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.
