Community…Values…Culture
Bang, Bang, Bang
14
Bookers sloshed their way to the home of Ann Ireland for this month’s meeting,
scheduled a week early due to the upcoming PWC garage sale. In light of all the
personal health issues facing many in our community, our neighbors to the south
and east coping after hurricanes tossed their lives into uncertainty, and the
mass tragedies in Las Vegas dominating our airways, we need something uplifting
to focus on. Life is made of moments and as country singer, George Strait,
crooned… “life’s not the breaths you take…but the moments that take your breath
away.” Consider a three-year old on the autism spectrum who has never spoken a
sentence suddenly saying, “I want apples.” The simplicity and innocence of this
moment that takes your breath away offers a ray of sunshine for the world we
live in. Thank you Harper Stanky!
Pat
Faherty led the review of this month’s selection, and in typical fashion, she
offered a short synopsis of the book relying on audience participation to get
to the crux of the novel. We did not disappoint. New Bookers’ member, Pat Reid,
commented afterwards how comfortable everyone was sharing thoughts and personal
stories as they related to the book. That’s a feather in our hats Bookers! Pat
pointed out the strength of the women characters in Beartown…Ramona (her
favorite)…tough as nails, Kira…never trust someone who doesn’t have something
in their lives that they love beyond all reason…Maya…the fortitude of a victim
of a violent crime not letting that define her… Fatima, who instilled in her
son the basics of always being honest and kind whose teachings were evident at
the end of the book, and Benji’s sisters…with their unending love for their
brother.
The
banner, Community, Values, Culture,
featured inside the hockey arena was the theme of the novel. Community meant
everyone working toward the same goal and accepting their respective roles in
order to reach them. Values stood for trust and love for each other. Culture
was as much about what they encouraged as what they would permit. The statement
heard so many times in sport is…it’s only a game, but this story proves
differently. “It allocates power and draws boundaries turning some people into
stars and others into spectators.” A sports club in a small town means that
once a week they can celebrate all the things they have in common rather than
what divides them. With their economy tanking, factories shuttering, and
hopelessness dominating the landscape, small towns need something to cheer for
so they pinned their hopes on the young who don’t remember that things used to
be better. The days of working hard, and taking what is thrown your way without
complaining had run out of steam.
Hockey
is the metaphor Backman uses to explore human nature. “The world becomes easier
to understand and less terrifying if you divide everything and everyone into
friends and enemies, good and evil.” Human nature choses sides, seeks out
facts, and then dehumanizes the enemy…human nature asks us who would you choose
if you had to save someone from danger…family is the answer. With their backs
against the wall, the well-defined characters, both flawed and heroic, followed
their instincts, and the town turned upon itself when “their” dreams were in
jeopardy…getting caught up in the dynamics of the he said/she said debate in the name of ice hockey.
The
novel highlights the good, bad, and ugly side of not only youth sports but what
the newspapers are full of in today’s spotlight…coddled athletes void of a
moral compass where entitlement comes automatically with athletic ability. Any
team sport teaches loyalty, responsibility, commitment, discipline, and rules
and is capable of forming seemingly unbreakable bonds between like minds…your
teammates will never abandon you. On the edge of that are the parents who hang
their hopes and that of the town on the backs of “children.” In this small
town, the mentality was they need to win at something because they have the
“bear in them.” Their mascot, the brown bear, is the largest land-based
predator on earth. It is not a coincidence the author picked Beartown as a “bear” personality is a
combination of gruff and powerful and sensitive and intelligent. They have a
natural confidence and swagger, the tension level rising when they enter a room
and they are successful through the sheer force of their personalities. They
have a debate mentality of never avoiding an argument and never backing down.
We hope those of you who have not read or finished this book will look at it in
a different light. It’s not a book about ice hockey. Thanks to everyone who
contributed to the discussion!
On the business side
As you
remember, we had extra funds from our bookcase project and we’ve found a way to
put them to good use. Cherry and Jane Freer had an unbreakable bond and one of
the things they shared was Cherry’s love of anything Halloween, especially
pumpkins. An angel holding a pumpkin will adorn the Freer’s front porch and if
you would like to add a pumpkin of your own, please do so with Gary’s blessing.
A Man
Called Ove by Fredrik Backman is being
made into a movie starring Tom Hanks as Ove. Well cast!
COLOR CODING SYSTEM
WHITE: LIGHT READ
PINK: MODERATELY
CHALLENGING
RED: CHALLENGING
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
We are returning to our
regular 10 a.m. time although we will be reducing and streamlining our menu.
Bonnie Magee will be our food czar again for our holiday party.
WHITE
Host
home: Beverly Dossett
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
“You can’t look a gravestone in the eye and ask its
forgiveness.” It’s never too late to soothe the soul.
Happy Reading,
JoDee
