It’s impossible, said pride…it’s
risky, said experience…it’s pointless, said reason
Give it a try whispered the heart.
This moment for me…Surreal, Dreamlike, Otherworldly,
Illusory, Fanciful…you’re tired of overwhelming, so how about engulfing instead.
30 Bookers and special guests met at the home of
Melanie Prebis to toast the beginning of Bookers’ fourteenth year of reading,
walking in each other’s shoes, and discussing our mutual love and respect for
the magic of the written word. It was a mix of family, my first cousin, Cindy
Camp, and new Bookers, Pat Reid and Joanne Bara, and old friends Mary Jacob and
Leslie Mullins, many clad in Life in a Box t-shirts…I may go back
to overwhelming. Many thanks to Melanie for providing the mimosas, and to all
who brought sustenance to soak up the champagne. It was a special occasion!
Elaine Bownes, not a Booker but a backbone of our
community, has been diagnosed with primary peritoneal cancer. She is handling
the chemotherapy treatments like a trooper and wants to acknowledge how
grateful she and Jim are for the outpouring of love and support. They do not
need anything at this time, but would appreciate our thoughts and prayers.
Guest reviewer extraordinaire, Penny Barshop, offered
a little background and overview of the creation of Life in a Box. She
recalled sitting by the outdoor fireplace on MN Stanky’s back porch with a
fifty-page sampling of the manuscript. The fire crackled and the journey began.
If Penny were to teach this book, it would be a “two to three week study” in
order to understand the complexity of the story as it relates to the
characters. Penny pointed out the similarities between Andee and the author with The Yearling reference to
“write what you know,” the fulfillment of a dream, a passion for golf,
propensity for pristine books, and Las Vegas weddings. From a stylistic
standpoint, Jackson offered Andee a critique of her writing, one that held true
in Life
in a Box. From the suggestion of limiting quirky minor characters, more
blending of the narrative with dialogue to adjust the pace of the book, and
Andee’s ability to create visual settings from the scene descriptions, the
references to Heron’s Nest Golf Club and the women’s club Christmas parties
tied the author and character
together.
There were side stories that pulled the reader away
from the main plot, but provided a glimpse into the makeup of the characters,
telling their stories through a series of events. Christmas at the Camps in
Dauphin Island set up the conflict between Andee and Scott’s sister, Blanche,
the discovery of Scott’s Dad’s illness, the Santa story from the little
“Southern” girls, and Beau’s special gift to Andee of Ian Fleming’s Casino
Royale. We learned how protective Scott was of Andee and how much he
worried about the toll the writing project would take on her health. We
discovered the launch of the S.C.C & Brown Group with the connection
between Scott and Andee’s father, Will, each bringing a different skill set to
the successful partnership. And, historical events happening during the varied
timeframes of the novel showed what people were reading, eating, watching on
television and going about their everyday lives during those scenes.
Penny pointed out one of her favorite parts was the
numerous mysteries and clues scattered among the text often leaving the reader
with the answers before they knew the question such as Jackson Barton-Brown’s relentless pursuit of
the identity of his birth parents. Was Sonny’s drowning accidental…what
happened to VJ, Ben and Will on the beach, who knew what and why? What was the
significance of the big orange teddy bear Will brought to the beach…Was Sonny
involved with the fire that took the life of his sister and critically burned
his father? Why was Will and VJ’s relationship different after he returned from
the war? What happened after VJ’s twenty-second birthday party and who was
responsible? On VJ’s wall of shadowboxed teacups, why was only one dated,
chipped and not shaded in pastels?
I loved everyone’s comments and questions proving how
we each garner different things from our reading…things that touch us
personally or speaks to the parts of our lives that we have experienced. It was
uncanny how many incidents were brought forth, from a Jell-O salad recipe, to
Don Cherry’s love song “Thinking of You,” to the 1970 University of Houston’s
NCAA golf championship. There was a connection to horse “whispering,” same
spelling of a name, sorority ties,
favorite perfume, and a wedding date of April 26, 1941 – the same as Muriel and
Sonny’s – with the bride a twin, and of course the Pinnacle community and PWC
connection.
