The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank

So, I have been messing around with the Blog tonight - adding some cool new features...check them out.

I got this book at the December Book Exchange. It was just what the doctor ordered for the holidays. Light, easy, entertaining and forgettable. The main character, Jane Rosenthal, is out in the mad, mad world of singleness and dating. This novel captures what is must be like to be coming of age in America today. My only complaint about this book is that the author would skip big gaps of time from chapter to chapter. It gave me the same feeling as when I miss dialogue in a movie, that I have to "catch up" to understand what is happening. Otherwise, it was a fun read.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

This book to me forever to read. The author has this rambling, speak-writing style that really slows down the reading pace. The novel is an Oprah Book Club pick and it is always hit or miss for me with her picks. I loved Night by Elie Wiesel and Cane River by Lalita Tademy but this one was so-so. The novel takes place in post-Hitler Germany. Michael, the 16 year old narrator falls ill on his way home from school one day and is rescued by a woman twice his age. After a time, she becomes his lover and then inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, she is on trial for war crimes. As he watches her refuse to defend herself, he realizes that she is illiterate. Torn between his revulsion of her actions and his prior love for her, Michael ends up reading books onto tapes and sending them to her in prison. The plus for this book is that it makes you think about what subsequent generations thought and felt about those who participated in the war but that is about it. I am glad I finished this book but I can't really recommend it as a great read.

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

The comment on the front of this novel says "sidesplitting" and while there were some funny parts I am never particularly amused by the disintegration of a marriage. However, once I learned that this novel is essentially autobiographical, I realized it might have been the only way the author could process what had happened to her marriage. So, okay, I'll cut the book a little slack.

The Book Club meeting, on the other hand, was truly sidesplitting! We met at Allie's Wine Bar and Tapas and shared some extraordinary food, drinks and desserts. Our waiter, a young Don Henley look-alike, was funny, engaging and very patient with his rowdy cougar den. We were so loud, rowdy and raunchy that it is a good thing we had our own room with doors that could be closed!!

I love the December meeting! It is not about the book but about spending time with each other reminiscing about the past year and talking about our plans for the year to come...laughing, drinking, eating, crying, arguing, encouraging, complimenting, complaining and just truly caring about each other. This was my 3rd December meeting and Book Exchange and I couldn't be happier. We have a great time, every time and I look forward to many more Book Club meetings!

Disclosure by Michael Crichton

When I first started reading this book I was sceptical because it wasn't Crichton's usual science fiction. This book is centered on corporate politics and sexual harassment. A high level male executive gets passed over for a promotion by a woman. The woman sexually harasses him. He then finds himself with a serious problem. How can he keep his current position, how can he address the issue of harassment by a female superior, and can he figure out the political reasons why he was placed in that position in the first place? The book presents interesting statistics from 1994. At which time about 5% of all the reported cases of sexual harassment were made by men about female superiors. Doesn't sound like very many but, at that time only about 5% of top level executives were women. This then suggested that the rate of harassment by women was the same as for men. Makes me wonder if it's the same or worse now?

Done with Facebook

Hello All. I have pulled myself off of Facebook. I wasn't connecting with anyone I'm not already connected with and it just seemed redundant. If your reading this - you are already my friend anyway. Love you all.

Travels With Charley In Search of America by John Steinbeck

There's never been a Steinbeck I didn't love, and this book is no exception!

B&N.com says, "To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.
With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. And he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, on a particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and on the unexpected kindness of strangers that is also a very real part of our national identity." This book is in turns funny, poignant and contains a nauseating view of a sliver of the Civil Rights movement in the South. Steinbeck starts his journey in New York, cutting across the American midwest into Oregon and California - finding that it is true what they say, "You can never go home again." He then continues through Texas into New Orleans and then back up through the Eastern states to return home. Very isolated parts of this book drag, but for the most part it is an interesting view of our country during the early 1960's. Several areas made me laugh out loud. Steinbeck's interaction with his poodle, Charley, will cause any dog lover to smile more than once. Not a novel, but a well-recalled tale of his personal journey, this will be one that I will certainly read again someday. Among my favorite quotes from the book: "I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts."

The 2nd envelope please......

The winner for the January Book Pick is The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester. Thank you for voting.

I am not a statistics major...obviously!!

We have a tie again! Please vote one more time for the January Book Pick. Thanks!

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

I became a big Ian McEwan fan after we read Attonement. His books are beatifully written and there's always a little bit of a twist (that damn Briony!). This book is no different, has a twist (or two) and has at least one funny moment that the other books I've read of his don't have.

The BN synopsis says: On a chilly February day, two old friends meet in the throng outside a crematorium to pay their last respects to Molly Lane. Both Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday had been Molly's lovers in the days before they reached their current eminence. Clive is Britain's most successful modern composer; Vernon is editor of the quality broadsheet The Judge. Gorgeous, feisty Molly had other lovers, too, notably Julian Garmony, Foreign Secretary, a notorious right-winger tipped to be the next prime minister. In the days that follow Molly's funeral, Clive and Vernon will make a pact with consequences neither has foreseen. Each will make a disastrous moral decision, their friendship will be tested to its limits, and Julian Garmony will be fighting for his political life.

I'll bring it along to our Dec Tapas Fiesta!

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

I read this book only because my husband kept insisting I should. But, I was so glad I did. What a wonderful book! Enzo, the narrator, is a dog and he wants nothing more than to be a man. He is part of a happy family, Denny, the race car driver; Denny's wife Eve, and the daughter Zoe. Life is good. Then Eve develops cancer and decides to remove herself to her rich parents home along with Zoe. In the end, the grandparents decide to challenge Denny for custody of Zoe and do so in a manner that isn't what most of us believe grandparents are. This book will tug at you in so many ways. Without giving too much away, let me say that I haven't teared up so often while reading in a long time. (When asked my husband admits to tears while waiting to board a plane - so, be careful where you read this.) But, don't let me scare you off. The Art of Racing in the Rain is a book you've got to read, especially if you love dogs ( or animals in general). With a wonderful storyline and characters you become attached to this book is amazing.

