In Remembrance of Kay Rusche

Organized in 1996, the rules of Kay’s book club were simple:

1. The host picks the book.

2. The host serves coffee, tea, and a dessert. Storebought, including Costco, is okay. So is whipped cream. Cleaning the house is not required.

3. Everyone must read the book.

When the original organizer of the club was transferred for work in 1997, I was invited by Kay to fill the empty chair. As the years have passed, some have had to leave the group, others took their places, and the club has read 250 books. For 20 years, I have spent each month in the company of a book and then one evening with my friends discussing it.

We loved going to Kay’s home with its comfortable furniture and her dogs (although Lola never got to stay much longer than to say hello). She enjoyed the ritual of serving us individually, using a tray, offering cream and sugar for our coffee, often serving a home baked treat or some strange food she brought back from her travels. I can hear her voice at the door, saying “Welcome, welcome, it’s so good to see you”.

Kay was well spoken, thoughtful, and yes, occasionally feisty and argumentative. I can see her laughing, head back, when we came upon something hilarious. Sometimes she slapped her thigh when it was just too funny.

That is the best, when a book catches everyone’s imagination, and the different parts that we like just spill out, in waves, going around the room. Her pick of Corelli’s Mandolin comes to mind. The Greek men singing in harmony during their morning visit to the latrines. The deaf husband with the pea in his ear. We laughed until our stomachs hurt.

We loved reading Simon Winchester’s, The Professor and the Madman, about the writing of the Oxford English dictionary. We all had favorite words and their histories, thumbing back and forth through the pages to find them. When we read The Sheep Queen, we discovered that Kay’s ancestors were sheep ranchers in Montana who migrated to the Salmon River valley and when we read Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy, we were surprised to learn that teenage Kay was an enthusiastic fan of the Dodgers.

Other books provoked more serious discussions. Kay selected The Killer Angels, a recounting of the four days of the battle of Gettysburg and she had us read The English Patient, set in Italy at the close of WW II. She chose Regeneration, a collection of poems by an English soldier, Pat Barker, who was in the trenches in WWI. Picture this: women of a certain age, taking turns, reading these poems aloud.

Through Kay’s picks and her stories, we shared in her love of travel. Angela’s Ashes took us to Ireland. We read The Snow Leopard, set in Nepal and went to Afghanistan for The Kite Runner. If Caitlin was going to learn about Cairo and north Africa, then we had to as well, reading The Palace Walk, Dark Star Safari: Cairo to Cape Town, The Egyptologist, and The Lower River. When we read The Name of the Rose, she compared the monastery library to the one she had seen in Europe.

We tried to let Kay not be a doctor during our meetings but sometimes we just needed the help. As when we read Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers; The Birth of the Pill; The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; Justianian’s Flea: The First Great Plague & the End of the Roman Empire. She could explain medical things in a simple way but not too simple. My kids and I were her patients for 14 plus years: I recognized the tone.

Kay was, of course, scary smart. She loved books with complex story lines and compelling characters, in detailed settings. A few months back when we discussed our favorites of the books we had read, Kay mentioned 100 Days of Solitude, Middlemarch, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Anna Karenina.

Discussions about books led to discussions about family and community. We knew how proud Kay was of Caitlin, how much she enjoyed traveling with John, from parades and barbecues in Idaho to European river cruises. On a visit to a museum, they had the opportunity to try to paint like Van Gogh. She was chagrined when turned out to be the better artist. We knew how important the Snake River Clinic was to her and how she regretted having to quit working at the LCSC Student Health Center. Funding the Lewiston Library was a passion of Kay’s for years.

We also talked about politics, about progressive values, about being Democrats. Another book Kay enjoyed was the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. On a cooling July evening, we sat in the shade in my backyard, eating Dove bars, drinking lemonade, recollecting the escapades and events that bonded the women in the story together over their lifetimes. The following passage from this book sums up how I often felt after book group: “You know how some people, when they’re together, they somehow make you feel more hopeful? Make you feel like the world is not the insane place it really is?”

Suffice it to say that, from time to time, we spoke our minds about politics, public policy, the role of government, education, health care. Kay, who had to be careful about her words in public, had a safe place to say what she believed and to talk about what frustrated her.

When she was diagnosed, we went home, googled Stage IV Ovarian cancer, gasped in dismay, and then regathered the next month to hear the plan and support her determination to finish out the very difficult treatments, to not say uncle. We admired her wig, were happy with her when she went into remission, when her hair came back in curly. When the cancer came back, she was matter of fact, described the treatments, always grateful for John’s care, always singing the praises of her providers, fully aware of the extraordinary quality of healthcare she received, although she did mention that it was a new experience for her to be the one waiting and waiting for a nurse to call back with test results. We hoped with her to find and be accepted into clinical trials.

