Two books

After some oppressively steamy weather the cooler air on Tuesday was refreshing, and then we also had Jane's garden as a perfect setting complete with orioles. Thank you Jane for providing such a beautiful evening.

We had a little catching up to do with two books to discuss this time - And After the Fire as well as The Ten-year Nap - both of which provided plenty of topics for conversation.

Speaking of catching up, here's the photo blog of my trip to Italy: sistersinitaly.blogspot.com

We  made plans for future months.  On Wednesday, July 18th we'll be meeting at Janice's house.  The book will be Vi by Kim Thuy.

August will be at Jo's.  The date is Wednesday, August 29th.  No book has been selected for this occasion - please bring a book to share with everyone.

In September we will meet at my house on Thursday, the 27th.  The book will be The Tenth of December by George Saunders.

And on Thursday, October 25th book club will be at Wanda's.  The book will be Commonwealth by Ann Patchett.

Book mentions:

• You Think It I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld
• The Lightkeeper's Daughter by Jean E. Pendziwol
• Circe by Madeline Miller
• Kudos by Rachel Cusk
• Shrewed by Elizabeth Renzetti
• The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman
• Warlight by Michael Ondaatje 
• The Lion in the Room Next Door by Merilyn Simonds
• Gutenberg's Fingerprint by Merilyn Simonds
• Brother by David Chariandy
• American War by Omar El Akkad
• The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Demaline
• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
• Heave by Christy Ann Conlin
• Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
• Red Notice by Bill Browder
• The Boat People by Sharon Bala
• Your Mouth is Lovely by Nancy Richler
• Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga
• Forgiveness by Mark Sakamoto
• Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik
• Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick DeWitt
• The Second Child by Caroline Bond
• Barkskins by Annie Proulx
• We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
• Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot

On video: 

• The Accountant of Auchwitz
• CBC Back in Time for Dinner 

Good to know: 

• TIFF Reference Library  Here's an audio introduction. 
•  TPL Kanopy: video streaming service 
• TPL Lynda.com: tutorials for technology

Kim Thuy talks about Vi: 

April and The Little Red Chairs

Some days there won’t be a song in your heart. Sing anyway. ~Emory Austin

As always it was both relaxing and uplifting to spend the evening together with friends and good conversation.  Saara deserves a medal for hosting beautifully while undoubtedly under the weather. Well done and feel better!

Lynda was in our thoughts with all our hopes that she will recover fully and soon be back in our midst.

We decided to read The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer for our June 19th meeting. That's a Tuesday and we'll be at Jane's.

Our next book will be And After the Fire by Lauren Belfer.  We will meet on Thursday, May 24th at Wanda's home. You can hear the music that Lauren Belfer mentions in And After the Fire on Spotify.

Books that we mentioned:

• Brother by David Chariandy
• Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
• The Night Stages by Jane Urquhart
• Shrewd by Elizabeth Renzetti
• Red Notice: A true story of high finance, murder and one man's fight for justice by Bill Browder

We didn't get to talking about what to watch but I did glean some suggestions on the subway ride home.  Here's what I remember:

• Seven Seconds
• Babylon Berlin 
• Scandal
• Homeland
• The Good Fight
• Twenty Twelve

Thank you Saara -  a wonderful dessert!

A Visit from the Goon Squad

This time book club was on the second day of spring, not very warm yet, but still something to celebrate. Thank you to Susan for hosting.  And the dessert! Wow! The recipe is below.

A Visit from the Goon Squad captured a lot of interest and gave us much to talk about. The PowerPoint chapter. 

Someone named Tyler J. Petty has worked out timelines for the book. See if you agree.

Here is The New Yorker magazine version of the story Black Box, narrated by Lulu and originally published by Jennifer Egan bit by bit on Twitter.

The next book will by The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien.  We will be at Saara's on April 19th.

Books we mentioned: 

• Brother by David Chariandy
• Hag-seed by Margaret Atwood
• The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy 
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Worth watching: 

• This is Us
• Occupied
• Broadchurch
• Bull
• Homeland
• Network
• The Newsroom

Susan’s Grated Apple Tart  

Base:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp white vinegar

In a food processor pulse first 3 ingredients until well blended.  While food processor is running, add vinegar and pulse briefly.  Dump into an 8” springform pan and pat into the bottom and sides. 

Filling:

3 cups grated apple (Cortland, Macintosh)

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

1 tsp cinnamon

Grate apples and mix with the other ingredients.  Pour into shell and smooth top.  Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.  Let cool and turn out onto plate. 

Born a Crime

A young Trevor Noah and his mom

Thank you to Maureen for a great evening at the lake. With full attendance we had a lot of catching up to do. The snacks were a hit and the blueberry upside down cake was special.  Here's the recipe, with a reminder that Maureen used frozen wild blueberries in place of the giant fresh kind.

Born a Crime was an interesting read, and an intimate view of life in South Africa. There are quite a few chances to see Trevor Noah on Netflix at the moment.  There are his comedy specials Trevor Noah: Afraid of the Dark and Trevor Noah: African American and a documentary, You Laugh But it's True and he shows up in an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. 

We made some plans for the future months.  In March we'll be at Susan's and the book will be A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.  The date for this is Wednesday, March 21st.
In April we'll be reading The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien.  We'll meet at Saara's on Thursday, April 19th.
May will be at Wanda's.  The book is And After the Fire by Lauren Belfer.  The date is Thursday, May 24th.

Other Books We Mentioned

• The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
• The American War by  Omar El Akkad
• The Lotteries Plus One (children's literature) by Emma Donoghue - Proceeds support Room to Read, a charity supporting education and literacy around the world. 
• The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
• Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill

Jennifer Egan talks about A Visit from the Goon Squad 

2018

An excellent start to the year at Mai Bistro last night!
We'll meet again at Maureen's on Febuary 22nd to talk about Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. 

One-handed entertaining

Maximum respect is due to Janice for pulling off December's book club gathering with a broken wrist, and making it look easy.  Thank you for a great evening!

Our next meeting will be at Mai Bistro at 7 pm on January 4th, 2018.  This will be an opportunity to enjoy food and friendship, and there's no book assigned for January.

On February 22nd we'll be at Maureen's to talk about Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah.

The only decision about March was location - we'll be meeting at Susan's.

In case The End of Eddy is still puzzling here's Edouard Louis on his book:

Books mentioned last night:

• Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian
• The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg
• After the Fire by Lauren Belfer
• A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
• The Devil's Making by Sean Haldane
• Red Notice: A true story of high finance, murder and one man's fight for justice by Bill Browder

Film Suggestions:

• Rake 
• Top of the Lake: China Girl 
• Lady Bird
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• The Shape of Water
• Cardinal
• 21 Grams
• Pure
• The Crown
• The Break
• Peaky Blinders
• First They Killed My Father

Have a very merry Christmas everyone, and all the best for the new year.  See you on January 4th. 

The Grapes of Wrath and Dustbowl Migration

Here are links to a few articles about The Grapes of Wrath and the Dustbowl Migration:

http://numerocinqmagazine.com/2012/08/27/the-senses-of-an-ending-the-grapes-of-wrath-novel-and-film-patrick-j-keane/

https://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/more.php?id=1355

http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/dust%20bowl%20migration.htm