On Wednesday March 16, St. Patrick's Day's eve,

4 people were able to attend the book club meeting

held at Uno's. Madeleine, Kathy, Sarah and I were

present to discuss Louise Erdrich's book "Shadow Tag"

which was chosen by Sarah.

We had read the book and we had lots of

discussion about the 2 main characters, Irene

and Gil who shared a love-hate relationship

and created a totally dysfunctional setting

for their 3 children. None of us cared for either

Irene or Gil. We felt that they both manipulated each

other. Irene even created a 2nd dairy which she knew her

husband was reading and planted all sorts of hurtful lies

inside even going so far as to deny him the paternity of his

3 children when she invented false lovers. He in turn used

her to create his art by painting her in almost pornographic

situations and knowing she was alcoholic used the

drug to seduce and manipulate her.

We laughed at the scene when they are fired by their

therapist. These 2 people clearly should have

divorced but seemingly were unable to live

with or without each other. Too bad they had to

involve their 3 children who certainly suffered in

this domestic drama. So we are "over it" and will move

on. I might try to visit Louise's book store in Minnesota

at the end of the month when I am visiting my

grandson. She has written 13 other books so is

very prolific and she is a good writer.

Betsy offered 3 books for her choice and we voted on

them and chose a book called "Born On A Blue Day",

written by Daniel Tammet and is told through the eyes of

an autistic savant who is a high functioning mathematical

genius. I started it and so far am really liking it.

We decided to try May 11th for the next meeting.

Happy reading and hope to see more people when next

we meet.!

SCOTTSBORO by ELLEN FELDMAN

On February 9, 2011 we met at Uno's to discuss
"Scottboro" a novel written in 2008 by Ellen Feldman.
Eight brave souls came out in the ice and cold and they
were Kathy W. (who chose the book), Julie,Betsy, Carol,
Donna, Madeleine, Sarah and yours truly.
We had all read the book and enjoyed the author's style
of writing in recreating a historic , detailed incident of a
false rape accusation of 9 black men in the deep south during
the depression by 2 white girls Ruby Bates and Victoria Price.

Feldman masterfully unfolds the fabric of the times in the 1932
Jim Crow South where prejudice existed not only against
blacks but against Jews, women and poor whites. It is a legal
thriller and a fictional account of a major miscarriage of justice.
She also developed the character of Ruby Bates and her relationship
with the New York reporter Alice.


We discussed the fact that in 1932 this prejudice existed and that later
in the 1960's it still existed. We talked about Martin Luther King and
his role in changing the attitude of the south. We talked about the
corruption of the legal system and the fact that the case went to the
Supreme court 3 times. We also talked about an alleged Broadway play
written by one of the characters. I could not verify that there was really
one at that time but there is certainly a musical that ran in 2010.

Kudos to Kathy for choosing well.
Sarah's choice was "Shadow Tag" by Louise Erdrich.
It is about a dysfunctional family and double diaries.
Sounds intriguing. March 16 is the date to mark on
your calendars.





Her are Ruby and Victoria





Ruby all dolled up in court.

Ellen Feldman also wrote 2 other

novels, "Lucy" and "The Boy Who

Loved Anne Frank".

This is Tatiana De Rosnay who is British and French

She wrote our last book " Sarah's Key" which was

chosen by Donna Smith and which turned out to

be enjoyed by all who were present at the discussion last night.

We gathered at my house to share pizza, salad and a birthday

cake for the December girls who are Madeleine, Betsy and Diane

who joined the group by skype from her warm Florida condo.

Others who attended were Kathy, Julie, Sarah,

Donna S., Donna R. and Carol.

The book has 2 parallel stories about the July 16, 1942 roundup

of 13000 Jewish people taken to the Velodrome de Hiver in Paris,

treated inhumanely and eventually sent to death camps. One story is

from the view point of a child named Sarah who is a victim who

locks her younger brother in a closet for safekeeping. The other

story is from the viewpoint of an American reporter, Julia Jarmond

who is investigating the incident 60 years later. The 2 stories

come together quite seamlessly in the end but we do miss

the voice of the young girl in the 2nd half of the book.

What we learned was that eventualy 76000 Jews were killed

in France and that the French people chose to cover up the

shameful incident though they were under Nazi occupation and

only recently have markers and monuments been put in place.

"We Should Never Forget" is the admonishment of the author

to us readers.

Kathy chose the book "Scottsboro" by Ellen Feldman

which we discovered is available at the library and Amazon.com

for a mere penny plus $3.99 shipping.

We decided to wait till February 9th , 2011 as this is a

fairly large book and allowing 2 months will give us time.

Kathy says not to skip the prologue for there lies the meat

of the story. Happy reading to all and stay warm.

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS

Who is Henrietta Lacks?

I am sure many people would not know who she is.

Her cells revolutionized research and enabled

the polio vaccine to be developed. Her immortal cells

are very important in just about every research about

how cells work and the testing for every treatment

of diseases. These are things we learned in our last

book entitled, "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks".

These cells keep on living even though the donor died in

1951 of cervical cancer and multiply so rapidly that they

were sold to researchers worldwide while some companies

have made huge profits.

Her family were not aware of this until a reporter

Rebecca Skloot decided to write a book about this

phenomena. They were never compensated in any way.

The mother was a poor, black, tobacco sharecropper.

Skloot devoted 10 years in researching this book and

had difficulty gaining the family's trust.

So the book has a technical side which I must admit

I might have absorbed very little of and a human side

with the family's story. She had five children.

There were 9 members present last night to discuss.

Madeleine, Kathy W., Diana, Betsy, Donna R, Donna S., Sarah, Julie

and I were there. We had all read the book except for Donna Smith.

