Her Fearful Symmetry

When Elspeth dies, she leaves her London area apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These girls are American and have never met their aunt, who also happened to be their mother's twin. The only rule Elspeth sets for the twins to get the apartment is that their parents can never set foot in the place and after a year of living there, they can sell it or do what they want. Julia and Valentina are about 20yrs old and have been to several colleges and have dropped out of each one, they do not have any drive or determination to get on with their lives, they are very happy living at home in a suburb of Chicago. They go to live in the apartment which is on the other side of the wall from Highgate Cemetery. They meet their neighbors along with their aunt's lover who also lives in the building. This book is about sisters, mothers, love, hate, live and death. It is also a ghost story which seems right since it is set next door to a cemetery. There are a couple of twists, one you can figure out pretty easily, the second one you sit back and think to yourself, man, that's f'd up. I liked it, but it is no Time Traveler's Wife.

My Horizontal Life, A Collection of One-night Stands by Chelsea Handler

Let me just say, I love Chelsea Handler. I think she's hilarious. I don't know if that biased me towards this book, maybe, but probably not. I laughed out loud reading this book. It is what it says it is, short essays and stories of her various sexual dalliances. If you are offended by vagina, big penis, little penis, midgets, drugs and vodka, this is not your kind of book. She writes like she is in the room talking to you, telling you the story of her latest night out. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I could relate to more than one of the stories. It really is an easy read, and a nice palliate cleanser after Push.

Push by Sapphire

The movie that is out right now, Precious, is based on this book. I haven't seen the movie, but the book is pretty intense. It follows Precious Jones, and illiterate 16yr old who is pregnant with her second child by her father. She is kicked out of school in part to her pregnancy and sent to an alternative school where she meets a teacher who inspires her to learn to read and write her feelings down in a journal. She also meets classmates who don't judge her or her situation. Through Precious and her journal, we learn about her home life, the repeated rapes by her father and the brutal abuse by her mother. Since it is Precious' story and her words, the language and text is not something we are used to seeing, she should be in the twelf' grade but she is in the ninfe grade, she likes her maff class.

I think I was expecting more because the movie has gotten such acclaim, but it was a good book and grabbed you within the first few pages. It isn't a big novel, but the subject matter is such that it isn't an easy read. It is intense, brutal, repulsive, ugly, depressing, and compelling. I think the thing that really got me was that even though this is a work of fiction, I know that sh*t like this happens more that we want to admit.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

This book was intense! In a time after the Second Civil War which was fought between the pro-lifers and the pro-choicers, there is now the Bill of Life which states that life is inviolable from conception until the age of 13. Once a child has reached thirteen years they may be retroactively aborted by unwinding. This satisfied both sides because the Unwinds life does not technically end because all of their parts are distributed among others who need or can afford them. This story follows three Unwinds who have escaped and are simply trying to live until their eighteenth birthdays when they can no longer be lawfully unwound.

This book is incredible. It is difficult to read because of the subject matter and impossible to put down at the same time. Even with the terrifying story I would highly recommend it. It is in the same league as The Giver by Lois Lowery and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Wow!

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is a look at teenage suicide through the eyes of the deceased. Hannah has committed suicide and she has thirteen reasons why she chose to end her young life. She has made audio tapes and mailed them to her "reasons" in order of their influence. We spend the night with Clay as he listens to her tapes and remember how viscous and cutthroat high school can be. Two things struck me while reading this book: 1) I never heard a good enough reason for her to commit suicide, is there ever one? and 2) I wish I had known as a teenager what I know now and simply ignored all of the gossip and backstabbing, I would have been much happier. It is an interesting book. I definitely would have picked this one up in high school.

Book Exchange/The Christmas List

I think we all agreed that The Christmas List was a trite piece of trash but we were thankful in the busyness of the season that it was a quick, easy read.

The Book Exchange and Potluck was AMAZING!!! The food, the company, the hilarity! You ladies are all incredible! We had some of the most amazing food...Shrimp Scampi, Antipasto platters, artichoke dip, italian sausage and peppers, spagetti, bruschetta, french bread, wine, tiramasu, coconut cake, gingerbread...it was all wonderful! I am sure I forgot something but I know it was all delicious!

I am looking forward to another incredible year. Look to the left for the new list of Book Genres for the year. That's right, I said it, g-e-n-r-e...deal with it! Ciao!

Joy School by Elizabeth Berg

Do you ever sit down to read a book and decide to like it before you even read the first page? I did this with Joy School. It is written from the perspective of a 13 year old girl who moves to a new school and falls in love with an older man. Her love is unrequited and never once through the entire book did I question that the story wasn't written by a thirteen year old. I liked this book. It isn't earth shattering but Berg is an insightful and comfortable writer which made this story enjoyable.

