"It's the most wonderful time of the year" and as members and guests entered III Forks Steakhouse in Tapestry Park, there was no denying it was Christmastime, and that Jennie "JayBee" had much in store for our discussion of J.D Mason, Reshonda Tate Billingsley and Bernice McFadden's book "Finding Amos."
With the entire restaurant reserved for the event, everyone was greeted by JayBee with a warm..."Welcome To Francina's Tea Room" - a reference to her Grandmother's establishment which thrived by serving the best soul food on the island of Amelia, and featured jazz and blues music back in the 30's, 40's and 50's.
Upon entry there was a surprise guest...Amos, portrayed by Elisah "Atlas" Parris of Parriscope Entertainment was on the keyboard playing jazz as the servers passed an array of appetizers consisting of Crab & Avocado Canapes, Beef Tenderloin Croustades, Blue Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms and Bruchetta w/Sundried Tomatoes. We soaked in the ambiance of the pre-event space, listened to the music and "chatted" as we waited for everyone to arrive. Lisa acted as the event photographer, so her sister-in-law, JayBee could have a photography break. Atlas played for an hour and for the finale' he sang Otis Redding's "Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay"
which was mentioned in the book. After the musical set, we were ushered into the private dining space for our meeting.
The room was decorated with Christmas Trees and wreaths and JayBee had a Christmas slide on the screen and festive music "piped" in. JayBee also had each place setting adorned with a Yankee Candle in a decorative silver or black holder. There was also a $25 gift card for each guest to use at the restaurant at a later date.
JayBee began with guest introductions and a few superlatives, beginning with 1st to RSVP!! Celeste won for 1st member and JayBee's friend, Viola "Ola" and sister-law, Lisa won for 1st guests. Their prizes were Parriscope Entertainment gift packs containing the CD's of 4 Artist signed to the label. We proceeded with introducing our guests and then Roz offered a LOVELY prayer/blessing for our event and our meal.
JayBee designed a menu for everyone that had choices of Filet Mignon, Roasted Chicken and Atlantic Salmon; with 1st courses of Lobster Bisque or Trinity Salad.
As we began our discussion, it was clear that there would be mixed opinions and debates and of course, there were. Starting with The title of the book we all agreed that "Finding Amos" could have several meanings and was surely open for interpretation.
There were varying viewpoints about whether we had empathy for Amos because of his failing health or because of the life he lead, or neither. Again, another sign of a good book club when debaters can agree to disagree.
What is this fascination of little girls with their fathers? This discussion could have gone on and on as everyone had a relationship story about their own father. LaVerne took a very profound biblical approach which had everyone captivated and it was one of those Ahhhhh moments.
Of the three daughters, Celeste brought up the fact that Toya seemed to be the most damaged. Could this be because Amos' publicly denied her via a television performance "non-mention?" Does an absentee father impact the lives of those abandoned? We all agreed that the roles that Amos "did not" play in the girls lives, negatively impacted them in adulthood.
At 1:00 JayBee's niece, Celestial Skyped in Reshonda Tate Billingsley and J.D. Mason
into our meeting. These two authors were attending a book festival together in Decatur, GA and took time out of their busy schedule to meet with us. This act spoke volumes about them, and their commitment to their readers. It was truly a recognizable Random Act Of Kindness (RAK)
Immediately, we wanted to know the Million Dollar question...Which author, authored each character? To our surprise, the authors indicated that they have taken a vow on "non-disclosure" and will not reveal that "tidbit" of information. Valerie commented on the obvious omission of the usage of designer labels and material items in the book and noted how refreshing it was for them (as authors) to focus on the prose. The authors indicated that it was important for them to focus on the relationships in the book and that it was intentional.
When asked about Tomiko's dream regarding the feathers, the authors had no idea what we were speaking of, so therefore through process of elimination, we have surmised that the character of Tomiko was authored by Bernice McFadden (Gotcha!)
Once the Skype was over, dessert was served; there was a choice of Cheesecake or Texas Caramel Cake. It seemed that almost everyone "opted" for the Texas option, and you can see why!!
JayBee presented a few more superlatives; Dee and Val were recognized for being 1st to submit their "Random Acts Of Kindness" (RAK), Celeste and Val were recognized for posting Amazon reviews for all of our selections this year and Val was recognized for her social media support on Twitter. JayBee also recognized Bonnie for being the 1st member to arrive at each meeting this year!! To even further validate, JayBee announced that Bonnie even arrived at 9:45 this morning in the event preparation assistance was needed.
When author and radio personality, Shakira Thompson was asked to update us on her newest projects, we were all surprised to learn of the upcoming release of her prequel to High Noon Justice entitled Before The Sun is due out later this month!
Before leaving, JayBee played a slideshow of all the meeting this year. It is always fun to reflect back on our meetings and smile. This year, she used Mandisa's "Definition Of Me" as the theme song.
Thank you JayBee for the Literary experience at "III Forks" Steakhouse. We learned that child abandonment can have a life long effect, but forgiveness can be redeeming.
