We were 7 members at our September meeting, Betty, Carla, Linda, Marg, Michèle, Shirley and our newest member, Sharon. Welcome Sharon! Michèle had some great vegetable and salmon sushi and a cream cheese dip with veggies. We also enjoyed a great Mandarin orange cake made with almond flour. Of course wine, coffee and tea were also on offer.
Our book this month presented by Carla was Remarkably Bright Creatures by American author, Shelby Van Pelt. This is Ms. Van Pelt's first novel. It was on the New York Times Top 10 list of fictions for several months. It has been picked up by Netflix and will star Sally Field.
The story is about a developing friendship between a giant octopus Marcellus and a woman, Tova who cleans the aquarium. Ms Van Pelt did a lot of research on octopuses before writing the book. The main human character, Tova is an older widow who takes a night job at the aquarium after her husband dies, to keep busy.
Almost all our members enjoyed the book. They found the writing to be excellent, characters well developed, and the story to be charming, gentle, not a story with extreme drama but it developed well and was easy to read and follow. Both Tova and Marcellus must deal with the fact that they are ageing and make choices to continue a pleasant life. Many felt it was a satisfying book to read with a happy ending.
Thank you Carla for beginning our Fall season with such a pleasant book.
