December 2010 Christmas Book Club

This photo is entitled "The Aftermath of Book Club." Eleven months of the year I leave that behind. Not that I am complaining. I love having Christmas Book Club. The remnants of tasty dishes, good wine, beautiful flowers, and delicious desserts are just proof that a good time was had by all (and Miss Kitty thanks you for the leftovers).

We missed Janie who was recovering from foot surgery but know that she is recovering nicely at home. Laura also had foot surgery but she managed to hobble in on her crutches and we had a spot reserved for her to rest her foot.

Having been recently inspired by a trip to The Prohibition room where they offer a variety of tasty Bruschetta appetizers we decided to focus this month's menu there. Barb brought Salmon and cream cheese, Diana brought pear marmalade and brie and proscuitto and fig, Lis brought pear and brie, Lou brought the traditional mozzarella, tomato and basil. Darby brought baked fudge, Denise brought red velvet cake decorated like a present with a red bow, Carla G brought cheesecake. Terry brought her pear/avocado and pecan salad by special request. I made a version of Bobby Flay's roasted brussel sprouts with pomengrante mollasses and vanilla bean, pecan butter. I improved on his recipe by blending up the brussel sprouts and topping toast and brie with the spread. I have a new "love" and it is pomegranate molasses! Carla A brought the ever popular Butternut Squash soup and Hungarian Mushroom, and there was the usual assortment of wines including a Seven Deadly Zins, very nice.

One benefit of hosting book club is that you are the lucky recipient of Arnora's floral bouquets. She out did herself this time. The bouquet included white lilies, red gerber daisies and red roses. I will enjoy them for as long as they last!

We had so much going on at this book club. First, everyone handed out their gifts and cards. We don't do a traditional gift exchange but we do exchange cards, photos and other meaningful tokens and it is always fun.

Next, Darby had compiled our list of favorite Christmas songs in a CD for us each to enjoy. She handed out the list and as each song played we tried to guess who picked the song. That is what is so fun about doing our letters, poems and songs. Just when you think you know people you can't even guess their favorite Christmas song. But, it's also what keeps our relationships so fresh. We are always suprising each other. Arnora won that game by getting the most right. The CD has a good blend of fun and sentimental favorites. A couple brought tears to our eyes and what is a good book club without a tear or two? Now, when we listen to our favorite Christmas music we have another treasured memory to add.

Then we unveiled the 10th Anniversary Book Club professional photo. We were all thrilled to see what a great job the photographer did. She managed to find a couple of shots where we all looked fabulous. Pearly whites gleaming, eyes shining (no blinks) and everyone just looking their gorgeous best! Even the "calendar girl" shot is excellent. Not a complaint to be had among us and well worth the small investment. What a great idea - and thanks Lou for arranging the photographer. This has inspired us once again to approach Oprah with our Book Club for her 25th and final year of the Oprah Show.

Eventually, we did get around to reviewing the book "One Day" by David Nichols. Arnora had recommended this book and really enjoyed it. Her rating was a 3.5. In fact, I quoter her here, "I know it was pathetic, but I liked it!"

The rest of us agreed that it was a cool idea: visiting one day each year in the life of Dexter and Emma. But, for most of us it fell short of satisfying. Carla A was very impassioned about it, which I love. Carla and I often have great and insightful side discussions about a book but she will get shy at the meeting and not be very vocal. Last night, she reminded me of Darby and Firefly Lane. She had been reading the book at the cabin and mildly enjoying it until she got to the part where Emma is killed in a bicycling accident just after she and Dex finally get together (shades of Cold Mountain). This enraged her also because the scene was told with such cold, crispness. She died, the end. She said, "You can't just kill someone off in one sentence. And, that was not the end of the story, but should have been." Several thought that there were paragraphs that had been actually; cut, paste, and repeat. I was surprised that the English majors among us didn't have something more to say about the poor grammar. A review at the front of the book stated it was a good "beach read" and several of us compared the author to Nicholas Sparks. I think good beach read summed it up for me. The book rated a 2.

Again, however, the book sparked great discussion and that is what it is all about. Even if a book is not favorably received by all if it sparks impassioned discussion then it has succeeded on some level. January's book is The Book Thief.

