January 4, 2008, Last Night at the Lobster

Ann hosted us for a large (10) gathering to discuss Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan. Everyone loved the book. Those of us who had waited tables thought O'Nan had nailed the subject. Those who never had now know what it's like!

Ann served delicious veggie lasagna and not one, not two, but three fabulous desserts! (Flan, lemon poppyseed cake, and chocolate brownies with peanut butter chips - yum, yum, and yum!) We also had the pleasure of meeting Molly, Ann's beagle, who delighted us with her warmth and her appetite. Thanks, Ann!

Next Meeting
When: Friday, February 15
Where: Heather's
What: Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
Note: The book has 4 1/2 stars on Amazon and got starred reviews from both Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.

December 6, "show-and-tell"

My house was filled nearly to capacity last night for our annual Yankee Swap. Thanks everyone for coming and for all the stuff you brought! We also did book show-and-tell. I missed some of the discussion, but I saw pens and paper and furious scribbling going on, so I think it went well.

I made hamburger-vegetable-tortellini soup and Mexican minestrone. I'll post the former as soon as I can, but here's the link to the Mexican minestrone recipe at Better Homes and Gardens online:

http://recipes.bhg.com/recipes/recipedetail.jsp?recipeId=R056462

Next Meeting
When: Friday, January 4
Where: Ann's house
Book: Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan

For those of you needing directions, Ann lives next door to me. So you can follow the directions to my house and just go to the second house on the left instead of the first.

October 22 - Water for Elephants

A small group met at Darla's last night to discuss Water for Elephants. Darla, assisted by her husband Dick (who BBQed and waited on us!), fed us well! Mini-pizza appetizers, a lovely green salad, delicious BBQ pork and sweet potatoes, yummy potato salad. And then Ghirardelli chocolate brownies and ice cream for dessert.

Everyone loved the book, both those in attendance and everyone I heard from. We talked about our experiences with circuses, about how the plot was laid out (yes, you were supposed to get the wrong idea about who killed August in the prologue), how wonderfully the author handled the issue of aging. We even talked about one of the book group guide questions in the back: how does Jacob's story mirror the story of Jacob in Genesis? Darla went and got us a bible, but Lisa had the answer. (He left home, got married, came back and claimed his birthright, or his brother's. Something like that. If you're really curious, try the Wikipedia article.)

Next Meetings
We had some discussion about what to do next, since we are several members unavailable in November or December or both. Here's what we decided:

• For our November meeting, we will go on a shopping bus trip to Boston. Anybody who can make it, great -- it's a blast. Lisa will look into it for us.

• For December, I will host, and all you need to do is show up and share a book (or books) you've already read. We'll also do our annual Yankee swap.

We thought the first week of December would be good. First choices are December 3 (Monday) or December 6 (Thursday). If you can make one or the other of those, please let me know.

--Nancy

September 26 - Three Cups of Tea

Jean hosted us at her beautiful home in Thetford and fed us wonderful stuff for our discussion of Three Cups of Tea.

Jean made two soups: Vermont cheddar and sausage and zucchini, both fabulous. She also made grilled garlic-tomato bread, cornbread, and zucchini bread (I think!), as well as a baked spinach appetizer and a blueberry pie for dessert. Wowee!

Everyone who attended love the book, except for me. (My excuse was that I was listening to it and didn't like the narrator.) It is a remarkable story, though, and I'm glad I heard about it. I think that sentiment holds true for everyone.

Next Meeting
Where: Darla's
When: Monday, October 22
What: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

P.S. I brought a copy of my "Canonical List of Books" for the group, and everyone said they'd like a copy. I said I bring a copies next time, but if you'd like to take a look, here is the link: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcv72sgv_1d5mjhd&pli=1

August 22 - Hooked

Karen hosted us for a lovely dinner. We got a tour of her wonderful gardens and then sat on the deck while she grilled chicken. She had at least three salads for us: a greens/feta/watermelon salad (which was so good!); a black bean & corn salad (also fabulous); and mozzarella and tomatoes from her garden. It was all topped off with chocolate indulgence cake and espresso/cappuccino by Karen's significant other Michael (brave man). Wow!

The overall assessment of Hooked was that it wasn't all that great: didn't hold our interest and/or had a far-fetched plot. Darla saw more in it from her perspective as a mother of computer-game-playing boys. She told us that game hardware is getting more interactive (you can buy "rumble packs" for Game Boy controllers that lets you feel explosions and the like), so it wasn't really far-fetched to her.

Next Meeting
We instituted a new idea this time -- whoever is hostess at the meeting gets to pick the next book. Karen chose Ann's suggeston: Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time.

