"A Piece of the World" by Christina Kline Baker

On October 3, 2018 we met at Sarah's home to discuss her book

entitled "A Piece of the World", by Christina Kline Baker.

We had a large group of people including Julie, Madeleine, Doug, Betsy,

Kathy, Carol, Sue, Nancy, Sarah and me.

We were able to fit around Sarah's table where we had a great salad,

bean soup, bread and wine. The setting was perfect for a discussion.

Special thanks to Sarah and Maybelline for having us in their home.

I believe most of us had read the book which is about Andrew Wyeth's relationship

with the subject of his iconic painting entitled "Christina's World."

It was historical fiction that brought into focus the flesh and blood woman 

behind the portrait as she envisioned the life of this woman and her special bond with

with one of our greatest modern artists.

The book transports us to a mid century farmhouse on the coast of Maine where

Christina lives a small life trapped by family duty and her ailing body. It deals with

the injustices of childhood, the aches of adulthood and the regrets of middle age.

The painting shows a lonely woman in a field looking at a lonely house on

top of a hill. The book explores the life of people who lived inside that

house especially the tragic life of Christina who is portrayed in the painting.

She  was a strong, stubborn woman betrayed by her body and the man she loved.  

We thought that the author was very clever and talented to accomplish

this novel inspired by the painting. The house is a museum in Maine and we

thought it might make a good visit if one was in that area.

  Betsy chose a book called "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave about a Nigerian

refugee and her relationship  with a British magazine editor. 

We chose Wednesday November 14th to be the next meeting.

"The Immortalists" by Chloe Benjamin

On July 25th we met to discuss Kathy`s book choice

which was "The Immortalists" by Chloe Benjamin.

Julie, Sarah, Kathy, Donna, Madeleine, Betsy, Nancy and I

attended. Kathy provided delicious pizza, which was served with salad and 

Donna's brownies.

This was a different kind of book and a change from the

themes of world war 2 and slavery.

It is set in New York City in 1969 where word has spread of

a traveling psychic who can predict the day of death.

The four Gold children on the cusp of self awareness sneak out

to hear their fortune.

How did knowing the date of their deaths shape the life choices of

the four siblings? Was it destiny or choice, reality or illusion.

The first to die was the youngest boy Simon who heads to San Francisco

searching for love in the promiscuous gay community in the 80's.

Some thought the sex scenes were too overly graphic. Simon contracts AIDS just

as he finds love.

Next to die is dreamy Klara who becomes a Las Vegas magician

obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy. She actually commits suicide.

The Eldest son Daniel seeks security as an Army doctor who decides who

goes to war or not. He goes seeking the fortune teller and is bizarrely

shot by a detective who is investigating Klara's death.

The first three die on the predicted date at a fairly young age.

The eldest daughter Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she

tests the boundary between science and immortality. 

The actual picture on the book cover depicts the "Tree of Life" which is

very symbolic given the subject of the book. The book although it deals with

death has a lot of living going on within it. We are exposed to the bonds

of family and is overall a saga of life.

So the reader has to ask them self the following questions

"Would I want to know the date of my death?"

"How would knowing affect my life going forward?"

Sarah chose "A piece of the World" by Christina Baker Kline  

which is about painter Andrew Wyeth's iconic painting.

A date of Sept 26th was tentatively chosen.  

    

      

"Lilac Girls" by Martha Hall Kelly

On June 13, 2018 Donna hosted at her lovely home.

We had a delicious chicken wrapped in pastry and healthy salad

followed by a dreamy coconut  concoction.

We first discussed our book and only 2 had not read it.

Yes another world war 2 novel but all enjoyed it.

Our novelist did major research and only at the end do we

realize that this was based on a true story.

There are 3  main characters. Carolyine Ferriday an ex

Broadway star , New York socialite and charity worker, Kasia Kuzmerick,

a Polish teenager and  Herta Oberheuseer, an ambitious German

doctor. The story is told through these 3 women and goes back and forth 

and initially shows no connection but eventually it all

comes together. Most of us learned about Ravensbruck where many 

inhumane experiments were done by the Nazis and we learned

about the Polish women called rabbits because they hopped

due to the inflicted wounds. We all had a hard time reading

the narrative from the point of view of the German doctor who

inflicted these women. Though the doctor returned to practice after

the Nuremburg trials , we were happy that she finally lost

her license to practice medicine after Caroline's efforts to bring

about justice. 

It was a moving and memorable debut novel.

Kathy chose "The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin for our

next read and a tentative date of July 18th was set. 

The Winter in Anna by Reed Karaim

In early May we met to discuss Sue's choice

which was "The Winter in Anna" by Reed Karaim.

