Aloha! So last night was our Book Club's meeting about "Lottery". And the author, Patricia Wood, joined us from Hawaii via skype video conference, to talk about writing the book, its themes, answer and discuss our questions, and share a privileged sneak preview to the prologue of her new book on the way.

At the risk of sounding too fawning, we all thought it was wonderful. Thank you to Pat for taking the time and effort to talk to us, and in her words, "completing the circle" of her book writing process, having reader feedback."You have an idea how you want people to feel when they read it. You can't create art in a vacuum. To have the dialogue, between author and reader, there is nothing greater."

The book addresses a broad range of themes, society's values and prejudice, and the power of unconditional love, narrated from the unreliable point of view, of thirty-two year old Perry, whose IQ is 76. "You have to have an IQ of less than 75 to be retarded. " The story centres on what happens to him, how he is perceived by others and the decisions he makes, after the key catalysts that trigger the action-packed story: his Gram dies and he wins twelve million dollars in the State Lottery. It's funny, it's sad, serious and easy reading. But don't let that fool you into thinking it's insubstantial. The more you delve into the relationships between the characters and Perry's perception of them and theirs of him, you are forced to examine your own prejudices and values. The relationships are all beautifully crafted, authentic and serve to make us question: What weighting to we give to intelligence, beauty and wealth? What do we value in life? What makes a family? "My name is Perry L. Crandall and I am not retarded. Gram always told me the L stood for lucky."

Well last night, we were the lucky ones, to have access to Pat's insights, wisdom and humour for an hour. Her friendly, open manner made everyone feel at ease and able to speak, despite our initial nervousness before the call - "the author herself (stunned silence), what will we say, will we ask daft questions, she'll have heard it all before, maybe I should have re-read it again, what about that bit about..." all unfounded. Afterwards, we all agreed she ranks high up on the list of people we'd love to share a drink and a chat with, and you could talk about anything.

So, with that in mind, here's a thank you toast. " May your success be as deep as the ocean, and your troubles as light as its foam."