The Red Scarf by Kate Furnivall

Furnivall's first book, The Russian Concubine, was fantastic. And, I wasn't disappointed by her second book. In 1933, Sofia struggles to survive her ordeal in Siberia's Davinsky labor camp. She lives because she has a long term goal of freedom and a short term goal to keep the spirit of her frail friend Anna going. She knows that Anna depends on her to maintain a fading flicker of hope. When Anna becomes ill, Sophia must seek help, which means escaping the camp. She escapes in hopes of finding Anna's childhood love, Vasily, a revolutionary allegedly living in Tivil. Sofia meets factory director Mikhail, whom she thinks is Vasily in disguise. As she falls in love with Mikhail, she doesn't want to act on her feelings because he belongs to Anna.
This a deep character driven novel looking at two courageous women, a brave man, and the labor camp that is so vividly described it sends you to bed with horrific visuals. The characters become exactly how I imagine people would have been at a time when your neighbor, who you have known all your life, could very well be the person to sign your death warrant. The romance in this novel takes a back seat, though it is well written and enhances the overall plot. Furnivall concentrates on the historical aspect that focuses on the horrors of the Siberian death camps.

The envelope please......

and the winner for this month's book pick is........




Heartburn! by Nora Ephron!


Happy shopping ladies!

Don't forget to vote for the January Book Pick.

Vote for Your November Book Pick!

Belle in the Big Apple: A Novel with Recipes by Brooke Parkhurst

When Belle Lee, a vivacious, tart-tongued daughter of Mobile, Alabama, decides that the only way she'll ever make a name for herself as a journalist is to leave the family paper and head to New York,she soon realizes just how daunting life in the big city can be. An outsider desperate to carve a place for herself in the cutthroat world of New York journalism, Belle marches all over town in her kitten heels and her single Chloé suit to hand-deliver résumés and smiles, and to beg for a job from the indifferent or downright hostile office drones.
She refuses to give up. With heroic persistence,a wicked sense of humor and a taste for the gourmet, Belle sees what it takes to become a New Yorker. She flirts with a gorgeous young man on the subway, only to learn later that he's stolen her purse; braves the judgmental stares of her neighbors; goes on a series of hilariously disastrous dates and then, finally, she catches her big break: a job as a production assistant at a conservative twenty-four-hour news network.
Belle throws herself into her work, sure that her talents will be noticed. All the while, she suffers the sexually suggestive commentary of one of the station's better-known male anchors, doggedly fetches scripts and pulls footage in the wee hours of the morning while working the midnight shift. Belle even maintains her Southern charm, baking cakes for her coworkers and befriending the office security guard.
Things start to look up when Paige Beaumont, the channel's star female news anchor, takes Belle under her wing. Paige shows Belle the ropes, dispenses career advice, includes her in the office gossip and also sets her up on dates at restaurants where,before, Belle had only dreamed of one day being inside. But when Belle uncovers the truth behind an illegal network deal that may jeopardize the election of female presidential candidate Jessica Clayton, she realizes that intelligent and ambitious women need to stick together -- and she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands.
With thirty recipes for everything from Bribe-Your-Coworkers Pound Cake to Single-Girl Sustenance and how to make the perfect Manhattan -- all told in the delightful and plucky voice of a determined and saucy young woman -- Belle in the Big Apple is about finding love in the most unlikely places, following your dreams and staying true to yourself.


The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine by Benjamin Wallace

It was the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold.

In 1985, at a heated auction by Christie’s of London, a 1787 bottle of Château Lafite Bordeaux—one of a cache of bottles unearthed in a bricked-up Paris cellar and supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—went for $156,000 to a member of the Forbes family. The discoverer of the bottle was pop-band manager turned wine collector Hardy Rodenstock, who had a knack for finding extremely old and exquisite wines. But rumors about the bottle soon arose. Why wouldn’t Rodenstock reveal the exact location where it had been found? Was it part of a smuggled Nazi hoard? Or did his reticence conceal an even darker secret?

It would take more than two decades for those questions to be answered and involve a gallery of intriguing players—among them Michael Broadbent, the bicycle-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women and staked his reputation on the record-setting sale; Serena Sutcliffe, Broadbent’s elegant archrival, whose palate is covered by a hefty insurance policy; and Bill Koch, the extravagant Florida tycoon bent on exposing the truth about Rodenstock.

Pursuing the story from Monticello to London to Zurich to Munich and beyond, Benjamin Wallace also offers a mesmerizing history of wine, complete with vivid accounts of subterranean European laboratories where old vintages are dated and of Jefferson’s colorful, wine-soaked days in France, where he literally drank up the culture.

Suspenseful, witty, and thrillingly strange, The Billionaire’s Vinegar is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries.It is also the debut of an exceptionally powerful new voice in narrative non-fiction.


Heartburn by Nora Ephron

Is it possible to write a sidesplitting novel about the breakup of the perfect marriage? If the writer is Nora Ephron, the answer is a resounding yes. For in this inspired confection of adultery, revenge, group therapy, and pot roast, the creator of Sleepless in Seattle reminds us that comedy depends on anguish as surely as a proper gravy depends on flour and butter.

Seven months into her pregnancy, Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband, Mark, is in love with another woman. The fact that the other woman has "a neck as long as an arm and a nose as long as a thumb and you should see her legs" is no consolation. Food sometimes is, though, since Rachel writes cookbooks for a living. And in between trying to win Mark back and loudly wishing him dead, Ephron's irrepressible heroine offers some of her favorite recipes. Heartburn is a sinfully delicious novel, as soul-satisfying as mashed potatoes and as airy as a perfect soufflé.


