The Sisterhood and The Two Gentlemen of Penticton: Wednesday, November 13th!

I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received. -Antonio Porchia, poet (13 Nov 1886-1968) 

Hello Hotel Metropolites! On behalf of Lady Darjeeling and I, see you all, anytime after 6:30 pm, this evening, for swilling vodka and the discussion of A Gentleman in Moscow. Bring your appetite as we will serve borscht, [If Von Bingen is bringing borscht as well, we can have a taste-off!], and perogies. As well, Dame Judith will bring caviar, imported all the way from Siberia and Commissar Colin a case of Stolichnaya! Hip Hip Hooray for Stalin!
 

Finally, please bring any titles, uncensored, you wish to suggest for January and later in the Spring. Fondestos from Lady Dar to one and all. Cheers! Na Zdorovie! Patrushka! Pic: Borscht waiting for this evening!👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 Pamela Thanks Patrick, sorry will not be able to partake in the ruski delectables this evening. Sound a whole lot more palatable than cornbread and mussels chez nous. Please lef me know what book is chosen tonight for next year. Nazdravlje Senk I’m so sorry to miss this I loved the book and all, (well most), Russian foods. When My beloved suggest sparkling hills for a quick getaway all I could think of was yes yes yes ;). Please don’t hate me. ;) Xxoxo Michelle

Hi Big Al! Thanks for the wonderful snap of Penticton. Great to see what the waterfront looked like back then, compared to how it has changed. Especially enjoyed seeing it as this is almost the starting point for most of my rides, my route regulare. Must away as I want to go for a ride shortly as want to be home in plenty of time to ready house for this evening. Fondestos from Lady Dar to you and Marilyn. Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: Chloë on KVR. Borscht; Chloë with Duke listening to fetal heartbeat!

With the start of the Trump Impeachment Hearings I tuned in to the live streaming of the proceedings and while the Democrats and Republicans sparred, [the latter nastily and shrilly, in my opinion], I worked on making a batch of pumpkin soup from the one of the gourds I'd roasted last week. Fairly simple recipe for a straightforward version but I'm planning to try a Coconut Curry variation with the second batch of pumpkin. 

Once I'd finished processing the ingredients and brought everything to a boil/simmer, twice, [30 minutes each time], I cleaned up the kitchen and then suited up for a ride. Realized I'd not asked Lady Dar to help me on with my socks, [Still cannot find my sock-puller-oner!], so popped next door and asked Amanda if she would do me the favour. Knew she was home for lunch as her car was parked in front of her house. She very kindly obliged and when I returned Lady Dar was home, helping herself to a bowl of the soup. According to her it was delicious. Must have been as she had a second helping!
 

Anyway, bade her goodbye and set off around 1:30 pm. Wind as out of the NNW at 15 km/h so I determined I'd head south after logging 20 km on my route regulare with a quick dipsy-doodle up the KVR to Vancouver Ave. Once I was whistling along South Main I decided I'd spend the rest of the ride racking up the distance I wanted on the streets around Skaha Lake Park. The wind was really whistling and quite raw so I really was not enamoured of bucking it on return from OK Falls, my original destination, especially along Eastside Road which is quite exposed for most of the road hugging the lake.

Quite enjoyed my circumcycling of the Park, especially when I had a view south towards OK Falls which was simply spectacular. Almost like a Tony Only painting as the hills were shrouded in mist or low cloud, [hard to tell which], tinged with a lovely pinkish hue, while the clouds above hills to the north and west were streaked with black and much angrier. The hills to the east were bathed in late afternoon light, magical indeed, so a stunning optical display whichever direction I looked. With such sights to hold my attention didn't seem to take long before my trusty odometer had registered 45.5 km and I headed back home, fingers and toes tingling, I must admit. Still, a bracing ride and more than happy to have had it as weather forecast suggests rain in the offing. Cheers! Map and Stats for a most invigorating ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/4250050297#.XcynWce0aWc.email

Eyob Goitom Well spent time! Alan Waldron Glad you are enjoying your time back in the saddle Patrice! Save me some of that soup!! Patrick James Dunn Certainly am and will do but you need to hop in your Sunbeam and hightail it here to come the the Penticton Art Gallery’s 23rd Annual Soup Bowls Project, tomorrow night. [Event is also on Friday evening.] Each guest gets to sample amazing soups on their chosen night, and go home with a bowl loving crafted by the Penticton and Summerland Potters’ Guild. [Bill Laven I have an extra ticket for tonight's soup bowl event. Partner under the weather...]

