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!

The Knockout Artist

Hostess: Alyssa

Book:The Knockout Artist by Harry Crews

Food: Salmon with leeks and jalapeno, toasted bread with goat cheese, pears and roasted red pepper, triple chocolate torte

Wine of the Night: Tormenta

Month: January

First book club of the new year, and I needed it. I have been feeling a little bummed out this week, with all that has been going on, but apparently all I needed was book club. Good friends, good food, good conversation, and of course good wine.

Alyssa always picks books with strange, sordid characters living the basest forms of life, doing the worst possible things to get by. Eugene Biggs may not have quite hit rock bottom, but he was lingering around down there with a crazy cast of characters. Oyster Boy, Charity, Pete..

We all agreed the book was hard to get into. For me, the turning point was the introduction of Charity. She was a bigger mystery to me - like what was her story? She acted like a super academic, but she was really just crazy. Karin and I agreed that she was just getting off on her relationship with Eugene, and had the money to live out the farce she was producing. Ironically though, it is crazy Charity's "work" that finally gets the lead out of Eugene and gets him to want to change his life. Shame and humiliation kept him from going home, but reading what Charity thought of him, and realizing that he was just an unique party favor was the epiphany creating moment.

Will I read Harry Crews again? Probably - Alyssa told us about one novel that sounded kind of interesting, although I can't recall the title. I will have to find out. He looks like an interesting guy too.

Karin, at her book club meeting in November, mentioned that we all have a pattern of book choices, which was really interesting. I have been thinking about this, and will continue thinking about this until I decide what pattern I seem to follow. I already did find a common theme that runs through all my choices, although I don't think this is what Karin meant. All of my choices have involved water as a major player ~ Remembering Blue, The Problem with Murmur Lee, and now my next choice, Waltzing the Cat. I hope to explore this idea further, as it develops in my mind.

The next book club book is Waltzing the Cat by Pam Houston, my choice. I am looking forward to rereading this book, Pam Houston is a favorite of mine.