Sunday, October 22, 2006

October's Book Club

With a chill in the air and an extra sweater draped over our shoulders, our book club shared a warm campfire on Snow Lake. All nine of us were present as we pulled our chairs closer to the fire as the sun set in a sapphire blue sky over the water.

We had intended to eat dinner in the house and then follow the path to the campfire, but the day's end was too lovely, and we all knew that snow and winter will soon be upon us. We balanced books and a delicious white bean chili with homemade crusted bread and steaming cups of hot cider as we first told the stories and the events of the past months. (With nine women, there are many stories and events!)

Alas, alas, we finally were on to the book, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker. The book was published in 1982 with Ms. Walker receiving a Pulitzer Prize for her work. The book was a controversial piece of literature of 1982, especially for a woman writer. We tried to imagine reading it for the first time and yet no one could remember the movie, although we knew there was one. Several of the members found the book blandly written without the flowery language we all adore, but we took an in depth look into the history of the book and the author and realized, of course, the reasons for this type of writing. When it came time to give the book (five pages being the top score), the vote settled on four. I gave it a perfect five, but was out voted!

Our conversation turned towards other books we had read during the month and book events taking place within out county.

The inky black sky brought our breathes in wisps as we toasted marshmallows for s'mores and again resumed our idle conversation. It was late when we pulled our chairs back up to the patio and warmed our hands once more by the campfire knowing that it would be the last for many months.

Next month our read is Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman, why not join us?

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