Chai, Chat With Books: A Naperville Reading Circle Is Born

“Chai, Chat with Books” is a small group of eight ladies who share their passion for reading over a cup of tea and lots of chaat/snacks. Our book club meeting is a time away from the daily grind of life – more like a “me-time”. All of us live in the Naperville area, and look forward to the monthly meetings. Keep reading !

Book Of The Month : “Three Weeks with My Brother” by Nicholas Sparks

Our book club’s pick for the month was “Three Weeks with My Brother” by Nicholas Sparks and Micah Sparks. One of the members of the club was going on a world trip that included Machu Picchu islands in Peru; so she chose this book, hoping to get a glimpse of what was in store on the sightseeing trip. Having said that, this book is not a travelogue. “Three Weeks…” starts with Nicholas Sparks receiving a flier in the mail about a world trip, the story continues around their world trip and ends with the brothers coming home. But the story is not about the exotic places they visit – it is actually about the life he and his family have had up till now. In fact we were of the opinion that even if it was not a trip around the world for the two brothers, the book would still have been the same. It’s a very powerful memoir of the life experiences of the two brothers, and we liked the fact how the pages alternately flip between the stories of their past and present.

The brothers’ travels give the readers an insight into how they both differ in their outlook towards life. Micah’s outgoing and mischievous personality is different from Nicholas’s serious and thoughtful one. While enjoying the Incan ruins and the hospitality of the Mayan tribes, they are always talking about their own childhood life, which is just a memory now. In some way, both brothers are living the American Dream – even though they come from very humble beginnings, both of them are now rich and successful.

All of us felt that it was one of the best books of Nicholas Sparks. We did feel that perhaps we wanted to hear the older brother, Micah’s, story in his own words. But we know that Nick is the author and probably he wanted the world to know his side of the story. Having always lived in the shadow of his older brother, this perhaps was a time to show to the world that he is his own man.

The relationship that comes through between the brothers is an extremely strong and loving one. All through the book, we see the brothers having a deep love for each other, and being protective of each other. We especially liked the younger Nick gently introducing his big brother to cross-country running when he feels Micah is getting into a lot of trouble.

The reader does get to see many parts of their life but one is still hungry for more because most of the incidents are told with a tone of optimism. It’s not that there are no miseries – in fact it’s quite the contrary. Young Nick is part of a family that is very poor. He has an older brother, Micah, and a younger sister, Dana. Their father is a busy academician, who is practically not there for the kids, while their mother, Jill, is a blessing. One of the most striking lines he writes about his mother is that she is “always smiling” and how she always enters the house with a bright smile. Since we are moms ourselves, we were forced to think about how many times we smile at our kids if we have had a hard day. Most of the times, our kids get to see the angry/mad/grumpy side of their moms – but not so in Jane’s case, she was always happy. In her own way, she taught the kids a lot of good things. She had a ritual in her house where the siblings are supposed to say one good thing about each other. Sometimes, even though they really had nothing good to say about each other, they still managed to find something. It was very funny when Nick, one night said “Micah could have hit me harder, but he didn’t !”

The strong family bond that is revealed in the book is perhaps because of the upbringing the kids had. In spite of coming from a poor family, the kids managed to study and become millionaires before the age of thirty – most likely due to the values instilled in them by their mother. The mother is always shown as a hard worker – whether inside or outside the house. There may have been different rules for the brothers and the sister – while the brothers are ambitious, the sister only wants to get married and have children. But we wondered if this was because of the upbringing, or maybe because sometimes not all kids are the same despite the same upbringing.

It was a lovely book that spoke about family values and coping with hard times, but as readers we were saddened when the family loses its glue – the mother – at a very young age, followed by the sister’s death. Though, what we liked abundantly is that even in hard times, the family could see humor in a situation. There are many parts in the book which we were able to relate with and laugh at. All in all a great book – we highly recommend it.