"The Garden of Evening Mists" Tan Twan Eng

Reporting about our discussion of The Garden of Evening Mists will be challenging, but I will summarize the highlights that I can remember.  We talked some about Malaysian history and the ethnic groups living in that melting pot of a country.  Then Maddy described for us the types of "borrowed scenery" in gardens, having written about it in her graduate work.  There was discussion about whether gardens can or should be natural or "artificial".  Some felt that Yun Ling was not a very likable character but rather tough and hardened by her past.  Her work as a prosecutor and as a judge seemed motivated by revenge, perhaps understandably.  But Zanna pointed out that she seemed to learn forgiveness in the end.  There was some confusion about how the section of Yugiri that would fit into Yun Ling's horimono became a map to where Yun Hong and the "Golden Lily" were buried.  Also there was consensus that the episode about the relationship between Tatsuji and Teruzen was extraneous and a distraction from the central story.  Otherwise all seemed taken by the number of layers to the story.  All of us sensed the mysterious and "misty" quality of the book throughout.

Sheri Linnell

"The Wild Trees"

With summer 2014 fleeing by, I was delighted to see 5 book club gals at my home for the July book discussion, The Wild Trees by Richard Preston. By preparing I had the opportunity to learn more about the author, as well as to discover his 2007 book, “a story of passion and daring”.

Richard Preston, born in Massachusetts, turned 60 this August. He was educated at Pomona College and Princeton University and is known as a science writer whose earlier works focused on infectious diseases and bioterrorism: Cobra, Demon in the Freezer and The Hot Zone .The last, a 1992 book about the Ebola virus, has recently acquired new attention with the resurgence of the disease evidence in western Africa. After Michael Crichton’s 2008 death, Preston completed his mentor’s book, Micro.

However, I think it is safe to say — those present at this book group were surprised by discovering a new approach of a known topic, climbing trees. The Wild Trees takes this outdoor activity to a whole new level. In essence, it is the story of men and women who have a passion for getting to tree tops – by climbing. Not just any trees, they want to climb America’s Coastal Redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens - trees several centuries old that have grown to heights greater than 350 feet (32 stories) and 26 feet in diameter. The higher, larger, older and most secluded are crucial tree traits that shaped and influenced the lives and professions of the main characters. Through Preston’s writing approach, the reader learns about college-age friendships, youthful recreation decisions, and advanced tree climbing skills. The reader also learns about human intimacy amongst the branches! All this, with intertwining themes of dendrology, botany, ecology, and environmentalism. A lot of content exists in this less than 300 page book. For additional information on The Wild Trees, check out the 20-minute TED TALK, February, 2008…very interesting. A google search states that there may be, as many as, 

40 million book clubs today. 

Aspects of our discussion revealed varying perspectives on some of the characters’ maturity levels and on Preston’s writing style, – too simple or satisfying? I believe opinions contribute to making book groups valuable. A quick google search stated that there may be as many as 40 million book clubs!

In closing, it was great to hear about everyone’s summer activities (and even of those not able to attend). No doubt about it, “members” of this book group have a real zest for life. Plus, Sherri’s bag of home grown, just picked cucumbers all found homes and salads! 

Linda Hamilton

My Beloved World

"My Beloved World" by Sonia Sotomayor

I'm posting a summary of our June 24 discussion of Sonia Sotomayor's memoir "My Beloved World," but I didn't take good notes (in spite of the notepad that sat on my lap the whole time) because I was drawn into the discussion and completely forgot to write anything. I apologize for the absence of the many great comments and observations that you all shared when we met. The folks who were in town and able to attend included Margie, Mary, Annie, Sheri, Joan, Paige, and me.

In a C-Span lecture to the Progressive Forum http://www.c-span.org/video/?310616-1/book-discussion-beloved-world (which can be found online and which we watched & listened to), Justice Sotomayor said about her memoir, "I want readers of my book to learn something. She added, " I want them to learn something about themselves." Our discussion confirmed that she achieved both outcomes within the readers from our group.   

All of us had profusely highlighted our copies, and we discovered many times we had highlighted the same sections. Mary Sanz shared this passage that I had also highlighted and others clearly remembered: "I was fifteen years old when I understood how it is that things break down: people can't understand someone else's point of view." What an important fundamental perspective to bring to the bench of the Supreme Court.

We discussed at length the causes and effects of Sonia being wise beyond her years at a  young age. As you might expect, we spent a lot of time wondering about her influences, about what and who shaped her.  Would she have developed these traits if she hadn't had diabetes, which meant she wouldn't have been motivated to be so self-reliant at eight years old? Would she have been so independent if her parents' relationship had been more stable? How was it that in 5th grade she was motivated to approach a fellow student for advice on how to study more effectively? She asked similar questions of herself: "What if my father hadn't died, if I hadn't spent that sad summer reading, if my mother's English had been no better than my aunts? Would I have made it to Princeton?" She later reflected, "When I was little, listening and watching for cues had seemed like the key to survival in a precarious world."