As I announced last night, this looks to be my last Christmas book club in this house. If all continues to go well, I'll be moving (somewhere) around the 22nd of December. Thank you all so much for allowing me this special privilege. Most of you know, that until recent years, Christmas has been a challenge for me. But, hosting Christmas Book Club makes the season brighter for me and is something I look foward to all year. Next year I'll give someone else a turn since I am not sure what my next plans are.

So, from my house to yours, Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

P.S. Miss Kitty is sitting on my lap between the computer and me. She keeps putting her paw on the mouse and trying to help me write this blog!

November - Thanksgiving Book Club 2010

My apologies to the group for being delayed in writing November's blog. Work has been kicking my butt and I was preparing to be away Thanksgiving week. So, now here I am sitting in a rustic, warm and cozy cabin in the Taos mountains. The sun is coming up behind the snow clouds and the ground is still covered from Monday's snow. As I believe there are no accidents I think this is perfect timing for writing this month's blog. When I have had a few days of rest and relaxation and my brain has finally slowed down and I can reflect upon the evening.

When we arrived at Darby's house she was putting the finishing touches on the turkey and broccoli casserole. The day had been cold and everyone had brought out the coats and gloves. We put down the food and I softly padded down the hall to the bedroom to throw my coat on Darby's warmly inviting leopard skin chaise. As I stood alone in the dimly lit room, mellow jazz was playing in the background and I heard the chatter and laughter of the women as they arrived. It was truly the happiest moment of my week. The next moment was slightly marred when someone bumped my dainty elbow sloshing the ruby red wine I was sipping. I was relieved to find it did not hit Arnora's sleeve but horrified later to find it splashed on Darby's fawn colored wall. Thankfully, she has touch up paint.

As we prepared the meal we exchanged hugs, got our drinks and caught up on the month's news. Darby, Laura and Diana had just returned from the new Harry Potter Theme Park and Diana had gorgeous photos to share. Terry has bought a new house and is moving this month.
Janie brought her, now traditional, Amish butter as an early Christmas gift along with cheesy potato casserole. Janie may have to miss next month due to surgery but we're hoping for a speedy recovery. Arnora brought her traditional floral centerpiece, Terry brought dressing & gravy and Barb brought a different version of dressing. Pam brought salad, Denise brought bread, Lou brought pumpkin-caramel spice trifle and Carla A brought Tirimasu. Lis brought the lemony cheese, I brought wine and Laura brought her "badself!" Diana brought "Butter Beer" she made inspired by the recent visit to the Harry Potter Theme Park. As always, the food was delicious and I know I went back for seconds.

Carla G had come from the hair dresser and we could not keep our hands off of her blonde and silken hair. There was some discussion about flat irons because none of us can get our hair to look exactly the same as when we have it done. Apparently, you have to spend the big bucks to get an iron that will give you the same effect. Carla had her hair done because Lou had enlisted a professional photographer to come in and take our group photo as commemoration for the 10th anniversary of the inception of book club next year. We all dressed in a variety of black and white to maintain continuity and stood or sat in front of Darby's fireplace.

There had been some joking previously that our commemorative photo should take on a "Calendar Girl" flair. But I thought we were kidding. Until Darby left the room so that the photographer could get a personal photo of her. While she was out of the room someone started insisting we take off our shirts and grab a "big book". When Darby & the photographer came back in they found us all standing bare shouldered behind our books. We were all laughing hysterically but the photographer thought it was great so we now have 2 versions of the photo. The CD's should be ready about the time we get back to the city. I am excited and scared at the same time!

Turkey $30, Book $12, Darby's expression..... priceless!

The book discussion of Girl in Translation was actually cut short because the photographer came during the middle. Laura really liked it said she could've talked about it all night. It reminded a couple of "The House on Mango St." The story is fictionalized autobiography of a young Asian girl traveling to NYC from China with her mother after her father's death. They are put up in an abandoned apartment building by the mother's sister and put to work in their "sweat shop". This story takes place around 1997 and everyone was surprised to find that sweat shops still exist in this country. This is a coming of age story as Kim learns to speak English, goes to school, makes friends and goes through the growing pains of becoming a woman and a mother herself. The book rated 4.15, with 2 "I liked it" and me to finish (refer to earlier paragraph about work kicking my butt!)

