Exaugural Post

Exactly six years ago today, I sat at a small white table in a room with bamboo floors and tapped out a few lines.  I was likely still in a euphoric state from a GBC book club discussion with no inclination that I would still manage a few vignettes here and there in 2015.

Today, as I sit outdoors at a small black table at a coffee shop on the West Coast, I'm reflecting on my Germantown years and am grateful for the many books discussed and glasses of reading water shared over novels, nuisances, and noteworthy news.  The friendships solidified over healthy plot twist debates and quiet whispers of "I didn't finish the book, did you?" are as treasured as any first edition.

Thanks for peeking in from time to time to give comments or share a laugh.  It's been a fun ride.

Out Like a Lion

A visit to the neighborhood is not complete until you ask and answer, "So what are you reading?"  I always enjoy thumbing through the books that GBC P@1ge has on her kitchen table.

Next up for the GBC is My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante.  I'll try to squeeze in The Secret History of Wonder Woman for April as well.

Better to Have Loved

I was in my home away from home Sunday evening (O'Hare) and decided I was ready to start Surviving Death:  What Loss Taught Me about Love, Joy and Meaning by Kate O'Neill.  I would finish the book the same night.  Twice, I had to stop, close the e-reader, breathe, remember I was in O'Hare, and have a few sips of water before beginning again.

I could talk about how I liked the style and structure of the book, the transitions, or the beautiful way she paints scenes so the reader feels like she is peeking in with permission from an unseen corner. I could talk about how there were thoughts that I would never be able to articulate (a section on prayer, for example) but as I read her words, I silently whispered "yes".  I could mention that the quotations were apt intros.

But I'd rather talk about how I felt when I read it.

It's taken me a few days to even be able to articulate these few clumsy words.  My heart ached while reading the book.  I had not only a personal connection to process, but this book conjured up my own losses (and not just deaths) in many different ways.  I thought about the times where people (or events) took a slow, heavy toll and other moments where very suddenly, well, things were just going to be different.

I had an hour and a half delay on the tarmac so I finished the book about fifteen minutes into the flight, leaving me another hour or so with my thoughts and a bumpy ride.  That's when an achy heart turned hopeful and somewhere between 28,000 and 10,000 feet, I let a few things fall.  The weight lost while landing gave me a desire to hug strangers in the airport.  (I didn't of course as people who like to build rockets aren't always huggers.)

Kate's right: "Love wins."

Holidazed and Confused

I've missed Friday the 13th, pi day, and the Ides.  I did however see a sliver of the moon this morning on my walk home from the gym.

All my reading this month has to date been deferred to finish a baby blanket.  I'm in the final spring to see who will arrive first.  (In a recent video call, I was described as "aggressively knitting*.")

I hope you are enjoying this week's sunshine and have finished A Passage to India in time for this month's GBC.

*I'm not sure there is such a thing.

Seasons of Love

With vegetation again visible beneath the melting snow, it seems especially appropriate to highlight one of neighborhood's own book releases this week.  Kate O'Neill's Surviving Death: What Loss Taught Me about Love, Joy, and Meaning is now available on Amazon,  Kate is an optimist, a linguist, and a host of other "ist"s that fall on the side of characteristics of people you are happy you know.  She has a beautiful writing style that works well in media ranging from a 140 character limit to long blog posts.  Of course I've added this title to my reading list.

Thanks for being courageous, Kate.  I hope your story touches and helps a host of others.  Much love to you.

Next Reads

If you've managed to stay on schedule with the GBC, you should have recently finished Stones for Ibarra and should be working your way down into Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar.  Morning Edition recently featured Mr. Tobar here as part of the Morning Edition Reads book club (which likely differs from ours in the reading water category).  Nashville's own Ann Patchett selected this title as the club's first read.  I'm looking forward to venturing in.

Hope you had a good weekend and happy reading.

Dans ses mots

Normally, I'd send a note to GBC C@r0le King (not the singer) to ask her permission to re-quote but I've had a glass of reading water and found her description of the last GBC Meet impossible to resist.  Names have been edited for privacy but otherwise the text is hers...beautiful and leaving me homesick for book club and Paris in a short dress and high heels:

Edith Piaf was singing as we entered. The table was already laid, a pile of fresh spinach on each place, and then an array of dishes kept appearing — quartered tomatoes, sliced boiled eggs, goat cheese, tuna, potatoes and so much more — to be combined into a delicious, divine Nicoise. The wine flowed freely. That E--, she sure knows how to set the scene, doesn’t she?

And so began our evening "inside a pearl," picking over Edmund White’s gossipy memoir of his years in Paris. Some liked it; others found his descriptions a bit much, as in TMI (too much information!). But it was a lively discussion over many glasses of wine. (K-- and I thank you, M--, for bring the German with you. We’d like to meet that one again!)

And you know how we are, we even took the conversation on a tangent or two (or 3 or 4). We missed those of you who couldn’t make it and look forward to seeing you next month. Is this when we are finally discussing The Goldfinch? Get ready for a really good discussion, folks. I made notes (complete with page numbers on the back of the VISA bill envelope) and I know many of you have done the same, so it should be a rousing evening of opinions, insights, confessions and book-loving nerdiness as only the GBC can bring!