Shrimp Scampi Gambino Style

Sorry, but I don't have a picture of the scampi. I do have a picture of the cover of the book I got the recipe from, The Mafia Cookbook, by Joseph "Joe Dogs" Iannuzzi. This is more than a cookbook, it is full of stories both inside and outside the mafia, he eventually testifies in eleven different mob trials and goes into the witness protection program. These recipes are tested on the mobsters and the FBI agents assigned to protect Joe. It's a fun book! This recipe he made for Anthony "Fat Andy" Ruggiano, a Gambino capo, Checko Brown, a Colombo family soldier, and Skinny Bobby DeSimone, who after eatting this could no way be skinny! Here is the gut busting buttery goodness that is Shrimp Scampi Gambino Style:

2lbs shrimp

3/4lb (3 sticks, yikes!) softened butter

3 shallots chopped fine

4 cloves garlic , crushed & chopped fine (I used a few more)

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2tbls chopped fresh parsley (I used basil instead)

1/2c plain bread crumbs

1 egg yolk

2tsp Red Devil hot sauce (I used Franks Red Hot)

Salt & pepper to taste

Clean & devein shrimp, place them in a large flat pan. Mix butter, shallots, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, bread crumbs, egg yolk, hot sauce & salt/pepper in bowl (I used my hands). Spoon over raw shrimp. Place under broiler for 3-5min, checking occasionally so they do not overcook. Spoon excess melted sauce (BUTTER!) over shrimp & serve. I warmed this up the next day over pasta...mmmm, butter & shrimp & pasta & wine....

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

This book was in the running for our mystery selection in October so it has been on my radar and I've seen it at Target for a while. The synopsis on BN says: A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue.It’s about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden . . . and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance . . . and about Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age—and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it—who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism—and an unexpected connection between themselves.

This book starts out a little too slow for my liking but eventually picks up. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Lisbeth. I wanted to know more about her and why she is the way she is. The novel can be a bit graphic at times when dealing with a murder scene and leaves you with some unanswered questions about motivation for the crime and Lisbeth, she's the biggest mystery to me. I'm hoping that The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second book in the trilogy, gives some answers and insight to Lisbeth. One side note, the author, Stieg Larsson, wrote all three books, turned in the manuscripts to the publisher, then died of a heart attack a few days later so he never saw his words published and to the acclaim they were received. I'll have this at the next book club to submit to the underground.

Fanny Hill Meeting

Book of erotica from the 1700's - $10
One penis cake complete with blue veins and vermillion head - $10
Petticoats for all to throw over their heads - $40
Night of hilarity with the ladies of Book Club - PRICELESS

The Book of Lost Things

BN synopsis: High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own -- populatedby heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.

When I first picked this book up, I thought it was maybe a book for young adults, but couldn't find the YA on the book. I then saw that this book won the Alex Award in 2007 which honors adult books that appeal to teen readers. I can see how it would appeal to teens, it takes all the fairy tales we grew up with and twists them into what David, the main character, imagines them to be if they were real. In his fantasy world, Snow White is extremely fat and the dwarfs feel oppressed by 'her' and call themselves Comrade Brother One, Two, Three, etc... It is a little violent and would recommend this for adults and about 8th/9th grade and beyond and has a surprisingly sweet ending.

The Know-It-All

I'm sure we all remember the set of Encyclopedia Britannica's on the book shelf in the back of our 5th grade class room when we had to do our first research paper on a country and their import/exports, I know I do. A.J. Jacobs, the author/subject of The Know-It-All, takes the Britannica and all the knowledge within, and sets about with a singular goal, to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from A-Z, about 33,000 pages. The synopsis from BN: Early in his career, A. J. Jacobs found himself putting his Ivy League education to work at Entertainment Weekly. After five years he learned which stars have fake boobs, which stars have toupees, which have both, and not much else. This unsettling realization led Jacobs on a life-changing quest: to read the entire contents of the Encyclopedia Britannica, all 33,000 pages, all 44 million words. Jacobs accumulates useful and less-so knowledge, and along the way finds a deep connection with his father (who attempted the same feat when Jacob's was a child), examines the nature of knowledge vs. intelligence, and learns how to be rather annoying at cocktail parties. Part memoir/part-education (or lack thereof), it's an entertaining (and alphabetical) look at the true nature of knowledge.

I really enjoyed this book, it was out loud funny and an easy read. Jacobs really does go through from A-Z, letting the reader know about a-ak (the first word) while giving us his thoughts on the words, information he learns and insight as to what is going on in his own life as he goes through the books. I recommend this book and will bring it to the underground.

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

From B&N: “Part detective story, part wine history, this is one juicy tale, even for those with no interest in the fruit of the vine. . . . As delicious as a true vintage Lafite.” —BusinessWeek

The Billionaire’s Vinegar tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux—supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives intersected with it. Was it truly entombed in a Paris cellar for two hundred years? Or did it come from a secret Nazi bunker? Or from the moldy basement of a devilishly brilliant con artist? As Benjamin Wallace unravels the mystery, we meet a gallery of intriguing players—from the bicycle-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women to the obsessive wine collector who discovered the bottle. Suspenseful and thrillingly strange, this is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries.

This book is an interesting peek into the world of wine, old wine and the lengths people will go to obtain a piece of history. I learned more about wine from this book than I will probably ever need to know. I personally cannot imagine paying thousands of dollars for bottles of wine either for drinking or display. I have tried some very expensive wines at dinners with my husband. Though I have not tried 200 year old - $156,000 wine, in my opinion, an $800 bottle of wine can taste just as good/bad as a $10 bottle of wine. I think this was one of the points of the book. If you believe that wine tastes better because it costs more, then it does taste better...to you. It is the author's belief, and mine as well that things like wine are meant for enjoying. And, mysteries about wine should be enjoyed too. However, I prefer a smoking gun (cork?) at the end of a mystery, this ending was a little to ambiguous for me. If you like wine, I would recommend this book simply for the information and the history, Wallace does a great job explaining every detail.

Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz

Drowning Ruth opens in 1919, on the heels of the influenza epidemic that followed the First World War. Amanda, who is a nurse suffering from an unknown ailment causing nausea and frequent "nervous" episodes, returns home to live with her sister Mathilde on a farm by Lake Nagawaukee in Wisconsin. Within a year, though, her beloved sister drowns under mysterious circumstances. And when Mathilde's husband, Carl, returns from the war, he finds his small daughter, Ruth, in Amanda's tenacious grip, and she will tell him nothing about the night his wife drowned. Amanda's parents, too, are long gone. "I killed my parents. Had I mentioned that?" muses Amanda.

"I killed them because I felt a little fatigued and suffered from a slight, persistent cough. Thinking I was overworked and hadn't been getting enough sleep, I went home for a short visit, just a few days to relax in the country while the sweet corn and the raspberries were ripe. From the city I brought fancy ribbon, two boxes of Ambrosia chocolate, and a deadly gift... I gave the influenza to my mother, who gave it to my father, or maybe it was the other way around."

I liked this mystery. The author is very good at releasing small breadcrumbs of truth along the way but saves the answer to the mystery of whether Amanda killed her sister until the very last page. I would recommend this book on a cold, blustery day with a fire and a nice, hot cup of tea.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I was really looking forward to reading this book, especially since the first sentence is, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." I was looking for fast paced action packed Austen. Instead, I got an agonizingly slow moving read. The scenes with the zombies, or 'unmentionables', and how Elizabeth and Mr Darcy fight the zombies are fun as they are both trained in 'the deadly arts'. There are a few lines that had me snicker but they are few and far between. I can totally see this becoming a movie. I also saw that later this month the same publisher is coming out with Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monster. I think I'll skip that one.

Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey

I was initially hesitant to pick this book up because the controversial author, James Frey, wrote A Million Little Pieces which was heart wrenching 'memoir' of addiction and rehab that blurred the lines between fact and fiction. I read a review of this novel (it really is a novel) when it first came out and the reviewer liked it. The New York Times - Janet Maslin,
"The million little pieces guy was called James Frey. He got a second act. He got another chance. Look what he did with it. He stepped up to the plate and hit one out of the park. No more lying, no more melodrama, still run-on sentences still funny punctuation but so what. He became a furiously good storyteller this time."

This is a fast paced quick read. Frey tells several stories about the people who live in Los Angeles. From a young couple from the Midwest escaping west, to a homeless alcoholic on the Venice Boardwalk who lives in a bathroom, to a iconic movie star whose homosexuality is hidden from public view. The author also interweaves stories or history of Los Angeles, from the founding in 1781 through the Rodney King riots. Living in LA for years, several of the locations and people were familiar to me and some of the stories stayed with me for a few days and left me wanting more.

Passing the torch

DiscoSplitz (a.k.a. Tracy) will be taking over authorship of the blog for a while. Otherwise, we'll never get updated on Book Club Meetings, Book Picks, etc.

Love you all - Burpykitty (a.k.a. Michelle or Library Mistress as Bethany calls me)

The Girl from Junchow by Kate Furnivall

The Girl from Junchow is the sequel to The Russian Concubine. The plot of this novel has been woven into Stalinist Russia and the way the author portrays the time period is incredible. The book continues the struggles of Lydia, a teenage Russian refugee brought up in 1920's China, as she returns to Russia in search of her imprisoned father. She is accompanied by her half-brother Alexei and friend Liev. Her Chinese lover from the first book becomes a much more believable character in this book. There are also numerous secondary characters which Furnivall develops well. All in all a great historical fiction.

Highwire Moon by Susan Straight

This book had me from the moment I opened it. It is the story of a young Mexican-Indian girl, Serafina who in California illegally. Due to her inability to speak Spanish or English, (she speaks an Indian dialect) she is violently separated from her beloved three year old daughter, Elvia. The story picks up, 15 years later with Elvia, pregnant, and desperate to find her mother. She thinks her mother left her because she didn't want her anymore. At the same time Serafina is trying to find the daughter she has never stopped thinking about.

Susan Straight writes so compellingly that we are willing to look at things we would normally never want to see. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, although I know it is a bit bleak for some readers. I would encourage even them to read it because of the hope and love that permeates this book.

The descriptions of migrant camps and border crossings make you feel as though you are there. I have no idea how the author got some of the details she put into the book.

The book is set in South Riverside County. Readers from this area will recognize many landscape markers, and the Indian tribes names.

