I saw this and had to share.

I Wish I Could Read Like a Girl

By MICHELLE SLATALLA
Published: December 31, 2008
FOR weeks now, I have been watching my children endure life in the fishbowl of the holiday season. On hiatus from school, they swim patient laps around one another in the cramped space of a family.

I don’t envy this. I know from personal experience that the last thing you want, in that awkward decade when you are trying to figure out who you are and where you are headed, is the pressure of being under the constant observation of cranky grown-ups who wonder why you aren’t unloading the dishwasher for them more often.
My daughters cope with having to live around me in much the same way that I remember dealing with my mother. They sleep in. They stay up very late. They put gasoline in the car just often enough to neutralize criticism.
Watching these delicate negotiations makes me glad to be past that stage of life. Most of the time. But there is one thing I notice my daughters doing when they hang around the house that makes me ache, with a terrible yearning, to be young again. They read.
Or more precisely, they read like I did when I was a girl. They drape themselves across chairs and sofas and beds — any available horizontal surface will do, in a pinch — and they allow a novel to carry them so effortlessly from one place to another that for a time they truly don’t care about anything else.
I miss the days when I felt that way, curled up in a corner and able to get lost in pretty much any plot. I loved stories indiscriminately, because each revealed the world in a way I had never considered before. The effect was so profound that I can still remember vividly the experiences of reading “Little Women” (in my bedroom, by flashlight) and “Mrs. ’Arris Goes to Paris” (in a Reader’s Digest condensed version at my grandmother’s) and “The Diamond in the Window” (sitting cross-legged on the linoleum amid the stacks at the public library). And a thousand others. After each, I would emerge a changed person.
This has nothing to do with the way I “read” these days, with piles of books sitting forlornly on the night table, skimmed and dog-eared and dusty as they wait listlessly for me to feel a compelling urge to return to them, to finish “Beginner’s Greek” or “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” or even, God help me, “Midnight’s Children.”
That I can be sitting here now in another room two floors away from those half-digested stories and be engaged, without longing for them, in an entirely different activity is not something I would have believed possible when I was young.
I am not sure when or exactly how I started merely reading books instead of living in them. I could make the usual excuses about how I no longer have the luxury of time to give in to my imagination; when I sit down with a book, I feel the pressure — of unfinished work, unfolded laundry, unpaid bills. But I suppose the true reason is sadder. It’s an inevitable byproduct of growing up that I formed too many opinions of my own to be able to give in wholeheartedly to the prospect of living inside someone else’s universe.
Unfortunately there is only a narrow window of time, after one learns to read but before one gets old enough to read critically, to fully appreciate the sweet sadness of “Mick Harte Was Here” or the orphan’s longing in “Taash and the Jesters” — I read that one eight times the summer I was 10 — or the trapped restlessness of being the teenaged “Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones.”
Among my three daughters, whose ages are 19, 17 and 11, I see signs of an inevitable progression toward being skeptical readers.
I fear Zoe, the oldest, has completely lost the childhood gift of being able to suspend disbelief. Last week, in an attempt to delay the transition, I dug out for her one of my favorite frothy romances — an Elinor Lipman novel called “The Inn at Lake Devine.”
But results of that experiment were mixed.
“How was it?” I asked a few days later.
“I couldn’t stop reading it,” she said, before adding, with regret, “but I knew from the beginning how it would turn out.”
Ella, my middle daughter, has been taught in high school to be an analytical reader. I have mixed feelings about this: good preparation for taking standardized tests, but bad for someone who is trying to revel without reservation in the absurd plot twists of “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” It took me hours to persuade her it was O.K. to turn her back on everything she had learned in science class about the time-space continuum.
Clementine, who is 11, is the luckiest. She’s still young, so she was able to leave the rest of us behind for whole days this year when she was off somewhere else, inhabiting the world of a sign-language-knowing chimp in “Hurt Go Happy.”
Currently, she totes around the house one or another of the doorstopper-heavy volumes in Stephanie Meyer’s vampire-loves-mortal-girl series. She comes to the dinner table wearing the hollow-eyed, devotional expression of someone who has just glimpsed something wonderful in a distant land.
Although there is much about the vampire books to make an adult reader roll her eyes — Edward is too controlling and Bella has the sort of low self-esteem mothers hope will never plague their own daughters — I understand the appeal. At Clementine’s age, I too would have been able to smell Edward and feel the delicious iciness of his breath on the back of my neck. And at several hundred pages apiece, the series of four easily would have carried me through winter break.

