Christmas Gathering: December 10, 2015

Rather than holding a regular book club meeting this month, we had a Christmas potluck at Annie and Paul's home. Their cozy home was decorated for the holidays and provided the perfect place for our gathering.  Annie and Paul, Christe and Steve, Ellen and Jeff, Jo, Julie and Bob, Kathy, Linda and Jim, and Nanc attended. We mingled and discussed a myriad of topics before being amused by the fact that the menfolk gravitated to the table and the women gathered around the counter for awhile. It was a wonderful evening with dear friends.  

January meeting:

Book: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Location: Christe's
Date: Thursday, January 7, 2015
Time: 6:30pm

Upcoming meeting:

February 2016: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson at Judy's

Books we've read so far:

January 2014 - Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
February 2014 - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
March 2014 - Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
April 2014 - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
May 2014 - The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
June 2014 - Breaking Free by Marilyn Sewell
July 2014 - The Orphan Train by Kristina Baker Kline
August 2014 - The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
September 2014 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
October 2014 - The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
November 2014 - The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
December 2014 - No book.  Holiday gathering.
January 2015 - No book.  Watched The Book Thief
February 2015 - The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
March 2015 - Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
April 2015 - The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
May 2015 - The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
June 2015 - The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
July 2015 - Still Alice by Lisa Genova
August 2015 - The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
September 2015 - Ruby by Cynthia Bond
October 2015 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

November 2015 - No book.  Watched To Kill a Mockingbird

December 2015 - No book.  Holiday gathering.

Meeting: November 19, 2015

We met at Jo Smith's house to watch To Kill a Mockingbird.  Our social time was short because the movie was over 2 hours long. Perhaps we should think about starting movie night meetings at 6:00 rather than 6:30 so we have a bit more time to visit!  Due to a few members with grandparent duties, only 6 members, Annie, Jo, Judy, Kathy, Linda, and Nanc, were in attendance. 

View from Jo's just after sunset (and before we gathered for the meeting)

As the movie began, and Scout was seen in her overalls and short haircut, Jo mentioned that her hair and attire were similar when she was a kid.  

Mary Badham as Scout Finch and Jo French (at a younger age than Scout)

As is typical in book to film movies, much of the story was dropped due to time constraints. The book covers three years, while the film only two. The story is still narrated by Scout, but she narrates far less, so we don't get quite as much insight into her thoughts. There are also other changes including Jem finding the articles in the tree rather than Scout, Jem going back to retrieve his pants right after their escape from the Radley's yard rather than him returning later that night, and Jem and Scout watching Mr. Radley cement the hole in the tree instead of just discovering it after the fact. Also, Calpurnia plays a smaller role and Jem and Scout do not go with her to church. Mrs. Dubose is only briefly introduced and no mention is made of her addiction to opiates. Aunt Alexandra and Uncle Jack are never mentioned in the film.

Overall, the film focuses more on the trial of Tom Robinson and less on the novel's coming-of-age story.

December meeting:

Holiday Gathering
Location: Annie's
Date: Thursday, December 10, 2015
Time: 6:30pm

Upcoming meetings:

January 2016: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr at Judy Lee's
February 2016: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson at Christe Gillespie's

Books we've read so far:

January 2014 - Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
February 2014 - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
March 2014 - Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
April 2014 - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
May 2014 - The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
June 2014 - Breaking Free by Marilyn Sewell
July 2014 - The Orphan Train by Kristina Baker Kline
August 2014 - The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
September 2014 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
October 2014 - The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
November 2014 - The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
December 2014 - No book.  Holiday gathering.
January 2015 - No book.  Watched The Book Thief
February 2015 - The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
March 2015 - Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
April 2015 - The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
May 2015 - The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
June 2015 - The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
July 2015 - Still Alice by Lisa Genova
August 2015 - The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
September 2015 - Ruby by Cynthia Bond
October 2015 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

November 2015 - No book.  Watched To Kill a Mockingbird

Meeting: October 22, 2015

We met at Annie's to socialize and discuss To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Annie provided delicious food and a cozy meeting environment. Annie, Christe, Jo, Judy, Julie, Linda, and Nanc attended. As usual, we socialized for a long time, including some taking a tour of Annie's little Scamp Trailer.

I forgot to take a photo from Annie's before it got dark, so I'm substituting this photo that I took down near Annie's a couple of years ago.

