No Men Allowed.. Top Ten List Why Not

Friday and 13th of February
Dear Ladies,
The Tale of Two Cities..This is my VERY favorite book of the classics. Hard to read, but beautifully done, and the story is so wonderful. I have a list of my top ten favorites…and this has always been #1.

The book club meeting last night was deep…studying and discussing The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. If fact, it was the best of book club meetings, it the worst of…... no, it was just the best. Jolene Moses hosted and it was so nice to meet in her home…and the goodies were worth coming for, too!

The first item of business almost completely derailed our mission, however, when it was brought to our attention that several men in the ward have expressed interest in joining our group……… but it was summarily voted down amid giggles and laughter. I put together a few reasons…

Top Ten List
(Why men can’t join our Shadow Mountain Ward Girl’s-Night-Only Book Club)

1. They’re men…duh…
2. Men don’t know what a GNO is.
3. They think Austen a town in Texas
4. They don’t understand the shoe compliment ritual
5. When assigned treats….they bring Pringles and jerky
6. Bro. Smith would steer all Lit. conversations to fishing
7. Can’t picture Bishop House telling us, “and then I cried when Cathy left Heathcliff”
8. The doctors would digress into discussions of new bowel resection procedures
9. Their booklist: History of Football, The Secret Life of Fish, & Your Car is Your Friend
10. But most of all.. we can’t talk about them if they’re here!

J/ kidding…actually, we REALLY appreciate our men! ….. What would we do without them? (Love ya, Angelbabe)

The Tale of Two Cities

Now back La Guillotine…..

We agreed the most moving part of the book was the last chapter, so we read it taking turns. It is a book that has deep references to sacrifice and The Resurrection….. Dickens has skill in using the literary technique of “doubles” and “repetition for effect”…also, Shadows and Darkness was an effective theme. Some of the symbols he used were: “The Broken Wine Cask”, and “Knitting, Knitting, always Knitting”.

The story takes place from 1775 – 1789 and culminates during the French Revolution when society and vengeance has turned upside down. (Did you know that after the ‘storming of the Bastille’ in Paris, that the actual key to the Bastille was mailed to George Washington, because he so inspired their plebian revolution?) It is a deeply moving story, truly historical fiction… enjoy…..

First paragraph:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—

Last Paragraph:

It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.'