Summer Pot Luck Selection: The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

All three of the Holmes Public Library book clubs will come together in one big group on Tuesday, August 18, at 6 p.m. to share a pot luck supper and talk about The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz, a fun summer read. Hope you can make it!

What We Thought: The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg

Afternoon Book Club
July 14, 2015

All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion

by Fannie Flagg

“Whom the heart first loves does not know or care if they are related by blood.”

 Fannie Flagg

The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion is a story of two family histories and a decades old secret that ties them together. Mrs. Sookie Poole of Point Clear, Alabama is looking forward to a relaxing retirement when a secret is revealed that takes her back in time to the 1940’s Pulaski, Wisconsin. Sookie is horrified to learn of her true family heritage but grows to love and appreciate the richness of both backgrounds.This plot line stimulated a lot of discussion about genealogical research and surprises in book club member’s own lives which paralleled the All-Girl story.

Members enjoyed reading the book and readily connected with the characters’ stories. They loved the descriptions of their individuality and quirks. Everyone had a favorite, but Sookie’s mother, Lenore, the force of nature was liked by all. She had great friends and was well loved and more than tolerated by her husband in spite of her eccentric ways.

The story goes back and forth from southern culture in the present with Sookie’s family and friends to Fritzi Willinka Jurdablalinskie’s Polish family in 1930’s and 1940’s and their Wisconsin Phillips 66 Filling Station to Howard Hughes Airport and Avenger Field in Texas during World War II, ending up in the Danish settlement Solvang (Sunny Fields), California, complete with windmills. The author effortlessly ties up loose ends and family connections.

Several discussions about the importance of religion and morality in family life during the World War II era compared to how life has changed in our time added another dimension to the conversation. Some felt that the changes were for the good and the openness in contemporary society is more beneficial to children who would have been ostracized in earlier years.

Another strong theme was the actual history of the WASPS (Women Air Force Service Pilots), women pilots who were recruited and trained to fly military planes so they could fly the new planes from the factories where they were built on to military bases for male Air Force pilots and their war missions. This part of military history had been sealed and classified for thirty-five years without recognition. This was an unexpected revelation to most readers but not surprising due to the strong characterization of the women in this story.

Billy Bevins  “Hiya, Pals”   

Polish strudel from a bakery

What We Thought: Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Afternoon Readers

June 2015

Caleb’s Crossing

by Geraldine Brooks

“At sunset, if I am near the water-and it is hard to be very far from it here -- I pause to watch the splendid disc set the brine aflame and then douse itself in its own fiery broth.” -- Caleb's Crossing

Afternoon Book Club members met to discuss Caleb’s Crossing, a novel inspired by the life of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, a member of the Wopanaak tribe of Noepe (Martha’s Vineyard), Massachusett,s born about 1646, and the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College.

Several themes drive the story: the differences between the cultures of Native Americans whose ancestral home was the island and the English people who first bargained with them for their land and then overwhelmed them with laws, religion, education, language, and the transformation of their agriculture and hunting grounds. The fictional character of Bethia Mayfield represents the role of women of the time and how they were repressed and denied opportunities by men justified by English religion in combination with English justice. They were treated not much better than Native Americans. Readers were stunned as well as impressed by Bethia’s sacrifices in order to pursue the education that was not allowed to women.  

Despite the superior scholarly achievements of Caleb and other Native Americans who were educated by English ministers and others, there was a deep racial prejudice against them. Notwithstanding this, Caleb had decided to give up his tribal destiny to become a judge in order to help the Wopanaak deal fairly with the English. His prep school education and college degree came at a great price for his social life and health. The education and Christianization of Caleb and his fellow students at Harvard meant leaving behind Wampanoag culture, language and beliefs. “In the time Joel and Caleb were here, they had to do those things basically to survive and to thrive,” Tiffany Smalley said. “It was out of necessity and changing and becoming Christian Indians, all with the goal of bringing it back to their community.”

He was the very first Native American to graduate from Harvard in 1665. In 2011, Tiffany Smalley was the first Martha’s Vineyard Wopanaak since Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk to complete an undergraduate degree at Harvard. As her family and leaders of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) looked on, Ms. Smalley also accepted a second diploma — a posthumous degree for Caleb’s classmate and fellow Island Wampanoag, Joel Iacoomes, who died in a shipwreck shortly before receiving his degree. He was not acknowledged at the 1665 graduation despite the belief that he would have been the valedictorian. Ms. Smalley noted that Mr. Iacoomes’s degree comes after seven denials from Harvard over the years.

Readers enjoyed Caleb’s story for the meticulously researched history and local color, but felt sadness about the lives of members of both cultures during that time. They decided that people and events of long ago can still resonate in our time of 21st-century Massachusetts.

Please add your thoughts about Caleb's Crossing or other related books in the comments!

This Month's Selection: Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Afternoon Readers Book Club

 

Wed., June 16, 1:00 p.m.

 

Caleb's Crossing

 

by Geraldine Brooks

Bethia Mayfield is a restless and curious young woman growing up in Martha's Vineyard in the 1660s amid a small band of pioneering English Puritans. At age twelve, she meets Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the two forge a secret bond that draws each into the alien world of the other. Bethia's father is a Calvinist minister who seeks to convert the native Wampanoag, and Caleb becomes a prize in the contest between old ways and new, eventually becoming the first Native American graduate of Harvard College.

Inspired by a true story and narrated by the irresistible Bethia, Caleb’s Crossing brilliantly captures the triumphs and turmoil of two brave, openhearted spirits who risk everything in a search for knowledge at a time of superstition and ignorance.

We welcome comments about the monthly selection either here or on our discussion post after our face-to-face meeting! Feel free to jump in any time, whether you're a regular member of the group or not!
 

What We Thought: The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman

Readers remarked about how the author’s beautifully written passages in The Story Sisters elicited strong emotions from them. Even though the subject matter was dark and tragic at times the interior lives of the characters shone through the clouds masking reality. Alice Hoffman inspired readers to say that it can be possible to survive misfortune, but not always and usually at great personal cost.

Some had a definite dislike of Annie Story, the sister’s mother because they believed that she could have paid more attention to her girls. Annie was in her own world of denial about her “perfect children” and didn’t notice their atypical behavior until much too late to save them from themselves. Others gave her break and said that children keep secrets and take care of each other. After much discussion readers admitted that no one was to blame for circumstances beyond their control. Ultimately blame was for the person who hurt Elv, starting her on her destructive path.

Everyone liked Natalia, Annie’s mother. She nurtured all three granddaughters in extravagant and loving ways. She celebrated their unique qualities and gave them room to explore. Natalia gave them the gift of vacations in Paris and introductions to her eccentric friends. We all wished for a grandmother like her. Annie had the gift of friendship with Pete, the detective she hired to find her eldest Elv. He became a beloved companion in her later years and surrogate parent to the girls. He was able to come to terms with sorrow in his own life through his relationships with each of them.

Readers said that the fairy tale introductions of chapters and the fantasies of the girls contrasted with the stark reality of their lives. Their escape got in the way of dealing with their trauma. By the end of the book the Story sisters came to terms with each other and were able to work out a semblance of redeemed lives.

“The nature of love had totally escaped her until now. She had thought that if you lost it, you could never get it back, like a stone thrown down a well. But it was like the water at the bottom of the well, there when you can’t even see it, shifting in the dark.”

 -- Alice Hoffman, The Story Sisters