November 2009 Book Club "The Little Country" by Charles de Lint (Christmas Home Tour)

Hi Everyone,

It is through stories, legends, and myths that we learn morals, make a connection between the young spirit and the old spirit. How often we forget the importance of our own stories, the treasured imaginings of our childhood. Our November book The Little Country by Charles de Lint reminded some of us of our childhood fantasies and returned us, like Peter Pan, to our lost worlds.

Saturday, November 21, was a memorable book club as we spent the day wandering in and out of the spectacular homes featured on Butler Symphony’s Christmas Home Tour. Who wouldn’t want to live perched atop one of Butler’s most elite neighborhoods in the Buckners’ home or nestled in a pristinely landscaped private golf course in a house like the Bagliers’ home? Between our touring of homes, we discussed The Little Country over lunch at Chili’s Restaurant. Becky, Cheryl, Ginnie, Jody, Lori, and I attended along with junior book club members Makenzie Smith and Kristen Barnhart. My sister Theresa also joined our party which made a group of nine women enjoying all topics of conversation!

Although I could go into considerable length, as is my usual routine, in my response to de Lint’s work, I have little time at this moment. What I need right now is a count on who will be attending our Christmas book club dinner. Becky wants to confirm reservations at St. Jude’s Country Club for our group. Our bookless meeting will be on Saturday, December 12. We will meet at Becky’s Victorian home in Chicora on Water Street at 5:00 P.M. for drinks and appetizers then drive to St. Jude’s for dinner at 6:30 P.M. Husbands and friends are welcome to join us.

Consider the evening a continuation of the Christmas home tour or a preview of what you missed if you were not with us to ooh and awe at some of Butler’s Victorian homes such as Tom Panei’s residence on N. McKean St. Butler’s own Picasso, Mr. Panei’s home is tastefully decorated in an eclectic mix of modern abstract art and historical pieces. The Nanni home, also on N. McKean St., and the Rose Haven Bed and Breakfast on N. Main St. dating back to 1826, also gave us glimpses of the Victorian architecture which you will see on your visit to the Ferguson’s Chicora home.

“A good book reflects the reader as much as it illuminates the author’s text.” I agree with this quote of Peter Groninan's from The Little Country. Come and join us for our holiday celebration, and “reflect” the books we have shared throughout our 6 years of reading together.

Yours in Reading,
Tammy

October 2009 Book Club 5 Year Anniversary "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyers

Hi Everyone,

Our last book club met on October 20, 2009, at my house. Ginnie, Cheryl, Jody, Lori and I were in attendance. The book we discussed was Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, the young adult book rage at this time.

As intimidating as the number of pages in the book may seem for young teens, the Twilight books are favorites among my students at school this year. It was the number one book students read for my summer reading requirement (among those who actually did it). In addition, like Harry Potter before it, the Twilight books turned to movies are increasing its popularity even more. So what is the draw? At book club we attempted to analyze this very question.

Yes, the first movie was great. I enjoyed it immensely. The story of vampires mesmerizing beautiful young women with their tantalizing charm is age old, but it still works. The Twilight producers just placed the story into a setting where all teens can connect, high school. Feeling the odd girl out, having just moved to the state of Washington to live with her dad, Bella takes quickly to her lab partner, the also odd but alluring Edward. The movie uses winsome gazes and transfixed stares to lock you along with Bella into the clutches of Edward.

The book does the same. As Edward admits his obsession for Bella, her smell, her mind, we like Bella are attracted to his magnetism. The pages turn fast, very easy reading for reluctant readers who want to be part of the latest book craze. Jody made a very observant analysis of the book; however, what message is Bella’s fixation for Edward sending to young girls? It reads as if it is okay to be passionate to the point of mania. In Twilight, Bella never steps back from her feelings for the dangerous Edward despite the warnings from her friends. Instead, she continues to want more, even living-death if that is what it takes for her to be with him always.

I intend to see the next Twilight movie, New Moon, but doubt if I’ll read the book. I will, on the other hand, recommend the books to my Secondary Reading students, and like Harry Potter, I’m glad I took the time to read the latest in today’s pop culture.

A very interesting vocabulary word from Twilight was brought to our attention by Jody at the October meeting. Get this! The word is “misogynistic” meaning a hatred of women and girls! I didn’t know there was a word to define it. All of us have known men in our lives, workplaces, churches, communities who we know deeply hate women. Now we have a word for them. Other forms of the word include misogyny, misogynist. The accent is on the second syllable when you say the word.

