“Two
eyes, two ears, ten fingers, ten toes, and a nose, Perfect…” in a 2020 world at
least.
20 Bookers met at the home of Beverly Dossett to
discuss this month’s selection led by Ann Ireland. It appears this one hit a
home run as everyone read it, all liked it, and many of us loved it. Bookers’
send our continued thoughts and prayers to Sheri Green as she goes through
another clinical trial…the bad news is the chemo makes her extremely nauseous,
but the good news is that her pain level is better…things may be turning upward
for our friend. Our own Ann Ireland will be undergoing major back surgery on
January 27. She doesn’t need anything, but maybe take a few prayers out of the
piggy bank for a successful operation and a short recovery period.
As we’ve filled our schedule for this year (see below)
we all would like to thank our book selection committee, Pat Faherty, Katherine
McDonald, and Melanie Prebis, for an extraordinary two years of
service! There’s an old Turkish saying, measure a thousand times, cut once.
That’s what they did when choosing a Bookers’ book and we benefited from their
tireless efforts!
A worn-out cliché is that our eyes are the windows of
our souls, but at certain intervals in our lives we all suffer from acute
blindness closing our eyes to the unpleasant, having sight but no vision. Sam,
born with “red pupils,” ocular albinism, struggled through many trials and
tribulations because of his condition, but it was his mother with her 2020
vision who gave her son the tools he needed to deal with his extraordinary
gift. She knew he was destined for greatness, after all it was “God’s will” and
He had a divine plan for Sam. If he had been named a Pope, it would not have
surprised her in the least. By not coddling him, Madeline and Max Hill handed their
son an invaluable lesson – you must learn to stand on your own as your parents
will not always be there to protect you. Sam spent a lifetime getting to know
himself, but it took a young girl in dire need of a hero to prove to Sam his
mother might have been right. The novel captures the nuances of growing up, of
community, of fairness, of bias, of bullying, of a Catholic school education,
of fitting in, of loyalty, of lifelong friendships, of faith lost and
recaptured, of enduring love, and hope.
Our discussion included personal “David Bateman”
bullying stories, what group we identified with in school, the standing ovation
moments in the story (Father Brogan’s truths about Sam’s bike accident, the
trip to Lourdes, Fernando, Mickie and Sam FINALLY), Ernie’s success on the
field and in business, David Bateman’s propensity for abuse from his childhood
experiences, and one criticism was the length of time – ten years – that Sam
spent overseas seemed too long given his father’s health issues – he turned his
back on friends, his hometown, and the life he’d always known.
As readers, we are grateful Mr. Dugoni’s agents and
editors for rejecting his five-week first draft leading him to this
extraordinary novel with a connecting thread pulling us through the story – it’s
what everyone wants…to believe.
On
the business side:
Bookers is officially a BookTrib book club and we will
receive our first shipment in April. Our commitment is simple, we take a photo
of the group with the books, I email it to their editorial director; if you
want, please post on social media about the book and/or the BookTrib program.
Also, please visit www.booktribcom to subscribe to their free weekly
newsletter.
We are all aware the impact book clubs have on sales…just
out, book clubs bought 45% of all adult fiction in 2019. We’re awesome…but we
knew that!
COLOR
CODING SYSTEM
WHITE: LIGHT READ
PINK: MODERATELY
CHALLENGING
RED: CHALLENGING
February 11: Sold
on a Monday by Kristina McMorris
A scrawled sign peddling
young siblings on a farmhouse porch captures the desperation sweeping the
country in 1931. A struggling reporter snaps a photograph which changes his
life with consequences he never expected.
PINKISH RED
Home
of Daryl Daniels
Discussion
Leader: Rokhshie Malone
March 10: The
Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo
A debut novel set in a
house in an olive grove in Northern California, a touching story bringing to
life five generations of women, including an unforgettable 112 year-old
matriarch determined to break all Guinness longevity records – the secrets and
lies that divide them and the love that ultimately ties them together.
PINK
Home of Patty Evans
Discussion Leader: Beverly
Dossett
April 14: Beloved
by Toni Morrison
In honor of the late
Nobel Prize laureate’s finest achievement which stares unflinchingly into the
abyss of slavery transforming history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as
intimate as a lullaby…filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope.
RED
Home
of Jean Alexander
Discussion
Leader: Katherine McDonald
May 12: The
One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood
One-hundred and four-year
old Ona tells the eleven-year-old unnamed boy who has been helping her out
every Saturday morning, “The story of your life never starts at the beginning.”
A heartwarming tale of love, loss, and friendship.
PINK
Evening
Wine & Cheese meeting
Home of Melanie Prebis
Discussion
Leader: Jean Alexander
Summer
reads: The Giver of the
Stars by JoJo Moyes and
The
Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Much
has been made of the similarities of these two books, some calling it plagiarism.
They were published five months apart; they both take place in Kentucky and
deal with the Pack Horse Library Project tasked with bringing books to remote
areas of Appalachia between 1936 and 1943.
Bookers is reading
both because of the controversy…will be a fun meeting in September 2020.
“The
true meaning of success can be found in the quiet moments of life – when your
heart is filled with love.”
Robert Dugoni
Happy Reading,
JoDee
