Up Next - Eat, Pray, Love

Plagued with despair after a nasty divorce, the author, in her early 30s, divides a year equally among three dissimilar countries, exploring her competing urges for earthly delights and divine transcendence. First, pleasure: savoring Italy's buffet of delights--the world's best pizza, free-flowing wine and dashing conversation partners--Gilbert consumes la dolce vita as spiritual succor. "I came to Italy pinched and thin," she writes, but soon fills out in waist and soul. Then, prayer and ascetic rigor: seeking communion with the divine at a sacred ashram in India, Gilbert emulates the ways of yogis in grueling hours of meditation, struggling to still her churning mind. Finally, a balancing act in Bali, where Gilbert tries for equipoise "betwixt and between" realms, studies with a merry medicine man and plunges into a charged love affair.

Meeting Chez Frances 7 pm March 3

Meeting!

We met on January 7. Frances, Carolyn, and Amanda came to my house. Reid didn’t attend—something about bringing the baby home from the hospital….

One Thousand White Women proved an interesting jumping off point for exploration. Amanda watched two films, The Long Riders and Jessie James (the old one, not the recently released one) Both deal with the West and the Indian Wars, in the same time frame as OTWW.

Frances found a fascinating volume—Texas Women on the Cattle Trails, edited by Sara R. Massey. The book tells the stories of 16 women who drove cattle during the last half of the 19th century. These women, like the heroine of OTWW, stepped out of conventional roles and took on many hardships. (you left the book at my house, Frances. I’ll bring it to you)

Carolyn read Where the Road Goes by Joanne Greenberg, who, under the name of Hannah Greene, wrote I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. It is a book of diaries and letters and concerns a grandmother who, following a cause, decided to leave her children and grandchildren to walk across the country. Her family objects, tragedy ensues.

My search for plucky women who take a leap into the unknown lead me to Amy Bloom’s recent book Away. Lillian Leyb flees to New York after all her family is killed in a pogrom in Russia. When word comes that her daughter may have survived, she tries to get back home, by crossing the US, traveling through Canada to cross the Bering Strait. Stepping off into the unknown, indeed! Locally, we have the example of Emily Howland, who left her comfortable New England life to found a school for the children of freed slaves in Northumberland County. There’s a book in the library, Miss Emily, by Mildred D. Myers, classified historical fiction.

Book Club, my place

Don't forget, Monday evening, January 7, 7 p.m. at my house.
directions are easy--head for Reid's house but keep going straight to the end of the road, don't turn right toward Reid's. Last drive on the left. There should be enough parking space in front of the house.

Topic: taking off from One Thousand White Women
Have you read a book in diary or letter form you liked? Something on the Wild West? A book that describes someone who makes a total life change? American Indians? US History, post Civil War? Traveling to an unknown place? Chicago? Insane aslyums and involuntary incarceration in same? Seen a movie that relates? This should be interesting!

And maybe Baby Girl Pierce will be available to attend!

JayneTheLibrarian

1000 White Women

This Reading Group Guide offers some interesting discussion points and a Q&A with the author. Sometimes I find that books I didn't love lend themselves to better meetings. Trying to find a review that can critic the historical accuracy of the book.

BTW, Jim Fergus has published another book, The Wild Girl : The Notebooks of Ned Giles, 1932, but, I don't think it did too well because the paperback edition was given a new name and a whole new publisher: Last Apache Girl

1000 White Women

Just a reminder that we will be meeting at my house at 7 pm on Dec 3 to discuss lots and lots of white women. I'm still working on the book - trying to plow my way through. It's a bit slow moving so far, and not the best-written book we've encountered. But I'm hoping it will pick up in the chapters to come.

Also, at the last meeting we discussed using our "free months" to springboard off the previous month's book to a related topic. So next month, for example, we may choose to read books about the Cheyenne or women's journals from that time period, or to watch a movie even. That way we still have some common ground for discussion the following month. That meeting will be January 7th at Jayne's house.

Carolyn said she would like to do Eat, Pray, Love for February 4 at her House.

Other books we added to Our BIG List of good reads are: Ahab's Wife;
Love in the time of Cholera; When the Emperor was Divine; Down River; Blue Highway; The Spellman Files and Where the Road Goes.

Frances gets to choose a book for April.

I can't believe I got signed in-even us old dogs can learn new tricks occasionally. I just finished listening to Roots the 30th Anniversary edition. I got it from the library and will return it tomorrow. Of course I read it 30 years ago when it first came out but the audio version is even better. It was beautifully read by Avery Brooks (I think) and it was very moving. 24 discs?!! It gave a powerful account of black history and slavery-the history buff would surely like it but of course it is very intense. I'm not reading anything right now-library closed today

Monday meeting?

Did you meet on Monday? I'm sorry I missed it! I was sitting on a runway in Minneapolis, hoping to make my connection in Chicago. Luckily, the flight attendant declared Happy Hour in progress and passed out free wine. I made it to Chicago with plenty of time, because the flight to Richmond was also delayed. The reason? Wind in Chicago--hey, that's why they call it The Windy City!! I finally got home to Water House at 4:00a.m. And was in bed by 4:10, accompanied by warm cats.

If I'd been there, I'd have discussed The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. This book discusses what would happen to the world if all the people disappeared in some non-violent way, just walked (flew?) away and left everything as it is. The ecological side of The Rapture, perhaps. Weisman discusses how things fall apart, what would go first. New York City and its subways? Very fast because pumps are constantly pumping out the subways and once they stopped....Bronze sculpture? Lasts a long long time, and Mt. Rushmore, made of granite, practically forever. Not so happy parts of the book discuss other things that would last a long time--PCBs and other nasty contaminents, the aftermath of nuclear reactors left unattended. Another topic covers places on earth that have been undisturbed like the Korean DMZ, Chernobyl and a pristine forest in Poland. Fascinating, accessible science, and very thought provoking.

What's up next for the group?

Jaynethelibrarian