So, on the eve of Thanksgiving 2010 as I reminisce about this month's book club let me just say again, how much I love and appreciate each and everyone of you. The depth of our friendships deepen with each month and book. There is no other group of women on the face of the earth where I could feel so comfortable, so loved and where I can laugh so hard and leave behind the cares and frustrations of life! On book club night - how sad others must be that they are not us!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families as we look forward to Christmas at my house and the book "One Day" by David Nicholls.

October 2010 Book Club

Can we believe that we've just concluded October's Book Club? Only 2 more meetings to wrap up another year. I suppose you'd think by now I'd have accepted how fast the time goes instead of being surprised by it month to month. I, personally, had a very busy week that left me feeling drained and exhausted. But, thanks again to great nourishment in food, companionship and discussion I have lived to write another blog (and a good nights sleep helped too). We missed Lou, Carla G. and Barb. Our condolensces to Barb who lost a dear friend this week. Also, our loving support to Terry who signed her divorce papers. She is feeling good and looking great and entering a new chapter in her own life. I debated about sharing that here in the blog but life is a mixed bag of events and we love and support each other through them all.

Diana hosted for Lis tonight. Lis had new tile installed and was unable to move her furniture back to its place.

Dinner tonight was full of comfort foods. Lis brought her world famous (or it should be) 5 cheese mac & cheese along with individual fruit tarts. Diana had catered an event and provided us the delicisous leftover fish and chicken dishes. Darby brought hummus and Bobba Ganoush, Terry provided 3 flavors of ice cream and cones and Carla brought a Chocolate Cake. There was also the usual assortments of tea, wine, and coffee. Arnora, who faithfully provides the floral centerpiece brought a pumpkin instead which was the perfect decoration for October.

This month's book, Firefly Lane, certainly sparked an interesting conversation and we find that our most interesting discussions come from books that polarize us in our opinions. I did not have time to read the book this month so the girls provided a brief description: Kate and Tully are childhood friends. Kate's family takes Tully in at somepoint when the girls are about 14. Tully seems to be the leader and Kate more of a follower. Kate follows Tully in school and in her desire to become a news anchor. Kate really wants to marry, have a family and be a writer. There is a man, of course, that Tully has a fling with but Kate marries. The story follows the women through their lives and is a commentary on their choices and how it affects the friendship.

Darby was offended. At the writing, the editing and the characterizations. She felt the author demonized Tully because she chose other than to marry and have a family. Bad writing pisses Darby off to the point she actually threw the book across the room at least twice. To her credit she stuck it out to the bitter end. Oh, and I know, we've all been there. I reminisced about listening to one of our books on CD and how I wanted to throw them out the window and run over them I was hating the writing so much! I refrained only because I had to return them to the Library.

Terry liked parts of the book but thought other parts were elementary and very "High School." Carla A "liked" the book. Many parts of it were very nostalgic for her and she didn't feel that Tully was demonized. She cared about the characters and thought it had cute romantic moments. To which, Darby grabbed a book and read a couple of passages. I have to say it did read like a very bad romance novel.

Laura commented that she found only one typo. High praise coming from an English Major. She also liked the music references but Janie pointed out that some were wrong for the time of the book. Laura said she did care about the characters and cried at the appropriate times. When Janie reads she'd rather listen. She doesn't want to get into typos and grammar. She really liked the book but titled it "Lite and Trite." Speaking of which, Darby also pointed out that the author quotes an editor's advice to Kate about not using cliches and yet the author herself filled the book with them. Someone said there were enough "Lines for a Lifetime".

Diana read the book in 4 days but couldn't tell us why she was compelled to do so. She didn't much care for the book although after the discussion she raised her rating from a .5 to a 2.

In the end Darby called it "atrocious, stereotypical, emotional, clap-trap, bull shit." I think I got all the metahors in there. You have to keep in mind that this discussion was passionate but also hysterical. That is probably not coming across here but by the time Darby left she had flipped us off twice (a monumnetal first in book club & all in fun) and pronounced the word palatable as pa lat able. Which almost rhymed with platapus.

