Talking with the Author

What is there about talking with the author of a book you have read that changes your appreciation of the story?  Is it the time that author has devoted to telling the story, sometimes a year or longer on just the research?  How about the story itself?  Is it knowing what sparked the author's mind and inspired the story?

I know, for me, it is all of the above and more when we speak with authors via SKYPE or phone during our book club meetings.

While speaking with Lily Koppel author of The Astronaut's Wives Club I was struck by her commitment to tell the story of these remarkable women behind the scenes of the men with the "right stuff".  It reminded me of how boxed in women were in the 50's and 60's.  Every woman was supposed to be June Cleaver of Leave it to Beaver fame and these women were expected to fit the mold by NASA and the public.  But I wonder are we better off today when every woman can give free expression of herself - twerking in public is acceptable???!!

Reading opens up doors in our minds to endless possibilities and for me, reading gives voice to my constant desire to have a better world for my family  and seek ways to accomplish that.

Who wants to blog?

I'm not a writer and I know we have lots of writers in our group so if anyone wants to post on our blog site, please do so!!   Kay


The October meeting generated a lot of discussion on what makes a good book club book.  Of course Ashton Lee's book The Cherry Cola Book Club started the discussion.    One thing we all agreed on is that we want to read book that bring us out of our usual comfort zone and that give us new ways of looking at life.  We reflected on some of the books we have discussed in the past.  Some we learned about cultures we were unfamiliar with such as the foot binding in Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and the Japanese encampments in America through Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.  Others reminded us of our experiences such as Kathryn Casey's The Killing Storm and her description of a hurricane blowing through Houston.    Ahhhh, we are definitely enriched by our reading and our friendship.


Reminder:  November meeting  The Astronaut's Wives Club by Lilly Koppel.  She will do a SKYPE interview.  Also bring contributions for our Christmas literacy project.

Grace & Grit by Lilly Ledbetter

Wow did this book stir up some great discussion about women in the workplace!  What a strong woman Mrs Ledbetter is to continue to work under harassing conditions.  We all would love to meet her and perhaps she will come here sometime...maybe the Banner Series at McNeese or the Fall Women's Conference.  If you know someone, you might suggest...

You can hear her tell her story through the courtesy of C-span Book TV  http://www.booktv.org/Program/13241/Grace+and+Grit+My+Fight+For+Equal+Pay+and+Fairness+at+Goodyear+and+Beyond.aspx

It's an important book for women to read and to always remember those who have blazed the trails for us.

Ladies Night by Mary Kay Andrews

Great discussion at our meeting this evening centering on betrayal, revenge, redemption and rebuilding.  In many ways these themes have entered our lives, not just in a couples relationship but through family, friends, and co-workers.

And of course, the saving Grace is having friends to share the journey so that you arrive in a better place than where you began.

We all loved Mary kay Andrews's books and have read many of them.  Hope you do too.

Aug 28th is Ladies Night by Mary Kay Andrews

Excited to be reading Mary Kay Andrews latest book Ladies Night for our August 28th Meeting.  Her books have been on my TBR pile and now is the time!

Marilyn's Book Review

Pulpwood Queen Marilyn Bonnette's book review of our July selection The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns by Margaret Dilloway is linked to the library website here http://calcasieulibrary.org/bkreviewfiction   


I am eager to discuss this book with all of y'all!

Janis Owens reveals Cracker characters

When Janis Owens heard stories about the last lynching in Florida, she investigated the event for several years.  After compiling enough info about what happened she put her skills as a master story teller to work and came up with a believable story about a young girl who grows up in northern Florida where people don't talk much about the town's dark history.  Then along comes an anthropology student who under the guise of love begins to ferret out secrets that many want to remain hidden.   What happens after he is shot and leaves northern Florida and the girl behind feeling lucky to be alive?  Years later he has the opportunity to revisit both the town and the girl.

Loved reading this story and talking with the author about her research into this episode in our American past.