Annie and Judy reported that Sissy Spacek was the perfect narrator for Scout, and did a great job with all the other voices should anyone want to listen to the audio book in the future. It would seem that everyone enjoyed the nostalgic element in To Kill a Mockingbird and the way it depicted every day life of the era. Some of us remembered the creepy house in our neighborhood and using our imagination as we played so many hours outdoors. It's sad how different kids' lives are these days as technology has replaced imagination to some degree, and parental fears have limited outdoor exploits.

To Kill a Mockingbird had many layers.  The book eloquently depicted the injustices of life in the 1930's in the deep south.  It was a coming of age book that dealt with innocence and loss of innocence.  It dealt with racism, injustice, prejudice, and intolerance, while balancing it with courage, acceptance, hope, and the love between a father and his children.

After Scout's rocky first day of school, she and Atticus had a discussion:

“First of all,“ he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—"

“Sir?” 

“—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” 

Atticus said I had learned many things today, and Miss Caroline had learned several things herself.  She had learned not to hand something to a Cunningham, for one thing, but if Walter and I had put ourselves in her shoes we’d have seen it was an honest mistake on her part.  We could not expect her to learn all Maycomb’s ways in one day, and we could not hold her responsible when she knew no better.

Scout recounts Atticus' advice when she was confused about something that Jem told her:

“Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts."

Miss Maudie explained to Scout why Atticus said it was a sin to kill a mockingbird.

“Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

After Jem had torn up Mrs. Dubose’s camellias because she had bad mouthed Atticus for defending Tom Robinson, Atticus sent Jem to speak to Mrs. Dubose, and then had a conversation with Scout.

“Atticus, you must be wrong….” 

“how’s that?” 

“Well, most folks seem to think they’re right and you’re wrong…” 

“They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions," said Atticus, "but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience."

After Mrs. Dubose died, Atticus talks to Jem about her.

“I wanted you to see something about her — I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.  You rarely win, but sometimes you do."

This was a statement by Judge Taylor during Tom Robinson's trial that we should probably think about as we embark on the presidential election in this next year:

“People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for.”

If nothing else, this novel should be viewed positively for its role in raising public awareness of racial discrimination.

November meeting:

Movie : To Kill a Mockingbird

Location: Jo Smith's

Date: Thursday, November 19, 2015

Time: 6:30pm

Upcoming meetings:

December 2015: Holiday gathering
January 2016: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr at Judy Lee's
February 2016: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson at Christe Gillespie's

Books we've read so far:

January 2014 - Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
February 2014 - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
March 2014 - Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
April 2014 - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
May 2014 - The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
June 2014 - Breaking Free by Marilyn Sewell
July 2014 - The Orphan Train by Kristina Baker Kline
August 2014 - The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
September 2014 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
October 2014 - The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
November 2014 - The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
December 2014 - No book.  Holiday gathering.
January 2015 - No book.  Watched The Book Thief
February 2015 - The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
March 2015 - Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
April 2015 - The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
May 2015 - The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
June 2015 - The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
July 2015 - Still Alice by Lisa Genova
August 2015 - The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

September 2015 - Ruby by Cynthia Bond

October 2015 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Meeting: September 10, 2015

A small group met at Nanc's house after a last minute change of venue. We all hope that Ellen has been able to help her dad make a smooth transition as he settles into his nursing home facility. Nancy French, Linda Jenkins, Annie Larkin, Judy Lee, and Jo Smith were in attendance.

View from Nanc's during the meeting

We had a good discussion on Annie's adjustment to empty nesting, and how she is trying to focus on the positive rather than what she is missing. We also talked at length about how important it is to connect with kids in the educational setting and how all the new regulations and requirements make it so much more difficult to do so. In addition, we discussed local issues including the Trempealeau Pool and the ever present scrap railroad ties.  

We did all dash out to the deck when a new riverboat passed by. None of us could figure out what boat it was in the dark.  It was not well lit and was significantly smaller than the American Queen and more the size of The Queen of the Mississippi, but it most definitely wasn't The Queen of the Mississippi. I was able to find out via a river boat tracking webpage that the boat is called The American Eagle, and that it debuted in May 2015.

The American Eagle

For the first time, we barely discussed the book. This was largely due to the subject matter that was so unpleasant. But, here's a brief recap of the book anyway.

Ruby, by Cynthia Bond, features human cruelty, rape, child molestation, religious hypocrisy, animal sacrifice, racism, and just pure evil. But sometimes tender moments or the poetic writing soften its harsh topics.  Bond makes you vividly see things; however, she is thankfully the least explicit in the moments describing the prostitution of children.