I knew instinctively how this book would end. I was right and wrong at the same time. You will be to, no matter how you think it will end.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Aaaahh...Book Club. What a wonderful evening! We had, for the first time in a long time, every member present...oops, except our newest member Meredith but we have only met her once. You all know what I mean! The theme for Something Wicked... was Carnival. We had warm pretzels with mustard, spicy-candied pecans, apples with caramel dip, hot dogs and french fries, pinwheel pasta salad, green salad with fruit, roasted corn on the cob, Lynchburg Lemonades and Peanut Butter/Chocolate Fudge. Everything was delicious, of course!
The Book? It was well-liked by everyone, some more than others. There were a few of us who found it hard to get into but enjoyed it anyway. I personally loved this story. I thought it was creepy and scary but poetic and beatifully written at the same time. We all agreed that it would have been a better choice for October but...cest la vie. As always, we all had a wonderful time! As Bethany put it,"this is home."

Ophelia by Lisa Klein

As a college professor, Lisa Klein the author of Ophelia had taught Shakespeare's Hamlet countless times. She always thought that one of the minor characters, Ophelia, was shortchanged by Shakespeare on her character development. With her novel Ophelia she has told a new version of Hamlet with a smart, eloquent, brave heroine at its center. She gives the story a new twist and new insight into a possible turn of events.
I loved this story! It was very well-written, in an old, poetic style but more understandable than the original Shakespeare. It wasn't a suprise twist, I could tell where the author was going with the story but I still enjoyed every page. This is no child's story, I would recommend this book for 9th grade through adult.

Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes

Many of us know and love Kevin Henkes as the hilarious author/illustrator of Childrens Picture Books likeLilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Owen, Julius: the Baby of the World, etc. With Olive's Ocean Henkes ventures into tween fiction and does a good job. The main character in this book is Martha, a girl whose life and perspective changes after Olive, a classmate of Marthas, dies in a tragic accident. Although Martha and Olive were never really friends, Martha can't seem to stop thinking about her over summer vacation. While Martha spends time with her grandmother and her friends at the ocean she learns a great deal about life, love and friendship. With Olive's Ocean,Henkes has managed to capture the essence of a tweens girl's mind. I liked this book. It wasn't earth shattering or life changing but it was a good read. I think any 6th through 8th grade girl might enjoy this story.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Re-read this one because the movie is coming out the 15th of this month and I wanted to remember what happened to compare. So far the Harry Potter movies have closely matched the books. Rowling's writing just got better and better with each book. It was just as entertaining and fast paced the second time around. If you haven't read the series, I recommend it. It gets especially good at Book #4.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

I heard about this book years ago when it was first published. I read "A Handmaids Tale" and "Alias Grace" by the same author and enjoyed them. The Blind Assassin won many awards including the Booker Prize. I made a point to get it from the library a while ago. Between my own writing, and reading I was doing for research, or book club I had to renew it twice. I am so happy I finally got around to reading it. It was so thick and lush. It is described as novel within a novel, but it is even more complex than that. It spans three distinct time periods, and the novel within the novel has various sci-fi stories told within it. Atwood has a sort of vagueness to her writing. She does not spell anything out, and yet everything is quite clear. I was very caught up in the stories, all of them. I always have the feeling of wanting more, whenever I read Atwood, and yet I always feel satisfied. Like a meal that is so unusual and delicious you wish it would never end, but you are not unpleasantly full when you are finished. If I had a complaint, it would be the two-dimensionality of the villains, a brother and sister. They are completely without redemption, and a little like stock characters. Some of the other characters are so well-developed that these two really stand out. It is a small complaint. The book was mesmerizing.

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

For those of us who are familiar with Lois Lowry from The Giver, this book was a kick in the pants. It is total satire that both makes fun of and pays homage to good, old-fashioned stories like Pollyana, Anne of Green Gables and James and the Giant Peach. It is full of needlessly big words like "nefarious" and "ignominious" with a glossary in the back. I think the author is poking fun at the blythe use of big, twenty-five cent words in childrens literature. There is also a short synopsis of the novels she refers to in the back of the book so we can understand what is so funny even if we haven't read the stories. In the novel, the Willoughby children decide that they should be orphans because all "worthy and winsome" children are orphans. They concoct a plan to become orphans, at the same time the parents have decided to rid themselves of their children and both diabolical plans are set in motion. The parents are villainous, the children are parodies of characters in other books, there is a benefactor, and abandoned baby and a no-nonsense but loving nanny - a la Mary Poppins. It is pretty hilarious. Without the nostalgia of the good, old-fashioned stories I am not sure younger readers would really get the joke. However, I do think it would still be entertaining in a Series of Unfortunate Events kind-of-way. I started the book thinking it was aimed at 4th-6th graders but after I read it I think it would fit more with 6th-Adult. I loved it, who knew Lois Lowry was so versatile?!?

Behind the Bedroom Wall by Laura E. Williams

From the back cover:

"It is 1942. Korinna, a thirteen-year-old girl in Germany, is an active member of the local Jungmadel, a Nazi youth group, along with many of her friends. She believes that Hitler is helping Germany by dealing with what he calls the "Jewish problem", a campaign she witnesses as her Jewish neighbors are attacked and taken from their homes.

When Korinna discovers that her parents - who are secretly members of an underground resistance group - are sheltering a family of Jewish refugees behind her bedroom wall, she is shocked. As she comes to know the family, her sympathies begin to turn, and when someone tips off the Gestapo, Korinna's loyalties are put to the test. She must decide what she really believes and whom she really trusts."