Hunger Point by Jullian Medoff

Amid all the praise for Jillian Medoff's first novel, Hunger Point, one sentiment from female critics has resonated over and over: "This is not about food, this is about us, about how we live, the mistakes we make, the men we sleep with, the way we feel." Medoff's narrator is Frannie, a 26-year-old woman who tells the heartbreakingly honest and occasionally hilarious story of the Hunter family, as she comes to terms with her sister Shelly's illness and death stemming from an eating disorder. The novel has a universal appeal; it is about living and loving someone who is slowly succeeding in erasing herself, it is about bravery in the wake of suicide, it is about self-esteem, and a problem that affects countless women: the difficult task of regaining a lost sense of self.
Frannie and her sister Shelly inherit a preoccupation with weight from their mother, a self-appointed diet doctor who controls the gravy, the starch, and the chicken skin, using a weak emotional adhesive that eventually leaves the family unglued. Frannie manages to not become too obsessed with her weight, but as she grows older she suffers from other weaknesses, like surrendering herself sexually to the wrong men, men she nicknames "Rat Boys." Shelly takes dieting too seriously, going from "the perfect girl" to dangerously thin. She develops a life-threatening eating disorder that consumes her and leads to hospitalization. When her recovery is unremarkable, Shelly takes her own life. The Hunter household proceeds to fall apart: Frannie's parents split, her best friend deserts her, her personal life is stagnant and depressed. All that Frannie's college degree seems to have gotten her is a waitressing job, a room in the house she grew up in, and a gaping, permanent hole dug by her sister's death. But this is a story of recovery -- in one sense, recovery from the loss of a family member, and the subsequent disintegration of the family as a result. In a larger sense, though, Medoff writes about hope and renewal. Frannie has to climb out of the hole that her life has fallen into and along the way recover her own self-esteem.


The Siege by Helen Dunmore

Called "elegantly, starkly beautiful" by The New York Times Book Review, The Siege is Helen Dunmore's masterpiece. Her canvas is monumental -- the Nazis' 1941 winter siege on Leningrad that killed six hundred thousand -- but her focus is heartrendingly intimate. One family, the Levins, fights to stay alive in their small apartment, held together by the unlikely courage and resourcefulness of twenty-two-year-old Anna. Though she dreams of an artist's life, she must instead forage for food in the ever more desperate city and watch her little brother grow cruelly thin. Their father, a blacklisted writer who once advocated a robust life of the mind, withers in spirit and body. At such brutal times everything is tested. And yet Dunmore's inspiring story shows that even then, the triumph of the human heart is that love need not fall away. "The novel's imaginative richness," writes The Washington Post, "lies in this implicit question: In dire physical circumstances, is it possible to have an inner life? The answer seems to be that no survival is possible without one." Amid the turmoil of the siege, the unimaginable happens -- two people enter the Levins' frozen home and bring a kind of romance where before there was only bare survival. A sensitive young doctor becomes Anna's devoted partner, and her father is allowed a transcendent final episode with a mysterious woman from his past. The Siege marks an exciting new phase in a brilliant career, observed Publishers Weekly in a starred review: "Dunmore has built a sizable audience ... but this book should lift her to another level of literary prominence." "Dunmore's ... novel ... is an intimate record of an extraordinary humandisaster ... a moving story of personal triumph and public tragedy." -- Laura Ciolkowski, San Francisco Chronicle "In Helen Dunmore's hands, this epic subject assumes a lyrical honesty that sometimes wrenches but more often lifts the spirit." -- Frances Taliaferro, The Washington Post "Dunmore unravels the tangle of suffering, war, and base emotions to produce a story woven with love ... Extraordinary." -- Barbara Conaty, Library Journal (starred review)


Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

Folksy and fresh, endearing and affecting, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is the now-classic novel of two women in the 1980s; of gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is also of two women--of the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth--who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, a Southern kind of Cafe Wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder. And as the past unfolds, the present--for Evelyn and for us--will never be quite the same again...

"Airplanes and television have removed the Threadgoodes from the Southern scene. Happily for us, Fannie Flagg has preserved a whole community of them in a richly comic, poignant narrative that records the exuberance of their lives, the sadness of their departure. Idgie Threadgoode is a true original: Huckleberry Finn would have tried to marry her!"
--Harper Lee, Author of To Kill a Mockingbird


La Cucina: A Novel of Rapture by Lily Prior

Since childhood, Rosa Fiore -- daughter of a sultry Sicilian matriarch and her hapless husband -- found solace in her family's kitchen. La Cucina, the heart of the family's lush estate, was a place where generations of Fiore women prepared sumptuous feasts and where the drama of extended family life was played out around the age-old table.
When Rosa was a teenager, her own cooking became the stuff of legend in this small community that takes pride in the bounty of its landscape and the eccentricity of its inhabitants. Rosa's infatuation with culinary arts was rivaled only by her passion for a young man, Bartolomeo, who, unfortunately, belonged to another. After their love affair ended in tragedy, Rosa retreated first into her kitchen and then into solitude, as a librarian in Palermo. There she stayed for decades, growing corpulent on her succulent dishes, resigned to a loveless life.
Then, one day, she meets the mysterious chef, known only is I'Inglese, whose research on the heritage of Sicilian cuisine leads him to Rosa's library, and into her heart. They share one sublime summer of discovery, during which I'lnglese awakens the power of Rosa's sensuality, and together they reach new heights of culinary passion. When I'Inglese suddenly vanishes, Rosa returns home to the farm to grieve for the loss of her second love. In the comfort of familiar surroundings, among her, growing family, she discovers the truth about her loved ones and finds her life transformed once more by the magic of her cherished Cucina.
Exuberant and touching, La Cucina is a magical evocation of lifes mysterious seasons and the treasures found in each one. It celebrates family, food, passion, and the eternal rapture of romance.

Five Quarters of an Orange by Joanne Harris

Returning to the small Loire village of her childhood, Framboise Dartigen is relived when no one recognizes her. Decades earlier, during the German occupation, her family was driven away because of a tragedy that still haunts the town. Framboise has come back to run a little cafe serving the recipes her mother recorded in a scrapbook. But when her cooking receives national attention, her anonymity begins to shatter. Seeking answers, Framboise begins to see ther her mother's scrapbook is more than it seems. Hidden among the recipes for crepes and liquors are clues that will lead Framboise to the truth of long ago.


