June 2018 Bookclub News

Al fresco* at TG's

Dear Bookclub,
A perfect afternoon on Terrie's patio for our discussion of "The Baker's Daughter", with an amazing lunch complete with German, well... Edelweiss, rolls and butter. The book was enjoyed by all although conversation was heavy into catching up - so much news every month! I do believe the lasting impression from our June 2018 meeting will be Michael and Kelsey's engagement. Our excitement for TF bubbled over like the champagne!

Back to the book... the alternating narrative allowed much character development and an ease with the alternating time frames. Despite this technique not so unique anymore, as yet another book on WWII, both the format and content were again appreciated. Thinking about Elsie's hidden Jewish boy, exploited for his musical talent, made me wonder if Tobias was based on a real character or more likely, an imagined composite. Some sleuthing did not produce a solid answer but I did find this:

https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/hidden-children/insideX/

Please read through this website and explore the many links... it is heart-breaking.

Suggestions for an upcoming read:
"The Great Alone" Kristen Hannah **chosen
 "Educated" Tara Westover
"Alternate Side" Anna Quindlen

Up next:

Finally, I want to mention that the many tragedies of Anthony Bourdain's passing include the very sad occurrence of Eric Ripert being the one to discover his dear, best friend unresponsive in a French hotel room. Ripert's memoir was something we much enjoyed as our June 2017 selection, "32 Yolks". So sad.

Bourdain and Ripert

Thoughtful reading,
LK


*check it out - from that know-it-all, Wikipedia:

 'The phrase al fresco is borrowed from Italian for "in the cool [air]", although it is not in current use in that language to refer to dining outside. Instead, Italians use the phrases fuori or all'aperto. In Italian, the expression al fresco usually refers to spending time in jail.' 

Whoa. Hardly. Thanks again, Terrie, for a beautiful meal outside in your beautiful garden.

May 2018 Recap

Dear Bookclub,

May gray days on end set the tone for our 1918 Spanish flu pandemic affair. Gathering at Lori's for our evening with author, Sue Meissner, to discuss her latest work, "As Bright As Heaven", our fabulous groups united with sweet anticipation. And sweetly welcomed, we were. Lori had created supper of nurturing soup jars, yummy meatballs, delicious salad and dainty pralines.

Susan Meissner and Lori

Fortified with flu shots(ginger beer, vodka & rosemary sprigs), we settled in to share our appreciation for Meissner's work. Sue enlightened with us her development of the book, passing around pictures depicting some scenes from the pandemic. Her revelation of plotting the novel with the deaths of certain individuals (no spoiling in this paragraph), in order to allow other character development was especially interesting, as was her admiration of the structure of Kingsolver's "Poisonwood Bible".

We neglected to chose a new selection for an upcoming read, but we are months and months out there so not adding to our calendar this month may actually be helpful.

Up next: Sarah McCoy's "The Baker's Daughter".

Terrie's suggestions for an upcoming read:
"The Great Alone" Kristen Hannah
 "Educated" Tara Westover
"Alternate Side" Anna Quindlen

This will be a tough decision!

Happy Reading!
LK