"The Art of Racing In The Rain" by Garth Stein

On Thursday, July 12th we met at MacKenzie River to discuss

the above book. It will be difficult to find a book as good as

this one. The people who attended were Julie, Donna, Madeleine,

Diana, Nettie, Kathy, Sarah, Carol  and Betsy.

Meet Enzo the labrador-shepherd-poodle and maybe Terrior

dog who relates his master's life and travails. Enzo is a

philosopher who cannot share his thoughts due to his floppy

tongue.which cannot form words. Therefore he listens well

and and knows what is really happening. His other regret is that

he has no thumbs with which to do things for himself.

Enzo believes he will evolve into a human being so is

training for the time when he will be a human.

The art of racing in the rain is really the art of living your

life. We are masters of our destiny as we are the

ones who control the outcome of where our car goes.

"The car goes where the eyes go".

Much of his education comes from his master and Television.

This is a heartwarming, uplifting. funny  story of love, loyalty, family

and hope.  

It is better to be in the race and to finish the race rather than

finish first in the race. The absudities of humanity is so

clear from the eyes of a dog.

Sarah chose a book called "Maine" by J. Courtney Sullivan.

It is a summer read about women at a cottage. We have all been

there. I am sure it will be fun. Maybe they drink wine and

play euchre and bond with each other.

August 22, (Wednesday) was chosen as the next date

to meet. Happy Summer Reading!

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

On Thursday, July 7, 2012 we met at Marsha's beautiful lake home
on Nantucket. Once we aroused Marsha from her nap the meeting
got underway. Pizzas were ordered and Kathy, Julie, donna, Diana,
Betsy and Marsha went with Janet on her pontoon for a preliminary
cruise while Sarah and I awaited the pizza person. When Puccini's
delivered we joined them for the sunset cruise and discussion.

Everyone except for Janet had completed the 700 page opus.
We all liked the book and the writer who put the book together
based on stories she heard from her Hungarian grandparents who
survived WW11 and had emigrated to the the United States. She
obviously did major research as well as the book not only
dealt with personal relationships but the whole history of the
war concentrating on Hungary's role. We felt that the book
had so many characters there was material for at least 3 books.

The story was told through the eyes of one person who was
Jewish. We felt like it was just fortune that predicated how
some survived and other's didn't. It was a horrible war and
something that should never be forgotten and maybe that is
why we keep reading about the holocaust.
I always come away feeling very fortunate that I have never
been personally involved in a war. There was a vastness to
the whole arena of war yet she managed to portray the
smallness of the individual life. Julie read a passage that
indicated this feeling. We are all caught in the flow of history
and the forces that determine our fates.

Diana chose a book called, "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by
Garth Stein. I have started it and am loving it. It is told through
the eyes of a lab-shepherd-poodle mixed dog. We agreed to

meet on July 12. Janet offered to have another boat meeting.

A Small Hotel by Robert Butler

Our last meeting was held at MacKenzie River
on April 11, 2012. We had a big turnout of 10
members. Those who were present were Kathy,
Sarah, Madeleine, Donna R., Julie, Carol, Marsha,
Janet and Betsy. Six of us had read the book.

We agreed that the author had a gift for descritive
writing and character development. It was a tale of
2 people undergoing an unwanted divorce. The male
in the marriage was a loner, isolated and emotionally
unavailable. In over 20 years of marriage he never
told his wife that he loved her. She begged for it, and
finally got it from a lover which eventually led to the
divorce. As it turns out both the man and woman had
issued with their fathers who were both cold, unemotional
people. I was glad that finally fault was not placed on
the mothers.
Some people said they knew men who were similar
to Michael Hays. We all agreed that some men would
rather not indulge in small chit chat. The bottom line is
that this emotional detachment led the wife to indulging
excessively in alcohol and pills and a suicide attempt.
All ended well as he rescues her realizes he loves her and
is at the end trying to change.
Some people liked the venue of the book which was New
Orleans. The author takes us through the French Quarter
exposing us to all the sights, sounds and smells.

Donna chose a book called "The Invisible Bridge" by Julie
Orringer which is a pre world war 11 story set in Hungary.
It is a 600 page book and it is the author's first novel.
I am anxious to start it but must finish my porn trilogy
about the Shades of Grey. A tentative date was set for June 7
which is a Thursday due to the onset of team tennis.

"The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green

Last wednesday March 14, a small group of 5,

Madeleine, Betsy, Sue, Janet, Marsha and Nettie,

                                             met at MacKenzie

River to discuss "The Fault In Our Stars" by

Indianapolis native John Green.

This is a book about two teenagers Hazel Grace and

Augustus Waters who met in cancer

support group and fell in love. She has stage 4 thyroid cancer and

he in remission from osteosarcoma. They know their time on this earth

is limited and because they know they are like "grenades" who

can cause collateral damage to others by forming relationships

however they still pursue a love relationship which

is sweet and the courtship beautiful. They are very bright

and charming kids who are well read, each with a wonderful sense of

humour. They ponder life, death, love and the universe within

the numbered days they have.

Although one would think this has the earmark of a

depressing story, we found it uplifting.

We cried, we laughed and we loved the book.

