Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson

Up From the Blue is the story of a troubled woman, Tillie, who has completely cut herself off from her father and who has chosen to remain angry and alienated from him rather than accept his misguided attempts to protect her from the truth about her mother who was a desperately ill woman.   The framed tale of Tillie tells the story of a girl who grows up in a most dysfunctional family.  Tillie's father is a lifelong military man who is married to a bipolar, manic depressive woman.  Unfortunately, Tillie must forge a path toward adulthood with these two adults as her models.  Needless to say, she struggled.  Her childhood is related to us through flashbacks that are painful to uncover.  This poor little girl was never given the chance to understand what was happening to her mother because her father decided it would be better to keep everything a secret.  As a result, Tillie hated him. She never saw the part her mother played in the deception and cover up and consequently never held her mother accountable.  The reader sees that Tillie (as an adult) has problems of her own that she is ignoring.  We are left to wonder if she will continue to become more like her mother as she ages and has children of her own.  The book was well written and definitely opened itself for good discussion. It was not a book that was uplifting or encouraging but perhaps it is the type of book that we should read in order to open a discussion about forgiveness and acceptance.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Many of us grew up knowing the phrase "Love means never having to say you're sorry" from the book Love Story.  Most of us knew this was not true, but John Green's novel clarifies a major truth of life: we all will have to say we are sorry over and over again especially to those we love.  Green's poignant story of first love, The Fault in Our Stars,  beautifully explains what we all know to be true.  We all will experience pain and suffering in this world.  How we choose to deal with the trials of our lives is what is most important. Green's main characters, Augustus and Hazel Grace, are two teenagers who are dealing with the fact that cancer is a side effect of dying.  Both have lived through the treatment of their cancer, but because of their experience they know that life is not a given.  They know that people do not live forever and that young people do not have any special privilege that allows them to live long happy lives.  When we meet Hazel she has come to terms with the fact that she is dying and she has chosen to limit the damage her death will cause by removing herself from most people.  She describes herself as a grenade that will blow everyone apart when she dies and she just sees no point in spreading the damage to too many people.  Unlike Hazel, Augustus is determined to meet and enjoy as many people as possible in his life because he wants his life to mean something.  He wants to leave a mark on the universe.  And so through these wonderfully written characters this star crossed lovers' story reveals to us truths about life and death.  We celebrate the charming and clever Gus.  We applaud the brave and strong Hazel.  We cheer for their ability to see the gift that they have been given and we cry when we realize that "time is a slut that screws everybody" and that "there is no honor is dying of". In the end Gus got it right.  He knew he was lucky to have loved Hazel.  And she was right when she tells us she was so grateful for "their little infinity of love."  John Green's novel was written as a young adult book, but his voice touched all of us.  This is a two thumbs up book that we all recommend.

Master Butcher's Singing Club by Louise Erdrich

September 2013 -- Master Butcher's Singing Club by Louise Erdrich

This character driven novel was filled with really rich characters.  Unfortunately, we all felt that it took quite a while to get into the story because we had so many characters to meet and at the beginning they seemed to be so separate and distinct.  It was not immediately clear how their stories connected, but once the connections began the design of their lives became so intertwined we were amazed.  Erdrich's story was unique and deep.  Each character was likable and yet completely unlikable as the story progressed.  Eva was the only one we all felt was good throughout.  She loved her family and she protected them at all costs.  She reached out to Delphine when she saw her need for family and this connection proved to be the saving grace for all.  The themes of love's complications, of human nature's shortcomings and of even the best people's unfailing ability to betray and "butcher"  were played out in so many ways in the novel through WWI and WWII, through the story lines of a small North Dakota town, and even through the intimate lives of the men and women in the story.  Fidelis loved Eva and yet he was a butcher in the form or a sniper in the war.  Cyprian loved Delphine and yet he was gay and not able to give her the kind of love she craved.  Franz loved Clarisse and yet he was not able to see past her poor family when he deserted her when she needed him most.  Roy loved Step and a Half and yet he could not overcome his alcohol addiction or his small minded feelings of being slighted by others and his desire for revenge.  In the end  it was Step and a Half (who watched from the side lines) who really recognized the black heart of of humans that kept people from truly finding peace and happiness.   The ending really made this book worth reading.  It was a wonderful revelation of purpose by Erdrich.  It left us with a big "Wow!" at the end.

July, 2013 Me Before You by JoJo Moyes

Me Before You by JoJo Moyes is a love story.  Really?  I guess it was a love story that was onesided and selfish and painful and funny and gutwrenching and maddening and star crossed and... I could go on but overall I think we would say we had a difference of opinion on this one.  That being said, the book was wonderful; we all really loved it.  The problem was we could not agree on the outcome.  The main characters, Lou and Will, were wonderfully written, real life people who found each other in the most unusual of circumstances.  Lou was the eccentric, "loser" with no real ambition other than to live her life in the quiet town from which she came.  She was content to live with her parents, date/live with her boyfriend Patrick for another 7 years, and to work menial jobs for the rest of her life it seemed.  Her life changed because she took a job as a caregiver to Will, a quadriplegic who was once a dashing, high power wheeler-dealer.  These two people spent 6 months together and they both acknowledged they were the best 6 months of their lives.  But, and it is a big but, the love they found in each other was not enough for Will.  He just could not live in the shell that his body had become.  The prison that his useless body became was too painful and it blinded him and therefore he could not see any hope for his future.  Because he loved himself more than he could possibly love Lou he chose to quit on them.  The result of this decision was a point we could not come to concensus on.  Some of the group thought Will's choice was really for the good of Lou.  He showed her what living was; he gave her a way to live a much fuller life; he refused to saddle her with a broken man that she would always have to take care of and that she could possibly come to resent.  Others of us felt that his choice was all about Will.  He refused to see that their time together might have been the most important part of Lou's life.  He took her choice away by making his.  His selfish refusal to give them a chance was too heartbreaking.  Regardless of our conclusion, we all agreed this was a really thought provoking, wonderful story.  High marks for Me Before You.

