Making a Break for It

It’s Online Book Club Day! But hold that thought; we’ll get to Wench in a minute.

First, I need to tell you I’m in two places today.

Obviously, I’m here, preparing to go all 3^rd Grade Book Report on you, but also, I’m guest-blogging at Drama Mama’s popular site, where she has kindly dubbed 36×37 as “the Best Scoop of the Week.” In addition to featuring my blog this week, Drama Mama asked me to create an original piece using “window” as my one-word prompt. I decided to write about the first (and only) time I fired someone. It’s a regrettable moment in my personal history, but it makes a good story.

So, please stop by Drama Mama’s site today to say hello, read about her adorable family, and meet other bloggers through her Best Scoop of the Week feature—because it’s always nice to encounter new voices.

 

(courtesy of sironastudios.com)

Now. Back to Wench…

Look. You didn’t read the book, I know that. And it’s fine. It’s a busy life we lead, right? Maybe you couldn’t find the book in time, or you just found out about The Club last week, or perhaps you threw the book against the wall in frustration the moment you finished chapter 7. (No? That was just me?) At any rate, this doesn’t have to be a problem. After consulting GB, my “idea guy,” I’ve decided to execute a fool-proof plan: I’ll tell you what the book is about, then I’ll ask questions you can answer without having read a word of this month’s selection. Agreed?

(Please say “Agreed.” I don’t want to spend the next three minutes talking to myself. I’ll be lonely.)

~*~

Summary

Wench begins at Tawawa House, a vacation resort in Xenia, Ohio, that boasts a rather untraditional clientele: a cluster of pre-Civil War plantation owners and their favored, enslaved mistresses. At Tawawa House (which actually existed, and was eventually purchased by Wilberforce University), the men can enjoy their relationships in a relaxed social atmosphere, without their wives or the constraints of southern society.

The story follows Lizzie, mistress to Nathan Drayle, a poor horseman so skilled in his southern charm that he has managed to marry a woman of means. When Drayle discovers his wife, Francesca, is barren, he turns his attention to the then-12-year-old Lizzie and teaches her to read as part of a slow, sickening strategy of seduction.

Eventually, Drayle fathers Lizzie’s two fair-skinned children—Nate and Rabbit—whom he refuses to free despite Lizzie’s constant pleading. The children become currency in Drayle’s strange, entangled family dynamic by existing under Francesca’s doting but inconsistent care. There evolves a short-term exchange of sorts: Lizzie claims Drayle while Francesca claims his children—a subversive tug-of-war against Drayle’s overarching power.

Drayle and Lizzie visit Tawawa house from 1852-1855. Through the course of those summers, Lizzie cultivates friendships with three other mistresses: Reenie, the wizened one; Mawu, the gorgeous radical; and Sweet, the quiet, matriarch.

Each woman has a unique, sometimes sordid relationship with her master. Reenie’s owner (and half-brother) prostitutes her “services” to the house manager when he’s not too busy raping her himself. Mawu is regularly brutalized by her owner, who says he’s drawn to her because she always fights back. We’re not told much about Sweet and her master, but when all five of their children are taken in a bout of cholera, she sews burial dresses from scraps while he takes an extended fishing trip with friends. Finally, there’s Drayle, who is generous with affection, as long as Lizzie doesn’t ask for much and she bends to his will whenever (and wherever) the spirit moves him.

Not far from Tawawa House, there’s a resort for freed and thriving African Americans. Mawu is inspired by the site of prosperity and is hell-bent to catch her freedom, too. She spends the remainder of the novel convincing her friends to run away with her.

In a lesser novel, the four women would take flight together and make it to safety through the stalwart help of a string of dedicated northern abolitionists. For those of you who want to read the book, I won’t spoil the ending. Let’s just say the journey is long, and it’s not at all what you’d expect.

Opinion

Honestly, there are a few things I don’t love about this book. Here’s my main issue: In 290 pages, Perkins-Valdez tells us almost nothing about three out of four of her central characters. As a reader, I want the goods on character motivation, and I didn’t get what I wanted in that regard. I want to understand the undercurrent of tragedy before I can celebrate its burial. I need more to help me process this bitter mark on American history.

However:

When it comes to Lizzie, Perkins-Valdez never cuts corners. The book has four parts, and in each, Lizzie is artfully dissembled to reveal a loyal, intelligent, complicated woman who must decide what takes precedence in her conscience: her love for her children, or her love for herself; her faith in her lover or her faith in her friends; her desire for freedom or her need for security. She can’t conceive of these answers on her own; she finds them through sisterhood and tragedy.

So the themes are captivating. They’re the reason I kept reading and ultimately changing my mind about a novel that at first seemed to exist as an excuse to be salacious. Could you forsake your families for your freedom? Could you expose a friend in an effort to save her? Could you willingly exchange sex for special treatment? Could you truly love someone who doesn’t have your best interests at heart?

I’d recommend Wench for these discussion points alone. (Plus, despite Perkins-Valdez’s downfall in the character development department, she’s a damn fine writer.) I closed the book three weeks ago, and have been thinking about it ever since.

~*~

Now I want to know what you think.(Remember our agreement?)

Feel free to answer any or all of the questions below.

1) Imagine that your family has been enslaved for generations. Your master treats you well whenever it suits him, and your children are sometimes favored at home. Would you make a break for freedom if given the chance?

2) Your friend reveals that she’s planning to flee from a man who brutalizes her. If she’s caught on the run, she’ll be killed. If you expose her plans, she’ll be beaten and humiliated, but at least she’ll be safe. What do you do?

3) An authoritative figure claims your children, and you’re powerless to stop it. How do you cope?

4) It’s 1855, six years before the Civil War begins. You discover a fleeing slave asleep on your property. Do you offer shelter and refuge, turn a blind eye, or turn him in?

I’ve done my part. Now the future of the Online Book Club rests in the balance. Sound off in the comments below. (Or, don’t, if you’re not compelled to. If at the end of the day the comments section is empty, please give me a few days to recover from my embarrassment, and let us never speak of this experiment again.)

Once I have all your answers, I’ll add my own to the bottom of the comments chain.

P.S. – Don’t forget to stop by Drama Mama’s site to read my new post today. Looking forward to seeing you there!

~*~ Find me on Twitter @36×37
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My (third) list of ridiculously great things

 

google image: 0.tqn.com

It snowed on my way home, frosting and glazing the streets into a slick of black ice. Just a mile from my house, I saw a man running through the bitter cold with a sturdy German Shepherd by his side. I did a double-take—not at the guy, but at the dog. She looked just like my sweet old girl, Bosco, and she carried a thick, 3 ft. long stick in her mouth. Her tail wagged away the snow. She was jubilant.

“See?” I thought. “That’s great. Now there’s happiness.” In my mind’s eye, I scratched the Bosco look-alike behind the ears and said, “Who’s a good girl? Who’s a good girl!”

So ridiculously great. Ridiculous greatness.

It must be that time again…

~*~

Maura’s (Third) List of Ridiculously Great Things

1. The funny things my kids say now that they watch commercials.

A few days ago, the TV in our family room broke, so GB disconnected the small flat screen in our bedroom and moved it downstairs to watch the Steelers seize the AFC championship. (Woot!) The smaller screen size prompted H to wax pragmatic.

“How much did you pay for that TV?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” GB said. “${X} or something.”

“That’s a shame,” H said. “You should have called Progressive [Auto] Insurance. They would have let you name your price.”

2. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez

I’ve only just started to read this classic work, but I’m already hooked. The first sentence alone was enough to snag me:

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win a Pulitzer Prize.

3. A Lego A Day Blog

Honestly? This blog is one of the best things I’ve ever seen. I’m not kidding.