Chocolat by Joanne Harris

Greeted as "an amazement of riches ... few readers will be able to resist" by The New York Times, Chocolat is an enchanting novel about a small French town turned upside down by the arrival of a bewitching chocolate confectioner, Vianne Rocher, and her spirited young daughter.
Author Bio: Joanne Harris was born in her grandparents' candy shop in France and is the great-granddaughter of a woman known locally as a witch and a healer. Half-French, half-English, she teaches French at a school in Northern England.


The Girl with no Shadow by Joanne Harris (sequel to Chocolat)

Since she was a little girl, the wind has dictated every move Vianne Rocher has made, buffeting her from the small French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes to the crowded streets of Paris. Cloaked in a new identity, that of widow Yanne Charbonneau, she opens a chocolaterie on a small Montmartre street, determined to still the wind at last and keep her daughters, Anouk and baby Rosette, safe.
Her new home above the chocolate shop offers calm and quiet; no red sachets by the door; no sparks of magic fill the air. Conformity brings with it anonymity—and peace. There is even Thierry, the stolid businessman who wants to care for Yanne and the children. On the cusp of adolescence, an increasingly rebellious Anouk does not understand. But soon the weathervane turns . . . and into their lives blows the charming, enigmatic—and devious—Zozie de l'Alba. And everything begins to change.


The Food of Love, Anthony Capella

"She had never eaten food like this before. No: she had never eaten before." And that's just the first of 22-year-old Laura Patterson's gustatory epiphanies in Rome, where she has come to study art history. Handsome Tomasso seduces her with succulent baby artichokes and frothy zabagliones, but what the reader knows and Laura doesn't is that Tomasso is a waiter. The creator of the rapturous meals is his best friend, Bruno, who has a big nose, a poet's soul and a mad passion for Laura. Capella's spin on Cyrano is his debut novel, but his sentences are as expert as Bruno's sauces, and he serves up a brilliant meal of soothing predictabilities punctuated by surprises. Secondary characters are fully realized, especially earthy Benedetta, Bruno's truffle country consolation until she urges him to follow his heart back to Laura. The cooking lesson e-mails at the end of the book are like a second glass of grappa, too much of a good thing, but Capella is deservedly the subject of buzz in the food world. This is a foodie treat.


A Debt to Pleasure, John Lancaster

A gorgeous, dark, and sensuous book that is part cookbook, part novel, part eccentric philosophical treatise, reminiscent of perhaps the greatest of all books on food, Jean-Anthelme Brillat Savarin's The Physiology of Taste. Join Tarquin Winot as he embarks on a journey of the senses, regaling us with his wickedly funny, poisonously opinionated meditations on everything from the erotics of dislike to the psychology of a menu, from the perverse history of the peach to the brutalization of the palate, from cheese as "the corpse of milk" to the binding action of blood.

Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

"Indian summer is like a woman. Ripe, hotly passionate, but fickle, she comes and goes as she pleases so that one is never sure whether she will come at all, nor for how long she will stay."

The first two sentences of this 1956 book set the mood and gives a nod as to why this novel was such a blockbuster yet at the same time labeled as sleazy and low brow literature. The story of Peyton Place is one of lies, deception, rumor, hypocrisy, social & class privilege, adultery, repression and the dirty little secrets, both open and hidden, of a New England small town. The main story follows the lives of 3 women who come to terms with their identity as women is the stifling atmosphere of small town America. There's also the surrounding cast of characters who add their voice, the town's old timers, the Old Doc who is the moral beacon of the town but has his own flaws and secrets. The novel is basically a primer for every soap opera that has been or is on television today.

I told my 88yr old grandma that I was reading Peyton Place and she said that she can remember "clear as a bell" the furor and uproar that this novel caused. She said that it was the book that you talked about in whispers at dinner parties. By today's standards, Peyton Place is fairly tame but I can see why it would be banned by the Canadian government 50yrs ago.

I recommend it, it's a good retro-read.

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

Wilhelm is a Northwest author I enjoy. I usually read her mystery stories. She writes a lot of legal thrillers that always include talking and figuring things out over a wonderful meal. Some incredible menus and ideas for meals in her books. But, they were starting to seem like 'formula books'. So, I looked at other books she may have written and found this one. This is probably one the best novels about cloning ever written. Wilhelm wrote this book in 1976, way before we started reading about actually cloning reports in the papers. This is a story of an isolated post-holocaust community determined to preserve itself and civilization. They do this through their experiments in cloning. The book is detailed in its science and encourages a deep look at humanity.

The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz

Always enjoy his books! The power of this novel lies in the genuine compassion that Dean Koontz exhibits through Amy (the main character) and her love for and near obsession to rescue both people and dogs from abuse and neglect. Amy Redwing operates Golden Heart, a Golden Retriever rescue service, that brings her to the home of abused housewife and mother Janet Brockman. Amy and her close friend Brian McCarthy rescue Janet, her two kids, and their retriever Nicki from Janet's abusive husband. Immediately, Amy recognizes a seemingly supernatural connection with Nicki, the golden retriever. And soon after, Amy discovers that she is being followed. Fast paced - fast read. Left me thinking about good, evil, and souls.

Into the Forest by Jean Hegland

Have you ever chopped up jalapenos and felt the burn of the oil on your fingertips hours later? sometimes into the next day? This jalapeno of a book has left its mark on me and every so often the residue burns at my subconscious and I start to think about it again. I loved this book! It is not a nice story, in fact it is truly frightening in light of the times we are living in. Riane Eisler had this to say,"A work of extraordinary power, insight, and lyricism, Into the Forestis both an urgent warning and a passionate celebration of life and love." I can't say it any better. The back cover describes the story:

"Eva, eighteen, and Nell, seventeen, are sisters, adolescents on the threshold of womanhood - and for them anything should be possible. But suddenly their lives are turned upside down, their dreams pushed into the shadows, as sickness and anarchy rage across a country on the brink of collapse. In a time of suspicion and superstition, of anger, hunger, and fear, Eva and Nell are left to forage through the forest, and their past, for the keys to survival. They must blaze a new path into the future as pioneers and pilgrims - not only creatures of the new world, but creators of it. Gripping and unforgettable, Into the Forest is a passionate and poignant tale of stirring sensuality and profound inspiration - a novel that will move you and surprise you and touch you to the core."

