Book Clubbing

a review by Diane Adkins Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

It’s not a spoiler to tell you that in the prologue of this book, we see Evvie Drake loading her car with wads of cash and her suitcase, ready to leave her husband. Her phone rings and she learns he has just been killed in a car accident. That’s not the typical way to start a romance novel.

Linda Holmes is best known as the host of the NPR show Pop Culture Happy Hour. This is her first novel, and despite the dark beginning, it’s a smart, funny book. If you’ve heard Holmes on the radio, you know she’s quick-witted and that translates to “snap” in the dialogue. The characters sound like real people. Even better, they seem to be people you’d enjoy knowing.

The book is set in small-town Maine, where no one knows that Evvie’s husband, Tim, a well-liked doctor, was emotionally abusive to her. Her dad, Frank, doesn’t know. Her best friend, Andy, doesn’t either. Evvie cannot bring herself to tell the truth about her marriage, now that Tim is dead, and that sets up one of the central conflicts in the book.

Andy suggests that his high-school friend and former major league baseball star pitcher Dean Tenney could move into an apartment Evvie has in her house, and she agrees primarily because she needs the money. Dean is in town to escape the scrutiny of the press and public over his failed career. He has developed a case of the “yips”—a non-technical term denoting a sudden loss of the ability to do something a person has mastered. In Dean’s case, he can no longer pitch a baseball over the plate successfully.

Holmes said in an interview, “I think everybody has that moment where they think, ‘What I thought my life was going to be is not quite what it’s going to be.’ And those are both very difficult moments, and moments that lead you to something that’s more true.” Dean and Evvie are both on paths of discovery, trying to come to terms with their pasts while finding a way forward.

This is, in short, a love story for grown-ups with humor, warmth, and (sorry, Dean) perfect pitch.

Diane S. Adkins is a retired Director of the Pittsylvania County Library System.

Reflecting Forward

ow I ever made it through my first baccalaureate degree is nothing short of miraculous. I was a very strong student in high-school English, literature, and writing, but my dad told me college had to prepare me to support myself. As an extreme introvert, I avoided any form of speaking to groups, so I ruled out English jobs like teaching and entered applied science instead. I went to community college and worked part-time as an EKG tech in a hometown hospital that had a medical technology program. From observing the people in the lab, I thought I could work as a med tech and support myself. The education coordinator told me what courses to take (after graduating from community college) at a public university in order to transfer to the hometown hospital’s medical technology school for my senior year. What I didn’t know at the time was that that hospital’s med tech program ranked third in the state. The expected performance levels were a universe beyond the grades I’d achieved in science courses. I was in way over my head. For that internship year, our all-female class of eight students lived, breathed, and sweated medical technology. Those other seven women raised the science achievement bar to heights I’d never aspired to or even imagined. They had far better grade point averages than I did and were better prepared in the sciences. I dug in and studied like I’d never studied H How I Made It Through by Linda Lemery

before and did extra work to bring up my grades. We did rotations to put theory into practice. I also worked part-time to put food on my apartment table and gas in my car. Although I ranked near the bottom of that incredibly smart class, I persisted and graduated. When I entered the field, I discovered that struggling to survive the incredibly intense training was worth it. I worked hard, kept learning, filled knowledge gaps, worked in multiple states, rose through the ranks, and eventually took on the challenge of teaching medical laboratory technician courses at a community college. I still could not bear to talk in front of people. Guided by a partially-formed, intuitive model and with help and encouragement from a mentor, I became comfortable over time with presenting to classes. That led to presenting at state and regional levels, volunteering on national committees, eventually chairing one of those committees and continuing to evolve into a lifelong learner. This slice-of-life story shows how tenacity was key to surviving and even thriving under very difficult conditions. I’ve applied that now-articulated model (see left) in so many situations. Tenacity is what kept me in the game every time. About the Author: When she’s not wondering how she ever managed to accomplish (fill-inthe-blank), Linda Lemery llemery@ averett.edu works as Circulation Manager at Averett University’s Mary B. Blount Library in Danville. She welcomes reader comments. Prepare. Work efficiently. Anticipate problems. Accept challenges. Locate resources. Persist. Manage solutions. Ask for help. Contribute. Find ways to love work. Keep learning. Model “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein “Never, never quit.” – Paraphrased from Winston Churchill

by Annelle Williams

I know it’s February and I should be writing about love potions, chocolate hearts and ways to win your love through his/her stomach, but I’ve had other important things on my mind. Since before Thanksgiving I’ve cooked for just about every kind of special diet I know--vegetarian, gluten free, alpha gal, lactose intolerant, and then just a few picky eaters who didn’t like pecans, or eggs or even mashed potatoes. Sometimes I looked around the table and had a little bit of everything, but we all made it with full bellies and happy hearts.

In January we had vegan friends visiting from California. I don’t have to google that word anymore. I know it means no animal products—none. We wanted to go out to lunch, but even after spending time on the internet researching menus, I couldn’t find anything nearby that suited me, so I went to Pinterest. Below is a recipe we prepared together. It was really delicious. You don’t have to wait for vegan visitors to share it with friends and family.

Vegan Lemon Loaf

(adapted from chocolate covered katie)

2 cups gluten-free flour 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 3/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1 cup sugar 3/4 cup almond milk 1/2 cup vanilla

almond-milk yogurt 1/4 cup canola oil 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice zest of large lemon 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Whisk the liquid ingredients in another bowl to combine. Add wet ingredients to dry, and stir just until evenly mixed. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes.