November 2011 - Mountains Beyond Mountains

Five members of Turning Leaves Book Club met at Geri Beckman's home on November 14th to discuss the book Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder. 

A quick description of the book from the publisher:

In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Kidder’s magnificent account takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.” At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb “Beyond mountains there are mountains”–as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.

The group was somewhat divided in opinion about the book, with ratings ranging from quite low to very high.  Everyone was in agreement that Dr. Farmer was an amazing person to read about, but the book was somewhat cumbersome to read at times. 

Dr. Farmer's story made for some interesting conversations about personal sacrifice (what good do we do not for ourselves?), generosity, tradeoffs that we make, and distribution of wealth and medical services throughout the world.   The title was an appropriate one for this one and for life in general, as as you struggle and fight to climb over one mountain, there is always another one beyond to provide further challenge.

After discussion of the book, Geri served a decadent apple cake with caramel topping where the group finalized plans for our holiday outing on Friday, December 2nd at Sanders in Grand Forks.  This will be our meeting for the month and no books are planned for December.  Looking ahead, we added These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine to our reading list for January.  Mary Weltz is planning to host that month.  The book for February will by Ordinary People by Judith Guest. 

The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted - October 2011

Marcia Rost hosted the book club at her home on Thursday, October 27th.  We had a nice turnout this month, with only a couple of the members unable to make it. 

Our book this month was a book of short stories by Elizabeth Berg titled The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted.  A customer review on Amazon.com summarizes the book as follows:

In the title story, the narrator leaves a Weight Watchers meeting and vows to eat whatever she wants all day long. She starts out at Dunkin' Donuts, carrying a box of her favorites to her car. "I looked around and there was no one so I ran my tongue along every single surface of every single donut.... Sexual in a way, but more yeasty and better." Later she gives precise directions from Chicago's O'Hare airport to a Superdawg -- just in case you share her passion for Whoopercheesies.

More poignant stories describe an elderly couple's old dog dying and a chance encounter a middle-aged woman has with her first love.

What all of the stories share is humanity. Regardless of which one you're reading, you find yourself nodding your head, thinking "Yes, that's true."

Here's the list of stories:
1. The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted
2. Returns and Exchanges
3. The Party
4. Over the Hill and into the Woods
5. Full Count
6. Rain
7. The Day I Ate Nothing I Even Remotely Wanted
8. Mrs. Ethel Menafee and Mrs. Birdie Stoltz
9. Double Diet
10. The Only One of Millions Just Like Him
11. Truth or Dare
12. How to Make an Apple Pie
13. Sin City
 The book was generally liked by the group with ratings ranging from a 6 to 8.5.  Some found it more difficult to "get in to" the short stories where the characters and plot do not have as much time to develop.  The group varied in the extent they could relate to some of the stories too.  The discussion questions were fun to go through and spawned talks of what we would do to be spontaneous (full meals with top shelf alcohol and 2 desserts, buttered popcorn and a cigarette, flying off to Vegas or to see a show, etc) to first kisses (not sure where that came from). 

Marcia topped the evening off by serving a delectable frozen dessert.  Thank you Marcia for your hospitality and having us in your home.

Looking ahead, we are planning to read Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder.  Geri will be hosting at her home on November 14th at 7:00 pm.  At that time we will finalize plans for a holiday outing, most likely on December 2 or 3.

On a sad note, we say goodbye (hopefully just temporarily) to two longstanding members.  Char and Pam have decided to put book club on hold for a while.  We wish them well as they focus on other areas of their busy lives, but we hope to have them back again soon.  Be sure to keep up with all of us on this blog girls!

Happy Reading!

 

"You cannot open a book without learning something." Confucius