Kay

Diamond Ruby: An Engaging Story

We did love reading about Diamond Ruby and her real to life adventures in New York.  Ruby Thomas struggled through the Spanish influenza and the death of her parents and brother, leaving her at age 14 with nieces to support.  The only skill she has was a deadly throwing arm that provided squirrels for them to eat to survive.  Eventually Ruby and her pitching arm found her way to a side show in Coney Island and recognition by many of the famous ball players of the era.  Her many adventures were well-written by author Joseph Wallace to reflect the history and make the story totally plausible and leaving you wanting to know more about what happens to Diamond Ruby.

Chatting with the author via SKYPE, we learned that Wallace loosely based his character on a female baseball pitcher named Jackie Mitchell from Chattanooga, TN.  While researching the baseball archives in Cooperstown, Wallace found picture of this young lady in a baseball uniform with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.  Mitchell had struck both men out at an exhibition game!  Wallace was captivated by her story and kept imagining what her life could have been.

We are definitely looking forward to read this sequel!

For more info you can view Wallace's website http://josephwallace.com/

February 2013 Meeting

February meeting is coming up and we will be talking baseball with author Joseph Wallace who wrote Diamond Ruby, loosely based on a early female baseball player.  I love the name "Diamond Ruby".  Doesn't that sound intriguing?

First Meeting of 2013

I hope everyone is rested from the holidays and eager to meet and discsuss our latest book selection A Rare Titantic Family: The Caldwells Story of Survival by Julie Hedgepeth Williams.

Dr. Williams is professor of journalism and mass communication at  Samford University in Birmingham, AL.  The Titantic book is about her great-uncle Albert Caldwell who survived the sinking of the Titantic along with his wife and baby.  Well-documented as a historical work, it is also a story of real people and how they came to be on the Titantic that fateful day.

Summer Reads

Summer has had some interesting discussions of our books.

For May we read Vanessa Diffenbaugh's Language of Flowers about a young girl who ages out of foster care and how she begins life on her own.  Through her interest in flowers she begins a job and a future.  During our meeting we discovered local organizations that help foster children who have out grown the system but still need support and encouragement.  When we chatted with Vanessa, we shared this info with her to add to her Camellia Network organization that helps these young people.

Pies, pies and more pies for our June meeting as we ate our way through Making Piece; A Memoir of Love, Loss and Pie by Beth Howard.  Most members brought their best pie to share while we chatted with Beth from her Gothic House. Losing a spouse is very difficult and we appreciated the frank sharing by Beth and our PQ's who have lost spouses.

Then for July we had a special meeting time at noon in order to Skype with author Lucinda Riley about her international bestseller The Orchid House.  She seemed a bit overwhelm by the success and shared that she used the names of her 5 children for characters in the book although the characters themselves had none of the characteristics of her children.  Her next book The Girl on the Cliff has much of herself woven into one of the characters and she asked that we read it and then Skype with her again to compare the two books.  Thanks to Queen Chris for hosting our special time meeting.

Our August selection will be One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash.  Unfortunately we won't be able to  visit with Ron as he has a previous engagement that evening.  Looking forward to meeting at Queen Beverly's and we will selecting the books for the next few months.

Hope you all are having a great summer!

State of Wonder

We have had an amazing year thus far.

Our January meeting began with author Robert LeLeux stopping in on his way to New Orleans.  To hear him read from his new book The Living End was well...the living end! If you have a family member with Alzheimer's, Robert's book will lift you up and show you some of the blessings that are hiding.  And he brought his beautiful Mom with him!  Thank you for stopping in on such a rainy night.

February brought the Homecoming of Samuel Lake with a telephone visit with author Jenny Wingfield.  What a delight as we shared with how the story of Samuel Lake touched her and each of us.

In March, Meg Waite Clayton author of The Four Ms Bardwells visited with us via SKYPE just before leaving on her European tour.  We were hoping to win her contest for a vacation to California, but alas none of the SWLA PQ's will be going.

Now it's April and we are reading State of Wonder by Ann Patchett who has recently opened an independent book store in Nashville because there wasn't one.  Authors do amazing things!

Looking forward to seeing you next week at our April meeting!

Diamond Tiara Award!

