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BOOKclub
What Are They Reading?
BY ELAINE ROOKER JACK •
PHOTOS BY JOON KIM
Who they are: Prospect Plus Sweet
Potato Queens Reading Club: Kit
Devine, Rhonda Howard, Gigi Lacer,
Tricia McCartney, Marsha Metzger,
Vaughn Mlinac, and Angie Watson.
Their first meeting: May 2000
How they got together: Kit went to a
professional meeting in New York,
where a colleague was telling about
her book club. Kit decided it was a
“cool idea.” So she decided to “birth”
a book club. The members agree
that seven is the perfect number of
members.
Their first book: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
Their meetings: Monthly meeting in members’ homes alphabetically; the hostess
provides a meal. The hostess (or Kit, if she’s asked) also provides a handout of
questions and background information about the author.
Their rules: Members are not to discuss whether or not they liked the book before the
meeting.
Their dues: Each member pays $10 per month, so when they decide to go out to dinner
and a play, which they usually do at Christmas, there is money in the treasury for their
evening out.
Their Professions: Nurse practitioners (4), pharmaceutical sales executive, accountant,
retired language arts teacher.
Cooking with the Sweet Potato Queens: At one meeting, the refreshments all came out
of The Sweet Potato Queens’ Big Ass Cookbook and Financial Planner. Kit made
“Twinkie Pie” (“Eat it until you either get full or sick,” says the recipe), and “Catshit
cookies.” Really.
One reason they love book club: “In some of the circles I travel in, I see the same
people, have the same conversations. There’s no substance.” — Tricia
“In some circles, you talk about “someone;” here we talk about “something.” — Marsha
What they are reading this month:The Enduring Hills by Janice Holt Giles
What it’s about: Set in the hill country of Adair County, Ky., the story is about Hod
Pierce, his life on the family farm, his attempt to find something more in the big city
(Louisville), and his eventual return to Piney Ridge.
Some of their discussion about Hod’s discontent: “He was restless. He knew there was
something more to life.” — Marsha
“He was trying to find that in material things.” — Tricia
“Hod’s salvation was Mary’s doing. He was seduced by having money. His wife was
furnishing their home, picking out his clothes, and he’s thinking, ‘She’s loving this,’ but
she tells him, ‘All this can go down the tubes. If you do this (unethical thing), you hit the
road.’” — Gigi
“She became his conscience.” — Kit
“What a tough life it was, though. No wonder he wanted out. And he gets to go back to
the place where he’s the man she fell in love with.” — Tricia
“I wish the story had gone further.” — Marsha
What they thought of the book: “I loved that everybody knew where they stood, who was
capable, who was not.” — Gigi
“Life on the Ridge was a microcosm of society.” — Kit
“It’s easy to look at rural Kentucky and believe the people are all ignorant. But they are
not at all ignorant. They may not be schooled in certain aspects, but they have wisdom.
This was an exercise in appreciation of cultures different from our own.” — Kit
Quotation from the book: “People depend on their folks when trouble comes. And their
folks always take them in and help out. Crowding doesn’t mean much here. Just a few
more plates on the table and another pallet or two on the floor.” — Hod
“Fun” books they enjoyed: Patty Jane’s House of Curl by Lorna Landvik, and The Sweet
Potato Queens’ Book of Love by Jill Conner Browne.
Favorite Author: Elizabeth Berg
Their favorite book: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Other books they loved: Cage’s Bend by Carter Coleman, The Kite Runner by Khaled
Hosseini, The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd, This One and Magic Life by Anne C.
George, and The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty.
Least inspiring book: Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with
Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth H. Blanchard.
They don’t want to say they hate it, so the book they “struggled with”:
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed
America by Erik Larson (except Marsha loved it, and Gigi liked it).
IT’S KENTUCKY NIGHT WITH THE PROSPECT PLUS SWEET POTATO QUEENS
READING CLUB. They’re meeting in Gigi Lacer’s 18th century cabin which her husband
and his best friend rebuilt in their “back yard” in Simpsonville. The Lacers use it for a
retreat, for entertaining, and for book club when it’s Gigi’s turn to host. When the
members found out we wanted to visit their group, they insisted on our coming here,
even though it meant they had to do a little schedule-shuffling.
After the members make their way to the cabin from the main house in the pouring rain,
they help themselves to an assortment of Cheeses by Kenny, all local products.
Kit passes out discussion questions and handouts and they talk about the book for
close to an hour. Gigi points out that it is 8 o’clock and the food is ready. Do they want
to eat? Kit speaks for them all. “No. We want to talk. We’ll eat in a little while.”
When they finally do gather around the table, Gigi serves salad, chicken, corn pudding,
and vegetables, an all-Kentucky menu dreamed up by Gigi with help from caterer
Gourmet for Everyone.
I have to admit when Kit contacted me about her group, I pictured a group of loud
women in big wigs and tiaras wearing over-stuffed formal dresses. After all, they are
named for Jill Connor Brown’s Sweet Potato Queens, who are exactly that. I discover
that the Sweet Potato Queens are but one identity these women have tried on over the
years.
They first identified with the YaYas of Rebecca Wells’ Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya
Sisterhood. “We tried on that persona for a while,” says Angie.
“We tried on the ‘red hat’ thing for a while,” says Kit, “but we really just aren’t old
enough.”
Then they discovered the Sweet Potato Queens. Two of them have made a pilgrimage
to Jackson, Miss., to visit the original SPQ clubhouse. And Kit shows me pictures of the
members, lounging on a boat, sporting tiaras, practicing the “parade wave.”
“But really,” says Vaughn, “we’re just us.”
Elaine Jack at elainej@iamtodayswoman.com is a regular feature writer for Today’s
Woman magazine.
