Book Club Pick To Honor My Best Friend
July 21, 2021 7:46 PM Subscribe
My best friend drug me to a neighborhood book club 15+ years ago and from that point on we were inseparable. She passed away suddenly last month in her mid-50s. Needless to say, we’re all devastated and still trying to make sense of it all. Ironically, she was supposed to host book club next month and now I’ve been tasked to pick a book to read to honor her memory.
She was an adventurous spirit and loved to travel. We took a backpacking/hiking trip together every year. A couple of years ago we went on a beautiful hiking trip that caused a shift in her perspective and she said it changed her life. She finally left her 20+ year abusive marriage, bought a new house and started dating again. Like many women, she waited until the kids were off to college before making this big change, never wanting to disrupt the family. She was finally living her best life, only to have it abruptly cut short. She was a beautiful soul, always positive, caring and had a tremendous sense of humor.
I’d like to pick a book that embodies finding happiness/independence and living life to the fullest. We’ve read the book club staples such as Wild and Eat, Pray, Love. Something along those lines would make sense to me, but I’m open to other suggestions.
She was an adventurous spirit and loved to travel. We took a backpacking/hiking trip together every year. A couple of years ago we went on a beautiful hiking trip that caused a shift in her perspective and she said it changed her life. She finally left her 20+ year abusive marriage, bought a new house and started dating again. Like many women, she waited until the kids were off to college before making this big change, never wanting to disrupt the family. She was finally living her best life, only to have it abruptly cut short. She was a beautiful soul, always positive, caring and had a tremendous sense of humor.
I’d like to pick a book that embodies finding happiness/independence and living life to the fullest. We’ve read the book club staples such as Wild and Eat, Pray, Love. Something along those lines would make sense to me, but I’m open to other suggestions.
My condolences, how awful! I don't know that either of these would suit, but two books about women's pilgrimages I've read more than once:
"Paladin of Souls" by Lois McMaster Bujold. Medieval heroic fantasy with magic & gods. A middle-aged woman flees a bleak retirement the one way possible for her age and station - a holy pilgrimage - and rebuilds her life.
"Walking Home" by Kelly Winters. I have no idea how available this is. It's an Appalachian Trail memoir by a writer about finding the Trail and doing a through-hike in her thirties. I read it before Wild came out - it has a similar arc, but obviously a different person and hike.
posted by mersen at 9:22 PM on July 21, 2021
"Paladin of Souls" by Lois McMaster Bujold. Medieval heroic fantasy with magic & gods. A middle-aged woman flees a bleak retirement the one way possible for her age and station - a holy pilgrimage - and rebuilds her life.
"Walking Home" by Kelly Winters. I have no idea how available this is. It's an Appalachian Trail memoir by a writer about finding the Trail and doing a through-hike in her thirties. I read it before Wild came out - it has a similar arc, but obviously a different person and hike.
posted by mersen at 9:22 PM on July 21, 2021
Perhaps Shooting the Boh: A Woman's Voyage Down the Wildest River in Borneo by Tracy Johnston.
It has travel, adventure, a first descent of a river, and a woman rediscovering herself as she enters middle age. One of my all time favorites, and I read lots of adventure books.
posted by daikon at 9:27 PM on July 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
It has travel, adventure, a first descent of a river, and a woman rediscovering herself as she enters middle age. One of my all time favorites, and I read lots of adventure books.
posted by daikon at 9:27 PM on July 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Tales of a Female Nomad might fit the bill: it’s a memoir of a woman who gets divorced in her mid-fifties, sells her house, and travels the world, making friends and rediscovering herself along the way. I loved it when I first read it, and have read it many times since.
posted by stellaluna at 9:41 PM on July 21, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by stellaluna at 9:41 PM on July 21, 2021 [3 favorites]
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen. A profound spiritual journey through the Himalayas taken by Matthiessen and field biologist, George Schaller to study the Himalayan blue sheep and perhaps spot the elusive snow leopard.
posted by lois1950 at 10:34 PM on July 21, 2021
posted by lois1950 at 10:34 PM on July 21, 2021
I came here to recommend Tales of a Female Nomad. I think it encapsulates (what you've shared about) your friend's spirit and story so well.
posted by lunasol at 11:42 PM on July 21, 2021
posted by lunasol at 11:42 PM on July 21, 2021
Flight behaviour by Barbara kingsolver follows this theme, from memory. Sorry for your loss.
posted by jojobobo at 12:47 AM on July 22, 2021
posted by jojobobo at 12:47 AM on July 22, 2021
Our book club enjoyed Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce. Definitely fits your theme.
posted by evilmomlady at 5:18 AM on July 22, 2021
posted by evilmomlady at 5:18 AM on July 22, 2021
Is there any poetry that she liked? Collections of poems are nice for a group discussion because there are so many to choose form, and their brevity means your conversation can stretch or contract depending on how much everyone connects with each poem.
Sorry about your friend: they say we just get family but we choose our friends -- which can make their loss even harder to take. It sounds like you have a lot of good memories of her to reflect on.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:18 AM on July 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
Sorry about your friend: they say we just get family but we choose our friends -- which can make their loss even harder to take. It sounds like you have a lot of good memories of her to reflect on.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:18 AM on July 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy. Her first solo adventure: cycling from Ireland to India in 1964. Later she went, and wrote about, other places with mules and her sub-teen daughter. Doughty altogether.
posted by BobTheScientist at 7:22 AM on July 22, 2021
posted by BobTheScientist at 7:22 AM on July 22, 2021
Do you know what her favorite book or author was? That's how I'd choose.
posted by theora55 at 8:18 AM on July 22, 2021
posted by theora55 at 8:18 AM on July 22, 2021
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posted by Ftsqg at 8:12 PM on July 21, 2021