Our 2019 retreat included a delicious soup supper on Friday night (the corn chowder, chicken, and hamburger soups were all terrific); the intriguing 3-stage voting process by which we decide on the books to read for the following year; and a leisurely 35-minute drive to Elmwood where we were given a personal tour of Nebraska author Bess Streeter Aldrich’s home and the nearby museum. As we had read 3 of her books over the years and had just voted in another one for 2020, this was a timely and extremely interesting time. We will definitely go back sometime in the near future.
On Saturday night, after going out for dinner at a nearby Lazlo's, we held our discussion over the year’s Charles Dickens book. For 2019 it had been one of his shorter novels, Hard Times. Also, Quint Coppi and I were again blessed to have early mornings together for Bible reading, prayer, and serious conversation. That too is an important autumn tradition.
This autumn retreat also serves as a time for Claire and I to reflect on the unusual achievement that is this book club. You see, the Notting Hill Napoleons began as a noble experiment. Could a group of Christian activists fit into their already busy schedules of family, work, and pro-life ministry a monthly book discussion? Furthermore, dare they tackle quality literature (including such daunting classics as War and Peace, Brothers Karamazov, Les Miserables, and David Copperfield) with a view to keep their education going long after their “formal” schooling was behind them? Could this kind of fellowship help provide genuine stimulation, accountability, and assistance in our desires to use our time wisely, to avoid being TV-addicted “couch potatoes,” to sharpen our reading abilities, to improve our discernment and conversational skills, and to be better equipped to be lights in a culture that was increasingly shallow, coarse, and dominated by sensual and visual thrills.
Well, after completing our 28th year, I think it's safe to say that the experiment has been a remarkable success.
But what of the future of the Notting Hill Napoleons? The nucleus of the book club remains (9 people) but the winds of change are swirling about us. Some of those changes are related simply to aging. Our attention spans, mental focus, and levels of physical energy are not what they once were. Yet probably more telling are the changes in schedules (and priorities) caused by such things as work and ministry responsibilities, or travel plans related to grandchildren or aging parents. And there's yet a third issue. With such a huge body of English-language novels already accomplished by the club, finding a consensus on the books to be read next is getting harder and harder. Our group is still solid and servant-oriented in our friendships with one another, yet there have evolved strong differences of opinion about authors and titles, page length and subject matter, writing style and suggestions of re-reading. The differences are so divergent that only a couple of books made the 2020 list with sweeping approval. And a few that finally made the list did so with the barest possible majority. So, can we find our way over these obstacles and keep the Notting Hill Napoleons healthy, effective, and fun for a few more years? We certainly will give it a try.
One of the attractive possibilities for dealing with these changes was talked about late Saturday night. It is an invitation to other readers to join the Napoleons, even those who might only want to read an occasional novel from our year’s list. So, if you are interested enough in reading and book clubs and stimulating fellowship to have read this blog post all the way down to here, 😉 you might want to prayerfully consider this invitation. Perhaps drop us a note and we could talk with you about it. Please know that you would be warmly welcomed to be a part of the next chapter of the Notting Hill Napoleons.
And, to spark your interest a little more, here is that 2020 reading list for you to look over.
January – The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
February – Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington
March – The King’s General by Daphne du Maurier
April – Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
May – The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper
June – All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
July – To Wake the Giant: A Novel of Pearl Harbor by Jeff Shaara
August – Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
September – Victory at Yorktown by Newt Gingrich, William R. Forstchen, & Albert S. Hanser
October – Three Weeks in October by Yael Dayan
November – Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
December – Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich
