Patti's Grace Notes

365 Walks-Day 98/All You Need is Love

Just a little encore~ Gotta love him.

Whoa, I’m working on borrowed time at the moment. Had an early, early start and not early enough to bed (sound familiar?). Today was the first full clinical day at the hospital with the new students – they did great! I was all over the hospital in my usual style. I have to remember to use my pedometer to clock my mileage. I’m sure I covered several.

I did have to take my candles (my volunteer chore) that I cleaned last night to the church after work. It was deceptively pretty outside so I took my lab coat off and left it in my car. On my way out I decided to do my little jaunt around the church/school grounds for a change of scenery and half way around the compound I realized that I was freezing. I decided to step up the pace a bit and that helped, but I also recognized that I was just going through the motions to get‘er done. I did have some pleasant fleeting memories of our kids and the sum total of 13 years they attended grade school there. A lot has changed, but enough is still familiar to take me back with little effort. Man oh man, where does that illusive time go? -the question of the ages, right?

I was really dragging by the time I made it home, but tonight was our book club meeting (GAB) and I had about an hour to take a short rest, change and eat the stir-fry my lovely youngest made us for dinner. Oh how I love my family – home is the best. 

I was off to pick up my bud, Nancy for our meeting. We had a superb turn out and I found enough energy to participate in a stimulating discussion with my GAB gals. Thanks to our hostess, Susan, who presented The Tortilla Curtain by J.C. Boyle. I am remiss in keeping up with my past few book reviews, but I’ll try to get caught up soon. This walking everyday and chronicling it zaps my other writing endeavors, I need to work on that. I’ll leave it for another day since I have candles cooking (really melting the old wax off the glass holders) and my bed calling. G'night Gracie~

The Elegance of the Hedgehog and The Art of Racing In the Rain

Rarely does our book club (GAB) cancel a meeting, but this is exactly what happened in October. Only two of us were available, which is unusual, for our twelve members, but we made up for it in November.  Although she didn’t select the book for that month, our hostess Tami, agreed to present the book we were reading: The Elegance of the Hedgehog. It was selected by a general consensus. The title had been bandied about on a few book websites and so we all agreed on it since we didn’t have a better offer - lesson learned. Only one person finished the book and she was motivate by the fact that she was going to present it. Most people couldn’t get beyond the first couple of chapters and I gave it my hard and fast rule of enduring at least 100 pages. I felt compelled to read more since it was our book club selection until a former colleague wrote to me with sage advice from her mother, “There are too many good books waiting to be read to waste time on a bad one.” Now, I’m not saying that Muriel Barbery’s book is a “bad” one; just one I (and others) did not like enough to wade through just because it was a best seller in France. The fact that I found it didactic and full of pseudo-intellectual banter doesn’t mean it didn’t have redeeming merit. To her credit, Tami felt it was worth the effort to complete and I applaud her for her diligence. If you have a different experience with this book, I’d love to hear it. I will, however, give the greater attention to Betsy’s November book: The Art of Racing in the Rain.

If you were a fan of Marley and Me, well it’s a given, you’ll love this book by Garth Stein. It doesn’t hurt that Mr. Stein is a local writer and lives in Seattle with his wife and kids. The dog on the cover is actually his dog, although his name is different in the book. One of the endearing quirks is that the story is told from the point of view of Enzo, a lab/terrier mix, who is actually one ‘life experience’ away from being human (um, I know, but it really isn’t as hokey as I make it sound). His owner, Denny, chose him before the entrance of a wife and later a child so everything unfolds via Enzo’s perspective. Denny is an amateur racer and his dream is to have a career on the professional racing circuit. He and his canine buddy spend many an hour watching videos of all of racing’s greats. The lessons and philosophies of the racetrack are not lost on Enzo and he’s good enough to share them with us. I have to admit that some of them are not half bad. I dare you to read it and then not treat your dog better. I’m even nicer to my bird. It’s a tearjerker to be sure (story about a dog – duh!) and not a mind bender by any means, but after 124 pages of The Elegance of the Hedgehog – that’s a good thing! 

Olive Kitteridge

GAB (see Girls/Guys About Books) read Olive Kitterdge by Elizabeth Strout, for our September selection. Nancy, one of our well-read members, chose it because it kept popping up on the book lists she follows and she noted that it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

I thought Ms. Strout was quite sneaky luring me in for what I thought was a novel but in actuality is a collection of 13 short stories connected by, sometimes a thin thread, the character known as Olive Kitteridge. I’m not normally a big fan of short story collections, although I like to write them. I invest too much getting to know characters and then allowing myself too be drawn into the story for it to be over in a few short pages. I did like this style of grouping stories, however, because there was some interlacing of characters among the tales and then, of course, there was Olive’s presence even if only briefly. Keeping track of the shear number of characters got tricky sometimes.

The reader does get a feel for a real New England town and several of the characters that inhabit it, “Down East” accents and all. It was easy to feel depressed while reading it which isn’t a big surprise considering the subject matter covered: funerals, infidelity, loneliness, betrayal, alienation, anorexia, divorce, hostage taking, and unrequited love, just to mention a few.

If the content tended to bring you down, the incredible quality of writing was the life vest. I could see Nancy’s affection for our heroine. Olive is as real and as human as they come. She possessed that true grit personality that is often attributed to New Englanders and, in addition, she just wasn’t a nice person. She alienated herself from her only child because as he put it, “you can make people feel terrible.” She is complicated, however, and can be moody one minute and empathetic the next. She was far from warm and fuzzy, but definitely earned respect from many of her students.

I forgot to ask our members for star rating, but I think I am comfortable giving Olive Kitteridge at least a 3.5 for the writing alone. When ever you come away from a book evaluating your own complicated self and reluctantly identifying with a character even in a small way that may help you understand yourself, or others, a little more – then I think it’s been a worthwhile read. Thank you Nancy~

The book selected for October is The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I just finished an excellent book by Anita Shreve – The Weight of Water. I encourage recommendations by my blog readers and Pam has suggested, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. She says it’s a debut novel by Jaime Ford. It’s a WWII story of Chinese and Japanese-American children in Seattle, the Panama Hotel and Camp Harmony internment camp. Happy reading!

PS – Google finally picked me up so if you lose my web address you can just google “Patti’s Grace Notes” now to find me.

End of Summer GAB

Girls About Books (see ‘Gab’ under categories) met for video night, as is our custom in the summer, and we had a couple of decisions to make. Let’s see, would we have M&Ms in the popcorn or just ala carte? Would anyone notice if I mix the Good ‘n Plenty with the Junior Mints or should I throw them off and go with the Red Vines? Suffice it to say I felt pretty sick by the end of the night, but boy was it fun!

In addition to those difficult choices, we had to pick our movie for the evening. Usually anyone who wants to brings a DVD and then we vote on the spot. This time we already had planned to watch Grey Gardens, the movie based on the true story of an eccentric aunt and cousin of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. The Maysies brothers did a documentary in 1975 and I have to tell you that the story of these two women living reclusive lives in an old run down mansion in East Hampton is quite creepy. Their story was brought to light when neighbors called in local health inspectors. We didn’t end up watching the movie made in 2009 based on the documentary (staring Drew Barrymore) since some members had seen it already. The shear look of disgust on their faces was enough to deter us. We were well into the candy stash by then and our stomachs were already queasy.

I was sufficiently intrigued to watch both the movie and the documentary, at a later time, and I have to tell you that I cannot stop cleaning my house. It will NEVER be clean enough! I now have a NO CAT RULE!!! (Except for my grandkittys, Suzka and Costi, in their own house) (click)

Our unanimous decision was Stage Beauty (2004) with Claire Danes and Billy Crudup. Yeah, I know. If ever there was a case for a professional name change….need I say more? To be fair the real pronunciation of his name is kru-dep, but then why not go with that – Billy Krudep? Think I’ll write him a note. He’ll probably get the hint when he reads this. It’s about England’s theater in the 1600s when women where not allowed to act on stage so all the women’s roles where performed by men. Like a good historical fiction novel, you learn interesting facts while being entertained and I am just amazed at the flimsy provocation for some laws (what else is new?). It is also a very complicated love story (of course). It apparently didn’t do well when it first came out which is too bad because there really is some good acting and more than a couple memorable scenes and our little group of pre-diabetics rather liked it. For a full review: click

We are currently reading Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (click) and will be meeting to discuss it in September. Read along and add your comments this coming month. Please note the links under “Web wanderings” on the side bar to the left. ‘My Bookshelf’ represents both books that I have read as well as GAB choices. Also note ‘Movies of Interest’. These are movies that I have personally rated above a 3/5. Both are a work in progress, but feel free to make comments and suggestions. I will publish all or add updates on the actual links so others can be informed while considering them. Stay tuned for this month’s review of Olive Kitteridge.

 

Girls About Books

We call ourselves “GAB” and we do a lot of it. It will be ten years next month that we formed our book club – one of the longest lasting ones that I know.