Our next meeting will be on November 21, next Saturday. The book is The Little Country by Charles de Lint. For our meeting we are going to spend the day on the Butler Symphony Holiday House Tour then have our book talk during lunch. Tickets are available at May’s Music store $15 presale and $18 on the day of the tour. We will meet at the Clearview Mall in the TJ Maxx side parking lot at 9:50 A.M. leaving by 10:00 A.M. for the tour. Hope to see you there with or without a book!

Yours in reading,
Tammy

September 2009 Book Club "A Thousand Days in Tuscany" by Marlena de Blasi

Hi Everyone,

What a dynamic September meeting we enjoyed, if you missed it! Although, most all of our members and a few new ones were present for our first meeting ever held at Mama Rosa’s Restaurant. We had seven regular members in attendance, Ginnie, Cheryl, Becky, Lori, Sharon, Jody, and me. Also, adjunct member Nancy Lendyak joined us along with her mother and aunt. It was an evening of robust conversation accompanied by flavorful Italian cuisine. Our book, A Thousand Days in Tuscany by Marlena De Blasi, did not meet the mark as one of our most memorable reads; however, small vignettes describing the Tuscan people and their customs gave us ample dinner dialogue.

Reading A Thousand Days in Tuscany for me was like walking through a fog, in some places it was dense and gray, and then I would turn a page and a clear blue sky would open up. My attention was drawn to the seasonal activities of the Tuscans, their seemingly simple and wholesome lifestyle. On page 34, De Blasi writes that the Tuscan’s are only interested in three things: the weather, birth and death, and food. It makes sense to me!

The accounts of weather changes are my favorite parts of the book. The seasons brought on the changes in weather, and with each new season, Marlena became actively involved in the harvesting and preserving of nature’s bounty. From gathering eggs, picking grapes, and uprooting truffles to boiling chestnuts, pressing olives, and canning peaches, Marlena participated in all of the Tuscan rituals.

My favorite of all the seasonal gleanings, however, was the winter olive harvest. Anecdotes such as the history of the olive, a Greek myth, tell how Athena grew the olive from the stones of Acropolis as a fruit of civility. Symbolic for “life,” the olive became sacred. Its oils have been used for over 8000 years for sacraments and anointing from birth to death. To this day, the Tuscans wash their newborn babies in the oils. The book even says, and Jody can be our expert on this fact, that “the medical community advises the consumption of extra virgin olive oil to help lower the evil side of blood cholesterol.” Most interesting, finally, is the use of olive oils as a facial moisturizer. Marlena shares that ever since she was a teenager, she has washed her face with it! A much cheaper remedy than my Estee Lauder beauty regimen.

Although A Thousand Days in Tuscany did not offer a suspenseful plot, it did contain many valuable quotes and words of wisdom. If I can remember just a few, one would certainly be “… simplicity is the last thing a person considers as he’s madly searching for the secret to life,” and another “When choosing a mate, be certain it’s the one with whom you want to share your dying as much as your living.” I would love to spend a year with the Tuscan people and learn how to simplify my life. 24 hours in a day seem to contract more and more as I get older. Why is that? I should be enjoying the freedom that comes with the empty nest, but I haven’t had the time! Maybe it is as De Blasi says, “Like so many other things we used to do to survive, canning just doesn’t make all that much sense now.” I just need to eliminate the things in my life that “don’t make sense” anymore, like cleaning!

In moving on, as a result of our extremely vigorous discussion, we neglected to pick a vocabulary word of the month for September. Marlena’s book is over-abundant with rich word choices and figurative language like raconteur (a narrator, chronicler, story teller) on p 17 or febrile (feverish, flushed, hot, red) on p 111. While reading, though, I was focusing mostly on Italian words making translations by using my meager Spanish background. How about these Italian phrases “I love the dolce e salata (sweet and salty) taste of kettle corn,” or “I am a lupo solitario (a lone wolf)!” For your homework, then, bring a word with you to our next meeting from the book A Thousand Days in Tuscany and a word from our next book Twilight, so we can decide on our words for both September and October.

This book really calls out for us to reschedule our long postponed trip to the wine country. I am willing to resurrect my itinerary and tweak it to fit a more casual weekend excursion! Let’s make it happen, girls! We can talk at our next book club meeting. I would like to change our meeting place from Panera Bread to my house if that is okay with all of you. Remember, our book is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and our meeting is on Tuesday, October 20 at 6 P.M. at my house. It will be a special occasion, the 6th anniversary of our book club!

