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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

ROOM author Emma Donoghue's comments

ROOM author, Emma Donoghue, commented on our review and photographs of her novel, as follows:

utterly fascinating! I know book clubs who have held their meeting in a taped-off 11-by-11-foot space, but none who have actually recreated Room or dramatised bits of it like you guys... Thanks so much for letting me know, and for engaging so passionately with Jack and Ma's story!
best wishes
Emma

www.emmadonoghue.com

Monday, April 18, 2011

APRIL 2011 BOOKERS MINUTES ROOM by Emma Donoghue

                    ROOM by Emma Donoghue

Are we not all prisoners in some sense?  Whether prejudices, emotional baggage, physical challenges, identity crisis, a spiritual search...An open mind, an open heart, and a willingness to recognize our boundaries are the keys to unlocking the deadbolt that is keeping us inside ourselves.

106 St. Annes Drive, Mabank, Texas is ROOM today for the regular meeting of Bookers.  As 36 members arrived, flashing lights from a security vehicle blocked the escape of a pickup truck parked in the driveway.  In the bed of the truck, a five-year old child pretending to be dead is rolled up in a rug, his long braid the only thing visible out of one end.  He was on his way to the freedom he had never experienced and to save his Ma, for the second time in his young life.  The stage was set for the two-act play presented by MN and JoDee in review of this month’s selection.
                                                                       ACT I

The group seated in MN’s living room overhears a conversation between a visibly shaken JoDee and MN.  They are discussing a story from Austria several years ago where a father confessed to kidnapping and incest of his eighteen-year old daughter.  He kept her in a windowless 860 square foot cellar for twenty-four years, fathered seven children, and even admitted to burning one of them in the building’s furnace when the baby died.  And in the US, eleven year old Jaycee Dugard was forced into a car on her way to school and for eighteen years lived in her kidnapper’s backyard with her two children, the first born when she was only fourteen.  Both cases are upsetting, but JoDee has found an article in paper that is so disturbing she asks MN to put her errands on hold and let her read it to her:

             HOPE FOR BONSAI BOY


“He is ‘Miracle Jack’ to the staff at the exclusive Cumberland Clinic, who has already lost their hearts to the pint-sized hero who awakened Saturday night to a brave new world.  The haunting, longhaired Little Prince is the product of his beautiful young mother’s serial abuse at the hands of the Garden-shed Ogre (captured by State troopers in a dramatic standoff Sunday at 2:00 AM.)  He was born in captivity and for five years lived, sealed up in an 11x11 foot rotting cork-lined dungeon.  The only world he knew was what was inside this 121 square feet until he escaped and led the authorities to where his mother was being held.  The experts cannot yet say what kind or degree of long-term developmental retardation he will suffer, but for now, this little boy, with his unblemished view of the world, seems to be feeling his way through with a mixture of fear, awe, and youthful curiosity.  Our exclusive interview with both the mother and son tells a harrowing story of kidnap, rape, isolation, survival, and the ferocity of a mother’s love.  In exchange for their story, we have agreed to an undisclosed sum of money to be set aside in a college trust fund for Jack.  It all began seven years ago when a young college student was kidnapped from her campus…”

MN interrupts to ask why they call him bonsai boy to whom JoDee replies, “I guess it’s because a bonsai is a tiny tree that is kept indoors in pots and cut daily so it will stay all curled up….like Jack.  All these cases are sickening, but this one is too close to home for me because of my little grandsons.  Why does it seem so easy to victimize the innocent?  Someone should write a book!”
ACT II

The second act begins with everyone being escorted out through the front door.  The garage door is opened and when each member is seated, the walls of ROOM are removed to reveal a recreation of the space in which Ma and Jack resided.  JoDee, standing in the middle of this space, leads the review as follows:

