Seven of us gathered at Nancy B.'s to discuss Life After Life by Jill McCorkle and to farewell Mary Beth from the group. Mary Beth has a new and fabulous job in Burlington, and we will miss her greatly. Of course, Burlington isn't far away, and there was much talk of taking Book Soup on the road. As a parting gift, Karen made one of her beautiful bags with book fabric, and we put books for Mary Beth to read in it. (She seemed extremely excited to get World War Z....)
Nancy chose a Mexican theme for the feast. She started us off with mojitos. (Wikipedia defines these as "a traditional Cuban highball." Fancy! And extremely good.) For the main course, we had sumptuous burritos with chicken, spicy black beans, avocado, and this amazing sauce. Lisa made a yummy black bean salad we had on the side, and we had tortilla chips and salsa courtesy of Leann. Karen provided homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert.
I think Lisa was the only one to finish the book in time, but many of us were far enough through to discuss plot and characters and compare it to Kate Atkinson. Atkinson's book was heavier somehow, and a more difficult concept to get a grasp of. McCorkle's felt lighter, although it covered many weighty and unhappy subjects. And the structure was also a challenge to follow at first. But we all found characters to love and really liked the book once we got into it.
Next Meeting
Where: Becky's pool
When: When Becky is ready
What: Book show and tell