We’re Booked Reading List
Inaugural Meeting February, 1996

1996:
Emma – Jane Austen (Mar)
Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquival (Apr)
My Antonia – Willa Cather (May)
Snow Falling on Cedars – David Guterson (June)
Cold Sassy Tree – Olive Ann Burns (July)
Beach Music – Pat Conroy (Aug)
Ladder of Years – Ann Tyler (Sept – We named ourselves We’re Booked! Oprah’s Book Club was created – copycat!)
The Bean Trees – Barbara Kingsolver (Oct)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe (Nov)
Pigs in Heaven – Barbara Kingsolver (Dec – Several of us joined the WWW and shared our shiny new email addresses!)

1997:
The Horse Whisperer – Nicholas Evans (Jan)
[January 14 we went on our “Gabaldon Getaway” to Cupertino to meet our idol!]
The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx (Feb – Our 1 year anniversary.)
Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison (Mar)
Cross Creek – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (Apr)
She Flew the Coop – Michael Lee West (May)
Bone – Fae Myenne Ng (June)
The Temple of my Familiar – Alice Walker (July)
Object Lessons – Anna Quindlen (Aug)
The Sixteen Pleasures – Robert Hellenga (Sept – We attended the Manteca Wine Stroll on September 18. Quite a night.)
A Civil Action – Jonathan Harr (Oct)
She’s Come Undone – Wally Lamb (Nov)
A Literary Christmas – Compilation (Dec)

1998:
Wicked – Gregory Maguire (Jan)
The Pull of the Moon – Elizabeth Berg (Feb)
The Giant’s House – Elizabeth McCracken (Mar)
A Map of the World – Jane Hamilton (Apr)
The Romance Reader – Pearl Abraham (May)
Animal Husbandry – Laura Zigman (June)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith (July)
Salt Dancers – Ursula Hegi (Aug)
Under the Tuscan Sun – Frances Mayes (Sept)
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood – Rebecca Wells (Oct)
Life Estates – Shelby Hearon (Nov – Newborn Karenna Nicole made the front page of the newsletter! Victoria joined the group and announced that a playmate for Karenna would be coming along soon.)
A Cup of Tea – Amy Ephron (Dec)

1999:
The Mistress of Spices – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Jan)
Cold Mountain – Charles Frazier (Feb – Ex-member Robin Klutts started our first spin-off group, “The Happy Bookers.”)
The Hundred Secret Senses – Amy Tan (Mar)
Charming Billy – Alice McDermott (Apr – Ex-member Sandy Peterson’s book group – our second spin-off - videotaped a meeting segment for the Oprah Winfrey show, but ended up on the cutting-room floor.)
Your Oasis on Flame Lake – Lorna Landvik (May – We had a shower of books for Victoria and Baby Boy Brunn.)
Flaming Iguanas – Ericka Lopez (June)
The Reader – Bernhard Schlink (July)
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden (Aug)
Where the Heart Is – Billie Letts (Sept – Barbara Henry starts a third spin-off group!)
Dear Exile – Hilary Liftin (Oct)
The Inn at Lake Divine – Elinor Lipman (Nov)
Hannah’s Daughters – Fredriksson (Dec)


2000:
Tender at the Bone – Ruth Reichl (Jan)
A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving (Feb)
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister – Gregory Maguire (Mar)
April meeting cancelled. We took a field trip to UOP to hear Frances Mayes and enjoyed her southern-accented Italian.
Crooked Little Heart – Anne LaMott (May - Barbara Henry rejoined the group.)
Lost Horizon – James Hilton (June)
Body and Soul – Frank Conroy (July – We discussed Body and Soul and had a bookie bridal shower for Barbara Henry.)
Middlemarch – George Elliott (Aug – Kim attempted to swing the vote by nominated two Bush-related titles!)
House of Sand and Fog – Andre Dubus III (Sept)
Midwives – Chris Bohjalian (Oct)
Cry to Heaven – Anne Rice (Nov)
In December, we met informally to discuss books we were reading outside of book group and enjoyed the holiday season together.

