While this makes for a pleasurable reading experience, one misses out on the vast range of fiction and nonfiction available at your local book store or neighborhood library.

That’s the beauty of a book club – members are forced to read outside of  their comfort zones.

Left to my own devices, I would never have picked up Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough.

McCullough’s biography of  Teddy Roosevelt’s remarkably innocent childhood depicts a pathetically weak, asthmatic boy clamoring for his parents’ attention. It was through the demanding love of Roosevelt’s unusually demonstrative father that Teddy grew into his tough adult self.

While this book was a favorite of both Laure and Dixie, I returned it to the local library partially read.

Discussion questions can be found here.

Anyone who has enjoyed the The Inspector Lynley Mysteries on PBS, would likewise appreciate  the printed version of works by Elizabeth George.

In her debut novel, A Great Deliverance,  the novelist lays the groundwork for the up-and-down working relationship of  smooth, attractive and utterly upper-class, Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton, and  ”stubby, sturdy” detective-sergeant Barbara Havers,  who’s painfully conscious of her plain appearance and lower-class.

The mismatched team must weigh the general conviction of the villagers that this  silent, obese adolescent Roberta Teys could not have possibly wielded the bloody axe that killed her church-going father with the mounting evidence to the contrary.

Not your typical book club fare, but the skeletons in every closet made for a great discussion.

Questions are as follows:

1. Does the opening sentence, “It was a solecism of the very worst kind,” apply to Father  Hart only or to the entire novel?  Explain. (Solecism – grammatical mistake or absurdity)

2. Given that Barbara Havers and Thomas Lynley come from vastly different backgrounds can they, in your opinion, work together successfully?

3. Is Havers accurate in her assessment of her own abilities as a detective?  Do others at Scotland Yard share the same opinion?  Webberly?  Lynley?

4. Discuss the purpose of the two shrines in the novel.  Would you consider them productive or counterproductive?

5. We know why William Teys wanted to marry Olivia O’dell, but what did Olivia have to gain from their marriage?

6. Not judging by appearances is a recurrent theme in ‘A Great Deliverance’.  Discuss who is judging, who is being judged and the result of that judgment.

7.  Webberly told Havers, “There’s a lot you can learn from working with Lynley.”  What could she learn?  What did she learn?  What was she afraid to learn?  Does she really hate Lynley?

8. “People would do anything for the ones they love most.”  How does this statement explain Roberta’s behavior and/or her motive for killing her father?

9. Was Barbara Havers at fault for her hard-nosed treatment of Nell Graham a.k.a. Gillian Teys?

10. After entering her parent’s home and seeing Tony’s shrine, Havers realized that she had been, “incubating a chimera and what a bloody waste it’s been.”  Explain.

(Chimera – In medicine:  a person composed of two genetically distinct types of cells; In Greek mythology:  fire-breathing monster with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a serpent.)

11. Did you agree with Father Hart’s decision not to betray what he had heard in the confessional?  Why/Why not?

12. In your experience, was the picture of religion that Elizabeth George portrayed in ‘A Great Deliverance’ an accurate one?  Did the author have an ulterior motive?

13. Discuss the emphasis the author places on setting/scenery in the novel.   (p. 55 – the right streets of Acton, p. 56 – the wrong streets of Acton, Scrapbook of travel sites, p. 108-109 – Yorkshire countryside)

14. Give examples of the author’s use of humor to lighten the subject matter of the novel.

15. Given the book’s title, ‘A Great Deliverance,’ did you believe the murderer’s confession early on in the text?  What other characters had sufficient motive to kill William Teys?

What unlikely books has your club enjoyed?

Hard to believe isn’t it that the 1849 death and subsequent burial of Edgar Allan Poe drew such little attention?  Reports say that most friends and followers did not learn of the funeral proceedings until the following day.

To rectify this grave injustice and commemorate the bicentennial of the author’s birth, the Baltimore Poe Society staged an elaborate reenactment complete with:

• an 11-hour, public, open-casket viewing in his former home at 203 North Amity Street for a $5 fee.
• an all-night vigil at Poe’s Monument, Westminster Graveyard, where literary fans  paid homage to the deceased through words, poetry or song.
• a horse-drawn hearse processional from Amity Street to Westminster Hall,  led by the Loch Raven Pipes and Drums.
• hundreds of spectators, many in appropriate period attire, lining the streets to pay tribute.
• two, 2 1/2 hour services, 12:30 and 4:30 p.m., to accommodate the vast number of mourners; 600-700.  The cost was $35 in advance and $40 at the door with no SRO or children under 10 allowed.