Happy Fall Foliage,

Tammy

July 2009 Book Club "The Shack" by William P. Young

Hi Everyone,

Our book club which met on Wednesday, July 29th was very relaxing. Cheryl, our host, provided us with her charming home along with delicious coffee and scrumptious dessert. Other members who attended in addition to Cheryl and me were Becky, Ginnie, Jody, Mary Beth, and Sharon. As everyone had read the book The Shack by Wm. Paul Young, our discussion at July’s meeting was very interactive. Also, given the religious nature of the topic, it was even a bit controversial. Both ingredients made for a very intellectual book club!

The Shack, it was agreed, was a pleasant read for everyone. Young’s writing style is descriptive enough without being redundant. Although the vocabulary made for fast and smooth reading, there were several vocabulary words worth adding to our word banks. A new addition to our book club will be a feature on unique new words, a good suggestion from Jody. Remember June’s words from the book The Elegance of the Hedgehog:

Kairos – a Greek word which means “the right moment”

wabi – a Japanese word which means “an understated form of beauty”

For The Shack:

fractal – which means “an irregular or fragmented geometric shape which can be

repeatedly subdivided into parts, each of which is a smaller copy of the whole. (Yesterday

when I was peeling an onion, I thought of it as a fractal.)

and also a few root words:

elo – a root which means “him referring to God”

ousia – a root which means “being, thing, substance”

I will post our new words on our blog each month, so they will be available for future reference.

Despite the easy readability, however, at times Young’s explanations of the spiritual realm are intangible. Cheryl and I agreed that we had to reread some passages several times to grasp a concept. For instance, it required some contemplation to understand what the character Sarayu, more familiarly the Holy Spirit, was explaining to Mack about good and evil. She pointed out that good and evil are not as transparent as we humans may think. On pages 136-138, Sarayu recalls the story of Adam and Eve. In choosing the apple they selected to be independent of God, free to be their own judges of what is good and what is evil. As a result of that first act of independence, we also have the choice of being independent from God which invariably means choosing to live in “darkness” or evil or choosing to live in “light” good. However, Sarayu leads Mack to see that there are no absolutes for good and evil, so humans are essentially incapable of accurately judging between the two. It is only by giving up this “independence” and trusting in the Spirit of God that we can return to the “Light” or “Good.” In this passage, Mack comes to see that perceivably bad things such as cancer and homelessness can ultimately be good, but still he struggles with the tragic loss of his daughter. In our book discussion we recalled very recent tragedies in our own communities: a KC student, Shyann Smith hung herself and a former KC alumni, Donna Double was killed on vacation in a motorcycle crash. Since only the Light can understand the good in such incidents of apparent darkness, the circle of contemplation continues.

In Young’s tale, or as Becky pointed out, allegory, we are encouraged to give up what Adam and Eve began, the authority to make decisions. On page 197 Sarayu, the Holy Spirit, states, “I am always with you… you will learn to hear my thoughts in yours.” This is our grace. Although, Sarayu warns Mack, “be willing to reexamine what you believe. The more you live in the truth, the more your emotions will help you see clearly. But even then, you don’t want to trust them more than me.” The word “trust” is the key, trusting that the Spirit is always with us and trusting that the Spirit will help us to discern. The word is a verb, which requires action. On page 205 Sarayu says, “I will take a verb over a noun anytime.” God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are verbs, ever active, every alive, and our trust in their essence must be as vigilant, active. In our acts of trust, Sarayu offers verbs of expression: confessing, repenting, living, loving, responding, growing, reaping, changing, sowing, running, dancing, singing … For something to move away from darkness/ evil, to light/ good, a physical action must occur. During our discussion, we explored our inadequacies as parents, the active roles we played in our children’s lives and the veritable outcomes. For us, the call to “trust” is vitally important and ever so difficult when we consider the consequences of our parental acts. It is only through “trust” that we can take comfort that our actions will ultimately lead to the light.

The Shack is spilling over with thought provoking ideas on God and living. If anyone would like to add to or dispute my interpretations of the book, please respond on our blog at http://www.tsmithKCWWBC@blogspot.com/. This book opens up the opportunity for endless dialogue. For instance, my mother-in-law hated the book. She felt it was sacrilegious. Can anyone find a “justifiable” passage where Young refutes standard Christian beliefs? Negate or support her opinion on our blog.

Our next book club will meet on Thursday, August 27, 6:00 P.M. Our host, Allen Dodd, welcomes us to enjoy discussing our book A Thousand Days in Tuscany by Marlena de Blasi at a notable area winery, the Foxburg Wine Cellars, http://www.foxburgwine.com/about_foxburg. As close to Tuscany as some of us may every get, we will chat under the grape arbor on the cellar’s covered patio. Also, plan on dinner at the winery as we will order ala Italia from the local pizzeria and consume wine from Alan’s house selections.