Sometimes it is difficult to read children's literature as an adult because of what I know. In this case it was especially hard because of the other books I have read about Nazi Germany (Night by Elie Weisel or Diary of Anne Frank) and of course, what I have learned about Auschwitz and other concentration camps in history. I thought the book was well-written with just enough awful information to be shocking (in a good, teaching-sort-of-way) to an adolescent. These young people in Germany were having fun. At the youth group they baked cookies, played games and sang patriotic songs... all while being brain-washed into believing that the Jews (and the infirm, the handicapped or the elderly) were the reason that Germany was in a Depression and if these could be "taken care of" the country would be great again. They were encouraged to harass the other Jewish children and report anyone who was being un-patriotic.

I always read stories like this with a sense of awe for the people who choose to do the right thing, in this case, Korinna's parents helping the Jewish family to escape the "work camps". I wonder if I would be strong enough to risk my life and my family to do what is right. This book addresses those issues but from the standpoint of a teenage girl. It was definitely worth reading. I would be interested to know what a thirteen-year-old might think of this book. I'll have to see if Nick will read it too.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

This book is perfect for 6,7,8th grade girls. It is about an orphaned girl from Barbados who comes to a Puritan community to live with relatives. While she is there, she befriends an old Quaker woman, known as the "Witch of Blackbird Pond". When her friendship is discovered, Kit is faced with suspicion, fear and anger and is even accused of witchcraft herself. This book is historical but it has enough suspense and light romance that it would be interesting to an adolescent girl. So far the Newbery Award Winners have lived up to their award status.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

I cannot believe I never read this book as a child! What a great story! I am definitely keeping this one in my arsenal of Read-Alouds for the Library. It is a well-written, fun, not too scary good vs. evil story with a great ending. What more could you ask for in a children's' book? This summer is going to be great!

What Are You Reading This Summer?

Bethany asked this question at Book Club on Tuesday night. I just finished reading Warriors: Into the Wild, a youth fantasy adventure novel. That is what I will be reading this summer - various childrens' novels that either my kids have asked me to read because they enjoyed the book or because I have it in the library at school and I am curious. My summer will be filled with fun in the sun and childrens literature, with the exception of what I am reading for Book Club of course!

What was your favorite book as a child? Mine was a book called Ghosts I Have Been by Richard Peck. I have it in the library at school perhaps I should check it out for the summer for the nostagia...

What are you reading this summer?

Madame Bovary Book Club Night

French Onion Soup, Stuffed Savory Cornish Game Hens, Brie with Lemon Thyme Honey Sauce, Baked Brie with Flaky Crust, Spanish Style Artichoke Dip, Trifle with Angel Food Cake, Whipped Cream and Brandied Strawberry Sauce and of course, French wine...Book Club is always a feast of good food and good company. Not everyone was able to finish this classic novel but it is an age-old tale of bored, unhappy wife turns to selfish, handsome player for entertainment while ho-hum, cuckold husband is clueless. It just happens that in 1857, it was a fairly new concept to put on paper.

I started to struggle through this book about a third of the way through because I didn't like or care about any of the characters but I am happy I stuck with it. Definitely a worthwhile read, if only because it is a classic and Flaubert was really sailing into uncharted literary territory for the time but also because he uses some beautiful language. For example, when describing the act of reading he says,"Your head is empty,the hours slip away. From your chair you wander through the countries of your mind, and your thoughts, threading themselves into the fiction, play about with the details or rush along the track of the plot. You melt into the characters; it seems as if your own heart is beating under their skin." *sigh* Just beautiful.

When I read the commentary after I finished the novel, I learned that I had missed much of the sexual/erotic imagery. Phallic candlesticks and cigars permeated the novel. Big, pink conch shells dressed the mantel, while large, decorative balls hung from the curtain rod. I took the descriptions of surroundings at face value, forgetting that this was the erotic novel of the time.

I really enjoyed Book Club this month! I mean I enjoy it every month but with life being so crazy this year, I haven't been able to put the energy into Book Club that I usually do. I was so happy I was finally able to contribute something yummy that I hadn't purchased moments before the meeting, I had time to dress up a la sophisticated Madame and my brain was actually engaged...I had a lovely time! Now that school is ending and I should really have to time, I can't wait for our summer meetings! Please remember to bring ideas next month for July, August, September - our themes will be Africa, Chick Lit and Banned Book.

The Midwife by Jennifer Worth

"Why did I ever start this?" Jennifer Worth asks herself in her memoir 'The Midwife'. "Only an idiot would choose to be a midwife. " This first sentence in the book made me smile. Nice to know I'm not the only one who has thought that. Worth shares her incredible career as a midwife during the 1950s in the London Docklands. The Docklands were poverty stricken, dirty, and recently bombed during World War II. People lived in condemned buildings among rats, grime, and violence. Worth worked out of a Nunnery, providing prenatal care, delivering babies in their homes, and checking up on the moms and babies afterward. It was a busy life with highly unpredictable hours.
Some may be turned off by the subject, fearing gore, blood, and other unpleasant things often associated with birth. But this is one book you don't want to judge by its cover. The Midwife is, more than anything, the story of an amazing woman in 1950s London and the people she met. I recommend this book to anyone interested in history, motivating stories, or who just wants a good read. (Consider reading the appendix first to help with the Cockney dialect.)