Best known for his role of the original Gomez Addams, John Astin, officiated at both services. An esteemed Poe researcher, Astin heads up the John Hopkins theater department.

Poe biographer and rival Rev. Rufus Griswold was forced from the podium after referring to the master of the macabre as a “carping grammarian”.

Griswold scowled and muttered through the rest of the proceedings as Poe admirers from the past and present lauded the originator of the mystery/detective novel and horror story.

Exhibiting obvious paranoia, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft read from the Necronomicon.

Other noted individuals in attendance included: Sir Alfred Hitchcock, legendary film director;  Walt Whitman, American poet; Sarah Helen Whitman, former fiancee; Nathanial Parker Willis, loyal friend; J.T.L.Preston, childhood friend; Charles Bauldelaire, French writer;  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes; Mark Redfield, actor and filmmaker.

Actual footage of the reenactment can be found at the following links:

NPR

BBC

FOXBaltimore

http://mouseski.blogspot.com/2009/10/into-region-of-shadows.html

Poe grew up, fell in love, married, penned his first poems and started his literary career in Richmond, VA.  Information regarding Poe’s life in Virginia can be found here.

Five Poe myths debunked here by Dante Club author, Matthew Pearl.

*Thanks to my niece, Amy, for her eye-witness account of the event.

An educated woman, Mamah (nickname for Martha) collected a BA from the University of Michigan in 1892. A free thinker even then she penned essays supporting the fledgling Women’s Movement in the late 19th century.

But marriage to a balding electrical engineer, ripped the 30-year-old
woman from the world of academia in Port Huron, Michigan, and plunked her down in Oak Park, Illinois, back in her father’s house.

Instead of being a ‘handmaiden to knowledge’ and ‘doctor of the soul’, she became a mother, twice over to her deceased sister’s child, Jessica, and her own son, John, born in 1902.  A daughter, Martha, was added to the family in 1905.

No longer a translator who spoke six languages fluently, but a diaper changer extraordinaire who hustled to keep the dark old house clutter free to please her husband.

That’s when Edwin Cheney began campaigning for a modern home and Frank Lloyd Wright entered the picture.

Wright’s desire to create architecture, “that was true–something that emerged like a plant from the earth” awoke Mamah’s youthful interest in nature fostered by her amateur-naturalist father.

Nancy Horan, author of Loving Frank commented, “I think what (Wright) saw in Mamah was a very attractive woman, a woman with a great deal to say–curious about the world in the way he was.”

Loving Frank chronicles the real-life love affair of the two sycophants. An affair which began during the planning stages of a garage to complement the Cheney’s home and continued until her death in 1914.

The lover’s scandalous behavior also forms the last section of The Women, T. C. Boyle’s 2009 novel dealing with the wives and mistresses of the renowned architect.

Writing in reverse order, Professor Boyle opens the book with Olga Ivanova Lazovich (aka Olgivanna), Wright’s last wife, before moving backward to wife number two, Miriam Noel and finishing off the text with Mamah.

About 30 years younger than the Oak Park architect, the dancer from Montenegro,  apparently learned to co-habit with Wright at Taliesin in a way no other women had.  After several stormy years at its beginning, their marriage lasted until his death in 1959 and produced one daughter, Iovanna.

While  grieving over the loss of Mamah and trying to  recreate their love nest in Spring Green, Wisconsin, Wright took up with Maude Miriam Noel, a noted, upper-crust sculptress.   Their tumultuous marriage lasted only six months since the sexually charged morphine addict couldn’t abide being overshadowed by her celebrity husband.

Sadly, Katherine, Wright’s tenacious wife of 20 years, is mentioned in only one passage of The Women.

No matter which novel your group chooses to read and discuss, either will furnish a wide variety of topics to hash over during your monthly gathering.

Suggested discussion questions for Loving Frank can be found here.

At the present time, no discussion questions could be found online for The Women.

A scene from one of those campy 1940s spy movies filmed entirely in black and white?

Not for some of the 4,500 women who actively engaged in espionage work for the OSS during WWII.

Josephine Baker

Spying for her adopted country of France, Josephine Baker personally carried confidential information throughout Europe.

Blinded by her stardom, passport checkers never once guessed that the famed entertainer’s sheet music carried secrets penned in invisible ink. When recruited by her agent’s older brother, Baker eagerly agreed to pass on any tantalizing bits of information overheard at cocktail parties.