Thanks to all of you who have made this book club a monthly celebration of friends in books. We will soon be approaching our five year anniversary in October, a milestone!

Yours in Reading,
Tammy

June 2009 Book Club "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery

Hi Everyone,

Those of you that missed last night’s book club missed out on an enchanting Victorian home tour. Thank you, Becky, for allowing us to enjoy your charming home. Becky’s decorating flare, “New England” style as Cheryl identified it, in addition to Becky’s memoirs associated with her various knick-knacks and furnishings transported us to another place and time, kairos (Greek for “the right moment”). Other members besides Cheryl in attendance, Ginnie, Jody, and myself, all relaxed in the ambiance of Becky’s candlelit garden patio. A very “wabi” (Japanese for an understated form of beauty) summer indulgence.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog was a perfect read for summer discussion. It seems that the books we read are most often read in “kairos.” I can’t exactly pinpoint why, but reading Muriel Barbery’s book this month felt like the right time for it. With school out for the summer, I had time to contemplate Renee’ and Paloma’s philosophies on life. I agreed with Paloma more often than not. In her deploring of humans, she points out that we “live in a world where it’s words and not deeds that have power.” True. How is it that the fine talkers who rule our world would most likely be incapable of defending and feeding their own families if they were required to do so? I like this thought; it compels me to have more appreciation for my husband. I know he could kill a rabbit or a squirrel for me if the situation demanded. And, I am certain, he could even build a crude dwelling, if necessary, and defend it for me, too!

Paloma is the queen of manga pop culture. The Japanese literature is her creed guiding her belief system, which isn’t all that far fetched. For instance, in mangas “people eat differently, more simply, refined, moderate. You eat the way you look at a beautiful picture or sing in a beautiful choir; neither too much, nor too little.” For breakfast Paloma likes “tea and mangas: something elegant and enchanting;” unlike her father who prefers coffee and the newspaper to “reconstruct” himself each day. Our KC student Zach Roxby, a cult follower of mangas, would appreciate Paloma’s insightful references to the anime serial.

The two main characters’ Paloma and Renee’ are in hiding throughout the main course of the story. Both disappointed in the sincerity and superficiality of society, they retreat into their private worlds of writing. “I witness the birth on paper of sentences that have eluded my will and appear in spite of me on the sheet, teaching me something that I neither knew nor thought I might want to know,” declares Renee’. I understand her words completely as I am taken with the same illuminations. Although, while for some of us, writing can provide an outlet, some of us are inspired by music, prayer, dancing, or art. Paloma reminds us, for instance, that all the ailments and struggles of life can momentarily disappear when human beings surrender to music. Like Paloma, one beautiful chord can tighten my throat and plunge me into weeping uncontrollably.

One of my favorite lines from the book “if you dread tomorrow it’s because you don’t know how to build the present…” Paloma, again, incites the secrets of life as she ponders on her aging grandmother, Mamie, “Build something, now, at any price, using all our strength. Always remember that there’s a retirement home waiting somewhere and so we have to surpass ourselves everyday, make everyday undying. Climb our own personal Everest…” The Elegance of the Hedgehog offers so much to think about from the rite of tea drinking to the rules of go and grammar, we are all impelled to wonder at the beauty, “wabi,” in all things and to consider that anything can happen when in “kairos.”

As June’s choice was a thought provoking read, July’s The Shack may also prove just as reflective. We will meet at Cheryl’s house on Wednesday, July 29. Join us for our midsummer book discussion under the stars.

Yours in books,
Tammy

April and May 2009 Book Clubs "Lucia, Lucia" and "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle"

Hi Everyone,

Thank heaven the school year has ended! With the promise of a stress free summer ahead, I hope to devote a piece of my time to living vicariously through the characters in books. Like in our June read, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, the “50 something” intellectual Renee provides us with much to ponder on life. We will meet to study this character and her young friend Paloma at 6:30 P.M. on Wednesday, June 24, at Becky Ferguson’s house in Chicora.

In looking back to our May meeting, few of us finished the book The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. Ginnie and Cheryl had to stay closed mouthed about much of the story since Barb, Becky, Lori, Tina, and I were not done reading it. A 562 page epic about a young mute’s mission to solve his father’s death, the book is a long drawn out saga that could have been condensed into 200 pages. The plot includes a family of dog breeders, which is my only motivation to keep reading considering my new found interest in dogs. Cheryl and Ginnie lured us to keep reading by sharing that the book is very spiritual, but already up to page 355, I have yet to find much spirituality.

