Book Club - Year One

Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewynn
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Dear Zoe by Philip Beard
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicolas and Micah Sparks
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
The Dive from Clausen’s Pier by Ann Packer
Tao Te Ching by Anonymous
Night by Elie Wiesel
Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand

Terrorist by John Updike

State College, Stallions, and The Booger

It’s been six or seven years since Mom, Paula, Danielle and I first saw the Lipizzaner Stallions. At the time, I was living in State College and Mom suggested that the four of us attend the show at the Jordan Center. This time, it was Paula’s suggestion to go to the show, and because The Booger now lives in State College, it made for a great idea. Anyway, instead of describing yesterday’s show, I’m going to take advantage of their website…http://www.lipizzaner.com/ [I will add that I think anyone would enjoy seeing the stallions in action.]

Much more importantly, I’d like to write about The Booger. First of all, anybody whose name is prefixed by “The,” must be pretty important. Of course, Danielle deserves this prefix to her nickname, and she is absolutely, one of the most important people in my life. And, I’m very thankful that after a tough year of two (very similar) personalities clashing, The Booger and I have turned a corner and are back on our well-beaten path of friendship and sisterhood.

Danielle is maturing every day, and I think that she is thriving in State College. Her courses are challenging, she’s meeting new people, tolerating difficult roommates, and juggling a long-distance relationship all at once. She has once again found the humor in life (thank goodness – Paula and I didn’t do so well with humorless Booger), and we laughed a lot yesterday. Laughter is definitely something that we enjoy doing together, and just writing about this makes me think of Mom’s infectious laugh. Oh, how I wish she were still here to laugh with us.

Anyway, Danielle has some tough choices ahead of her, but I think she is in the right mind to make great decisions. She understands what’s important in life and knows when to seek advice. All that being said, I think she’ll excel in whatever path she chooses.

A Book Review

“Terrorist” by John Updike was Hannah’s pick for Book Club, and I have to say that after a shaky beginning, it turned out to be a great read for me. Being Updike’s newest novel, he appropriately chooses to weave his story around a very hot topic. The main character in the book, Ahmad, is a young impressionable American with an Egyptian father and an Irish-American mother. Although the first eleven years of his life were absent of any religious teachings, he chooses to embrace Islam and spends the next six years studying the Koran with a very questionable character. Because Ahmad is young and pliable, the imam is able to impress upon him a very fundamentalist view of their religion, and in doing so, develops in the boy, a hatred for all “unbelievers.” So, not to ruin the book for any possible readers (probably just Susanne), I won’t divulge any more of the details, I will however, discuss the main theme in the book and how it relates to my ideas about life.

First of all, I think the development of Ahmad’s beliefs and his subsequent actions are probably a fairly accurate depiction of how terrorists go about breeding young men and women who commit acts of horror in the name of God. Other than religion, there is little else in this world that has the ability to evoke enough passion in humans to cause them to kill masses of people they have never met. This is, at least as far as I’m concerned, the main problem with organized religion. If you can get someone to believe in an omnipresent and omnipotent creator, and instill in them a passion about this creator, then you probably can get them to do just about anything. The lack of logic and reason in “believing,” allows the “believer” to make the jump, based on faith, to whatever his or her motives require.

I do recognize, however, that most of the time organized religion uses the faith of its “believers” to promote for the good of humanity. But, faith-based religions are not the only way to teach ethics, nor do I think it’s the best way. Logic and reason lead to most of the same conclusions, without instilling a faith-based passion that can be absolutely devastating to society.

Okay, I’m probably digressing…

Anyway, this being my first John Updike, I have to say that I’m impressed and interested in reading more. Like Paula says, this was a “meat and potatoes” book, one that makes you think about life and all of its complicated complications!

Youth Pheasant Hunt

Today was Hallie's day to shine, and that she did. We met up with Robbie, Denny and Curtis early this morning, and by 8:05 am Hallie had pointed 5 or 6 birds with Curtis bagging two of them. All of us had a fun time together...there's nothing like hanging with the Wilsons'. Oh, the little Chancer Boy did okay for a gun-shy beagle. He loves being with Hal Bears, but just hates those guns!

We also attended the Pheasants Forever Youth Hunt, where we were paired up with a 14 year old boy named Nick. The hunting here was a bit more difficult, but we did track down some birds. Unfortunately, Nick wasn't able to connect. He did have fun, and ended up winning the gun raffle, so it was a great day for him, too.

The usual characters were present at the festivities, and I have to say that I look forward to this event every year. The only bad part of the day was Hallie's small, but yucky-looking injury. A 1 inch section of the skin on her leg was cut through to the muscle. We used some Super Glue to bond it back together, but we'll keep a close eye on it for the next few days. This may require a trip to Dr. Moore's office.

Dad and Rich are at the races tonight with Psycho Bob and various other characters. I'm sure they're having a good time! Jeffy and the rest of Six Pak are playing (in front of a packed crowd, I'm sure) at the Legion. I'm sitting home nursing two very tired puppies, and loving every minute of my relaxing Saturday night at home.

Oh - we're reading "The Terrorist," by John Updike. It's slow-going so far...but I'm sticking with it.

Julie P's Wedding

Julie Pfeufer is now Mrs. Troy (not TJ, mind you) Sober. She was married in a Methodist church in the North Shore area of Pittsburgh, on Saturday, September 30, 2006. Right now, the couple is honeymooning in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, at some luxurious resort, I'm sure. I'm very jealous, as I don't think our Key West Thanksgiving is going to happen. Anyway, the reception was held at the LeMont on Mount Washington, overlooking downtown Pittsburgh - the view was amazing and the food and drinks were plentiful.

Julie was absolutely stunning! I can honestly say that she was glowing. Troy was dapper in his tux, and even shed a few tears during the ceremony. I think they're lucky to have found each other, and I hope they'll be as happy as Jeff and me.