Books and Book Clubs

I belong to two book clubs; one rather new as of December 2007 and one that I've attended, though erratically for the last few years but joined way back in 2001. I fully expect to be "kicked off" my original book club for shoddy attendance but am thinking I may try to get involved again. The last meeting I attended was just a year ago when the book selection was my good friend's memoir, Secret Girl, by Molly Bruce Jacobs. As for the new book club, I've attended two meetings (they are bimonthly which I've confirmed means every other month as opposed to semimonthly which is twice a month....I didn't know that for sure until just now) and am still getting accustomed to being the "newbie" in that group.

Book club #1 (my original group) is reading Tracy Kidder's book Mountains Beyond Mountains, a nonfiction selection which looks interesting. I've got 17 days to read that if I decide to attend. This group meets monthly and serves what we call "treats" (dessert) after we finish the discussion.

Book club #2 is reading Sir Walter Scott's, Ivanhoe. Oh my. Classic fiction is not my favorite and this one, published in 1819 is 450 some pages. I haven't turned a single one and have 21 days to finish it before the meeting. Book club #2 typically picks all six selections for the year in advance. I could have gotten ahead by starting early on this tome, but didn't. Throwing in a classic is their tradition. The group meets for an evening which includes munchies and wine before a full sit down meal. And, the book is discussed around the dinner table. Very nice.

I need to finish up what I'm currently reading so that I can start on these two. Wrapping up Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See and In the Tennessee Country by Peter Taylor (kind of a groaner) is the first order of business. Lisa See's novel about women's lives in 19th century China is riveting; especially enlightening with regard to binding of female children's feet at ages 6-7. I had never really understood how this was done and it is quite brutal; many children died of septic complications as a result of infected feet as their broken bones broke through the skin (outrageous). That the author takes a dispassionate view of the process is intentional; she aims to portray the practice as it was viewed in those days; a necessity if a young girl was to be married into a good family. Female children were worthless otherwise. The only hope was to marry them off and pray that they produced male offspring and were obedient servants to their husbands and mothers-in-law. The bound feet, even when "healed" could be a constant source of pain and obvious disability for mature women but were considered sexually erotic by their husbands. The smaller the feet, the better. Amazing.

One advantage of reading these hundreds of pages this month is that doing so will keep me off my knee and allow it to rest. I cannot read while bearing weight or moving so that's a positive. I will consider this as part of my rehabilitation exercises.