Pam asked to give Darby a little therapy by suggesting the book touched a personal chord. Darby readily admitted that she identified with Tully's choices and feels that women who choose a path different from motherhood are often demonized. I have to agree with that.

The book rated a 2.64 of those who rated it plus Carla A's "like". Diana titled this book club "a 5 bottle night." Which, for me is like 5 stars. If I compared this night to a bottle of wine I'd have to say it was a fine Cab full bodied, bold and spicy. A no hold bold and daring, take no prisoners, not for sissies wine!

P.S. Firefly Lane was the name of the street that the girls grew up on. There were no fireflies in the story and no fireflies were harmed during the making of this book club.

The final business of the night everyone was reminded to get our Christmas Song choice to Darby who is making us a mix tape for the holidays. November's book is Girl in Translation (I promise to read it no matter what) and we chose "One Day" by David Nichols for December.

I so enjoyed this book club even though I didn't read the book and laughed just as hard reliving it for the blog! Now that's a great book club!

September Book Club 2010

This month's book club was hosted by Ozzy and Carla Gibb. Although, Ozzy kind of pooped out on us in the end! Everyone was present and accounted for except for Janie who was visiting her daughter in Austin, Texas. We missed you Janie but I know you had a good time watching Gone with the Wind on the big screen!

This month's book, Cutting for Stone, was set in Ethiopia. This inspired Barb to bring her African Chicken and Diana complimented it with brown rice. Carla G did a beautiful salad, great bread and Red Rooster Cocktails. Liz brought Babba Ganoush and Nan bread, Lou brought a sampling of dips from Misal's; Dal, Potato Bhaji and Navrathan. Pam brought Oatmeal cake, Terry brought Key Lime Pie. Darby brought Cranberry Kiss cocktails, and Denise brought wine from Sonoma and Arnora brought the flowers. The food, as always, was delicious and warranted seconds.

For book club in November, Lou is going to arrange for the photographer to come and take our 10 Year Anniversary photo. It was decided that we'd go with a black & white theme for cohesiveness and the photographer recommended we stay away from things with too much pattern. As far as we know, everyone plans to be at Darby's for this event. If you find you have a conflict let Diana or Lou know so that we can make other arrangements. October's book is Firefly Lane and Liz is our hostess for the month. It was also decided that those who wished to would re-read the last Harry Potter and that we would convene for a dinner discussion separately from regular book club to discuss before the movie comes out. The actual book for November is "Girl in Translation."

The book rated a 4.65 among those who rated; an "I loved it with all my heart" and an "I loved it" from Carla A and Pam.

Cutting for Stone is set in Ethiopia but it is not about Ethiopians. All of the main characters are Ex-pats from other countries and mostly India. The story is about twin boys and it was noted that twins often show up in the stories we read. They are born in to drama, chaos and loss right from the beginning. Their mother is a nun working at a mission in Ethiopia and their father is the doctor she assists in surgery. No one knows she is pregnant until she goes into labor. The twins are co-joined. The mother dies in childbirth and the father abandons them to be raised by one of the female doctors at the mission. I only managed to get half way through the book so I'm not going to attempt to recount the full story. The book is very layered and is about relationships, love, loss, betrayal, and the medical profession. It's also about death and how we deal with that and working through all of these life challenges. The book resonated with everyone as we've all experienced our losses over the years and some very recently.

Diana said the book was very timely for her. She had tried to get into it last year and did not enjoy it at all. But when she picked it up this year it spoke to her in a different way. Carla A said the language was poetic and the story left her "rung out". Darby really liked but wasn't crazy for all the medical procedures (me too!) but Pam loved it for those reasons. Diana went on to say that as we grow and mature and work through these events that we all go through - you come to a place of acceptance with the process and you often cope with things differently. And of course, we all agreed that when someone has lived a long life and it is part of the natural trajectory, we handle it differently than when a life is cut tragically short. We talked about "grief being a window that opens on its own" and you really have little or no control for when or how long you might grieve someone. That often it will hit you out of the blue long after the event.

Reading a book is such an interactive exercise. The author writes out of his own working through of experiences and he turns it loose on the world. The reader reads this experience and brings to it the layers of their own personal catharsis. Then we come together in a group setting to share our experiences. The layers of our own lives are deepened and enriched. We share compassion for each other and, validation of our emotions. Even the most humorous of the books we've read tend to have some loss and betrayal that we come up against.