In general (as we've discussed before), books keep us reading for different reasons. For some it's the plot, for others it's the characters, and yet for others it's beautifully crafted sentences or other intrigue. None of us read the book because of intrigue.  Ruby really didn't have a plot, only an increased understanding of the characters. Bond was able to craft an understanding of human frailty and psychological pain.

Some excerpts from the book:

When Ephram first went to Ruby after she'd returned to Liberty, she realized that she'd wasted 11 years without noticing, and that she wasn't the woman who had returned from NY. 

Ephram took her hand, "But I'll tell you what.  I'm most interested in the woman you have yet to be."

After Ruby reveals the horrors of her past to Ephram he sweetly whispered to her.

I ain't going nowhere.  If you brave enough to live it, the least I can do is listen.

Spending time with Ephram gives Ruby the strength to fight the Dyboù.

I'm not meant for using! I never was! I aint never never going to be used again!

Shortly after that, Ruby reflects on the way Ephram has stood alongside her despite how the rest of the folks in Liberty behaved.

Ruby knew then that a lie could only control a person if they believed it.

After reading the book and then discovering that the author is a survivor of human trafficking and that she works with survivors of human trafficking, really gives one pause to view the book differently.  The scenes are dark, gruesome, and disturbingly traumatic.  But while the story is fictitious, the characters are based on real-life situations that countless victims have faced.

October meeting:

Book : To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Location: Annie Larkin's

Date: Thursday, October 22, 2015

Time: 6:30pm

Upcoming meetings:

November 19, 2015: Movie night to watch To Kill a Mockingbird at Jo Smith's

December 2015: Holiday gathering
January 2016: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
February 2016: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Books we've read so far:

January 2014 - Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
February 2014 - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
March 2014 - Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
April 2014 - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
May 2014 - The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
June 2014 - Breaking Free by Marilyn Sewell
July 2014 - The Orphan Train by Kristina Baker Kline
August 2014 - The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
September 2014 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
October 2014 - The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
November 2014 - The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
December 2014 - No book.  Holiday gathering.
January 2015 - No book.  Watched The Book Thief
February 2015 - The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
March 2015 - Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
April 2015 - The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
May 2015 - The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
June 2015 - The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
July 2015 - Still Alice by Lisa Genova
August 2015 - The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

September 2015 - Ruby by Cynthia Bond

Meeting: August 12, 2015

Linda Jenkins hosted our August meeting. After some indecision about where we should conduct the meeting, we settled on meeting indoors due to the warm temperature.  Ellen Bowes, Nancy French, Christe Gillespie, Julie Howard, Linda Jenkins, Annie Larkin, Jo Smith, and Liz Webster were in attendance.  Our non-book conversation included public health initiatives, politics, the railroad ties, education, Annie embarking on empty nesting, and Jo, Judy, and Nanc's recent bike tour.

I neglected to take a photo from Linda's house, so I thought I'd include this one of the American Queen as it came through Trempealeau at about 1:00 this morning.

The Boys In The Boat is a compelling story of nine University of Washington students capturing the attention of the nation as they overcome personal adversities to win Olympic gold. The team was built with working-class / country boys when historically rowing had been a sport for the rich. Since all the boys were new to the sport, they had to learn about competitive rowing.

It’s not a question of whether you will hurt, or of how much you will hurt; it’s a question of what you will do, and how well you will do it, while pain has her wanton way with you.

The book is much more than a book about rowing, as Daniel James Brown weaves in matters of historical importance along with rowing: the depression, the Dust Bowl, Leni Riefenstahl's role in Hitler's rise to Nazi power, and the magic that happens when individuals learn to become a team.

Joe Rantz is the central character in the book. Due to being abandoned by his family at age 14, Joe needed to find a way to rise above his fundamental mistrust of people. The coaches and boat-builder George Pocock, in particular, help Joe to learn to trust his teammates. 

As Pocock talked, Joe grew mesmerized. It wasn’t just what the Englishman was saying, or the soft, earthy cadence of his voice, it was the calm reverence with which he talked about the wood — as if there was something holy and sacred about it — that drew Joe in. The wood, Pocock murmured, taught us about survival, about overcoming difficultty, about prevailing over adversity, but it also taught us something about the underlying reason for surviving in the first place. Sometimes about infinite beauty, about undying grace, about things larger and greater than ourselves. About the reasons we were all here. ...

... The ability to yield, to bend, to give way, to accommodate, he said, was sometimes a source of strength in men as well as in wood, so long as it was helmed by inner resolve and by principle. 

George Pocock's boat-building expertise was unmatched, but behind the scenes he added so much more to the University of Washington's success.

George Pocock learned much about the hearts and souls of young men. He learned to see hope where a boy thought there was no hope, to see skill where skill was obscured by ego or by anxiety. He observed the fragility of confidence and the redemptive power of trust. He detected the strength of the gossamer threads of affection that sometimes grew between a pair of young men or among a boatload of them striving honestly to do their best. And he came to understand how those almost mystical bonds of trust and affection, if nurtured correctly, might lift a crew above the ordinary sphere, transport it to a place where nine boys somehow became one thing—a thing that could not quite be defined, a thing that was so in tune with the water and the earth and sky above that, as they rowed, effort was replaced by ecstasy. It was a rare thing, a sacred thing, a thing devoutly to be hoped for. And in the years since coming to Washington, George Pocock had quietly become its high priest.

As a group, the book club members were captivated by the George Pocock quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Some examples:

It is hard to make that boat go as fast as you want to. The enemy, of course, is resistance of the water, as you have to displace the amount of water equal to the weight of mean and equipment, but that very water is what supports you and that very enemy is your friend. So is life: the very problems you must overcome also support you and make you stronger in overcoming them.  — George Yeoman Pocock 

Therein lies the secret of successful crews: Their “swing,” that fourth dimension of rowing, which can only be appreciated by an oarsman who has rowed in a swinging crew, where the run is uncanny and the work of propelling the shell a delight.  — George Yeoman Pocock. 

Harmony, balance, and rhythm. They’re the three things that stay with you your whole life.  Without them civilization is out of whack. And that’s why an oarsman, when he goes out in life, he can fight it, he can handle life. That’s what he gets from rowing.  — George Yeoman Pocock

This nonfiction writing depended on limited resources, including interviews with Joe at about age 90 and his daughter, Judy, the daily logs of Coach Al Ulbrickson, a biography of Pocock, news accounts, and the scrapbooks and journals of various crew members. We were fascinated that Brown could get us caught up in the athletic success of long dead young men in a sport we don’t follow. The details of the Olympic race were thrilling and suspenseful, despite already knowing how it all ends.

Joe Rantz passed away in September of 2007. Roger Morris, Joe's first friend on the crew was the last man standing. He passed away in July of 2009.

And so they passed away, loved and remembered for all that they were - not just Olympic oarsmen but good men, one and all.

When Brown took a trip to Berlin in 2011 and stood watching some rowers on the water where the boys had won their Olympic gold he recounted his feelings:

I was swept by gratitude for their goodness and their grace, their humility and their honor, their simple civility and all the things they taught us before they flitted across the evening water and finally vanished into the night.

September meeting:

Book : Ruby by Cynthia Bond

Location: Ellen Bowes

Date: Thursday, September 10, 2015

Time: 6:30pm

Upcoming meetings:

October 8, 2015: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee at Annie Larkin's

November 12, 2015: Movie night to watch To Kill a Mockingbird at Jo Smith's

December 2015: Holiday gathering
January 2016: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
February 2016: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Books we've read so far:

January 2014 - Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
February 2014 - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
March 2014 - Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
April 2014 - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
May 2014 - The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
June 2014 - Breaking Free by Marilyn Sewell
July 2014 - The Orphan Train by Kristina Baker Kline
August 2014 - The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
September 2014 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
October 2014 - The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
November 2014 - The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
December 2014 - No book.  Holiday gathering.
January 2015 - No book.  Watched The Book Thief
February 2015 - The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
March 2015 - Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
April 2015 - The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
May 2015 - The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
June 2015 - The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
July 2015 - Still Alice by Lisa Genova
August 2015 - The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Meeting: July 9, 2015

We gathered at Ellen Bowes’ home and spent the vast majority of the time out on her deck. The weather was perfect and the mosquitos cooperated until it began to get dark. We talked of gardening, the numerous sandhill cranes that have been visiting the islands out in the river, the peregrine falcons behind the Jenkins’ property, and the critters that have been seen in the neighborhood. Linda also updated us on her recent trip to Alaska. Those members in attendance were Ellen Bowes, Kathy Day-Carey, Nancy French, Julie Howard, Linda Jenkins, and Jo Smith.

View from Ellen's deck

During the meeting, we heard and talked about the sandhill cranes out on the river, I decided that I'd include this photo that I took of the cranes today (Saturday, 7/11). They were far away, and the lighting was poor, so the picture is also of poor quality.

Sandhill Cranes on an island in the Mississippi River

Still Alice by Lisa Genova is a thoughtfully crafted, heartbreaking novel about the devastating effect Alzheimer's has on its victims and their families. Dr. Alice Howland was saddled with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease in mid-career, and it was especially devastating to her because so much of her identity was connected to her intellect and stellar memory.