2001:
The Ladies’ Man – Elinor Lipman (Jan – We made a decision to change our meeting time from 2:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., beginning in Feb.)
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver (Feb – our 5th anniversary was celebrated at Mallard’s in Stockton!)
Waiting – Ha Jin (Mar)
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind – Ann B. Ross (Apr)
The Red Tent – Anita Diamant (May)
I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith (June)
Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain (July – Jeannine’s son John – who at the time was a chef at the Ritz-Carlton in S.F. – and his fiance cooked a fabulous lunch for us!)
Blonde – Joyce Carol Oates (Aug – Newly wed Lisa G. writes the group about renting the Michigan house, living in a trailer, and prepared for her and Randy’s Pacific Ocean voyage.)
Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels (Sept)
Saying Grace – Beth Gutcheon (Oct)
Warriors Don’t Cry – (Nov) Melba Pattillo Beals
December – Again we met for a potluck and discussion of books read outside of book group.

2002:
Songs in Ordinary Time – Mary McGarry Morris (Jan - 5 of us went to S.F. to see/hear/meet Anthony Bourdain and had him sign our favorite passages in the book.)
Jemima J – Jane Green (Feb)
Life is So Good – George Dawson & Richard Glaubman (Feb – We discussed two books in Feb)
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte (Mar – 50th issue of the “We’re Booked” newsletter.)
Joy in the Morning – Betty Smith (Apr – News-packed month! Guest contributor, Karenna Martinez, shared her latest read, “I Like Me.” Mom thought the talk was longer than the book itself, and the rest of us thought it perfect. Rylie Elizabeth was born, and Victoria announced that she was expecting again. Oprah announced she would discontinue her book group. Kelly Rippa and USA Today launch book groups. Kelly’s mission: to embrace smut; prizewinners and emotional journeys not welcome!)
How Green Was My Valley – Richard Llewyelln (May – Jeannine moved to Coos Bay)
The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood (June - The Today Show and Good Morning American started book groups.)
Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West – Anne Seagraves (July)
The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen (Aug)
Cheaper by the Dozen – Frank B. Gilbreth,Jr. (Sept)
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold (Oct)
Back When We Were Grownups – Ann Tyler (Nov)
December – Annual holiday “extracurricular” book sharing.

2003:
The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway (Jan – Babies Ethan Stroh and Jackson Brunn joined us.)
The Hours – Michael Cunningham (Feb)
Passage to Juneau – Jonathan Rabin (Mar)
Big Stone Gap – Adriana Trigliani (Apr)
Empire Falls – Richard Russo (May)
Bel Canto – Ann Patchett (June – Kathe went back to school. Oprah announced she would revive her book club, but now she would only be reading classics…)
The Other Boleyn Girl – Phillipa Gregory (July – Lisa G. returned from sea and attended our meeting.)
Seabiscuit – Laura Hillenbrand (Aug)

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress – Dai Sijie (Sept – Reed Goodwin arrived. A baby shower of books was planned for our Oct. meeting.)
The Dive From Clausen’s Pier – Ann Packer (Oct)
Life of Pi – Yann Martel (Nov)
Atonement – Ian McEwan (Dec – Baby Reed joined us.)

2004:
January meeting cancelled.
Three Junes – Julia Glass (Feb)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night – Mark Haddon (Mar)
Motherless Brooklyn – Jonathan Lethem (Apr)
No Hurry to Get Home – Emily Hahn (May)
Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Patton (June – Issue #75 and the last issue of the newsletter.)
The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud – Ben Sherwood (July – We had a phone conference discussion with the author, thanks to Barbara Henry. So cool!)
From here on my records are very sketchy. Please help me correct errors and fill in the gaps.
Ella Minnow Pea – Mark Dunn (Aug) ???
Good Grief – Lolly Winston (Sept) ???
A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry (Oct) ???
Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris (Nov) ???
Lost in a Good Book – Jasper Fforde (Dec) ???