I highly recommend this book.

Haunted by the wack-job who wrote Fight Club, Rant, Choke

Think Stephen King on acid.


The BN synopsis is: Haunted is a novel made up of twenty-three horrifying, hilarious, and stomach-churning stories. They’re told by people who have answered an ad for a writer’s retreat and unwittingly joined a “Survivor”-like scenario where the host withholds heat, power, and food. As the storytellers grow more desperate, their tales become more extreme, and they ruthlessly plot to make themselves the hero of the reality show that will surely be made from their plight. This is one of the most disturbing and outrageous books you’ll ever read.

I agree, insanely disturbing and outrageous but I kept reading wanting to know more, wanting to know why. Since they are short stories, the reading goes along fairly sickly, I mean quickly. As I know all of you will be jumping at the chance to read this book, I'll bring it to our next meeting and make you ladies fight it out like the characters in the book.

The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer

Book Club...usually the light of my month, ended up being a chore this month, another appointment in my week, a whimper at the end of my day. It was not the company, I always love seeing everyone. I just went into the meeting with a heavy sigh and a bad attitude. Not our usual pot-luck feast - we simply had wine and dessert, which by-the-way I was supposed to MAKE and ended up calling in a favor from Bethany at the last minute to pick something up for me.

The book was well-liked by everyone except me. I struggled to read this book and I struggled to put into words why I hated it so much. I am not the one who should be doing the write up on this book, I honestly welcome anyone else to do this book review justice.

After the book review and a rousing political discussion (where I had more unpopular opinions, I might add) we descended into talking about home, kids, parenting...(sigh) I come to book club to escape home, kids, parenting. I like talking about books and literature, politics and world views. I want to know what everyone else is reading? What do they want to read? I spend enough time thinking about my house, my kids, my parenting, homework, laundry - I want to expand my brain a little. Maybe it is just my stinky attitude this month, maybe I have become a complete and total book snob, maybe this climate of economic and political fear has made me really, really cranky and edgy or maybe I just really want to relax once a month and talk about the second love of my life - books. Am I way off base, what do you think?

The Invisible Wall, A Love Story That Broke Barriers

This is the author's debut and he wrote it at the age of 96. It tells
the story of his youth in poverty stricken England before and during
WWI. Everybody on his street is poor, if you're Christian you work in the mill, if you're Jewish you work in the tailor shops. The Christians and Jews live on the same street but on opposite sides of the invisible wall. The only school available to the Jewish kids is a Christian school where they learn about Easter the same week they prepare for Passover at home. There's so many things gong on in this story, the mother who tries to hold the family together and dreams of going to America, and the father who drinks, gambles and is an abusive stranger to his family. Eventually, one of his older sisters falls in love with a Christian boy and the family and neighborhood fall into chaos.

This story is heartbreaking and sweet. It's both a personal memoir and a love story seen through the eyes of a young boy. The author has written a sequel, The Dream, which he wrote at the age of 97. I loaned this out to my mom, but I'll bring it when I get it back...or you can just pick it up at Target like I did.

The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg

This is one of those stories that sounds so small and colorless and really depressing when trying to explain what it is about. However, this is one of the best books I have read in a long time.

From the back cover: "Bette Nolan moves to a small town after the death of her husband to try to begin anew. Pursuing a dream of a different kind of life, she is determined to find pleasure in her simple daily routines. Among those who help her in both expected and unexpected ways are the ten-year-old boy next door, three wild women friends from her college days, a twenty-year-old who is struggling to find his place in the world, and a handsome man who is ready for love.

In this rich and deeply satisfying novel, a resilient woman embarks upon an unforgettable journey of adventure, self-discovery, and renewal and comes to appreciate the solace found in ordinary pleasures."

So, it sounds awful right? This poor woman loses her soulmate and has to move on with her life. But it is not awful, it is a beautiful story about this graceful, strong woman who has promised her husband that she will live after he is gone. She isn't perfect, she is sad and grieving but little by little, day by day she enjoys whatever she can. I thought it was a remarkable, inspiring, and beautifully written story.

Out Stealing Horses

This is one of those books you pick up at Costco, read the back, put it down, pick it up the next time you're there, thumb through the pages, put it down, then about your third time through at Costco, you finally put it in your basket along with the dog food and toilet paper. This book is not an easy read, but not quite as heavy as The Road that burpykitty read, think The Road "light".

BN.com says, "Out Stealing Horses...panoramic and gripping, it tells the story of Trond Sander, a sixty-seven-year-old man who has moved from the city to a remote, riverside cabin, only to have all the turbulence, grief, and overwhelming beauty of his youth come back to him one night while he's out on a walk. From the moment Trond sees a strange figure coming out of the dark behind his home, the reader is immersed in a decades-deep story of searching and loss, and in the precise, irresistible prose of a newly crowned master of fiction. "

It is beautifully written, but I was a little disappointed in the story...I felt like there was so much left to learn about the character, his father, his childhood and what happened in between. I almost want to read this again to see if I missed anything. I'll bring this along to our next meeting.

True Happiness

You all know how much I like to feed people. It is one of the great pleasures of my life, feeding people good food and knowing they have enjoyed a good meal in my home.

I opened the library to students this week at school; my second home. It has been so enjoyable to watch the kids in the library and hear the comments from students and teachers. I have heard, "It looks like a real library", "Wow! They got alot of new books over the summer!", "It looks so nice in here". Today Nick's teacher told me that she is so excited about the libraries that she might be willing to give up some of her classroom collection because she knows the students would be able to find and use the books. I felt like my heart would burst from happiness. This is why I have worked so hard. The kids love the library. I have "fed" them books and knowledge in a place where they feel comfortable and happy. Does it get any better than this?