One evening she explained how they found the tumors in her brain. That she could not read one day, that is, she could see the symbols but she didn’t know what they meant. Until they used radiation to reduce the size of those tumors, she was limited to listening to books on tape. Which, she complained a little, just wasn’t as good but better than nothing. We all agreed, better than nothing but not the same, devastated at the news. It was a terrifying echo of our ongoing always to be continued group discussion about the virtues of reading with a real book or using a Kindle.

In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, one of my daughter’s all-time favorites, the heroine, Francie, finds great solace from her loneliness in the characters and worlds in her books. When Kay invited me to join her book group, it was a time of great turmoil and loneliness in my life. I already had books. What I needed, and what she gave to me, was book friends.

She was one of the best book friends ever.

TITLE AUTHOR

A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving

The Shipping News E. Annie Proulx

Moo Jane Smiley

Snow Falling on Cedars David Gutermann

Walk Two Moons Susan Creech

The Oath Frank Peretti

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Julia Alvarez

Middlemarch George Eliot

The Sky Fisherman Craig Lesley

Life Estates Shelby Hearon

100 Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Book of Ruth Jane Hamilton

The English Patient Michael Ondaatje

At Home in Mitford Jan Karon

The Stone Diaries Carol Shields

Into the Wilderness Kim Barnes

The Rapture of Canaan Sheri Reynolds

The Persian Pickle Club Sandra Dallas

Angela’s Ashes Frank McCourt

Snowbound Ladd Hamilton

Alias Grace Margaret Atwood

A Portrait of a Lady Henry James

Bucking the Sun Ivan Doig

The Mists of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley

Corelli’s Mandolin Louis De Bernieres

Stones from the River Ursula Hegi

Cold Mountain Charles Frazier

The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Rebecca Wells

The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy

Talk Before Sleep Elizabeth Berg

A Shooting Star Wallace Stegner

Isobel’s Bed Eleanor Lipman

The Color of Water James McBride

An Instance of the Fingerpost Iain Pears

The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver

Hotel du Lac Anita Brookner

Palace Walk Naguib Mahfouz

Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden

A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole

Possession: A Romance A. S. Byatt

My Year of Meats Ruth Ozecki

The Sparrow Mary Doria Russell

Wicked Gregory Maguire

Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom

The Giant’s House Elizabeth McCracken

Plainsong Kent Harouf

The Professor & the Madman Simon Winchester

The Rebel Angels Robertson Davies

Regeneration Pat Barker

Midwives Chris Bohjalian

Hoopi Shoopi Donna Suzanne Strempek Shea

Mrs. Dalloway/The Hours Virginia Woolf/Michael Cunningham

In Siberia Colin Thubron

Jim the Boy Tony Early

The Killer Angels Michael Shaara

The Red Tent Anita Diamant

Winter Range Claire Davis

The Game of Life Schulman/Bowen

Master Georgie Beryl Bainbridge

Election Tom Perrotta

Through the Narrow Gate Karen Armstrong

Breathing Lessons Anne Tyler

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation Joseph J. Ellis

Disgrace J.M. Coetzee

Tender at the Bone Ruth Reichl

Paradise Park Allegra Goodman

The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood

The Canadians Andrew H Malcolm

The Corrections Jonathan Franzen

Waiting Ha Jin

Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich

Bee Season Myla Goldberg

The Snow Leopard Peter Matthiessen

Unless Carol Shields

Jane Eyre/The Eyre Affair Charlotte Bronte/Jasper Fforde

any Lewis/Clark book various authors

The Road from Coorain Jill Ker Conway

Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked Catherine Orenstein

Under the Net Iris Murdoch

The Ground Beneath Her Feet Salmon Rushdie

The Second Coming Walker Percy

What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response Bernard Lewis

Five Quarters of the Orange Joanne Harris

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Dai Sejie

Miss Garnet’s Angel Sally Vickers

Prodigal Summer Barbara Kingsolver

David Copperfield Charles Dickens

Open Wide the Freedom Gates Dorothy Height

Confessions of a Chef Anthony Bourdain

Where We Stand: Class Matters Bell Hooks

Triangle David Von Drehle

The Lexus and the Olive Tree Thomas L. Friedman

Middlesex Jeffery Eugenides

Hitting the Jackpot Brett Fromson

The Anguish of Snails Barre Toelken

Dune Frank Herbert

The Coffee Trader David Liss

In The Beauty of the Lilies John Updike

Daughter of Fortune Isabelle Allende

Sula Toni Morrison

All the Kings Men Robert Penn Warren

The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown

The Powerbroker Robert Caro

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Mary Roach

Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson

Higher Ground Gladys Smith

The Memory of Running Ron McLarty

Blink Malcolm Gladwell

The World is Flat Thomas L. Friedman

Give a Boy a Gun Jack Olson

Zorro Isabelle Allende

Bowling Alone Robert Putnam

The Egyptologist Arthur Phillips

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture Ariel Levy

Follow the River James Alexander Thom

The Sheep Queen Thomas Savage

Collapse: Why Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Jared Diamond

Enslaved by Ducks Bob Tarte

The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini

Odd Girl Out Rachel Simmons

Pick a Poem of Poet Stanley Kunitz

Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman Gail Evans

A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry

In the Shadow of the Ark Anne Provoost

Light Housekeeping Jeanette Winterson

I Feel Bad About My Neck Nora Ephron

American Legend: The Real Life of David Crockett Buddy Levy

March Geraldine Brooks

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid Jimmy Carter

Mayflower Nathaniel Philbrick

Dark Star Safari: Cairo to Cape Town Paul Thereoux

The Devil in the White City Erik Larson

The Edge Dick Francis

Where have All the Leaders Gone? Lee Iacocca

Away: A Novel Amy Bloom

Gilead Marilynne Robinson

Rise and Shine Anna Quinlan

Elizabeth’s Spymaster Robert Hutchinson

Bliss O.Z. Livaneli

Paradise Larry McMurtry

Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson

Out Stealing Horses Per Petterson

Making it Up Penelope Lively

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle David Wroblewski

Yiddish Policemen’s Union Michael Chabon

Sin in the Second City Karen Abbott

Hanford and the Bomb: An Oral History S.L. Sanger

The Man Who Loved China Simon Winchester

Netherland Joseph O’Neill

People of the Book Geraldine Brooks

The Wasted Vigil Nadeem Aslam

The Time Traveler’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger

The Year of Living Biblically A J Jacobs

Origin of the Species Charles Darwin

Mirrors of the Unseen- Journeys in Iran Jason Elliot

Help Kathryn Stockett

Justinian’s Flea:The First Great Plague & the End of the Roman Empire

William Rosen

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Wm. KamKwamba & Bryan Mealer

Someone Knows My Name: A Novel Lawrence Hill

The Big Short: Inside the Doomesday Machine Michael Lewis

Pulitzer: a life in politics, print and power James McGrath Morris

Castle of Otranto Mysteries of Udolpho Horace Walpole Ann Radcliffe

The Devil’s Highway Luis Alberto Urrea

The Bells Richard Harvell

Work Song Ivan Doig

Big Girls Don’t Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women

Rebecca Traister

Red Capitalism Carl Walter and Fraser Howie

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet David Mitchell

Bretz’s Flood: The Remarkable Story of a Rebel Geologist and the World’s Greatest Flood John Soennichsen

1453: The Holy War for Constantinople Roger Crowley

Poetry: The Simple Life, What Works Is, News of the World Philip Levine

State of Wonder Ann Patchett

Stoner John Williams

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot

Inside Out & Back Again Thanhha Lai

The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins

Extraordinary,Ordinary People Condoleezza Rice

Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America

Melissa V. Harris-Perry

Da Vinci’s Ghost Toby Lester

Quiet Susan Cain

The Lower River Paul Theroux

Jewish Antiquities Flavius Josephus

The Favored Daughter Fawzia Koofi

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

Katherine Boo

What it’s Like to Go to War Karl Marlantes

Nothing Daunted Dorothy Wickenden

Tales of Protection Erik Fosnes Hansen

The Orphan Master’s Son Adam Johnson

Plume Kathleen Flennikin

The Round House Louise Erdrich

A Tale for the Time Being Ruth Ozecki

Feminine Mystique and/or Handmaid’s Tale Betty Friedan and or/ Margaret Atwood

Wild Cheryl Strayed

The Boys in the Boat Daniel James Brown

Lives of Girls & Women Alice Munro

Where’d You Go, Bernadette Marie Semple

Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand

The Swerve: How the World became Modern Stephen Greenblatt

The Kitchen House Kathleen Grissom

Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy Jane Leavy

The Testament of Mary Colm Toibin

Saint Manuel, Martyr Miguel de Unamuno

Stringer Anjan Sundaram

Generation Unbound Isabel Sawhill

Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema Anne Helen Petersen

The Republic of Imagination Azar Nafisi

Ready for Brand New Beat Mark Kurlansky

Predisposed John Hibbing

The Year of Living Dangerously, How 50 Great Books Saved My Life

Andy Miller

West with the Night Beryl Markham

Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy

All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr

Lila Marilynne Robinson

The Elephant’s Journey Jose Saramago

The Little Paris Bookshop Nina George

The Birth of the Pill Jonathan Eig

The Last Kind Words Saloon Larry McMurtry

Clementine: Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill Sonia Purnell

The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco

Woman Lit by Fireflies Jim Harrison

The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World

Andrea Wulf

The Nightingale Kristin Hannah

The Quartet:Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783–1789

Joseph J. Ellis

Threat Vector Tom Clancy

Dark Money: Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right Jane Mayer

A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel Amor Towles

The Oregon Trail Rinker Buck