Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalesh

Eighteen members gathered for this special night where we also shared appetizers and desserts at a friends house.  We had an interesting discussion where almost everyone who had read the book loved it and we all had a story that could relate to what Mildred Kalesh had written.  One member said she was going to recommend it.  I ordered a book to keep for myself I loved it so much!

"Loved the arraignment of how they categorized the chapters." one said.  Another member said she loved reading the stories, it brought so many memories.  Even a member of our book club who grew up in Turkey could relate to the stories from this Iowa resident.  One member said she "loved the humor, it was a happy book and loved the recipes."

One member said "Think of the mind set of women back then and our expectations, no comparison.  Another said they "were always saving, which took a lot of energy.  So much work for one meal."  Another agreed, saying they "weren't wasting anything.  If something wasn't used in one recipe it was saved and used in another."  One member said she remembers as a child, helping her mother with the threshing bees.  She said "mother was preparing the next meal as I was doing dishes."

Some of us women recognize the work these people went through.  We lamented about how wasteful we are in our society and even our family members, running water while we brush our teeth or using one paper towel all the time and then just throwing it away!  A comment made too, was you can't miss what you didn't have.  Children also worked and helped in the family, there was no question about helping.

We liked her story that she shared about her mother being a single parent and those struggles.  They were strong back then and were full of confidence in such a hard life.  People were more physical back in that time too.  They weren't spending time in front of a tv like we are now.

This book was also a part of story telling.  We have lost that through generations.  Memories will be lost if not told.  Their lives were difficult and unique to parents before us.  The kids also had much more freedom then they have now.  The world has certainly changed.

The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

Fifteen members were at our monthly discussion for The Aviator's Wife, about the story of Anne Morrow Lindbergh.  Members said "Great choice and loved the book.  Charles was larger than life character" and "Thought it was going to be a dry non-fiction book, actually it was fiction, enjoyed it very much."   One person said she liked the voice the author gave the characters, being that she was from Minnesota had heard about Charles Lindbergh but hadn't read much.  A school librarian (now retired) said she really liked the book and was amazed how well Melanie Benjamin had taken the information she had gathered and compared it to reading a non-fiction book.

One member said she, like others had mentioned, gained a lot of information about the Lindberghs through this book.  "I had no idea she was a skilled pilot."  Many of us remembered and had read the book A Gift from the Sea. The group learned she was the 1st Woman Glider Pilot in 1931. {We also learned Emily Howell Warner, USA, was the first woman to be hired as a major airline pilot -- Frontier Airlines.}

We saw Anne as her father had called her "reliable Anne," always obedient but very strong to recognize her own strength.  When Charles went off on his flights without her she ran the household and when he left on his frequent trips to Germany, she managed it all.  She had strength like her mother had, was independent.  We talked about the abduction of their child, how that affected their whole family.

One member said she was "disappointed, heard in history class of a great American hero, disappointed in some of his choices" and felt a little by the group.  One member felt he possibly had some autism spectrum issues going on, but was definitely a very military trained man. Anne always tried to protect his public persona and what she thought he should be remembered for.   Some felt that he chose Anne because she was a part of the "crew" and a very obedient spouse.

"But the eyes are blind.  One must look with the heart" is a quote from the front of the book. "Charles had taught Anne to follow Polaris, the brightest star, never wavering and that's how she remembered him. She knew bad things, but was looking with her heart, choosing to see the good things," is what someone shared.

Many of us love these historical fictions and this one did not disappoint us in the least. and some expressed that they would like to read more about Charles and Anne Lindbergh.  We thought it was well-written and although disappointed to hear about Charles' other events in his life, he was still the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris.  I think we enjoyed reading and knowing his wife was there, always to support and lead him, a strength to the end.

Moloka'l by Alan Brennert

Sixteen members participated in the discussion of Moloka'i at the Park Grove Library in October.  EVERYONE liked it and had varied reasons they liked it.

