There are countless activities offered at The Gatesworth, but the Book Club is one of the most popular. Since it began in 1995, each month about 20 residents gather in the Club One private dining room for lunch and discussion about the latest novel. Program director Kathy Davis serves as moderator and ensures the book choices work for all members. Vivian Zwick has been attending since she moved in 14 years ago. “I’ve always loved reading,” she says. “My mom had to tell me to get my nose out of a book!” She often offers suggestions for the group’s next pick. “I get ideas from my personal reading, and my daughter belongs to a few book clubs, so she’ll give me suggestions,” Zwick says. Among her favorite stories was The Art Forger, which she says was one of the few books everyone liked. “Opinions are usually divided among the group, but that’s what you hope for,” she notes. “It wouldn’t be any fun if everyone agreed.”
In Cassie Dandrige Selleck’s The Pecan Man, recently widowed and childless Ora Lee Beckworth hires a homeless, elderly black man, Eddie, to mow her lawn in the summer of 1976. The neighborhood children call him the Pee-can Man; their mothers call them inside whenever he appears. When the police chief’s son is found stabbed to death near Eddie’s camp, he is arrested and charged with murder. Twenty-five years later, Ora sets out to tell the truth about the Pecan Man. In narrating her story, Ora discovers more truth about herself than she could ever have imagined.
[opinions]
>> “My family moved to south Florida from Philadelphia during the time period in which the story is set. I think the author captured the feel of those small towns perfectly. And, in Ora Lee, she’s created a character so real, you feel you must have passed her in the grocery store a thousand times.”
—Ruth Morgan
>> “I don’t often read a book a second time, but I knew as soon as I finished The Pecan Man that I wanted to read it again right away. I loved the characters and the way their lives grew together, not always over happy things, but through the difficulties they faced. Ora Lee and Blanche are really unforgettable.”
— Louise Schwab
[favorite]
The Burgess Boys, by Elizabeth Strout
[up next]
The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown
Pictured: Seated: Ruth Morgan, Mitzi Sisson, Mildred Wallach, Pris McDonnell, Vivian Zwick, Betty Brown. Standing: Joan Klearman, Gladys Barker, Fran Stovsky, Ellen Schneiderman, Virginia McCann, Marian Christy, L ouise Schwab, Ellen Jones, Kathy Davis
Photo: Bill Barrett