Date: Wednesday, September 26
Place: Jean's

July 18 - I Am the Messenger

Lisa hosted us for a great meeting; almost everyone made it, and we welcomed new member Jean. Lisa made a baked veggie pasta dish (just perfect for the cool, rainy weather), had a lovely salad, served home-made sangria, and topped it off with a yummy trifle. Thanks, Lisa!

Everyone present liked I Am the Messenger. We discussed what age group reads young adult literature, because some of the scenes in the book were mature and/or disturbing. We generally found the ending disappointing, and Heather's criticism - how did Ed know what to do? - was echoed among several of us. We enjoyed the fact that it took place in Australia, and folks seemed fond of the Doorman, the smelly, coffee-drinking dog.

Typically, we talked about tons of other books. I did not write them down, so please feel free to chime in and remind folks. One thing I do recall was Kristin's mentioning that Stephanie Meyer's YA vampire stories, Twilight and New Moon, are big with jr. high girls right now, and she also loves them. I'd also like to report that these two books are the top 5 list on MySpace right now.

Next Meeting
Where: Karen's
When: Wednesday, August 22
What: Hooked by Matt Richtel

June 11 - Then We Came to the End

I missed 99.9% of this meeting. Thanks to Lisa for this summary:

Thank you Ann for hosting, the food was fabulous, (we all love lasagna) and the biscotti recipe must be shared! Nancy was missed, though she did turn up looking very fit after winning both softball games. . .yeah Fluent!!!

Most of us did not like THEN WE CAME TO THE END, finding that it was just not that funny (except the sushi part). Becky did like it, though I can't remember why?! (Nancy we need you!) Leann hasn't finished the book yet, Lisa felt the only part that she really got into was when Lynn was the narrator.

Next Meeting
Where: Lisa's
What: I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
When: Wednesday, July 18

May 2 - The Class Castle

We had a lovely gathering at Leann's to discuss The Glass Castle: A Memoirby Jeannette Walls. We welcomed new members Heather and Karen and had a long, lively discussion of the book, which everyone found to be amazing. Leann served a yummy cheeze stratta along with not one but two salads. It was delicious!

Regular Meeting Day?
We set the time and date for our next meeting (see below), but Leann has offered to help us set up a regular monthly meeting (e.g., the 2nd Tuesday, or the like). If we all e-mail her our monthly commitments, she'll compile them and make a recommendation. Just send her a message and say something like, "I'm busy the first Wednesday of every month."

Next Meeting:
When: Monday, June 11
Where: Ann's
What: Then We Came to the End: A Novel by Joshua Ferris

New Meeting Date

Next meeting will Wednesday, May 2, at Leann's. Mark you calendars!

Two-Potato Soup

This recipe comes from The Big Book of Soups & Stews: 262 Recipes for Serious Comfort Food by Maryana Vollstedt.


1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 large russet potatoes (1 1/2 pounds total), peeled and sliced
1 large sweet potato (3/4 pound), peeled and sliced
3 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 cup buttermilk or milk
1 Granny Smith apple, unpeeled, cored, and chopped for topping

In a large soup pot over medium heat, warm oil. Add onions, garlic, and celery and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes and mix well. Add stock, thyme, salt, and white pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until potatoes are soft, about 15 minutes.

Transfer to a blender or food processor in batches and process until smooth. Return soup to pot and add buttermilk. Simmer until heated through, about 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and top with a few pieces of apple.

Notes on what I did
I used closer to 2 lbs. of baking potatoes and more like 4 cups of stock (because these were the amounts I had on hand and wanted to use up). I used regular pepper, probably less than half the salt, and skim milk. The soup still came out very thick.

March 7 - A Day of Small Beginnings

Hi, all. I hosted a small group to discuss A Day of Small Beginnings. I loved the book; I think Leann and Ann liked it. Becky joined us without having read it; she's taken it home to give it try.

My Two Potato Soup was a hit, and I post the recipe separately.

Next Meeting
We have tentatively scheduled the next meeting for Wednesday April 18th. Is that date OK for everyone?

Host: Leann
Book: The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls.

January 25, 2007 - To Kill a Mockingbird

A few of us warmed ourselves on delicious pesto soup at Becky's for our discussion of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. We also watched the 1962 movie, which won Gregory Peck the best acting Oscar. We loved the book and marveled at how closely the movie followed it. We got a late start on the movie and ended up leaving late. Thanks for hosting us, Becky!

We were wondering if the latter part of the month was harder to schedule than the earlier part, so we've decided to meet again in the beginning of March. Here are the particulars:

Where: Nancy's
When: Thursday, March 8
What: A Day of Small Beginnings by Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum

P.S. I noticed that Robert Duvall had an acting credit in the movie, but I didn't see him. I just looked it up in the Internet Movie Database, and guess what -- he played Boo Radley!