Been waiting for pics but haven't gotten them yet so guess I'll just have to write 1000 words!  That's hard for me to do so I'll just copy Kathy Patrick's announcement for our Southwest Louisiana Pulpwood Queens Book Club to have been honored with her Diamond Tiara Award!  Queens you are fabulous!!!!

January 12, 2012

Jefferson, Texas - As the founder of the now 525 chapters of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club, making us the largest "meeting and discussing" book club in the world I would officially like to announce our award winners for this past 2011 year:

2011 Pulpwood Queens Books of the Year!

Pulpwood Queen Book of the Year - "Georgia Bottoms" by Mark Childress

Pulpwood Queen Bonus Book of the Year - "as the sycamore grows" by Jennie Helderman

Pulpwood Queen Teen to Adult Crossover Book of the Year - "Scout, Atticus, and Boo" by Mary McDough Murphy

Pulpwood Queen Children's Book of the Year - "Man in the Moon" by William Joyce

Other presentations and awards are:

The Doug Marlette Award - Teri Tanner, owner of A Real Bookstore in Fairview, Dallas, Texas.  This award is giving in loving memory of Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist, author, and Pulpwood Queen favorite, the late, great Doug Marlette.  Past recipients include Marly Rusoff, Mary Gay Shipley, and Sonny Brewer.

The Kat Award to Phil Latham, Editor/Publisher of The Marshall News Messenger.  This award is given to someone in the media who goes beyond the call on promoting literacy.

The Diamond Tiara Award goes to:

Queen Mary Grove of The Pulpwood Queens of Anchorage, Alaska who has started five chapters of the Pulpwood Queens including one in a women's prison, The Pulpwood Queens of Hiland Meadows and now the NEW The Paroled Pulpwood Queens of ALASKA!

Queen Alyse Urice of The Golden Pulpwood Queens of Golden, Colorado for personally gathering books through the Literacy & Hope Project and distributed $16,700 books last year to homeless shelters, libraries, and schools and included creating an elementary school library too.  Queen Alyse is also starting in February a new book club for homeless women.

Queen Kay Huck of The Pulpwood Queens of Southwest Louisiana for providing books and textbooks for an entire school since their chapter started in Nicaragua and even make mission trips there to provide the books.

This is a NEW award this year to recognize a Head Queen who runs a Pulpwood Queen chapter/chapters who set the standard for providing excellence and raising the bar in promoting literacy and thus being the "diamonds" in our Pulpwood Queen tiaras which like our motto, "Tiaras are mandatory and reading good books is the RULE"!

We are not your mama's book club.  We are a book club that is not only having BIG TIME FUN while we are reading but we are making a BIG TIME DIFFERENCE!

The sole purpose of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs is to promote authors, books, reading, literacy, reading and help undiscovered authors get discovered in a really big way!  Also The Pulpwood Queens have adopted The Dolly Parton Imagination Library atwww.imaginationlibrary.com as their charity of choice and raised over $6,000 last year for this project.  Each year at Girlfriend Weekend, all 50 authors who attend donate a personal item that ties in with their book to autograph and silent auction.  This year will be doing so again and if that is not enough another press release as follows:

PRESS RELEASE
$20,000 Granted to Northeast Texas Schools to Promote Literacy

Kathy Patrick, founder of the Pulpwood Queen Book Club, and Pulitzer Prize finalist author John Berendt will present checks to librarians from Jefferson and Linden-Kildare school districts during an awards ceremony at the 12th Anniversary Girlfriend Weekend Author Extravaganza in Jefferson, Texas. The checks being presented are from the Burt and Nancy Marans Charitable Fund with East Texas Communities Foundation. Totaling $20,000, the grants will be distributed to six Northeast Texas school districts allowing these area schools to purchase over 1,300 books for school libraries.

With ongoing budget cuts to school libraries, Patrick’s local book club chapter has stepped forward by working with donors to fund book purchases for school libraries. An advocate for literacy, Mr. Marans hailed literacy and education as keys to individual success and advancement in life. Prior to his death, he frequently participated in volunteer reading programs at elementary schools.