Several people commented on the fact she lacked confidence yet developed habits that helped her overcome her own doubts. She credited her mother's example for shaping Sonia's approaches to working around her own insecurities. She wrote about her mother's issues with quizzes and tests when she was a student: "But more important was her example that a surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence. It was something I would remember often in years ahead, whenever faced with fears that I wasn't smart enough to succeed." Such honest observations allowed us to find our own common ground with her.

We talked at length about the beauty of her relationship with her Abuelita and the complications and richness of her relationship with her mother. 

We talked about how the value of the perspective she brings to the Supreme Court based on her experiences growing up in poor neighborhoods was clear when she told how in her first job at United Bargains, one of her tasks was to watch for shoplifters. She noted that the store managers didn't feel the need to call the cops, who had more serious work to do anyway, because they knew that simply getting caught was itself a punishment. Many of us highlighted these segments: She said, "When someone's dignity shatters in front of you, it leaves a hole that any feeling heart naturally wants to fill, if only with its own sadness." She wrote that when she was in the DA's office, the lessons she had learned in childhood among the Latinos of the Bronx proved to be critical to her success. She spoke of the need for an understanding of how the law affects individual lives. We saw her tempered satisfaction at winning a case when she commented that she chose not to join the other attorneys in her firm after sending someone to jail for a long time. She understood that his extended family would suffer as a result, and while she was glad justice had been served, she felt badly for what this would do to all of them.

I wondered to the group if the other justices had read or would read her book. In my humble opinion, they need to. 

These were some of the key points the group brought up. We agreed that yes, we all learned more than we knew before we read the book, not only about her life but also about ourselves.

Crossing to Safety

May 27th book group:  "Crossing to Safety" by Wallace Stegner We had 8 members at my, Libby's, house Tuesday may 27th in beautiful spring weather on the back patio:  Annie, Sheri,  Mary,  Marylib,  Maddy,  Margie, and Joanie and myself.  The book was Stegner's last novel published in 1987 when he was 78 years old.  In the words of Terry Tempest Williams who wrote the introduction, this is a "quiet novel" and several of us wondered if it would be popular at all today.  I will tell you of an experience this morning while waiting for a doctor's appointment:  there was a young 20-something also in the waiting room and I noticed that he was reading a Stegner book.  So of course I immediately started talking with him, and yes, the wonderful quiet of Stegner lives on in the younger generation.  He was reading "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and had read many other Stegner novels and felt he was a great insightful author, as did his girlfriend who then came out from her appointment.  Never fear.  These young people sought out Stegner. This book seemed to have something for everyone at the group since everyone has experienced relationships and friendships, intense, casual, ongoing or lost.  We all made intense friends early on in life and some of these relationships carry on.  Everyone had so much to contribute at group.  We all talked about having friends past and present.  Charity made some people uncomfortable, some feel annoyance, some feeling love-hate for her, and some actually like her energy.  Libby (through her husband) mentioned that Charity is perhaps a rare needed catalyst (this was actually an idea I told to him).  Would the couples have ever gotten together if Charity wasn't Charity?  She was certainly relentless in wanting to control and manipulate but also in love and generosity.  Marylib had a story of confronting a friend who was grating to their group when they were young, and this was an interesting and painful telling.  Maddy also had a story of a friendship that was difficult and what to do about it.  Sally and Larry and Sid and Charity never gave up the love for each other for whatever reason as the bonds were formed and grew through various ways.  We all agreed that you never really know what goes on in a couple, only what you see on the outside.  Couples are much more complicated underneath, even to themselves.... Joan mentioned that the Frost poem at the beginning was so important and wonderful.  As Frost has crossed to safety with the beauty in life, so has Stegner himself crossed to safety in creating a novel that can change lives reading the simple story of good decent people.  Stegner touches on the subject of how much control do we have when he says "order is indeed the dream of man, but chaos, which is only another word for dumb, blind, witless chance, is still the law of nature."  Sheri felt that there is no fate just daily chance.  Charity ultimately had no control and in the end at her death we all agreed that she only hurt herself.  Someone mentioned that Sally was not as developed as she could have been but that she was a model of perseverance with the chance occurrence of getting polio.  Several people felt sad for Sid, the life he was living with Charity.  He only lived what he wanted...as all of us try to do. I invite anyone who was there to add to this post as I may have forgotten things.  One other thing was that Stegner invokes nature so well, infusing it into the story, and many of us were taken by the scenes at the lake and the horse trip, telling stories of where they had similar lake experiences. All in all a great group!

Let the Great World Spin

"LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN" by COLUM McCANN

A tight-rope walker stuns New Yorkers as he walks, skips, and even lays down on the wire between the World Trade Centers in 1974. How did this amazing act affect those below in a deteriorating, bankrupt city? Perhaps this feat was the light, the thread, the "connective tissue" that held a disparate group of people together in the story.
And so we are introduced to an assortment of authentic characters in this gritty yet beautiful novel. One reviewer described this book as having an "edgy grace". This is not a plot driven book, at  times it can make the reader a little dizzy and, perhaps, wonder where it is going and if things are going to "spin" out of control.
Thank you Maddy, Mary Lib, Sherri, Joanie and Linda for braving the winds and driving out to Wellington for a meeting of the B&B's. Here are some thoughts from the group:

• Everyone was taken by Phillipe Pettit's (though he was never named in the book) artistry and whimsey. This set the tone for much of the book. Mary Lib suggested that the "darkness shifted" when the tight-rope walker was seen.
• Sherri was struck by Claire's apparent discomfort, even anger, over the man on the wire. In Claire's mind, he was "throwing his life in everyone's face, making her own son's life so cheap..."
• Maddy had an artist's view of the book:  McCann was a "painterly" writer--his play of dark against light, the kaleidscope of characters and events, the many artists in the book. She loved the chapter about the taggers; she related to the photographer taking pictures of the graffiti as inspiration for his art.
• I noted how McCann changed his style of writing in line with the characters in each chapter. Short, choppy, slangy sentences in Tilly's chapter; softer, more flowing sentences/language in Gloria's chapter.
• from ML: Corrigan was not equipped to deal with everything he had immersed himself in; he was a neutral force in the chaotic lives he surrounded himself with. When it came down to it, was he ineffectual or just trying to find his equilibrium.
• I think we all agreed that everyone of us is walking a tight-rope, just that some are a lot higher than others!
• Final thought: the techie chapter. Not a favorite. But, ARPANET was the progenitor of what was to become the global internet, back in the 70's. The information about the hackers appeared to be accurate for the times.
• A complex, sometimes puzzling book. But, it was a mostly thumbs up for those in attendance today!

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage

Libby, Joan, Annie, Maddy, Sheri, Margie and I  met yesterday for book club.  Those of you who were in Mexico, Spain, India, and undisclosed locations were missed. Thanks Marylib for your email about the book. We all appreciated your comments which provoked discussion about her insights into the writing process.   Some of us loved this part, and others not so much. Maddy commented that she was fascinated by the artistic process and Patchett's ability to create and hold an entire story in her mind.  Her humility at admitting that she destroys this beautiful butterfly of the story in her head by putting  it down on paper and in the process killing it was poignant. She comments that: "The journey from the head to hand is perilous and lined with bodies.  It is the road on which nearly everyone who wants to write- and many who do write- get lost."

Overall, I would say that most of us loved the book, even though some admitted to being not too fond of short stories or essays and would rather sink their teeth into a novel.  Margie said that she was ordinarily one of these, but that she really enjoyed this particular book.  Sheri absolutely loved the story about Opera and many of us are planning to attend one of the live broadcasts that take place here in Fort Collins. And Annie, who along with Joanie felt the book was very slow to start, began to warm to Ann Patchett when she told the story of pushing Rosie, her old dog, in a baby carriage for her daily walk.

 I think everyone who read the convocation speech to the Clemson freshman wished that they had had such a speech when beginning college. Some expressed the opinion that Patchett appeared self absorbed, and most of us could agree with that. But the stories, "This Dog's Life", "On Responsibility", and "The Mercies", among others revealed Ann Patchett's  enormous and caring heart.   Libby and I had both were so intrigued with her relationship with Lucy that we went on and read "Truth and Beauty" and we found moments to interject morsels from that book as they related to one of the essays.  We agreed that the essays were uneven, but I thought it revealed her willingness to share her writing for various magazines and various audiences across the years.

 We talked about our favorites, but didn't really delve into  the title essay, which I actually thought was one of her more interesting ones. We all appreciated the question posed to Ann in a earlier piece when she was agonizing over her first marriage.  "Does your husband make you a better person?"  Ann said that was the first instruction about marriage that she had received in her 25 years of life.   Two other valuable pieces of advice she received from her mother  "Every single relationship you will have in your lifetime is going to end."  and "Stop trying to make everything permanent."  (How Buddhist!) These, I believe paved the way for Ann to be able to finally love and commit to Karl. She comments at the end of that essay as she reflects on the earlier question "Does he make you a better person?.... I want to tell her, Yes, with the full force of his life, with the example of his kindness and vigilance, his good sense and equanimity, he makes me a better person.  And that is what I aspire to be, better, and no, it really isn't any more complicated than that." 

There was something for everyone here.  After a disastrous reaction to her book, "The State of Wonder", we are Ann Patchett fans once more.