By Kathy Bryan
Lockdown, the sequel; or, democracy, decided by the roll of a die
We are in our second lockdown, and, like all good sequels, it is not a carbon copy of the original. But, like all bad sequels, something feels different, in a hmmm, I’m not sure about this kind of way. Or maybe it’s just me? The not-knowing, the uncertainty, remains, but there is a weariness setting in. Lots of people more qualified, and more eloquent, than I, have written about it, so I will not go on analysing it.
Safe to say, it is again a time when more than ever, I will need the comfort of good books to carry me through. But why then am I finding it so (insert your own expletive here) hard to get into a book?! I have more than enough to choose from: my Kindle is well-stocked (don’t tell my husband), my bedside table has a stack of books just waiting for me, and my bookcases hide a number of yet-to-be-read beauties; however, I just can’t get into a book. I suspect it is indicative of the strange year we have been having, and I know I’ve felt like this before, and have got out of it. I will just have to trust that the right book will fall into my hands and release me from this mental block.
Do you go through these lean patches for reading, too? What helps you to get out of them? Please do let me know.
The good thing about Book Club is that every month there is a new book, and the majority of the books we’ve read I would not have, otherwise.
We met on Thursday 12th, via Zoom, to discuss Malala Yousafzai’s autobiography. Malala was born, and spent her childhood, in the Swat valley of northern Pakistan. At the age of 15, she was shot by the Taliban as she returned from school on the school bus. She was fortunate in that the bullet did not enter her brain, and she was eventually airlifted to Birmingham, UK, and has since made a good recovery. She completed school, graduated from Oxford, and won a Nobel Prize! Her book, I am Malala, took us through her childhood, and gave us a lot of background about the Swat valley where she lived, and her father’s work establishing schools for both girls and boys. In our initial discussions, a number of us admitted that we found the beginning of the book quite slow-moving, and in places repetitive; however, the second half of the book we found more engaging. A lively and wide-ranging discussion covering a number of topics ensued. It was also interesting for us to hear about the events in Pakistan from someone who was there and saw the rise of the Taliban. We agreed that it provided us with a different insight than the media reporting at the time. Our discussions covered a myriad of topics, some of which have stumped scholars for centuries. Book Club yet again proved cathartic, with lots of giggles and laughter to accompany the chance to debate and talk.
As ever, I would like to thank those who attended the meeting and contributed so fully to the discussions.
So, onto the next book and book club.
Many of us won’t be able to travel to see family and loved ones this holiday season, but hopefully, our December Book Club will give us all a chance to share some time with our mums and our friends.
Last month, I invited you to ask your mums to nominate a book to be put forward for Book Club, and to ask them to join us in reading the book and discussing it. Thank you to all of you who did just this, and to all the Über Über Moms who suggested books. In the end, we had too many books for the poll, so my daughter took charge of pulling names from a hat. The shortlist was duly published and, possibly true to form for 2020, after a week of voting there was a three-way tie! The final selection of the book came down to the roll of a die!
We will be reading Sugar by Bernice L. McFadden. I have ordered my copy, and am waiting to be transported to southern America and to be immersed in the sights and smells of sweet potato pie, magnolia trees, and jasmine, whilst finding out about Sugar’s story. I hope to see lots of you at a busy book club with our mums (or stand-in mums), and lots of discussion, laughter, and love.
Please remember to sign up on Über Moms TeamUp.
Kathy Bryan
Kathy Bryan is a stay at home mum with 15 years experience of raising three independent, loving, fun-filled, maddening children. Prior to moving to a village south of Munich, she lived with her family in the middle of England. Being a firm believer that being a stay at home mum does not mean you have to forget who you are, she was always busy in the village, both as a Governor at the school and helping organise village fetes amongst other things. Since arriving in Germany and getting settled here Kathy joined Über Moms and is an active member of the Runners Group and recently started Über Moms very own book club. When not chasing children to do homework or running the highways and byways around her village Kathy can be found sewing patchwork and working out ways to hide “another quilt” in the house.