Hello Everyone,
It has been a hectic two weeks diving back into the school year. Each day I get up at 5:00 A.M., meditate through yoga, then proceed to embrace the day! Anyway, with all the embracing I've been doing, I simply haven't had time to write to you. Soon it will be time for our next book club which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, September 17 at Kairo's Coffee House. This, however is the night of Butler's Battle of the Bands and my nephew David is performing in it for the last time. It is his senior year. Can we change the date to either Tuesday, September 16 or to Wednesday, September 24? Everyone, send me an email to let me know!
To bring everyone up-to-date on last month's meeting, our August book club was a scrumptious hit! There were seven members in attendance: Becky, Cheryl, Christine, Ginnie, Jody, Lori, and myself. The meeting was hosted at Lori's southwestern style villa overlooking the golden corn vineyards of Penn Township.Our read, A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi, transported us on an intimate journey with the author to the very heart of this delicious Italian city. One thing we learned from De Blasi's book, "when in Italy, eat!" So eat we did. Everyone brought an Italian dish to compliment our Venetian theme night. Lori prepared a lovely table for us on her veranda where we began our evening with Italian wine then ate in ecstasy from a course consisting of a ziti pasta with ricotta cheese, a creamy leek casserole, Italian bread with brochette, Tuscan tuna salad on whole wheat pita, a red grape walnut salad, and Italian chocolate scones. We ended our meal with a lemony flavored and richly sweet after dinner liquor called Limoncello.
Although dining occupied most of our evening, we did enjoy a smattering of book discussion. De Blasi's book could have easily been picked apart if time allowed. In our discussion, we shared our feelings about Marlena's decision to give up her life to marry the "stranger." In a quote that reminds me of myself, De Blasi points out that she is an "eternal beginner." She was used to starting over again. Although it sounds risky, mostly everyone was in agreement that to find love again, later in life, would be something they would try. With children grown and gone, the fear of growing old alone would be a principal reason to remarry.
We loved De Blasi's style of writing. She not only described her experiences in Venice with literary flare, she also reinvented the art of cooking with her luscious poetic use of the language of food. In her daily adventures to find the best in Italian cuisine, she led us through the streets of Venice, along the piers, into the markets, the alleys, and the hidden taverns of the working class Venetians. We met the fishmongers, the butcher, the egg lady, ancient Lidia, and the fruit seller. "Life," as an old Venetian explained to Marlena, "is a search for beauty." DeBlasi presented that picture of beauty to us and her never-ending search to find it from her wanderings, her cooking, her decorating, to her loving.
In loving, Marlena supported her husband Fernando's search for beauty, the beauty within himself. In a quote from Virginia Wolfe, she explained Fernando's journey toward inner peace, "In order to breathe, he must first break all the windows." How many of us have felt that need to break all the windows at one time or another. We discussed a passage where DeBlasi recalls her own demons, human miseries such as illness, loneliness, divorce, delusion, etc., which forced her to become stronger. As an old La Sarta, a dressmaker told her, "A little suffering sweetens things." We liked this quote and felt in it a very Catholic influence."
After reading A Thousand Days in Venice, Italy is a definite for my list of future travel destinations. Anyone with me? For now, however, our next reading excursion leads us to China. Our September read is Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. I have started the book and am finding it rather shocking. I'll be anxious to hear your thoughts on the chauvinistic culture of China where discrimination toward women is so deeply rooted, therefore, accepted.
I look forward to seeing you on our new date, either Tuesday, September 16 or Wednesday, September 24. Don't forget to send me an email to let me know.
Yours in reading books,
Tammy
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