Unfinished Desires

Our March bookclub was held in Valli's beautiful home where we discussed

Unfinished Desires

by Gail Godwin.

From Gail Godwin's site:

Set in a small town in the mountains of North Carolina, Unfinished Desires is a complex and deeply affecting story of friendship, loyalty, redemption, and memory.

The ninth grade class of Mount St. Gabriels, an all girls Catholic School, is strong willed (some might say "notorious"). Leading the pack is the unforgettable Tildy Stratton, the undisputed queen bee of the class, who quickly befriends Chloe Starnes, a day student recently taken in by her uncle following her young mother's mysterious death. The passionate friendship fills a void for each girl, and the headstrong Tildy soon has Chloe and the whole class enacting her vision for a play based on the colorful founding story of the school.

What happens the night of the play will profoundly affect the course of many of the lives involved, including that of the girls' teacher, a young nun, as well as the school's matriarch, Mother Suzanne Ravenel. Fifty years later, she will still relive that night in 1951, trying to reconcile past and present, and reaching back even further to her own senior year at Mt. St. Gabriel's, where the roots of a tragedy are buried.

FOOD--Valli's soups were DELISH!! As was the rest of the food--apple cake, broccoli slaw, etc. Sorry, no pictures.

Kim brought "Sister Ethel" to share in the discussion along with several Catholic school photos from the 50s. Valli and Kim had first hand Catholic school experiences to share. Phyllis was also familiar with nuns.

Phyllis kept us on track as usual! Here she is penciling in the names of the people who didn't show up. You know who you are!!

Nun(none) of these three have ANY Catholic school experience. And, if I may say so myself----it shows! LOL

We all enjoyed the book, the conversation, and the food.

"WHAT HAPPENS AT BOOK CLUB, STAYS AT BOOK CLUB!"

The Help

Our February meeting was held at a local restaurant with the discussion being held in a place that shall remain nameless!!

Our book was:

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Sybil Steinberg

Southern whites' guilt for not expressing gratitude to the black maids who raised them threatens to become a familiar refrain. But don't tell Kathryn Stockett because her first novel is a nuanced variation on the theme that strikes every note with authenticity. In a page-turner that brings new resonance to the moral issues involved, she spins a story of social awakening as seen from both sides of the American racial divide.

Newly graduated from Ole Miss with a degree in English but neither an engagement ring nor a steady boyfriend, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan returns to her parents' cotton farm in Jackson. Although it's 1962, during the early years of the civil rights movement, she is largely unaware of the tensions gathering around her town.

Skeeter is in some ways an outsider. Her friends, bridge partners and fellow members of the Junior League are married. Most subscribe to the racist attitudes of the era, mistreating and despising the black maids whom they count on to raise their children. Skeeter is not racist, but she is naive and unwittingly patronizing. When her best friend makes a political issue of not allowing the "help" to use the toilets in their employers' houses, she decides to write a book in which the community's maids -- their names disguised -- talk about their experiences.

Fear of discovery and retribution at first keep the maids from complying, but a stalwart woman named Aibileen, who has raised and nurtured 17 white children, and her friend Minny, who keeps losing jobs because she talks back when insulted and abused, sign on with Skeeter's risky project, and eventually 10 others follow.

Aibileen and Minny share the narration with Skeeter, and one of Stockett's accomplishments is reproducing African American vernacular and racy humor without resorting to stilted dialogue. She unsparingly delineates the conditions of black servitude a century after the Civil War.

The murders of Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr. are seen through African American eyes, but go largely unobserved by the white community. Meanwhile, a room "full of cake-eating, Tab-drinking, cigarette-smoking women" pretentiously plan a fundraiser for the "Poor Starving Children of Africa." In general, Stockett doesn't sledgehammer her ironies, though she skirts caricature with a "white trash" woman who has married into an old Jackson family. Yet even this character is portrayed with the compassion and humor that keep the novel levitating above its serious theme.

It seems we all enjoyed this book a great deal!

A Change of Altitude

Our January meeting was at Phyllis' on January 23rd. Looks like she did a great job keeping the discussion on track!

Because of the bad weather and roads only the "townies" were able to attend. (Phyllis did host some us on Friday that didn't make it to book club. We were treated to trifle, treats and adult beverages! YUM!)

Our book to discuss was:

Change of Altitude

by Anita Shreve

Synopsis
Twenty-eight-year-old Geraldine travels to Kenya with her new husband James with the intent of staying a year. In a dizzying multicultural city, she struggles to maintain her balance as well as her sense of self. Her marriage, and her understanding of the world, are shaken to the core.Invited on a climbing expedition to Mt. Kenya, the newlyweds are caught up in a horrific accident. In its aftermath, Geraldine must try to understand exactly what happened on that mountain and what it has done to her and to her marriage. A major author in terms of critical acclaimand bestseller status, Anita Shreve limns the secrets at the core of our closest relationships and the ways in which lives can turn on the axis of a single catastrophic event.

The food looked yummy!

A great discussion was held.

Jan even stopped eating and talking to listen!!

Valli smiles at the camera while Jill wonders what Jan is talking about!

Phyllis certainly had their attention!