I do appreciate, however, the Wroblewski’s talent with descriptive phrases such as “time thickened like wet cement” and “watching for the yellow caterpillar of a school bus.” Furthermore, Ican’t help but compare his descriptions of training dogs to training my students. Lines such as “You can’t train a dog to do something if you don’t know what you want him to do” and “training is almost never about words” also apply to teaching children. Although, when the author describes the scientific principles of breeding in order to make 90% of the litter perfect, after working with children, I can’t help but think it might not be a bad idea to do the same with people. Please, forgive me if I offended anyone.

As May was such a whirlwind month with my daughter Makenzie moving her college junk back into our house, my son Timmy ending his lacrosse season and graduating from high school, and closing up my classroom for the year, I neglected to post my comments on Lucia, Lucia. Certainly a book which earns an overall A on our grading scale, Adrianna Trigiani’s style and development of characters and plot compelled us to keep reading. With the element of nostalgia, the author cast her spell on us. Who wasn’t transported back to the days when department stores had lunch counters, when ladies wore white gloves, and when women had a sense of fashion. I would love to go back to when the Church was the center of family life and the bans of marriage were posted in the Sunday bulletin for all to see. In fact, I believe I saved mine!

Raised in a first generation Italian family in New York City’s Little Italy, I assume, Lucia learns that a woman has opportunities beyond those expected by her conservative parents. Although in choosing to trade a life of traditional family values for the American dream, Lucia learns a bittersweet lesson. One of the best lessons to learn from Lucia, Lucia comes from Lucia’s father. When Lucia becomes obsessed with the mysterious John Talbot, Papa warns her about him by comparing her feelings towards him to her talent for sewing.

“You make beautiful garments, and you have an eye for beauty. But you also have a way of covering flaws with your skill. You can drop the waist of a dress and pad the shoulders to give the illusion of a figure proportion. When it comes to John Talbot, you cannot see what he is because you admire him too much. And if he does have some defect of character, you are confident you can fix it… When you marry someone, you must understand the flaws in order to appreciate the strengths.”

Lucia’s friend Ruth also advises her to learn more about John Talbot. If a girl is going to consider marrying a guy, she needs to have the “money talk.” What a great piece of advice and one that no one gave me before I married, although, I don’t think it would have done much good. If we can learn anything from Lucia, it is through her mistakes. Although at the end of the book, she has no regrets for her actions, namely giving up a life with Dante, a man who worships her. In reflecting on her decisions, she confides,

“The one thing I wish is that I had reacted differently to some of the events. I let things get me down and keep me there, sometimes for too long. And I believed I could somehow control the bad things, and that was a mistake. Things turn around when they’re meant to. You can’t force it.”

After that thought, I have one last thing to mention, the October book has been changed to Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. If we intend to keep up with the latest in pop culture, this book is a “must” read and is also in keeping with our “vampire” theme we started last October when we read Sunshine.

Enjoy the summer,
Tammy

March 2009 Book Club "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society"

Hello Book Club!

The April book club is soon approaching, but I would like to postpone it for a week. Last month at the March meeting we talked about junior club member, Makenzie, joining us and instructing a yoga class. She cannot make it this week, but she said she can make it next Thursday evening, April 30. Becky and Ginnie cannot make it on our original night either, so it may be best if we go ahead and move our date. We should meet at my house at 6:30 P.M. The book we are reading is called Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani. It is a page turner, full of romance and historical memoirs of New York during post WWII when conservative social customs were still in vogue.

Last month’s book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is another post WWII novel. Mary Ann Shaffer’s and Annie Barrow’s book is set in England and the English Channel. The book is compiled of letters between a writer, Juliet Ashton, and her publisher, friends, and a literary society from a small island called Guernsey. This book has everything I love about books. First, it has history. I found it interesting to read about how the Germans took over the island of Guernsey and especially how a Society like the Potato Peel Pie would operate as a front simply for its members to eat. It reminds me of the old TV show Hogan’s Heroes. The book also has romance. Juliet obliviously falls in love on Guernsey with the most humble of characters. Clustered between their blossoming relationship are a host of the literary society’s comical personalities whom create a sarcastic tone to the story that emerges. This leads me to irony, the third most alluring attribute of this book.