Guests also get a top secret recipe book filled with tips and tricks from the contributing restaurants. Then you can stay until our Christmas Open House on Saturday, December 14th, finishing all the household jobs you shied away from when here this past summer! Don't worry, we'll feed you well. As an example, Lady Dar's typical breakfast! Cheers  Alan Waldron Patrick James Dunn Thanks for that Pat!..and be careful what you wish for lol, you may get the biggest freeloader of all time 😅!

Hello fellow book club folks! Another wonderful evening  spent with Lou, Corinne, Patrick, Pam, Hildi, Colin, Judi and Dianna.  Lots of animated discussion about our book The Gentleman for Moscow. The evening began with two types of caviar, borsch, perogies, squash soup, home made pickles, cheese selections, duck paté, Russian salami, delicious spread for our crackers (salmon?); lots of wine and Russian Vodka shots.  WOW - everyone out did themselves.The discussion of the book was one of the best as far as I am concerned.  The overall opinion was that this book was: fascinating, amazing, stimulating, provocative, multi-layered, enjoyable and intelligent. 

A recommendation to the club was that we look as the 2019 CBC Massey Lectures: Power Shift: The Longest Revolution. The celebrated journalist and author Sally Armstrong explores the story of women's place in the world today, how we got here, and what we can expect from the future.

She argues that humankind requires the equal status of women and girls. The facts are indisputable. When women get even a bit of education, the whole of society improves. When they get a bit of healthcare, everyone lives longer. In many ways, it has never been a better time to be a woman: a fundamental shift has been occurring. Yet from Toronto to Timbuktu the promise of equality still eludes half the world’s population. Furthermore, Sally illustrates how the status of the female half of humanity is crucial to our collective surviving and thriving. Drawing on anthropology, social science, literature, politics, and economics, she examines the many beginnings of the role of women in society, and the evolutionary revisions over millennia in the realms of sex, religion, custom, culture, politics, and economics. What ultimately comes to light is that gender inequality comes at too high a cost to us all. 

Book recommendations for our next meeting were the following:

1.  The  Winemaker's Wife: - Kristin Harmil - At the dawn of the Second World War, Inès is the young wife of Michel, owner of the House of Chauveau, a small champagne winery nestled among rolling vineyards near Reims, France. Marrying into a storied champagne empire was supposed to be a dream come true, but Inès feels increasingly isolated, purposely left out of the business by her husband; his chef de cave, Theo; and Theo’s wife, Sarah.

But these disappointments pale in comparison to the increasing danger from German forces pouring across the border. At first, it’s merely the Nazi weinführer coming to demand the choicest champagne for Hitler’s cronies, but soon, there are rumors of Jewish townspeople being rounded up and sent east to an unspeakable fate. The war is on their doorstep, and no one in Inès’s life is safe—least of all Sarah, whose father is Jewish, or Michel, who has recklessly begun hiding munitions for the Résistance in the champagne caves. Inès realizes she has to do something to help.
Sarah feels as lost as Inès does, but she doesn’t have much else in common with Michel’s young wife. Inès seems to have it made, not least of all because as a Catholic, she’s “safe.” Sarah, on the other hand, is terrified about the fate of her parents—and about her own future as the Germans begin to rid the Champagne region of Jews. When Sarah makes a dangerous decision to follow her heart in a desperate bid to find some meaning in the ruin, it endangers the lives of all those she cares about—and the champagne house they’ve all worked so hard to save.
 
In the present, Liv Kent has just lost her job—and her marriage. Her wealthy but aloof Grandma Edith, sensing that Liv needs a change of scenery before she hits rock bottom, insists that Liv accompany her on a trip to France. But the older woman has an ulterior motive—and some difficult but important information to share with her granddaughter. As Liv begins to uncover long-buried family secrets, she finds herself slowly coming back to life. When past and present intertwine at last, she may finally find a way forward, along a difficult road that leads straight to the winding caves beneath the House of Chauveau.
 
The Winemaker’s Wife is an evocative and gorgeously wrought novel that examines how the choices we make in our darkest hours can profoundly change our lives—and how hope can come from the places we least expect.