The Other

I am a fan when it comes to David Guterson novels. It started with "Snow Falling on Cedars" which I think of as the Northwest's answer to "To Kill a Mockingbird". A worthy runner up in American novels about social justice. Then "East of the Mountains" told of personal explorations of life's important questions. Both thought provoking books. And now his new novel, "The Other", focuses on the common humanity in us all. A book about two teen boys who are so different but, some how find so much in common. John William Barry is the only child of a wealthy Seattle family. Neil Countryman has grown up in an extended family of Irish-American carpenters. Their meeting in the half-mile event at a high school track meet reveals a shared tendency toward earnestness and suffering. The two become friends and eventually blood brothers. But then high school ends and they choose very different paths. Neil a struggling author teaches high school English. John William renounces his wealth and lives a rugged life in the woods. But then John needs Neils help to disappear from his family. This may sound like a small quirky story but, one that questions what would you be willing to do for 'your friend/your blood brother'?

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK!


I had very little expectation of liking this book because of the reviews of everyone I know who has read it, maybe that is why I was able to enjoy it. I devoured this book in 3 days. I really liked it. I remember what it was like to be a teenager and how awkward and insecure I always felt. I loved that this bubble-gum vampire series had a feel-good bubble-gum ending. I love that she married Edward and got to have her human honeymoon. I liked the twist about the baby. I was happy when she finally became a vampire - I was expecting it at the end of the 3rd book. I wanted Jacob Black to come back and I was glad when he imprinted on Renesmee so he wasn't heartbroken over Bella anymore but he still got to be a part of her family. I was especially pleased that Bella was not only beautiful but ended up being the strongest, most talented vampire in her new family.

Bella got to have her cake and eat it too in so many ways. She had Edward (the one she belonged with), she had Jake in her family, she was able to have a child, she was strong and beautiful, she even got to maintain contact with her original human family. What better ending to this teenage trilogy-plus? The teenage girl inside me rejoiced at her good fortune. Like I said, maybe I went in to it with very low expectation so I was free to just enjoy the story. But whatever the reason, I really, really liked it.

Love is a Mix Tape

This was one of our finalists for our memoir month selection and I was intrigued so I went ahead and read it anyway. This may be best for somebody who is more music minded as each chapter has a list of songs from a mix tape from the authors collection. He uses these tapes as a timeline for his life, from dorky jr high dances where he made the tape for the dance, to when his wife of 5yrs suddenly dies and his grieving afterwards. In this day of ipods and cd's, I don't know if people in their 20's will appreciate the music nostalgia in this book and one of the icon's of our youth, the mix tape, that us more mature ladies would. I'll bring this along to our next meeting.

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

This trilogy of books: Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me With Apples, and Garlic and Sapphires was like peering through a window into a completely different world. It is amazing to me the power that food critics have in the restaurant scene. What an insight into the culture of fine food. Worth reading but I am glad to be in my relatively anonymous world, eating regular food, not caring how many stars the regional restaurant critic has bestowed on the restaurant I am eating in.

Mistress of the Art of Death by Arianna Franklin

Book Club: As always, the food was excellent! Our host made a beef stew to die for!! Haha, pun totally intended! She also has these amazing infused waters, lemon/rosemary and lemon/cucumber. We also had ham/aparagus roll-ups, breadsticks, about 6 different kids of cheese and crackers, grapes, honey beer and a delicious fruit tart for dessert. Once we were all fat and happy, we talked about the book. I think we all agreed that the idea for the story was good and we all loved the main character. However, the actual writing was rough and certain aspects of the story were so implausible they actually bordered on ridiculous. I still thought the book was worth reading though. I personally would give this author another chance simply because I liked the main character so well.

And so it begins...

Well, anyone who knows me knows that it is usually my blunt and forthright manner (I prefer to call it honesty) that gets me into trouble. This time I was in trouble with someone who has never even met me. One of the volunteers that has been helping in the library for the past few years is appalled at the changes I have made. She doesn't want to be in charge but it seems she didn't have anything nice to say about me or the library. That's another thing, she didn't have the balls to say anything to my face but she apparently went on a tirade to one of the other volunteers (who likes what I have done with the library) about how she doesn't like anything I have done. The volunteer who told me wanted to let me know that I had already made a enemy.

While I was working at the library today, the previous Leader told me that she had purposely never done a great job because she didn't want the school to get too comfortable and never hire a permanent librarian. Again, anyone who knows me knows that I am not a half-ass kind of person. If I am going to do something then I am going to work hard and do the job right.

So, call the wahhh-bulance 'cause I got my feelings hurt and now I am crying. I'll get over it and go back to my "if you don't like it, then shove it!" ways. I have just worked so hard on this and really I never expected that someone would think it was a change for the worse!

Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Reichl

This is Reichl's follow up book to Tender at the Bone. Where Tender was filled with innocence and kind of a wide-eyed wonder, Comfort covers her life experiences and how that translates to her view of food. I thought it was funny that while she promotes organic growing methods and sustainable farming, recycling, etc., she has no trouble eating foie gras and practically just born lamb. If you don't know about foie gras, it is created by force feeding/over feeding (with a tube shoved down their throat) geese until their liver is oversized and fatty. Fatty goose liver - which is fine I guess but incredibly inhumane and totally at odds with her other worlds views. I am told she addresses this dichotomy in her next book Garlic and Sapphires. These books by Ruth Reichl are not gripping, can't-put-'em-down novels but they are just fun easy books to read and exactly what I needed during this transition back to school. Also, I love that they are filled with recipes. When I get a breather I plan to try a few. I'll bring them to Book Club to share.

Now This is a Beach Read...

Joe College isn't the greatest book ever written, but it is a good palate cleanser. Not totally mindless, the characters discuss George Eliot and social realism, and parts made me laugh out loud. The main character, Danny, is a Yale student who instead of going to party at Daytona Beach, works on his father's lunch truck during vacations. There he finds a hometown honey, Cindy, and a group of thugs, the Lunch Monsters, who feel that Danny has encroached on their territory. While at Yale, he is in a totally different world, with people who don't know what it's like to work during vacations, let alone on a small cramped lunch truck. The characters at Yale are quirky and one part in particular reminded me of Rickets (bethany) because Danny wants to expand his food horizons.

