Social Lites – Waterford Estates

The WOW (Women of Waterford) Plus (the Wonderful Gals that met at Trixie’s Coffee Shop) Book Club met again last week not only to discuss our book for December,” Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus but to have a little Christmas fun. But let’s start with “Lessons In Chemistry”.  To give you a little synopsis, “Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman.  

In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first person to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman.  But it’s the early 1960’s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality.  Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel Prize-nominated grudge holder who falls in love with-of all things-her mind.  True chemistry results.  Like science, though, life in unpredictable.  Which is why a few years later Eizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother but also the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six.”

We had a lively discussion about “Lessons in Chemistry”  mostly about the colorful characters, including Zott’s dog named Six-Thirty.  It also brought to mind something that happened to me in about that same time frame.  I had also just received a degree in Chemistry and when I interviewed for a job, the supervisor told me to “brush up on your typing and come back as a clerk typist”!   We have come a long ways, Baby!
Then, in the Christmas spirit, we had a White Elephant Gift Exchange where the “gifts” exchanged were books that we had previously read and enjoyed.  It was fun to open and sometimes steal these wonderful literary treasures!  One smart gal only reads books on her Kindle so she put a brick in a box and attached a gift card to it.  That way the recipient would be able to buy her own book.  Clever!  

Joining in the festivities were Plusses Susan Greer, Cyndi Garner and Betsy Himmel and WOW’s Karen Dwyer and me. 

Our January selection will be “The Last Bookshop in London” by Madeline Martin.  According to the book cover “August 1939: London prepares for war as Hitler’s forces sweep across Europe. Grace Bennett has always dreamed of moving to the city, but the bunkers and drawn curtains that she finds on her arrival are not what she expected.  And she certainly never imagined she’d wind up working at Primrose Hill, a dusty bookshop nestled in the heart of London.  Through blackouts and air raids as the Blitz intensifies. Grace discovers the power of storytelling to unite her community in ways she never dreamed-a force that triumphs over even the darkest nights of the war.” 

Sound interesting?  Then pick up a copy and plan on joining us on the fourth Monday of January, January 22nd at 6 pm at my home. If you do not live in Waterford Estates but would like to join a casual, friendly little book club, then contact me at marie.a.underdown@lonestar.edu.  For you WOW’s, just come on down!  See you then!

Marie Underdown may be reached at marie.a.underdown@lonestar.edu.