Happy New Year!
2016
has blown by like a storm in the night. During this turbulent year, we have all
experienced both joys and losses, and for brief interludes in between, we’ve
found solace in the books we read. So much happens beyond the pages and in between
our meetings, we have no doubt that each of our personal stories are worthy of
a novel. For Ginnie, Lori, and I, and our family, we experienced the loss of
our dear mother in May. We are so thankful to have friends like all of you who
so kindly donated this year’s Women of Wisdom charity to the Butler Area Public
Library in our mother’s name. For this and many other reasons, a joy we value is
certainly the time we share together with you, the Women of Wisdom, at our
monthly book club meetings.
Recently,
we celebrated the end of our organization’s thirteenth year with another
memorable annual Christmas party. On December 17, six couples - Becky and Jim,
Cheryl and Greg, Ginnie and Lee, Lori and Doug, Sharon and Steve, and Tim and I
- met at Anna Marie’s, a new winery in East Butler. We started the evening with
wine tasting and throughout our dinner enjoyed entertaining conversation. Greg
Ramsey, for one, never ceases to spice up an evening, mulled cider aside! I’m
certain from hearing our fun and laughter, the company Christmas gathering
seated next to us was secretly wishing they could bail-out of their obligatory
commitment and join us! Pretty much anyone wearing plaid would have male bonded
with Greg, Doug, Jim, and Lee.
Our
favorite book club reads of 2016 vary with each of us. One of my personal top
three favorites, All the Stars in the
Heavens by Adriana Trigiani, started the year. A historical fiction novel,
it read like a gossip column depicting the life of the great film star Loretta
Young and her fiery love affair with the equally famous film star Clark Gable.
Also, making my top three is The
Nightingale by Kristen Hannah. This book was another historical fiction selection
but set in France during WWII. I am always stunned to learn even more about the
atrocities of that horrific war and the facts Hannah included in the story did
not fail to shock me – especially what a woman was forced to do to protect and
keep her children from starving. Lastly, it is said that we are most likely to
remember the first and last of anything, and the final book on my top three
chart is our November pick, our club’s last book selection for 2017, The Readers of Broken of Broken Wheel
Recommend. This novel was a welcomed humorous break from the doldrums of daily
life. In the book, the citizens of a little town called Broken Wheel are like
the citizens of any depressed small town USA – Karns City, Petrolia, Bruin,
Fenelton, etc. The fact that the people
of Broken Wheel embraced the main character Sarah, a visitor from Sweden on a holiday,
like their own flesh and blood was a bit fantastical. However, the quirky
characters seemed real enough that it opened the plot for many unusual possibilities.
So once again, in order, here are my top
three book picks of 2016: All the Stars
in the Heavens, The Nightingale,
and The People of Broken Wheel Recommend.
One
of my favorite pastimes at the end of the year is to review our books’ best
quotes. Although some books have more insightful messages than others, the list
of great lines can be extensive, so I will limit the list to my top ten
choices:
1.
“Oh, dammit. Nobody would ever wise up if they
hadn’t at some stage been young and stupid.”
p
129, The Little Paris Bookshop
2. “We are immortal in the dreams of our
loved ones. And our dead live on after their deaths in our dreams. Dreams are
the interface between the worlds, between time and space.”
p
147, The Little Paris Bookshop
3.
“You
know, Sister, we think we have the luxury of time. We figure that there will
always be a moment to have the conversation that we meant to have, and then the
moment passes and it’s too late… the most important thing I learned was to say
what you mean when you have the moment to say it. Don’t wait, because the time
may not come again.” p 445, All the Stars
in the Heavens (Lori’s favorite).
4.
“It’s
funny, Alda, nobody ever told me motherhood was temporary. You think you have
years and years with them, but the truth is, you don’t. Had I known that, I
might have handled things differently.” p 435, All the Stars in the Heavens
5.
“As
mothers and daughters, it is good to see each other through another person’s
point of view.” p 234, The Rejected
Writer’s Book Club
6.
“When I
look at my eighty-five-year-old face in the mirror today, I think, ‘You’re
never going to look better than you do today, honey, so smile.’ Whoever said a
smile is the best face-lift was one smart woman.” p 86, The Boston Girl
7.
“If you
change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne
Dwyer, p 164, Esther the Wonder Pig
8.
“The
people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones
who do.” – Steve Jobs, p 145, Esther the
Wonder Pig
9.
“I’ve had my sorrows, of course, but nothing
more than I could cope with. Sometimes I think that it’s not the degree of
sorrow that matters, but how much of a hold it can get… Anyway, I think that
life and sorrow go together like farmers and rain; without a little, nothing
will grow.” p 72, The People of Broken
Wheel Recommend
10. “How often we stuck to the safe path in
life, pulling on blinders and keeping our eyes to the ground, doing our best
not to look at the fantastic view. Without seeing the heights we had reached,
the opportunities actually awaiting us out there; without realizing we should
just jump and fly, at least for a moment.” P 316, The People of Broken Wheel Recommend
As you see, some books did not make the quote cut. It
was very hard to pick from the plethora of pertinent passages I had marked
within the pages of my books, and my list does not express all the great quotes you
have shared at our meetings. These timeless words provoked many thoughtful discussions
each month leaving us all much wiser for their lessons on life.
This
year, we started a new method of selecting our books. The task of choosing the
month’s title goes to only one member who is appointed alphabetically. This
gives everyone an opportunity to choose a book that they find interesting. As
we are now up to the letter “L”, Lori Lynn Lawson picked the book for January
2017. We are reading A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg
(also recommended by the people of Broken Wheel!).
As
usual, our club will meet at Natilie’s Pizzeria on Wednesday, January 25, at 6
PM to discuss Flagg’s holiday tale. For homework, prepare to discuss the book’s
themes of healing and community. Also, let’s all wear Christmas attire one last
time to the meeting on the 25th, call it a post-holiday tribute! In
the meantime, I hope you find the time to curl up with this heartwarming
selection during the remaining holiday season or find it a comforting escape
from the snowy and cold days of winter that are certain to follow.
Yours faithful
friend in books,
Tammy
P.S. Attached to this email is a recently updated
copy of our book club’s book list.
