End of an Era

For several years now, since 2005, I have been a member of a wonderful book club. From our early days when we were known as the "underground book club" (we inadvertently formed one in our ward when one already existed. That's what you get when most of your founders are in primary) to our evolution into LCAT--Literature, Conversation and Treats--our monthly meetings have always been filled with fascinating discussions. Unfortunately our club was made up of people who live in New York City and when the city goes crazy so do book clubs. Our members have graduated, moved on, gone back to school, left the city, returned to the city, moved out of the city but kept coming and still we've persevered. Unfortunately I feel like we might be on our last legs at this point. It's made me so sad and nostalgic. Here we were at probably our height, our 2007 Christmas brunch:

And our 2008 Christmas brunch, which as you can see features a lot more babies and pregnant women. Our lives changed a lot during the course of our meetings.



And our sad, but stalwart little group from last night's meeting. (There are a couple of other members who will be in the city but couldn't make it last night. Still, 4 of the ladies below are moving in the next couple of months, and of the two of us that are left, one lives in Jersey, and I live in Westchester.)

In true LCATian spirit when I expressed my sorrow at how our club is winding down one long time member and good friend Jenny shared with us all one of her favorite Robert Frost poems. It was a perfect expression of emotion.

Reluctance

Out through the fields and the woods
And over the walls I have wended;
I have climbed the hills of view
And looked at the world, and descended;
I have come by the highway home,
And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,
Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,
No longer blown hither and thither;
The last lone aster is gone;
The flowers of the witch hazel wither;
The heart is still aching to seek,
But the feet question "Whither?"

Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or a season?

Not only has LCAT left a legacy in our hearts, but in our brains as well. Check out the list I lifted from my friend BreAnna's blog about all the books we'd read. BreAnna was our defacto secretary and her little tooth decorated planner kept us on track many times.
http://hygieneinthebigapple.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-got-me-some-smart-friends.html

11/05- Secret Life of Bee's
12/05- Freakonomics
1/06- This month Started with Running with Scissors which was recommend to me by a patient. I recommended it to the group only to find out it was horribly raunchy. We ended up reading Life of Pi and they all stayed my friends even after my terrible recommendation. (I went back and read Running with Scissors even though BreAnna was ashamed of her recommendation. Hey, I recommended a book where a man cut off his penis. The Professor and the Madman wasn't quite everyone's cup of tea.)
2/06 - The Wedding - the beginning of our February love story tradition.
3/06-The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat.
4/06-Maus-the first graphic novel I ever read
5/06- These is my words
6/06- Eyre Affair -This sparked a later fun trip to the Barnes and Noble to hear Jasper Fforde speak and to get our books signed.
7/06- Enders Game
8/06- All Creatures Great and Small
9/06- Nanny Diaries
10/06- 13th tale-start of the Oct mystery tradition
11/06-Pledged
12/06-Christmas Children book exchange-start of a tradition.
1/07- Beneath a Marble Sky-We arranged to have the author call in and discuss the book with us. How much do we rock? And when I say "we" I don't mean me. I'm really not sure how "we" pulled this off.
2/07- Chocolat
3/07- Year of Wonders
4/07- Twilight
5/07- Great Expectations
6/07- The Professor and the Mad Man
7/07-Till We Have Faces
8/07- Persian Pickle club (this one has special meaning to me, thanks Alicia for putting together our own version of the Persian Pickle club)
9/07- Money Changes Everything
10/07- Highland Laddie Gone
11/07- Left to tell -The author who currently works for the UN sent an email specifically to our group to be read at our club.
12/07- Children's Christmas book exchange
1/08- Harvesting the Heart
2/08- Love in the time of Cholera
3/08- No logo: No Space
4/08- Botcan --What other book club reads the Charles Dickens of Japan? Thanks Jenny for a unique read and for helping me uphold my belief that we are indeed the greatest book club ever to inhabit the planet.
5/08-Three Cups of Tea
6/08- Female Brain
7/08-Rough Stone Rolling
8/08- Doubt: A parable
9/08-Catch 22
10/08- And Only to Deceive
11/08-1776
12/08- Christmas Children's book exchange
1/09-Escape
2/09-Memoirs of a Geisha
3/09- Sex, Drugs and Coco Puffs
4&5/09-Suite Francais-We went to the Museum of Jewish Heritage where we walked through an exhibit about the life of the author prior to retiring for our discussion.

Let me also mention that we had a book exchange that went on so we could borrow books from one another and read even more. We also had craft days where I learned to make baby shoes, applique (poorly), and tag blankets as well as Christmas decorations I love. I never did get the felt food tutorial I was dying for. Plus we even had a beauty day when our resident esthetician Jenny fancied us up. I got my eyelashes permed, some waxing and Sheena highlighted my hair.

Thank you all current, former, and (fingers crossed) future LCAT members. This book club has been one of the best experiences of camaraderie and intellectual communion and fun I have ever had. Thank you all for playing a part. My heart is still aching to seek, and my feet may not know whither as we all move and spread across the country, but I will always remember.