“Books to the ceiling, Books to the sky, My piles of books are a mile high. How I love them! How I need them! I’ll have a long beard by the time I read them.” ( “ Books to the Ceiling”) by Arnold Lobel. Due to the fact that at this time the book club is all women, I changed the last part to “We’ll live on Mars by the time I read them.” This pretty much sums up the life of book club members from what I have gleaned through our discussions. We met January 9 at the library and had a two pronged discussion. We first discussed some books we had read, books we liked and those we wouldn’t recommend, books we want to read but haven’t. There was much sharing of people’s recommendations. It’s always fascinating to hear what books have captured other’s attention and praise.
For January we had chosen to read, “The Last Child” by John Hart. Sharon Robertson suggested this book and ably led the discussion. This is a mystery that had us charmed like a snake charms a bird.. I think everyone was surprised and shocked with the final revelations. The main character is a twelve year old boy. His twin sister has been missing a year and Johnny’s life has been forever altered. His mother has slid into a grief that encompasses alcohol , total apathy and an abusive boyfriend. His father has left. Johnny determines he will find out where his sister is and what happened. He shows determination and guile beyond his age. He methodically starts out with a plan of search, a map he has constructed himself and his bike. Everyone agreed it was a really good read and a superlative mystery. One person thought it dark but most of us did not. It was certainly not a happy book by any means but a believable tale that did encompass lies, secrets and the dark side of humanity.
We again had 5 Havre ladies with Sandy, Jackie and Cathy, providing the lunch. We enjoyed small cream cheese pin wheel sandwiches spiced with relish and other items,(which I mean to find out about next meeting), crackers, cheese, meats and two kinds of homemade cookies . One, a lovely soft gingersnap and the other, a cookie with creamy lemon icing. There were two other sweets that looked enticing but I confess my greed took me just so far, and did not include them.
I think everyone enjoyed the evening and the conversations that took place. It’s always fun to meet with like minds. We have chosen,” Travels with Charlie” by John Steinbeck for our February book. Our meeting will take place February 6 at seven o’clock at the library. Come out and enjoy an interesting, fun, evening.
