Join us for Bløm’s book club! Every 6 weeks we will gather to share drinks and reflections on thought provoking books from a diverse range of authors and topics. A great way to enjoy a drink, explore new books, and to meet other bibliophiles in the Bløm community! Didn't have a chance to finish the book? No problem, you can still join for great company and conversation.
If you would like to join us, copies can be found at the Ann Arbor District Library, the Saline Library, the Ypsilanti Library, online, and locally. Literati has generously offered a 15% discount on copies purchased there. If you’d like to utilize this discount, simply visit/call Literati and let them know you’re part of the Bløm Book Club.
This session we will be reading Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See. Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, The Island of Sea Women, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, The Island of Sea Women, Peony in Love, Shanghai Girls, China Dolls, and Dreams of Joy, which debuted at #1. From the Good Reads description:
According to Confucius, "an educated woman is a worthless woman," but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.
From a young age, Yunxian learns about women's illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other's joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom.
But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, pluck instruments, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.
How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions, go on to treat women and girls from every level of society, and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? Lady Tan's Circle of Women is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.