Dan, the blog’s creator, is a 5^th grade teacher and gifted photographer with a slight obsession: Every day, he posts a photo of a Lego mini-figure doing some action-packed, usually outdoor activity. I cannot get enough of this site. Here’s a link to one of my recent favorites. Just click—it’s absolutely worth it. But be sure you have some time to spare, because trust me, you’ll want to keep browsing once you get there.

4. Those “easy” loads of laundry.

I’m talking about the all-towel/all-jeans loads, with not a sock or pair of underwear in sight.

5. And speaking of jeans…

By some genius stroke of luck, I pulled a pair of Ann Taylor Loft jeans off the clearance rack and they fit perfectly—my favorite pair of jeans in all of my 36 years. Price? $11. Ridiculous greatness.

6. Le Jolie’s Worldwide Tour  via Blurt

Have you ever come across something you wish you’d thought of first? Something, thy name is The Jolie Pez Project. About five months ago, Omawarisan, the hilarious mastermind behind Blurt, purchased an Angelina Jolie action figure from eBay for the express purpose of mailing her around to “save the world” and also visit bloggers he knows. My friend Wendy (from Herding Cats in Hammond River) recently hosted Le Jolie on the Canadian leg of her tour. (Wendy dedicated three whole posts to the visit. Here’s part 1.) Visit The Jolie Pez Project to see what other exotic climes Plastic Ms. Brad Pitt has visited.

7. Lego Ohio Stadium via Paul Janssen

Photo by Paul Janssen

Personally, I’d like to make the case for hosting Le Jolie here in Columbus. THE Ohio State University’s Paul Janssen (associate professor of physiology and cell biology and associate professor in cardiovascular medicine) spent the last two years building an exact replica of Ohio Stadium—out of Legos. (Read ESPN’s post.) I want Le Jolie to stand on the “O” at the 50 yard line. I don’t know Paul Janssen, but why should that stand in the way of making this magic happen? I’ll have Le Jolie’s people call his people.

8. The Decemberists’ new album, The King is Dead

You either love or hate these guys. I fall in the “blushingly adore” camp thanks to their poetic lyrics and smart compositions. Give their first single a try: “Don’t Carry It All”

9. My new laptop

It arrived Monday, and will be imaged and ready for use by the end of today. I haven’t taken it for a test drive yet, but for God’s sake, it has to be better than the piece of crap I’ve been using.

10. Valentine’s Day

For all you lovers out there…our favorite day is just 20 days away. Start writing your sonnets now.

Want more? Read Ridiculously Great List One, and Ridiculously Great List Two.

Have your own list of ridiculously great things? Sound off below. Bloggers love comments, especially me, so gimme the goods.

~*~ Find me on Twitter @36×37
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You thought I forgot!

It’s Online Book Club Day! (Or at least it was supposed to be.)

You thought I forgot! Don’t worry, it’s cool. I thought you forgot, too.

In fact, I’m almost hoping you forgot, because I’m about to do something I don’t think I’ve ever done before: I’m asking for an extension.

I’m a bit underwater at work. This means I need more time to go to the cyber store and buy cyber ingredients for the cyber crème brûlée I’m planning to make by using one of those tiny cyber kitchen torches. So fun.

 

via http://www.williams-sonoma.com

(Bloggers, this also explains why I’ve been MIA in your comments sections and my own lately. I’m lashing with apologies, and will be back to reading your daily musings post haste, because I truly miss my friends!)

So. Instead of discussing Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez today, let’s move our Book Club meeting to Monday, January 31. If you’ve read the book, then I’m sure (like me) you’ll be ready to share your opinions about the major themes and characters from this author’s “startling” debut novel. (Note: If you haven’t read the book, you have a few extra days to get started. Don’t worry–it’s a fast read.)

Here’s an online reading guide to help whet your appetite for our discussion. It includes a plot summary and 21 questions to help you structure your thoughts.

Personally, I think we can come up with better questions than the ones in the guide. If you’d like to submit a question or talking point for the discussion, I’ll welcome it! Just e-mail me at 36x37blog@gmail.com.

