The Book Club Chronicles: Part Three

By Joan H. Parks

The ladies of the Book Club finish their study of The Tale of Genji and, leaderless, the ladies wonder how they can keep their book club vital and what they can study. After much debate, the ladies take on the study of Romeo and Juliet. In their close study of the filmed versions of the play, the ballet and musical comedy and then their close study of the text itself, they find themselves meditating on decision making, on the nature of tragedy, and on their own domestic lives. Franny, confronted with a straying husband, ill health, and estranged children tries to plan her next step. Katherine finds herself traversing the maze of decisions about the treatment of breast cancer. She is not alone as Annie and Claire make up the gal posse that helps her. All of the ladies and their gentlemen who are part of their lives are part of this latest crises. Always, the book club provides a refuge from the problems of their everyday lives as well as illumination about the same problems.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491753118

Joan H. Parks

Joan H Parks lives in Chicago, IL, and after a career in clinical research refreshed her life by becoming a fiction writer. Her undergraduate degree was from the University of Rochester in Non-Western Civilizations, her MBA from the University of Chicago. She studies poetry, including Yeats and the Canterbury Tales (in Middle English); has an interest in the ancient world which she has gratified by studying at the Oriental Institute of The University of Chicago; is an aficionado of The Tales of Genji, which she rereads every year or so. Her family regards these activities with amusement, for she also listens to Willie Nelson and Dierks Bentley. She can be contacted at joanhparks.com

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The Book Club Chronicles

Part Three

Copyright © 2014 Joan H. Parks.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-5310-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-5311-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014920098

iUniverse rev. date:   11/10/2014

Contents

The End of an Era

Mammogram

Mammogram Report

Franny Churns

The Book Club Meets

Annie Has an Idea

Trouble for Katherine

The Biopsy Results

Henry Reads about Decision Making

Riley Soothes

Claire and Annie Ride Shotgun

The Book Club Picks

Katherine and The Surgeon

Sam and Julia

Franny Makes a Mistake

Katherine Sits for Mark

The Book Club Convenes

Franny Talks to Sam

Katherine Is Desperate

Claire Agonizes about Katherine

Hope Confesses to Franny

Franny Sees Her Doctor

The Book Club Starts a New Work

Annie Consults Bill

The Book Club Digs into the Text

Katherine’s Post-op Visit

Sonnets

The Algorithm

The Book Club Continues

Franny Has a Meltdown

Franny and Sam

Claire and Her Curiosity

The Book Club Finishes Romeo and Juliet

Katherine Sits for Mark

Chapter One

The End of an Era

R ichard closes The Tale of Genji for the last time and looks around the table at the ladies— his ladies. Annie, with her newly silvered hair, is happy again with her first husband, Bill, after the agony of watching her second husband, Hans, fade and die. Claire is still immaculately groomed but a little looser and softer since she and Henry attached themselves to each other. Retirement suits her. Richard’s keen eyes see that Katherine looks strained; he notes the strain and wonders at the source of it. Cindy and Mary are calm as always. Franny is quick to take offense at deviations from her sense of morality, either in person around the table or characters in a story. Richard thinks it a miracle that she is still married or in the book club. Their new member Sally, her rough edges not yet sanded down in the conversations about their book, might not last.

Richard would like to continue with his ladies, but has to concentrate on his exams and his PhD thesis. As he reads the last page to them, he is conscious of satisfaction that these wonderful students have completed their work and sadness that this strange alliance of the very old and his own young self is now to be severed. He looks at the faces, worn with time and sorrows but still bright eyed and thinks that he will never again look upon this generation as dull.

If you need help in finding a teacher, please let me try to find someone, Richard says. Let me know what you would like to study.

Claire is the first to speak up. "Richard, we all want to thank you for your marvelous teaching. We have learned so much, and we will never forget what you have taught us. These nights with you and The Tale have been a joy."

