Hi Everyone,
Wednesday evening we met for the July book club to discuss our
93rd book, Bone Appetit by
Carolyn Haines. We intended to meet at Randita’s Grill in Saxonburg, but when
we arrived it was closed! Despite my email message and a special stop in to Randita’s
to confirm the arrangements with Dale, one of the owners, their doors were
locked. Luckily, the Saxonburg Hotel is next door and they were glad to
accommodate us. In attendance at the meeting were Barb K., Becky, Cheryl,
Ginnie, Jody, Lori, and myself.
Bone Appetit, a
humorous murder mystery is light reading. It is the 10th book in a
series involving the character Sarah Booth Delaney who is a partner in a
detective agency with her best friend Tinkie. In reading Bone Appetit’, we were at somewhat of a disadvantage starting so
late in the series. So much of the exposition was lacking. I would have liked
more of a description of Sarah Booth’s earlier life in Zinnia, Mississippi, the
setting of her home. I needed more characterization, especially for Jitti,
Sarah Booth’s personal haunt and of her best friend Tinkie.
There is a love interest for Sarah Booth that continues in
this episode, Graf the Hollywood movie director, but again the lack of characterization
left me feeling unfed. I couldn’t embrace the relationship. Sarah Booth had
just miscarried a child to Graf of which caused her to become very detached
from the relationship herself. In Bone
Appetit we were given no reason to love Graf. To me, he was a sexual
attraction for Sarah Booth, nothing more. Maybe if I was aware of the full story
of their romance from reading one of the earlier books, I might have cheered
him on. Instead my vote for Sarah Booth’s affection went to Coleman, the police
officer of whom we learned was one of Sarah Booth’s former boyfriends. As Sarah
Booth worked to solve the case of the beauty pageant killer, the character of
Coleman showed love and concern for her safety. I guess I find police officers
(Erik Estrada) more attractive than Hollywood movie directors (Woody Allen)!
Also, in Bone
Appetit`, I never developed an affinity for Sarah Booth’s movie career. I
learned next to nothing about it, so why wouldn’t I pick hometown Coleman over
tinsel town Graf. After all, Sarah Booth stated on page 292, “I’d found something of value in myself and
my heritage. It wasn’t that I wanted to act less, but I needed to hold on to
the me I’d discovered in Zinnia.” Who doesn’t love the age old story of the
hero’s journey, where the hero goes off to new worlds and new adventures but
then returns home after realizing that what they were searching for was really
right in front of them all along. “There’s no place like home.”
Despite the silliness
of Bone Appetit (c’mon, a book with a
ghost who turns into Paul Dean and a pageant mom who uses voodoo to kill off
contestants; get real!); it did, albeit, have a few very insightful words of
wisdom, always the silver lining I like to see bundled into every book I read. When
Sarah Booth imparted to Hedy her client and pageant contestant, “Mothers have a hard time seeing their
children suffer hardships, but they get over it in the end,” I thought of
myself. How many times I have bore the pain of my children’s suffering, and I’m
certain all of you can say the same. But all of us also know, we will
eventually come to terms with it, manage, move on, and hopefully overcome the
pain induced from our maternal heartstrings. I feel like there should be a
warning sign posted in all delivery rooms, “If you find it difficult to endure
your own suffering, then you better think twice before taking this child
home!”
Another of my favorite quotes of Haine’s book was on page
293. This time it is Coleman, my favorite cop, who is giving advice to Sarah
Booth. This quote directly ties to the previous one, “While others may hurt for us when we’re injured, no one bears the
blame but us.” Sarah understood the truth behind Coleman’s words as she
couldn’t speak around the lump in her throat. We can learn, too, from Coleman’s
advice. As parents, we may hurt for our children, but we should never try to
take the blame for their injuries, their mistakes, or their transgressions. So
for this, I gotta love Coleman, again. He is not only loving and caring, but
intellectual! He’s everything wrapped up into one nice package with a shiny
star on top!
Our next meeting is set for Tuesday, August 20 at 6 PM. We
will be reading the novel Cutting for Stone by Abraham
Verghese (it comes highly recommended by Jody’s daughter Dale and many of her
friends). In this book, we will journey to the third world setting of Ethiopia.
The plot involves two twin brothers Marion and Shiva Stone who fall
passionately in love with the same woman. Torn to pieces, Marion flees to
America to pursue his medical career. This story includes detailed descriptions
of the dramatic life experienced by doctors and the traumatic cases of the
patients in their care. Filled with medical jargon, have your medical
dictionaries at hand or just call Lori (like she’ll really be reading the
book)! Since this book is 541 pages long, we have chosen to read only half of
the book for our August meeting. My suggestion is to read up to the end of the
nearest chapter to page 275.
After receiving an email from Barb K. in reference to
Cheryl’s suggestion to have the meeting at the Butler Area Public Library, I
checked into it. We can have the “Sun Room” for 6 PM that evening until 8 PM
when the library closes. It is a new addition to the library with cushy couches
and chairs. I reserved it then asked the librarian if we can bring food and she
said we could. I thought we could meet at 5:30 PM at Natilie’s Pizzeria to order
our pizza then take it with us to the library (anyone that can’t make it that
early, call me and I’ll include you in our order).
Although, I think it would be nice to try the alternative
atmosphere with more relaxing furnishings for our discussion enjoyment, if it
sounds like too much of a fuss, I’ll cancel our reservations and we can just
meet at Natilie’s. Let me know what you
think.
Hope to see you on August 20 at 6 PM.
Yours in reading,
Tammy
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