This is part of my collection of what I call "Desperate Mountain Women" books. Not a great picture for which I apologize. As the Third Saturday group probably knows better than the others, I bring my personal life story into every meeting. These books and more that couldn't fit into the frame - it would take a very wide lens - represent a birthday, an anniversary, Christmas, usually a holiday of which my ex-husband thought a story of some poor, long suffering woman who lived a life struggling in a mountain cabin would somehow cheer me from my own lifestyle of cabin life where heating with green firewood (doesn't work), a bad well (not enough water) nary a TV channel nor a regular phone call could be had. I often voiced my displeasure. These books did not cheer me. They were good books. I read them all. They didn't make me want to continue to live in the mountains. They didn't even make me count my blessings (well, they probably did that) but the reason I am writing now is this. They were reasonably good books, and maybe there is one or two in there I really like and would read again, but would I ask the book club to read it? Life of an Ordinary Woman is somewhat of a Mountain Classic. He really missed the mark with Two Women, Two Model Ts, and the American West. It is not a book club choice. I have 56 books in my "Desperate Mountain Woman " collection and I could probably find a something in it that might appeal, but they are not in keeping with what I think are our good standards. They aren't bestsellers, well, maybe in their genre there are some in there. They are not award winners, there is probably an award winner in their genre I could go looking for as I have for other choices. They aren't written by authors we have heard of, or who have sold or written award winners . Most of all, as it says in the last sentence of our handbook, they probably are not going to have appeal to most of the people that have to read it. So my point for this Blog is to remember, as we usually do, to pick books most of your group in your opinion - and it is a difficult thing to do - will find readable and appealing.
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