Like I said, a fun, semi-mindless read. I'll bring it up for grabs at our next meeting. The author, Tom Perrotta, also wrote Little Children, which is not a fun mindless read, very heavy and adult, this is the total opposite.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Wow! If this book was a work of art it would capture the visual meaning of hopelessness on a single canvas. The writing in this book is amazing. It is not only poetic but the style captures the utter bleakness of the story. This book has no chapters and minimal punctuation which adds to the bereft feeling of the book; where even the smallest normalcies like punctuation have been lost.

This book was so disturbing that I had to mull it over for a full week before I could put into words what I thought of it. The story is about a father and son who are travelling south on an American road after an unnamed apocalyptic disaster. The vegetation and animal life are all dead, as are most of the humans. The landscape is a burnt wasteland of blowing ash. The boy is young, I figure somewhere between 4 and 10 or so because at one point the father asks him if he wants to ride in the shopping cart he is pushing down the road. The only food available is the canned goods left after the disaster. And, of course, they have to contend with the lawless bands that stalk the road to gather fresh human meat.

The book has been touted as a testament to the tenacity of the human race but in this scenario all hope is lost, what happens when the last can of food has been eaten? Tenacity? I would call it blind denial, maybe even stupidity. I could not imagine fighting to stay alive in this situation. Thankfully, my world view does not allow for this hopelessness. I do not live in a godless world.

You know how some images can never be erased from your mind no matter how much you might wish it to be so? There are scenes in this book that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. If the author's intention was to paint a word picture of the worst hopelessness imaginable, then he did a fabulous job. I can only recommend this book with serious reservations.

Tender at the Bone...revisited

This is the book that Bethany described as "a sumptuous experience". I can't say that I wanted to light up a cigarette after this book but it was good. I enjoyed the author's experiences with food and I especially liked all of the recipes. Even though Bethany and I have both read it, I still think it would be a great November Book Pick simply because of all the recipes. Think it over and we can talk at the next Book Club meeting. We usually do a food-y book in November so this one might be fun!

Books are my life!

So, I have taken on the role of Library Chairwoman at the kids school. It is essentially the school librarian. Before I tell you all anything more about this, let me say 1) I wanted this job!, 2) I am not getting paid and 3) I don't think anyone will argue that I am just a little crazy.

That being said, over the summer the school's new administration decided to split the upper and lower school libraries. This is a good thing, but they left us with quite a mess. So, the former Ruler of the Library (who so generously bestowed her title upon me, actually she begged me to take over!) and I have been working to get things put back together. I didn't think this was a big deal until I realized that over the years we have had several people entering books into our library system. Therefore, our library is not a normal library. We had things stashed willy-nilly everywhere. I have in the last 2 weeks touched and moved every single book in the library. I had piles of trash books, new donated books, books to move to the upper library, etc., etc., etc. Being the controlling, completely anal retentive person that I am, I have been obsessed with this project. At night I move and organize books in my sleep. I even felt the need to go through all of my books at home and sort more piles to add to my piles at the library!

I am not complaining, I'm really not. Anyone who knows me knows that I love this kind of challenge! I am proud to say that I have one last section to put right and the library will be absolutely beautiful! I kind of wish I could show it to all of you.

Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson

B&N.com says... "When Arlene Fleet headed off to college in Chicago, she made three promises to God: She would never again lie, never fornicate outside of marriage, and never, ever go back to her tiny hometown of Possett, Alabama (the "fourth rack of Hell"). All God had to do in exchange was to make sure the body of high school quarterback Jim Beverly was never found. Ten years later, Arlene has kept her promises, but an old schoolmate has recently turned up asking questions. And now Arlene’s African American beau has given her a tough ultimatum: introduce him to her family, or he’s gone. As she prepares to confront guilt, discrimination, and a decade of deception, Arlene is about to discover just how far she will go to find redemption--and love."

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book - I picked it up on a whim from the "Bargain Priced" stacks at B&N ... but I was pleasantly surprised to find it a well-written, original story. Sometimes when I am reading, something will make me think, "Huh. That was amusing." But this book actually had me laughing out loud several times. The main character is acerbic, sharp and witty. The relationships are believable and, at times, heartbreaking. Wouldn't say it's the best book I've ever read, but worth the time. I'll offer it up next time I see y'all!

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

Book Club night....is there a better night during the month? For those of you who couldn't make it, I am so sorry, I understand but as usual the food and the company and of course the book talk was excellent. As most of you know the menu for last night was High Tea. We had hot tea (of course), broccoli turnovers, fruit and cheese plates, dessert finger sandwiches, cranberry orange scones with lemon curd, assorted English snacks and cucumber sandwiches. Oh, and wine, don't forget the wine.

Everyone loved the book. Those of us who had "less complete" versions, missing the afterword and other author comments, felt the ending was too abrupt. Those lucky ones who had the more complete versions were more informed.

DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE ENDING

One of the things that did not come up in discussion last night was how we all felt about Maxim's admission to killing his wife. It was sort of a moral dilemma for me. I hated Rebecca and thought she was an awful person and I was not surprised that Maxim killed her, but what I was surprised about was that I was happy that he got away with it. What did you all think about that?

What are some of the other things we talked about that you have more input on? I don't want to be the only one talking. Let's us know what you think.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

So, I have been meaning to read this book for about a year now. It has come up several times at book club and for whatever reason it has never been chosen. I have to say that I was annoyed in the beginning because it was yet another novel by a writer who is writing about a writer who is writing about a writer - enough already! I get annoyed when authors describe the authors in their stories as being "brilliant". Really? Is the original author so unloved and insecure that they have to assure me of what a great and brilliant writer they are? Ugh!

