Waltzing the Cat

Hostess: Erin (me)

Book: Waltzing the Cat by Pam Houston

Food: Lemon Risotto with Asparagus, hummus, pita, baguette, brie en croute, brownies, cheese and crackers

Wine of the Night: Fetzer Merlot

Month: February

My step mom Shellie introduced me to this book and author years ago, and I fell in love with Houston's writing from the minute I opened the book. I couldn't wait to hear what my friends thought of it as well.

Lucy O'Rourke is a fearless figure, traveling about hither and yon, camera in hand, navigating rapid rivers. I read this and think, what a great life, I would love to be a traveling photographer, going on adventures and experiencing new cultures. The only thing that seems to trip her up are her relationships with men. We go from one relationship to the next with Lucy, wondering what is around every turn ~ and we learn she has some excess baggage from her childhood too.

This book is a series of short stories, all about Lucy. We all seemed to have our favorites ~ Chrissy enjoyed the title story, I liked Three Lessons in Amazonian Biology, Jennifer's favorite was Then You Get Up and Have Breakfast...we all seemed to enjoy different stories. When it came to Lucy's relationships, we seemed to root for either Erik Sorenson, the alcoholic, or Marcus, who seems like he will be the one, but is not. We all thought Carter was a joke, and couldn't believe Lucy was even with him! For a while, it seemed like we were talking about the relationships of someone we knew. The book had its emotional ups and downs, aside from Lucy's man troubles - I know quite a few of us said we cried when we read about Lucy's mother, I was sick inside waiting for Ellie the dog to get better, and hoping that she would.

All in all, this book seemed to have a bit of everything for all of us, and we are a group of women with very distinct and different personalities, with interests in common. And, this is the third book I have chosen that features water as a theme and literary device. I am going to have to investigate that further, I think.

Next month is Mary ~ she has chosen A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gaines. It should be a thought provoking read, and I am looking forward to it!