August Pick: Committed

Thanks, Marva, for a great discussion and lovely evening. Yummy cheese and fruit and chocolate. A even more delicious gin & tonics. I've been converted.

Some highlights from the evening: the giant pause after Karen's Aunt Helen statement, which lead to hilarious laughter once we realized she didn't mean what we thought she might mean. Here's to all the fun that comes from not all of us having finished the book!

Also, we will be teasing Christy that her favorite mixed drink is tequila for a while!

I love the Smiths & Nick Drake, but my mix tapes were full of Indigo Girls and REM. Do you remember mix tapes? Do you still have some? I finally got rid of my collection this spring (and captured it here). Even in this age of Pandora and Spotify, I love mixing CDs as gifts.

Another highlight of the evening: Looking for Alaska by John Green courtesy of Karen! (If you wanna fall in love with get to know John Green, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mUDw0sRZV0&list=TL4xM8818ldFo)



Perks of a Wallflower led to great discussion---love picks that reveal how we all see and experience the world differently. The unknown "you" that Charlie addresses in his letters left some in search of an answer, some indifferent, some thinking they were the answer.

And some had a Sam-like high school experience and some of us had a squeaky-clean-sheltered high school experience. And while it was fun to remember, none of us wanted to go back and live through high school again, and hope we will be able to accompany our children through those years with some grace and humor (and use Karen's mom's strategy if our kids sneak out at night!).

Natalie picked Elizabeth Gilbert's Committed: A Love Story for our August read, most likely the 22nd---look for more details via email.

And if you didn't get a chance to read Perks of a Wallflower, above are most of the best lines, compliments of teen-obsessed readers on Pinterest.

July Pick: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Thanks to Catherine for our lovely evening in June discussing  The Gastronomical Me (the title of which I can no longer read without hearing it sung by Ethel Merman as if the title of a Broadway play, thanks to Liz!).

Catherine's celebration of local wine and homemade cheese included food tales (no one wants to go to Peru for a food tour now), delectable and disgusting descriptions of past food adventures, tangents about the tooth fairy and the big Talk, a spirited debate on Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead and lots of good movie recommendations that I now can't remember (Liz's recommendation of The Whistleblower and mine of Safety Not Guaranteed are all I can recall---Karen, please update if you still have the list, thanks!).

Marva has chosen The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky for our discussion on July 25th. Till then, enjoy a cool drink and stay out of the sun!

Food for thought

This Thursday bring a food story from your life to share for conversation. Thanks!

JUNE: MFK Fisher's, "The Gastronomical Me"
June 20 TH 6:30 p.m. at Catherine's house.
Be there or be square.

May Pick: Licking the Spoon

A head's up that Rachel will be hosting a discussion of Licking the Spoon next Thursday, the 16th. Several copies are in circulations as well as available at Back of Beyond.

If, like me, you're a fan of the memoir/cookbook mash up, here are some of my favorites:

 I'm a huge fan of Nora Ephron, and Heartburn was the first book of hers I ever read. I love it too much to discuss. Someday I'll make that keylime pie from my favorite scene.

Cookbook fans will enjoy her retrospective essay, Serial Monogomy, about her favorite cookbooks over the years. The link takes you to the article at The New Yorker, but it is also in her essay collection, I Feel Bad About My Neck.

There's a blurb on the cover of Licking the Spoon from a previous book-club-pick author, Gretchen Rubin, liking this book to Heartburn and another of my favorites, Home Cooking by Laurie Calvin, but for the life of me (I still have the last quarter of the book to finish), other than the fact that they all include recipes, I don't see any similarities.

A Homemade Life, the memoir of a much younger author, with recipes, is another favorite. She is the writer of the blog Orangette. It made me wish I lived in Paris and ate bread & chocolate daily (oh, wait, that last one I do).

I'll end with Kingsolver, whose didactic and sometimes condescending tone I can forgive because the recipes in here are really good. Her pizza crust recipe has become a staple. And she's right about almost everything, but I just wish she wasn't so sure of it.

I love Ruth Reichl, but have never read any MFK Fisher. Please share your favorite food-writers! And let me know if you'd be interested in borrowing any of the above---I think I have all but Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which was a library check-out.

April Pick: Forty Rules of Love

Christy hosted a fun gathering in April to discuss Elif Shafak's Forty Rules of Love. It was my favorite kind of discussion, where half the group were nays (Christy and me), half were yays (Rachel and Catherine), and Liz's take was in the middle (from what I remember). Rachel shared some of her favorite quotes, which I found more profound than any of the "rules", and we shared some of our favorite bad lines.

There's a TED talk by Elif Shafak that you can watch here: http://www.ted.com/talks/elif_shafak_the_politics_of_fiction.html

Also, there's a group discussion with Isabel Allende TODAY on goodreads.com:
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/101912-ask-isabel-allende---wednesday-may-8th
For those who enjoyed Eva Luna, they'll be discussing Allende's newest novel, Maya's Notebook.

March Pick: Eva Luna

Source: stephaniehowell.typepad.com via Deirdre on Pinterest

 

Thanks to everyone who made it last night for our discussion of State of Wonder, cats vs.dogs, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Celebrity death predictions and other randomness. I think Rachel, Marva and I enjoyed the book the most; several found the characters too stilted or dry. Lots of discussion about the ending and whether there will be a sequel. Thanks to all who brought wine and chocolate. If we ever abandon the third Thursday of the month, I think we should rename the club BWC---Books, Wine and Chocolate!

Liz announced her pick for April: Eva Luna by Isabel Allende, not to be confused with The Stories of Eva Luna, which the library also has. We’re scheduled for March 21st.

Christy should be back from Thailand and Liz B. will be leaving for Belize. Between that and the great descriptions in the last three books, anyone else have Island (get out of) Moab Fever?