Club hopes to fill school’s ‘wish list’ for books
Readers are sometimes actors, too. Which is to say they sometimes act on the information they pick up in books.
That, at least, is the case with the Stacey’s Book Club, a Spokane-based book group that was charmed by the nonfiction book “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time,” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.
For those who haven’t read it, “Three Cups of Tea” tells the story of Mortenson’s failed attempt to climb Mount Everest, which became his personal quest to build schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. You can get more information about the book and Mortenson’s mission by going online at www.threecupsoftea.com.
Two members of Stacey’s Book Club are, it seems, trying to do something similar.
“Stacey Mainer, a nurse practitioner, and her husband, Dr. Mike Mainer, are part of a group that is trying to build a medical clinic in Kaponga, Kenya,” club member Karen Paddock wrote in an e-mail.
“Both Stacey and Mike have made several trips to Kenya in order to provide some medical care and supplies to this village and will be returning in January for another go at it.”
The Mainer’s chief focus is a village high school that has only a handful of books. The school’s principal provided a “wish list” of books that came to just over $4,200.
“It is a little more than our book club can handle on our own,” Paddock wrote. The club’s plan is to send funds to the village, she said, “through a tax-deductible church organization” so that the books can be purchased in Kenya.
If you’d like to help, you can call Paddock at (509) 324-9168. Or e-mail her at dgklpaddock@comcast.net.
As she says, “I just think Mike and Stacey deserve all the support they can get.”
Suggested reads
Speaking of “Three Cups of Tea” (see above), turns out it’s popular with area book clubs. In fact, it’s the January read of one of the area’s public book groups, the Friends of the Cheney Community Library Book Discussion Group.
The group meets at 7 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month, September through May (except for December), at the Cheney branch of the Spokane Country Library, 610 First St.
The group’s reading schedule for 2008-09 is as follows:
Sept. 23: “Once Upon a Green Meadow: An American Family’s Struggles Between the Wars,” by Ernestine McMillan Hilton.
Oct. 28: “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie.
Nov. 25: “Suite Francaise,” by Irene Nemirovsky.
Jan. 27: “Three Cups of Tea,” by Mortenson and Relin.
Feb. 24: “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel,” by Lisa See.
March 24: “The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche,” by Gary Krist.
April 28: “The View from Castle Rock: Stories,” by Alice Munro.
May 26: “Things Fall Apart,” by Chinua Achebe.
For information about the group, which accepts drop-ins, call Joan Tracy at (509) 235-4490. Or e-mail her at joan.trc@gmail.com.
‘Worst Thing’ is best
Many Spokane-area readers remember Ursula Hegi. Once a member of Eastern Washington University’s creative-writing department, Hegi hit the big time when her novel “Stones from the River” was chosen as the February 1997 selection for Oprah’s Book Club.
Hegi’s latest novel, “The Worst Thing I’ve Done,” has just come out in paperback. And at least one critic was ecstatic about it.
“ ‘The Worst Thing I’ve Done’ is the work of a mature and masterful writer at her peak,” wrote Ann Hood in the Washington Post.
“The layering – the collage – of character and point of view, tragedy and healing, creativity and loss, loyalty and fidelity, love and jealousy, all combine with lyrical prose in a story that resonates long after its end.”
To read an exceprt from “The Worst Thing I’ve Done,” go online to www.nytimes.com/pages/books/ chapters/index.html.
The reader board
•MaryJane Butters (“MaryJane’s Outpost: a Guide to Unleashing Your Inner Wild”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. Call (509) 838-0206.