2005:
Plainsong – Kent Haruf ??? (Apr.) We role played at Victoria’s House each person being a character from the book.
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd – Jim Fergus ??? (Mar.)
Waiting – Debra Ginsberg ??? (May)
Ya Ya’s in Bloom – Rebecca Wells ??? (June)
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith ??? (July)
In This House of Brede – Rumer Godden ???(Aug.)
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons – Lorna Landvik (Sept.)
Sleeping With Schubert – Bonnie Marson (Oct.)
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini ???(Nov.) We met at the now defunct restaurant The Kabob House and the Afghan owners joined in on our conversation for a bit.
The Magnificient Ambersons-Booth Tarkington

2006: ???
A Walk in the Woods- Bill Bryson (Jan)
A Million Little Pieces- James Frey(Feb)
The Queen’s Fool-Phillipa Gregory (Mar)
C’est La Vie- Suzy Gershman (Apr)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan –Lisa See(May)
A Widow for One Year-John Irving (June)
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything-Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner(July)
Girl in Hyacinth Blue-Susan Vreeland(Aug)
The Diary of Anne Frank (Sept)
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter-Kim Edwards(Oct)
(Nov)(Dec)

2007: ???
(Jan)
(Feb – 10 year anniversary!)
(Mar)
(Apr)
Rise and Shine-Anna Quindlen(May)
Rain of Gold-Victor Villasenor(June)
A Thousand Splendid Suns-Khaled Hosseini(July) We watched an interview with the author on CSPAN
The Reading Group-Elizabeth Nobel(Aug)
(Sept)
A Long Way Gone-Ishmael Beah(Oct)
Leaving Microsoft to Save the World- John Wood(Nov)Madame Bovary-Gustave Flaubert(Dec)

2008:
(Jan)
The Measure of a Man – Sidney Poitier (Feb) Our 12 year anniversary
Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen (Mar)
The Maltese Falcon-Dashell Hammett(Apr)We watched the movie at Lisa S.’s house the week prior to our meeting.
(May)
(June – Congratulations, Mrs. Kim Ott!)
(July)
(Aug)
The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls (Sept)
Love Walked In – Marisa De Los Santos (Oct – We heard the news that Melodee is expecting and a rumor that Mrs. Ott is expecting as well!)
Spirit House – Christopher Moore (Nov)(Dec)

Kathe made Me Do It

Kathe has been diligently working on updating our reading list (with a smidge of help from me) so I am here to touch base and hopefully get this blog up and running again. I'm nearing the end of the master's project and will soon be able to join up again with all my bookie friends and read for fun again! Woo-hoo! Until then I will try to add an article now and again.

Words from an old book friend

Our Oregon-bound member sent this email to KAthe who asked it be passed on to our blog. Enjoy! Lisa

Schmoopie,Can you put this on our blog for Feb?
~Kathe----

-Original Message-From: terry huffman <beachouse@oregonfcu.com>
To: Gonsilla1@aol.com
Sent: Sat, 14 Jan 2006
Subject: Dear Bookish Girlfriends

Congratulations on your 10th anniversary! Yeah! So many books so little time.....but the time spent with good friends is invaluable. I just wanted to catch you up a bit....I continue to be plagued with body problems....now Terry is really having lots of problems..mostly back...although he certainly is not continuing to develop ALS symptoms....he was diagnosed with that last Jan 3...(2 groups of independent neurologist and much painful testing)...We spent a pretty freaky winter and spring...then suddenly, after selling his boat after diagnosis, Terry went and bought another boat.....things have been better emotionally. We recently have taken in my little friend, Anna, who is 16 years old, and had gotten herself messed up on drugs .. He whole life has pretty much been a train wreck and she just didn't want to be at home and was starting to run away. Long story....because of our relationship (making a quilt with her and hanging out when she was a bit younger), she called me when she felt desperate...asked if she could stay a couple of days.....3 months ago.....She is...and has been since before she came....clean and sober....now doing well in school...and is looking forward to the future. We are a team...Mom and Terry and I...just trying to help Anna find her place in a world that can kill our young off so easily. She is absolutely beautiful and a joy to have around..... My bookgroup here has been meeting for nearly 2 years......It is different, but much the same....the books are great, but now we would meet just to eat and spend time together....by the way...have you read THE ELEGANT GATHERING OF WHITE SNOWS? I just loved the title and that's why I read the book...loved the book! Out group picks out books 6 months in advance.....we just read THE TIME OF OUR SINGING, next areTHE ELEGANT...., A MILLION LITTLE PIECES ( uh, oh----I loved it and the sequel, MY FRIEND LEONARD), FUGITIVE PIECES, DREAMS FROM MY FATHER (Barach Obama), CHRIST THE LORD (Ann Rice). We are only 7 --- but fabulous ladies. I manage a bookstore (volunteer) at our Estuary Interpretive center....and serve on the board of the Friends of .... I also sub a few days a month ... and on Fridays, I do hair at one of our local convalescent hospitals (now that is fun!) This is long...but that's how I talk.....right? I miss you all and the fabulous books we read together....and the Kathe especially, who let me be a part of the reading long before she would let me come in person....I never caused much trouble, did I? LOL Love, Jeannine

Words from another Book Group

I stumbled across this interview with another California group of women who have been together as long as we have. I thought their method of leading discussions was interesting. What do you think? They sound like a fun group of gals.

The "Drinking With Adrian" book club of Cupertino, California consists of 12 spirited women "in the prime of their lives." The group's spokesperson, Alayne Stieglitz, shares their many distinctive qualities, such as their unique method of conducting meetings involving a deck of cards, their love of French cheese, and the yearly trips they take together.

Q: Does your group have a name and/or a theme? How long has your group been in existence?A: Our official name is "Drinking With Adrian" but two newspaper articles have been written about us and have used the name "The Cupertino Book Club." We have been meeting since 1996.

Q: How many members do you have? How many men, how many women? What age are most of your members?
A: We have 12 members who are all female in, let's say, the prime of our lives.

Q: How often do you meet? Where do you meet?
A: We meet once a month taking turns hosting at our homes. Once a year we take a Book Club Trip.

Q: Do you eat at your meetings? What do you eat? Who brings the food?
A: There's always Brie and wine involved! The person hosting provides the goodies. Sometimes, like the time we read Reading Lolita in Tehran, our hostess --- who is married to an Iranian man and has lived in Iran --- prepared us wonderful Iranian food.

Q: Who leads the discussion? Do you use reading group guides?
A: We have developed a system that's different from most book clubs. We do not use a guide. Everyone chooses a playing card at random, and the person with the highest card gets to speak first, and so on. The person speaking gives her impression of the book and can make any comments she wishes about the content, writing, characters, plot, personal experiences, or anything else she wants to say concerning the book. Then the next person talks. We are not allowed to comment or interrupt until everyone has spoken. Afterwards, we open up the discussion for comments and questions and responses.Once we have finished all discussion, we rate the book. The highest we can give a book is 4 stars, the lowest is 0 stars, and we can also give half stars. We have a record keeper who jots down main comments on 3x5 cards and also notes our individual ratings and an average score.

Q: What kind of books do you read?
A: We read all genres from fantasy to biography. Over the past nine years we have read everything from Perfume (some gave it 4 stars while others gave it 0 stars) to Kindred (almost everyone gave it 4 stars), from Radiance (only one of us finished it) to Audrey Hepburn's Neck (everyone loved it).

Q: How do you choose your books? Do you choose one new book at each meeting, or do you choose the books for a number of meetings ahead of time?
A: Up until three years ago we read books on somebody's recommendation. Sometimes it was something she had read, sometimes from a print or TV review, sometimes from another book club. Now, at the beginning of the year, we each choose one book and that is our list for the year. There are 12 of us so it works out well.

Q: What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the group read?
A: The best discussions are about the books we don't all agree on. There have been several that have split our opinions, and they include Being Good, Perfume, Wuthering Heights, A Confederacy of Dunces, The Shipping News, and The Notebook. If we all love it or all hate it, the discussions are not as lively and interesting.

Q: How do you keep things fun?
A: Once a year we go on a book club trip. It started with Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil --- after we read it we felt we had to visit Savannah. We organized a trip and stayed in the Hamilton House Bed and Breakfast that was featured and owned by a character in the novel. She met us there the first evening and spoke to us about the book, the other people in it, and also about the filming of the movie. We have since been to Santa Fe, Key West, Oklahoma and San Antonio. Our 2006 trip will be to Nashville.After Savannah, we tried to wait for another book to come along set in a place we would like to visit, but nothing that we read fit the bill. So we decided to choose a city we've always wanted to go to and find an author from that city who wrote about it. This method has been a great success. We have met with three authors so far, and they have been happy to talk with us about their books and towns.

Q: What advice would you give to other reading groups?
A: Don't take it too seriously. Everyone has their own opinions. Respect that and don't interrupt. Always have Brie.