June, 2013--Firefly Lane by Kristen Hannah

Once again Kristen Hannah has written a strong, character driven novel that really connected with us.  The two main characters, Kate and Tully, became best friends when they were in their pre-teens.  Each young girl needed a true friend and once they found each other on Firefly Lane, they remained BFFs for the next 30+ years.  Kate, the quiet and reserved one, was caught up in the force field of Tully and consequently became more than she ever dreamed she could be.  Tully, the beauty with brains, found love that she so desperately craved with Kate and her family.  We were not unanimous about our affections for the two women however.  Some thought Tully was too self centered and too controlling.  Her inability to stop  interfering into Kate's daughter's life was inexcusable.  Some thought Kate was too weak and too controlled by her unsubstantiated jealousy of Tully and Kate's husband to be seen as totally blameless in all situations with Tully.  In the end, the genuine love these two women had for each other was the glue that held the story together.  Regardless of our differences, we all were drawn into the lives of these characters in Hannah's story.  They became real to us and we were invested in the lives that were unveiled for us.  The Firefly Lane girls were true to life and they were women we really grew to care about.  I think we would all say we would be happy to have such a friend.

Diary entries from 2010 to 2012

Book Club Diary 2010, 2011

We decided to start our book club on something of a whim while at Lennyce and Larry’s enjoying fun and laughter.  It seemed that many of us had wanted to be in a club for some time but had just never found a group with the same interests.  We were a little uncertain as to how we should approach our club and discussion of books, but we decided that we would just have to figure it out as we go along.  So we plunged in with a lot of excitement and a little trepidation!

February/—THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett 

    We all loved this book.  The powerful description of this southern town and its people was moving and generated much discussion.  We were all convicted in our own lives and how we are so clueless about the lives of these women who were “the help” and how they really lived.  A reality check made for very interesting discussion points.  Interestingly, we heard from another friend whose book club read this book and had a much different take.  Their two black members were infuriated by the book and there was another member who felt the book trivialized and stereotyped the people both white and black.  This was a good starting point for our club though.  We all had strong feelings and we found that we were able to speak freely. 

March/—WHEN CRICKETS CRY by Charles Martin

    We all loved this book.  This was a heart wrenching novel that told the story of loss and love and redemption through its main characters, a heart surgeon, a little girl, the girl’s aunt and the surgeon’s brother-in-law.  The story unfolded through flashbacks and slow remembrances so that we as readers were able to feel the pain and frustration of the characters as well as the rebirth as we went along.  This was a good character study with a Christian overlay.  We all enjoyed it very much.

April/—GLASS CASTLES by Jeannette Walls

    Well, it was good to see that we do have strong opinions!  Up to this point we had been enjoying a love fest with the books we had chosen.  Not so this month.  Sharon and Marcia did not like this book!  This biography of the dysfunctional Wall family told a story through the eyes of Jeannette.   The parents in this family were just so difficult for any of us to understand…they were bright and capable but threw away their lives and the lives of their children it seemed.  Some of us were more understanding I guess.  We all agreed that this was a good book for us as it opened our eyes as to the different reactions we might have as we move forward.

May/—HOUSE RULES by Jodi Piccoult

    We moved back to a more uniform feeling with our book this month.  True to form, Jodi Piccoult’s book showed a moral dilemma that we all could face in life only this time the main character was a teenager with Asbergers syndrome.  An accidental death was the pivotal plot element that the book revolved around.  Whether this central character could be held accountable to the same standards as the rest of society was a question we did not solve.  Some of our group felt the ending of the novel let them down, but overall the book was entertaining.

June/—SECOND HONEYMOON by Joanna Trollope

    Another good book!  We all identified with the main characters in this book, the husband and wife who found themselves alone again after their youngest son moved out.  Typically, there were a few adjustments for this couple.  The comic/tragic plot allowed for each of this couple’s children to wind up coming back to the nest, but it also allowed for growth in those same children in that they finally saw that their mother especially was much more than a housekeeper and cook.  Good characters and believable story line added to this books charm.  We liked it.

July/ SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME by Don Hall and Denver Moore

    This was an interesting biography about two men, different as they could possibly be, who were brought together by a woman whose love and devotion to God changed them and changed their lives.  We all agreed that we were humbled by the willingness of the Halls to get involved and really stay involved in the lives of people who most of us find “unlovable.”  We were also struck again about how sheltered we are as far as our understanding of how the poor and destitute people in our world live.  This was an amazing true story that we all enjoyed and learned from.

August/ --Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

   We all had much to discuss with this novel.  The historical aspect (Jews who were herded into jails by the French police and then deported to German concentration camps was not known by any of us until we read this account.)   This was a very disturbing story for so many reasons.  The only concern we had with the writing was the main character and her husband who seemed so weak and disconnected.  We were all glad that we read the book because the historical part was so important.

