Sweet Surrender: Love, Life And The Whole Damn Thing

The trilogy of books by Mary Moody describes her escape from mid-life crises - Au Revoir, Last Tango in Toulouse and The Long Hot Summer - has reached a generation of Australian women.

In her new book Sweet Surrender, after all of her escapades and adventures, Mary has come full circle and has embraced surrendering to the inevitable. Surrendering to ageing, to the pull of family, to the happiness derived from a life that is centred on others as well as herself, and to the undeniable influence of her parents and her family on the person she is.

It's been a journey that has taught her a lot, but in the end the needs of her family - her four children and her grandchildren - turned out to be a lot more important than her French affairs.

At the heart of Sweet Surrender, Mary challenges the illusion of eternal youth that's attributed to the baby boomer generation and the idea that she can obtain complete happiness by living life putting her own needs first. Yet like in her other books, she does so in a very personal way, describing how she herself was drawn in by the notion of denying the ageing process and by living life without the burden of obligation to the needs of others.

That was until events in her life conspired to make her realise that you can't just run away from the essence of who you are, and that the most deeply satisfying moment in life can be experienced when fulfilling the needs of those who you love.

Gregory Maguire's Wicked - The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West tells the life story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, long before Dorothy arrives and squishes her sister.

Wicked Overview

After the prologue, the story begins with Elphaba’s Munchkinlander parents, and shortly after that, Elphaba’s birth. The tale then follows her as she grows into a child, then a teen and as she sets off to Shiz University. Among her fellow students, is the snobbish and perfect Glinda, the future Good Witch of the North, who Elphaba is forced to share a room with. Despite a rough beginning, these two eventually become firm friends. Elphaba’s dependant sister, Nessarose, who will eventually grow up to be the Wicked Witch of the East, later joins them at Shiz University.

Elphaba’s lecturer is a goat named Doctor Dillamond. His research involves proving that humans and Animals (note the intentional capitalisation) were not inherently different; so as to petition bans that will prevent Animals from teaching, and force them into servitude or hiding. Elphaba has strong feelings towards the treatment of Animals, and assists Doctor Dillamond with his research. Doctor Dillamond’s work has received the wrong sort of attention and he is murdered at the University. A stricken Elphaba, eventually heads to the Emerald City to confront the Wizard of Oz himself, who she now believes to be corrupt.

Read more: Gregory Maguire

Handle with Care - Jodi Picoult

When Charlotte and Sean O’Keefe’s daughter, Willow, is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, they are devastated – she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain. As the family struggles to make ends meet to cover Willow’s medical expenses, Charlotte thinks she has found an answer. If she files a wrongful birth lawsuit against her ob/gyn for not telling her in advance that her child would be born severely disabled, the monetary payouts might ensure a lifetime of care for Willow. But it means that Charlotte has to get up in a court of law and say in public that she would have terminated the pregnancy if she’d known about the disability in advance – words that her husband can’t abide, that Willow will hear, and that Charlotte cannot reconcile. And the ob/gyn she’s suing isn’t just her physician – it’s her best friend.

Handle With Care explores the knotty tangle of medical ethics and personal morality. When faced with the reality of a foetus who will be disabled, at which point should an OB counsel termination? Should a parent have the right to make that choice? How disabled is TOO disabled? And as a parent, how far would you go to take care of someone you love? Would you alienate the rest of your family? Would you be willing to lie to your friends, to your spouse, to a court? And perhaps most difficult of all – would you admit to yourself that you might not actually be lying?

Cathy's pick. Xmas in July at Cathy's on July 7th. See you all there!

Still Tina

Hi All.....Im Still here just not visible. Thanks to Megan I am able to submit my thoughts..... now that could be dangerous.

