The November Wine and Words Book Club holiday gathering was held at the Northwater Restaurant at the Holiday Inn. We enjoyed a fun time together over happy hour refreshments and food, talking about our Thanksgiving plans and reminiscing about book we read. Thank you, Linda, for making the arrangements. Linda, Sandie, Kay, Jan, Jodi, and Ann attended.

The book for November was Property and everyone enjoyed the book, however some members wondered if the few graphic sexual scenes were necessary. The following description is from Amazon.com…

Valerie Martin’s Property delivers an eerily mesmerizing inquiry into slavery’s venomous effects on the owner and the owned. The year is 1828, the setting a Louisiana sugar plantation where Manon Gaudet, pretty, bitterly intelligent, and monstrously self-absorbed, seethes under the dominion of her boorish husband. In particular his relationship with her slave Sarah, who is both his victim and his mistress. Exploring the permutations of Manon’s own obsession with Sarah against the backdrop of an impending slave rebellion, Property unfolds with the speed and menace of heat lightning, casting a startling light from the past upon the assumptions we still make about the powerful and powerful.

We discussed books we read or enjoyed in the past.

Ann mentioned the book Educated and thought it was great. We don’t have that book in our reading list, but it might be one to consider. Here is the description from Amazon.com…

Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Linda mentioned Three Cups of Tea, which the club read in 2007. She pointed out that it was not based in fact and the author, Greg Mortinson, was disgraced after an investigation found he had personally used funds donated to his charity for Afghan girls’ schools and many facts in the book were found to be untrue. Read more at Washington Post – Mortenson returns to Afghanistan

Jodi mentioned Glass Castles, a story similar to Educated, which was made into a movie in 2017, starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts.

Linda also mentioned one of her favorite books, Loving Frank, about Frank Lloyd Wright, a historical fiction told from the point of view of his lover, Mamah Borthwick Cheney.

The book scheduled for Dec./Jan is The Year of Magical Thinking. The next meeting is scheduled for January 28, 5:30 pm at Jan’s. As always, please let Jan know if you will be unable to attend.