September——At the Scent of Water by.Linda Nichols

   Much to my surprise, not everyone loved this book as much as I did.  The story about the soon to be divorced couple whose only child died in a tragic accidental drowning was written by a Christian author who used the tragedy to show the power of forgiveness and of healing.  Some in our group believed there were just too many impossible coincidences for this to be an effective literary piece.  Again, we agreed that it is good to try different styles and discuss the novels that are picked.

December—MiddleSex by Jeffrey Eugenides and Life of a Dog by W. Bruce Cameron

Wow!  Middlesex was a real trip.  We were in agreement that we like most of the characters especially Desdemona and Lefty even though they were the “original sinners” of this family.  We were all woefully uneducated in the physical anatomy of the hermaphrodite and we were also bitterly disappointed that there were not pictures of diagrams of the crocus.  Interesting to say the least.

Life of a Dog was a huge surprise and success.  I for one was sure this was going to be a syrupy “dog” story.  What a wonderful surprise it was.  The story told through the eyes of the dog was a wonderful story telling device that allowed us to see life through the perspective other than our own human one.  Live, Love, Save and Release were the theme words we decided fit the different reincarnated lives of the narrator.  Made me cry 4 times which is not a small feat.

January—Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford—

What a good book this was.  It had all the great elements of a good novel.  The characters were real and so believable that you wanted to really meet them and know them.  The plotline was centered around the unbelievable historical event of the Japanese internment during WWII.  We all were ashamed to say we knew very little about the real history of this time in America.  We can see how the fear of Japan could have led to such an horrific event, but we still felt disgust and amazement.  The father-son story was also so sad.  The love story of Henry and Keiko was of course the thread that held the story together and we were all so glad that they ended up together. 

February—Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

What an interesting story.  The little English town with its bigotry and family strife was really such a microcosm of the whole world.   It was interesting to watch the characters react to the different levels of prejudice with indifference or obliviousness until it impacted them.  We were split as to whether Major Pettigrew was reformed by the end.  We could not agree as to whether his love would really change him or just cause him to remove himself from situations where he must stand up for the underdog.  The generational divide was also very intriguing.  The major’s son and his complete self absorbed nature was critical to the discussion of our own natures and those of our children.  Interesting!

March—Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Once again we were unanimous about the book in that we all enjoyed it and learned much history from it.  We were amazed about the lack of real information that we have heard prior to reading these books about the war.  Most of our memories were conceived by watching the movies that glorified and “hollywoodized” the European and Pacific fronts.  Again we were struck by the cruelty that one human was willing to inflict on another in the name of war.  We were not in agreement about how we would fare in a situation like this.  Some were sure they would give up and gladly die while other of us believed the will to survive is too strong for us to quit.  Louie Zamperini was a great character study.  This biography was a winner!

April—The Late Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow

We were happy to have two new members join us this month.  Our discussion was lively and interesting.  This book seemed to be one that lent itself to discussion.  The main ideas of loss, friendship, family connections and character flaws really dominated much of our discussion.  Good, thought provoking character driven writing was applauded by all.  We gave this book 2 thumbs up by the time we were finished discussing it.

May—The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Welcome to Marilyn Hubbard a summer member coming to us from the Villages in Florida. 

We had a really great discussion of this book.  Carol began the evening by telling us of her revelation in the afternoon about the title.  The author clearly wanted us to see that both Iris and Frankie are delivers of the mail that changed the life of Emma Fitch.  (As a good English teacher, she knew to look at the title because it is important.)  I was struck by the existential feel of the novel.  Camus’ philosophy of the absurd—the assertion that life ultimately has no rational meaning and that the absurd hero resists despair even though he realizes the indifference of the world seemed to be dominant in the writing.  We all felt that Will was a weak man and that our favorite character was Harry who was the only one to see the danger posed by the Germans.  Although we could not say we liked the book, we all felt that it was a good read and that it was a most discussable novel.

June--—Little Bee by Chris Cleave

What a good book this was.  The title had been changed from “The Other Hand” which may have been more suitable to the theme..”How much are we required to do for the helpless.” The plot was intricate, the characters were rich, the storyline was  heartbreaking and yet so real that the book really lent itself to much discussion.  The story was of a Nigerian stowaway who comes to London to find the only people she knows outside of her village an English couple who 2 years prior vacationed in Nigeria and while there  brazenly walked on the beach (even though they were told to stay in the guarded compound of the resort.)  This couple opened themselves to the reality of the “world.” Forced to make a choice like Solomon, the husband and wife changed their lives forever.  They also inserted themselves into the life of Little Bee.  The truth behind this fiction made us all wonder how we would have reacted in such a situation.  The fact that the big oil companies are going into underdeveloped countries and killing/displacing the people just to feed the gas habit of the industrialized world made us very uncomfortable.  We know what is happening and yet we feel much like the character Lawrence that “we can’t save them all”.  A lot of toes were stepped on with this book’s premise.  Very thought provoking.

July——State of Wonder by Patchett

We had a high voltage discussion of this book.  We were all “happy” we had read it but really could not say we “liked” the storyline.  It was “wonderfully horrifying” I think I heard SOMEONE say.  The characters were difficult to pin down.  It was impossible to say that anyone was a hero except for Easter, the deaf boy who played such an elemental role in the lives of the main characters.  The plot revolved around the scientific endeavor of a group to learn the miracle source of a South American Indian tribes ability to reproduce long past the normal time of menopause for women.  This “needed” drug was sure to be a huge money maker and therein lies the flaw.  “It is all about the money.”  The moral factors that surround such a decision are not really examined in the drug company world.  We could not get over the similarities between this journey into the jungle and that of the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.  I think we all decided we want to stay with the Bolanders!

August--—Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

So what does the crooked letter stand for?  Carol gave us some terrific ideas like Sin, Segregation, Secrets, and Siblings.  The sad life of Larry was a central point or our discussion.  He was such a sweet soul and yet he was difficult to like at least at the beginning of the novel.  “32” was not difficult to decide about.  We did not like him coward that he was.  What we all enjoyed about this book was the excellent writing.  Several passages were read aloud and the beauty of the writing discussed.  Franklin is truly a wordsmith and we are all better for having read his book.

September——To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal

To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal is a novel full of dynamic and unforgettable characters, lyrical description, and thought-provoking comments and actions.  It is a study in contrasts---appearance vs. reality, past vs. present, superficial predictability vs. realistic depth.  The reader is left to determine if this is a novel centering on lost romantic love, the institution of marriage, or the shortcomings of families, among other reflective areas.  The main characters, the unforgettable Judith and Willy, share a summer of love prior to her departure for a distant college and an altogether-new life.  The relationship lingers, below the surface for one and dominating the life of the other.  Years later, when a rejuvenating opportunity presents itself, the characters must determine what to make of that opportunity, whether there are still lessons to be learned and love to be shared, or if life and lessons from the past will continue to dominate.  McNeal provides the reader with many provocative statements, especially Willy's summation of their relationship, one that could hold true for many people:  "For you, I was a chapter---a good chapter, maybe, or even your favorite chapter, but still, just a chapter---and for me, you were the book."   It is not a flawless novel, nor are they flawless characters, all which make the work even more memorable and realistic.  Underwater easily could be dismissed as an average romantic novel, but not to the truly discerning reader.  One must linger over Willy's final "heartfelt gift (one) he isn't sure you will like or will use or will even understand."  Who among us would be able to accept and realize such a gift?

October— Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah

The image of this mother sitting in her winter garden, not seeing all the colors that life had to offer was a powerful setting for this powerful piece of writing.  The story of these women who were so desperate for love and yet so incapable of showing it made this a great discussion novel.  We really felt once again that we just could not fully understand the emotional scars that Anya was left with having lived through the war in Russia.  To lose your soul mate and your children was more than any woman could bear.  We were so sorry for the daughters, Nina and Meridith, who desperately tried to shove down the feelings of rejection that their mother gave them and yet we did not fully understand why they did not insist that their father tell them what he knew.  Evan was not blameless in that he kept Anya’s secret and in doing so kept everyone dependent on him for their emotional connection.  “Words mattered” Meridith finally discovered and that truly was the theme that this story hinged on.  No one could or would speak.  We were a bit dismayed that the ending was so cliché and yet we were sad that Sasha was never able to see his bride.  As a side note:  Nina was given the Gold Star for the comment of the night:  “We cannot know ourselves if we do not know our mothers.”  (I paraphrased.)

November/December—March by Geraldine Brooks

Does anyone recall seeing the original movie "True Grit" with John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn and Glen Campbell as his sidekick many years ago?  Wayne won an Academy Award for that performance.  Then several years ago Hollywood produced  its "re-make" of the movie starring Jeff Bridges as Rooster and  Matt Damon, the sidekick.  The recent flick was good, but it did not match the iconic first-made.  Lesson to be learned:  Don't mess with an icon.  That was what came to my mind when finishing Brooks' parallel to the beloved novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  Brooks showed much courage in taking on such a 19th century classic.  Sure, she exhibited colossal historical research in her  twenty year coverage of the horrors of slavery, bigotry, the class system, and, above all, the bloody Civil War between the States.  One is left breathless with her vivid descriptions, her ability to capture the loquaciousness of the Romantic writers of that era, the realistic presentation of such idealistic characters. It is an engaging novel, for which Brooks won the honored Pulitzer Prize, truly a feat unaccomplishable by few other current writers. On the other hand, several of the time-honored Alcott characters, namely Concordian father March and mother Marmee, in Brooks' hands, become almost unrecognizable, embittered caricatures, felled by the war, economy, life disapointments, and human failings.   There were many discussable issues presented by the novel March, especially with the recognition that many of those issues and human foibles are still so prevalent in our current society!  In that respect it was an outstanding work; however, in the disillusionment felt about some of the characterizations, one is reminded: Don't mess with an icon.  

January   The Boy From the O—Sandy Kendall

Our monthly meeting was especially fun tonight because we had (as Nina said) our first “meet and greet.”  Sandy Kendall, who happens to be Debbie Felkins back door neighbor, came to talk about her book, The Boy from the O.  We learned a lot about Sandy and her writing process.  She told us for instance that this story has been in her for as long as she can remember even though it is not a true story in any way.  She said she always wanted to write a book and this was the book she always had in mind.  It was important to her to tell a story where the “really” good guy could come out on top and be the winner.  Also important to Sandy was the idea of living up to her own advice.  She often told her children and grandchildren that they should try and should not be afraid when new challenges presented themselves.  Sandy took her granddaughter’s advice….she “coulda, woulda, didda” the book she always talked about writing.  We also learned much about the self-publishing industry.  Now, it seems, a perspective author must work with an agent who shops their book around.  No longer are the big publishers and their editors molding a writer or the book they submit.  Even though this was an uneven book at best, we were happy to have had a chance to discuss the story and characters with the author and to hear her intentions and ideas. 