Q: Do you have any horror stories, amusing anecdotes, or other special tales to tell?
A: Most of our horror stories were taken care of by instituting the "everyone gets a turn to speak first" and "no interrupting" rules. Once two new members showed up with forms they wanted us to fill out while we were reading the book. Paleeeese! Homework? Needless to say, the forms and those members didn't last long.Our most amusing anecdotes happen on our trips as I, the designated driver and photographer, can attest to. For example, there were the transvestites in Key West who had a book club too, and we chatted with them about books after their show. When we were in El Reno, a small town in Oklahoma, we were treated like celebrities. We stayed on the ranch of one our members' aunts, and when we went into town for the "Largest Hamburger in the Country" festival, everyone knew who we were and welcomed us with cries of, "You're the book club gals from California! Happy to meet you!" We were even interviewed for the local paper. I'm not sure if it would count as amusing or horrific, but we also had "lamb fries" on that trip.

Q: Is there anything else unique or noteworthy about your group that you would like to share?A: We haven't heard of a traveling book club besides ours.

Female Version of The Kite Runner?

This book is on sale Jan. 10th and I've read about it in 3 different places already.

Book Review:
The Space Between US by Thrity Umrigar
By Kirkus

Set in contemporary Bombay, Umrigar`s second novel (Bombay Time, 2001) is an affecting portrait of a woman and her maid, whose lives, despite class disparity, are equally heartbreaking.

Though Bhima has worked for the Dubash family for decades and is coyly referred to as 'one of the family,' she nonetheless is forbidden from sitting on the furniture and must use her own utensils while eating. For years, Sera blamed these humiliating boundaries on her husband Feroz, but now that he`s dead and she`s lady of the house, the two women still share afternoon tea and sympathy with Sera perched on a chair and Bhima squatting before her. Bhima is grateful for Sera, for the steady employment, for what she deems friendship and, mostly, for the patronage Sera shows Bhima`s granddaughter Maya.

Orphaned as a child when her parents died of AIDS, Bhima raised Maya and Sera saw to her education. Now in college, Maya`s future is like a miracle to the illiterate Bhima - her degree will take them out of the oppressive Bombay slums, guaranteeing Maya a life away from servitude. But in a cruel mirror of Sera`s happiness - her only child Dinaz is expecting her first baby - Bhima finds that Maya is pregnant, has quit school and won`t name the child`s father. As the situation builds to a crisis point, both women reflect on the sorrows of their lives. While Bhima was born into a life of poverty and insurmountable obstacles, Sera`s privileged upbringing didn`t save her from a husband who beat her and a mother-in-law who tormented her. And while Bhima`s marriage begins blissfully, an industrial accident leaves her husband maimed and an alcoholic. He finally deserts her, but not before he bankrupts the family and kidnaps their son. Though Bhima and Sera believe they are mutually devoted, soon decades of confidences are thrown up against the far older rules of the class game.

A subtle, elegant analysis of class and power. Umrigar transcends the specifics of two Bombay women and creates a novel that quietly roars against tyranny.

© Kirkus. All Rights Reserved© Copyright 2003 - 2005 by monstersandcritics.com. This notice cannot be removed without permission.

Member List Update

I updated again because I was unable to open the attachment La Dean sent. If you need to make a change please do so now. Also, I think I probablyleft out someone so add any omissions. Thanks!
Lisa

NAME ADDRESS PHONE EMAIL

Victoria Brunn 1737 Brookdale Wy., Manteca 239-7120 Vbrunn@comcast.net
Sandy Dyer 422 Golden, Manteca 823-8021 sdyer@sjcoe.net
Katy Downs-Stroh 911 Mariposa Wy., Lodi 339-8715 runkygirl@softcom.net
Sarah Fagerlee 2350 Lucile Ave., Stockton 477-1158 sfagerlee@yahoo.com
Kathe Gonsalves 1364 Thrower Ct., Manteca 239-3936 gonsilla1@aol.com
Kim Martinez 1845 Matterhorn, Manteca 825-9109 kim05verizon@verizon.net
Cathy Meyer 746 Evergreen Wy., Manteca 239-6418 meyerbc@aol.com
Marie Millin 1533 Arnell Ct., Manteca 825-4989 mmillin@comcast.net
Mary Ann Pafford 433 S. Regent, Stockton 933-9507 tmpafford@gmail.com
Lisa Schnaidt 1324 Bryant Ct., Manteca 239-4452 lschmoopie@comcast.net
La Dean Talcott 1048 Cherry Ct., Manteca 823-3867 LALiteracy@aol.com