Hi there Ladies! Happy Holidays :)
I hope you'll forgive me when I say that I have not had a chance to read this month's selection. I'm sooooo sorry! We have just closed on a house, after a whirlwind hunt, and we are trying to get everything done (it was a foreclosure, so we got a great deal but we now are paying with some sweat-equity to get it ready to move into) with three small kids, so it's often like herding cats, uphill, through molasses on a cold day. Did I tell you we also got a dog? Yegads! So with that and the holidays, I haven't been the most attentive to this month's choice. I'll do better next month! Promise!
The book sounds GREAT and I've enjoyed reading the reviews and I *WILL* read it when things settle down. But for now, mea culpa.
:) Laurenda
Friday, December 29
Wednesday, December 27
Persian Pickle - Posted by Karen Buxton
I enjoyed this book just as much the second time. Both times I put the book down wondering who really was responsible for killing Ben Crook. I really don't think that it was Queenie. Then again, maybe it was. Brilliant!
There were several things that I liked about the book one of them being the language, and visual images that she created. (The scarf had slipped off her (Nettie's) neck and her goiter quivered like a piglet.) I felt sorry for the poor lady with the goiter, but I couldn't help but laugh.
Interesting that Katie didn't like Rita. She really wasn't all that likeable, because she seemed so superficial and shallow, but by the end of the book one can see that she does have loyalty, and an appreciation for the people that she met and the lessons learned on the farm. I like to think of her as the "Scarlet O'Hara" of the book, and Queenie as the "Melanie" Queenie seems to see the best in people, and is forgiving of their faults. She's completely contented with the life that she leads, and can't imagine anything or anyplace better. Rita is the belle of the ball, and is completely out of her element. She's not content to roll with the punches, she's going to fight. I can identify with Rita because I experienced some intense culture shock when we moved to West Texas. It took me a while to get off of my high horse and focus on the comonalities instead of the differences. As much as I want to be like Queenie, there's an element of Rita in me.
I also appreciated the strong relationships between the women regardless of their age differences. We all have something to gain from our relationships with others regardless of our ages. The older I get the more I appreciate the women around me.
I'm not feeling too eloquent tonight, so I better end. I'm glad that the book has been enjoyable, and I'm looking forward to reading the next selection.
There were several things that I liked about the book one of them being the language, and visual images that she created. (The scarf had slipped off her (Nettie's) neck and her goiter quivered like a piglet.) I felt sorry for the poor lady with the goiter, but I couldn't help but laugh.
Interesting that Katie didn't like Rita. She really wasn't all that likeable, because she seemed so superficial and shallow, but by the end of the book one can see that she does have loyalty, and an appreciation for the people that she met and the lessons learned on the farm. I like to think of her as the "Scarlet O'Hara" of the book, and Queenie as the "Melanie" Queenie seems to see the best in people, and is forgiving of their faults. She's completely contented with the life that she leads, and can't imagine anything or anyplace better. Rita is the belle of the ball, and is completely out of her element. She's not content to roll with the punches, she's going to fight. I can identify with Rita because I experienced some intense culture shock when we moved to West Texas. It took me a while to get off of my high horse and focus on the comonalities instead of the differences. As much as I want to be like Queenie, there's an element of Rita in me.
I also appreciated the strong relationships between the women regardless of their age differences. We all have something to gain from our relationships with others regardless of our ages. The older I get the more I appreciate the women around me.
I'm not feeling too eloquent tonight, so I better end. I'm glad that the book has been enjoyable, and I'm looking forward to reading the next selection.
Tuesday, December 26
Purple Persian Pickles
OK, so I added Purple, but it sounds good.
I can't believe Karen was first. Is there a new world order? ;-) Way to go!!
I loved how "comfortable" this book made me feel. It made me miss (ok, so I wasn't there to miss it), the easier pace of olden times. Now, I love technology - I don't know how I ever lived without my cell phone and I'm jealous that missionaries now use email to communicate much faster than the snail-mail we used back in my day. However, there are times when I wish things would calm down, I could spend time cooking and visiting friends. I agree with Karen how "[t]he use of "down home" language to describe people, places and events was so fresh and generated a feeling of authenticity in the story." It was a very comforting read.
One thing I must say is that I didn't like Rita, I didn't like how she appeared to 'pooh-pooh' the down-home life of the other members of the PPC. Having attended college and wanting a career made her 'better' than others. I found my dislike for her odd, since I'm for not only women's education but not trying to fit in for fitting in's sake.
Now, about the ending. Oddly enough, in the middle of the book I started wondering whether Queenie had committed the murder or not. However, at the end, by saying it was she, I felt she was honoring the secret of the club members. However, I've been wrong before.
Thanks, Karen, for a great pick!!
I can't believe Karen was first. Is there a new world order? ;-) Way to go!!
I loved how "comfortable" this book made me feel. It made me miss (ok, so I wasn't there to miss it), the easier pace of olden times. Now, I love technology - I don't know how I ever lived without my cell phone and I'm jealous that missionaries now use email to communicate much faster than the snail-mail we used back in my day. However, there are times when I wish things would calm down, I could spend time cooking and visiting friends. I agree with Karen how "[t]he use of "down home" language to describe people, places and events was so fresh and generated a feeling of authenticity in the story." It was a very comforting read.
One thing I must say is that I didn't like Rita, I didn't like how she appeared to 'pooh-pooh' the down-home life of the other members of the PPC. Having attended college and wanting a career made her 'better' than others. I found my dislike for her odd, since I'm for not only women's education but not trying to fit in for fitting in's sake.