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy

Everybody knows the story of Hansel and Gretel, the two children abandoned in the woods by their father and evil stepmother, who then discover the witch's hut. In this moving book by Murphy the story is changed but, the main pieces are still there: the stepmother, the bread crumbs, and the 'witch'. This is WWII during the occupation of Poland and two children are left in the forest by a desperate father and stepmother who are trying to flee the Nazis. The children are told they must forget their names because their real names will reveal their Jewishness and are renamed 'Hansel' and 'Gretel'. The parents hope someone will take them in and think they are Christian. The first person they find in the forest is Magda, the village 'witch'. She takes them in and protects them in her small hut that is heated by an enormous old bakers oven. This is a gut wrenching story of the Holocaust. The voices of Jews who hid in the forests, of men and women who participated in resistance movements, and of Polish civilians.
Hearing those voices was chilling. And this author does a remarkable job at giving them all voices.

The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble

This book was a best seller in the UK and I almost didn't pick it up, thought it would be too 'chic-lit' and foo-foo and I didn't want to waste my time. But then I opened the book and saw the list of books this fictional book club read and saw that they have three of the books we've read this past year, Rebecca, Heartburn & Atonement. This was a great palate cleanser between Irving and Flaubert and not that mindless. The book follows the five members of the reading group from different backgrounds and age groups, they bond closely while coping with such matters as a philandering husband, a mother with dementia, a pregnant but unmarried daughter, an infertility crisis, a wedding and a funeral. It took a little bit to get all the characters separate in my mind, the five group members with their husbands & kids, but once I did I enjoyed this book.

With summer coming up, this would be a great beach read or even a possible suggestion for our 'chic-lit' book selection. Either way, I'll bring this to our next meeting so it can start to make it's way through the BC Underground.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Our Book Club meeting for A Prayer for Owen Meany wasn't as in-depth of a discussion as it could have been but in all fairness this was a book that needed more than one month to read. It certainly was not a book that could be easily skimmed and with all the busyness in all of our lives it was no suprise that not everyone could finish the book in time. Everyone said that they enjoyed it though and wanted to finish it in the coming months.

We all agreed that John Irving managed to write a Christian novel that’s not the least bit inspirational. At no point in the novel does the author suggest that the reader adopt Christianity, however, this is a very religious book in the sense that God plays a large role—and the main character himself is a Christ figure. I loved the way this novel was written, it is truly a novel that waits until the very end to wrap up it's plot. I love a book that makes you turn the page. This book covered some huge issues: religion, war, politics, friendship, sacrifice, duty...you name it, it was probably covered. I think we all agreed that this book was a worthwhile read, in fact, a recommended read.

And, of course, the food and company were wonderful. Our Book Club is the nicest blend of personalities, worldviews and cooks. It is always a delicious suprise to see what everyone has brought to share. The theme for the night was "small foods a la Owen Meany" chosen by Bethany. See what I mean?

Thanks ladies! I am looking forward to many, many more shared books and recipes.

Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

Many years ago I read a book by Alice McDermott called Child of my Heart. It was a sweet ethereal meandering book. Charming Billy won a National Book Award, and that piqued my interest. It too was a meandering slow book. It was not written chronologically, but rather, gave a bit of information, went back in time, forward in time, and then came back to the bit of information, adding a little, and then back and forth again. The story was about an Irish New Yorker. The story starts at his wake, his death being a result of alcoholism. The friends and family at his wake blame his life-long drinking problem on lost love, but as we travel back to look at his life, we find nothing is that easily explained away. I enjoyed this book, but felt no compulsion to get back to reading it. If I were  not stuck on a plane for 3 1/2 hours, I may not have finished it. I didn't particularly care about the characters, not even the lead, supposedly lovable lush at the center. I find alcoholism selfish and not at all charming. The same writing style with a different story would have been more enjoyable. 

This book was thrown around our last meeting as a potential Sci-Fi pick. I'm glad it didn't make the final cut only because it doesn't really delve into the sci-fi aspect of the story. The main character is Kathy H. (you never know last names, just first initials) who as a child lived at Hailsham, an isolated private school in the English countryside where the students were sheltered from the outside world. The students are brought up to believe that they're special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. The students are told to focus on art, drawing, painting, poetry and their best works are taken from the school my a mysterious character only known as Madame. They are told their art work will to into The Gallery. We are introduced to Kathy H. as an adult and her job as a 'carer' to donors at various recovery centers. We eventually learn that the students at Hailsham are clones whose sole purpose in life is to donate and then 'complete.' The book focuses more on the relationships Kathy has with two of her classmates from Hailsham than the sci-fi part, who are they clones of, who is their 'possible'? But since the focus of the book is on the interpersonal relationships of these students/clones it does make you think, does a clone have a soul and a life completely separate and different from the original person they were cloned?

I did like this book and would read it again in the future only because I think it may be one of those books where you'll get more from it the second time you read it through.