February—Stone Angels by Margaret Laurence

With a large percentage of our group either in Florida, Hawaii or home sick we were not sure how our discussion would go.  Guess we should not have worried.  Where two or more women gather together you will have opinions and much discussion.  We all agreed this was a well written book with some fine passages that really painted pictures in our minds.  More importantly,  we all agreed it was the characters that latched onto us and would not let us go.  The main character, Hagar, was an enigma inside a puzzle or however that expression goes.  What a lost soul Hagar was all her life.  Her stubborn refusal to find any meaning in life other than in what she imagined other people were thinking of her and her family was her downfall.  Her inability to see the goodness in Marvin while instead idolizing John was another of her fatal flaws.  The symbolic trip to the grave yard with John was so impactful.  She was frantic to set the fallen stone angel at her father and mother’s gravesite upright because the angel was the permanent fixture and reminder of what they had been in the town. Sadly, she was incapable of setting her own life up on any kind of level path or even seeing that no one was looking down on her or for that matter even looking at her anymore.  She was long forgotten in Manawaka but she could not see this.  In the end she is not even capable of being honest with Marvin when he comes to visit.  Hagar sees herself as the angel in the Bible who Jacob has grasped and has refused to release unless the angel blesses him.  She tells him he has been a better son than John, but she knows she is lying.  Unbelievably, she does not see that Marvin is the better son.  At least Marvin is realist in his appraisal of her.  He says, “She’s a holy terror” and Hagar thinks that this is as much as she could expect out of life.  She hears the anger and tenderness in his statement. So, even though it was not an uplifting story, we all like this book.  We were not happy about it, but we did.  It was a book that forced us to think about our own attitudes in life and our own approach to old age. 

Side Note:  I will not be able to do it justice but for those of you who missed this discussion I want to tell you that you need to have Cheri read a section of the prologue she had in her copy of the book that talked about the author’s thoughts in writing the book.  In it there was a great comparison of child birth and death.  Laurence felt that these two events in a woman’s life are much the same and that most people do not realize this.  Really interesting idea!

March—The Twelfth Imam by Joel Rosenberg

Marcia Boehning, Nina Morris, Marilyn Fernandez, Sharon Keith, Karen Bennett, Cheri Shattuck

We started our discussion with a little information on the Islamic belief in the coming of the 12^th imam and their inclusion of Jesus as a means to reach the infidel Christians and show them that the Islam belief is true.  We all admitted that we were woefully uneducated in this religion and that much of what we heard in the media was information that would lean toward fear mongering.  Even with that most of us were convinced as Rosenberg is that we need to know and be prepared because the Shiite sects are growing and are coming to America and their desire to spread their religion by any means possible.  I think we all agreed the book was passable though pretty farfetched in some instances.  For instance, how could this super spy just hop on a plane and come home for the weekend without blowing his cover.  I was surprised by the cliff hanger ending, but was reminded that most of Rosenberg’s books end this way.  We did have a very good discussion even if the book itself was not the center of much of it. 

April—Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

Isn’t is amazing that so many of us have lived so long and known so little about world history?  Again, we found ourselves marveling at the information we learned about the Chinese revolution and the “Big Leap” of Mao Tse Tung.  Through the eyes of Lisa See we were able to “see” (although with revulsion) the true story of what happened to the people of China.  The peasants who were treated just like the buffalo with blinders were so innocent and ignorant that they were unaware what the government was doing to them until it was too late.  Human nature is surprisingly the same when people are put into a slave position.  Like the Jews in Germany, these Chinese peasants marched off to their gas chambers in the glass filled fields and found themselves in a battle to survive.  We were all horrified with the descriptions of the dead and dying that Pearl saw on her was back to rescue Joy.  But, as Lennyce said, the main theme of this book was that of the undying love of a mother.  We saw this love in many forms.  May who was outwardly self centered and not a perfect mother, was the survivor that perhaps saved them all.  Pearl was the mother who gave all she had for her daughter and learned to sacrifice her desires for those she loved.  Joy was so selfish at the beginning, but she transformed into the mother who bridged all the others and the one who forged their future.  We all agreed this was a really good read.  Glad you chose this for us Sharon.

May—Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

I have a feeling my powers of description will be sorely challenged with this book!  To say we all loved it would be an understatement.  We went so far as to decide which chapter we loved most.  Oh, to be able to write like this.  The imagery was so beautiful that many of us stopped and reread description within passages.  Each chapter revealed another character that grabbed us and made us feel their feelings with such intensity it was like we were part of their story.  The main character, Olive, was like a microcosm of us all.  She was so real it was scary.  We loved her and hated her equally which was amazing.  Over and over we were assailed by her inability to completely love her husband and her son.  She was so afraid to be hurt she refused to feel much at all.  Olive could not or would not appreciate all that she had in her life.  Henry, her kind and loving husband, was the most obvious person who Olive took for granted until it was too late.  Only after she lost Henry did Olive realize that someone, anyone was better than being alone.  In the end she was willing to settle for a relationship that looked like “Swiss cheese” with all the holes life had left rather than being alone.  This was a strong indictment of our selfish world;  we all decided we should make more of an effort to appreciate all our family and friends and never take any of it for granted.  Great book, great book, great book!