What Are They Reading?
BY ELAINE ROOKER JACK •
PHOTOS BY JOON KIM
Who they are: Prospect Plus Sweet
Potato Queens Reading Club: Kit
Devine, Rhonda Howard, Gigi Lacer,
Tricia McCartney, Marsha Metzger,
Vaughn Mlinac, and Angie Watson.
Their first meeting: May 2000
How they got together: Kit went to a
professional meeting in New York,
where a colleague was telling about
her book club. Kit decided it was a
“cool idea.” So she decided to “birth”
a book club. The members agree
that seven is the perfect number of
members.
Their first book: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
Their meetings: Monthly meeting in members’ homes alphabetically; the hostess
provides a meal. The hostess (or Kit, if she’s asked) also provides a handout of
questions and background information about the author.
Their rules: Members are not to discuss whether or not they liked the book before the
meeting.
Their dues: Each member pays $10 per month, so when they decide to go out to dinner
and a play, which they usually do at Christmas, there is money in the treasury for their
evening out.
Their Professions: Nurse practitioners (4), pharmaceutical sales executive, accountant,
retired language arts teacher.
Cooking with the Sweet Potato Queens: At one meeting, the refreshments all came out
of The Sweet Potato Queens’ Big Ass Cookbook and Financial Planner. Kit made
“Twinkie Pie” (“Eat it until you either get full or sick,” says the recipe), and “Catshit
cookies.” Really.
One reason they love book club: “In some of the circles I travel in, I see the same
people, have the same conversations. There’s no substance.” — Tricia
“In some circles, you talk about “someone;” here we talk about “something.” — Marsha
What they are reading this month:The Enduring Hills by Janice Holt Giles
What it’s about: Set in the hill country of Adair County, Ky., the story is about Hod
Pierce, his life on the family farm, his attempt to find something more in the big city
(Louisville), and his eventual return to Piney Ridge.
Some of their discussion about Hod’s discontent: “He was restless. He knew there was
something more to life.” — Marsha
“He was trying to find that in material things.” — Tricia
“Hod’s salvation was Mary’s doing. He was seduced by having money. His wife was
furnishing their home, picking out his clothes, and he’s thinking, ‘She’s loving this,’ but
she tells him, ‘All this can go down the tubes. If you do this (unethical thing), you hit the
road.’” — Gigi
“She became his conscience.” — Kit
“What a tough life it was, though. No wonder he wanted out. And he gets to go back to
the place where he’s the man she fell in love with.” — Tricia
“I wish the story had gone further.” — Marsha
What they thought of the book: “I loved that everybody knew where they stood, who was
capable, who was not.” — Gigi
“Life on the Ridge was a microcosm of society.” — Kit
“It’s easy to look at rural Kentucky and believe the people are all ignorant. But they are
not at all ignorant. They may not be schooled in certain aspects, but they have wisdom.
This was an exercise in appreciation of cultures different from our own.” — Kit
Quotation from the book: “People depend on their folks when trouble comes. And their
folks always take them in and help out. Crowding doesn’t mean much here. Just a few
more plates on the table and another pallet or two on the floor.” — Hod
“Fun” books they enjoyed: Patty Jane’s House of Curl by Lorna Landvik, and The Sweet
Potato Queens’ Book of Love by Jill Conner Browne.
Favorite Author: Elizabeth Berg
Their favorite book: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Other books they loved: Cage’s Bend by Carter Coleman, The Kite Runner by Khaled
Hosseini, The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd, This One and Magic Life by Anne C.
George, and The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty.
Least inspiring book: Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with
Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth H. Blanchard.
They don’t want to say they hate it, so the book they “struggled with”:
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed
America by Erik Larson (except Marsha loved it, and Gigi liked it).
IT’S KENTUCKY NIGHT WITH THE PROSPECT PLUS SWEET POTATO QUEENS
READING CLUB. They’re meeting in Gigi Lacer’s 18th century cabin which her husband
and his best friend rebuilt in their “back yard” in Simpsonville. The Lacers use it for a
retreat, for entertaining, and for book club when it’s Gigi’s turn to host. When the
members found out we wanted to visit their group, they insisted on our coming here,
even though it meant they had to do a little schedule-shuffling.
After the members make their way to the cabin from the main house in the pouring rain,
they help themselves to an assortment of Cheeses by Kenny, all local products.
Kit passes out discussion questions and handouts and they talk about the book for
close to an hour. Gigi points out that it is 8 o’clock and the food is ready. Do they want
to eat? Kit speaks for them all. “No. We want to talk. We’ll eat in a little while.”
When they finally do gather around the table, Gigi serves salad, chicken, corn pudding,
and vegetables, an all-Kentucky menu dreamed up by Gigi with help from caterer
Gourmet for Everyone.
I have to admit when Kit contacted me about her group, I pictured a group of loud
women in big wigs and tiaras wearing over-stuffed formal dresses. After all, they are
named for Jill Connor Brown’s Sweet Potato Queens, who are exactly that. I discover
that the Sweet Potato Queens are but one identity these women have tried on over the
years.
They first identified with the YaYas of Rebecca Wells’ Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya
Sisterhood. “We tried on that persona for a while,” says Angie.
“We tried on the ‘red hat’ thing for a while,” says Kit, “but we really just aren’t old
enough.”
Then they discovered the Sweet Potato Queens. Two of them have made a pilgrimage
to Jackson, Miss., to visit the original SPQ clubhouse. And Kit shows me pictures of the
members, lounging on a boat, sporting tiaras, practicing the “parade wave.”
“But really,” says Vaughn, “we’re just us.”
Elaine Jack at elainej@iamtodayswoman.com is a regular feature writer for Today’s
Woman magazine.