Sipping martinis while idly chatting with high-ranking Japanese officials and Italian bureaucrats at embassy gatherings, the singer could easily contribute to the French Resistance movement.

Her other war efforts included: sending Christmas presents to French soldiers, hiding Belgian refugees at her house in Southern France and securing passports and visas for people dodging the Nazi regime.

Accompanied by her entourage, Baker smuggled information out of Spain by pinning it inside her underwear. Not only did the St. Louis native sing and dance for allied soldiers in North Africa, but she also entertained liberated inmates of Buchenwald too frail to travel.

Recognized as the first American women to receive the Croix de Guerre, France’s highest military honor, the St. Louis Walk of Fame and Hall of Famous Missourians also honor Baker’s accomplishments.

For more information regarding this world-famous, African-American entertainer read: Josephine Baker: The Hungry Heart by foster son, Jean-Claude Baker.

Julia McWilliams Child

Before achieving celebrity status as The French Chef, Julia McWilliams Child processed top-secret documents for the OSS, the forerunner of today’s CIA.

Too tall for the WACS or WAVES, this advertising copywriter worked for OSS Leader General William Donovan as a research assistant in the Secret Intelligence Division.

In those years before computers, her orderly mind came in handy when assigned the task of keeping track of 10,000 officers by typing each individual’s name on a white note card before adding their vital information.

In the Emergency Sea Rescue Equipment Section, Julia helped develop a signal mirror for downed pilots and “cooked up” a shark repellent to steer the sea creatures away from underwater explosives intended to blow up German U-boats.

Ripe for adventure, the California native volunteered for a posting in Ceylon where she handled highly classified papers dealing with the invasion of the Malay Peninsula.

Given top security clearances in Kumming, China, Julia personally examined every incoming and outgoing message for all the intelligence branches involved in war efforts.

Besides receiving the Emblem of Meritorious Civilian Service for her leadership in the OSS Secretariat in China, Julia McWilliams landed a husband who helped launch her star-studded culinary career after the war.

My Life in France chronicles the Child’s life after the war in Paris, Marseille, and Provence.

Virginia Hall

Considered “the most dangerous of all allied spies” by the Gestapo, Virginia Hall spent 15 months helping to coordinate the workings of the Underground in occupied France.

Called “the limping lady of the OSS,” Hall ducked behind enemy lines to map drop zones for necessary supplies and parachuting Allied forces . While working with the Underground, they cut  telegraph power lines disrupting vital German communications as the D-Day invasion played out.

The amputation of her left leg below the knee might have killed her chances for a diplomatic career but didn’t hamper Hall from training three battalions of Resistance forces in guerilla tactics for use against the Germans. Hobbling around on her wooden leg named Cuthbert, the operative continued to update reports of German troop movements until the Allies relieved her group.

In September 1945, Hall accepted A Distinguished Service Cross, the only one awarded to a woman in WWII. Previously in July 1943, British authorities had quietly recognized Hall as a Member of the Order of the British Empire fearing that a higher honor would ‘blow her cover’.

After marriage to OSS agent, Paul Goillot, the CIA requested her services as an intelligence analyst on French parliamentary affairs.

To learn more about Virginia Hall, read The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of America’s Greatest Female Spy by Judith L. Pearson.

Amy Elizabeth Thorpe

By all reports, the most controversial lady spy, Amy Elizabeth Thorpe exploited her beauty and seductive charms to secure valuable enemy data from admiring men in high places.

“Ashamed? Not in the least,” she retorted, “My superiors told me that the results of my work saved thousands of British and American lives.”

Under the code name, Cynthia, Thorpe procured cables, letters, files and accounts of embassy activities and personalities from her lover Charles Brousse, a French embassy official in Washington, D. C.  As his mistress, Thorpe exploited Brousse’s anti-Nazi sentiments and connections with the Vichy French government to her advantage.

Not afraid to scare off an inquisitive night guard by stripping down to her necklace and heels, Cynthia paved the way for the theft of  naval codes. In November, 1942, these ciphers proved to be extremely useful in planning the Allied invasion of  French-held North Africa.

The modern day Mata Hari remarked, “It involved me in situations from which ’respectable’ women draw back—but mine was total commitment. Wars are not won by respectable methods.”

Dubbed as one of the most successful spies in history, Amy Elizabeth Thorpe Pack Brousse also secured conclusive proof of Hitler’s plan to rip apart Czechoslovakia and linked the Polish and Allied efforts to break Germany’s enciphering machine, Enigma.

Some sources credit this translation of German ciphers with bringing an end to the European war two year earlier than previously expected.

The most accurate version of her life and service can be found in Sisterhoodof Spies – The Women of the OSS by Elizabeth P. McIntosh

And the public does remember the humor and the dynamic personality of the six-foot, two-inch woman named Julia Child.

Sadly, the TV chef left us in August 2004, but her influence continues in numerous cookbooks, food videos and soon-to-be released motion picture, Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep.

At the oldest restaurant in the country of France,  Paul Child introduced his new wife to French cuisine with a meal of oysters, sole meuniere and fine wine. Having been raised on hearty New England fare, Julia characterized the dining experience as, “an opening up of the soul and the spirit for me.”

The newly weds both worked for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) when they met.  At first, these two contradictory individuals cared little for each other.

Ten years older than Julia McWilliams, Paul Child, an artist and poet with a black belt in judo, spoke flawless French.  Before the OSS posting, the adventure-starved young woman worked as an advertising copywriter for a New York upscale furniture business, W & J Sloane.

In a letter to twin brother Charlie, Paul, a world traveler, described Julia as “wildly emotional” and  an “extremely sloppy thinker” who couldn’t “sustain ideas for long”.

On the other hand, Julia despaired of Paul’s, “light hair which is not on top, an unbecoming blond mustache and a long, unbecoming nose”.  After a cross-country trip, livened up with 8 bottles of whiskey and 1 bottle each of gin and mixed martinis, the couple wed the following September, 1946.

With Paul’s assignment to France, his new wife’s education in the art of fine food began in earnest.  “I was hooked,” she remarked and soon enrolled in the Cordon Bleu, the esteemed cooking school which has produced Food Network chefs, Giada De Laurentis, Mario Batali and Sandra Lee.

Along with six months of instruction and private lessons with Master Chef, Max Bugnard, the budding gourmet haunted the open-air street markets gleaning food lore from fish mongers, bakers and sellers of fruit.

Not to be left out of the adventure, Paul squired Julia to neighborhood bistros as well as fine restaurants further increasing her knowledge of well-prepared food and its presentation on the plate.

A collaboration with two French women, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, over a period of ten years, produced Mastering the Art of French Cooking, volume 1. During this time, the Childs were posted throughout Europe and then back to Washington making communication between the three colleagues difficult in those days before e-mail and fax.

Detailed reports of individual recipes, each page typed with six carbon copies, flew back and forth across the continent and the Atlantic throughout the 50s.  Exhausted at one point from the exacting experience of perfecting one-ingredient recipes, Julia exclaimed, “I’ve just poached two more eggs and thrown them down the toilet”.

Clearly, she couldn’t stomach another Salad Layonnaise, a traditional French salad of  curly endive, hot bacon, and a freshly poached egg.

After testing all those recipes, volume 1 was rejected by several publishers for being too much like an encyclopedia.  Weighing in at 734 pages, they weren’t too far from wrong.  But persistence paid off with publicity from The French Chef on WGBH, Boston’s public TV station, the cookbook sold 200,000 copies by 1965.

Imagine those housewives of the early 60s who regularly stocked their pantry shelves with Shake ‘n’ Bake, Reddi Whip and Tang reaching for whisks, molds and copper bowls to produce quiche Lorraine, boeuf bourguignon and reine de saba.  Quite a change and all because of a former advertising copywriter.

Recovering from a full radical mastectomy in 1968, Julia dried her tears and threw all her energies into completing volume 2 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. “Rushing from stove to typewriter like a mad hen,” she quipped.

Success from more episodes of The French Chef catapulted Julia from cook to a celebrity.  But Paul’s declining health took away his French and verbal fluency.  From then on, he served as manager, photographer, recipe tester and proofreader leaving the limelight to his adored wife.

Consequently, Julia’s  40-year career devoted to fine food, yielded  an induction into the Culinary Institute of Fame (1993), France’s Legion of Honor (2000) and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom(2003).  In August 2002, The French Chef’s kitchen was welcomed into the Smithsonian National Museum as an exhibit.

Besides being recognized with honorary degrees  from various universities , the distinctive voice and manner of Julia Child have been  parodied on SNL (Saturday Night Live) by Dan Aykroyd,  by Heathcliff Huxtable on The Bill Cosby Show (1984-1992) and  on Garrison Keillor’s radio series, A Prairie Home Companion, by Tim Russell.

During her 90 plus years, this restless young woman from Pasadena, California, who once cooked up shark repellent for the U.S. Navy during WWII,  grew into an iconic figure  synonymous with fine dining in the kitchens  across  America.