Now, about the ending. Oddly enough, in the middle of the book I started wondering whether Queenie had committed the murder or not. However, at the end, by saying it was she, I felt she was honoring the secret of the club members. However, I've been wrong before.
Thanks, Karen, for a great pick!!
Persian Pickle Club
What an awesome book!! My daughter-in-law (Carolyn--former book group member who is now reading my copy of Persian Pickle) has a framed saying in her home that neither of us can remember exactly. We are at a rented house in Bountiful and can't check to see was it really says, but it goes something like this: Families are like quilts, pieced together in love, etc. Anyway, it is a cool saying.
At any rate, I loved the way Sandra Dallas used the image of a quilt to show the interconnectedness of the lives of these women. I think it can also apply to our families and to people we have been in a ward with. (I know, I'm not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition!) I have expressed the idea many times that, for me, part of the joy of heaven will be to see those people who have meant something in my life and ask them, "What happened next? Where did you go and what did you do in your life after our paths parted?" I have also found that I can be separated from a friend for years and when we are together again, we just seem to pick up where we left off, just like a recurring pattern in a quilt.
I also thought the writer's craft was excellent. The use of "down home" language to describe people, places and events was so fresh and generated a feeling of authenticity in the story (plus it was fun!). "Rita was right about us looking like a coop full of biddies. We sat there at Ada June's dining room table, clucking as Rita walked in. Then our eyes bugged out, making us look dumb enough to knit with wet spaghetti."
The plot was intriguing. Dallas did an excellent job of surprising the reader. [By the way, is everybody sure that Queenie really did it?] I also liked the way the "threads" of the story "tied" back to each other: The hill country family connecting to the murder mystery, the effort to help girls "in a family way" foreshadowing a blessing in Queenie's life, Rita's journey from an outsider/observer/writer to becoming a real part of the group. "'Why, we taught her to quilt, after all," Mrs. Judd said . . . But it was the name that decided me [Queenie]. This quilt is a Friendship Forever."
The impact of the attempted assault was so genuine and not gratuitous, it reminded me of the way the rape and murder of a girl I knew in elementary school altered my perception of my own safety. I understood Queenie's statement that "the farm was the only place I felt safe, and I refused to leave it, even to be with my best friends." (page 140) I also appreciated the way her friends rallied around her and the growth of her own courage that came when she looked outside herself. "The Celebrity Quilt changed my mind about attending Persian Pickle."
I loved the portrayal of women supporting each other and connecting to each other in a way that is uniquely feminine. "We had our differences in Persian Pickle. 'My stars, we'd be as dull as checkers if we didn't,' Mrs. Ritter told me once. But when any one of us was in need, she got the support and understanding that a man never provided. There wasn't anything we couldn't share or a secret we wouldn't keep." (page 13) It seemed so much like a close Relief Society--comfort food and creating something tangible and trying to find a way to make a positive impact on the world--that it really resonated with me. I also loved their common sense and matter-of-fact way of dealing with the poverty and challenges of dust-bowl Kansas. "'She's a worker.' We all nodded because that was the biggest compliment you could give a Kansas woman."
I hope your Christmas was wonderful! I can't wait to read "your all's" thoughts on this book!
At any rate, I loved the way Sandra Dallas used the image of a quilt to show the interconnectedness of the lives of these women. I think it can also apply to our families and to people we have been in a ward with. (I know, I'm not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition!) I have expressed the idea many times that, for me, part of the joy of heaven will be to see those people who have meant something in my life and ask them, "What happened next? Where did you go and what did you do in your life after our paths parted?" I have also found that I can be separated from a friend for years and when we are together again, we just seem to pick up where we left off, just like a recurring pattern in a quilt.
I also thought the writer's craft was excellent. The use of "down home" language to describe people, places and events was so fresh and generated a feeling of authenticity in the story (plus it was fun!). "Rita was right about us looking like a coop full of biddies. We sat there at Ada June's dining room table, clucking as Rita walked in. Then our eyes bugged out, making us look dumb enough to knit with wet spaghetti."
The plot was intriguing. Dallas did an excellent job of surprising the reader. [By the way, is everybody sure that Queenie really did it?] I also liked the way the "threads" of the story "tied" back to each other: The hill country family connecting to the murder mystery, the effort to help girls "in a family way" foreshadowing a blessing in Queenie's life, Rita's journey from an outsider/observer/writer to becoming a real part of the group. "'Why, we taught her to quilt, after all," Mrs. Judd said . . . But it was the name that decided me [Queenie]. This quilt is a Friendship Forever."
The impact of the attempted assault was so genuine and not gratuitous, it reminded me of the way the rape and murder of a girl I knew in elementary school altered my perception of my own safety. I understood Queenie's statement that "the farm was the only place I felt safe, and I refused to leave it, even to be with my best friends." (page 140) I also appreciated the way her friends rallied around her and the growth of her own courage that came when she looked outside herself. "The Celebrity Quilt changed my mind about attending Persian Pickle."
I loved the portrayal of women supporting each other and connecting to each other in a way that is uniquely feminine. "We had our differences in Persian Pickle. 'My stars, we'd be as dull as checkers if we didn't,' Mrs. Ritter told me once. But when any one of us was in need, she got the support and understanding that a man never provided. There wasn't anything we couldn't share or a secret we wouldn't keep." (page 13) It seemed so much like a close Relief Society--comfort food and creating something tangible and trying to find a way to make a positive impact on the world--that it really resonated with me. I also loved their common sense and matter-of-fact way of dealing with the poverty and challenges of dust-bowl Kansas. "'She's a worker.' We all nodded because that was the biggest compliment you could give a Kansas woman."
I hope your Christmas was wonderful! I can't wait to read "your all's" thoughts on this book!
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