                                                            In My Words:
“Well, someone did write a book – unfortunately, it wasn’t me…but Irish author Emma
Donoghue.  Admittedly, she based ROOM, ‘loosely,’ in her words, on the Austrian case of Joseph Fritzl and his daughter, Elizabeth.  A published author (this is her 7th) she has written historical fiction novels, short stories, fairy tales, contemporary fiction, stage plays for radio and screen in addition to editing anthologies of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.  She says this one is the least factual of anything she has written, although it remains permanently linked to the notorious crimes of Fritzl.  Her goal was to focus on freedom versus imprisonment and deliberately kept the captor’s story at arm’s length, as Ma did in ROOM.  ‘I wanted them to enter into the magic kingdom Jack and Ma manage to create in the middle of the underworld…I wanted this to be Jack’s story of childhood.’  By successfully capturing kid-speak she was able to show us how a child views the world and by writing on several levels, she challenged us to decide what the book was about – an imprisoned boy, a story of kidnapping, or simply a celebration of motherhood?  ROOM has garnered unprecedented attention, of which she is overjoyed, however she describes its’ success like ‘when you get a new haircut and suddenly all your friends are going…Oh I am so relieved you’ve got this haircut…it is ten times better than your hideous hair…it’s a compliment, but you are mildly insulted that everyone hated your previous haircut.’  She is currently writing the film script for ROOM and beginning her next novel, set in San Francisco in the 1870’s.”

“Each time I read this book.  I closed my eyes trying to visualize this room.  In my mind I would take 3-1/2 giant steps north, south, east and west making a square...the perimeter of the area…then I added a bed, dresser, wardrobe, clothes horse, stove, refrigerator, bathtub, toilet, sink and mirror, a table with two folding chairs, a lamp, a rocker, a shelf, a TV with rabbit ears, and an area rug.  The only natural light source – a skylight, and the only portal to the outside – a heavy-metal-keyed-security door.  Add a teenager kidnapped, abused, and a mother all before her 22nd birthday – and you have this…an 11x11 dungeon – home to Jack, prison to his Ma.  By recreating the room, we wanted to give you have a birds-eye view of the reality of their existence.  As we walk through the story, please focus on the power of love – what a young mother did for her son.”

“As disturbing as the horrific circumstances of kidnapping and imprisonment inflicted upon a young girl are, this book transcends a tale of abuse, and centers on survival, the importance of freedom, strength of love in face of adversity, and fierce maternal instincts.  It shows us that you really don’t ever want to cross hairs with Mama Bear when it comes to her cubs.  ROOM is described as a ‘claustrophobic read in that you feel as though you are gasping for freedom.’  We invariably ask what makes a particular book a Bookers’ book.  The benchmarks are generally the same… is it well written, are the characters developed enough to make you have an opinion about them, and does the story have substance and therefore generates discussion.  Yes, Yes, and Yes.  However, this book, not unlike Little Bee, took an extremely difficult storyline and put it in the hands of an innocent five-year old, which made it not a victim’s story, but a testament to the bonds between a mother and child.  With the combination of pureness and wisdom tied together with a little humor, we saw the world through the eyes of someone who has never known freedom.  This is why it works and why it took hold of me from the first page and hasn’t released me yet.”

“Everything in ROOM is normal to Jack, even Old Nick.  He doesn’t particularly like him, but not any more
or less than his distaste for broccoli or green beans.  Ma created a world for Jack in which only what was inside ROOM was real…anything outside was outer space, everything on television was nothing more than other planets, colors, and pretend people.  She did this because she couldn’t tell him there was a whole fun world out there, but he couldn’t be in it.  For two years, she tried desperately to free herself from her kidnapper and witnessed first-hand how ill or evil he was as he stood by and did nothing while her newborn daughter suffocated as the umbilical cord strangled the life from her.  Jack saved Ma’s life when he was born and she was determined to keep him out of harm’s way even if it meant pacifying Old Nick to insure his safety.  Jack was not a by-product of anything more than Old Nick’s sperm finding Ma’s egg – he was the biological donor – but never his father.  We often talk of walking in other’s shoes before we pass judgment on their actions.  This story clearly addresses those issues and opens up discussion for – What would you do?”