Many have asked how much of the book is true…that’s a
hard question to answer without a specific question, but here are a few facts
that might satisfy any curiosity. Penny has already accurately pointed out the
similarities between Andee’s character and me, but beyond that, her
relationships with her parents are based on mine who were married for 43 years.
Andee’s initial melanoma diagnosis is from my own lab report in 2003, but the
reoccurrence dictating the clinical trials is fictional. Fictional Scott
mirrored Mickey only in mannerisms…he was born in Dallas, grew up in Garland
and has only one brother…no golf scholarship or development company and was not
engaged at the time he and fictional Andee married…the Las Vegas wedding did
take place however. The real-life Smith twins were as bonded as VJ and Ben.
Catherine and Fulton are based on my maternal grandparents…she was very active
in the women’s movement and a member of the P.E.O…he was President of a
California bank. Hilda Hatter Otter was a “real” imaginary friend of my Aunt’s.
The Brown segment contained mostly fictional characters, although my dad’s
stepfather had characteristics not unlike R.M. Stinson. Please enjoy the
characterizations of the real-life figures, but keep in mind, the events
surrounding the story are fictionalized.
Bernie Crudden asked a question about the title of the
book…did it refer only to the contents of a box that included the Smith/Brown
histories, or was it two-fold also addressing the protection and security of
living within the confines of a box. VJ spelled it out in her letter to Andee…
“you are the rare bird in the protective shell your father and I created for
you…robbing the songbird of lyrics and shackling your independence to our
expectations.” Jackson on page 91 noted that possibility as well. Bernie, thank
you for recognizing the significance of the “box.” Although I was an only child
and very protected especially from failure, I had a fascinating childhood and
what I am today is a reflection of that.
On the business side
Our donation in Jane Freer’s name to the Friends of
the Animals enabled twenty-five families to have their pets spayed and
neutered. We intended to purchase Jane’s brick for the memory garden but Gary
beat us to the punch. We’ll hold on to our petty cash for another project.
Thoughts and prayers go out to Jean McSpadden who lost
her mother to kidney cancer. Best wishes to Barbara Creach who will soon be
undergoing partial replacement of both knees.
COLOR CODING SYSTEM
WHITE: LIGHT READ
PINK: MODERATELY
CHALLENGING
RED: CHALLENGING
October
3 Moved a week early due to garage sale
conflict
Beartown
by Fredrik Backman
All the hopes and
dreams of a small hockey town rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage
boys.
PINK
Host
home: Ann Ireland
Reviewer:
JoDee Neathery
November
14 Before We Were Yours by
Lisa Wingate
Based on a true-life
scandal, Memphis, Tennessee, 1939 about a family who lives on a shanty boat in
the Mississippi River.
PINKISH/RED
Host
home: Chris Batt
Reviewer:
Melanie Prebis
December
12 The Trouble with Goats and Sheep
by Joanna Cannon
Set in England in 1976,
quirky, charming coming of age story of two ten year old girls
WHITE
Host
home: TBD
Reviewer:
TBD
January
9, 2018 Beneath
A Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan
Based on a true story of
a forgotten hero, an Italian teenager during World War II, soon to be a motion
picture.
RED
Home
of Daryl Daniels
Reviewer:
Patty Evans
February
13 The Mourning Parade by
Dawn Reno Langley
The mother of two sons
killed in a school shooting leaves her successful veterinary practice to
volunteer in an elephant sanctuary in Thailand.
LIGHT RED
Home
of Bonnie Magee
Reviewer:
Jean Alexander
March
13 Possible: The Rainwater Secret by Monica Shaw
– stay tuned
Debut historical fiction
by Dallas author based on the life of her great aunt about a missionary woman
in Africa to teach leper children.
PINK
Home
of Patty Evans
Reviewer:
TBD
April
10 Book: TBD
Home
of Sandy Molander
Reviewer:
TBD
May
15 Change of date due to travel plans
Book:
TBD
Host
Home: Donna Walter
Reviewer:
TBD
Sleeping
Beauty said if you dream it more than once it is sure to come true…
Happy Reading,
JoDee
