October 28th Meeting - The Riker Home

Donna's Table


Frank and Mamah

On October 28th, Wednesday, our club met at Donna Riker's home to discuss "Loving frank" by Nancy Horan. Donna had her table beautifully set in a Fall theme. She served up bountiful portions of white bean chicken chili topped with sour cream and cheeses accompanied by home made corn bread. We finished with a yummy apple chocolate chippy cake slathered with whipped cream. Thanks Donna.

Most of the discussion centered on Mamah Bortwick's character and whether she was a good mother for practically abandoning her children and leaving them to the care of her sister in order to be with Frank Lloyd Wright. Well the price for loving Frank was quite dear as she virtually lost her children and the respect of the community. Was she sacrificing all that for a lustful obsesssive relationship with Frank or was she trying to develop her own personal self at the time when women's rights were just emerging in America? We had to be reminded that this was still "Historical Fiction" and that we should not judge her too readily. The fact still remains that she and her children came to a tragic end in the fire at the hands of the axe murderer. Some clouds hang over Wright as to whether he may have orchestrated that?

Regardless of what Wright was in his personal character which was an ego-maniac,mad visionary, selfish and dishonest we must admit he was a genius who changed the face of architecture. He harmonized nature into his buildings and has left quite a legacy in the field of architecture. Is he any different than most creative people who are always eccentric and certainly not without fault? Julie started another book about the 4 women in his life called "The Women" by T.C. Boyle. She is enjoying it.

Marsha Callahan has chosen our new book which is another historical fiction genre.It is entitled "The Little Book" by Seldon Edwards that has been 30 years in the making.It is about Wheeler Burden of the Boston banking family and it is a generation spanner.I just love those. We have agreed to meet on December 9th. Location and details to be announced. Happy Reading!

I have decided that this blog will serve as a more permanent record of what we are reading and if time permits, I will do a flashback from the past to remind us of other books we have read over the years.

About Our Book Club

Indy's Unique Book Club was founded by Maureen Forrest who
currently resides in Florida. I believe Maureen was inspired by
the book "The Divine Secrets of The Ya Ya Sisterhood" by Rebecca Wells.
This was our very first book.

The plot was about a group of childhood friends
in the South and their life long bond that helped
them cope with the travails of life.
As my ailing memory serves this was in the year
1999 or thereabouts.
So we started our bond of friendship through tennis
initially but now have expanded it by reading.
Members have come and gone and we even had one
who has died of ovarian cancer. May Mary Pogue rest
in peace.

Our format has been very non structured and
that is what makes us unique.
We say what we feel like and everyone has a right to
their opinion. Membership is now limited as our rolls
are burgeoning. Our current members who attend
regularly and these are in alphabetical order because
that is how we choose our books.
Betsy Baltz, Carol Branson, Marsha Callahan,
Julie Champagne, Diana Crews, Nancy Forbush
Nettie Hughes - Secretary, Madeleine Leraris
Susie Mazur, Doug Reichl - (token male),
Donna Riker, Donna Smith, Kathy Willis,
Sarah Witwer and sometimes Jean Ziegler.
We have met at different members' homes if they
have felt like hosting or we meet at local restaurants.
I feel like I have made lifelong friends with all of you and
I look forward to sharing more ideas and hope that we
continue to respect each other's opinions because that
is exactly what they are.