2.  Ducks Newburyport - Lucy Ellman - Baking a multitude of tartes tatins for local restaurants, an Ohio housewife contemplates her four kids, husband, cats and chickens. Also, America's ignoble past, and her own regrets. She is surrounded by dead lakes, fake facts, Open Carry maniacs, and oodles of online advice about survivalism, veil toss duties, and how to be more like Jane Fonda. But what do you do when you keep stepping on your son's toy tractors, your life depends on stolen land and broken treaties, and nobody helps you when you get a flat tire on the interstate, not even the Abominable Snowman? When are you allowed to start swearing? With a torrent of consciousness and an intoxicating coziness, Ducks, Newburyport lays out a whole world for you to tramp around in, by turns frightening and funny. A heart-rending indictment of America's barbarity, and a lament for the way we are blundering into environmental disaster, this book is both heresy—and a revolution in the novel.

3. A Hologram for the King - Dave Eggers -  Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Tom Hanks, Tom Skerritt, and Sarita Choudhury.

In a rising Saudi Arabian city, far from weary, recession-scarred America, a struggling businessman named Alan Clay pursues a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter's college tuition, and finally do something great. In A Hologram for the King, Dave Eggers takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of the global economy's gale-force winds. This taut, richly layered, and elegiac novel is a powerful evocation of our contemporary moment--and a moving story of how we got here.

4.  Songs in Ordinary Times - Mary McGarry Morris - It's the summer of 1960 in Atkinson, Vermont. Maria Fermoyle is a strong but vulnerable divorced woman whose loneliness and ambition for her children make her easy prey for dangerous con man Omar Duvall. Marie's children are Alice, seventeen—involved with a young priest; Norm, sixteen—hotheaded and idealistic; and Benny, twelve—isolated and misunderstood, and so desperate for his mother's happiness that he hides the deadly truth he knows about Duvall. We also meet Sam Fermoyle, the children's alcoholic father; Sam's brother-in-law, who makes anonymous "love" calls from the bathroom of his failing appliance store; and the Klubock family, who—in contrast to the Fermoyles—live an orderly life in the house next door.

Songs in Ordinary Time is a masterful epic of the everyday, illuminating the kaleidoscope of lives that tell the compelling story of this unforgettably family.

5. Birdie - Tracy Lindberg - A big, beautiful Cree woman with a dark secret in her past, Bernice (”Birdie”) has left her home in northern Alberta to travel to Gibsons, B.C. She is on something of a vision quest, looking for family, for home, for understanding. She is also driven by the leftover teenaged desire to meet Pat Johns--Jesse from The Beachcombers--because he is, as she says, a working, healthy Indian man. Birdie heads for Molly’s Reach to find answers, but they are not the ones she expected.

With the arrival in Gibsons of her Auntie Val and her cousin Skinny Freda, Birdie begins to draw from her dreams the lessons she was never fully taught in life. Informed by the lore and knowledge of Cree traditions, Birdie is a darkly comic and moving first novel about the universal experience of recovering from tragedy. At heart, it is the story of an extraordinary woman who travels to the deepest part of herself to find the strength to face the past and to build a new life.

6. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress -  Ina Sijie, Dai Rilke -  An enchanting literary debut—already an international best-seller. At the height of Mao’s infamous Cultural Revolution, two boys are among hundreds of thousands exiled to the countryside for “re-education.” The narrator and his best friend, Luo, guilty of being the sons of doctors, find themselves in a remote village where, among the peasants of Phoenix mountain, they are made to cart buckets of excrement up and down precipitous winding paths. Their meager distractions include a violin—as well as, before long, the beautiful daughter of the local tailor.

But it is when the two discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation that their re-education takes its most surprising turn. While ingeniously concealing their forbidden treasure, the boys find transit to worlds they had thought lost forever. And after listening to their dangerously seductive retellings of Balzac, even the Little Seamstress will be forever transformed.
From within the hopelessness and terror of one of the darkest passages in human history, Dai Sijie has fashioned a beguiling and unexpected story about the resilience

7. The Giver of Stars - Jojo Moyes - Set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond . Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England.  But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.

The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky. 
 
What happens to them--and to the men they love--becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.

Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic--a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of  true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond. 

8. Shape of Family -  Shilpi Somaya Gowda - A poignant, unforgettable novel about a family's growing apart and coming back together in the wake of tragedy. The Olanders embody a modern family in a globalized world. Jaya, the cultured daughter of an Indian diplomat and Keith, an ambitious banker from middle-class Philadelphia, meet in a London pub in 1988 and make a life together in suburban California. Their strong marriage is built on shared beliefs and love for their two children: headstrong teenager Karina and young son Prem, the light of their home.

