Hi Everyone,
What a glorious autumn season we are having here in Western
Pennsylvania! If you are struggling to find the motivation to curl up and read
a book in the spare moments when the outdoors seems a much more desirable
choice, join the club! With the few hours I have in the evenings after work, I
want to walk around my sanctuary and nature refuge, the paths at BC3. On my
week ends, I want to ride a bike trail and take in the scent of cidery scented
apple trees and fresh cut hay or find a fall festival to fill up on kettle corn
and taste-test sweet homemade jams or local honey. I have to be part of this
wonderful season with every fiber of my being.
I can’t help it; I’m a wandering gypsy at heart. Also, my dosha is vatta
and vattas are the earth sign air and need to be in constant motion. So don’t
ever feel bad if you find yourself restless and more inclined to be a part of
the change that is happening all around you. Take your nose out of the book and
experience each day before winter has us in its grips!
The September book club met at Natilie’s Pizzeria to discuss Strength in What Remains by Tracy
Kidder. I, as you can gather, was not prepared to discuss this book. This minor
detail did not prevent me; however, from attending our meeting and enjoying the
conversation and the wonderful friendships we have developed over the last 10
years. It really was a poignant discussion as others in attendance, I’m sure,
would agree: Barb K., Becky, Cheryl, Ginnie, Lori, and Mandy.
The subject of Pulitzer Prize winning author Tracy Kidder’s
biography “Deo” Niyizonkiza is a saint for our times, a native born African who
endured the civil war and genocides of his homeland before finding his way to
America and overcoming homelessness and bigotry. Those who are honored to know,
work, and call Deo their friend, understand first-hand the true spirit of this
man, while those of us that have only read about him in Kidder’s book are also
affected by his amazing story and journey.
At September’s book club, we were lucky to have a Face Time
interview with Cheryl’s sister Sharon who is a personal friend of Deo’s. She
enlightened us on Deo’s high energy personality and his unstoppable mission
toestablish an entirely community-driven health care organization called Village
Health Works in Burundi. Sharon has visited this health community in Africa and
volunteered at the center. She has seen first-hand Deo’s passionate spirit, and
she believes that he will one day win a Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to
humanitarian labors. It was clear in talking with Sharon that her time in
Burundi was life-changing, the experience is still fresh in her heart. Her
voice was shaken and her eyes welled as she explained the needs of the people
in this region of Africa. She spoke of Deo with deep admiration and respect,
sharing how his laughter is infectious, just as necessary to the healing of his
patients as the treatments he offers at the center. As Sharon talked, I couldn’t
help but hear the words from the Bible’s first book of John 1:14, “…and He
dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” I’m sure Sharon would affirm that Deo
is living out his life in such a way that the spirit of God is shining and
working through him.
The Obituary Writer by Ann Hood was our August title.
For our last summer meeting, we chose to dine outdoors and so selected the
Saxonburg Hotel. Although it was a very sultry evening, we enjoyed our
discussion with seating on a prime corner of the restaurant’s patio overlooking
the cozy main street of the town. Lori, Becky, Mandy, Barb K. and I were in
attendance. We all agreed that the book was a winner as we recounted our
favorite parts and analyzed the main characters Claire, a disillusioned housewife,
and Vivien, the obituary writer.
Weaving back and forth between two time settings, the author
spiced up the book’s imagery with allusions to the pop culture icons and
beliefs of each period. Claire, trying to conform to the lifestyle of a 1960’s
housewife after jet-setting as an airline stewardess, falls prey to the
propaganda of her day. Encouraged by women’s magazines the likes of Good Housekeeping and Better Homes and Gardens to cater to
their husbands, Claire rises to her duty and attempts to be the perfect wife.
However, Claire becomes ensnared in a tedium of meaningless
luncheons, dinner parties, PTA meetings, and volunteerism. She vicariously finds
an escape from her grim prospects as a woman of her time through her
obsession with John F. Kennedy’s election and his inauguration, especially
focusing on his beautiful wife Jackie and their adorable children, the perfect
American family. Likewise, Claire’s more insidious distraction from her world
is through an extramarital affair. Her involvement with a married man is exposed
when her husband arrives home from work and discovers Claire and her lover
having sex in their bed!
Claire’s trapped existence may have rooted from her
childhood. Claire’s mother imparted her beliefs about marriage as a minister
would impart a sermon. After reading
aloud the beginning of chapter 6, “What Her (Claire’s) Mother Taught Her” we
laughed out loud,and to our surprise, a random group of people sitting at the
table next to us laughed, too.It was a litany of all the things Claire’s mother believed
a wife needs to know:
·
* Moisturize daily
and never go to bed with your makeup on; if you put Vaseline on your hands and
a pair of white cotton gloves over them your hands will always be soft; a man
likes soft hands.
·
* Always get up
before your husband, so you can do your own morning routine in private. Make
yourself look pretty and have is breakfast ready when he wakes up.
·
Keep up on
current events; agree with your husband’s opinion, even if you think he’s a
horse’s ass for believing that.
·
* Buy fresh lard
and use it in fried chicken, pie crusts, and 7-minute frosting; the key to a
perfect dinner is to serve meat with a starch and a vegetable and to always
have candlelight.
·
* Know how to sew a
hem, darn a sock, replace a button – these skills make you indispensable.
·
* Never go to bed
with dirty dishes in the sink or cigarette butts in the ashtray.
·
Never refuse your
husband’s sexual desires.
·
* Get your hair
done every week.
·
* When asked to
bring something to a dinner party, bring it on a plate that you can leave as a
gift.
· * Always let the
man drive.
·
* Men take out the
trash and mow the lawn.
·
* Always wait for
the man to open a door for you and light your cigarette.
·
* A woman needs to
know how to swim, skate, and ride a bike.
·
* Women never swear
in front of men.
·
* Honey goes out
the window when there is no money.
·
* A woman knows how
to live on a budget, to stretch a dollar, and to cook hamburger meat 6
different ways.
After I finished reading, an elderly gentlemen at the table wanted to
know where his wife could buy the book, expressing that she could do with picking
up a few tips!
The time period for Vivian, the obituary writer, begins
decades earlier than Claire’s.It commences in San Francisco during the early
1900’s, at the time of the disastrous earthquake. Vivian, also in the clutches
of a romantic affair, loses the love of her life, a married man, during the disaster.
She spends many years believing he survived, possibly wandering about in a
state of amnesia. While she waits hoping for his return, she writes obituaries.
In the end, she admits it was a means of comforting herself as well as her
grieving clients.
Vivian and Claire’s life surprisingly merge together;
Claire’s life mirrors Vivian’s. The older woman sees herself in the other, her
squandered years. Vivian’s advice to Claire, “Don’t waste your one beautiful
life.” Vivian had learned “what matters
is life itself, not the dates, the degrees”… the cars, the outfits, the
jewelry, the casseroles, the Waldorf salads, the pie crusts or the Cheez Wiz. We are left to wonder how Claire will assimilate Vivian’s counsel.
Hood compels us to create our own ending.
I hope to see you all tonight at 6 PM, Wednesday, October 15,
at Natilie’s Pizzeria for our discussion of the novel War Brides by Helen Bryan. This one was definitely a page turner
and worth the late night reading marathons. I’ve come to love the characters as
my friends and don’t want to see our relationship end, so I’m holding out for
our final meeting, the conclusion, as an after school treat!
Yours in reading,
Tammy
