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all the way home November 11, 2008

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Don’t forget that November’s Book Club meeting is one week from today, Tuesday November 18, 7:00, Cedars Cafe. If you had the chance to meet David Giffels at last week’s Ytown Readers Series, you’re probably as intrigued as I was. Giffels’s humility and self-effacing humor are charming, and it is this charm that makes all the way home such an engrossing read.

The Giffels Family

The Giffels Family

Woven into Giffels’s chronicles of restoring a crumbling mansion (that he purchased for the shocking price of $65,000) are memories of his family, observations about his marriage, tidbits of Akron history. Giffels’s description of the mansion’s “dark charm” where the overwhelming opulence meets the equally overwhelming disrepair:  a ten foot tall harp and twin crystal chandeliers share space with 55 turkey pans filled with rain water. Giffels is encouraged in his restoration (more like resurrection) adventures by his father, my favorite person in the book, who believes that any struture still standing can be fixed.

What's a little water damage?

Although I’m only about a third of the way through the book so far, I’d say that my favorite feature is the sense of place as it is communicated through Giffels’s relationships with other people. As a Ytown native and fellow rustbelter, I understood perfectly when Giffels he describes how he chose his home inspector: “I called my dad and asked him if he knew anyone who might do the job. (This is how professional relationships are forged in places like Akron, by people like us).” Of course, the inspector, Steve, drives a beaten yellow pick-up truck that runs on propane. These are the real people, the most interesting characters, that we meet along this journey.

I hope you’ll join us to discuss this original and yet familiar memoir. Also, don’t forget to mark your calendars for Saturday November 29, when we celebrate the release of Chris’s The Love We Share Without Knowing.

Mark Your Calendars! October 22, 2008

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November is a hot month for our little book club. On Monday November 3, The YSU/Youngstown Readers Series is hosting writer David Giffels at Cedars. We’re reading his book All the Way Home for our November selection.*

Here’s a summary of Giffels’s memoir from Harper Collins:

Finding the perfect house is never easy. Rebuilding one from a crumbling pile-to say nothing of making it into a home-is even harder.

With their infant son in tow, David Giffels and his wife comb the environs of Akron, Ohio, in search of just the right house for their burgeoning family. Running through David’s head the whole time are the lyrics of a Replacements song, “. . . Look me in the eye, then tell me that I’m satisfied,” and it gives all the more purpose to their quest. But nothing seems right . . . until they spot a beautiful, decaying Gilded Age mansion. A former rubber industry executive’s domain, the once grand residence lacks functional plumbing and electricity, leaks rain like a cartoon shack, and is infested with all manner of wildlife. But for a young man at a coming-of-age crossroads-”suspended between a perpetual youth and an inevitable adulthood”-the challenge is exactly the allure.

All the Way Home follows Giffels’s funny, poignant, and confounding journey as he and his wife and a colorful collection of helpers turn a money pit into a house that will complete their family. Nothing could prepare them for a home restoration epic that includes evicting squatters (both four- and two-legged), battling an invading wisteria vine, hunting a ghost, and discovering thousands of dollars in hidden Depression-era cash. But the story’s heart lies deeper, in an unexpected series of personal hardships that call into question what “home” really means, and what it means to grow up.

You can meet Giffels and purchase his book at the Reading Series Event on November 3, 7:00, Cedars. If you can’t attend, you can still purchase the book through the traditional means (Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc.).

We’ll discuss All the Way Home at our next meeting on Tuesday November 18, 7:00, Cedars.

Mark your calendars for Friday November 29 when award-winning local author, book club co-founder, and superhero Chris Barzak will release his second novel The Love We Share Without Knowing. The party is at the Oakland Center for the Arts at 7:00. Chris will read from his novel, and copies will be available for purchase (you can even get it autographed). We’ll read Chris’s book for our December selection.

And just to give you some advanced notice on our January and February suggested-by-members titles, in January we’re reading Kindred by Octavia Butler, and in February we’re reading The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Expery. Put them on your Christmas lists.

As always, I’ll send out reminders closer to the meeting times. Our thanks go to all of your who share your time and enthusiasm each month to keep our book club going. Good times, my friends, good times.

 Kris

*please note that this is a change from our original selection