unknown future. Several of us felt the ending was abrupt and ambiguous leaving us feeling unsettled. The story was not wrapped up for us and Anna's future and safety are left to our imagination. Laura pointed out that this was done intentionally as life is the big mystery and we live in the questions. She also pointed out that there was speculation as to whether the Swallow Man was real or a figment of Anna's imagination. The story is told in a metaphorical way with the characters represented as archetypes. So, we get to also decide if he is real or imagined.

I understand the idea of living in the mystery and the questions of life. We're all living in the "unknown" know matter how we try to construct our lives.  I did like the book, but I am still thinking about whether or not I liked the ending. For me it's more about the abruptness of the ending that the vagueness.

Our next book is A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote and we will meet at Laura's house on
December 2.

I was thinking that it might be time to update our photo for the Facebook page. We might keep that in mind as well.

October Book Club 2016

We had a gorgeous fall evening for book club at a Arnora's home. Pam, Denise, Lou, Tammy, Terry, and Carla Gibbs could not be with us for our discussion of The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. Darby, sorry we didn't FaceTime call you, we were going to and then, well you know...we get distracted too easily, promise to next month.

Arnora provided sausage rolls and the perfect gin and tonic. Laura brought delicious cheeses and olives, Barb brought a mixed kale salad, Janie brought homemade baked bread and almond butter, Diana brought garlic roasted potatoes, Leslie brought pumpkin squares, Lis brought pumpkin ice cream and Carla a brought the flowers and lemon yogurt almonds. 

As always, Arnora brought out our 10 year "calendar girl "photo. I always look forward to seeing it. It brings up great memories of a fun night! And we want to arrange sometime in 2017, when we have one of those perfect meetings where we are all together, a 15 year anniversary photo of us! I do believe Janie's reserved a place on the back row of the photo, step stool required. :-)

We had a lively discussion of our book. We picked it because it seemed like a spooky mystery for the Halloween month. Everyone generally like the book most giving it a 3.

Let me help to me redefine 1-5 rating system. 

#1. equals I hate the book and I want throw the book out the window and run over it with my car.  
#2 is hating the book but I wouldn't hurt it and I wouldn't  recommended it. 

#3 Is I liked it. It was interesting but not necessarily an emotional or great read. 
#4 is nearly great, an interesting story with great writing. 
And #5 is so good you need a cigarette after. A story that takes me on an emotional journey and one that I can't put down.

Leslie said for her a #3 is one she liked and didn't feel compelled to roll her eyes at. A number two involves lots of I rolling.

The premise of our book is that our protagonist Laura "Lo" Blacklock's, London flat is burgled on the eve of her departure for the maiden voyage of a new Nordic cruise ship. Lo is already a troubled girl. A travel writer for 10 years she's on antidepressants and drinks way too much. She has a boyfriend she's pushing away and leaves for her trip disheveled, sleep deprived, mad at her boyfriend and suffering from PTSD from the burglary. Our mystery begins when Lo borrows a cheap Maybelline mascara from her neighbor in cabin 10. The same night the mysterious woman, in a Pink Floyd T-shirt, ends up missing and Lo spends the rest of the time trying to discover her whereabouts and subsequently trying to escape the killers. 

We agreed the story was interesting enough and kept us just curious about the outcome. We also agreed there was a recent trend in fiction to make the female lead dysfunctional, disheveled and an alcoholic. These characteristics put our heroine at an immediate disadvantage of being not only an unreliable narrator, but also an unreliable character. She questions herself and so has trouble convincing others of what she has seen.

Some of the writing got a little tedious and repetitive. A lot of the internal dialogue slowed the story down. However she did paint a vivid picture of the ship which was a small boutique cruise line and opulent in every way. I didn't have much trouble picturing it. Although a couple who had been on a cruise didn't think the cabin numbers were described accurately. The book reminded me of Agatha Christie's death on the Nile which is also a murder taking place on ship. This is a tool Christie used in most of her novels. She confines the set specs to a small setting where there was no means of escape such  as trains and cruise ships. Christie's stories were not stories of emotional journey but one of connecting the dots and figuring out the puzzle. Diana ended up caring a lot about Carrie, our antagonist, and hoped for her redemption and escape. Lo seems a bit of a static character right up until the end of the story but, the events on the ship caused her to reevaluate her life and make some major decisions.

It just dawned on me as I write this and think about the ending, what if Carrie was behind it all from the start, she could have convinced Bomar to kill his wife. She did end up with the money after all and perhaps the "gift" was hush money.

Our November 4th meeting is at Carla Gibbs home and our book is "Anna and the Swallow Man" by Gravel Savit.