In general, we agreed it was not the most exciting book but we

learned so much. Even Sarah who had worked with these "HeLa" cells

when she was in graduate school did not know the whole story behind

the donor until she read the book. Some people loved it.

We discussed whether scientists have a right to use cast

offs from surgical procedures in research. Who owns tissues? Do

we need a waiver in place to ban use and what monetary rights do

people have if a breakthrough produces profits?

Personally I would not need to take my appendix home in a bottle.

Wouldn't research be stymied if all these legal issues were put

in place?

We did not think the Lacks family was owed anything but it was

just simply ironic that none of them could afford health insurance when

their mother's cells effected so many cures. Thankfully the author set

up a scholarship fund for the grandchildren and acknowledgement

seems to be forthcoming since the publication of the book.

We did think the family needed acknowledgement and answers

to their many questions as they were totally ignorant of all

that was being done with the cells.

Donna Smith chose, "Sarah"s Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay
and December 8th was decided to be the next meeting.

The Great Santini by Pat Conroy

On October 6, we met at Uno's to discuss

Pat Conroy's "The Great Santini". Sue, Donna Smith, Betsy,

Diana, Kathy and I were present and we had all read

the book.

Conroy wrote this book about his Dad

who was a Marine and who supposedly

was a domineering, egotistical, homophobic,

alcoholic, narrow minded, abusive bully.

The book created many rifts in the

Conroy family as it was too close to

home and resulted in divorces of the parents as

well as the author and his wife. Sue said the author had to write

this book to put the past behind him.

Above is Pat Conroy and below is his Dad, Don Conroy The book was set in Ravenel but was filmed in

Beaufort S.C. and the house is featured

below. These photos were taken by Kathy

who happened to be vacationing there earlier

last month. This was also the venue for the movie

"The Big chill".

Don't you love the Spanish moss hanging from the trees
and the way they evoke the humid, sweltering south?

We discussed the many negative characteristics

of Bull Meacham and how they related to his

treatment of his family. The only good thing

we could say of him was that he was a good

Marine and that explained his values system as he

was a stereo-typical Marine.

We all got to say one word that we thought described Bull

and had to support it with 2 examples that demonstrated this.

In this way we all got to recall parts of the book that we

remembered. Therefore we covered a lot of meaty

subjects. I thought it was one of the better discussions

we have had.

I think Conroy is a great author and I found myself

laughing out loud many times.

The next book was chosen by Donna Riker in absentia.

It is "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot.

It is a non fiction story about the medical research on the cells

of a poor black southern farming woman which have

been very important in medicine and which are still

alive despite the woman being dead for 60 years.

Have we piqued your interest yet?

Tentative date is November 10.

Still Alice

On August 18th, we gathered at my

house to discuss "Still Alice" by

Lisa Genova. Not only is she a

fine author but she also has a

phd from Harvard in Neuroscience.

It is a work of fiction based on a lot

of research about a brilliant Harvard

professor of cognitive psychology who

is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's

at age 50. The story was told from the

patient's perspective not the caregiver's.

It is a fast progressing disease with such

a downward spiral in life which has no cure

and current medicines may slow the growth

but eventually the result is the same.

Some of the subjects we discussed was her

husband's decision to continue his research

despite Alice's condition. We wondered if Alice

had attempted suicide as most early onset

patients do. Most of us had encountered or

knew victims of this harrowing disease.

We all had to laugh at the sometimes funny

events like the book in the microwave and

the Blackberry in the freezer. Although we

all admitted that we lose our keys, purses,

cameras (some of us more than others),

and we lose our train of thoughts as we age.

This is normal. The book was not depressing.

Alice formed a support group and made the

most moving speech at the Alzheimer's

Association symposium. It is worth re-reading

that speech.

Thanks to Madeleine for choosing this

very informative and interesting book.

This book is the author's debut and is

very much endorsed by the Alzheimer's

Association.

We had salad and pizza and snacks and

enjoyed a beautiful cool summer evening

outdoors. Marsha measured my kayak for

a future purchase.

Our next book was chosen by Sue and it

is "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy.

Catholics should love it. October 6th which

is a Wednesday will be the next meeting.

I will send out reminders.

"Undress Me In The Temple of Heaven"

On July 13, 2010 a small group of 7 met at Uno's
to discuss Susan Jane Gilman's book "Undress Me In
The Temple of Heaven". Those in attendance were
Diane, Madeleine, Julie, Donna, Nancy, Betsy and
Nettie. We had all read the book and agreed that it was
a page turner.
Two friends who just graduated from Brown University
decided to visit China in 1986 just as it was being opened to the western world. They figured they could handle
anything the world could dish out after all they were
Brown graduates. They were totally unprepared for the
trip as they were backpacking and not using the services
of the CTS (China Travel Service).
What they discovered was that they were stripped of
every comfort level in a strange land. They were without
cultural understanding, language, status, physical health.
Needless to say they could not handle the culture shock
and one girl who may have been Schizophrenic had a
breakdown there. The story was told in a funny way.
They had to fight the communist bureaucracy and
finally managed a literally narrow escape with the assistance
of a Canadian nurse.
The friends never saw each other again. Yet the author returned
to China and travelled with the Canadian nurse and went on to become
an international journalist.
Kudos to Diane for choosing such a great book.
The moral of the story is that one should choose one's
travel companions well. We should always remember
that we are guests in other countries and try to at
least prepare ourselves by doing some research and
gain some understanding of other cultures before
plunging ahead. We should also not impose our
standards on others.

The next book was chosen by Madeleine. It is called
"Still Alice" by Lisa Genova and it is not too lengthy.
August 18th was chosen for the next date.