Annie looks sad but with the look of a writer storing up images. Mary is her placid self, used to the young leaving to lead their lives. Cindy, all rumpled hair, is sad that such a big part of her life is ending. Franny, of the tight mouth, looks disapproving, as she does with everything. Katherine, this day dreamy eyed, smiles gently at Richard. All murmur their gratitude. Richard blushes and thanks them again and, after closing his pocket watch and gathering up his books, takes his formal leave. He will bike through the tree-lined streets to the house where he lives with many other graduate students. Neatly and competently, he places his book bag in the front basket, buckles on his black helmet that gleams under the streetlights, grips the handlebars, and rides off into the night.

Silence remains after his departure.

Annie opens a bottle of wine and sets the glasses on the table.

A toast to Richard. Annie lifts her glass. All toast him and sip their wine.

A toast to our book club—may we meet forever. At Katherine’s toast, they swallow their wine with greater enthusiasm.

A toast to our new book to study. Sally, our new member, raises her glass. Now the conversation begins. Looking to the future, all are cheered.

Claire looks around the table. Shall we take a couple of meetings to figure out what our next book will be? I think we ought to have several that we might like to study, so we do not waste time looking for someone to lead the discussion if there is no one available.

Katherine nods her head and inquires, Do you think we should go by category or by what interests us? How should we do this?

Sally, in a commanding tone, Why don’t we all bring suggestions and then we can talk them over? Ladies, I have to be going. I’ll see you all next time.

The others drift out the door on the waves of good wine and good fellowship. Claire and Annie are left. They talk as they clear the table and load the glasses into the dishwasher.

It’s the end of an era. Claire intones the words only half in jest.

Yes, it is. Annie agrees in a subdued tone.

What’s up, Annie? Why so glum?

I just hope we don’t have arguments about what we will read next, Annie responds. I hope that we can agree and find someone to lead us. We have had such a good time that I don’t want anything to disrupt our book club. I heard of a book club that forsook the table to sit in soft chairs, and then the discussions turned soft and gossipy too, and before they knew it, the book club disintegrated.

We must guard against that. You are absolutely right. I’ll help with keeping things on track. What about Sally? Claire looks at Annie sardonically. She can be a real pain. If she leaves, it won’t be a great loss. Book club discussions really put people’s character under a microscope, don’t they? I wonder if in men’s book clubs they come armed with intellectual daggers. You know how it is with alpha males, combative with the need to dominate. Tiresome for mere females. But women have their own ways of adopting and enforcing a pecking order. Don’t worry too much, Annie. We will make it work out. We have lots of experience.

I suppose you are right, Annie replies with a smile lifting the corners of her mouth, as usual.

What are your thoughts about the next book we should read?

Relieved at the question and, most of all, the change of topic, Annie regains her usual self. "I know it is heresy, Claire, but The Tale of Genji was a popular novel in its day and has remained a popular novel since that time, at least in Japan. Dickens wrote popular novels in his time, as did many of the English novelists that we think of as classics. Maybe it’s time to study popular novels of our time. Maybe even ‘chick lit.’"

Chick lit! Claire reaches for the wine, forgetting that the glasses are already loaded into the dishwasher. Annie, we live in Hyde Park! Chick lit? Claire, deprived of a wineglass, paces the room, running her hands through her hair.

Annie giggles. Claire, you know very well that if the term ‘chick lit’ had been invented in Murasaki Shikibu’s time, that the men, who wrote only in the highly regarded Chinese, would have given it the derogatory label of ‘chick lit.’ I say the hell with high literature and let’s study books that people actually read. At Claire’s raised eyebrow, she adds, And by ‘people,’ yes, I do mean women.

You think the rest of the group will go for it?

"I don’t know about Franny; she tends to be negative about everything these days. Mary, Katherine, and Cindy—we will have to wait and see. Sally might want something from the New York Times list of best sellers that is high literature." Annie has an intent look on her face.

Annie looks at Claire and, suddenly shy, says, Mysteries—you know I love mysteries, and they are immensely popular. Do you think the rest would go for it? If they are written by women PhDs, do you think they would seem more respectable? Maybe we could find teachers who that are studying the era that they are set in?

Claire pauses before answering. That’s a really interesting idea. Let me mull it over. A women’s literature specialist? I don’t think we could attract anyone but a graduate student to lead us. If someone is already at faculty level, they won’t have the time or interest because they are so focused on climbing the academic ladder.