The supporting cast around Alice could probably have been better developed, as her children were fairly one-dimensional people (having a baby, med school, auditioning for a play) and her conversations with them were about the one subject that defined each of them. We were never told what had made Lydia decide to go to college after so many conversations where she was adamantly opposed. The relationship between Alice and her husband, John, had a bit more scope. He waffled between wanting to do his best to be supportive, but also feeling that he needed to look after his own interests. So on one hand, he was a warm and loving partner who made her feel safe after she had soiled herself when she couldn’t find the bathroom; on the other, he is grieving the loss of Alice as he knew her and is presented as someone who is often impatient, angry, and frustrated. His practicality tended to overrule his emotions.  

Genova did a good job of showing the devastation of Alzheimer’s but also the beauty in redefined relationships. The family’s varying responses to Alice's decline were believable, and the most touching parts of the book were the evolution of Alice's relationships with her husband and children as her disease progressed. The most dramatic change was her relationship with Lydia. Initially, Alice and Lydia were in conflict about Lydia’s choice to pursue an acting career rather than attend college. But it was Lydia’s acting that brought them closer together when reading scripts was easier for Alice to tackle than reading novels. It became something they could do together and bond over. And Lydia appreciated one skill that developed as Alice's language processing regressed.

As her ability to track what was said in complex conversations with many participants declined, Alice’s sensitivity to what wasn’t said, to body language and unspoken feelings, had heightened. She’d explained this phenomenon a couple of weeks ago to Lydia, who’d told her it was an enviable skill to have as an actor.

We all appreciated Alice’s poignant speech at the Dementia Care Conference. This is just an excerpt from the speech.

My yesterdays are disappearing, and my tomorrows are uncertain, so what do I live for? I live for each day. I live in the moment. Some tomorrow soon, I'll forget that I stood before you and gave this speech. But just because I'll forget it some tomorrow, doesn't mean that I didn't live every second of it today. I will forget today but that doesn't mean today doesn't matter.

It was a tad sad when Alice had been unable to find her pills; therefore, she would have to go through the end stage of Alzheimer’s that she had meticulously prepared to avert.  

In the latter parts of her disease, it was sweet that she could still read emotion, even when understanding language was difficult for her.

Alice watched and listened and focused beyond the words the actress spoke. She saw her eyes become desperate, searching, pleading for truth. She saw them land softly and gratefully on it. Her voice felt at first tentative and scared. Slowly, and without getting louder, it grew more confident and then joyful, playing sometimes like a song. Her eyebrows and shoulders and hands softened and opened, asking for acceptance and offering forgiveness. Her voice and body created an energy that filled Alice and moved her to tears. She squeezed the beautiful baby in her lap and kissed his sweet-smelling head.

The actress stopped and came back into herself. She looked at Alice and waited.

“Okay, what do you feel?”

“I feel love. It’s about love.” 

The actress squealed, rushed over to Alice, kissed her on the cheek, and smiled, every crease of her face delighted. 

“Did I get it right?” asked Alice 

“You did, Mom.  You got it exactly right.”

We also talked about how prevalent it is for caregivers, family, and friends to talk about Alzheimer's patients in their presence. Despite the inability to communicate verbally, there is no reason to believe that such conversations aren't hurting the feelings of the loved one.

They talked about her as if she weren’t sitting in the wing chair, a few feet away. They talked about her, in front of her, as if she were deaf. They talked about her, in front of her, without including her, as if she had Alzheimer’s disease.

Still Alice was a difficult subject which was tackled in a compassionate and caring way. It gave the reader an idea of what it might be like to live with Alzheimer's Disease.

August meeting:

Book : The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Location: Linda Jenkins

Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Time: 6:30pm

Upcoming meetings:

September 10, 2015: Ruby by Cynthia Bond at Jo Smith's

October: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

November: Movie night to watch To Kill a Mockingbird ???

Books we've read so far:

January 2014 - Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott

February 2014 - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
March 2014 - Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
April 2014 - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
May 2014 - The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
June 2014 - Breaking Free by Marilyn Sewell
July 2014 - The Orphan Train by Kristina Baker Kline
August 2014 - The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
September 2014 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
October 2014 - The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
November 2014 - The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
December 2014 - No book.  Holiday gathering.
January 2015 - No book.  Watched The Book Thief
February 2015 - The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
March 2015 - Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
April 2015 - The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
May 2015 - The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

June 2015 - The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
July 2015 - Still Alice by Lisa Genova