Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly (Discussion)

I think all attendees had a lovely time at Reading Round Table last Monday. Our guest speaker was none other than author Robert Dalby. The book discussion was a slight one sided since he was there; abundance of praise, reluctance to say anything negative.

We hold our meetings at the school library, which is in a dry county. For those of you, who are unfamiliar with blue laws, dry means the sales of alcohol is prohibited in the county. Dalby, born and raised in Natchez, MS, is from a tourist town that allows 24/7 drink. In the county I live, one over from the school, we have bars but there are no sales on Sundays or within so many feet of a church.

So what? In the book, our Nitwitts, on numerous occasions, drink Bloody Marys before noon. This is an unheard of practice in our area. Drinking in general is frowned upon and drinking before noon is down right sinful.

Therefore, the author endured some quizzing on the validity of these drinking characters. The Nitwitts are described as a group of widowed ladies with the youngest being fifty-five, and Dalby graciously put their minds to rest. Yes, these women are real (as fiction can be) and he grew up under their tipsy tutelage.

Another discussion point the group touched on was the disintegration of community life through MegaMart like stores. Loss of quality for quantity and low prices is a BIG theme in our area. Actually, our group really likes this time to vent, as we have experienced many conversations on the topic. The Nickel and Dimed discussion was along these lines.

Now, we had some participants that didn't even give the book a chance, assuming it was pure fluff. I attribute this to the pink cover and the unfamiliar author. This is regrettable for they will never know Mr. Choppy’s secret. ;D

Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly (Discussion)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2007/02/waltzing-at-piggly-wiggly-discussion.html