Tropical Evening

 We met at the Entiat Fire Station, arranged by Chris M, for our December gathering.  Our read for the month, "Daughter of Moloka'i", started and somewhat ended in Hawaii so our pot luck had a definite Hawaiian/Japanese "flavor".  We enjoyed quite an array of tastes.  Esther brought some home made tofu and Mary researched a typical Manzanar dinner dish for us to share.  We also had Yakasobi, pineapple and sushi.  Different and very tasty!  Judy B brought an example of a Japanese quilted Washi paper lidded box.  

"Daughter of Moloka'i" focuses on Ruth, the daughter of Rachel, who had Hansen's disease.  Rachel had to give Ruth up for adoption at birth to protect her from contracting Hansen's.  Throughout her life, Ruth wondered about her past and why she was sent to an orphanage.  Unknowingly, Ruth's life bore similarities to Rachel's life as Ruth and her family were sent to Manzanar internment camp during WWII.  We discussed this similarity and somewhat decided that Rachel's "imprisonment" on Moloka'i was worse than Ruth's imprisonment at Manzanar as Rachel thought she would live her entire life on Moloka'i.

This was our annual Christmas gift book wrapping event as well as the last chance to contribute to our Christmas jar for 2022.

Esther will host our next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 18, 2023.  See you then.  Aloha!

A Different View of Russia

 Thank you Judy Bell for hosting our meeting with a delicious Beef Stroganoff.  As always, everyone shared wonderful items, including a yummy apple cake by our new member, Mary Spohnholtz.  Welcome Mary!  It is always a pleasure to gather and share our friendship.  

Our read this month was "Disappearing Earth" by Julia Phillips.  Julia received a 2011 Fulbright scholarship which she used to immerse herself in the culture of the Kamchatka peninsula, a former closed military zone.  This crime story unfolds over a calendar year as "a means of exploring violence in women's lives, violence in many forms..." (quote from NPR).  Esther was not able to attend our meeting but emailed her comments: "I found the book interesting and the connections between characters kept me going back to find how each was related. The people and traditions of the Russian province of Kamchatka are so different from our American experience, but the human relationships are common, if uncomfortable in one way or another. If I had to choose a likable character, it would be Denis whose fantastic obsession with UFO’s and belief in alien abduction was so frustrating to his sister.  I appreciated the tenacity of the mothers who never gave up hope in their search.  It was a dark read, and certainly the war in Ukraine is much much darker. I felt some insight into Russian life and mindset was gained."  I found it noteworthy that Russians treated their indigenous culture in the same manner that America has treated ours.  

Judy likes to display items from her collevtin which are reminiscent of our story or something from the story.  These pieces are from her family's Eastern European travels.

Epic Russian Tale

 Thank you Debbie for hosting our gathering.  It was a pleasant way to spend what turned out to be an extremely smoky evening due to wildfires along the Canadian border.  We did miss Esther this evening.  We enjoyed sharing friendship and conversation during dinner and a good book discussion too.  

Author Kristin Hannah writes novels which focus on women; their strengths and their relationships.  This story unfolds as a Russian fairy tale which hides details of the mother's past.  It unwinds the relationships between a contemporary mother and her daughters and focuses on the cost of survival and the triumph of human spirit.  The character's perspectives changed as the story pregressed.  "It was all out there - the mystery, the beauty; beyond her ability to see now, but there just the same.  It was simply a matter of timing and perspective, what one saw."

Judy Bell's favorite shared quote:  "Meredith felt a kind of sadness.  It wasn't what she'd felt before: not disappointment that her kids didn't call or fear that Jeff didn't love her, or even worry that she had lost too much of herself.  This new feeling was the realization that she wasn't young anymore.  The days of frolicking with her little girls were gone.  Her children were on their own now, and Meredith needed to accept that.  They would always be a family, but if she'd learned anything in the past few weeks it was that a family wasn't a static thing.  There were always changes going on.  Like with continents, sometimes the changes were invisible and underground, and sometimes they were explosive and deadly.  The trick was keeping your balance."

The lesson of the story: "Joy and sadness were part of the package; the trick, perhaps, was to let yourself feel all of it, but to hold on to the joy just a little more tightly because you never knew when a strong heart could just give out."

Chris M is planning our next gathering which will be in November.  We will select a date later in October.  At the moment it may be a high tea held at Columbia Breaks.  Stay tuned for updates and details.  See you all then!

A Detective's Tale

 We all gathered at my home this August to share friendship and our love of reading.  I stole Esther's typical menu idea and made soup.  Yes, it's hot and one doesn't expect warm soup this time of year, but every time I thought about what to make, this is what popped into my head.  Everyone contributed and we enjoyed a pleasant meal.  We reviewed "Mrs Sherlock Holmes" by Brad Ricca.  This is a biography of an amazing woman, Grace Humiston,  at the turn of the 20th century.  She was a lawyer advocating for immigrants, investigated modern day slavery as a US District Attorney and acted as a detective, solving the murder of an 18 year old girl.  Truly remarkable in her day, yet history forgot about her.  The book itself was scattered and hard to follow, skipping back and forth in time and topics.  It's a shame it wasn't presented in a better, more organized manner as her remarkable story was diminished by this presentation.  It did spark lively discussion on women's rights and politics and showed us that things haven't changed much during this last century - some stories always remain the same.  Thank you all for your contributions and sharing.  I'm looking forward to our next meeting which is planned for Thursday September 8th at Debbie G's home.  See you then!

Welcome Home Chris Peek!

 Chris P has just returned from Arizona and was gracious enough to host a pot luck book club meeting.  It was a lovely summer's eve and so nice to catch up with old friends.  Thank you Chris!

We discussed our latest read, "Educated" by Tara Westover.  This was a remarkable story, an autobiography of Tara Westover's upbringing in a Mormon survivalist family.  Tara decided to go to college, seek an education and find a new kind of life. "Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home."