Hi Everyone,
Yes, book club still thrives! For those of you who were not in attendance, we last met on Tuesday, March 22, at Panera Bread and discussed the book Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. Members at our meeting were Becky, Cheryl, Jody, Mary Beth, and me. Even Lori showed up!
All’s Well that Ends Well. Most of us had finished Weird Sisters for the meeting and conclusively enjoyed the easy read. Written in a unique “plural” narration, the book allowed us to see all three sisters as starkly different yet occupying one voice. The three sisters, christened by their father with the Shakespearean names’ Cordelia, Bianca, and Rosalind, remind us that sibling issues exist in all families.
As one of five “wyrd” sisters myself, I’m certain I can speak for all of my siblings when I say that each of us has our own strange quirks like Cordi, Bean, and Rose. Regardless, it remains conclusive that despite our contrasting personalities, we are glued together by our childhood, the growing up and away from a home that through good and bad reinforced the bond we share today. Much like the small town home of Brown’s characters in Barnwell, Ohio, I believe our home in Chicora offered the same stability and security of an American Pie childhood. As noted in the popular cliché, “It takes a village to raise a child,” all of us were wards of the aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, parishioners, school teachers, and neighbors in our community. As with Chicora, Cordi and Bean observe that nothing much has changed when they return home to Barnwell. Life in Barnwell, like life in Chicora, is still struggling to hold onto the past, still breathing the same slow unaffected breath as it wakes up, goes to work, and falls asleep each night.
The isolated lifestyle of Barnwell chokes Cordi and haunts Bean. Like many of us, the two sisters must fight through the emotions of their youth and find a way to accept the home they had struggled so hard to reject. With Rose, however, we can identify with another conflict just as disabling, an unwillingness to move on. In the safe, supportive small town of Barnwell, Rose is respected and needed. To her, it is unnecessary to go beyond its walls. But after a myriad of excuses fail her, Rose is all but forced by her family to unfasten her leash to Barnwell and join her fiancée in England. The need to learn and grow is innate; and once Rose acclimates herself to the unfamiliar culture of Oxford, she begins a transformation. As with Cordi and Bean, many of us can also identify with Rose. When we must confront the new phases in our lives, sometimes it is difficult but necessary to either redefine or reinvent the places we call home.
Along with Weird Sisters and February’s novel Good Things I Wish You by A. Manette Ansay, we have enjoyed several months of worthy reads and, hopefully, we have chosen another solid pick for the month of April. We will meet at 6:30 P.M. on Wednesday, April 27, at Mama Rosa’s Restaurant to discuss The Book of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring. This selection came highly recommended as a favorite by another book club. Set in the 1960’s, we will journey in Kring's book to Wisconsin, another small town USA. Although the characters include more sisters with more secrets, look forward to thinking out of the box with this one. Your homework for the next meeting:
· Bring your own “bright idea” based on recent events in your life
· Bring a story to share about “the best summer of your life!”
I look forward to plenty of sharing!
Yours in reading,
Tammy
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