Thanks very much for granting my extension request. If you took the time to read the book, the least I can do is thank you by preparing an engaging discussion. Have a lovely Tuesday. In the meantime, please enjoy the latest installment of…

Roadside Shoe!

(I’ve been saving this one for a special occasion.)

My brother sent me this Roadside Shoe a few weeks ago, after he spied it in the parking lot of a local pizza restaurant. On the surface, it’s nothing special. Just another Roadside Shoe!.

Found in the parking lot at Tommy's Pizza

But. Here’s why this particular installment blows my mind. Here’s what makes it so unique.

The Roadside Insole.

Have a Roadside Shoe!? Send it to 36x37blog@gmail.com. I’ll feature your shoe pic here, and if you have a blog, I’ll pimp that, too.

~*~ Find me on Twitter @36×37
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Pick Your Poison

I wonder. Did you think I’d forgotten about our online bookclub?

Shame. You did! And there I was, looking up solid, compelling book options for our inaugural meeting.

I’ve been scouring various “Best of 2010” lists. Quite a few titles are new to me, and honestly, I wouldn’t mind reading them all, but I wanted to put on our ballot the ones I think will interest this group most.

So. Let’s take a vote. This is a literary democracy, after all.

1) Man In The Woods

By Scott Spencer, hardcover, 320 pages, Ecco, list price: $24.99

[Review] Publishers Weekly (via Amazon.com):

Spencer, a deft explorer of obsessive love and violence, confronts the consequences of doing wrong for all the right reasons in his exquisite latest. Paul Phillips, a master carpenter, is living in bucolic upstate New York with Kate Ellis, the woman Spencer first introduced, along with her beguiling daughter, Ruby, in A Ship Made of Paper. But Paul’s life begins to implode after a chance encounter results in an irrevocable act that no one witnesses, save a mixed-breed dog he renames Shep. Paul suffers the burden of his terrible secret: the fear of discovery and punishment and the equally disturbing fear of getting away with his crime. The incident and its fallout color his just-about-perfect life with lover Kate, now a recovered alcoholic turned famous inspirational writer, and particularly affects nine-year-old Ruby. As always, Spencer creates complex and genuine characters, the most marvelous character being Shep, the hapless rescue dog who endures abuse and becomes Ruby’s pet. Spencer portrays the dog’s life minus the sentimentality and anthropomorphism forced upon animals in fiction, and ingeniously uses Shep in this compelling story’s dénouement–which underscores how even the most loving relationship might not be able to redeem a deadly act.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

2) Wench <– Official Selection

By Dolen Perkins-Valdez; hardcover, 304 pages; Amistad, list price: $24.99

[Review] Publishers Weekly (via Amazon.com):

In her debut, Perkins-Valdez eloquently plunges into a dark period of American history, chronicling the lives of four slave women—Lizzie, Reenie, Sweet and Mawu—who are their masters’ mistresses. The women meet when their owners vacation at the same summer resort in Ohio. There, they see free blacks for the first time and hear rumors of abolition, sparking their own desires to be free. For everyone but Lizzie, that is, who believes she is really in love with her master, and he with her. An extended flashback in the middle of the novel delves into Lizzie’s life and vividly explores the complicated psychological dynamic between master and slave. Jumping back to the final summer in Ohio, the women all have a decision to make—will they run? Heart-wrenching, intriguing, original and suspenseful, this novel showcases Perkins-Valdez’s ability to bring the unfortunate past to life. (Jan.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

3) 20 Under 40: Stories From The New Yorker

Edited by Deborah Treisman, hardcover, 448 pages, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, list price: $16

[Review] via Amazon.com:

In June 2010, the editors of The New Yorker announced to widespread media coverage their selection of “20 Under 40”—the young fiction writers who are, or will be, central to their generation. The magazine published twenty stories by this stellar group of writers over the course of the summer. They are now collected for the first time in one volume.