June—The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

How is it possible that we have read two books narrated by dogs and that they both were wonderful?  Enzo, the loveable mutt who was rescued from the pound by Denny the race car driver, is the embodiment of the perfect friend.  He is self sacrificing, loyal, encouraging, protective and faithful to the end.  The clever premise of the novel is that Enzo believes that when he dies he will be reincarnated as a man.  He is constantly frustrated by his inability to talk and in many cases this fact causes the humans in the story to suffer needlessly….if only Enzo could tell them what he knows!  The book is filled with words of wisdom given to us by Enzo.  (“That which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny.”  “True champions can accomplish things that normal people think impossible.” “The true test of a champion is not whether he triumphs, but whether he overcomes obstacles…”)  An existential experience to be sure.  We all really enjoyed the book and those of us who love animals were doubly blessed. 

July –--Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

I think we all will agree that being a woman in a male dominated society really “sucks”.  It turns out being a mother to a daughter is a double whammy in this society!  Lisa See once again revealed to us the life of women in China in such brilliant light that we all felt we were able to really see just how difficult it was and how strong these women had to be to survive.  Lily, the narrator, was very real in her description of herself and her family and her “old same.”  Snow Flower, the girl from a higher stationed family became Lily’s most important friend and confident and the person who above all others was true and devoted.  Even Lily’s mother was not as close an ally as Snow Flower and she certainly did not do what we thought of as loving acts.  Her job was to prepare Lily for her role as wife (of sons hopefully) and servant to her family by marriage.  The bizarre society was almost too much for us to comprehend.  We were divided as to whether we could or would fit into this totally controlled lifestyle.  None of us would choose to live in this brutal world.  Lily made a life for herself and even achieved some level of success but her narrative revealed her despair at her lack of empathy for her old same and her inability to love without attaching strings.  This was a good book but the look at this society was really disturbing.  Thankfully we are not required to change places with any of these lifelike characters.  We are fortunate to live in the time we do and in the United States. 

August –– Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas

nnyce this book is for you!!  We all said as we read through this warm, friendship driven novel that we thought of you and your quilts.  You more than any of us know the joy that comes from working on a piece of art that is made up of the fabric of your life.  Just like all of us, quilts are put together piece by piece. Just like us, quilts sometimes are mistreated or taken apart in order to be made fuller and more beautiful.  Just like any of us, quilts are used well sometimes or they are put aside and forgotten until they are needed again.  This beautiful life metaphor is so appropriate for you Lennyce but really for us all.  I think as I sat listening and laughing last night to our discussion I saw that we have created this microcosm of life and living in our little group.  We celebrated Marilyn’s new grandbaby and Lennyce’s blue ribbon.  We lived vicariously through Debbie’s story of her safari in Africa.  We reminisced our time together  in jobs or other groups but overall we shared friendship.  This is what I will remember from this book.  No matter what the circumstances, friendship is the bond that women need in order to find satisfaction in life.

September—Cuttting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

My words seem so small and inadequate for this book review.  I do not know exactly where to begin a summary of such an epic novel.  I think we would all agree this is a book that could be made into a miniseries along the lines of “The Thornbirds”.  The writing was wonderful.  The descriptions were vivid and so real we could easily see the scenes and feel the emotions.  We loved the characters and felt they were developed so fully we for all intents and purposes came away “knowing” them intimately.  We loved Ghost and admired Matron.  We disliked Genet intensely and wondered why she had such a chip on her shoulder. (Yes, we acknowledged that she had a difficult life, but she was so cruel to Marion)  We came to believe that Thomas Stone was autistic like Shiva which would explain why he was so dense when it came to human interaction.  (Gold star Marcia)  We discussed the importance of the title with regard to Thomas and delved into the possibility that he was cutting the “stone” out of Sister that was killing her when he tried to abort the twins.  His feelings for her overrode his oath to do no harm.  There were so many quotable quotes it is impossible for me to include them all.  I believe Nina was correct in her assessment that one of the chief themes of the book was “We come unbidden into this life, and if we are lucky we find a purpose beyond starvation, misery, and the early death which, lest we forget, is the common lot”.  We are in this life with the exhortation to make a difference.  We also must recognize that we must “own our slippers.”  We are in the enviable position of having the time and wherewithal to use our talents and to make a difference.  What we learn we should try to apply.  Great advice and a great book.

October—THE MAN IN THE WHITE SHARKSKIN SUIT:  A JEWISH FAMILY'S EXODUS FROM OLD CAIRO TO THE NEW WORLD  by Lucette Lagnado

There is a certain ambiguity to be found in the reading of this non-fiction memoir: While, on the one hand, one is introduced to and comes to know the pampered members of an Arabic-Jewish Egyptian family who must exile themselves to a totally different country and culture due to religious persecution, on the other hand, the reader also recognizes that re-situation in another country full of promise does not guarantee freedom from religious persecution or the resumption of a similar lifestyle.  Told through the loving, even forgiving, eyes of the young daughter now a successful adult in America, Leon, the famed boulevardier and bon vivant of Cairo in its wealthy heyday of the 1940's-1950's, is a rather faultless father who lavishes the daughter with love, attention, and materialistic goods.  However, such welcome demonstrations are for this daughter only, not the other children nor the beautiful mother.  After years of living an elitist, sheltered life, when the regime of King Farouk falls, thousands in the Arab-Jew community are told that, although they are natural-born Egyptian citizens, they must depart the country.  The family faces many hardships on the journey itself before settling in the rather unwelcoming arms of New York. Once there, still further difficulties befall the family--economically, physically, and emotionally.  Sadly, the members scatter or choose alternative lifestyles, never again regaining the "glory days" in Cairo.
    The father is one of the ambiguities himself.  He is principled, yet narrow minded; comforting, yet cold; familial, yet embittered. While the family falls apart lacking his guidance and unwillingness to provide, the daughter LouLou continues with her myopic paternal relationship. The mother takes a step out of the box, finally, and attains some freedom. Very sad on so many counts.
    The consensus on the book was that while we were glad we read it, having learned about places and historical situations of which we were unaware, we found some of the characters revealing drastic shortcomings and non-likeability.  One virtue, however, was the big picture:  The work revealed the commonplace predicament of many who have been forced to depart a homeland or who have encountered a hardship or tragedy; those people have been forced to either move on and forward or succumb to their own indecision and inability to adjust.

