Get to know the women who love books

Each member was asked to answer a series of questions about themselves. Here are their responses in the order they were received.

Member profile - Aderonke

Approximately when did you join the book club?
I am one of the original members of the group. We started in the fall of 1994.

What was the first book you remember reading?
It was an Enid Blyton book – Folk of the Far Away Tree, or something like that. I had gotten it as a Christmas gift from an elderly great aunt.

Who is your favorite author?
There are many. One is Maya Angelou. I read my first book by her in college – “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. I couldn’t put it down, I laughed and cried and laughed again.
Another is Isabelle Allende. I want to read all her books, I’ve read about five so far.

What book has stayed with you long after you read it?
Sacajawea by Anna L. Waldo. Before I brought the book I had never heard of this courageous woman – she guided Lewis and Clarke as they forged their way across the US to find the Pacific Ocean. She survived starvation, freezing temperatures and Indian attacks all while carrying her baby son on her back. What a woman!

Another is “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines. I started crying as I read the last sentence in the book as I reflected on the path the young man’s life had to take in order for him to learn some valuable lessons.

Which book(s) have you read more than once?
I tend not to read books more than once.

What type of books do you enjoy reading?
If I had had to answer this question about seven years ago I would have said thrillers, spy novels and a good mystery. Now I am interested in reading about relationships between people. I especially enjoyed “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” by Lisa See. It touched me because it explores the relationship between two women during a period of time and about a culture I know nothing about – 18th Century China. The book transcended time and culture and I was able to connect with the women on many levels.

If you were stranded on a desert island what are the five books you would like to have with you?
The Bible
The Koran
Anything by Khalil Gibran
Does my ebook count because I would have tons of titles on it?

What is your favorite quote from a book?
“Oh reason not the need our basest beggars are to the purest thing superfluous”. I think that is how the quote goes, from King Lear by William Shakespeare. It’s one of the few quotes I remember. Please don't quote me on it because my memory isn't as good as it used to be.

If you were to write a book what would it be about?
Grief and mourning as a young widow.

Feel free to add a paragraph about yourself.
I love books and have done since I can remember. There was a time in my life I would never have left the house without a book, just in case I had a spare minute to read. I remember being almost panic-stricken after I left the book I was reading at a friend’s house in Seattle and I was about to get on a plane. Even though I was running late, I took the time to find a newsstand and purchased another book. Then I had her courier the forgotten book to me. It would have been cheaper to buy another but I, more importantly, wanted to finish the one I had started. I have another story of going fishing and getting squid juice over a book I was engrossed in. Every time I think of that book I remember the summer heat, humidity and the smell of that story.

Member profile - Frances

Approximately when did you join the book club?
At the beginning.

What was the first book you remember reading?
Are you kidding? It is a stretch to remember the last book.

Who is your favorite author?
At the moment Ekhart Tolle and I doubt we will select his works for book club reading.

What book has stayed with you long after you read it?
Would you believe Captain Corelli's Mandolin. It could be because I read it twice - once, guessing what all the strange words meant and second, with a dictionary.

Which book(s) have you read more than once?
See above.

What type of books do you enjoy reading?
Books that take me to other cultures and give me a new perspective on life and the world than I had previously.


If you were stranded on a desert island what are the five books you would like to have with you?
Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth, Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsh, a fat, waterproof, bound and lined diary, Fearless living by Rhonda Britten and maybe this would be a good time to read the Torah as I'd have plenty of time and Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom.

What is your favorite quote from a book?
You must be joking! I don't have favourite anything except a beach and the sparkling shoes I got in Argentina.

If you were to write a book what would it be about?
What it is like being mixed race in a racially divided environment.

Feel free to add a paragraph about yourself.
I live a life that is envied by some and terrifying to others.