Kathy Patrick’s Pulpwood Queen Book Club is based in Jefferson, Texas, and is the nation’s largest book club with 525 chapters nationwide and in 15 countries. The Pulpwood Queens’ primary focus is promoting literacy.

East Texas Communities Foundation is a nonprofit corporation serving 32 counties in East Texas. In 2010, the Foundation distributed a record $4.89 million in grants and manages over $46 million in 173 unique charitable funds which support non-profit organizations and student scholarships. 

Our congratulations to all the winners and for more information you may contact Kathy L. Patrick at 903-445-2353 or emailkathy@beautyandthebook.com.

--

Kathy L. Patrick

Author of "The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life", Grand Central Publishing

Founder of the Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs

Beauty and the Book

608 North Polk Street

Jefferson, Texas 75657

903-665-7520

kathy@beautyandthebook.com

www.beautyandthebook.com

www.pulpwoodqueen.com

www.twitter.com/Pulpwoodqueen

www.facebook.com/Pulpwoodqueen

The Greatest Book Show on Earth - Girlfriend Weekend 2012

Well Kathy Patrick did it again.  The greatest circus of authors and readers in the small town of Jefferson, TX.  Over 50 authors were in the ring with Lion Tamer Queen Kathy www.BeautyandtheBook.com.  She had us all jumping through hoops from Clown Alley where the authors clowned around while serving a fabulous BBQ dinner from the local establishment, Riverport BBQ, which tragically burned to the ground the following evening.  (No one was injured and they will rebuild.)  We were awakened by sirens in the middle of night as the fire was only two blocks from  The Excelsior Hotel where we were staying. This historic hotel has been operating continuously since 1850 and has house President Grant and Lady Bird Johnson.   This year they had a fabulous breakfast for us each morning before we entered the circus tent.

Entering the Circus Tent (Jefferson Tourist Center) was like old home week as we laughed and shared with our favorite authors Shellie Tomlinson, River Jordan, Kathryn Casey, Mary Lee Malcolm, Nicole Seitz, Robert LeLeux, Judy Christie  Deeanne Gist Marcia Fine and met many new ones who will joining the list like Jenny Wingfield, Michael Morris, Wade Rouse, Man Martin, Bill Torgerson, Robert Hicks, Tina Sloan.  As well as PQ's from other areas Tijuana Neal, Marsha Toy Engstrom, Lisa Hodgson, Jonni Webb, Pam Carter, Karen Pellerin, Mary Yetta Alexander, the Conway PQ's....

Our first night - at the Author Dinner

Wow...a little bit of over load and so hard to recall without pictures...and lots of pictures there are floating all over FB!  Here are a few of our favorites..  

We bring our Alligator Mascot with us

  

Deeanne Gist shows us how a proper Victorian lady dresses from the bottom

to the top....Wonderful!

Dinner with new and old author friends Bill Torgerson, Nicole Seitz, Shellie Tomlinson and Robert Hicks

Beautiful authors Meg Clayton, Judy Christie Lisa Wingate and 

  Aren't we a circus to die for!  LOL

Pink Prom Night with Kathryn Casey

Dinner with Mary Lee Malcolm and friends

 

One thing we did hear, please post book reviews, just a simple I liked/disliked this book, helps the authors tremendously.

One of the many wonderful panels of authors: Nichole Seitz, Michael Morris, River Jordan, Robert LeLeux and Kathy Patrick

Bev Martin, Kay Huck, Kathy Patrick and Shellie Tomlinson

Am posting pictures of your queens dressed to the nines..in our Pink Prom Attire and Circus Best.  Queens Beverly Martin, Rose Gray, Beverly Hill and Candy Case, joined me in this  fun filled gathering.

Wouldn't you love to go to Pink Prom Night with these gals?

Another fabulous panel with Kathryn Casey, Marilyn Gilhuly, Jan Reid, Reavis Wortham, Robert LeLeux and Kathy Patrick

 
Get ready for next year Jan 17-20, 2013 when the theme will be The Gilded Age..Looking forward to some outstanding books and good hearted fun.

Coffins of Little Hope...for Halloween?

When The Coffins of Little Hope by  Timothy Schaffert was selected for our October PQ meeting, I think we all expected a spooky Halloween tale.  Instead we were surprised by a tale that spans decades of an obituary writer for a small town newspaper.  An engrossing story that  shows we never leave the past behind, it always comes with us to resolution.

And we were fortunate to have the author do a video chat  and share how the story took on a life of its own as he took this idea of small town newspaper which also quietly prints bestseller to make ends meet.

And we were also treated to "coffins" labeled  Miserre and Desirree  by Queen Tracey and specialty cupcakes! Thank you Queen Tracey.

don't you love the picture of author Timothy Schaffert on the TV screen with the small inset of the SWLA PQ's in the corner?  Video Chats with the author add so much to our discussion.  Many thanks to Timothy and all the authors who have shared with us!

Secret Fans for our PQ's

Sorry to be  late in posting, just lots going on lately...like everyone else!

Our September meeting was to discuss the book Snow Flower and The Secret Fan by Lisa See .  A wonderful book about an old Chinese custom involving selection of best friends call "The Sames" and how they used fans to write to each other.  They wrote about every day life which included the custom of foot binding.  Which was very upsetting to our present day thinking.To emphasize the importance of communication between friends, we each made our own secret fans with words of wisdom written upon them to our royal sisters.

We are also honored to have Louisiana author Christa Allan   visit and discuss her book The Edge of Grace, although not a memoir as such, there were lots of personal events portrayed in the book and she graciously shared her story behind the story she had written.

Wonderful meeting!  Love our Royal Sisters!

Christa Allan visits PQ's Sept Meeting

Do you have a Secret Fan?  The Sames?  Well we made our own secret fans for our book club members who attended the September meeting as we discussed Lisa See's book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.  Wonderful discussion on the difference in our cultures.  Of course, foot-binding was hard to accept and Queen Val found pictures on the internet and shared with us.  To us, it was amazing that such a practice every came into being!
However, the value of true friendship and the sharing of that friendship was strong in the book and in our lives our friendships are valued.

Author Christa Allan  http://christaallan.com/ was in town from Abita Springs, LA and stopped in for a wonderful visit and talked about her latest book The Edge of Grace.  The story is about a sister and brother, their relationship and how coming out of the closet affects that relationship. A story moral values and re-assessing what that means.  Although not a memoir, much of the storyline is based on Christa personal experiences.  At our PQ meeting, Christa shared many of her personal experiences that influenced this book.

Our next meeting will be October 26.  The  book is The Coffins of Little Hope by Timothy Schaffert.

Kathryn Casey - Author Visit

We had a great visit with one of our favorite authors this evening.  Kathryn Casey traveled across the Sabine River to meet with us and what wonderful stories she shared.  Of course, her main topic was her latest Sarah Armstrong mystery, The Killing Storm.  Crafted around a threatening hurricane in Houston, time is running out to find the abducted child Joey.  Racing against the wind, Sarah plunges into life threatening waters.

Kathryn totally described the essence of hurricane intensity and fearful preparations, as we who have lived through recent hurricanes in Louisiana could attest.

Sharing her life with us as a magazine journalist she had stories of many of the celebrities she had interviewed including many first ladies.  True crime and investigative reporting seems to have a way of finding her, people send her information on cases she might find of interest.  And if you really want to know what's happening with the perpetrators, check her website for updates on paroles.www.kathryncasey.com

Thank you Kathryn for a wonderful evening and we look forward to reading you new works as well of some of your new releases of former magazine articles and short stories on eBooks.

News and Notes

Thanks to all you wonderful queens for volunteering for Boogie for Books! And especially to those wonderful guys who came to help out also.