But love and prosperity cannot protect them from sudden, unspeakable tragedy, and the family’s foundation cracks as each member struggles to seek a way forward. Jaya finds solace in spirituality. Keith wagers on his high-powered career. Karina focuses relentlessly on her future and independence. And Prem watches helplessly as his once close-knit family drifts apart. When Karina heads off to college for a fresh start, her search for identity and belonging leads her down a dark path, forcing her and her family to reckon with the past, the secrets they’ve held and the weight of their choices.

 

The Shape of Family is an intimate portrayal of four individuals as they grapple with what it means to be a family and how to move from a painful past into a hopeful future. It is a profoundly moving exploration of the ways we all seek belonging — in our families, our communities and ultimately, within ourselves.

9. In The Garden of Beasts -  Erik Larson -  The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Nazi Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history.

    

A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another, including with the suprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling first-person testimony, her father telegraphs his concerns to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd watches with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement, intrigue, romance—and ultimately, horror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder reveals Hitler’s true character and ruthless ambition.

 
Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with unforgettable portraits of the bizarre Göring and the expectedly charming--yet wholly sinister--Goebbels, In the Garden of Beasts lends a stunning, eyewitness perspective on events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity. The result is a dazzling, addictively readable work that speaks volumes about why the world did not recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler until Berlin, and Europe, were awash in blood and terror.

A great suggestion list of books worth a read.  After two rounds of voting those present selected The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Noyes, as our next book. The date of our next book club meeting will be February, 13th @ 6:30 p.m.  Pam Webster has offered to host the event, off The Naramata Road.  We hope that lots of you can make it. Please RSVP. No theme has been set for this night, just the bunch of us getting together over appies and wine. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and looking forward to getting together in 2020. Judi 

Hi Dame Judith, et al! Many, many thanks to the Secretary Extraordinaire, for her marvellous recounting of the fun-and-food-filled gathering and for her detailed presentation of the numerous book suggestions. Thanks as well, of course, to everyone for the wonderful, wonderful contributions of food and hootch. A feast and vodka fuelled discussion beyond compare!

Aside from this I wanted to send along more information on the  2019 CBC Massey Lectures. All 5 CBC Massey Lectures will air during the week of November 11 - 15 on CBC Radio One at 8:00 pm/8:30 NT and will be available on the CBC Listen App, as a CBC Podcast and inserted here as streamed audio.Use the links below to download a file.

Fredericton | CBC Massey Lecture # 3: A Holy Paradox Most religions try to explain what the universe means and why we’re here. More often than not, many of these explanations entail women having lower status than men. Award-winning journalist, Sally Armstrong focuses her third CBC Massey Lecture on the place of women throughout the history of religion.

Download Fredericton | CBC Massey Lecture # 3: A Holy Paradox
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:09]  

Vancouver | CBC Massey Lecture # 2: The Mating Game. In Sally Armstrong's second lecture, she explores sex: the history of sex for procreation, for pleasure, for business. In our time, monogamy is the norm, but evolutionary biology suggests that in prehistory, it wasn't. Throughout history, we've seen increasing control of women — and as a result, the domination of women's bodies by men.

Download Vancouver | CBC Massey Lecture # 2: The Mating Game
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:09]

Whitehorse | CBC Massey Lecture # 1: In the Beginning(s) “There’s never been a better time in human history to be a woman,” says Sally Armstrong in the first of her first 2019 CBC Massey Lectures: Power Shift: The Longest Revolution. The acclaimed journalist and activist argues that women are closer to gaining equality than ever before. She examines how over the centuries women lost power and status to men — right up to today.

Download Whitehorse | CBC Massey Lecture # 1: In the Beginning(s)
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:09] 

Thanks again, to one and all. Fondestos from Lady Dar. Stay well. Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: One Gentleman and The Sisterhood!Patrick and Corinne, Thank you for the fun and the food on Wednesday night. You are great hosts. Looking forward to reading The Giver of Stars and the next meeting at my house. Pamela
   

Hi from Jim, Attached is some blatant advertising (in 4 parts, no less) for the Tune Agers Christmas concert. If you are interested, you may get tickets at The Beanery, Dragon’s Den, at the door (if available), or from Tune Agers such as Pam Webster, Aart Dronkers, or Jim French.

 

There is also a Choral Extravaganza featuring 7 choirs from the South Okanagan. It happens this Sunday, November 17th, at 2:00 pm at Penticton United Church. Tickets available at the door. We hope to see many of you at these musical performances. Cheers

Thanks for the info on CBC Massey Lectures, delivered by Sally Armstrong, journalist and author. They sound so interesting. Think I’ll spread the word to some other women! Luigi