Such is the life experience and aren't we lucky that there are authors & readers willing to dig that deep and that we have each other to share these moments of with?

August Book Club 2010

Laura is just back from her European vacation, I just got back from the Pacific Northwest. Denise is vacationing in Hawaii so we missed her and also Darby who had a "school is starting fiasco" to deal with.

It's August here in the Great Plains and it's been nothing but hot for weeks. Book Club was hosted by Barb this month and she decided that everyone should bring their favorite summertime food. Laura brought spinach, strawberry, chicken salad. Carla A brought watermelon and Carla G brought a watermelon salad. Lou brought a corn and Frito salad. Pam brought mozzarella, tomato basil salad. Janie brought bread and butter. Darby sent hummus, tabouli, tapenade and pita. Terry brought apple pie. Liz brought cucumber and tomato sandwiches and Arnora brought the flowers and we had wine, tea and coffee.

What do the words "awfuller, awfullist and awfullism" have in common? Janie offered that something was "awfuller" which is worse than awful. Awfullist, we decided was someone who practiced "awfullism" which I think is the worship of all things awful! Conversation at book club is always entertaining and last night was no exception as we bounced around from topic to topic and made up new words for everything.

Eat Pray Love, the movie, opens this week and we were all making plans to attend at some point over the weekend. There was a report of the Momma Mia sing-along at the museum and the upcoming screening of Gone with the Wind also at the museum. As hot as it has been it is a good weekend to stay in the cool-cool theatre and avoid heat stroke.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo rated a 4 out 5 with the majority liking it. There was one thumbs up and one thumbs down (for those who don't like to rate). Terry gave the movie a 4. Most thought the story was engrossing and filled with surprises and twists. There were several, however, who thought the first part of the book was too passive. I found it boring, repetitive and plodding. Both Laura and I agreed that exactly on page 180 things started to shift and for me, finally, on page 290 the action kicked in. I just thought that I would have found the book more engaging if he had started with the action and woven in the background information instead of giving us the steady diet of it up front. All agreed that Lisabeth Salander was a worthy heroine. Young, wounded, self-protective, street smart and in the possession of a photographic memory she is really the life of the novel.

Each section of the book begins with a statistic about domestic violence in Sweden and the story is rife with sexual behaviors and patterns. Blomvkist is engaged to write a family memoir in the hopes of solving a 40 year old disappearance of the patriarch's family; a young woman believed to have been murdered. Blomvkist engages Salander as his research assistant and with her investigative skills she is able to help him solve the mystery.

The author's story is as interesting as the book. A journalist himself he was in hiding for many years avoiding death threats for his political views. Over ten years he wrote this trilogy and died within 3 months of turning it over to publishers. The Girl Who Played with Fire and the Girl Who Kicked the Hornets nest complete the published series though it is believed that he was working on more and that his significant other is in possession of these papers. I wasn't wild about the book but Lisabeth Salander is an intriguing character and I may read the others just to see what happens to her next.

July Book Club

Happy Birthday Diana, Lou and Terry!

We missed Laura, who was traveling with family in Europe and Pam who was at the Lyle Lovett concert.

I hope to be forgiven for the lateness of the blog. I had a busy end of June with the birth of my 2nd granddaughter. Terry and Lou also had new additions to their family and we had lots of catching up to do.

July's book club was held poolside at Lou's. It did rain part of the afternoon but we were able to enjoy our book discussion poolside in the Cabana. Lou provided a very flavorful chicken satay. Terry brought what was deemed, "the very best salad every brought to book club," and we have had some pretty great salads. This one had pear, avocado, blue cheese, candied pecans and green onion with a homemade mustard vinaigrette dressing. Carla A brought some fantastic rolls, Barb brought guacamole and hummus, Liz brought cucumbers, artichokes & tomatoes, Diana brouth watermelon, and Janie brought chocolate covered strawberries. Darby brought a variety of juices to mix vodka martini's and there were other wines and coffee and Denise brought a fantastic birthday cake and Arnora brought the floral bouquet.