Did you see the picture of Beverly and Jim in Jambalaya?   If not here's another shot at it:

July Meeting  Wed July 27  M L MALCOLM'S visit -  Planning Committee headed up by Queen Tracey, other members Beverly Martin, Marilyn Bonnette, Phyllis Stine and Keri Doise  

   Presently there will be a day event at Central Library, our meeting Wed evening and perhaps a writers group meeting that Bev Martin is arranging

August Meeting Wed AUG 24 (DATE IS CHANGED FROM REGULAR SCHEDULE)   KATHRYN CASEY'S VISIT   Planning Committee headed up by Queen Allison, members are Beverly M., Laurie, Barbara and Marilyn  Bonnette

Also Lake Charles American Press talks about summer reading and books clubs, mentioning our PQ club in particular...click here to take a look

American Press and PQ Book Club  edited article is pasted below:

BY CELESTE ANSLEY / AMERICAN PRESS

With summer comes longer days and a time when many people take vacations. To stay mentally stimulated or just for pleasure, some people fill their vacation time reading books.

Lake Charles offers both members-only and public book clubs for its residents. The clubs typically meet once a month to discuss a broad variety of books.

A few of the clubs provided their reading lists from the past year and for the summer:

Southwest Louisiana Pulpwood Queens

This book club is part of the Beauty and the Book national club. The club’s 25 members wear tiaras to the once-monthly meetings at Stellar Beans coffee shop. The book recommendations are selected by the national club, and the members decide which books to discuss, said Kay Huck, who founded the local club after Hurricane Rita.

These are the June and July book recommendations:

“Georgia Bottoms” by Mark Childress.

“The Rhinestone Sisterhood: A Journey Through Small-Town America, One Tiara at a Time” by David Valdes Greenwood.

“The Killing Storm” by Kathryn Casey.

“Heart of Deception” by M.L. Macolm.

“Gone with a Handsome Man” by Michael Lee West.

“WOOF: Women Only Over Fifty” by Mary Cunningham, Diana Black and Melinda Richarz Bailey.

“Miss Hildreth Wore Brown: Anecdotes of a Southern Belle” by Olivia daBelle Byrd.

“Murder at the Luther” by Kathleen Kaska.

“Thunder Beach” by Michael Lister.

The Pulpwood Queens’ children’s picks are:

“Interrupting Chicken” by David Ezra Stein.

“A Sick Day for Amos McGee” by Philip Christian Stead.

June Meeting

I am looking forward to seeing you at our meeting next week, June 29th.

I'm sorry that Mark Childress won't be able to call in to entertain us with his stories.  He was delightful when we met him at GFW in January.

Many thanks to Tracey and Committee for planning ML Malcolm's visit, sounds great.  

Allison and committee will be planning Kathryn Casey's Visit in August.

Hope you all are enjoying your summer and reading a ton of good books!

Speaking of GFW, got an email from Kathy Patrick describing some of the events and have copied the main parts for you:

Dear Pulpwood Queens,

...Here is the price list for members:

$250 for Pulpwood Queen Package to all events including Thursday night Author Dinner, Friday and Saturday all day panels, Friday night PRETTY IN PINK PROM PARTY, GREAT BIG BALL OF HAIR CIRCUS themed BALL, Saturday KEYNOTE AUTHOR luncheon, plus Official t-shirt, V.I.P wrist band and free books and galleys from the publishers.

All tickets are non-refundable but can roll over to next year or exchange with another person in group.

Friday Night, come PRETTY IN PINK for costumed PROM PARTY.  Saturday Night CIRCUS theme for Hair Ball plus table competition. 

... 

We also are offering a MEMOIR WORKSHOP with author, Texas Observor columnist/Editor of LONNY Magazine in New York, Robert Leleux that is going to be exceptional.  $150 for members and includes a signed copy of his NEW book, "The Living End" and lncheon that day.  Robert will be our Keynote Speaker Friday morning and our January Book Club Selection so this is a real treat that he can do this for us the Wednesday before we begin the event on Thursday night.

I am working on lining up all the authors but confirmed so far are:

Kathy L. Patrick

Robert Leleux

Michael Morris,

Ad Hudler

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

River Jordan

Wade Rouse

Man Martin

Caroline Leavitt

Rebecca Rasmussen

Katie Crouch

Kathleen Kaska

M.L. Malcolm

Kathryn Casey

Jamie Ford

Karen Harrington

Robert Hicks

Bill Torgenson

Marcia Fine

Melanie Benjamin

Neil White

and many more in the works