That being said, the story, the twists, turns and surprises made up for my initial annoyance. It is truly "eerie and fascinating" as it says on the cover. I recommend it. There were a few bumps in the plot that I thought were implausible - but overall it was a good story.

It was interesting that I chose this book directly after reading Rebecca because I thought Rebecca shared many characteristics with Jane Eyre and in this book Jane Eyre is referenced several times. It (The Thirteenth Tale) has its own parallels to Jane Eyre as well. These three books in conjunction make for a sort of gothic trilogy that not only solidifies Jane Eyre as a true classic worth reading but also illustrates how influential good writing is on subsequent generations of writers. Actually, if you want the whole truth, I recommend all three!

My pile of books is a mile high OR the chronicles of my book addiction!

I realized this morning that my book addiction my have surpassed quirky to mildly troubling! I have no less than 75 books in my "to read" pile. Does that stop me from keeping an eye out for new books? Heck no!!

My name is Michelle...it has been 2 days since I last added a book to my collection. Who am I kidding? If I am going to be addicted to something I could do a lot worse, right? Right?

The Tender Bar for September

The polls are closed, the votes are in...we will be reading The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer in September. Looking forward to talking about Rebecca next week!

What I am not reading.

Bethany says:

I am not reading The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon. I am not reading it even though it is set in Alaska and is a perfect antidote to this obscene heat wave we are having. I am not reading it, even though I have wanted to read it for about a year. I am not reading anything right now. I am not finishing The Omnivores Dilemma, or Comfort me with Apples. Nothing! I am reading Nothing! I just thought you should know.

Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue

This is another book that has traveled the Underground. We have all agreed that it would have been an excellent choice for an actual Book Club Book. The story is about Mary Saunders a working class girl in London 1748 who trades her virtue for a shiny red ribbon and begins a life of prostitution at a young age. Surprisingly, prostitution offers a freedom and income unknown to virtuous young women of the time. Her life is not all a bed of roses though (no pun intended!) as she fights disease, dangers of life on the street and her own greed. This book is a masterpiece of great writing. It is historically accurate with complex characters and a truly compelling story. I couldn’t put it down!

I read that Donoghue has a new book out called Life Mask. I’ll be getting that one soon!

Need Help Deciding?

Love is a mixed Tape: Mix tapes: We all have our favorites. Stick one into a deck, press play, and you’re instantly transported to another time in your life. For Rob Sheffield, that time was one of miraculous love and unbearable grief. A time that spanned seven years, it started when he met the girl of his dreams, and ended when he watched her die
in his arms. Using the listings of fifteen of his favorite mix tapes, Rob shows that the power of music to build a bridge between people is stronger than death. You’ll read these words, perhaps surprisingly, with joy in your heart and a song in your head—the one that comes to mind when you think of the love of your life.

A Beautiful Mind: "How could you, a mathematician, believe that extraterrestrials were sending you messages?" the visitor from Harvard asked the West Virginian with the movie-star looks and Olympian manner.
"Because the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way my mathematical ideas did," came the answer. "So I took them seriously."
Thus begins the true story of John Nash, the mathematical genius who was a legend by age thirty when he slipped into madness, and who -- thanks to the selflessness of a beautiful woman and the loyalty of the mathematics community -- emerged after decades of ghostlike existence to win a Nobel Prize and world acclaim. The inspiration for a major motion picture, Sylvia Nasar's award-winning biography is a drama about the mystery of the human mind, triumph over incredible adversity, and the healing power of love.

A Year of Magical Thinking: Didion's journalistic skills are displayed as never before in this story of a year in her life that began with her daughter in a medically induced coma and her husband unexpectedly dead due to a heart attack. This powerful and moving work is Didion's "attempt to make sense of the weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness . . . about marriage and children and memory . . . about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself." With vulnerability and passion, Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience of love and loss. THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING will speak directly to anyone who has ever loved a husband, wife, or child.

The Tender Bar: In the tradition of This Boy's Life and The Liar's Club, J.R. Moehringer's The Tender Bar is a raucous, poignant, luminously written memoir about a boy striving to become a man, and his romance with a bar. A national bestseller that was named one of the 100 Most Notable Books of 2005 by the New York Times, The Tender Bar will reach an even larger audience in paperback.

The Mistresses Daughter: Before A.M. Homes was born, she was put up for adoption. Her birth mother was a twenty-two- year-old single woman who was having an affair with a much older married man with children of his own. The Mistress's Daughter is the story of what happened when, thirty years later, her birth parents came looking for her.
Homes, renowned for the psychological accuracy and emotional intensity of her storytelling, tells how her birth parents initially made contact with her and what happened afterward (her mother stalked her and appeared unannounced at a reading) and what she was able to reconstruct about the story of their lives and their families. Her birth mother, a complex and lonely woman, never married or had another child, and died of kidney failure in 1998; her birth father, who initially made overtures about inviting her into his family, never did.
Then the story jumps forward several years to when Homes opens the boxes of her mother's memorabilia. She had hoped to find her mother in those boxes, to know her secrets, but no relief came. She became increasingly obsessed with finding out as much as she could about all four parents and their families, hiring researchers and spending hours poring through newspaper morgues, municipal archives and genealogical Web sites. This brave, daring, and funny book is a story about what it means to be adopted, but it is also about identity and how all of us define our sense of self and family.

Tender at the Bone: At an early age, Ruth Reichl discovered that "food could be a way of making sense of the world. . . . If you watched people as they ate, you could find out who they were." Her deliciously crafted memoir, Tender at the Bone, is the story of a life determined, enhanced, and defined in equal measure by a passion for food, unforgettable people, and the love of tales well told. Beginning with Reichl's mother, the notorious food-poisoner known as the Queen of Mold, Reichl introduces us to the fascinating characters who shaped her world and her tastes, from the gourmand Monsieur du Croix, who served Reichl her first soufflé, to those at her politically correct table in Berkeley who championed the organic food revolution in the 1970s. Spiced with Reichl's infectious humor and sprinkled with her favorite recipes, Tender at the Bone is a witty and compelling chronicle of a culinary sensualist's coming-of-age.