Dianna Lucas
We’re doing something a bit different this year. We’re combining our annual meeting with the book discussion that was postponed in February. On Thursday, July 14, we will meet at 2 p.m. for our annual meeting in the clubhouse. At this time, the slate of officers for the 2022-23 board will be presented, and the FOL membership will have the opportunity to vote on them.
After the annual meeting, there will be a short break for refreshments. At about 3 p.m. we will begin the book discussion on All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque. General Mike Hall and La Donna Womochel will be our presenters for this discussion. Mike served in the Army for 30 years, rising to the rank of Brigadier General before retiring. La Donna has a PhD from Texas Tech in American literature and has been active in book clubs since she moved to Robson in 2005.
This book was written by a German veteran of World War I and is considered to be one of the greatest anti-war novels ever written. Mike tells us that it is the best book he’s ever read, and La Donna states it is the most intense war novel she has ever read. It was such a powerful anti-war novel that Hitler banned it in 1933.
Although it was written about World War I, it is more about war in general than this war in particular. The storyline is a microcosm of how the soldiers lived in the trenches with the rats, corpses, and filth. The young men who left their homes with a spirit of nationalism and patriotism, thinking they were only going to be gone a short time, really come to life in these pages. The very young men who were actually doing the fighting, not the politicians who sent them to fight, relive their stories here.
Please read this important book and join us in July for what will be a heartfelt and timely discussion.
If you haven’t paid your FOL dues for 2022-23, we will continue to collect them throughout the summer.
The updated library, the new computers, and the additional multitude of books that your membership has provided are certainly a testament to your valuable contribution to the community at Robson.
You can now pay your FOL dues by credit card through your GroupWorks account. Sign in to your GroupWorks account and select the Payments tab.
You can also join when you stop by the library in the CATC building and deposit a check for $10 per person in the FOL dropbox on the checkout counter. Please do not leave cash; checks are preferred. Make sure the check is made out to “Friends of the Library – Robson Ranch” and placed in an envelope with your name, email address, and whether you want a tax receipt. If requested, a receipt for tax purposes will be sent to your email address.