This book is an unlikely and trans formative

connection between a young journalist, Eric, and an older woman,

Anna, whose past holds a terrible secret. Sue said she thought

it was a study of a life well lived. It opens with us finding out

along with Eric that Anna has committed suicide by

drinking bleach. Eric then reminisces  about the

winter he spent in North Dakota pre internet days working

as a sport reporter when he meets Anna who also works

at the newspaper. They have a romance which almost was but never

transpires as Anna is a broken woman whose pain and loss renders

her incapable of forging a relationship. She pushes Eric away

and when she dies Eric has to reconcile his memories with what he

has just learned about her. It was a very sad tale indeed.

Donna chose the "Lilac Girls" by Martha Hall Kelly".

This is another World War 11 story about 3 different women.

June 13th was chosen as a tentative date for our next meeting. 

"Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Our January meeting was held at my home to discuss

Madeleine's choice "Little Fires Everywhere" which

was written by Celeste Ng published in 2017. Ng grew up in

Shaker Heights a suburb of Cleveland Ohio and the setting for her

second novel. Sarah who is a native of Cleveland guided us through

Shaker Heights which was almost like a character in the book.

The book is about the relationship of two very different families who

commingle and clash,

Madeleine led a great discussion. I believe the central theme was

about motherhood and it's special bond and whether it is forged by blood

or love and better yet by both. The custody battle between the biological

Chinese mother,  Bebe Chow who gave her child up during a time that

she could not cope and the adoptive parents was a major part of

our discussion.

We also delved into Mia's character a somewhat hippie like artist who

never stays in one town very long till she lands in Shaker Heights.

Mia is pitted against Mrs. Richardson who is a strong, meddling solid

resident of perfect Shaker Heights. There are a lot of sub plots in the

novel and it takes us on many twists and turns. All in all a great page

turner and great character development by the author. 

I have had my surgery since and have been taking some narcotics so

I forgot what date we chose for the next book and I have also forgotten

who attended the meeting. So we will just have to choose a date in April

to discuss Sue's choice which is "The Winter in Anna" by Reid Karan. 

"The Life We Bury" by Alan Eskins

Our December meeting took place at Kathy's home.

We had pizza, Christmas fellowship and a discussion of 

Alan Eskin's debut novel "The Life We Bury".

Thanks to Kathy for providing all the refreshments,

food and a warm fire for our meeting.

Those present were Sue, Kathy, Betsy, Madeleine, Nettie,

Sarah, Doug and Janet.

All who were present had read the book and

admitted to having been taken in immediately by

the mystery and interest never waning through the

twist turns and surprises.
College student Joe has chosen to write  a biographical piece

about a Vietnam veteran, Carl Iverson  convicted of rape and murder who

is now dying of cancer due to exposure of agent orange.

The book touches on many thing such as family relationships,

 autism, abuse, parenting, Vietnam war, wrongful incarceration,

alcoholism, DNA and much more. 

Joe and his neighbor Lila set about proving Joe Iverson's

innocence incurring major personal danger to themselves.

This was a quick read and very good for a 1st novel.

Doug added some good statistical insight of wrongful

incarceration as it relates to veterans and persons of color.
Janet posed some questions based on a reading guide.
The biggest question was the significance of the book title.
We each gave an opinion of which characters were  hiding secrets and
who may have been trying to forget some aspects of their lives.  

Madeleine chose "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng for 

our next read and January 25th was set for the next meeting.

"Girl In The Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse

On October 25th we met at Rockstone to discuss my book

"The Girl In The Blue Coat" which is set in World War II Amsterdam.

Since many of us had just been to Amsterdam I thought it would be fun to

read. Discussion was difficult due to the noise level of the restaurant

caused mostly by 5 wine swilling females nearby. We decided we

need another venue. We had a large group consisting of Doug, Donna, Madeleine,

Betsy, Carol, Sarah, Kathy,Nancy, Sue, Janet and me. 

This was a young adult coming of age story of young people in Holland

written by a reporter for the Washington Post who is neither Dutch nor

Jewish. So although it was not great literature she manages to weave a nice

mystery about a Jewish girl who has disappeared from her hiding place.

The heroine is Hanneke who transforms from a selfish self serving girl to a caring

young woman who helps the Amsterdam Student Underground with smuggling,

obtaining ration cards and placing children into hiding from the Nazis.

One point of interest we discussed was war photography which was forbidden 

and done at great risk. The other thing we discussed was homosexuality which

was not accepted in that era and was actually dangerous.  These young

people had to grow up in dangerous times where nothing was normal.

It was just a small story within a big war.  

Nothing will ever equal Anne Frank's Diary but there are many stories

that can still be told about the never to be forgotten atrocities of that war.

Next book chosen by Janet was "The Life We Bury"  by Allen Eskens.

A tentative date of December 13th was chosen.