Fifteen of us met at Sharon’s house to hold our first meeting in September 1999. I don’t know who had the bright idea, but it was decided that a few of us would each bring a friend or two, so many of us were strangers that first time.

We didn’t really know what we were doing, but we knew we needed some organization. Someone brought a “how to” manual for forming a book group so it was a place to start. We went around the circle and each of us gave a motive for why she was there; what she expected. The reasons ranged from the obvious – reading and discussing good books, to forming new friendships, to just getting out of the house.

We were all within a decade of each other, but spread out just enough to be at different phases in our lives.  Some had teens still at home, others were leaving for college or getting married, and some had no kids at all. We were a fairly homogenous group, but with quite varied and interesting back grounds.

Not knowing what to expect we established the basics – meeting times, presenting schedule, some simple guidelines, but wisely opted to re-evaluate our position in a year. I boldly volunteered to choose the first book, which was The General’s Daughter by Nelson Demille. You could almost hear the snarl of the upper lips of the few literati elite. I thought I’d get some slack for being the first, but apparently not.

The pressure was on to set the standard for introducing the book and facilitating the discussion. I took notes as I read, highlighted passages, and formed philosophical perspectives. I may have aimed a little high for what amounted to a “beach read” (sorry Mr. Demille) – a mystery/thriller, at best. I can’t remember how the whole discussion went, but I do recall that it got a little heated (probably whether John Travolta was miscast for the lead in the movie or something) and I ended it by saying, “Well, it’s only a book!”

Individuals began bravely signing up for future dates and we fell into the monthly routine of trying to out do each other. Some of the books that we read that first year were: The Stone Diaries, Snow Falling on Cedars, Amsterdam, Bed by the Window, Into Thin Air, The Shipping News, The Poisonwood Bible, The Great Gatsby, and To Kill a Mockingbird. We were a voracious and varied bunch.

Many of us were dead serious about the reading and discussions like we had something to prove - others, not so much. I was one of the worst, I’ll admit. I approached each gathering like I was preparing to take my State Board Exams all over again. I think it was out of academic habit and I enjoyed the process, but now I see that it was slightly arrogant and intimidating. Probably some Napoleonic complex – I’m only 5’3. On top of that, I appointed myself secretary and historian. My competitive spirit expected some resistance…silly me. Ten years later I’m still doing it and I think I’m ready for a raise?

It wasn’t all homework; we did do some fun things. David Guterson, the author of Snow Falling on Cedars, is the brother-in-law of one of our members so we were invited to attend the Northwest premiere of the movie. Sometimes we dressed up and served food according to the period or theme of our book, like the Great Gatsby. In honor of Valentine’s Day, that February, we read a raunchy romance novel called Shanna, with thrusting bodices and all. On my list of books for the year I wrote, “that slut” next to her name. We arrived at our meeting dressed as madams from a high-end (I stress HIGH END) brothel.

We ended the year with a barbeque at Betsy’s. We realized just how much we enjoyed being together. By September we were back at Sharon’s reviewing our year. As we re-evaluated our group we noticed that although we valued our books, our meetings were more about friendship.

Without expecting it we discovered that coming together filled the little holes left by kids departing and family dynamics changing. We spent more time at our jobs and less at little league or scouts. We missed that human connection over a common interest. Through our discussions of books we would probably never have chosen, we’d also learned so much more about ourselves. We were better somehow.

After that we lightened up a bit. We socialize for a half an hour before sitting down to our discussion. We are quite disciplined about that…we just take our wine with us. While still spirited – okay the police came only once, sorry Nancy, we are more relaxed about our format. People are encouraged to come even if they can’t finish the book. We’ll even provide earplugs for spoilers. We laugh a lot.

Through the years members have come and gone for one reason or another, but they are never far away. A strong central core of us, nearly half, has remained all this time and others nearly as long. We’ve been through a lot together- marriages, divorce, serious illness, births of grandchildren, family tragedies and even the death of one of our beloved members from colon cancer. During her illness each of us took turns driving her to daily treatment in Seattle. One of our most memorable meetings took place in the hospital room where we were all gathered at her bedside. The book was The Alchemist. Our connection was changed forever. We miss you, Meredith.

We’ve read some amazing books (and a couple of crappy ones); we’ve met authors and poets, and had guest speakers. We eat pizza and read poems every Christmas and hold video night in the summer. We’re still going strong after all this time. We are GAB, girls about books….but mostly, we’re about each other~
PS – We’re at Nancy’s next month, warn the neighbors!