from "The Christian" newsletter - 5/1/2008

SPRING WOMEN'S SALAD SUPPER

Wednesday, May 7th at 6:30 PM

Fellowship Hall

THIS YEAR'S THEME IS "CHIC-LIT"

Russell Group is hosting a Women’s Salad Supper on Wednesday, May 7th.  So bring yourself, your daughter, your daughter-in-law, and/or good friends, a salad to share and a sense of fun and fellowship!

You very well may be asking – whatever is “chick lit”?  Well, if you say it fast enough, it will make you think of those candy-coated squares of gum, or possibly fuzzy little yellow chicks that have just come out of the shell.  Or then again, it may remind you of a similar term “chick flick,” used to refer to three-handkerchief movies with a happy ending and not one single car chase or explosion.  All of the above are possibilities for “chick lit.” but the closest is the last one. “Chick lit” books are the reading equivalent of the films that have women and girls as their primary target audience.

If on a gray day, you love to curl up with a book that you know will offer you likeable, admirable female characters, a touch of romance, maybe a historical setting, events and subjects that are important in women’s lives (love, children, work, family, community, loss, and achievement), then you may be a fan of chick-lit.

One of the premier Christian authors of chick-lit is the well-known Canadian writer Janette Oke.  For our DWF spring event Connie Frigon will be our guest speaker.   Connie is from Clay Center has a developed a presentation in which she portrays characters from Oke’s books in period costume. 

If you have never read any of Oke’s books, or if you’re a fan, but haven’t dipped into them for a while, you might like to visit the FCC Library and check out some of her books before the May meeting.  There are at least 24 books in our library from which to choose.  One favorite series, Love Comes Softly, takes place in a rural prairie setting in the late 19th/early 20th century.  This series of eight books introduces Marty and Clark as they start their family at the same time their little community is starting its own development with a new school and a church.  The series lets you revisit the characters you’ve enjoyed in the first books and experience watching the children grow up and start their own families.  There are many happy events.  However, sad things happen in these books too, just as they do in real life. There is a sense of authenticity in Oke’s writing about the lives of the main characters and their friends as they move along with the support and love of neighbors and trust in God.  

A second series, A Prairie Legacy, (3 books) continues with Marty and Clark’s family when the couple are elderly.  The series titled Song of Arcadia leaves the rural prairie setting to follow French Canadians in the mid-1700's from Nova Scotia to Louisiana and eventually to England.  If you still haven’t had enough of the worlds Oke creates, there is the series Seasons of the Heart (4 books).  Here the main character is a farm boy who lives with his Grandfather, Uncle, and Aunt.  There are also individual books if you prefer a lighter reading commitment. 

You will enjoy the program on May 7th so much more if you have some experience with Janet Oke’s books.  So stop by the library and get started reading “chick lit”.