Book Club 101

(Book #6) In October we read I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb. Rosemary recommended the book and provided the meal that was served at Melissa’s home. She served some delicious Italian food, pasta and a salad.

Most of us appreciated the book but found it difficult to tolerate the book within the book written by the twins’ grandfather. He’s an unlikeable character made more unlikable by his writing.

I loved the premise of twins born on either side of a calendar year. I grew up with a mother who was a twin, as well as a brother and a sister who were twins.  There is so much about twinship that intrigues me — my aunt died only six months after my mother not long enough to celebrate another birthday and my sister Dodie admits that it feels wrong to be getting older without Dennis.

(Book #5) In September, we read The Help by Katherine Stockett. I wasn’t able to attend the gathering that Melissa hosted, but because of the book’s popularity it was also the title chosen for the a book club on the cruise my husband and I took that month. The book club on the ship gave me an international perspective of race relations in the U.S. and I will say that my perspective was quite the opposite of the only other American who attended — who couldn’t imagine white guilt.

One of my favorite aspects of the book and I’m not sure I’m remembering this correctly, but, Aibileen tells Skeeter that she would love to read more books, but she’s read just about everything in the black library.  Skeeter asks if Aibileen would like her to check books out of the white library for her and Aibilieen, surprised, says yes. Skeeter checks the situation and asks “Wait, were you afraid to ask me for that?” and lists other things she’s already done for her.  Aibileen’s response is “These is white folks’ rules. I don’t know which ones you willing to break and which you ain’t.” That moment really hit me, that beyond the cruel and horrible things our ancestors did to the slaves, we made a whole race of people afraid to even ask for what they want.

(Book #3) In July we read the best-seller, Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.  We appreciated the historical aspects of the novel, the picture it paints of the occupation, the information about the roundup and The Vel’ d’Hiv. I think that perhaps because of the title the author chose, some of us felt that the story is over once the brother is found. Yes, Sarah’s time in the camp is of interest but it feels like part of a different story.  And the second story-line with modern-day Julia isn’t particularly compelling — it seems so tiny in the historical context.

 The story my husband likes to tell (everyone he meets) of this book club gathering was how he was asked to join us in a glass of wine from the second bottle of wine I’d opened that evening of the six we’d purchased in France.

(Book #2) In June we read Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen by Susan Greg Gilmore, but I have no recollection of why it was chosen. I’m guessing it was my natural inclination toward Dilly Bars. My brother Dennis once brought Dilly Bars to the ICU waiting room after my Dad had a stroke, saying “You can’t be sad when you’re eating a Dilly Bar.” When Dennis died (unexpectedly, randomly, unforgivably) in 2016, I started the You Cant Be Sad When You’re Eating a Dilly Bar diet and remain on it to this day.  It almost works. I hosted this gathering and served a picnic lunch as homage to all the church picnics in the book and served Dilly Bars for dessert. The main criticism for the book was the speech and language patterns. Some of us felt the vernacular was laid on a bit thick.