Next Book

The next book is The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. This was Laurie's choice, and will be held at her house on February 25. Short book for a short month!

Last Unicorn synopsis as follows:

The Unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone... Thirty years ago, Peter S. Beagle entered the delicate heart and mind of a unicorn who learns one day that "I am the only unicorn there is." Readers young and old were utterly enchanted by The Last Unicorn, and, with each generation, Beagle's beloved novel grew in popularity and stature to become one of the world's all-time fantasy classics. Here, then, is the enduring tale of the last unicorn's quest for life and love... of the bumbling magician and indomitable woman who shared her dream... and of the special magic that burns deep within every heart.

Also, thanks to Dana for hosting us for The Kite Runner. Please feel free to contribute your thoughts on that book here in blog form.

Book Club -- This Sunday!

Remember, Book Club is this Sunday at 2:00 p.m. for The Kite Runner. It's at Dana's house, so if you need directions, please let me know.

As Anne mentioned, if you cannot make it to the meeting, but have read the book, please contribute your thoughts on the blog.

Hope to see you Sunday!

A Brilliant Addition!

Hello Ladies...

I wanted to take an opportunity to thank Andrea for setting up the Book Club Blog. I think this is a fantastic idea for an expansion on our original club idea...even allowing us to discuss BOOKS! We all know that sometimes book club ends up being more of a social meeting and we almost completely forget to discuss the books themselves.

Since Gerrit and I moved to Columbus, my reading has increased exponentially. Apparently I am replacing you guys with books. Smart enough, I have replaced Joseph Beth with the Columbus Public Library. It is actually a fantastic library system, even winning awards. They have this cool function where you can log-on to their computer system, put together a list of books you want to borrow, and they will pull them from the shelves and have them ready for you to pick up when you get there. Now, I haven't actually done that for an entire list of books, but plenty of people do. Typically I only use the service to pick up my book club books, otherwise I browse to find something new and interesting.

I'm still reading Pope Joan, which is to say that I mistakenly picked up another book before finishing the last three chapters of Joan. The book I'm reading isn't even that good, but I keep finding myself passing up Joan, which is weird because I liked it so much better than the new book. I really enjoy Joan's character and her passion for learning and independence. Not being Catholic, or even Christian, I have to say that the controversy of a female Pope doesn't really do much for me. However, the idea of a woman having to hide her true self in order to pursue education was an incredible story for me. Even today, women are trying to have it all and having problems figuring out how to do it.

The other book I am currently reading is Better than Chocolate by Susan Waggoner. I need to get Anne to teach me how to enter pictures and stuff into the blog, but I can post the synopsis from Amazon.com:

Be careful what you wish for. . .
Food writer Annie Wilkins is on an express elevator to fame and fortune, thanks to research scientist/husband Tom's remarkable invention: fat-free, carb-free, calorie-free chocolate that tastes better than the real thing! Once reduced to writing walleye-on-a-stick articles for Minnesota Menus, now she's living large in showcase houses and hobnobbing with the hoi polloi. Annie and "America's Sexiest Scientist" Tom happily accept their new status as the nation's most happening Fabulous Couple.
But as a high-profile spokesperson, Annie's got a corporate responsibility to change her hair, her style, and lose twenty-five pounds. Her kids are becoming too worldly too fast -- and Tom's in demand for a lot more than just his candy. If this is the American Dream, Annie needs to wake up -- because all of a sudden her marriage and her sanity are in jeopardy. . . and she's about to bottom out on top!

Ironically some of the same concepts of "wanting it all" are found here. I think it is logical from this synopsis to guess that the main character gets over involved in her "new life" to turn around and realize she has lost control of the things most special to her. To be honest, I'm finding the book overly predictable and a little too "ordinary" to really find it special. I don't think I'd suggest it for anything save a beach read, but why read rubbish when you could read something fantastic, even at the beach!


That being said, I'm really excited for everyone to read The Kite Runner. I read it in early 2005 and absolutely loved it. The story is spectacular, and while it doesn't revolve around the kites too heavily, it reminded me so much of our trip to that part of the world.


When I was in Pakistan in 2000/2001 I was told about the national past time of kite flying. At first, I kind skeptical that it was a "sport" or even that enjoyable. I mean, it is really kite flying!!! We in the States do it once in a blue moon, enjoy and afternoon and move on! But nearly every day I was there, we would go up on the roof to look around and you could the kites flying in the distance. There is a festival for kites held in Lahorem, Pakistan every year called Basant. The festival is in celebration of the new spring, and thousands of kites are put up into the air, There are competitions that involve battles of kites with crushed glass glued to their strings. They are able to maneuver the kites in such a way that they cut one another free and the last man standing wins. The painting below was a card that I bought which honors Basant. It reminded me of the home where we stayed and a fantasy of what being at the festival would be like. Hopefully it will give you a good mental image while you're reading!

