October 9th – 2010 -- A Bookish Saturday

Back at the beginning of September, some office friends wheedled me into joining their Fantasy Football League to help make up the needed number of teams. I barely know anything about football, much less enough about all of the players around the NFL to juggle who I should play and who I should bench based on performance & playability on any given week. Fortunately Uncle R has helped and kept me from being truly horrible but even so, the particular set of players that I was dealt have left me on a lower rung in the league stats.

At the office recently, someone asked me if I looked often at my team and how I was making decisions. Gulp. “I just don’t have time to deal with it!!! There’s not enough time!” I wailed. “I’d do a lot better with a Fantasy Book Club!!!”

And that’s true!

This past weekend our little Jane Austen Tea Society met for High Tea at our Tearoom and discussed Wuthering Heights. I had been a little worried that there might be just a couple of us who would brave Emily Brontë’s dark classic, but there were ten people grouped around the table. One of our number for this Book Tea was a Brontë enthusiast who shared a wealth of knowledge and information about the Brontës, their lives, their personalities, etc. It was VERY interesting! She had found out about our Wuthering Heights Tea when she saw a link to our Jane Austen Tea Society blog on the Brontë blog. We also were happy to welcome the daughter of one of our members who had read Wuthering Heights for the first time as a school assignment and her wise and thoughtful comments made her a very appreciated and valued member of our group this time. We hope that both of these new people will come back to our January meeting when we will discuss George Elliot’s Silas Marner.

Our beloved Countess Pamula drove up from Atlanta to be with us, and even came a day early so that she and I could indulge in our shared interest of visiting bookstores, chatting non-stop and nabbing the occasional paleta. In addition, she and I had a reservation to attend an Author’s Breakfast early Saturday morning at the annual Nashville Southern Book Festival. There was a writer that I especially wanted to hear at this particular breakfast, Helen Simonson, who wrote Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – one of my favorite reads this past year. She was included on a panel of authors, which included celebrated Southern writer, Lee Smith. Ms. Smith wrote a wonderful book that I have recommended many times over the years called Fair & Tender Ladies. I was very happy to have Ms. Simonson sign my Major Pettigrew book!

It was a busy weekend and ended happily with a long-awaited visit from our dear, dear friend Sandra H. We didn’t get to keep her in Nashville as long as we would have liked but as with the Countess Pamula, we are thankful to a kind Father for whatever time we are able to share with these loving and sweet friends.

Hugs & kisses to the Pamela’s Girls,

Auntie J.