August 19 Meeting at WMP with Sharon

 A pleasant evening was had by 7 members of the book club – sorry to miss Edna, Pat, Carol, Pam and Grace. We began, of course, with food –AC&T's famous fried chicken, hash brown potato casserole, cole slaw (thanks, Kathy), biscuits (thanks, Sylvia) and Grace's soon-to -be famous peach cake and other desserts (thanks, Dricka and Alice). The book we discussed followed a fictional account of the lives of people caught up in the Dust Bowl in the 1930s – "The Four Winds" by Kristin Hannah. I guess that's why the period is called The Great Depression – we felt depressed just reading the book!  We were impressed by the resilience and courage of the people in the story, of Elsa Martinelli who left miserable living conditions in Texas hoping to find a better life for her two children in California only to face more hard times, prejudice and pain. We shared accounts of life during the depression that affected our parents and grandparents. We agreed that we liked the book even though we had hoped for a happier ending. Several of us stayed for an entertaining concert performed by the “Sea Chanters"  of the US Navy band.  

Sharon

July 15 Meeting at WMP with Louisa

 Book club was held at War Memorial Park on a very hot and humid day. Everyone graciously brought what they wanted to eat and drink. We received a delightful surprise when Edna and Glenn arrived. Their daughter and grandchildren who are visiting from England came and ate with us. It was wonderful to see them.

     The book we read was "Dial A for Aunties” by Jesse Q Sutanto.

     The families immigrated from Indonesia to California. There they ran a family business. Big Aunt makes wedding cakes. Second Aunt does the bride’s hair and make up. Ma does the flowers. Meddy, her daughter, is the photographer. Fourth Aunt is the singer at the weddings.

     Communication is sometimes difficult because the Aunts speak Mandarin or Indonesian but little English. Meddy speaks English and not much of the other languages. This causes a lot of miscommunication among the family.

     Ma decides to go on a dating site pretending to be Meddy. She fixes her daughter up with a hotel owner. Meddy goes on the date. She drinks too much so the guy says he’ll drive her home. He takes her to a secluded area of the city. She tells him to take her home but he doesn’t listen. She tases him and he wrecks the car. Meddy thinks he’s dead so she drives home and tells Ma. Ma calls her sisters to help. The decision is made to put his body into one of the freezers not being used for the next day’s wedding. The freezer gets moved to the resort with all the other wedding supplies. Lots of antics go on as they try to keep everyone out of that freezer.  Meddy runs into the real resort manager and it is her college love, Nathan. He helps Meddy and the Aunties with the freezer.

     I think most of us enjoyed the book. There were laugh out loud scenes.  The book showed a different culture. In the end , no matter what, families stay together and help each other when needed.     

      Most of the girls stayed for the concert in the park.

     We missed you Pat!

        Louisa