book review: memory keeper's daughter by kim edwards

memory keeper's daughter, by kim edwards is about a physician in the 1960's who delivers twins by his wife during a snowstorm by themselves with a single nurse, who is all at once assistant, witness, and accomplice. one twin is a healthy boy; and one twin is a daughter with downs' syndrome. unbeknownst to his wife, he gives up the baby to an institution, and the nurse then runs away to another state to raise the child on her own. After this dramatic start the story builds on how this moment becomes a turning point in all their lives, haunting and magnifying their lives in ways they as participants cannot realize: the father with the secret sin, the mother with a sense of loss that never leaves, a distant son, and a foster mother and daughter whose love never makes anyone question their relationship.

what i like: an unexpected bonus to the story is that a good bulk of it takes place in lexington, kentucky and some parts in louisville - both places near n' dear to my heart i appreciated the author's trueness in her sense of history, taking into account politics, music, and society; one could step into the environment of this world she was creating. her attempt at following the parallel strands of life was well done as well (really difficult to do, i would think).

final thoughts: the story was good, but didn't grab me. worth borrowing at the library, not to buy. it was a good holiday read - er...for some. again, i loved the local-yokel connections.

Perfume: The Movie

For those of you who read Perfume: The Story of a Murderer for book club, the movie is now playing at The Kentucky.

Thoughts on Pope Joan

I finished reading Pope Joan last night, and passed it along to Laurie tonight (which is Tootie's copy, by the way). Here are some of my thoughts about the book:

The role of women in society, and education of women. I was most struck by the realization that over 1150 years after this story takes place (which is in the 9th century), the treatment of women hasn't changed much. In many parts of the world, a woman is still mere chattel, bought and sold. Women are refused basic human rights, prevented from being educated, and have no control over their own destinies. They are raped, mutilated, enslaved and trafficked, with no availability of justice. Sadly, this is accomplished under a banner of religious piety. While women of Joan's time were denied basic human rights because they were "daughters of Eve," other religions today twist their own dogma to support the oppression of women.

More subtle discrimination. Even though girls in America are compulsorily educated through grade 12, there are punishments against rape and domestic abuse, and equal rights laws, sexual discrimination in America is still rampant. Ours is really the first generation of women to be raised by our parents and teachers to believe that we can be whatever we want to be, we aren't restricted to certain professions, or even just staying home and birthing babies, but we are still far from being equal members of society.

The legal profession in particular is still struggling with equality for women. I worked at a firm years ago that was very discriminatory towards women, even openly so. The managing partner refused to even consider female applicants for associate positions. Only one woman attorney worked there. The same problems exist in business. Even in places where women are employed in large numbers, even in management positions, they can still be excluded from networking opportunities, which are often male-centric in design. (How would men feel if every business networking opportunity involved trips to the salon for a mani/pedi/facial?) Is it any wonder that even though women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, that only two Fortune 500 companies have a woman as a CEO or president? 90 of the 500 companies don't have any women corporate officers. Even still, this is a dramatic improvement from the past, when women weren't represented at all in higher positions in the corporate world. We've never had a woman U.S. president, but we have a record number of women in the 110th Congress (86 total, 16 Senate, 70 House), and we now have a female Speaker of the House (the first ever).

I think though, that this will get better with time, so long as we do not disenfranchise ourselves from our rightful place in society. We have to involve ourselves in politics, in policy-making, and absolutely we must vote. We have to continue to educate ourselves, beyond what degrees we've earned in college, and not back down from expecting to be treated as equals.

(Now stepping back off the feminist soapbox.)

On the historical possibilities. My husband, the self-designated Catholic historian, is of the opinion that the female pope story is as likely to be true as the story about the Loch Ness Monster. There is no direct evidence to support the notion that a female pope exists, or even that there was a Pope John between Leo and Benedict in 853. However, there is about as much evidence pointing to a female pope as there is to support stories of many of the Catholic saints. The difference is that the Church considers the saints' stories to be canon, and the female pope story to be fabrication. Was there a female pope? I think it's a possibility, but not probable. Women certainly have disguised themselves as men, throughout history, and even in modern day, in order to lead lives from which they would otherwise be excluded. Could a woman have hidden her identity for so long, been greatly educated, and won enough support from important people to be elected Pope? I think it's entirely possible. Again, just not likely. (However, more likely than the existence of prehistoric sea monsters.)

On the moral of the story. If the story is indeed only a legend, is the moral of the story that a woman is as good as a man? (To be able to pass as one and ascend to the papacy.) Or is it that if a woman were allowed to be pope, that she'd louse it up by having sex and getting knocked up? (Not that plenty of male popes didn't fornicate and produce illegitimate children. Pope Clement II is even thought to have died due to the treatment of a venereal disease.)

Overall, I liked the book. I thought it was an engaging story, and well-researched regarding details of medieval society, including medicine and the Church. The only criticism I can make is that I think the author went a little overboard on crediting Joan with the advent of modern medicine and engineering, although I do appreciate the references to these ideas that surfaced at the time (including dipping the bread into the wine, rather than drinking from the cup in times of plague outbreak). "Some ideas are dangerous" is certainly true though. So is "thinking women are dangerous." Indeed we are!