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!

Christmas Celebration

Booker Babes met for their Christmas Celebration at Kim's. Because of the added stress of the holidays we don't read a book for December, but celebrate the season instead.

The table was set, the candles lit, and the fun was about

to begin.

The food is always great!

Our theme this year was ornaments. Each person was requested to incorporate an ornament into her outfit without it being a necklace, to bring an ornament to give away, and to share a special ornament.

Kathy realizes she didn't follow the rules!

In the spirit of "Letting it go..." Kim was NOT very creative and used her ornament on her scarf.

Jackie certainly won the prize for most creative with her decorating. You can't tell it in the photos, but she was blinking with lights!

Jill cannot believe Susie wore those in her hair!! Actually, they were her ornament to share, and she had a nice story to go with them.

Beth read 'Twas The Teacher's Night Before Christmas as we passed our ornaments to share. We passed the package each time she said "the".

Phyllis got a great icicle ornament.

Karen and Nancy dressed for the occasion in their snowman sweaters.

In the spirit of the holidays, some members donated money to Big Brothers/ Big Sisters to help support a family for Christmas.

Everyone left with a parting gift.

Breakfast With Buddha

Our book for November was Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo.

Summary

Otto Ringling is a successful, happily married Manhattanite facing an existential crisis brought on by the recent death of his parents. Volya Rinpoche is a Mongolian monk recently released from a Siberian prison who now acts as a spiritual advisor to Otto’s sister, Cecilia. When Cecelia insists that Volya take her place on a road trip with Otto from New Jersey to North Dakota to settle their deceased parents’ affairs, these two very different men embark on a journey rich with both physical and spiritual discoveries. As Otto shows Volya the pleasures of the American landscape, Volya helps Otto come to terms with the unnerving reality of loss.

We met at Karen's for November book club. As usual, Karen's tablescape was beautiful!

We had great food and discussions as usual. I'll leave you with this slideshow today.

1,000 White Women

Our October book was 1,ooo White Women by Jim Fergus. We met at the Kalona Family Restaurant for supper and then moved to a more private location which will remain unnamed.

Review From Booklist

An American western with a most unusual twist, this is an imaginative fictional account of the participation of May Dodd and others in the controversial "Brides for Indians" program, a clandestine U.S. government^-sponsored program intended to instruct "savages" in the ways of civilization and to assimilate the Indians into white culture through the offspring of these unions. May's personal journals, loaded with humor and intelligent reflection, describe the adventures of some very colorful white brides (including one black one), their marriages to Cheyenne warriors, and the natural abundance of life on the prairie before the final press of the white man's civilization. Fergus is gifted in his ability to portray the perceptions and emotions of women. He writes with tremendous insight and sensitivity about the individual community and the political and religious issues of the time, many of which are still relevant today. This book is artistically rendered with meticulous attention to small details that bring to life the daily concerns of a group of hardy souls at a pivotal time in U.S. history.

And here is Phyllis trying out for Vanna's job!

Out of 298 reviews on Amazon.com, the average reviewer gave this book 4 stars out of 5. How many stars did these three give it?????

And there's Susie trying to hide behind the book!And Kathy as usual, with the WRONG book!!

As usual we had a great discussion.

Do You Believe in Time Travel?

What do you do when you meet the love of your life when you're six years old? And he's 36, but he's really only eight years older than you are? If you're Clare Abshire, you wait for each of his visits throughout the years until you meet him in real time.

Henry DeTamble is a time traveler, although not by choice. A genetic mutation causes him to spontaneously travel through time, disappearing from view, leaving behind his clothes and possessions, and arriving naked in another time and another place. For the most part, this is a curse. Henry often has to turn to petty crime to feed and clothe himself when he travels, and must run from people, thugs, or the police. Eventually Henry returns to his present time, bringing only the bodily injuries he's suffered back with him. Sometimes he travels back in time and visits an earlier version of himself. One of the places to which he travels often is the meadow behind Clare's house, and throughout her younger years, Clare meets him there and falls in love with him.

This is the basic outline for the story of Henry and Clare in Audrey Niffenegger's remarkable debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife. This is far from a science fiction exploration of the space-time continuum, but a heartfelt love story of two people who must live with this curse as part of their lives. Ms. Niffenegger has thought through all the ramifications of the time travel, and sewn it seamlessly into the storyline. Once you accept that time traveling is a part of Henry's life he can't control, nothing that happens to him seems farfetched or out of character?

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was our book for September. We had mixed feelings about the book. Some people REALLY liked it, like Beth, who has been trying to get people to read it for years! Some people struggled through it like Susie, Kim, and Jan. And others just thought it was so-so. We had a great discussion, some of which centered around SEX!! Of course, we do usually get around to discussing that at some point. I think leaping tall buildings was also a topic, or was that part of the sex discussion too?? Hmmmm.

Obviously Jill wants nothing to do with the little device Kim carries in her purse. I think there were many suggestions made about the use for that too. Vibrator comes to mind here.

We had a VIP at book club(in her sunglasses of course!), and Jan, always wanting to rub noses or shoulders or butts or whatever, with the "important" people, had to have her photo op!!

Susie and Valli always TRY to look so innocent, but we know the truth!

And look at Karen and Jackie being such the good listeners. Wonder what they're thinking about!

Beth, Jill, and Kim look quite comfy on Susie's couch just trying to hid behind those pillows.

We had a great Mexican meal at a restaurant, after which we gathered at Susie's home. Zahra was a guest and we did swear her to abide by our rules, especially--"What happens at book club, stays at book club!". I'm sure she thinks we have S-E-X on the brain, but we don't always. REALLY!