The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar

In June we met at Marsha’s home to discuss her book choice which was

“the Roaring Days of Zora Lily” written by Noelle Salazar.

This book captures the hazy, liquor soaked age of the jazz age, prohibition and the

speakeasies.

Zora Lily is a poor girl with amazing talent and passion for fashion design.. She even

Makes it to Hollywood and designs for Greta Garbo but she was never credited for her 

work till her label is revealed on some gowns in 2023 by a Smithsonian historian.

It was based on true events. It is a sweeping saga of family, love, ambition and self discovery.

Marsha made some fine pasta salads and led a good discussion.
 

THE GIRL WITH SEVEN NAMES by Hyeonseo Lee

 In May Carol hosted at her home to discuss her book, “The Girl With Seven Names” by

Hyeonseo Lee. This is an autobiography about a North Korean defector. We had a guest

speaker Sou Yeoung who grew up in South Korea.  She was able to share her experiences contrasting 

the propaganda from the North Koreans and the actual reality.

This defector had to travel via China, Cambodia, and Thailand in order to arrive in South Korea.

Her childhood under the communist regime was a struggle and she was brainwashed like millions

of others.

She eventually helps her family to escape the repression of the dictatorship. She eventually marries

a man from Wisconsin and currently lives in the United States. She has been giving lectures and

Podcasts about her story which is very inspiring.

Carol had a great meal and we had a very good discussion.

Marsha chose a book called

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

 In early March seven lucky members met at Betsy’s home to discuss her book

“The Reading List” by Sara Nisha Adams. This book is set in Wembley, England.

and is a heartwarming novel about a list of recommended novels mysteriously found in a

library book which is circulated among the diverse patrons of a small library.

The novel celebrates the old school joys of reading and getting emotionally involved

with fictitious characters and learning from them.

The novel develops a friendship between lonely Mukesh Patel and Aleisha a teen summer

worker at the library.  Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone in order to combat 

loneliness and depression. We discussed the role of a library and the importance of

keeping them open in this digital age.

It turns out that  Mukesh’s deceased wife, Naina, was the one who distributed the list around 

the neighborhood. She was able to share her love of reading not only with her family but

with the community at large. The author created a second reading list of novels and Kathy gave

us a printout of that list, We had a lively discussion not only about the book but about what being

a member of our reading group does for us on a personal level.

Now the reason I said we were a lucky group of seven was because of Betsy’s culinary delights.

We had a delicious Ina Garten inspired seafood chowder and a wonderful mixed salad followed by

Strawberry topped cheesecake. There were cocktails to start, wonderful dinner wine and a fine

Cognac finish. The bar was set very high by Betsy who used her fine chinaware and cutlery.

Carol sent in her choice, “ The Girl With The Seven Names” by Hyeonseo Lee.

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

For our January 2024 read Sarah chose the Dictionary of lost words written 

by Pip Williams, an Australian author..

It is a historical fiction novel about the compilation of the Oxford dictionary, the suffrage 

movement  for women’s voting rights, and World War I.

Some of the characters are real and others are fictitious.

As it turns out the project was male dominated and also excluded words used by the lower class. Many

words  associated with women and common people were left out.

In the absence of computers it was a very tedious process .

The place where the compilation took place was called a scriptorium.

Esme is a child who picks up word slips dropped on the floor, usually ones

that are left out of the dictionary as they are deemed inappropriate. She saves these in a chest

and eventually they are published in the dictionary of lost words.

We all agreed this was a unique find on Sarah’s part and it shed a lot of light on

what is entailed in the opus of compiling a dictionary. 

We finished the evening with two kinds of soups, hearty bread and plenty

of wine both red and white.

Betsy chose “The Reading List” by Sara Nisha Adams

The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts

In December we met at Kathy’s home to discuss her book entitled

“The Ride of Her Life” by author Elizabeth Letts.

This is a story based on true events based on the life of Annie Wilkins.

At age 63, Annie a single woman is diagnosed with tuberculosis and is

hospitalized and was given just a few more years to live.

She owns a failing farm in Minot, Maine and owes back taxes and was offered a 

spot in a charitable state institution.

Rather than just give up, Annie prepares to ride west on horseback

to fulfill her dream of seeing the Pacific Ocean.

Annie has one horse and her dog and very little funds. It’s the early 1950’s.

Towns were becoming cities and roads were turning into highways.

Annie is met with many acts of kindnesses from strangers and is offered food, lodging, and 

veterinarian services for free. Due to TV coverage she becomes somewhat of a celebrity

and ends up on the Art Linkletter show in Hollywood.

This is a story of bravery, courage and faith.Annie completes her journey fraught

with many perils and hardships only with the help of strangers who

became life long friends.

 She lives for many years beyond her diagnosis aided financially by the money

she made on the Art Linkletter show.

Many people liked all the historical facts and all admired the strength that

Annie possessed and felt she was inspiring.

Kathy had great pizza and salad and led a good discussion.

Sarah chose a book called, “The Dictionary of Lost Words” by Pip Williams.

Mad Honey by Jody Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

 In September Doug hosted at my house to discuss his choice “Mad Honey” which was a collaboration

of two authors and also narrated by two different characters. The book also flips between the past and the present.  This book shed a lot of light on transgender issues which is becoming quite a commonplace event today. It is the story of a young transgendered girl who falls in love with a young boy. She has kept her sex change a secret from him. The boy and his father both have a history of violence,  The young girl is found dead and the young man is accused of her murder so now there is a gripping court case. It makes for a suspenseful and gripping read.

Besides learning a lot about hormone therapy and the surgical details of transgender techniques we learned about bees. There was a parallel between the bee colony and the human colony. What we do learn is that a parent has to have strength and love and conviction to deal with a child who is convinced he or she needs to be transgendered. Many of us parents were happy that we did not have to deal with these challenges.

Doug led a well prepared discussion.and brought us great pizzas and many bottles of wine.

Kathy chose a book called  “ The Ride of Her Life” by Elizabeth Letts.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 In August we met at Donna's new home in Westfield to discuss her book choice

the steamy "Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Donna had

several quiches and homemade bread accompanied by good wine being poured by

our sommelier Don.

This was a great beach read full of gossipy Hollywood glamour. Evelyn is an aging

movie legend who hires a young reporter to write her memoirs. She has been married 7

times and each marriage helped to further her career or was one of subterfuge to hide her

lesbian affair with another actress. This was supposed to be loosely based on the life of

Elizabeth Taylor.

There is a back story and a mystery as to why this unknown reporter was handed this plum

assignment. It was a fun juicy read.

Doug chose a Jody Picoult book called "Mad Honey" for the next read.