No book is worth reading if it doesn’t have its share of wisdom. When Juliet interviews Will Thisbee for her book, he shares his love of the prudent writings of the author Thomas Carlyle. This thought came to Carlyle while walking at the Abbey of Bury in St. Edmunds “… men used to have a soul, not by hearsay alone, but as a truth that they knew, and acted upon! … but yet it is a pity we have lost the tidings of our souls… we shall have to go in search of them again, or worse in all ways shall befall us.

Thisbee’s response to Carlyle’s quote was just as poignant. “Isn’t that something,” he said, “to know your own soul by hearsay, instead of its own tidings? Why should I let a preacher tell me if I had one or not? If I could believe I had a soul, all by myself, then I could listen to its tidings all by myself.”

Only minutes after reading this passage, I picked up my daily devotional called God Calling. (This is the book of which I bought my first copy at a garage sale, and after crumbling apart from years of use, I happened upon another copy last summer at Punxatawney library’s used book sale.) This book, I have shared before, has been a consistent inspiration to me over the years. Let me share with you the passage from March 16, so you can judge how closely God’s message resembles the words from the previous quotes:

“My children, I am your life, the very breath of your soul. Learn what it is to shut yourself into the secret place of your being. True it is, I wait in many a heart, but so few retire into that inner place of the being to commune with Me. Wherever the soul is, I am. Man has rarely understood this. I am actually at the center of every man’s being, but, distracted with the things of the sense-life, he finds me not. All down the ages men have been too eager to say what they thought about My truth, and so doing, they have grievously erred. Hear Me. Talk to Me. Reflect Me. Do not say what you think about Me. My words need none of man’s explanation. I can explain to each heart.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a heartwarming story very skillfully written. I especially love how the authors cleverly penned the amusing anecdote about the famous writer Oscar Wilde into the story. The idea of Wilde’s chance meeting with a young Granny Pheen distraught over her drowned cat is delightful. The lovable character Isola had kept letters Wilde had written her Granny in an effort to console her grief over the dead cat. For years, Wilde composed for Granny descriptive tales of the cat living out his nine lives. Naturally, I could go on and on about how much I enjoyed “The Pie Society.” I’m sure everyone will share this title with friends as a book club favorite.

Visit our book club blog www.tsmithkcwwbc@blogspot.com to add your own responses to our recent reads.

Yours in reading,
Tammy

February 2009 Book Club "The Elegant Gathering of White Snows" by Kris Radish

Hi Everyone,

Before our February book club met to discuss The Elegant Gathering of White Snows, to say I was not a fan of the book was an understatement. But after an interactive discourse at Panera Bread with the “elegant” members in attendance: Becky, Cheryl, Ginnie, Jody, Lori, and I, my judgment of Kris Radish’s tale of eight women was significantly altered.
For me, widening our perspectives is the benefit of our group meetings and what makes our club so phenomenal. Before our meeting, I found the book in which the casual walking of eight women attracting national attention a paltry plot. It seemed like Radish is searching for an audience with her platform, applauding lesbianism. Jumping on the band wagon in a culture where gay lifestyles are in the popular media, the author has obviously studied the current trends in economics. But, as a result of a very lively conversation, I discovered a few crumbs of nourishment, food for the soul, from this book.

At the beginning of our club, we first had to sort through the various characters. As Jody commented, there were too many individual stories; it was confusing matching each story with the right character. However, as we began our match game, dividing the lesbians from the heterosexuals, the personalities of the women became more interesting as each of our members provided their own insight into each character. Often when we discuss our books, we ask each other, which character would you be? For this book, many of us chose Mary. Her character opts not to walk with her friends. She resolves that her life is already complete unlike the lives of the other women. I, however, would definitely have put on a comfortable pair of shoes and walked, if only for the sake of adventure and to escape the monotonous routine of daily life.

I must admit there was one passage in the book where I sipped slowly on each and every word. When the psychotic character Janice finds herself in front of a quaint little tea shop just before she is about to commit suicide, I was recharged by simply the word “tea.” The kind proprietor of the shop sees her distress and gently entreats her to “please, come in for just a minute.” Smelling the sweet scent of tea leaves, Janice is drawn into the man’s store. What ensues is a very educational history and informative background on tea, my most beloved beverage and pastime. As the man intoxicates Janice with facts from harvesting the tea, cooking the tea, serving the tea, then drinking the tea, I yearned to be sitting in his warm cozy shop with a brightly painted cup of “The Elegant Gathering of White Snows” embraced between my palms.