“We meet Jack on the dawn of his fifth birthday.  As he tells us about a normal day in their lives, we realize the only freedom they enjoy is in the company of each other.  We have to applaud this young mother’s imagination, perseverance, sacrifices, and faith.  Jack says ‘we have a thousand things to do every day.’  She developed a daily routine just like any ‘outside’ normal young family.  Rise and shine, breakfast, brush teeth, take vitamins, get dressed for the day, except they had nowhere to go.  Mondays were laundry days, Tuesday a cleaning day, Wednesday they washed their hair, Fridays more cleaning, flipping the mattress, and making a grocery list.  She could have relied heavily on TV to fill their days, but instead she used what was available to emulate what he might be doing if not confined to this room, although Jack was allowed to watch his favorite Dora The Explorer and an occasional other show.  Instead of Lego’s, Lincoln logs, paints, play dough, musical instruments, and most other typical toys, Jack was just as happy with his homemade versions – a fort made out of empty cans and vitamin bottles, a maze made from toilet roll holders taped together, a grocery bag filled with crumpled paper used as a bowling ball, beet juice for paint, and vocabulary lessons to practice taken from words on milk cartons.  The orchestra fired up as they used everything imaginable to bang out musical tones – the table, legs of the bed, lid of the trash can, and his favorite, Twang, made out of an empty cereal box covered with catalogue pictures and tied in the middle with three rubber bands.  Each had a few books to read.  Jack had My Big Book of Nursery Rhymes with Alice in Wonderland, Dylan the Digger, The Runaway Bunny, and Pop-Up Airport.  Ma’s library consisted of The Shack, Twilight, The Guardian, Bittersweet Love, The DaVinci Code. Prints from Monet, and Picasso from oatmeal boxes hung side-by-side Jack’s octopus painting with his favorite from Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and John The Baptist. In his own words, ‘Baby Jesus is playing with John The Baptist, his friend and big cousin…Mary’s there too cuddled in her Ma’s lap…and what started Baby Jesus growing in Mary’s tummy was a really cool angel with feathers zoomed down…and when Baby Jesus popped out of her vagina on Christmas Day, she put him in the manger but not for the cows to chew, only to warm him up with their blowing because he was magic.’  Just as Jack saw ‘God’s face through the skylight every day,’ he viewed devotion in the faces of a mother and child in this painting.  They said the ‘daily bread prayer’ and the ‘shepherd’s prayer about green pastures’ before each meal.  Each day was timed so Jack would be hidden away in wardrobe by 9:00 PM in case Old Nick came.  If they were lucky enough not to hear the beep, beep of the security door, Jack would crawl into Ma’s bed and she would begin switching the lamp off and on in hopes of someone seeing her SOS call for help.  Except for the weekends, they would climb on the table to be closer to the skylight, and do ‘scream,’ even though they knew the room was soundproofed and no one could hear their cries.  With few variations, this routine repeated itself during their 1,825 days of hopelessness.”

“Ma’s desperation and Jack’s curiosity was building and she knew this room could not contain them any longer, so she devised a plan to escape.  This sequence was probably the most harrowing part of the book as it detailed their path to freedom.  When the doors finally opened, each faced a new world.  Jack’s, of course, was very confusing as suddenly everything he knew to be true was not…there were other people in the world…outside was more than a dream sequence.  He had never talked with anyone except Ma, and now he was conversing with strangers and his world had expanded to include grandparents, an aunt, uncle, and a cousin.  Vending machines were spaceships with bags of chips and chocolates locked up inside like a jail, he was afraid the blue dinner plates were going to bleed color onto his food, and the automatic toilet flushers was met with distrust; ‘I don’t like a clever toilet looking at our butts,’ he said.  He was like a newborn despite his remarkably accelerated literacy.”

“Ma faced her own struggles to reacquaint herself to the world she was taken from seven years ago.  Her journey was both joyful and frightening as she became aware of the changes that had occurred during her absence.  Her individual freedom was tied to Jack’s dependency and it proved a difficult transition for her to balance the two.  On one hand, she felt a strong need to have some time to herself.  It was finally over…she had raised her son, kept him safe, and engineered freedom for them both.  Now what?  She was forced to defend how she raised Jack from confining his world to just the room, to breast-feeding, to questions about whether or not she ever considered asking her captor to take Jack away so he could have a normal life.  She was faced with her own freedom and trying to balance this against separation from Jack.  She was seen as a beacon of hope but she says ‘all I did was survive and did a pretty good job of raising Jack...we are not the only ones who ever lived through something terrible.’  As overwhelmed as Jack was with his new world, Ma finally let her guard down…she needed to rest…to heal…to let someone else take the responsibilities for just a little while.  She was an ‘inner Jack trapped in her own personal room.’  Her overdose, whether accidental or not, highlighted how strength can crumble when it is not necessary anymore.  Jack thought she was just too tired to play any longer and was in a hurry to get to heaven, but wondered, ‘Why didn’t she wait for me?’”