So let me end with dessert since E-- sent us on our way with such sweet remembrances…

Picture a decadent flourless chocolate torte. With your choice (try them all!) of fragrant strawberries, vanilla ice cream, juicy tart cherries and blueberries. Am I remembering this right, fellow bookies?* Did I miss anything? It was a lovely, lovely evening… a trip courtesy of the book and our generous, thoughtful hostess.

Thank you, E--, for filling our souls.

*This is how I think of us. Sort of like Trekkies, but we don’t do costumes. (Except, of course, when the occasion calls for Black Tie and the accessories are just too tempting to resist.)

It's a Buoy!

Just a reminder about our August book if you're reading along at home: Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris by Edmund White.  My pearl from the day was an Ironman athlete and former instructor in the next swim lane who looked at me and said, "I didn't know you were swimming now!"

Here's to keeping this week afloat and to Paris in the summer.

Two Ferns

The Kindle App is brilliant for the last minute flight with hardly any time to pack.  This scenario resulted in my starting We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Fowler.  I'm a few months later than the GBC with this one and am probably the only reader in the group who didn't guess where the plot was headed with Fern.  I'm just over the halfway mark and wondering what's happened to Lowell.  (Don't tell me.)

Since starting the book, I've also not been able to shake the title Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.  It's another book turned movie and I think one of the earliest titles to make me cry from reading (and watching the film).

Grace Land

Walking in Memphis
June 2014

Summer in the south:  heat, the occasional lethargy, and the season I will add ice to beverages which include tonic.  The June book club was an intimate gathering and by all accounts, delightful.  As I'm enjoying breakfast for dinner with a side of reading water, the GBC meal of  roast chicken, stuffed eggs, and the assorted salads is awakening my appetite.  The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida was the book of the month and GBC P@1ge reports an interesting discussion.  The Beekeeper's Apprentice is next up for July.  

Hope you have great weekends ahead and find ways to escape the heat.  I recommend running through the fountains.

Starlight, Star Bright

A nod to anyone who has shared reading water tonight and discussed books, life, poetry, the Lakers or just looked up at the sky and been mesmerized for a few short moments.  I am thankful that our journeys have overlapped.

Raindrops on Windowsills and Water in Glasses

Yesterday was a gloriously rainy day.  The early morning training was canceled so I could sleep in a few more hours and then visit the gym late.  I could have tea AND coffee and catch up on correspondence.  I could finish errands in the afternoon and then sit quietly on the sofa with a glass of reading water and finish The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.  It was a good day.

My review of the novel will have to wait since it's an upcoming August GBC read and I'm a believer in "no spoilers".  I do feel after having finished it though that I should revisit parts of the beginning as there are a few threads which still are not yet clear.

A reminder to sprint to the finish for the May reads: your choice of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen or Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James.

Queue for a Read

I'm starting to build my book list for spring and need to catch up on the GBC reads in addition to a few that I've been gifted.  Here's the latest queue in case you've missed it:

APR: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron

MAY: Your choice of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen or Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James

JUN: The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida (translated by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell)

JUL: The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

AUG: The Goldfinch (start early, it's a big book!) by Donna Tartt

Have a great week!

Swing Spring

I'm slowly making it through The Wolf and anticipate the story is soon approaching its end as the arrests have begun.  

We're only just over a week or so away from the March GBC and Nashville city-wide read We are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Fowler.  I know GBC P@1ge is making good progress and I hope to manage a good chunk after all the indictments are handed out above.  

My current challenge is the weather.  These warm days with hints of spring have me wanting to run or bike and sit in the backyard with a warm* G&T wondering how exactly I could engineer a hammock.  

Hope you have a great week ahead!  

*Time to start making ice again.

Two Words

It was a big treat to see the GBC grouping this weekend and catch up on life over a bit of reading water.  I was very fortunate to see a number of dear friends, one of which managed to succinctly create a story-telling image with the art of the two-word phrase.  Nod to KR for inspiring this little arrangement.

Pinewood
Business Plans
Cheese Curds
Snowy Lands

Outside painting
Housing sales
Machu Picchu
Haircut tales.

Interstate blanket
Toasts galore
Big hugs
Wine Store.

Honey Coffee
Presents Exchanged.
Big discussions
Life rearrange.

Pizza toss
Dinner party
Running hugs
All hearty.

des bérets, s'il vous plaît

With a space-time continuum challenge each month, I look forward to the meeting recap.  GBC Carole (Not the Singer) had a great summary of this month's meet, and with her permission I wanted to include it for you.  [A few names and two sentences have been omitted for the privacy of the attendees.]

What a chummy, cozy evening we had on Tuesday! Book club is always such a warm, welcoming place, but even more so when it’s so chilly outside. Thank you, Nancy and Susan S., for a repast worthy of that ultimate Francophile, Julia C.  We filled our bellies with creamy cheeses and fresh radishes, an elegant salad, crusty bread, to-die-for boeuf bourguignon. The wine was free-flowing (much of it French, thanks to Marcia’s suggestion) and there was plenty of book discussion (leading to many a tangent… a parallel perhaps to Ernest and Hadley’s peripatetic lifestyle?)