December 14th meeting - Beneath a Marble Sky

We met at Kristen's for lovely soup (black bean and butternut squash-and-leek), Yankee swap, and a chat with John Shors, the author of Beneath a Marble Sky.

We all liked the book and enjoyed our 15-minute chat with Mr. Shors, who seems like a very nice man. It was fun to get the scoop on his movie deal for Beneath a Marble Sky and to hear about his next book, which he has just started.

We had a somewhat tame Yankee swap -- everybody ends up with nice stuff, so it's hard to be too covetous.

Thanks to Kristen, her husband, and baby Louise for hosting us! We had fun visit from the black labs too. ("I've never seen a coffee table cleaned off so fast," remarked Leann after the dogs came through furiously wagging their tails.)

Other Books
Books people talked about that I was able to note:

• Don't Know Much About History - readable history book, by Kenneth C. Davis
  
• The Hidden Assassins (and the first two in the series before this - The Blind Man of Seville and The Vanished Hands) - mysteries set in Spain, by Robert Wilson
  
• A Girl Named Zippy - memoir, by Haven Kimmel
  
• A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - fun fiction, by Marina Lewycka

Next Meeting
We're going classic in our next meeting.

Book: To Kill a Mockingbird
Place: Becky's
Date: January 25, 2007

We're going to discuss the book and watch the movie.

Happy holidays, everybody!

New Book! Author Joining Us!

Several of us found our chosen book, The Inheritence of Loss, hard to get into, so we changed the discussion book to Beneath a Marble Sky, by John Shors. Mr. Shors talks to book groups over the phone, and he will be joining us for our disucssion on Monday, November 27th. We are very excitied!

October 16 meeting - The Thirteenth Tale

Lisa Ladd hosted us for a large group! We welcomed new member Gina welcomed and back Kristin (along with baby Louise!).

Lisa fed us well, of course. There were two soups: Lentil/Ham, and Winter Squash with pears and apples. The dessert was a harvest pumpkin roll (King Arthur recipe).

The Book
We had a good discussion of the book, too! Everybody liked it, but there was some disagreement about exactly when the story took place and who is the mysterious sister in Vida's house was. Kristin was more taken with the gothic story at Angelfield than the beginning of the book, which I find interesting, because I thought Angelfield dragged in some parts and loved the beginning. We also noted how some parts reminded us of other books we'd read recently (Shadow of the Wind, Brief History of the Dead). What is it with ghost stories in this group? At least this book had a happy ending.

Book Soup
Lisa shared three books she'd read: Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan (a really fun read); The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr (a good, new Sherlock Holmes story -- better than Conan Doyle!); and The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad (a different, very interesting, and alarming take on Afghanistan, especially after reading Kite Runner).

Next Meeting
Our next meeting with November 27th at Kristin's, for which we are reading Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss.

P.S.
For those of you who prefer independent bookstores but still like to shop online, check out BookSense.

Recipe: Spicy Ethiopian Stew

Thanks, Becky!

Spicy Ethiopian Stew

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 small zucchini, diced

6 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth

¼ tsp. dried thyme leaves

½ tsp. cumin powder

½ tsp. curry powder

1/3 cup long-grain white rice

16 oz. thick & chunky salsa (you choose the spiciness)

2 cans (16oz) Garbanzo beans (chick peas), drained & rinsed

1/3 cup peanut butter

In a large saucepot, heat the oil to medium high and sauté the onions, sweet potato, garlic and zucchini for about 5 minutes. Add broth, thyme, cumin, and rice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the salsa and beans and bring to a boil. Add the peanut butter and stir until combined.

Tips from Gary’s test kitchen:

Before adding the peanut butter, dip out about 1 cup of liquid from the cook pot - be careful, it‘s hot. Add the peanut butter to the broth to make a slurry, then add this to the stew. (I’ve also used crunchy peanut butter when creamy was not in the kitchen cabinet! )

To make a thicker stew, puree a portion of the garbanzo beans in a food processor or immersion blender - with a little water - depending upon your preference.

Sept. 20 meeting, The Brief History of the Dead

Becky hosted us for our discussion of Kevin Brockmeier's The Brief History of the Dead. She served us a delicious spicy Ethiopian soup, the recipe for which she promised to share. For dessert she made coconut custard pie, inspired by her time in North Carolina. I hear it was yummy (not a coconut girl myself, which was my loss).

The Book
We had an interesting discussion of the book. We talked about it for a while, then we stopped, and we kept coming back to it. Lisa had an interesting way to describe it: like early Ray Bradbury, but more literary, with a dash of Stephen King.

