Book Club of St. Elmo

Second thoughts ~ about the book club

2010-06-15T11:52:00.001-04:00

Last night, after writing and posting the report of yesterday's book club meeting, I was clobbered by second thoughts. I originally tried to help start a book club because Judy H. wanted one, but then she dropped out before we started. Nora, Paula, Emily, Donna, and I are the only ones actually reading the books. Three people who have attended have not yet read a single book, though we chose two of the three books above with those people's desires in mind. I have read -- and discussed with book groups -- two of those books we chose, and the third is one I have no desire whatsoever to read. Maybe I'm just tired, but this has seemed to me a whole lot of wasted time and effort for very little interest from the originally large group of people. (Forgive me, those of you who put forth the effort to read and attend -- I don't mean you.) However, I have decided I've got more important things to do and am dropping out of the group. That means the place we have been meeting is no longer available, but someone else is welcome to pick up the reins. I'm sorry, but I have other books to read.

Report from the June meeting

2010-06-14T23:53:00.002-04:00

Few of us met in June, even though we scheduled two meeting times. On Sunday the 13th, Donna and Bonnie discussed Shanghai Girls, and on Monday the 14th, Paula and Bonnie and Sharon discussed the book. (Three people emailed, saying they were unable to meet this month.) Sunday doesn't work, even when people promise to come, so scratch Sunday discussions from now on. Here are the books we settled on for the next three months.

July 12, 2010 ~ My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, 2004
August 9, 2010 ~ Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg, 2004
September 13, 2010 ~ The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, 1990

June ~ Shanghai Girls

2010-05-19T08:22:00.007-04:00

Shanghai Girls, a novel by Lisa See, was published in 2009.

May and Pearl, two sisters living in Shanghai in the mid-1930s, are beautiful, sophisticated, and well-educated, but their family is on the verge of bankruptcy. Hoping to improve their social standing, May and Pearl’s parents arrange for their daughters to marry “Gold Mountain men” who have come from Los Angeles to find brides.

But when the sisters leave China and arrive at Angel’s Island (the Ellis Island of the West)—where they are detained, interrogated, and humiliated for months—they feel the harsh reality of leaving home. And when May discovers she’s pregnant the situation becomes even more desperate. The sisters make a pact that no one can ever know.

We will have TWO discussions about this book, one during the week and one on the weekend. Pick the one that works best for you.

One group will meet on Sunday, June 13, 2010, at 3:00 p.m.
One group will meet on Monday, June 14, 2010, at 10:00 a.m.

Both discussions will take place in the community room of the old St. Elmo School. If you need directions, email Bonnie at emerging DOT paradigm AT yahoo DOT com.

Report from the May meeting

2010-05-14T10:28:00.000-04:00

Seven of us met on May 10th: Paula, Emily, Donna, Bob, Nora, Sharon, and Bonnie. (One more had expected to be present, but she didn't make it.) We had a good discussion of The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Paula agreed to lead next month's discussion.

June 14 ~ Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, 2009
July 12 ~ something by Jodi Picoult (possibly House Rules, 2010)

We will decide for sure at our June meeting which book by Jodi Picoult most of the group wants to read. There was not much enthusiasm for a nonfiction book, and an older book one person suggested is not available. We need to compile a list of possibilities that we could choose from, trying to stay a couple of month's ahead in our planning so people would have time to get the books and read them.

May ~ The Help

2010-05-03T21:50:00.001-04:00

The Help ~ by Kathryn Stockett was published in 2009.

Skeeter, 22 years old, has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that puts them all at risk. Why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

We will meet on Monday, May 10, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. in the community room of the old St. Elmo School. If you need directions, email Bonnie at emerging DOT paradigm AT yahoo DOT com

Report from the April meeting

2010-04-13T07:53:00.003-04:00

We had six present for our initial meeting on April 12th: Bonnie, Nora, Paula, Donna, Bob, and Emily. After an excellent discussion of The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran, someone pointed out how much the women supported each other. It wasn't just the two wives working things out but women on board the ship, in the village, and in Wellington, where they saw to the needs of Margaret and her children and eventually took up a collection to send them to San Francisco. Here are the books we've chosen for the next couple of months:

May 10 ~ The Help by Kathryn Stockett, 2010

June 14 ~ Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, 2009
July 12 ~ something by Jodi Picoult

April ~ The Wives of Henry Oades

2010-03-10T20:16:00.003-05:00

Our first book is The Wives of Henry Oades ~ by Johanna Moran, published in 2010.

When Henry Oades accepts an accountancy post in New Zealand, his wife, Margaret, and their children follow him to exotic Wellington. But while Henry is an adventurer, Margaret is not. Their new home is rougher and more rustic than they expected—and a single night of tragedy shatters the family when the native Maori stage an uprising, kidnapping Margaret and her children.

For months, Henry scours the surrounding wilderness, until all hope is lost and his wife and children are presumed dead. Grief-stricken, he books passage to California. There he marries Nancy Foreland, a young widow with a new baby, and it seems they’ve both found happiness in the midst of their mourning—until Henry’s first wife and children show up, alive and having finally escaped captivity.

Narrated primarily by the two wives, and based on a real-life legal case, The Wives of Henry Oades is the riveting story of what happens when Henry, Margaret, and Nancy face persecution for bigamy.

We will meet on Monday, April 12, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. in the community room of the old St. Elmo School. If you need directions, email Bonnie at emerging DOT paradigm AT yahoo DOT com.