September Book Club 2016

This months book club was held at Terry's house in Newcastle. We had a gorgeous night for having our dinner out on the patio. We missed Darby but, she called briefly to say hi and sent us a quote that related to the book we; also miss Janie, Denise, Barb and Carla A.

Dinner was delicious as usual. Terry provided an extra large, fabulous quiche and we had several salads, anti-pasta appetizers fruit and cake for dessert.

Our book this month was a memoir entitled When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams. 

She tells the story of losing her mother to cancer when she was 24 and her mother was 54. She has waited until she is the age that her mother was when she died to tell the story. The week before her mother passed, she tells Terry that she is leaving her her journals. When Terry finds the journals she discovers that they are all blank. The story she tells is her journey and trying to discover what the blank journals mean. 

The book rated a 3.9 with most having resonated with the story of the mother and daughter. Diana, Liz, Tammy and Arnora did not particularly relate to the story. We discovered that it was a very different experience having listened to the book,  rather than having read the hardcopy

I enjoyed the book a great deal. I thought she did a good job of weeding the story of her life through her struggles witj religion, nature and the environment tabs her own marriage. She fines 54 different meanings or, possible meanings for the point journals.

As I've been going through my mothers end of life transition, I have had a bit of a struggle about some things in her life and trying to make sense of them. My mother did not journal in notebooks but, grabbed random pieces of paper, packs of envelopes and check registers. She stuffed these notes in a variety of places around the house and we found them while looking for her important papers. We put them in a box and we don't know whether to keep or burn them. Her journal notes were we're not particularly poetic, they were written in fits of anger and frustration at both her husband and her daughters. What I found most compelling about the blank journal pages, is that you can never truly know anyones history or their internal make up. My mother had a life before I came along and she and my father had 40 years after I left home. My mother doesn't really know me. And likewise there are many things my son does not know about me. And as I mentioned, Carla has instructions to burn my journals if I go first.

I think the book resonated with me because of my current circumstances of course. I thought much of the prose was poetic and, I think that also did not translate into the audio version of the book.

Arnora has agreed to host next month, Carla G will host in November, and Laura will host December. Our October book will be The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. 

August Book Club 2016

August 5th bookclub was at Denise's. I'm piecing together this blog from bits off our Facebook posts so it is a recounting of others comments and some from a book description.

Denise prepared Sante Fe black beans and roasted chicken. Lis brought bread and cheese, Carla Gibbs brought a salad, Laura brought fruit, Terry brought homemade cookies for dessert, and Barb brought Sangria; there was probably more that I might have missed as Sherrie and I arrived just in time for dinner.

~ from Elisabeth: Denise, thank you for having us for bookclub and sharing your beautiful home with the gorgeous view of the lake for the evening. It was a wonderful and relaxing time with good discussion and yummy summer food. What a nice surprise that Darby and Pam facetimed in, woohoo! Love my STNM ladies.

For a few of us"A Murder in Time" seemed a challenge reading or finishing because the library connected this book to a free limited time digital download that had a too soon expiration. You can buy it, and those that did and who finished it were Barb, Laura, Lis, Arnora, Sherrie, and Denise. Overall they liked the book rating it a 3.9.

Julie McElwain’s debut novel combines mystery and historical fiction (with a bit of time travel). The protagonist, FBI agent Kendra Donovan, suddenly finds herself 200 years earlier in time at a British castle, where she needs to solve multiple gruesome murders and catch a serial killer.

Our September 9th meeting is at Terry's and our read is "When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice" by Terry Tempest William.
~ Happy reading, Diana
-

July Book Club 2016

We had a nice evening and so pleased, and a bit surprised that we had such a nice turn out for a Wednesday night meeting. We missed Barb, Laura and Darby but we were 13 in all and it was nice to have Lou in town. As usual, there were so many conversations and stories (although I doubt any porch lies, ha!) that I had a hard time keeping up with all the goings on but I'll give myself a break this time since I was hosting. 

The food was superb with awesome salads, chicken, relish plates, and coconut cream pie for dessert, thanks everyone for contributing. Darby you were with us in spirit, literally, as I made pitchers of frozen watermelon daiquiris with your Osterizer blender. We emptied three bottles of wine and some hard lemonade, too!

Porch Lies was fairly well received, with Janie and I giving it the highest rating of 4, we really liked it, and lowest rating of 1.5 by Sherrie who didn't care for the story. Overall most others rated it a 3-3.5. The avg is 3.2 for 13 members. 

Our August 5th meeting is at Denise's new home. Our Our next big read is literally one of Pioneer Library ebooks Big Reads, "A Murder in Time" by Julie McElwain’s and is a debut novel. It is NOT available on Audible, but it is free on the PSL Digital Download. It is only an eBook BIG READ, and not in hard copy at the library. 

Until the same time next month...Diana