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

From the back cover: "On an icy winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont, a seasoned midwife named Sibyl Danforth takes desperate measures to save a baby's life. She performs an emergency cesarean section on a mother she believes has died of a stroke. But what if Sibyl's patient wasn't dead - and Sibyl inadvertently killed her?"

When I began reading this book I was sure the author was pro-midwife but once I finished it I was not so sure. I can only filter this story through my own personal beliefs about midwives and childbirth. My mom is a certified nurse midwife who works in a hospital. I delivered two of my babies in a hospital with a midwife in attendance (I would have delivered all four that way but it just didn't work out). I considered a home birth but felt more comfortable in a hospital where 1) equipment was within arms reach to help if something went wrong and 2) I didn't have to deal with the mess in my house. However, I had friends who delivered babies at home with lay midwives and had incredible birth experiences too. In the end, I believe that a mother should deliver wherever and with whomever she feels most comfortable. In any case, we are talking about life, and life is messy - there is never a guarantee that everything will be okay. I hate that our society has become so litigious that there must always be someone to blame and made to pay if life gets messy. I thought this book was ultimately a warning against trusting anyone who isn't a medical doctor who went to school for years. I guess all I am saying is that everyone, including the most highly trained surgeons, makes mistakes. Anyway, it was a good book, definitely thought provoking and a little disturbing to me.

Loving Frank and The Country Girls March Meeting

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan turned out to be well liked by everyone. While we all thought Mamah was a selfish person for abandoning her family to be with Frank Lloyd Wright, we all still liked the story. As a love story, it missed the mark because no one was rooting for their relationship to succeed. However, the suprize ending made the novel well worth the read. We all said we would recommend the book.

The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien turned out to be a disappointment. We all expected fireworks since, upon publishing in the 1950's, the book was banned immediately in Ireland. The story was blah and the characters shallow. It wasn't a terrible book but no one in Book Club would recommend it either. The food and the company were great (as usual) at the meeting last night. The menu included Irish Stew made with Guinness, Beer Bread, Corned Beef with potatoes and carrots, Green Irish Ladies (a green champagne drink - yum!), Green salad, Green apple wedges with Dubliner cheese, and Caramel Apple Cake with Whiskey Cream. Delicious! Check back for recipes...

My Name is Will, A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare

I read a review of this book about a year ago and it peaked my interest then but I didn't go out of my way to pick the book up. I just figured, "eh, if/when I see it, I'll pick it up." I wish I would have gotten it last year. This book is smart, funny, witty and not for everyone. There is sex, there is drug use and there is Shakespeare. The main character is William "Willie" Shakespeare Greenberg, a Jewish kid in the masters program as UC Santa Cruz, who has decided that his masters thesis is going to be about how the original William Shakespeare was a closeted Catholic and how that influenced his writing and how there may have been hidden codes in this plays and sonnets to other hidden Catholics in Elizabethan England. Willie has been cut off by his dad and needs some fast cash so he agrees to be a drug runner, ending up at a Renaissance Faire. Interspersed in Willie's story, is the parallel story of an 18yr old William Shakespeare before his shot-gun marriage to Anne Hathaway, his own experiences with hallucinatory substances and run-ins with the law. I would read this again and tell everybody else to read it, but only the people who I thought would be able to handle it, like I said, it's a SMART book, not for the ding-dongs out there.

The story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

This is Wroblewski's first novel. I always love reading new authors books and I was very pleased I read this one. The author grew up in rural Wisconsin not far from the Chequamegon National Forest where the setting for the story is.
The novel begins with the needless killing of an injured, limping, stray dog with a poison by a herbalist. This brutal killing fits into the story later on.
The protagonist is a fourteen year old boy named Edgar Sawtelle, who is born mute. His parents, Gar and Trudy are dog-breeders, who live on a farm in a remote part of northern Wisconsin not far from the National Forest. They breed and train a unique and special breed of dogs that were developed by Edgar's grand father. The dogs have earned a good reputation not only for their noble temperament, but also their ability to anticipate commands by watching body language. The training methods by this young mute boy are extraordinary The family's life is disrupted when Claude, Edgar's creepy uncle visits them. Gar offers him a job at the farm and a place to stay. Gar then dies suddenly and mysteriously. Edgar suspects that Claude murdered his father. He tries to prove it but, his plan backfires. So, to save himself from Claude he runs away into the Chequamegon forest, along with three young dogs. The author's vivid descriptions of nature, his ability to describe the terrors of the wilderness, and narrating a part of the story from a dog's perspective are incredible. Even the supernatural incidents in the story seem to be natural and believable. This is definitely a book I will read again.

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben

This book grabs you from page one. And, anyone who was or is a parent will relate to this story. There are basically two plots. 1) Mike and Tia are worried about their son, Adam. Ever since Adam lost his friend, Spencer, to suicide, he has withdrawn from the family. They decide to install spy software on his computer. And, 2) a baffling police case which connects numerous people throughout the community. The story brings up the highly relevant ethical questions that most parents may have to deal with today: How do you weigh a child's privacy against a parent's right to know? How do you differentiate normal teenage rebellion from out of control? When and how do you intervene if suicidal signs appear? A note from the author states that all the technology used in the book is real. All the software and equipment described are readily available to the general public for purchase. I was totally amazed to think parents can now know exactly where their children are via their phone and with internet spy software know exactly who they talk to and about what. Definitely lots of food for thought in this read.