November—Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The title of our book, Gone Girl, made me think about the country song, “What Kind of Gone Are We Talking About Here”.  The main characters were “gone” alright, but what kind of “gone” are we talking about.  Literally, Amy has disappeared, but she was so much more gone than that.  What a vicious, vindictive, megalomaniac she was!  Great character to hate we all agreed.  Nick was also “gone” but in a much more cloaked way.  He was sympathetic to begin with but by the end of the book, he too demonstrated his egocentric personality to such an extreme that we could not like him anymore.  Wow, what a pair!  We all enjoyed the writing of Flynn.  Some passages were really memorable and the mystery itself kept us all guessing.  I don’t think that any of us guessed the ending to be quite what it was.  Good choice Miss Lennyce.

January—The Innocent by Taylor Stevens

We all agreed this was a good thriller with the hook around the cult world that we all agree we don’t know or understand.  I shared my brush with Scientiology and again thanked my lucky stars that I got away unscathed.  The main character, Murray, was a complex, damaged woman who had a lot of similarities to the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo “pshyco-killer.”  We felt compassion for her but none of us could really “like” her.  There were some threads that were not tied up we believed, like what ever happened to the boyfriend-“father” who kidnapped the little girl in the first place?  And why was this child so important to the cult that they would go to such lengths to keep her away from her mother?  Although this was not our favorite book, we all liked it and we were not unhappy that we read it.  It was a quick read and an enjoyable mystery.  Thanks Nina.

February 2013—Molokai by Alan Brennert

What a powerful, life affirming books this was.  The story of Rachel, a victim of leprosy, was set in the early 20^th century and detailed the life of this indomitable girl who lived in Hawaii at the time of internment/exile for anyone who developed the disease.  At the age of six the little girl Rachel was taken from her home and family and sent to Molokai.  There she lived her life and  what an incredible life it was.  Her determination to “beat” this disease never wavered and in the end she did leave Molokai healed of Hansons disease as it now is called.  But the events of her life were amazing to witness in this story.   We were reminded of Louie Zamperini in “Unbroken” who refused to be beaten by the circumstances of life.  Rachel was a survivor who we all truly admired.  We really loved this book and recommend it highly.

March 2013—The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

In 1922 Fitzgerald wrote, “I want to write something new—something extraordinary and beautiful and simple + intricately patterned.”  We would all agree that he met this goal with “extraordinary” brilliance.  This well known novel lives up to all the accolades it receives.  Written about a time well documented but long gone really (70 years), the overall themes are still fresh and surprisingly timely.  The lost American Dream still works as a driving force for a writer.  In our culture, the American Dream is about individual pursuit of success and happiness.  Unfortunately, we all recognize that in too many cases the pursuit of the dream often leads to a fruitless chase of “fun or happiness.”  This chase of pleasure is best shown in Fitzgerald’s characters, Daisy and Tom, who epitomize the people of “old” money who fritter away their lives with little or no effort to do something worthwhile for themselves or their world.  The “careless” attitude that Fitzgerald highlights in these people defines them as self obsessed individuals who use and abuse everyone around them in most cases without even stopping to realize what they do.  They live their lives like children completely oblivious to the carnage they leave in their wake.  Jay Gatsby is the counter weight to Daisy and Tom.  Coming from nothing, he manages to amass a huge amount of money, to acquire property and possessions, and to entertain the “important people” of the time.  But all of this is in vain it seems because Daisy/the dream cannot be bought with any amount of money.  The “haves” will never accept the “have nots” regardless of their material wealth.  Gatsby was “better than all of them” but he did not realize it.  He believed in the dream and he believed that he could reach it if he just tried harder.  We marveled over this book and its economy of words.  The beauty of the writing reminded us again why this is a classic.  We were well pleased by this read!! 

April 2013—A Cup of Friendship by Deborah Rodriguez

We were given a living picture of the life of women within the Islamic city of Kabul.  Through the characters in this novel we gained perspective and some insights concerning life as a woman in a Muslim country.  The story takes place in and around a coffee shop in Kabul owned by an American adventurer, Sunny.  Naive and terribly ignorant of the customs and rituals of the people in her adopted city, she manages to form deep affections and bonds with several women who connect in her coffee shop.  As a reader we are able to see how difficult and cruel life is for these women and we were able to draw lessons from their experiences.  We were truly drawn to the matriarch, Halajan, who had tasted a more free life when she was young but is forced to live with the re-established Taliban rules for women as the story unfolds.  This character who seemed so forward thinking in many ways had turned her back on her “soul mate” when she was young and agreed to an arranged marriage.  Her life was controlled by her religion and its customs and beliefs.  We also were drawn to the beautiful Yazmina who was sure she and her baby would be killed because she had no living husband.  It did not matter that her husband had been killed serving in the army; she was looked at as a whore and her child would not be allowed to live.   This too was a proscription of the Islam culture within she lived.  We were amazed by the courage of Candace and Isabel and applauded their strength in the face of such overwhelming odds.  They fought for women in a place where women were deemed less than human.  They fought against the primitive customs that were controlling the women in Afghanistan.  This book was a great story of women and their strength in the face of hatred and abuse.  It is a great story of the redemption of love.  It is a great story of the power of friendship.  The quote from Eleanor Roosevelt best sums up our thoughts.  “Women are like tea bags; you never know how strong they are until they’re put in hot water.”