"Beautiful cover, very attractive and made me want to pick it up" someone said. "I would have never picked it up but I loved it."  "Liked the main character and the story through her eyes." "It was well-written" said another.  One member said they wished he had talked about more of the effects of the disease on those affected by leprosy or Hansen's Disease.  There was a lot of research that went into this book, someone mentioned, and another said the author "made everything very vivid, you could see how they looked with leprosy. It was tough for me to read, almost too vivid.  Loved all the characters, but I can see why someone was very afraid."  "I wanted to find out what happened to Rachel, it was so real to me, even though it was fiction, this was what real people had happen to them" another commented.

The historical fiction about the leper colony on the Hawaiian Island Moloka'i were hard to read from some of the members perspective.  One said "having a 5 year old taken away from her family was tough."  Another said "I couldn't understand mother's reaction, was heart-broken over it, but understood that she had to do it for her other children."

We talked about how we experienced in our own way, very contagious diseases and the quarantine that has gone on around us, how isolated we felt.  One person was hospitalized and had to have everyone around them gowned & gloved, and upon going home did not have contact with other family members, isolated in her bedroom.  Others talked about having measles and quarantined.  We also talked about the fear of disease and how they must have felt that back in this time periods.  Our fears included H1N1, measles, polio, Ebola and even Aids.

We were glad for the workers that came to the Island to care for those who were diseased and they were not.  There were many that helped make sure the whole island and the people were taken care of.

Rachel found family where ever she was, with the young girls who she shared the facility with and Sister Catherine to Uncle Pono and Haleola.  Having Rachel connect with her sister at the end was so good and then her daughter Ruth.  "She always had family, she had that as a child and maintained that all her life.  She was easy to love" someone said.  Great story to read!

100 BOOKS READ

Two women thought it would be interesting to start a book club through the Park Grove Library Branch in 2006 and with the staff, they did it!  AND WE ARE GLAD THEY DID!  Those two members, Diane & Char, and two other charter members of the Park Grove Book Club are still a strong part of the book club that has about 20 members to this day.  {one person missing from pic}

Knowing that we have read 100 books and wanted to celebrate, the library staff worked to collect as many of the 100 books and had almost all of them!  Their display was a wonderful sight to see and celebrate!

Before our book club discussion, the current book club members were photographed!  The South Washington County Bulletin took this picture and published it in the paper in October.  They had mentioned, in the paper, that the four charter members had read all 100 books.  I asked Diane & Char if they have read all 100, and Char & Diane answered - they have!  What a feat to have read all 100 books.  If she is unable to be at Book Club she will email her thoughts to our group about a book we discussed.  Even through traveling, the book club has a draw, a connection.   

To those of us and you who have been a part of this book club, you have shared your thoughts, your joys, your excitement and your disappointment many times over.  We have shared laughter, tears, thoughts from our soul and connected with the authors' stories we have read over the years.  We have developed friendships and helped each other through struggling times in our lives.  Connecting through books, through words and through each other lives, we have made a group that is in itself "a story."  

HERE'S TO THE NEXT 100 BOOKS!  

Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Fifteen members were at Book Club this month to discuss Goldfinch.  As we went around the table with our answer to did we like the book, many said they hadn't finished it, some hadn't even started; the thoughts on this Pulitzer Prize Fiction 2014 winner were diverse not only for the dark subject matter but because of the length of the book.  At the end, with some of those comments, many said, "I'm glad I read it."

One member said she had a "love/hate relationship with the book.  She loved the author and her descriptions, life long friends, but hated the content, it was so dark, so heavy."  She did, though, love the goldfinch print and ordered a copy of it online.  Another person said "it was the longest, darkest, heaviest book she's read and didn't like drugs and language, not something we've experienced." This is one person that said, "glad I read it."  "Cheer up things can't get any worse and it did" one person said, "liked the author didn't like the book."  Someone said "I had the hardest time reading a book this long, other than Gone with the Wind. Like it or not?  I didn't like it; I can appreciate it."  Our leader for this book said she chose it because it received a Pulitzer Prize, but she said "I just wonder why it got it!  A lot needs to be chopped out."

