Conference call or what?

So I know it's my month to pick the book so does that make me in charge of the conference call organization? I'm just going to throw out a time here and hope that it works for all the people on both sides of the country and me still living in the middle. The middle is Utah to me, because really, who lives in the actual middle of the country? I know people do, I just don't know any of them.

Please RSVP for a book club conference call at 6:00 Mountain Standard Time

Sorry but I'm going to make you all do your own math instead of listing the different time zones here, which probably would have been easier than typing this long old sentence. I think I'm just stalling until Micah gets home...

Also, Cami - how do we do a conference call with this many people? I only know how to do a 3 way call on my phone.

I have some topics of discussion in mind for Julie and Julia, which I hated by the way - sorry about the lame pick - and Gilead as well.

Even if we don't talk about the book(s) I still think it would be REALLY fun to all talk at once and listen at once so even if you haven't read the book, RSVP

6:00 MST

Conference Call??

Hey friends. How many of you are interested in setting up a free conference call to talk about this month's book? We would have to find a time we are all available. Maybe a Sunday evening or something. Leave a comment if you are interested and give your input for when you might like to have it (ex: sunday evenings, saturday mornings, etc).

The Help: Better Late Than Never

I finished reading "the help" several weeks ago, but I've been kind of busy and without the internet. Camille mentioned something about me living in Jackson, and honestly, I don't remember much since I was only 3-6 years old. However, this book did make me realize that when people talk about how there is still a lot of racism in the south, that they are right. In the past, whenever I have heard people talk about racism in the U.S. I always think they are exaggerating. In my head I'm thinking "come on people! That was a long time ago! Most people think differently now!" But as I read this book I thought about those young housewives in the 1960's who had black women working in their homes and who were themselves probably raised by their black maids. I thought about the fact that if those women were in their 20's during the 1960's that means they are in their 60's now! That is like my mom's age and that isn't very old. It made me realize that the people who grew up in the south during times of segregation are still pretty young. I'm sure they have tried their best to overcome their feelings of superiority to black people, but you can't just magically undo 20 plus years of life experience. So of course racism is still a huge issue in the south.
On to my next thought, which I hope nobody finds offensive. As I was reading I kept wondering what I would have done if I were one of those girls who was raised in the south during that time. Would I feel that black people were inferior? Would I have a maid? Would I treat them badly? I want so badly to believe that I would not, but it started me thinking about how we adopt the culture and mindsets we are raised in. And all of us are living a good example of that as members of the church. Now, I realize that this is different because we have all gained for ourselves personal testimonies of the gospel and we aren't just blindly following. But at the same time, my guess is that not many of us SERIOUSLY doubted the truths we were taught growing up; we are pretty willing to believe what our parents have taught us all of our lives. I feel like for me especially, I was (and still am) never the type of person to question what I'd been taught from my parents. For that reason, I doubt that I would be the Skeeter type, even though I want so badly to be compared to the 'good' person in the book. I don't want to be one of those crazy stupid girls, but you never know. And recent events have people outside of the church comparing us to racists. As members of the church and many other good, moral people campaigned for proposition 8 in California, we were compared to people like the women in "The Help". I however, strongly disagree with the comparison, but we can't be blind to the fact that other people think there is not a difference. Some people believe that we are discriminating and hateful. So those are just a couple of thoughts I had while reading the book. Overall I LOVED it. If you will notice, my book choices have followed a theme: the South. I didn't even mean for that to happen, but I guess I am a southerner now. Camille, I'm also wondering why the part with the naked man was included; it just kind of popped out of nowhere. Love you all!

........

I don't know if anybody approved the book change or not, but I've read almost half of Julie and Julia and I'm totally disappointed! I don't think I can handle reading any more of these completely self absorbed and narcissistic bloggers' books. Why can't they get over themselves?

I really like the idea of the book and I suspect and really hope that the movie is better. I think it has great potential as a movie.

I like hearing about food and the recipes, etc. But I DO NOT CARE ABOUT THIS GIRL'S LIFE!

She swears a whole lot and writes about sex a whole lot. I always wish that somehow the Dad in The Hiding Place could have taught the whole world about sex. Do you remember the analogy he used about carrying a heavy suit case on a trip but that his daughter was not yet strong enough to carry the load so he told her that he would carry it until she was strong enough. Julie Powell doesn't care how heavy the load is and she doesn't mind telling anybody else all about it.

Does anybody else hear me on the self absorbed blogger subject, or is that just me who is completely bugged by those people?

I am hopeful because within the last couple of pages I read Julie wrote, "So that night I made my New Year's resolution, better late than never: To Get Over My Damned Self." See? She swears all the time.

Also, sometimes I wonder if these people bother me so much because I am like them....

Has anyone else started reading the book yet? Either of them? I have a lot more to say, but I don't want to give anything away.