It is definitely fiction but it is set in our city and has all

the references to places we are familiar with which added

something more to the appreciation of the book.

If you did not read the book please get it and read it

because it was well worth the read. You too will fall

in love with Augustus Waters.

Sorry I can't get the pictures that I usually include to upload.

Kathy chose a book called "A Small Hotel" by Robert Olen Butler

which is about a couple undergoing divorce. We have agreed to

meet again on april 18th.

CALEB'S CROSSING BY GERALDINE BROOKS

Australian writer Geraldine Brooks

10 people met last night to discuss the book at
McKenzie's River Grill on 82nd street.
Those in attendance were Kathy, Betsy, Sarah, Julie,
Nancy, Madeleine, Janet, Donna R., Sue and Nettie.
The restaurant was not noisy and we had a big group
but I still did not hear all the many discussions
which seemed to be going on so forgive me if I
omitted somethings.

Geraldine Brooks has done it again. She has taken a shard of

history and created a beautiful historic novel about

the first Indians who were educated at Harvard.

Caleb's Crossing takes place in Martha's Vineyard

when Bethea the daughter of a Puritan minister/settler

at age 12 encounters a handsome young wamponoag

Indian youth in the wilds and they forge a friendship

learning each other's language and ways. This takes

place in the late 1600's. The young Indian youth is

adopted by Bethea's father who educates him and he

eventually graduates from Harvard. Bethea herself was

denied and education because of her sex while her dim witted

brother was given all the opportunities.

Caleb eventually crosses over into the Anglo-Saxon

culture much to the wrath of his uncle the shaman

of his tribe and that causes some conflicts.

I missed most of the discussion as I was late but

I gathered that everyone thought it was a great book

cleverly wrought in the old English vernacular and those

who had the audible experience confirmed it.

Women's rights and the lack of it chagrined us all.

We talked about the fact that some women in some

countries still are in the dark ages.

There was some discussion as to how historical the

book was and we all agreed that we like to learn history

with a spoon full of sugar. Julie said there is an actual

archaeological dig in progress to unearth the remains

of the Indian College in the Harvard yard.

Of course we discussed the fact that the bible thumping

pioneers imposed their religion on the noble Indian

whose gods were nature driven. They gave them small pox

and used the cure to convince them that their God was

more powerful. Trickery and deceit was always the

way with the treaties. But so many other books

confirm this.

We think the author could have romanticized the

relationship between Bethea and Caleb but thought

it best that she didn't.

It was a powerful book and we thank Madeleine for

choosing so wisely.

Sue chose a book for the next read. It is entitled,

"The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green.

I was surprised to see it was listed as children's fiction

as it deals with coping with cancer. Perhaps it is

because the victims are teenagers. It is actually set in

Indianapolis and is complete fiction.

Seems a bit different but different is good.

March 14th was earmarked for the next meeting.

"Wingshooters" by Nina Revoyr 12/14/11

Nina in Jamaica

Nina likes beer so she has to be okay

Nina and her springer spaniel Russell

Last night we gathered at my home to discuss

"Wingshooters" by Nina Revoyr. We had 10 people.

The members who attended were Madeleleine, Julie, Donna R,

Kathy, Betsy, Sue, Sarah, Janet and Nancy. After the social

hour with Madeleine's cheese plate and some wine we

shared a chicken wild rice casserole , a pomegrante salad and

some artisan bread which Julie got from Panera's.

We finished off with a great cheesecake which Kathy brought

and some beautiful Swedish butterfly shaped pastry

made by Sarah.

We had all read the book and had a great discussion.

The book is about a half Japanese 9 year old tom-boy

Michele who is foisted on her grandparents in

rural Wisconnsin by her father and whose Japanese

mother had abandoned her.

At first the book seemed like a simple story but is so

well written and crafted that it develops into a story

about love, evil, prejudice, and redemption. The

relationship of the grandfather and the girl is so

well developed that I think she must have had one just

like him to be able to portray that.

The thing we mostly concentrated on was the fact that in 1974

rural Wisconnsin still had such little exposure

to people of different races which led to Mikey's

and the negro couples non acceptance in that tight knit,

closed community. We all hoped that

the end of the book was fiction as it was a very

sad story. We discussed the relationship of the men

in the story who were all "men's men" who loved,

hunting , fishing, baseball, worked proudly at

blue collar jobs and supported each other even

in a wrong doing. We felt that the role of

women was very weak in that town. We touched

on the significance of the dog Brett and what a big

role he had as the only true companion to Mikey.

We can tell that Nina is a big dog lover and has a springer

spaniel today.

I like the first quote she put at the beginning of the

book by Rick Bass

"How we fall into Grace. You can't work

or earn your way into it.

You just fall. It lies below, it lies beyond.

It comes to you, unbidden."

Some people just have it and they are all

around you.

We chose February 8, for the next meeting when

we will discuss Madeleine's choice

"Caleb's Crossing" by Geraldine Brooks who also

wrote "The People of the Book". It will be

nice to hear about everyone's superbowl experiences

then and catch up on what we have done over

the holidays.

I wish you all the best holiday season and hope

you are with the ones you love.