"I liked it" a member said there were quirky characters. She had read it a year ago but couldn't read the whole book again, she couldn't finish it the second time.  "In the end, I did like it -- I found the plot interesting, the characters interesting, but wish they had cut out the big chunk.  I didn't need 20-50 more instances to know it was a problem."  One member said she "really liked the book, the length was a little 'off putting' but felt by the end of the book I knew who the people were.  I couldn't put it down."  Reading the book on a long trip, one person said she liked the actors that were reading the parts.  She said she had started reading but got into it more listening.  It was 27 disks, each one over an hour.

Discussion was about parts of the book like the engagement scene -- the cocktail party kept ramping up a level of tension and you knew something is going to happen, someone said.   Sometimes in order to convey emotion or tension, that was what was happening.  "It hit a nerve, he is feeling I was feeling."  Someone said they don't remember mother having emotional time.  Her love of the painting came when she was a child.  She use to just lay down and look at it for hours.  Discussed about the painting being a sham.

Leon Wieseltier said "But if a serious book really catches on, it may be less important that its strictly literary quality is not as great as one might have hoped and more important that it's touched a nerve, that it is driven by some deep human subject and some true human need."  I think it did that for many of the readers in our club.

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

The group of eleven book club members varied on whether they liked the book or were frustrated with it.  One member could not finish it .  One person said they liked "the author's descriptive writing style" and another said she liked "the short chapters and that the story was told from a variety of perspectives."  One person said "they had a hard time getting into the story, though she agreed that the writer was able to craft colorful descriptions of characters and settings."  One member found the cast of characters interesting, also and another said the strong female characters were appealing.  Some of the members said that they were disappointed with the ending, and another said she was frustrated with the lack of closure in the ending.  One member said was a good effort for a first time author.

There were three themes members noted through the story.  The first was the interweaving of tenderness and violence, cowardice and courage.  The second theme was the exploration of the difference between solitude and loneliness and the third was how traumatizing experiences early in life affect the remainder of one’s years.

One thing that some found frustrating was how the failure to communicate resulted in so many avoidable problems. For instance, Talmadge often withheld information from Angelene, supposedly to shelter her. But it ended up causing her far more angst than the truth would have had he been more forthcoming.

One member pointed out that the Nez Pearce Indians seemed accurately portrayed. They traditionally were very good with horses, and were partial to Appaloosas.

Thanks again to one member who brought apples, plums, and apliums (a cross between an apple and a plum) to share. Very much in keeping with the orchard theme of our book! Another also treated us to some of the harvest from her garden, in the form of delicious chocolate chip zucchini cookies.

A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison

What a great discussion we had with this book.  It brought out the discussion of sex slavery which is prevalent all through out the world.  There were fourteen of us at book club, one person didn't read it, but all of us thought it was a good book to read and learn from.  It was very well written, someone shared and we agreed.

One person commented "How helpless the girls were, they  have no control over their future, lose faith."  The author could have been more graphic and he didn't go there; it is horrifying on it's own, it doesn't need help."  Another said that if it gets too graphic I'm not reading it, but she said the instant they lost their parents, wanted to find out what happened.  Someone said "I love books about India, colorful with foods & smells, do I want more description of the horrible things?"  

The question many of us had was "what can we do about this?"  "The girls are like commodities, they just keep on giving and in this book, they all came out ok."  This book raises awareness of the issue and we can talk and have conversations about it.  "You can get invested in it, and see from their heart that things need to change."  The women were also supporting each other a lot of times in this book.  

We liked the storyline with Thomas in it.  We talked about him not having control over his daughters death and then witnessing the kidnapping, but there was control in what he was doing with this search.  We liked that the author added the quote "Someone once asked Mother Teresa how she dealt with world poverty.  Do you know what she said?  'You do the thing that's in front of you."

We liked the blue lotus flower that Ahalya planted for Sita.  It means purity, rebirth, divinity, unstained and awakening to spiritual reality.  Ahalya gave her baby the name of the lotus flower.  We liked that Thomas had a bracelet, a daily reminder, a brother - to forge on to find Sita.