The range of voices is extraordinary. There is the lyrical realism of Nell Freudenberger, Philipp Meyer, C. E. Morgan, and Salvatore Scibona; the satirical comedy of Joshua Ferris and Gary Shteyngart; and the genre-bending tales of Jonathan Safran Foer, Nicole Krauss, and Téa Obreht. David Bezmozgis and Dinaw Mengestu offer clear-eyed portraits of immigration and identity; Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, ZZ Packer, and Wells Tower offer voice-driven, idiosyncratic narratives. Then there are the haunting sociopolitical stories of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Daniel Alarcón, and Yiyun Li, and the metaphysical fantasies of Chris Adrian, Rivka Galchen, and Karen Russell.

4) Cleopatra: A Life

By Stacy Schiff, hardcover, 384 pages, Little, Brown and Company, list price: $29.99

[Review] via Amazon.com:

Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way, Cleopatra’s supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Pulitzer Prize-winner Stacy Schiff boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff ‘s is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.

5) The Road

By Cormac McCarthy, hardcover, 256 pages, Publisher, List price: $24.95

(What? I haven’t read it yet, ok? It’s been high on my list since it hit the literary scene in 2006. But when I walk into Barnes & Noble, and that pretty scent of new and uncracked fiction distracts me, I forget about Cormac and his trademark despair. I need to start writing things down.)

[Review] Publishers Weekly (via Amazon.com):

Violence, in McCarthy’s postapocalyptic tour de force, has been visited worldwide in the form of a “long shear of light and then a series of low concussions” that leaves cities and forests burned, birds and fish dead and the earth shrouded in gray clouds of ash. In this landscape, an unnamed man and his young son journey down a road to get to the sea. (The man’s wife, who gave birth to the boy after calamity struck, has killed herself.) They carry blankets and scavenged food in a shopping cart, and the man is armed with a revolver loaded with his last two bullets. Beyond the ever-present possibility of starvation lies the threat of roving bands of cannibalistic thugs. The man assures the boy that the two of them are “good guys,” but from the way his father treats other stray survivors the boy sees that his father has turned into an amoral survivalist, tenuously attached to the morality of the past by his fierce love for his son. McCarthy establishes himself here as the closest thing in American literature to an Old Testament prophet, trolling the blackest registers of human emotion to create a haunting and grim novel about civilization’s slow death after the power goes out.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Logistics and Other Details <– Updated

The polls closed at 10PM ET December 16, and Wench is the clear victor with 54% of the vote.

Come back every day, of course, but plan to discuss the book on [updated date] January 31. (For the procrastinators in the house: This month, you get six weeks to read your book, rather than the traditional four. My gift to you.) I’ll have a series of discussion questions waiting, and perhaps a delicious cyber tiramisu. In the meantime, I’ll do some research about how discussion boards work on WordPress.

In February, my partner in crime Harsha can take over by hosting at her place (blog: H is for Happiness)—assuming I can talk her into it.

Agreed? Let’s crack some books.

P.S. Should we pick a name for this group? Do you have suggestions? That’s what the Comments section is for.

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That’s not a bad idea.

(courtesy of lookslikehome.files.wordpress.com)

Hmmm.

You know, my friend and fellow blogger, Harsha (H is for Happiness), offered an interesting idea last week when I posted “Read ‘em and Weep (Occasionally)“: Given that so many of us tend to geek about books, why not start an online book club?

I’m into the idea! But I’m trying to suss out how it would work. Here’s what I’m thinking:

1. Select a blog host for the month, and let the host choose the book. (The host doesn’t need to be a blogger; we could always use a guest-blogger format to cover the discussion.)
2. Use social media to broadcast the title, author, meeting date and meeting location (blog URL).
3. On the day of the discussion, the host would post a brief summary about the book, then end  with a list of discussion questions readers can answer in the Comments section.

Seems easy.

Or, if we’re looking for a real-time discussion, we could live blog or live Tweet it.

If you’re interested, or even if you just have sideline ideas to share, simply comment below or e-mail me at 36x37blog@gmail.com (@36×37 on Twitter). If there’s enough of a response, we’ll get literary. I’ll make the cyber baked goods if you bring the cyber Chardonnay…

M.

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Side Story: Read ‘Em and Weep (Occasionally)

image courtesy of http://www.liladelman.com

There are 10 women sitting in my living room. We’ve polished off a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, a gallon of hot rum-infused apple cider, a host of tasty treats, and this month’s book selection, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows). I chose it at my mother’s recommendation because it was so well received by her friends. It’s a story about a Channel Islands book club formed by accident during the German Occupation in WWII.

(I love the irony of a book club reading about a book club.)

This is our fourth meeting, and although we’re still quite new at this, we’re already comfortable enough to talk about our books—the characters, the plots, the themes—and share how they apply to our lives. Tonight’s discussion has been a good one. We’ve blown through all 15 discussion questions, and now we’ve come to the last one. I’ve added it myself, because I think it’s important.

I pretend to be serious as I clear my throat. “#16: The Guernsey Literary Society has a name. Do you think our book club should have one? If yes, what should it be?”

“I’ve been thinking about this for months!” Our founder, Leslie, says. “I keep wondering if I should bring it up.”

We nod collectively. A few options make their way to the floor:

• Sexy Librarians
• Sexy Drunk Librarians
• Sexy Drunk Librarians with Snacks
• Books on Heels

“Read ‘Em and Weep,” Sara suggests.

“Oh, I like that. We should say something about crying. We do that a lot here.” Which is true. We’ve read a few tear-jerkers.

“Or how about Read ‘Em and Weep (Occasionally),’” Melinda adds. “Because we don’t cry all the time.”

This is also true. Mostly we laugh, go off-topic and laugh some more.

It is decided. Once we pick the name, we forget about the book and just start talking. Lynn tells a personal story. Then Jen. Then Melinda. We all give solicited and unsolicited advice, swear a little and laugh again.

Quietly we congratulate ourselves, because this is shaping up to look like friendship, 10 women strong.

~*~

I think about friendship a lot.

When you’re young, it comes so easily. You both like Barbies. You both like Batman. You both like to roll from the top of the hill to the bottom, fist-bump over your mom’s chocolate cupcakes, and spin out together on your Big Wheels.

Then it’s not easy anymore. She flirts with your boyfriend. He’d rather play basketball than ride bikes across the lawn. She talks about you behind your back, and it smarts. Suddenly, your friends are jerks.

Then it’s easy again. Kind of. Your friendships take a little longer to build. Mostly, you buddy up with people who live near you. The kids in your dorm. The kids in your major. They like the same bands you do. You hang out at the same clubs. You visit their houses on summer break, and call their parents by their first names.

Then maybe you pair off. If you’re lucky, your significant other is also your best friend. Eventually you get a job, and you make semi-friends at work. You start a life, and there’s no time for anything else. At first you don’t notice. And then one day, you feel it: you’re lonely, and there’s no one you can call to say so.

“It’ll get easier when your kids are in school,” my mom said once. “It’s an even playing field then. You’ll be in a place where you all have something in common.”

But I want more than just kids in common. Friendship needs a wider foundation than that.

~*~

The older I get, the more I value the people I know, and the more I expect from them. Are you authentic? Interesting? Do you have your own opinions, and do you care about other people? Can you be honest when I ask how you are? Great, let’s have coffee. I’ll buy, and we can chat for hours.

It’s taken time, but I’ve started to focus on stringing together a group of people with something in common: wit that slays, an undercurrent of compassion, and honest, firm opinions that inspire me to think and learn so much more—as much as I can. I want the nearly-tangible sense that we’re all old enough now to see what’s important. Online or in person, that’s what I want all around me.

At 11PM I close the door on my last guests, slip off my heels and usher the empty glasses to my kitchen sink. The house is silent, and while I whistle something nameless to fill the quiet, it occurs to me that what I’m trying to build was in my living room tonight: Good people with kind hearts, and the willingness to open up, just to see what happens.

I’m looking forward to more hours like these.

~*~ Find me on Twitter @36×37
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