Memoir of Misfortune by Su Xiaokang

The BN synopsis of the book is: "In the 1980s, Su Xiaokang, a young journalist, wrote the script for a six-part television series, River Elegy, which probed so deeply into the core of Chinese beliefs and values that it galvanized the entire country in an explosion of intellectual debate. Having survived the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, he now became the focus of a massive pursuit as one of the regime's five most wanted "criminals," and was smuggled out of China, leaving behind his wife, Fu Li, and their young son. After two long years and great international pressure, the family was finally reunited in Princeton, New Jersey. For a brief time, it seemed as if the worst was behind them. But on June 4, 1993 -- exactly four years after Tiananmen -- while the family was being driven to Niagara Falls, the car they were in sped off the road. When Su Xiaokang regained consciousness, he discovered that Fu Li was in a coma, from which she would eventually emerge unable to speak or to control her limbs. "

This book is so much more than that, we join the author's journey through his guilt for his wife's injuries, trying to reconnect with his tween son who is becoming more Americanized, and his spiritual discovery coming from an atheist China, to discovering what faith and spirituality means to each individual. We also learn from the letters written from Fu Li to her husband in exile and from her journal entries when she first arrived in America, what life was like for her prior to the accident that changed their lives. The only criticism is that I feel that some of this novel may have been lost in the translation from Chinese to English.

Saturday by Ian McEwan

I know that most of us feel strongly about Ian McEwan, we either love him or could do without him. I am of the love him camp, but this book wasn't my favorite of his. The novel centers around Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon with an equally successful wife and two grown children. The story takes place all in one day, a Saturday, sometime after 9/11 but before the war with Iraq. As Henry makes is way to his weekly squash game with a fellow doctor, there is an anti-war protest going on and he has to make a detour. As in all the McEwan novels I've read, the detour always means that something good/bad is going to happen and Henry gets into a small fender bender with Baxter, a small angry twitchy man with a tendancy for violence. But to Henry's trained eye, he thinks there may be something neurologically wrong with Baxter. Not to give anything away, but everything comes full circle for Henry & Baxter. Like I said, wasn't my favorite McEwan novel, but does bring up the question of what would you do for revenge.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

I figured that since Feburary was the month of Abraham Lincoln, and it was 200 years since his birth, it would be a good idea to read a book on good ol' Honest Abe. Team of Rivals isn't just a bio on Abe, but also the three other men who ran against him for president in 1860. There is the shoe-in, the wealthy elitist snob, and the elder statesman who all ran against the no-name backwoods lawyer from Illinois. After Abe unexpectedly gains the Republican nomination, he then brings in these three rivals into his cabinet as Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury & Attorney General. The subtitle of this book is, "The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" and it shows how he was a genius in his own way, usually when a spat broke out between his Sec of State & Sec of Treasury, he would somehow smooth things over with each man thinking he was the victor when really Abe was the winner. The book also goes through the Civil War and what a personal toll it took on Abe, his family, and the men in his cabinet. This is a hefty book, 750pgs, not something you can power through in a weekend but I highly recommend it even though it can get a little muddled since there are so many names to keep track of, but you learn quickly who is important in the history of our country.

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

After a deep experience with God and a very messy divorce, the author Elizabeth travels to Italy, India and Indonesia in search of truth and healing. At times this book was funny, other times very serious. The author has such a different world view from my own that it was also an interesting peek into her mind. I have to admit that I was briefly jealous that she was able to embark on a "voyage of self-discovery" at the tender age of 35. Then I realized that even if I had the opportunity, I still would not have chosen her path. She has a wonderful writing style. I love when writers can convey what others can't even put into words. I enjoyed this book, I'd recommend it.

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

The book back reads, "In 1977, pregnant Genevieve Russell disappeared. Twenty years later, her remains are discovered and Timothy Gleason is charged with murder. But there is no sign of the unborn child. CeeCee Wilkes knows how Genevieve Russell died, because she was there. And she also knows what happened to the missing infant, because two decades ago she made the devastating choice to raise the baby as her own. Now Timothy Gleason is facing the death penalty, and she has another choice to make. Tell the truth, and destroy her family. Or let an innocent man die in order to protect a lifetime of lies."

I stumbled across this book at Target, picked it up and read the back, shrugged, and thought to myself, "Hmmm. This might be good." Then tossed it in the cart. Forgot about it. Found it last week. Glad I did. While not a literary masterpiece, Diane Chamberlain does an amazing job of pulling you into the story. The main character, CeeCee, is a naive sixteen-year-old when she is manipulated into a 22-year-old man's quest for "justice." Having lost her mother to cancer at the age of 12, then being bounced around a series of foster homes, CeeCee is desperate to be loved and willing to sacrifice anything to keep that love. While the crimes she is involved in are shocking and sensational, I found myself sympathizing with young CeeCee. I felt so connected with the characters I felt their struggles, pain and joy. I could barely put the book down, so eager was I to see how it ended. Then there was the contradictory disappointment that comes with finishing a good book. I'll bring it to the next meeting to pass along.