I found the ending depressing, but that sentiment was not universal. One thing that was: the chapter about the guy with the placards (chapter 7, "The Patriarch") ground the story to a halt. It was too long harping on the same thing. We also agreed that the story overall could be hard to follow and it wasn't always clear what had happened.

All that being said, I didn't hear anybody say they didn't like it. It's an interesting book that makes you think long after you've put it down.

Other Books
OK, I didn't catch what everybody was talking about when it came to other books. But Ann told us quite a bit about a non-fiction book called Fluby Gina Kolata. It's the story of the 1918 flu pandemic. Sounds really interesting

And this one's for Darla. I was telling her about a book I just started reading and thought quite promising, but I remembered neither the author nor the title. So here it is: Greenstone Grail by Amanda Hemmingway.

Next Meeting
Our next meeting will be at Lisa's, and we will read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. The date will be either Monday, October 23, or Monday, October 16. Please chime in with your preference.

--Nancy

August 23rd meeting - The Shadow of the Wind

Last night Leann hosted us and we welcomed new member Ann Perry and welcomed back Tracy Falls. While we waited for dinner and chatted, Darla showed up her list of like 100 books to read she had culled from the archives of CurledUp.com. (You have to check out the archives to see just what a daunting and obsessive task this was.)

Leann served us a delicious dinner of broccoli-mushroom quiche, Mexican broccoli slaw, Cesar salad, and cucumbers & vinegar, and topped it off with strawberry-rhubarb pie. Yum! We forgive you for not serving soup, Leann. :-)

Throughout dinner, we talked about The Shadow of the Wind, which we all loved. First Darla entertained us by reading the quotes she had taken down out of the book. Then we discussed Daniel's pal, Fermin, who was a favorite. We felt that Nuria was a tragic figure. The major plot surprise that Julian and Penelope were half-brother and half-sister was summed up by Becky, who said, "Yuck!" There was some feeling among the group that Daniel was self-absorbed and should have gotten over himself (and stopped whining that he was a coward), but we cut him a little slack for being a teenager through most of the book. In discussing the atmosphere in Barcelona after the Spanish Civil War and WWII, Lisa said it echoed our times. When Nancy tried to protest, she gave up, because she ended up supporting Lisa's point [and being called a Republican for her trouble ;-)].

Book Soup Time

• Darla recommends Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears.
• Tracy recommends The King of Lies by John Hart .

Lisa had brought the latest Bookmarks magazine for us to flip through (Shadow of the Wind was listed in the "Perfect 10" section!). Apparently there is a book group mentioned in the issue that consists of one man and a bunch of women who call themselves Dick & the Bibliotarts. Don't know why that's significant, but I wrote it down, so here it is.

Next Book & Meeting
We meet next at Becky's on September 20th. Book: The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier. (This was one of the NPR's summer reading series, "Caution: These Books May Make You Skip Work.")

July 13th Meeting - In Cold Blood

Thank you, Darla, for hosting our little group. You folks who couldn't make it, you missed out on good eats! Wonderful soup -- I know the ingredients but I don't know the name, a southwestern-flavor with ravioli. Plus enchiladas. And margaritas!

Let's see. People found In Cold Blood a bit of a tough read, and not everyone agreed with me that it was incredibly well-written. Then we watched "Capote," the movie, and found it very interesting. I had seen the movie before and enjoyed it much more this time, after having read the book. We agreed that Truman Capote was one strange dude. Oy, oy, I'm blanking, girls! I'd better start taking notes. I know we had a great time, enjoyed the discussion, and went home full. We all had kitchen envy too.

Next meeting
We will meet Wendesday, Augst 23rd, at Leann's, and we chose The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Other books
A couple of us heard the NPR story, "Caution: These Books May Make You Skip Work" and were interested in the books discussed. I was intrigued by The Brief History of the Dead and ordered a copy.

May 9 Meeting - Without Reservations

Sue hosted us with delicious fresh, organic asparagus soup, a lovely green salad, bread, cheese, humus, baba ganoush, a lovely fruit salad ... please forgive me if I left anything out!

We read Without Reservations: The Travels of an Indpendent Woman by Alice Steinbach, and everyone liked it. Mostly it solicited stories of our own travel, and we had a good time with that. Soon we were off discussing everything else.

Around 9 we looked up and said, hmm, maybe we should pick a book and a place for next time. We decied on In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, meeting to be held at Darla's on June 13th, when we will watch the movie Capote. Doesn't that sound great?

We talked about going to see The DaVinci Code when it comes out, but we tabled the discussion until we can see where it will be playing. There was general agreement that the Lebanon 6 should be avoided if possible.

Until we eat again, keep reading!

--Nancy