Mis Sucias and Reading About The "Other".....Highly Recommended

In another post last week, I mentioned that I belong to a book club, "Las Sucias."  Now before you all go on calling us "dirty girls" and all the connotations that go along with it.  Let me explain....when the group formed several years ago, their first book was "The Dirty Girls Social Club," about Latina professionals living in Boston, which I highly recommend - a kind of Latina version of "Sex In The City" which we could all relate to from time to time during the course of our lives.  The "Dirty Girls" translated in Spanish is "Las Sucias." So the book club adopted this name. I was invited to join in after they had already formed and have enjoyed it ever since.  Here we are at one of recent meetings:

As you can see, we always bring our smiles and our lipstick (right Sarah???).  Our book club meetings of course center around food, sometimes the discussion of food takes over the discussion of the book - especially if we arrive ravenous but ultimately we do get down to business - did we like the book?  What didn't we like?  And the discussions can be in Spanish, English or my personal favorite espangles (espanol + ingles)! :)

But it is more than just a book club - it's a support system - we have had 3 babies with one on the way this year and 1 wedding, 2 home purchases, we have had break-ups and make-ups; discussed struggles of single momhood, teenager fun, and of course, the ever present job woes.  We had a great anniversary weekend in 2009 where we stayed at my mom's house and drank, ate, and were merry complete with Zumba in the livingroom and wine tasting in Westport!  Through it all, it is a safe haven to come to and just be yourself.

But ultimately we do read - in both English and Spanish and discuss books either by Latin authors or about Latin American history, fiction and non-fiction - everyone has their turn and once the book is decided upon we align our potluck menu to the country or countries where the story takes place - Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Spain - even Afganistan!

Due to my commute, audio books are my preference in either language and I have been pretty lucky so far and can finish a book a week so I tend to buy multiple audio books once the books is decide.  For January, we are reading, "By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept," which is set in several towns in Spain and France and relates the love story of a seminarian and a young woman who were childhood friends. 

Now before you start thinking - oh, this is a Latino version of The Thorn Birds, it's not and it actually surprised me and I fell in love with the characters and the story.  It is very spiritual in nature with beautiful music (ok, I am lucky it was on audio and could listen to the music along with the story).  It is not overtly religious but religion does play a role in the decisions both main characters make and you are left wondering until the very end whether or not they will actually end up together.  And no, I am not going to tell you either - read the book - I promise you won't be disappointed!

The one main thing I will talk about it is a single component of the book that they named "the other."  The other encompasses your fears about anything in your life - family, love, job, etc. and can hold you back from making a decision that may be right for you in the long run because you are afraid and your fears take hold and hinder you from going in possibly the right direction for you.  Is this one of those deep thoughts - definitely.  Could I relate? absolutely.  I think all of us have been faced with whether or not to open the door or keep it closed when making an important decisions, have let our fears get the better of them, etc.  Both characters in the book struggle with this and ultimately find themselves removing "the other" and following their hearts.

I am adopting this goal for me this year - to understand "the other" inside of me and then close the door on it so I can make the right decisions for myself and follow my heart.