Yes the book was easy to read..Thank God. Did really enjoy it. What happend to the ratings? 9/10.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. A Harvard professor, she has a successful husband and three grown children.
When she begins to grow forgetful, she dismisses it for as long as she can, but when she gets lost in her own neighbourhood she knows that something has gone terribly wrong.
She finds herself in the rapidly downward spiral of Alzheimer's Disease. She is fifty years old. Suddenly she has no classes to teach, no new research to conduct, no invited lectures to give. Ever again.
Unable to work, read and, increasingly, take care of herself, Alice struggles to find meaning and purpose in her everyday life as her concept of self gradually slips away.
But Alice is a remarkable woman, and her family, yoked by history and DNA and love, discover more about her and about each other, in their quest to keep the Alice they know for as long as possible.
Losing her yesterdays, her short-term memory hanging on by a couple of frayed threads, she is living in the moment, living for each day. But she is still Alice.

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. A Harvard professor, she has a successful husband and three grown children.
When she begins to grow forgetful, she dismisses it for as long as she can, but when she gets lost in her own neighbourhood she knows that something has gone terribly wrong.
She finds herself in the rapidly downward spiral of Alzheimer's Disease. She is fifty years old. Suddenly she has no classes to teach, no new research to conduct, no invited lectures to give. Ever again.
Unable to work, read and, increasingly, take care of herself, Alice struggles to find meaning and purpose in her everyday life as her concept of self gradually slips away.
But Alice is a remarkable woman, and her family, yoked by history and DNA and love, discover more about her and about each other, in their quest to keep the Alice they know for as long as possible.
Losing her yesterdays, her short-term memory hanging on by a couple of frayed threads, she is living in the moment, living for each day. But she is still Alice.

Kate's Pick - Meeting held Kate's place 26th May 2009

Books We've Read

Since it's inception, members of the Nyabing Book Club have read the following books:

1. "The DaVinci Code", Dan Brown
2. "The Time Traveller's Wife", Audrey Niffenegger
3. "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", Mitch Albom
4. "My Sister's Keeper", Jodi Picoult
5. "Desert Flower", Waris Dirie
6. "Great Working Dog Stories", Angelo Goode & Mike Hayes
7. "Shadows in the Wind", Carlos Ruiz Zafon
8. "A Million Little Pieces", James Frey
9. "The Kite Runner", Khaled Hosseini
10. "Tenderness of Wolves", Sef Penny
11. "The Memory Keeper's Daughter", Kim Edwards
12. "Two Caravans", Marina Lewycka
13. "Maos' Last Dancer", Li cunxin
14. "Love, Sex & Money", Liz Byrski
15. "Silvermeadow", Barry Maitland + free "The Ballard of Les Darcy", Peter Fitzsimmons
16. "Atonement", Ian McEwan
17. "Lullabies for Little Criminals", Heather O'Neill
18. "I Did It", the Goldman Family
19. A selection of Alexander McCall Smith's Books
20. "Magic Moments", Tom Duncan
21. "A Man of Measure", Sydney Poitier
22. "The Alchemist", Paulo Coelho
23. "The Vintners Letter", Peter McAra
24. "The Other Boleyn Girl", Philippa Gregory
25. "The Children", Charlotte Wood
26. "Still Alice", Lisa Genova

I've just finished the book, "The Children", and can now understand why it received all those glowing reviews from professional reviewers.

I suppose because I went into it with the idea that it wasn't going to be anything special and had no real story to it. So, instead of reading the book for it's story, I read it for it's writing. That's something I rarely do, as I mostly use books as an escape, not as a lesson in literature.

I felt the book was beautifully written, very Australian and with great imagery. I could imagine all the places and the people. The author's descriptive writing was clever. She described tiny nuances in people's expressions so the reader could imagine the thoughts of the character without having this to be explained.

I disagree with those that mention in their critique that there wasn't a story line. The story was about the family itself. The way they were all separated from each other and were forced back together through tragedy. The sibling relationships were beautifully explored. The hurts, the misunderstandings, the rivalry were brought forth as they had to cope with their father's impending death.

The character of Tony was like a catalyst. He appeared to Mandy as a creepy weirdo and, just when she had an opportunity to mend the broken relationship with her brother, it was Tony's presence that prevented this. So, Tony's final act then brought them together and helped them begin to understand each other.

Oh, and I do agree with Stephen and Mandy when they were looking at those casts of baby's hands and feet. They are so gross! They look just like chopped off bits of baby.

I give this book an 8 out of 10.

Megan