Thursday, May 26, 2011
Mennonite Disccusion #13
Does the memoir signal Rhoda’s forgiveness of Nick? Or does the writing of it suggest that in some ways she is still hanging on to her hurt? Forgiveness isn’t often explicitly taught. Some religious institutions fall short in this area, stressing that we should forgive rather than telling us how to forgive. How did you learn to forgive? How can we teach forgiveness to our children?
Mennonite Discussion #14
Rhoda and Hannah make a list of men they would refuse to date – it includes, but is not limited to: men named Dwayne or Bruce; men who have the high strange laugh of a distant loon; men who bring index cards with prewritten conversation starters on a first date. What qualities might you assiduously avoid in a romantic partner?
Mennonite Disscussion #15
Rhoda’s mother tells her, “When you’re young, faith is often a matter of rules…but as you get older, you realize that faith is really a matter of relationship – with God, with the people around you, with members of your community.” Is Rhoda’s own relationship with faith an example of this, in a way?
Mennonite Discussion #16
Toward the end of the book, Rhoda remarks that she “suddenly felt destiny as a mighty and perplexing force, an inexorable current that sweeps us off into new channels.” Do you believe in destiny? Can you really ever escape your roots or change your beliefs?
Mennonite Discussion
Discussion Questions are On the way! Please wait a little for all questions to load! ( They are scheduled to come at 1 minute intervals with the very last one actually being the first one...I over "thunk" this!)
Monday, May 16, 2011
Mennonite Blogging...
Are we all making progress on our first book? We only have another week before discussion begins, so let's all hurry and finish up!!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
"Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home"
Hello Dear Readers!
In order to help facilitate our newly organized book club and to put in our eager hands the title of the first book of our little club, S-B asked if I could post the information for said book.
So here it is dear friends!
Mennonite In a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home
by Rhoda Janzen
A hilarious and moving memoir--in the spirit of Anne Lamott and Nora Ephron--about a woman who returns home to her close-knit Mennonite family after a personal crisis
Not long after Rhoda Janzen turned forty, her world turned upside down. It was bad enough that her brilliant husband of fifteen years left her for Bob, a guy he met on Gay.com, but that same week a car accident left her with serious injuries. What was a gal to do? Rhoda packed her bags and went home. This wasn't just any home, though. This was a Mennonite home. While Rhoda had long ventured out on her own spiritual path, the conservative community welcomed her back with open arms and offbeat advice. (Rhoda's good-natured mother suggested she date her first cousin--he owned a tractor, see.) It is in this safe place that Rhoda can come to terms with her failed marriage; her desire, as a young woman, to leave her sheltered world behind; and the choices that both freed and entrapped her.
Written with wry humor and huge personality--and tackling faith, love, family, and aging--Mennonite in a Little Black Dress is an immensely moving memoir of healing, certain to touch anyone who has ever had to look homeward in order to move ahead.
Rhoda Janzen holds a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was the University of California Poet Laureate in 1994 and 1997. She is the author of Babel's Stair, a collection of poems, and her poems have also appeared in Poetry, The Yale Review, The Gettysburg Review, and The Southern Review. She teaches English and creative writing at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.
(taken from: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/rhoda-janzen/mennonite-in-a-little-black-dress/_/R-400000000000000180938)
I know that the recent storms have changed our daily lives, but I still think we should try to read this one within the next month. What say you?
I've ordered a copy to be here next week. If you would like to share my copy, let me know! I usually donate all of my books to the library after reading them, but I think slipping one in the USPS would be equally or maybe a little more fun :)
In order to help facilitate our newly organized book club and to put in our eager hands the title of the first book of our little club, S-B asked if I could post the information for said book.
So here it is dear friends!
Mennonite In a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home
by Rhoda Janzen
A hilarious and moving memoir--in the spirit of Anne Lamott and Nora Ephron--about a woman who returns home to her close-knit Mennonite family after a personal crisis
Not long after Rhoda Janzen turned forty, her world turned upside down. It was bad enough that her brilliant husband of fifteen years left her for Bob, a guy he met on Gay.com, but that same week a car accident left her with serious injuries. What was a gal to do? Rhoda packed her bags and went home. This wasn't just any home, though. This was a Mennonite home. While Rhoda had long ventured out on her own spiritual path, the conservative community welcomed her back with open arms and offbeat advice. (Rhoda's good-natured mother suggested she date her first cousin--he owned a tractor, see.) It is in this safe place that Rhoda can come to terms with her failed marriage; her desire, as a young woman, to leave her sheltered world behind; and the choices that both freed and entrapped her.
Written with wry humor and huge personality--and tackling faith, love, family, and aging--Mennonite in a Little Black Dress is an immensely moving memoir of healing, certain to touch anyone who has ever had to look homeward in order to move ahead.
Rhoda Janzen holds a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was the University of California Poet Laureate in 1994 and 1997. She is the author of Babel's Stair, a collection of poems, and her poems have also appeared in Poetry, The Yale Review, The Gettysburg Review, and The Southern Review. She teaches English and creative writing at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.
(taken from: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/rhoda-janzen/mennonite-in-a-little-black-dress/_/R-400000000000000180938)
I know that the recent storms have changed our daily lives, but I still think we should try to read this one within the next month. What say you?
I've ordered a copy to be here next week. If you would like to share my copy, let me know! I usually donate all of my books to the library after reading them, but I think slipping one in the USPS would be equally or maybe a little more fun :)
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