Dessert was tempting in triplicate. Why have just one when you could indulge in a fruit tart piled high with a kaleidoscope of colorful berries, a flourless (but decadent nonetheless) chocolate cake and a lemony tart, too!

Bill arrived wearing a beret (but, of course!) and Marcia reported that many of cafes, clubs and hotels mentioned in The Paris Wife were still standing, still operating today.

Love Hemingway or not, he always makes for great discussion. There’s Hemingway the author. Hemingway the not-so-great husband. Hemingway the legend. The Paris Wife did not disappoint, except maybe the cover art. Hadley may not have been the most stylish woman on the left bank but she definitely did not wear shoulder pads in the early twenties. (And the Germantown “Ain’t We Got Fun” Book Club knows its 20’s!)

Oh, and several members did indeed dance with the green fairy at the after-party. The Absinthe After-Party. (See what happens when you put your coat on and skedaddle on home too early?) ’m not sure there were any hallucinations going on, but as a completely sober bystander I saw things even Toulouse-Lautrec couldn’t dream up. Or get out of my head. (OMG, the faces!) Anyway, Hem said it was good.

Those that couldn’t make it… we missed you! Hope to see you in the flesh next month at my house. Now bundle up with a good book, mes amies/copains and stay warm!

Easy Go-ing

The beautiful thing about prepping your evening meals on the weekend and having early morning workouts, is the time after sunset can be completely devoted to reading.  You can sit on the sofa with your cup of tea while the wind bites and savor a few hours of quiet nothing.  It's a rather decadent start to the year.  Last night, I was determined to finish GG (which means I didn't quite my A game with my frozen garage door this morning but hey, there are always trade-offs).  

If you've ever felt a little twinge of regret about your selection of partners for a relationship, Gone Girl is a book for you.  You will no longer think twice about anyone who has earned a nickname gem.  You know you dodged a bullet with the Valentine's Day Crazy Cat Gun Guy but there were some figurative ones as well. The Werewolf, The Diva, The Rose Cop, and the Tropicana Screamer?  All relatively tame, when you're standing side by side with Amy and Nick.  Be grateful.  [Also, be glad that you vetted a few of these out while you still had your brick cell phone whose number you left behind just after the guy with a four word, eleven syllable name (who still made you reference the III).]

There were two noticeable shifts in the books; the first, about midway through, was my tipping point to finish.  I wanted to know what happened.  Thanks to all of you at the GBC who didn't give me any spoilers as I was six months behind you from last July's selection.  (I may however call you to review the ending!)  I think this book fits a summer read, a winter break, or a spring break read nicely.  Read it in chunks and take a big sigh of relief at your life choices.

We're List-ening

If you are looking for downloads, library lends or through your friends' dog-eared copies for your next read, join the GBC with our upcoming list.  Thankfully I'm one ahead thanks to Ms. Patchett.

• December: Favorite poem or excerpt from a favorite book or story to share
• January: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
• February: The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett
• March: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (the Nashville Citywide read selection!)
• April: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
• May: Your choice of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen or Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James
• June: The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida (translated by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell)

I'd also recommend This Book is Full of Spiders by David Wong though perhaps not while moving into a place that was previously vacant and that has, well, a few spiders.

To Fit the Bill

GBC P@1ge always has the most enticing summaries of book club so I've again used her words below.  I wish I could have been there on the porch.  I've overdue a seat between a couple of you.

It may have been the last al fresco dining opportunity for several months, so our host did good by us and got us outside for a lovely, late spring dinner (after light snacks around the kitchen island of course--it wouldn't be book club at Bill's without that!). As always, Bill prepared an incredible dinner with Tuscan chicken, saffron rice, ratatouille, Rugby salad and a green salad. Topping it all off for dessert--a gelatin salad. Light. Refreshing. Fun.

Now, of course, those words describe dinner, but not The Roundhouse. While the book was well liked and elicited a lively discussion, and the author did insert moments of great levity, one can't describe the book as "light". It was a great coming-of-age/crime novel that also educated us on some Native American history and folklore. I'm happy to pass my copy along to anyone who didn't get a chance to read but wants to.

Summer and higher temperatures are right around the corner, so it's a good time to find a shady spot outside or a comfy chair inside with the air conditioning and read our upcoming selections.

UPCOMING SELECTIONS:

July 16: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 

August 20: YOUR CHOICE A BOOK BY DONNA LEON: some of her titles include Friends in High Places; Fatal Remedies; or Willful Behavior

September 17: A Summons To Memphis by Peter Taylor

October 15: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

November 19: The Price of Justice

The Cool Club

By GBC P@1ge's account, it was another fun meeting to discuss The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham.   A big yard, shade trees, a porch, and reading water sounds pretty amazing right now.

Hope all have a great end of week!

Next up for May: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien