Sunday, November 9, 2008

Home

It was great to see everyone at BC last week--it was a lot of fun to have everyone together again! All of us, including O.T., enjoyed the dates stuffed with cheese and drizzled with honey. After which we feasted on rack of lamb, roasted brussel sprouts and truffled mashed potatoes (hello fall) and Coldstone Creamery ice cream cake. Everything was delish!



A great turnout, a great meal, and a book that generally was liked by everyone--this night was going pretty well so far. Recall that Home had been feilded by Red's muse, J. Lee (have we mentioned she's an English professor?). As would be expected, the recommendation was a good one and the book scored about a 7 on average. But also as would be expected, it was not easy reading and despite liking the story, several people just couldn't make it though. The author's prose was beautiful but complicated and difficult to read at times, with the result that you could get stuck on a sentence or paragraph and read and re-read it several times without being able to get past. El Jefe also can't seem to get past the mental roadblock of what we discussed in relation to the book. We said Jack needed to stop beating himself up over his past, he was married to a black woman who came back to try and find him, and we revealed what happened at the end of the book. But El Jefe honestly cannot recap a single other thing we said about the book. Clearly, despite the fact that El Jefe never had that cocktail she wanted, her mind was elsewhere. Hmmm, now why would that have been the case?

So, to circle back to the point about the night going well so far, the next day things got even better. That book club will always stand out as the last day of an old era, the day before Obama's election became a reality. El Jefe has a visual image of us all sitting around the dining room table discussing the election and the propositions. As sure as we were that he was going to win, it still was remarkable and momentous when it actually happened. So, we can add history-making election to the long list of things this Book Club has experienced together. A lot has changed since 2002!

Our 6th anniversary holiday book club is coming up on Wed., Dec. 3. The Highlander is hosting, and since she ducked out early it seems like she didn't need volunteers...? Just kidding, please send us designated tasks. Just don't assign the Doctor or Blondie salad. ;)

The January book is Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson.