Night in Review - Time Traveller's Wife

Good food, good book and FUN elephant exchange!

Meredith was the hostess with the mostest. Though self-admittedly she hates to cook, Meredith created a yummy veggie pasta for us all to feast on. There was a bit of a salad competition going on between Kim's organic tasty salad with calamata olives and Rebecca's salad with fresh Korean pears. We had roasted rosemary potatoes, fresh honey biscuits and carrot cake. (I was really happy about the left overs).

There wasn't too much discussion on the book. Some people found the writing a bit corny, others didn't like the ending or certain parts that were left unexplained...but all of us that read it whizzed on through the book and found it entertaining. We all felt bad for poor Ingrid.

As usual Meredith had some great books to nominate, but in the end I think it was Katie's reading excerpt that used the word "arse" repetitively that sold the winning book.

Here were the most tempting books:

Out by Matsuo Kirono

Beautiful Children by Charles Bock

Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

The Tax Inspector by Peter Carey

The winner was...

the Tax Inspector by Peter Carey

The highlight of the night was of course the White Elephant Gift exchange.

Most coveted items? a white lacy, vinyl table cloth; Smart Women postcards; and a wind up mouse that flips (which Moses later had fun with...poor mouse.)

However, Katie by far received the gift of the night:

Next Book Club is Monday, January 5th at Tahne's house in Honomu. We will be discussing Slaves in the Family (at least those of us who aren't reading Twilight).

Book Club Gift Exchange

During our December 8th get together we will be doing a White Elephant Gift Exchange. Bring a regifted, silly or otherwise wrapped package for our 3rd lively gift exchange!

Origin
The name "White elephant" originates from an old Burmese cultural reference to the value of an albino elephant, which is considered sacred and must be well taken care of, despite the financial burden that it may bring to its owner. Therefore, the gifts exchanged may be large, delicate and/or utterly pointless for the recipient (e.g., a huge stuffed animal for someone who lives in a small apartment).

Notes from November

We had a rich discussion trying to figure out why we were all so engaged in this depressing book about an old man in Norway who moves to a cabin on a lake. Turns out many of us had different interpretations on what happened in the book and differing levels of difficulty recalling plot facts and inferences. But, this was a very well-written book...steeped with all the mind blowing stuff that you learned about in A.P. English class...Motifs, themes... I don't think we really reached consensus on the main message or purpose of the book, but its definitely one to reread.

The food can pretty much be summarized with two words: Pizza & Desserts. It was a sweet lovers paradise - brownies, chocolate fudge pie, krumkake (Norwegian cookies)...I think I'm forgetting something.

Shelley was the hostess this time and I think we'd vote her living room furniture as the most comfy furniture owned by our group. She had quite an eclectic assortment of book nominations for us...

One from her mom, The Pig Who Sang to the Moon, about the emotional world of farm animals. One from her friend who works on Mauna Kea at an observatory, called Space.

(these two didn't make it through the first voting round).

Quote of the Night:

"Those are not exactly my favorite animals."
- Melissa, in response to the introductory blurb of The Pig Who Sang to the Moon

The final nominees were:

1. Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball


2. Welcome to My Country by Lauren Slater


3. The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard

And the winner was:

Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball

Next Book Club:

December 8th at 6:30

Meredith's House

Sometime in October Book Club

The blog is a little behind! Sorry everyone!

Before I move on to the most recent Book Club fun, here is a reminder about our October gathering...

Miss (almost Mrs.) Melissa hosted. The food was so so good. Melissa made polenta rounds and Rebecca made fresh cornbread with honey butter. Yummers.

There wasn't too much indepth discussion about But Enough About Me. The consensus was that it was a fun read and they we adored her father that worked at Sears.

Melissa had a stack of good nominations but then a couple of us rabble-rousers requested that The Time Traveller's Wife get put back in (Melissa has been trying to get the group to read this book since we started meeting 3 years ago!).

Guess what won - Time Traveller's Wife!!

What's The What, Night in Review

It was a lovely, beautiful morning at Kim's house in Volcano.

Food

Special Guests

Books

Shelley's Toes

The Sexy Readers

Ode to But Enough About Me

Check out Jancee Dunn's Blog.

What Is the What

I'm only half way through but I'm already haunted by Valentino's story. If you haven't started reading this book, or you are thinking about skipping it...you are missing out!

Kim mentioned she saw an interview with Valentino on the web. I found it and wanted to share it with the Readers...

Click on this to view his website.

To listen to the NPR interview click here.

Here is the UTube Video.

August 19th - Night in Review

As we gathered at Vicki's for book club, I think I wasn't the only one who was excited that we would be discussing such a terrific book - The Book Thief. It was well written, thought provoking, creative, great characters, and educational. Meredith is going to be teaching it to her class of talented and gifted students. What lucky kiddos. The characters of Rosa and Hans Huberman, Max, and Rudy will stay with us. There were mixed thoughts about how the book ended, but we all admitted to wishing that Liesel had been able to give Rudy his long awaited kiss...

We munched on pizza and sipped a combo of Sangria and Chardonnay. (FYI for future creative potluckers, other than myself the group does not seem to be a fan of blue cheese.) There was no hummus at this month's meeting.

Vicki was dying for us to go outside for the breeze, but we were all so busy chatting about the book (some of us also were chatting about What's the What, another goodie!).

But after our yummy angel food cake with fresh blueberries (Melissa stepped up in Tahnee's place with a refreshing and light dessert), we finally went outside and began to discuss the book (and member) nominations.

Our Decisions

New members: Katie (nominated by Meredith) and Rebecca (nominated by Emily). These were no brainers compared to selecting the next book.

October's book: But Enough About Me by Jancee Dunn. We decided we needed something a big fluffy after The Book Thief and What's the What!

Nominated by not chosen:

• The Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingslover



• The River by Alice Hoffman



• An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg (also made into a movie starring JLo)



• The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch



• A book nominated by Kim that we decided to call Omar Mysteries.
  

Next Book Club: Sunday, September 14th at 11:00, in Volcano at Kim's

September's Book

The votes were between:

• The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
• The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
• What is the What by Dave Eggers

And the winner was...

What is the What

(Yes, another Mr. McLaughlin book. It was close with Time Travellers - don't be surprised if you see that one nominated again)

Vicki will be hosting the next book club. Looks like it will be Monday, August 18th at 6:30.

July 1, 2008 Night in Review

Book: No one wants a lunch date with Ms. Kipnis. Her definition of feminism is narrow, her tone is too angry and we can't believe how much she minimized the biologically driven aspect of women's quest for germ free environments in order to spread our species. (it's about survival, DUH!)

Food: split pea soup and homemade hearty bread, eggplant dip, tofu dogs in a blanket, goat cheese blueberry almond salad, roasted cute little chicken, CARROT CAKE (Dessert Queen Tahnee does it once again!)


Bevi: Vic's Slick, champagne, water

Atmosphere: ambiant lighting for termite control with frequent flashes of light from the camera; puffy large furniture fit for a princess; hot, muggy Hilo summer weather

Best quote:
"I never travel without a hankie." - Colleen

Topics of convo: Kim's pesticide infused clothing; Emily's diatribe on why wedding planning sucks; why Time Traveller's Wife is never selected to read; Colleen's trick for avoiding eating large rats without offending her hostess; roommates with impaired sense of smell and put lopsided dents in seat cushions; allergic reactions to insect bites; average height of Italian men; what medication and facial lotion Kim should bring to Africa

Recipe Exchange

Bean, Tomato, & Smoked Mozzarella Salad

1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 15-oz. can cannellini beans, rinsed & drained (or garbanzos or favas)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup shredded fresh basil
4 oz. smoked mozzarella, cubed (smoked gouda will work too)
10-12 cherry tomatoes, halved or cubed (or grape tomatoes halved)
salt & pepper

Mix all the above together, then add vinaigrette below (you can add 1/2 or all of it, depending on your taste)

1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dijon or whole grain mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

*Dish was introduced to me by my sister, who first tasted this salad at one of her book clubs!

August's Book

As usual we had a hard time deciding on one book! Shelley and I exchanged murmurings about adopting a more dictatorial selection style rather than so democratic; however in the end I was insistent we could vote at least twice - Meredith had GREAT selections to choose from. Once again, I fantasized about quitting my job and taking a year off to just read books.


In the end we selected The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It was originally published in Germany as a young adult novel; however it was released in America as adult fiction (huh, that's humbling.) I don't think anyone knew how adorable this author was when we voted either - check him out! Cutie pie!



Our next book club is July 1st (TUESDAY), 6:30pm at Shell's. Rather than selecting September's book as we usually do, we decided to do a poll on the Blog and select the book we want to see renominated. The book with the most votes by 7/1/08 at 5:30pm will be the winner.

Here were the runners up:

• What's Going On (Series of Essays)
  
• What is the What? by David Eggers
  
• The Samurai's Garden
  
• HELP MEREDITH!
  
• black panther's book
  
• grief book about Molokai

June 10th: Night in Review

Despite missing some of the other book club members, I could easily vote last night's book club as the funnest and feistiest evening we've had over the past two years. (I'm sure this was influenced by Vicki's attentive bartending and our awareness that most of us didn't have to work the next day!)
We were eager to discuss Catfish and Mandala - and amazingly everyone but one person read the book! While we inhaled yummy spring roles, green papaya salad, soba noodles and lychee sake, our conversation quickly took off. Our discussion was all over the place - Vietnam Vets; gross incidents in the book; our frustration about the author's never ending dysentery; whether or not we would want to go to Vietnam; the challenge an immigrant faces due to experiencing prejudice in the home country and in the US; the marvel of a catfish to survive living on sewage; the cultural aspects child discipline; the definition of poverty and our curiosity about just how many prostitutes the author slept with...

There seemed to be consensus that we all wanted to hear more about the childhood experiences and the struggles once the family arrived in the US, we could've done without the doggie death scene, and we still aren't clear on the meaning behind "mandala" in the title - But all in all, this was a great pick.

THANK YOU, MR. MCLAUGHLIN, FOR A GREAT RECOMMENDATION!

(You should consult for Oprah's book club!)

I'm hoping someone else can attempt a post that captures the fun context amongst all this rigorous intellectual exchange...goofy gigglin' girls, not afraid to risk vulnerability or break social taboos...

Best Photos of June 10th

Meredith trying to keep us drunk junior high wanna-bees on task.

Melissa enjoying a bar of heaven.

(Tahnee is officially the Queen of Book Club Desserts)

Things Shelley loves: Haagen Daz, Toe Art and Book Club

Evening in Review May 12th

This was one of those nights were the food stood out more than the book. Only one sexy reader (SR) finished the book (our newest SR Meredith who was under the impression we actually read the nominated books...).

WE HEART ICE CREAM COOKIE SANDWICHES!

The highlight tonight seemed to be Miss Tahne's ice cream cookie sandwiches and hearing about all the upcoming exciting adventures of some of the bold members!! Leigh has accepted a job in Alaska (she leaves this month!) and will be keeping in touch with us through the blog. Keiko found out she is having a baby boy and is also preparing for her big move to the mainland and trip to Italia! Kim shared she will be travelling to South Africa for a month (which includes a 2 week safari). And finally, Tahnee will be Buono Viaggio into the heart of Tuscany in early June.

We also did some other very important book club business, including group photos and a blogging tutorial! We missed Shell, Vicki and Colleen! LOTS of photos will be taken of them next time.

This evening it became glaringly obvious that there are some definite trends we have amongst our book clubbies - one is the preference for Subaru Foresters and the other is Hummus. Meredith fit right in when she showed up with her hummus; quickly followed by another members hummus (and no, it wasn't Melissa!)

WHAT FUN!

The next book club will be on a TUESDAY - June 10th at 6:30/7ish at Meredith's. We will be discussing Catfish and Mandala - perhaps with Vietnamese food?

July's Book: The Female Thing!

We had some gruelling voting this time (that is after we quickly decided not to read Em's girlhood fantasy book about a magical apple tree - psst Kim - don't forget to remember the name of that book about the sisters..).
The tough selection was between:

• The Female Thing by Laura Kipnis
• Everything is Illuminated by Foer
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The Female Thing received the most votes. Most of us thought it would create an interesting discussion and isn't necessarily a book we would read on our own...and I'm guessing will create good BLOGGING material!!

June's Pick

Catfish and Mandala by Andrew Pham was selected to read for June's book club. This will give us lots of yummy food ideas for our get-together.

For those that have extra time to read, here are the other tempting books that were nominated by not selected:

Molokai by O.A. Bushnell

Molokai by Alan Brennert

Emotional Lives of Animals by Bekoff & Goodall