This month's book was Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. This was not his usual sci-fi novel but rather a compilation of short stories about the summer of a 12 year old boy. The stories are a fictionalized version of Bradbury's own childhood. Those that read the book really enjoyed it. As Diana said, "Even if you didn't read the book Bradbury paints reflections of sweet summer childhood days of which we could all share or own remembrances.

The book rated 4.4 with 8 people voting. Next month's book is The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

We've started working on our Christmas project this year. Darby is going to send out the Marcel Proust/Bernard Pivot/James Lipton questionnaire for us all to answer. Like the poetry books, she will compile these into books for us all. Also, by the end of October, we are to have her our favorite Christmas song specific version and artist for a CD she will make for us all.

June Book Club 2010

Right off the bat we missed Janie, Carla A., Arnora and Terry. But, it was great to see Lou looking and feeling so great after her surgery last month and to have Lis back from Germany. Diana and Biscuit hosted this month.

First, I just want to mention that Diana has created a google calender for us. She has sent it to everyone via email. We can post our vacation and other dates for the purposes of planning a couple of things that are coming up. We are moving into the 10th Anniversary of The Same Time Next Month book club. We're planning a professional group photo so we're looking for a date that everyone can get together. We're also planning a possible trip to Orlando to attend the new Harry Potter amusement park. Lou has contact in Destin/Panama City where we can stay for a week for free. From there we could make a 2-day trip to HP. We're looking at late October or early November. As other events present themselves the calendar will help us in our planning.

On to the food. The jungle, it turns out, is not the place to be inspired by food. Food seemed quite scarce and you really had to know what you were looking for because so much of it was poisonous. So, we took another tack. Percy Fawcett was English so we put together an English High Tea. And by that I mean Long Island Iced Tea! I'm not going to try to remember who brought what dish but we had radish, chicken salad and cucumber sandwiches, three different types of scones, brie & raspberry with crackers, watermelon and fresh cherries. Carla G brought the flowers in Arnora's absence. The food, as always was really good and so beautiful as you can see from the photos.
Let me just say that as I was finishing this month's book Carla and I went camping with Jackie. I know - the princess in a tent is not a common site. But I have to say I loved it! They've definitely improved the equipment over the years and it was an extremely relaxing weekend sleeping under the stars and cooking out on the grill and literally singing around the campfire.

That experience was nothing like exploring the Amazon. Not once in the Chickasaw National Park did I see anything that looked like it was going to eat me or attack me. And I have to say after reading the book it did not leave me with a longing to go there!

Our book this month was The Lost City of Z. The book was about the exploration and obsession of the Amazon. The English explorer Percy Fawcett's story was focused on as he made several trips to the Amazon looking for what he believed was a lost city of unimaginable wealth. On his last trip with his son and son's best friend they were lost and never heard from again. The author of this book stumbled on the story and developed his own obsession with finding out what happened. The Amazon is an enormous area that covers several countries in South America and its vegetation and wildlife are particular hostile to human life. The book also covered the discovery and exploitation of the rubber industry as well as Fawcett's marriage and family. The author told Fawcett's story but also went to the Amazon to see if he could find out what happened to Fawcett. He confirmed that the most likely story is that they were killed by one of the indigenous tribes. And he discovered a recent explorer who is excavating the areas where Fawcett traveled and confirming the lost city. It was sad to know that Fawcett's wife spent the rest of her life traveling from son to daughter and never knowing what happened to her husband and son and always believing they were coming back.

Everyone liked the book for the information it presented. We didn't think the writing was as good as it could have been. Most of us expected and would have liked to have read more about his own adventure in the Amazon. Interestingly enough, Laura and Terry lived in the Amazon as children when their father worked in the oil industry in Venezuela. Laura had some interesting perspective on what it was like to be a white family in the Amazon living in a protected and elite compound.

I for one was really embarrassed and ashamed to be a "white civilized person". I think we have it all backwards. What man has done in the name of civilizing the world is far more barbaric than anything indigenous people have done to protect themselves. Most of the comforts we enjoy in our modern and "civilized" world have come at great cost to other humans we have deemed less than or threatening. I do know there is good in the world and I can see that more and more people are waking up to the need for enlightenment and compassion but it is horrifying to know what still goes on.

Next months book is Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. We were looking for something light and entertaining and not so gruesome! Stay tuned.