The Red Book Club

Upcoming Events

This month we'll be reading A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot and discussing it at Mary's on Sunday, March 30th, at 7pm.

About the book...

A mystery story but not strictly a murder mystery, this beautifully crafted novel traces a young woman's search for the truth about her fiancee's death.

In January 1917, five French soldiers are court-martialled for self-inflicted wounds and dumped in No-man's land to die. One of them is Mathilde's fiancee and, as her investigation continues, it becomes clear to her that one of them survived. But which one?

As she delves deeper into events, she meets the women the five men left behind and realises how the expediencies of war make victims of their own side. Along the way the story of her life and her romance with Manech unfolds. Japrisot has captured the feeling of the front as the men endure their third winter in the trenches, and the cruelties practised to keep them fighting rather than going home to go on with their lives. He explores the emotional aftermath for those who's loved ones did not die 'bravely defending the homeland' but at the hand of their own side, or who simply disappeared. An emotionally and intellectually satisfying read.

News

The February meeting of the Red Book Club was held at the home of Kim and Dave DiPietro, (friends of Jackie's) and their kids and dogs, and hosted by Jackie Martyn. Thank you for having us at your home, Kim and Dave!"

The book read and discussed was Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I haven't read the book yet so I didn't really follow the discussion but everyone agreed that the discussion should continue next month too...especially so we can hear what Margaret, Kim, Debbie and KIm thought of it. There was some talk of when and whether or not a mother should ever leave her children....Mary loved the description of heaven altho she doesn't believe in heaven and Jackie was intruigued by the wispy touch of the dead girl on the cheek of whoever's cheek it was. Gotta read the book, Katrina! Those who attended were: Jackie Martyn, Kelly Gogirl McCutcheon, Melissa Ward, MaryRose Reed, Katrina Ulrich, Mary Costello and Kim DiPietro.

And what, oh what did we eat??? Mary brought an appetizer of light toasted focaccia with a divine oliveoil balsamic parmesan dip...with wine, of course. Katrina offered a plate of strawberries, kiwi, mango and pear to Kelly especially but we all enjoyed it. It didn't really have an official place...appetizer? main side dish? And we drank wine with it. Dave made a spectacular lasagna, the real kind with both ground beef and large pieces of sausage. Major yum. With wine. With it we had warm and melty, buttery and garlicky french bread courtesy of Mary Rose and the Pepperidge Farm. Thats the name of her kitchen and she made it from scratch. MaryRose drank wine too. Jackie made us all feel like a summer garden with her fresh mozzerella, fresh basil, fresh tomatoe with fresh olive oil fresh salad. Fresh. But the wine was well aged. Then becacause no one was bringing dessert we had chocolate chip ice cream pie with chocolate crust on top of which was crowned with Cool Whip, fresh frozen raspberries with sauce and a Girl Scout Thin Mint (they make you thin). So eat one today! Jackie put together and served the dessert and the cookies were snuck out of Katrina's house right under Russdee and the girls' noses. And we drank wine.

Next, what was everyone wearing? Jackie was resplendent in jeans and a clingy white knit button down top. Kelly wore black. Although I think her skirt had some turquoise in it. Melissa wore black - a charming schoolgirl sexy wrap around top with blue jeans. MaryRose wore black - a long skirt (on sale from Talbots! with a Christmas gift certificate!) and a light caramel colored rib turtleneck. So chic. Katrina wore black - black jeans and a black linen top. Last time she wore that top with the light colored fish buttons people kept thinking she had spilled bits of her taco chips on her top. Okay. Lets see. Mary wore black topped by an elegant sort of soft peacock blue blazer. The necklace of chunky turquoise and other stones pulled the whole outfit together. Kim wore a dark peacock blue button down shirt in a casual loose sort of way (we know whats hiding under there, Kim! Congrats on your advanced maternal condition!) Were her pants black? The dogs were in their birthday suits. Some of the fur, hair, whatever it is that dogs have, was black.

The drive down to Urbana was a challenge for some of us. Some of us got repeatedly lost. But we forged ahead, stuck our noses out the window to follow the smell of the cooking lasagna and all finally made it. The wine took the sting out of the pissed annoyance (for me at least) at having gotten lost. Thank you, Wine. Kim and Dave's house is a nice new house with nice big rooms and a great red dining room/sun room off the kitchen. The lights were low and we spent most of the time in the kitchen so I don't have a detailed description of the house. We all sat on swively stools at the long counter/bar in the kitchen. I do know tho that the dogs and their kennel and quilt lived in the living room....how many dogs? I don't know, actually. Seemed like 10 or 12. At one point in the evening Mary got off her swivelly stool and sat on the carpet in the living room next to the kennel and invited one of the dogs to sit next to her. Don't know what exactly they were going to talk about but a loud burst of laughter from Mary caused us all to swivel on our stools to see her there with the dog sitting on her lap, his legs straddlling her, his back to her, looking very pleased. "Please, mommy, can I sit on your lap???" I think its the same one that came up next to me on my swivel stool and I casually reached back to scratch behind his ears then just as casually stopped which brought a stern growl from this dog who thinks he's a child. Mary talked to him and chastized him gently and rubbed his head some more. She'll make a great grandmother. Jackie warned us to watch for our left nipples, of which he, the dog, bit hers twice. We swiveled back and forth all night to face whichever person was speaking. This was difficult when more than one person was speaking.

Then the discussion turned to deeper topics...Kelly losing her car on a snowy day, Chloe's favorite way to get a drink...from Rocco's water bowl!, MaryRose's sister-in-law going to Kuwait as a med dr in the armed forces, Chloe's charming abliltiy to throw herself on the floor and let it all out then pop up and be fine - (if only we could do that Melissa said and we all agreed), lots of discussion on the upcoming possible war on Iraq, Girl Scout cookies (Eric hasn't gotten his yet!), Bush the sly fox, advanced maternal pregnancy and fathers to be, thinking no one is watching them, browsing for and buying tiny little pink baby jammies and the upcoming Walk for MS.

Katrina brought out printed info on the Virtual March on Washington which happened today...Mary showed us her anti-war pins on her coat from the 60's and we all drank wine.

The meeting officially concluded around 10 pm (thats when I left so who knows what happend after...) A good time was had by all.

Respectfully submitted by Katrina Ulrich
Feb 26, 2003