May 2013 -- A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris

Wow!  Wasn’t that the word we all used for lack of a better means of describing our feeling after reading this novel?  We all had such strong impressions of the three female characters of this book, Rayona, Christine and Ida.  Each section of the book was written about a single character and was brilliantly laid out for us in such a way that we truly felt that we were there overlooking the action.  Each section was enough of a story that it could have stood alone as an entire book on its own. But together the three sections became the entire world for a family that was dysfunctional at times but unbreakable throughout.  We were allowed to see what each of the women saw and we were able to feel what each felt, but we were also able to glimpse what they could not.  We saw how their lives could have been changed if one mother could have said or done one thing differently with regard to her daughter.  The fact that each of these characters could have changed the world for the others was so heartbreaking and yet we did not feel hopelessness in the end.  We so appreciated the writing of Dorris.  The descriptive passages were so real we felt the “dirt under our nails.”  The conversations were so pointed, we knew we could have been the person talking.  In the end, we became a part of the “twisting and tying and blending, of catching and of letting go.”  We were “braided” into the fabric of this book.  This book was a definite 5 stars.

April 2013—A Cup of  Friendship by Deborah Rodriguez

We were given a living picture of the life of women within the Islamic city of Kabul.  Through the characters in this novel we gained perspective and some insights concerning life as a woman in a Muslim country.  The story takes place in and around a coffee shop in Kabul owned by an American adventurer, Sunny.  Naive and terribly ignorant of the customs and rituals of the people in her adopted city, she manages to form deep bonds with several women who connect in her coffee shop.  As a reader we are able to see how difficult and cruel life is for these women and we were able to draw lessons from their experiences.  We were truly drawn to the matriarch, Halajan, who had tasted a more free life when she was young but finds herself forced to live with the re-established Taliban rules for women as the story unfolds.  Even though she was much more "modern" in her actions and in her thinking she had in fact turned her back on her “soul mate” when she was young and agreed to an arranged marriage.  Her life was controlled by her religion and its customs and beliefs.  We also were drawn to the beautiful Yazmina who was sure she and her baby would be killed because she had no living husband.  It did not matter that her husband had been killed serving in the army; she was looked at as a whore and her child would not be allowed to live.   This too was a proscription of the Islam culture within she lived.  We were amazed by the courage of Candace and Isabel, two women who were outsiders and foreigners, and applauded their strength in the face of such overwhelming odds.  They fought for women in a place where women were deemed less than human.  They fought against the primitive customs that were controlling the women in Afghanistan.  This book was a great story of women and their strength in the face of hatred and abuse.  It is a great story of the redemption of love.  It is a great story of the power of friendship.  The quote from Eleanor Roosevelt best sums up our thoughts.  “Women are like tea bags; you never know how strong they are until they’re put in hot water.”

March 2013—The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 In 1922 Fitzgerald wrote, “I want to write something new—something extraordinary and beautiful and simple + intricately patterned.”  We would all agree that he met this goal with “extraordinary” brilliance.  This well known novel lives up to all the accolades it receives.  Written about a time well documented but long gone really (70 years), the overall themes are still fresh and surprisingly timely.  The lost American Dream still works as a driving force for a writer.  In our culture, the American Dream is about individual pursuit of success and happiness.  Unfortunately, we all recognize that in too many cases the pursuit of the dream often leads to a fruitless chase of “fun or happiness.”  This chase of pleasure is best shown in Fitzgerald’s characters, Daisy and Tom, who epitomize the people of “old” money who fritter away their lives with little or no effort to do something worthwhile for themselves or their world.  The “careless” attitude that Fitzgerald highlights in these people defines them as self obsessed individuals who use and abuse everyone around them in most cases without even stopping to realize what they do.  They live their lives like children completely oblivious to the carnage they leave in their wake.  Jay Gatsby is the counter weight to Daisy and Tom.  Coming from nothing, he manages to amass a huge amount of money, to acquire property and possessions, and to entertain the “important people” of the time.  But all of this is in vain it seems because Daisy/the dream cannot be bought with any amount of money.  The “haves” will never accept the “have nots” regardless of their material wealth.  Gatsby was “better than all of them” but he did not realize it.  He believed in the dream and he believed that he could reach it if he just tried harder.  We marveled over this book and its economy of words.  The beauty of the writing reminded us again why this is a classic.  We were well pleased by this read!! 

February 2013

Molokai byAlanBrennert
What a powerful, life affirming book this was. The story of Rachel, a victim of leprosy, was set in the early 20th century and detailed the life of this indomitable girl who lived in Hawaii at the time of internment/exile for anyone who developed the disease. At the age of six the little girl Rachel was taken from her home and family and sent to Molokai. There she lived her life and what an incredible life it was. Her determination to "beat" this disease never wavered and in the end she did leave Molokai healed of Hansons disease as it now is called. But the events of her life were amazing to witness in this story. We were reminded of Louie Zamperini in "Unbroken" who refused to be beaten by the circumstances of life. Rachel was a survivor who we all truly admired. We really loved this story and recommend it highly.