When we started this book club almost a year ago, I sent a message to my cousin Jenine asking if she wanted to join in.  Always game to try something new, she replied with a yes and promptly recruited her BFF, Jacki.  Jenine told me, "Add Jacki to your list.  She's my Sevda.  And she likes to read."  So, this month's selection comes from my cousin Jenine's Sevda, Jacki.  Please join Jacki and me in reading Breaking Clean by Judy Blunt.


In this memoir, Blunt recounts her life on a remote cattle ranch in Montana, examining the roles and responsibilites of the people around her.  The descriptions speak of learning how to be a ranch hand, driving a tractor, baking bread, enduring three-day long blizzards and sweeping fires, having a child, and finding one's place in life. 

It was the review by BookPage that really caught my eye, making me really look forward to the book:
"City slickers take heed: here's the real lowdown on the ranching life-from a woman's perspective. Judy Blunt's new memoir Breaking Clean debunks the romance surrounding the American West's most archetypal way of life.
No biographical sketch of Blunt can convey the depth of this literary achievement. Each of the 13 sections here stands on its own: substantial, powerful segments of writing organized around some larger theme. They read like something out of the late-19th century, particularly those years when only the novel could bridge the disjunctions between society and self. Inheriting the literary territory previously claimed by Ingalls Wilder and Cather, Blunt (who's just been named a Whiting Writer's Award recipient) builds on their accomplishments, yet marks American literature in her own way. To shoehorn this into mere category or classification is to insult its power. Profound, and profoundly moving."

Reviews from strangers:
1) On the upside: "As someone who has always fantasized about a home on the range, I found this book enthralling. Finally, life behind the scenes on the homestead. What a wonderful job of painting this picture with words. Blunt is an amazing storyteller, and her use of the English language would seem to lend itself to either a followup or perhaps a title of historical fiction. I read this book, which is 300 pages, in just two days, because I literally could not put it down." - Barbara

2) On the downside: "It should be understood here that the incident in this book where Judy Blunt's father-in-law smashed her typewriter was fabricated by her. She admitted to creating this story and future editions of the title will not contain the scene." - Sheila

Lastly, let's not forget to name this month's wine pairing.  Jacki has selected Rolling Shiraz as this month's pairing because it's delicious and "the label makes me think of the wide open plains of Montana where this story takes place".  It's been awhile since we've selected a specific label and variety of wine, so if you can't find it, by all means substitute any old wine (water, soda, tea, coffee, etc.).