Lori also related to the “tea” passage and shared an amusing anecdote. Her visit to Nagle’s car wash on Monroe Street in Butler was a bit like Janice’s unexpected visit to the tea shop. While Janice had set out to commit suicide, Lori had set out to wash her car. Similar to Janice’s invitation from the man in the tea shop, Lori was invited by Mr. Nagle to join him in a small room hidden in the recesses of the car wash. There, she was transported into a bewildering den, a paradox to the wet rags and buckets of soap sudsy water. The room permeated with the pungent aromas of mocha, vanilla, and fresh roasted coffee beans. In contrast to the tea man’s brightly colored apron, Mr. Nagle, donned in one piece overalls and steel toed work boots, enticed Lori to try a complimentary cup of his special brew. After the first sip, she was enchanted by its magical musky flavor. Like Janice, Lori felt the coffee coincidence was no coincidence at all, but an ordained odyssey contrived by the powers of fate for purposes providential. As Lori finished her account by summarizing Mr. Nagle’s refined method for the perfect cup of coffee, from the coffee beans of Brazil to his grinder on Monroe Street, Becky, Ginnie, Cheryl, and I were transfixed.

Before our own book club discussion on the night of our February meeting, I met with another book club affiliation, Teachers As Readers. They were also holding their monthly club at Panera Bread. Unlike our group, their discussions are anchored around a theme where all the members are encouraged to bring books to share on the same message. For February the theme was heroes. Luckily, our own book club had just completed Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture, so I was prepared to drop in on them with a worthy contribution to their discussion. Reading one book as a group, I believe, offers a much deeper book experience. As I reflect on the two groups, Teachers as Readers and our warm, friendly circle of readers, I am reminded again of my thoughts from the start of this journal:

“The benefit of our book club is the opportunity it provides for gaining different perspectives on life and its often complicated issues from the hearts and minds of an “elegant gathering of very wise women.”

Please join us at Panera Bread for our next meeting; we will discuss The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. The meeting starts at 6:30 P.M. on Wednesday, March 18.

January 2009 Book Club "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch

Hi Everyone,

As a request from one of our book club members, I am making the effort to send out the book club updates in a more timely fashion, that is, earlier than on the day we next meet! Our next meeting will be held at Panera Bread in Butler on Wednesday, February 16 at 6:30 P.M. The book is The Elegant Gathering of White Snows by Kris Radish. As we are familiar with the author already from reading The Sunday List of Dreams, we should be in for a good story.

Last month’s meeting was held at my house on January 14. Those in attendance were Barb, Becky, Cheryl, Christine, Ginnie, Lori, and me. Since Christine brought the video presentation of our book The Last Lecture, we were able to view the author, Randy Pausch, from another perspective. (Although, I apologize for the cacophony my husband made chatting and clattering in the kitchen, therefore, interrupting the end of the video!)

From the start, I was somewhat reticent about the direction Pausch seemed to take with the book. Before I began gathering the life messages he embedded between his own accolades, I was put off by Randy’s apparent arrogance. But then I started getting it. When I live my last days, will I not want to celebrate the great accomplishments of my life? Yes. Like Pausch, it may come off as arrogance, but who cares when the end is near. I will want to shout out that I mattered.

The book supports itself on Pausch’s reality of living his childhood dreams. Within the context of his memoirs, he weaves many of life’s lessons. If we don’t get them, he reminds us at the end. His book or lecture is a “head fake” he says recalling his old football coach. As we connect with many of his stories we are also learning and relearning the most basic elements of living a full and meaningful life. Below is a list of 20 of my favorites quotes from the book; some of them may be on your list , too:

1. "When attending a job interview, have something special to bring to the table. It will make you more welcome and desirable."
2. "When it comes to giving out your wisdom or quoting someone else’s wisdom, people will always be more receptive to hearing the wisdom of someone else."
3. "You have got to get the fundamentals down, or otherwise, the fancy stuff is not going to work."
4. "When you are screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they have given up on you."
5. "If people perceive you as arrogant, it will limit what you will be able to accomplish in life."
6. "People are more important than things."
7. "You don’t repair things if they still do what they are supposed to do."
8. "Time is all you have so delegate tasks because you may find one day you have less time than you think."
9. "Buy new clothes when your old clothes wear out."
10. "The best short cut is the long way which is basically two words: work hard."
11. "Go out and do for others what somebody did for you."
12. "When you go out into the wilderness, the only thing you can count on is what you take with you."
13. "You’re only as good as your word."
14. "A parent’s job is to encourage kids to develop a joy for life and a great urge to follow their dreams. The best we can do is to help them develop a set of personal tools for the task."
15. "No material possessions can make up for a missing parent."
16. "All children need a fabric of people in their lives who love them."
17. "TV is mankind’s greatest time waster."
18. "When we’re connected to others, we become better people."
19. "Everyone has to contribute to the common good. To not do so can be described in one word: selfish."
20. "Sometimes, all you have to do is ask."

As I became more reflective on Pausch’s last lecture, I realized that much of what he said mirrored my husband Tim’s philosophies on living. In one passage, particularly, I really felt like Tim had written the book himself. On page 70, Pausch remembers spending time with his sister’s children. He was the preferred uncle, and when the kids were with their Uncle Randy, there were only two rules:

1. No whining.
2. Whatever we do together, don’t tell Mom.

Not only were these my husband’s exact words when spending time with our children, nieces and nephews, but I really had to recheck the title page when I read p 110. “It’s never to early to delegate,” Randy states while two pictures below the statement show him feeding his daughter a bottle in one and in the second, he has delegated to her the task of feeding herself. It has always been Tim’s belief that children should become as independent as their age will allow. I always thought he was just trying to get out of the extra work that came with having children, but now that our kids are, for the most part, grown, they are reaping the benefits of their father’s wisdom.

Our book club ended with the great key mystery, Lori couldn’t find her car keys. After combing the house and scouring through the cold snow in our driveway, we gave up. It wasn’t until the next day when Becky called upon finding Lori’s keys in her purse. With a club full of post menopausal women, save a few, you never know where anything is going to end up!
I look forward to our next meeting. Although there are no assignments at this time, I may conjure up something that will challenge our minds after I begin reading the book! Enjoy the Super Bowl and I’ll see you soon.

Yours in reading,
Tammy

November 2008 Book Club "Loving Frank" by Nancy Horan

Hi Everyone,

The last official meeting was held on Saturday, November 22 at the China Gourmet restaurant in Butler. Members in attendance were Becky, Ginnie, and me. We discussed the book Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. As I said in my October email, it is easily one of my favorite book club picks. Its greatest attributes were the profound messages embedded in the story. Although the book was fiction, the many historical accounts of the life of Frank Lloyd Wright’s lover Mamah Cheney were authentic. From Horan’s research the reader is treated with a vivid glimpse into the time period of the early 1900’s and the moral battles women faced not only in society but within themselves.

A major theme in Loving Frank stood out as “in the quest for self fulfillment, a person must make hard choices.” Mamah gave up her children, her sister, and her respected position in society to be with the man she loved. She was a maverick of her time. A proclaimed leader in the early days of the women’s rights movement, Mamah was breaking ground for other women who were suffocating in loveless marriages and dismal lives. A passage Horan quoted in her book written by the famous writer Ibsen defined the theme perfectly:

“The proof of a person’s greatness is the power to stand alone, to be able, in every individual case, to make his own choice; in action to write anew his own law, choose his own sacrifices, run his own dangers, win his own freedom, venture his own destruction, choose his own happiness.”

None of us agreed with Mamah’s choices. We believe she was selfish for walking out on her children and cruel for leaving her sister Lizzie to suffer the consequences of her immoral behavior. How can any woman abandon her own flesh and blood? Even Mamah’s mentor Ellen Kay, a famous feminist in Europe at the time, admonished Mamah for her choices in a letter advising, “It has been my belief and expressed philosophy that the very legitimate right of a free love can never be acceptable if it is enjoyed at the expense of maternal love.”

Frank Lloyd Wright was just as selfish as Mamah. Horan depicted him as an arrogant, selfish, and excessive individual. He enjoyed the control he had over people, and nothing seemed to be outside the limits of his control, specifically Mamah. Possibly, if Wright would have been less persistent, Mamah may have remained with her husband and children. Wright also had children of his own, but spent very little time as an active father. As the newspapers headlined stories about Wright’s love affair and financial crises across front pages, like Mamah’s family, Wright’s children and especially his wife suffered the shame he brought upon them.

In concluding my thoughts on Loving Frank, the book compelled me to learn more about the architect. My inquiry sent me to the library where I found many books on his work. While leafing through the pages of Wright’s architectural landmarks at our meeting, we found that Taliesin, the home that Frank had built for himself and Mamah, was very different than we had imagined. Mostly only familiar with our local Wright treasure Falling Water, I guess we imagined it to be perched in a tree, hovering over a brook, or jutting out from a rocky crevice.

So what’s next after January’s read, The Last Lecture? Bring your ideas tonight to book club. It has been several months since a majority of us have been together, so I am looking forward to seeing everyone again and sharing Professor Pausch’s thoughts on living.

Yours in reading,

Tammy