Nov 18 Meeting at Grace's - start of 14th year

 "Waterproof" by Judith Redina Copey (an historical fiction)

The book was about the Johnstown, PA flood  and the affect it had on so many of the towns people.

The story is told to a journalist 50 years after the flood, by the main character Pamela McRae, who lived through this tragedy. She was determined to get past the tragedy and not let this tragedy define her life.   Pamela, lost a brother and her fiancé.  Her  father was so torn apart by the affects of the storm he left his family.  Her mother was left in a catatonic hysteria state as a result of the tragedy and Pam cared for her mother with the help of a Hungarian Immigrant who was very loyal to her. Without the help,  Pam would have had a very difficult time moving on.  She became a journalist herself and was taken under the wing  of the newspaper owner, who was a very dear friend to her father.

Some of the town's  people were seeking revenge on the owner's of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, the owners of the failed dam, that sent a thirty foot wall of destruction down on their city.

There were many twists and turns nothing was ever settled and to this day Johnstown still experiences flooding nothing quite as catastrophic as the flood 50 years ago but none the less there is still much concern amongst the town people.

Once again our book club turned into a food orgy, we love our books and we love our food.

Thank you to my daughter's Sally and Candida for taking over.  Without them I may not have been able to host book club because of my back. ♥ You girls

Pat we missed you. Louisa hope you are on the road to recovery.

I believe everyone present enjoyed the book.

Grace

                             

                    November 18, 2021                                  

   

                                           Diehards of Nov 2020

Apr 16, 2009 (earliest pic I could find, Edna was the photographer)

October 21 Meeting at Carol's

 The October book club was held at Carol’s house with the traditional Halloween theme. The costumes were entertaining as usual. Pizza, salad, snacks and various desserts were served. Everyone seemed to enjoy the book. Just imagine dying and having three nudges to change the outcome of the lives of your children. We discussed if she was in purgatory while waiting to ascend to the choir in heaven.   It was a quirky, fun book and light reading after some of our recent reads. We ate, drank, talked and laughed throughout the evening. The things we do best. 

Happy Halloween!

Carol

September 23 Meeting at Dricka's

This month's book reading was "What Only We Know' by Catherine Hokin. Nine people attended but we missed seeing Edna, Grace and Louisa.

Story starts out in Germany in 1936. Liese was working at a very notable fashion salon owned by her father, Paul Elfmann and mother Marguerite. At an early age Liese was mostly ignored by her father because of his complete adoration only for his wife. During the war she loved working in the salon but it was ripped away when she became just another Jew who the Nazis hated.

During her time at the salon she became enamored by a French buyer who thru one night of passion  became pregnant and had a daughter, Lottie, who she gave her complete love and attention. They were sent to a prison camp where her daughter was tragically murdered by a prison guard. Afterwards she  didn't want to live and attempted suicide but was rescued by a soldier who became devoted to her along with Michael, son of a worker at the salon. They both decided she should marry Andrew to be safe after a chance meeting with the guard who murdered her daughter and Liese then killed.

After moving to England, she had another daughter, Karen who she loved but couldn't forget her past and finally had the courage to end her life. After her father was admitted to hospital, she found pictures of her mother's past life. She then found Michael and understood all that her mother endured. During her time with Michael, she fell in love with is son, Marcus. The book ends with Andrew and Michael revisiting the past. Also seeing the wall in Berlin no longer divided the East and the West. A future founded on hope!

Dricka

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

June 17 Meeting at Pam's