2003 Year in Review

The Elegant Gathering of White Snows

The Elegant Gathering of White Snows by Kris Radish is my pick for December reading. There is a wonderful spirit in this book and the reader finds pieces of herself and friends within the context of Ms. Radish's characters.

The story involves eight women "on a journey that will change their lives as lovers, wives, mothers, daughters, and friends" These eight women are friends who have been meeting regularly on Thursday evenings for a "girls' night out." They vary in age, education, and experience but are drawn together in rural Wisconsin to share their thoughts and feelings with one another. But on this Thursday night, Susan, Alice, Chris, Sandy, Gail, Mary, Joanne, and Janice walk out on their lives and begin walking down a rural highway at midnight. This spontaneous odyssey attracts national attention, but more importantly as they walk, the women's stories unfold. We learn about these women in short chapters, through tales of humor and tears. They share their dreams, some hoped for still, some shattered. As they walk and talk, the women 'break out' from their past mistakes, experiences, and become renewed with hope and a sense of new purpose. During their week trek on the back roads of Wisconsin, other lives are touched as they meet people on the road, or who read about them. Though the novel is fiction, it reads as reality. I loved this book! It is a book to be shared and discussed with others because the women are so real and their flaws and gifts are ones easily recognized. It is a wonderful story of friendship, love, trust, and hope!!!

Obviously, The Elegant Gathering of White Snows is a "chick" book. However, guys you are welcome to read it too. My other pick for an exciting read is David Baldacci's Split Second. David Baldacci is a favorite author of mine who has written best sellers in the last few years. Split Second is the story of two Secret Service agents, one male, and the other female, who fail in their watch of the President of the United States. Though these assassination and assassination attempts are separated by years, both of these characters are rebuked by the agency and their careers curtailed. Eventually these two stories and two characters join in an unexpected ending. The book is full of adventure and exploits of the physical and mental. It is an easy read and will keep the reader turning the pages.

by Anne Frame, Guest Columnist
December 4, 2003