Also, what do you guys think about scheduling a group g-chat session to talk about this book? I know it would be crazy to follow, but I think it would be fun.

We're progressive, right?

So, I got the book Gilead and I like it, but I also REALLY want to read Julie and Julia before I see the movie, so I'm making a radical decision and I'm changing my choice. It is August 1st so I hope I don't cause too much trouble for anyone who bought the book already.

It's available on paperback now and I'm going to buy it tomorrow.

Is that okay with you guys? I'm still going to read Gilead, just after I'm done reading Julie & Julia.

Ahem...

I'm really excited about announcing the book for August and I'm doing it early because I think those who are going to have already finished The Help (that was really enjoyable and I still find myself trying to make time to go read it).

I had 2 books in mind that I really want to read. The Founding Brothers and Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work.

We are reading neither.

I chose The Gilead by Marilynne Robinson based on Molly Rowan's recommendation. It sounds like just the story I'm in the mood for - fathers, faith, truth, .....
It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2005. Here is a lengthy description of the book.

Books such as these take time, and thought, and a certain kind of genius. There are no invidious comparisons to be made. Robinson's books are unalike in every way but one: the same incisive thought and careful prose illuminate both.

The narrator, John Ames, is 76, a preacher who has lived almost all of his life in Gilead, Iowa. He is writing a letter to his almost seven-year-old son, the blessing of his second marriage. It is a summing-up, an apologia, a consideration of his life. Robinson takes the story away from being simply the reminiscences of one man and moves it into the realm of a meditation on fathers and children, particularly sons, on faith, and on the imperfectability of man.

The reason for the letter is Ames's failing health. He wants to leave an account of himself for this son who will never really know him. His greatest regret is that he hasn't much to leave them, in worldly terms. "Your mother told you I'm writing your begats, and you seemed very pleased with the idea. Well, then. What should I record for you?" In the course of the narrative, John Ames records himself, inside and out, in a meditative style. Robinson's prose asks the reader to slow down to the pace of an old man in Gilead, Iowa, in 1956. Ames writes of his father and grandfather, estranged over his grandfather's departure for Kansas to march for abolition and his father's lifelong pacifism. The tension between them, their love for each other and their inability to bridge the chasm of their beliefs is a constant source of rumination for John Ames. Fathers and sons.

The other constant in the book is Ames's friendship since childhood with "old Boughton," a Presbyterian minister. Boughton, father of many children, favors his son, named John Ames Boughton, above all others. Ames must constantly monitor his tendency to be envious of Boughton's bounteous family; his first wife died in childbirth and the baby died almost immediately after her. Jack Boughton is a ne'er-do-well, Ames knows it and strives to love him as he knows he should. Jack arrives in Gilead after a long absence, full of charm and mischief, causing Ames to wonder what influence he might have on Ames's young wife and son when Ames dies.

These are the things that Ames tells his son about: his ancestors, the nature of love and friendship, the part that faith and prayer play in every life and an awareness of one's own culpability. There is also reconciliation without resignation, self-awareness without deprecation, abundant good humor, philosophical queries--Jack asks, "'Do you ever wonder why American Christianity seems to wait for the real thinking to be done elsewhere?'"--and an ongoing sense of childlike wonder at the beauty and variety of God's world.

In Marilynne Robinson's hands, there is a balm in Gilead, as the old spiritual tells us. --Valerie Ryan

I loved this book!

I finally got to finish it yesterday. These days I only like to read if I can spend at least an hour at a time doing it so it took a while to find those hour blocks, but once I found them it didn't take very many for me to finish. I LOVED reading this book!

I can't wait to see it as a movie. For some reason I thought about the whole time I read.

Also, Randi - do you really think that Elizabeth was the worst villain in the book? I thought Hilly was the nastiest. I guess I kind of saw Elizabeth as some kind of a victim of Hilly. I mean don't get me wrong, we all make our own choices, but she was just trying to make Hilly think she was cool. And Hilly knew it. She knew that about everyone and she manipulated them. That's why I think she was the worst.

I can't wait to hear what Cami has to say about it having lived in Jackson. I mean I know she was young, but I'm sure it became part of her family culture.

Also, I'm not sure about that part at Celia's with the naked man in the yard. Maybe it was because I read that part when I only had 10 minutes to read so it was kind of choppy for me. It seemed like all of a sudden there was this terrible thing that a black and white woman were sharing and overcame together, but it just seemed kind of out of the blue. Anybody else?

Hmmm, what else.... I wondered a lot which character I would have identified with had I been born a white girl in Jackson, Mississippi at that time. Now, without a doubt I would be some version of Skeeter, but I always wonder how strong I could be if that's what I grew up in. Anybody else?

I love you all. Good work with all the amazing things you're doing in your lives right now.

Is it my turn to choose next?