Loneliness deepens when the only comfort
you’re afforded is a gentle breeze through an open window in spring after a
cold dark winter….then something happens that makes you want to shout over the
rooftops rather than whisper under the blankets….
24 Bookers visited the joyful home of Jean
Alexander for an Arbor Island Christmas, toasting the season with edibles,
drinkables, friends, and devotees of the written word. Many thanks to Bonnie
Magee for coordinating the menu and to those who answered the call for food and
beverages; to the elves that kept the spirits flowing; and to Lee Alexander and
Patsy Dehn for paving the way for our presentation about two widows fighting
loneliness and finding a way to fill the void.
New member, Sheri Green, visited for the
first time and we hope to see more of her in the future. Also, we all delighted
in our special guests making a return appearance, Penny Barshop and Gloria Tucker.
Welcome!!
Cherry Fugitt shared the following message
encapsulating the fiber of our community, and we would like to dedicate it to
those in need of reassurances that you and your families are in our thoughts
and prayers and in particular, today as David Barrett, husband of Gloria and
brother to Barbara Creach undergoes major surgery.
“Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble
remembering how to fly.”
After hanging up his valet hat Lee
Alexander assumed the role of Chaplain
Alexander conducting a celebration of life memorial service to the late
author, Alan Kent Haruf who died at seventy-one, days before completing Our
Souls at Night. It was a long road to fame as he wrote several novels
bringing critical acclaim, but no readers until at age fifty- six he became an
“overnight sensation” with Plainsong, bringing awards, praise,
readers, and a distinctive writing regimen. Every morning he would sit down
at his manual typewriter, pull a cap over his eyes, and “write blind” enabling
his creative side to flourish. “I was storytelling, not polishing.” With a
fatal diagnosis of incurable lung disease, he called on a muse or spiritual
guidance to fuel his desire to leave a final legacy in a notable career. Our
Souls at Night, born one chapter at a time, netted a spare yet
eloquent, bittersweet yet inspiring work of art. He desired to be remembered as
a person - loving and compassionate toward other people…as a writer, someone
who had a small talent but worked the best he could at using that talent.”
Mission accomplished Mr. Haruf.
Patsy Dehn narrated a synopsis of the
story of a man and a woman, both “up in years” coming together to wrestle with
the events of their lives and their hopes for the imminent future. Set in the
familiar setting of the small town of Holt, Colorado, home to all of the
author’s fiction, Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to neighbor, Louis
Waters, both widows, living alone in houses empty of family, both enduring
lonely nights, especially with no one to talk with. The drama played out in the
Alexander’s master bedroom with JoDee in the role of Louis and MN playing Addie
narrating their thoughts to tell Mr. Haruf’s story. Addie is in bed pondering how
different this arrangement is…hoping it’s a good different, while Louis climbs
in on the other side, thinking, he’s either crazy or maybe the luckiest man
alive. The script is attached. MN and I hope we’ve conveyed how they felt,
their doubts, their fears, the excitement, the pain, and what they discovered
as the remedy to loneliness, especially at night.
One of the mainstays of Bookers is how we
strive to put ourselves in the shoes of others, and to find a way to bring the
book out of the pages and into the forefront of our discussions. We talked
about choices – what we might do if given the same ultimatum Addie faced as she
only had one child left and only one grandchild. We shared personal stories,
hoped for solutions rather than giving into the finality of decisions; we
worried about Jamie…how he would react when love disappeared again and he
realized he was the bargaining chip for a relationship with his grandmother. We
asked how loneliness often makes us do things out of character. Some in the
group displayed displeasure of the abrupt ending and frustration that no other
options presented themselves for a “happy-ever-after” ending. Maybe the author
ran out of time or maybe his ending just mirrors life. Thanks to everyone for
being such a good audience. Louis and Addie, MN and JoDee appreciate the time
you spent with us!
On
the business side
Our tribute (Bookers & Bridge) to Lois
Welch is being completed and Patsy Dehn and Jean Alexander will let us know
when it is complete and again we appreciate your generosity in funding this
project in her honor.
The results of Goodreads “Best of the
Year” are in. Winning the fiction category, Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman with
over thirty thousand votes…and Our Souls at Night, ninth overall
with over ten thousand votes! The Nightingale won the historical
fiction category overwhelmingly with over fifty-seven thousand votes. We’ve
read two out of three!
Note
the changes below: We
are, with the blessing of Patty Evans, replacing our January selection, The
Secret Chord, with another option in order for MN and me to have a
chance to read this work of historical fiction. We respect Patty’s opinion and
appreciate her consideration to delay this piece to allow us to form our
opinion of the choice. We’ve received some very negative comments from another
one of our respected readers, so we feel we need to dive into this deeper to
see if we are comfortable with the recommendation. We hope you all understand.
In January’s slot, we’ve selected
the classic, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, first published in 1982, a
Pulitzer Prize winner the following year, premiered as a movie in 1985, and is
currently playing on Broadway. Written in epistolary form, it is the story of
two sisters, one a missionary in Africa, the other a child-wife living in the
South, detailing how love transforms and cruelty disfigures the human spirit.
Jean Alexander discovered a conflict with
the dates of the February meeting, so we’ve moved her review of Winter
Garden to April and have replaced it with The Rosie Project about a
brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics who decides it’s time he
finds a wife and develops a methodical process to find the perfect partner.
Beverly Dossett recommended If
You Find Me by Emily Murdoch. We’ll be checking it out. Thanks so much.
COLOR CODING SYSTEM
WHITE: LIGHT READ
PINK: MODERATELY
CHALLENGING
RED: CHALLENGING
January
12, 2016:
The Color Purple by Alice
Walker
RED
Home
of: Rebecca Brisendine
Guest
Reviewer: Penny Barshop
February
9th:
The
Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
PINK
Home
of: Daryl Daniels
Reviewer:
Kay Robinson
March
8th:
TBD
(Possibly, The Secret Chord)
April
12th:
Winter
Garden by Kristin Hannah
PINK
Home of Kay
Robinson
Reviewer: Jean
Alexander
May
17th: Wine & Cheese
evening meeting
Note later date
A Man
Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
PINK
Home
of: Beverly Dossett
Reviewer:
Jean McSpadden
Summer
Break: June, July, & August
Summer
Read, TBD
September
13th: Beginning of Bookers’ 12th
year
Happy Reading,
Louis and Addie will be thinking of you as
you turn back the bedcovers, especially at night.
JoDee