“Jack asks to go back to Room, just one more time and although Ma hesitated, she knows in order to move forward you have to close the door on the past.  Jack doesn’t believe this is the same place…it is smaller, and emptier, and it smells.  He says, ‘I guess this was Room at one time, but not anymore and asks:  ‘Can we say goodnight when it’s not night,” to which Ma answers, ‘I think it would be good-bye.’  Jack finds the picture Ma drew for his birthday still hanging in Wardrobe and as he zipped it into his jacket he proceeds to slam the door on his old world…good-bye wall, good-bye floor, good-bye roof, good-bye skylight, good-bye room.”

“GOOD-BYE BONSAI BOY….Night night, sleep tight, don’t let the bugs bite.”

MN and I want to thank each of you for enthusiastically embracing ROOM and allowing us to share our thoughts on this book.  You give us the avenue to do what is so close to our hearts and your support and appreciation is why, for us, every Bookers’ gathering is a special occasion!

JoDee

                                                On The Business Side:

Janet Noblitt’s son, Mark, and granddaughter, Sarah wrote a sincere note of appreciation to Bookers for our generosity in contributing to Sarah’s college fund.  Hopefully within the tragedy of her mother’s passing, the dream of going to college will provide the light to guide Sarah through the darkness.  Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the family.

Incoming PWC President, Marlene Ungarean, asked MN & I to continue with Bookers and we have accepted to lead our group into their eighth season beginning in September.  Time flies when you are having a good time!

The Tyler Community Band with our own Leslie Mullins will perform a concert on Tuesday, April 19th, 7:30 PM at the UT Cowan Center in Tyler.  Admission is free and the doors open at 7:00 PM.  If you need directions, please contact Leslie at 903-451-3951 or lesliermullins@msn.com.

Jean Alexander, at home and recovering from knee replacement surgery sent her love saying she really wanted to be with us today, as she loved this book.  Jean, we missed you and hope for a speedy recovery.  Mind your physical therapist…that’s from all of your “Bookers’mothers.” 

COLOR CODING SYSTEM:

WHITE:                        Light read
PINK:                           Moderately challenging
RED:                             Challenging

May 10th:                     4th annual Wine and Cheese Evening Meeting
                                    WHITE or RED or PINK (wine, that is…your choice)
                                    1st annual “Book Share & Chat”
                                    6:00 PM @ the home of Melanie Prebis
            Pick one of your favorite books; give a brief synopsis
                        and offer to share your copy
Bonnie Magee, food czar.  Please contact her directly @ bonniemagee@embarqmail.com to sign up to bring food
                       

June 14th:                      Bonus Summer meeting
                                    Book: TBA
                                    Home: TBA
                                    Reviewer: TBA

July/August:                  Summer Break
                                    Summer Read TBA

September 13th:     8th year of Bookers resumes

Our heartfelt appreciation goes to all of those who made ROOM a reality for us.  It could not have been done without you and we appreciate your willingness to indulge our  “craziness.”

Elaine Bownes, our honorary Booker, who wore too many hats to mention each one
Mickey Neathery, for his cameo role and listening to ROOM details for several months
Mike Stanky, for desperately trying to understand what in the world we were doing
Antiques on Royall for loaning Jack’s “Wardrobe”
The Pinnacle Club for the security truck and “wall” panels
Paula, the ironing lady, for not throwing away the bathtub before MN could rescue it
The unidentified lady, whose toilet was there for the taking
Kim Hand, for Jack’s clothing
Gayle Robinson for loaning us The Da Vinci Code
Kathy Mueller for her hostess skills and chairs 
Cherry Fugitt and Charlotte Pechacek for their chairs

Thanks to all…happy reading!
JoDee

MARCH 2011 BOOKERS MINUTES - Still Alice by Lisa Genova

 “Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things.”
                       Cicero

32 met at the home of Jane Freer to discuss this month’s selection, Still Alice, a debut novel by Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph.D in neuroscience from Harvard and is the online columnist for the National Alzheimer’s Association.  March 1st was a significant day on several levels including the start of the rebuilding process of MN’s Alabama beach house, the return of tee markers and flags to the Pinnacle golf course, and last, but not least, Leslie Mullins’ birthday!  We also offered our condolences to Madelyn Chubb on the loss of her sister, and gave the floor to Janet Noblitt, who thanked everyone for their love and support during her daughter-in-law’s battle with cancer and for our generosity in contributing to her granddaughter’s college scholarship fund.  We welcomed new members, Janet Erwin and Karen Fernald and were delighted to see Linda Hoff, Kathy Mueller, Donna Walter, Judy Lee, and Ann Hays back at Bookers…you have been missed!

We are grateful to Jane Freer for suggesting an honor table paying tribute to loved ones who have suffered from Alzheimer’s.  Jane’s grandmother’s white crocheted tablecloth covered with photos, journals, and articles told the story of adoration blended with heartbreak.  Camellias, the petals reflecting the spirit of a lady…the stem, the strength of a man, were scattered among the faces alongside a vase of white roses, the sign of honor and spiritual love.  The morning got off to an emotional start as we remembered:
Cherry’s father                                 WILLIAM MAURICE HOLLON
Jane’s mother                                   RUTH CLINE           
MN’s mother                                    AGNES SPAFFORD
Bonnie’s father                                 GEORGE PATON
Janet Noblitt’s father                       OBIE HERL
Marlene’s father                              BILLY HIGDON
Barbara Creach’s mother                LUCILLE BARRETT    
Pam Davis’ mother                          MILDRED WALTER
Donna Walter’s mother-in-law        MILDRED WALTER

Melanie Prebis’ mother-in-law        AGNES PREBIS

PWC Member                                   BJ VOLLMER
Leslie Mullins' close friend              MARGIT NILSSEN
Daryl Daniels' close friend               DR. DAVID HILDEBRAND

This is one of those selections that met the criteria for a Bookers’ book, not for the literary value, but for the story it tells and its’ informational message that encourages a proactive approach to early on-set Alzheimer’s.  Our thanks to Kim Hand for convincing us we must address this issue and for taking on the challenge of reviewing the book.  Great job of summarizing the story, providing the documentation for testing and knowing the signs of the disease (copies attached.)  Additional information is available on the web site: http://www.alz.org/ including seventeen slides detailing what the brain is doing during the various stages of this disease.

 Although a work of fiction, the author uses her expertise to accurately write of the “white emptiness” created by Alzheimer’s.  Fifty-year old Dr. Alice Howland is a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard, a world-renowned expert in linguistics whose job it was to “understand the mind, to know the mechanisms driving human behavior and language, emotion and appetite.”  She is the wife of a cancer cell biologist, and the mother of three grown children and through her voice, the symptoms, treatments, consequences, frustrations, and rapid decline over a two-year period are painstakingly vivid from her point of view.  Genova not only chronicles Alice’s experiences, but also shows how differently the family reacts and handles the diagnosis. 

In the beginning, Alice made excuses for her behavior…multitasking, being too busy, age, and menopause, but as the memory disturbances became more frequent, she began the diagnostic process.  Her MRI showed no abnormalities, no cerebral vascular disease, no evidence of stroke, no hydrocephalus or masses – her blood work and lumbar puncture were negative, no HIV, no cancer, vitamin deficiency, mitochondrial disease or other rare conditions – and her recent memory impairment was out of proportion with her age.  She had early on-set Alzheimer’s disease.  It has a stronger genetic linkage and manifests itself much earlier and her children have a 50% chance of inheriting the mutation, which has a 100% chance of causing the disease. 

 Most of us were critical of how Alice’s husband, John, handled the news, but as quick we were to judge, we were reminded that he too “lost his future.”  Perhaps the only way he could deal with that was to throw himself into his work and obsession on finding an acceptable treatment and/or cure for “his Alice’s Alzheimer’s.”  A pre-symptomatic test is available for early on-set…if you were one of the children, would you want to know?  The eldest daughter, Anna, and her husband were trying to have a child…she tested positive.  The middle child, Tom, was negative, and the youngest, Lydia, opted not to know.  Alice said she would rather have cancer than this disease because those with cancer could expect community support whereas she “expected to be an outcast…even the well-intentioned and educated tended to keep a fearful distance from the mentally ill.”  Alice wanted to “live to hold her grandbaby, to see Lydia act in something she was proud of, to see Tom fall in love, to have one more sabbatical year with John, to read every book she could before she could no longer read…to have more sunny seventy-degree days and ice cream cones, and when the burden of the disease exceeded the pleasure of that ice cream, she wanted to die.”

The group shared a part of their lives with us.  We walked in each other’s shoes with both heartache and humor and always with love and respect for the human spirit.  We learned about patience, about placing blame and judging too quickly, about regretting not recognizing the frustrations that ruled the simplest tasks of their daily lives and sorrow for not dealing with the situation with more empathy.  This novel could be re-titled, Still William, Still Ruth, Still Agnes, Still George, Still Obie, Still Billy, Still Lucille, Still Mildred, Still Agnes, Still BJ, Still Margit, or Still David as each would most likely echo Alice’s message as she addressed the Dementia Care Conference:

“We are not utterly incompetent, we are not without language or opinions, yet we are not competent enough to be trusted with any of the demands of our former lives – we are neither here or there – like some crazy Dr. Seuss character in a bizarre land – it is a very lonely and frustrating place to be.  I’m losing my yesterdays – I might guess a few things…I’m an excellent guesser… but I have no control over which memories I keep and which ones I lose.  I fear tomorrow…I am a wife, a mother, a friend, soon to be grandmother…I still feel, understand and am worthy of love and joy in those relationships, and am still an active part of society although my brain no longer works.  I use my ears for unconditional listening, my shoulders for crying on, my arms for hugging others with dementia.  I am not someone dying; I am someone living with Alzheimer’s.  Don’t write us off.  Look directly in the eye, talk directly to us, don’t panic or take it personally if we make mistakes, misplace things, forget your names.  Empower us, not limit us…work with us, help us develop tools to function around our memory loss, language, and cognition.  If my yesterdays are disappearing and my tomorrows are uncertain, what do I live for…each day, each moment.”

In the lighter moments we are hear Cherry’s Dad telling her to “Dance to Life.”  Bonnie’s instructing her to “Buy the boys in the band a drink.”  We are told of Barbara’s Mom eating the “panhandle” of a Texas Independence Day cake, Pam’s announcing she was having her period, and MN’s Mom stating her memory was “just fine, but her husband’s was horrible.”  We know that everyone traveled a similar road but no one lacked the tender care that accompanied the long journey.  They were loved and on some level, they knew it.

       Recommended Reading List:
We always embrace suggestions for extra reading.  Lee Durso shared Labor Day by Joyce Maynard.  It is written through the eyes of a 13-year old boy living with his long-divorced mother and deals with the range of emotions and circumstances that go along with adolescence.  MN & I both read it and liked it…very interesting story.

 We love it when our men care about books enough to recommend their favorites as John Magee did.  He shared his passion for historical novels by suggesting the Aubrey/Maturin series of naval adventure novels about an English sea captain in the Royal Navy and a physician who sails with him during the Napoleonic wars.  The author, Patrick O’Brian, has been compared to Jane Austen and Homer (pretty good company) and this series includes twenty novels listed in order as follows and are available in paperback at Half Price Books among other places.
Master and Commander  
Post Captain
H.M.S. Surprise
The Mauritius Command
Desolation Island
The Fortune of War
The Surgeon's Mate
The Ionian Mission
Treason's Harbour
The Far Side of the World
The Reverse of the Medal
The Letter of Marque
The Thirteen Gun Salute
The Nutmeg of Consolation

The Truelove

The Wine-dark Sea
The Commodore
The Yellow Admiral
The Hundred Days

Blue at the Mizzen


Bonnie mentioned The Invisible Wall: The Mystery of the Germans and the Jews by Michael Blumenthal, which Aulsine’s other book club is reading, as a possible choice for anyone wanting to hear the story from another point of view.
 
                                                               On the business side:
Leslie read an update on movie version of Water for Elephants scheduled for release on April 15th starring Reese Witherspoon and Hal Holbrook.

COLOR CODING SYSTEM:

WHITE:                        Light read
PINK:                           Moderately challenging
RED:                             Challenging

April 12th:                     Room by Emma Donoghue
                                    PINK
                                    Recommended by MN & JoDee
                                    Home of MN Stanky.
                                    Reviewers: MN & JoDee

May 10th:                     4th annual Wine and Cheese Evening Meeting
                                    WHITE or RED or PINK (wine, that is…your choice)
                                    1st annual “Book Share & Chat”
                                    6:00 PM @ the home of Melanie Prebis
            Pick one of your favorite books; give a brief synopsis
                        and offer to share your copy
                                    Bonnie Magee, food czar.  Please contact her directly to sign up
                                                to bring something.

June 14th:                      Summer meeting added
                                    Book: TBA
                                    Home: TBA
                                    Reviewer: TBA

July/August:                  Summer Break
                                    Summer Read TBA

September 13th:            Bookers resumes

We assume our loved ones will remain indelible canvases protected within the layers of our memories.  Sadly, there might be a time when we stare into the hollow eyes of the person who gave us life and we must face the reality that they are seeing a stranger with a kind face…nothing more.  Cherish your time together.

Happy Reading,
JoDee