Friday Book Whimsy: Monument Road

I have to confess that Monument Road by Charlie Quimby is the book my book club discussed on Tuesday, so some of my thoughts may have been influenced by the wonderful insights of the members of my group, all who enjoyed the book thoroughly.

The story is fairly simple. Leonard Self’s wife Inetta died of pancreatic cancer. Before she died, she made Leonard promise that one year to the day after her death, he will take her ashes to the cliff edge at Artists Point and toss them over the edge. Said Inetta, “I want to be good and dry. Me and Jesus’ll be watching, and I want to float for a while.”

So begins one of the loveliest and most complex stories I have read in a while. What a treat, coming so soon after reading My Antonia. Great Christmas gifts to myself.

Leonard intends to make good on his promise. However, he also intends to follow the ashes in a suicidal leap, since he believes he has nothing much to live for without Inetta. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn more about this wonderful man and the amazing relationship he had with Inetta, and with others he encountered in his life. Reminiscent of the McPheron brothers in Kent Haruf’s magnificent Plainsong series, Leonard is someone I spent the entire book wishing I knew in real life. I wish he was my next door neighbor. Though a devout Christian, Inetta promised Leonard when they married that she wouldn’t require him to attend church, and she didn’t. While he didn’t consider himself a Christian, and certainly had no patience for churches and their services, he undoubtedly lived the life of a Christian whether he called it that or not. This apparently was enough for Inetta. (Inetta, by the way, was also a lovely character.)

There are a couple of other story lines introduced throughout the book. At first, I was really startled and confused. Why do I care about a teenage girl and her desire for a lead role in the high school play? While sad, what did it matter that she apparently fell off the edge of Artists Point? Several other story lines and characters were also introduced. Quimby ties them all together at the end of the book in such a way that I actually said, “Ah ha!” out loud. Some of the story lines are quite sad, but overall the book is so sweet that I found it joyful.

Quimby’s writing is absolutely beautiful. The book takes place in and around Grand Junction, which made it kind of fun and interesting to me since I’m familiar with that

part of Colorado. His descriptions of the land really did remind me of Willa Cather’s descriptions of Nebraska. As he wrote, you could not only visualize the setting, but you could taste the dust in your mouth and hear the sound of the cattle and the horses. Amazing writing. As one of our book club members pointed out, the setting almost becomes one of the characters.

I give a big thumbs up to this book, and to this author. This is his first novel.


And now……

Candy Cane Cookies, via Rebecca B.

Ingredients
1 c. sugar
1 c. butter or margarine, softened
½ c. milk
1 t. vanilla
1 t. almond extract
1 egg
3-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
½ t. red food color
2 T. finely crushed peppermint candies
2 T. sugar

Process
Stir together 1 c. sugar, the butter, milk, vanilla, almond extract and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Divide dough in half. Stir food color into one half. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Heat oven to 375. Meanwhile, stir together peppermint candy and 2 T. sugar; set aside.

For each candy cane, shape 1 rounded teaspoon dough from each half into 4-in rope by rolling back and forth on floured surface. Place 1 red and white rope side by side; press together lightly and twist. Place on ungreased cookie sheet; curve top of cookie down to form handle of cane.

Bake 9 to 12 min. or until set and very light brown. Immediately sprinkle candy mixture over cookies. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 min.

Makes about 4-1/2 doz. cookies

Nana’s Notes: The original recipe calls for peppermint extract instead of almond extract, but Bec said she didn’t want them to be so pepperminty, and I agreed. I was fearful that they were going to be more complicated than they actually were. They are very Christmasy and delicious.