01-15-12: Janelle, talking about Bloodroot: "It's Appalachia, but there is no skinning of pigs or rendering of lard."
01-15-12: Five out of seven Bookworms now own a Kindle! The tentacles of technology have reached us!
01-15-12 Menu: Avocado Salad, Cashew Carrot Ginger Soup, Whole Grain Bread with Garlic Hummus, Chocolate Mousse
12-18-11: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett was granted the Bookworms Anonymous Stamp of Approval. No hesitation, no question, no discussion.
12-18-11: Janelle handed out handmade Christmas decorations, made from book pages she's removed during her hollow book projects. Shaped like birds and sporting silver sparkle and twiggy legs, they will look wonderful on our trees and honor our Bookwormishness! So crafty.
12-18-11: Angie gave each of us a Christmas shaped suet and bird seed ornament to hang outside.
12-18-11 Menu: fruit, cheese, crackers, chocolate covered rice chips. Tossed salads served in parmesan baskets, if you please! Manicotti. Cake with fig sauce.
11-20-11: Jean, while reviewing the Goon Squad: "Kookiest book ever! But very interesting and just really great. Goon squad," she grins and shakes her head. "It's time passing by, and the goons will get you every time."
11-20-11: Everyone, talking about the author of Daughter's Keeper, Ayelet Waldman: "Ayelet? Is that Buttonhole's sister?" "Cufflink's cousin?" "Does she have a brother named Zipper?" "Ha! Her name would be dropped stitch if she were an orphan or step child!"
11-20-11 Menu: smoked salmon, fresh fruit, garlicky hummus, gouda. Main dish: "soup and sandwiches" (Jean's term) Swiss and dill pickle on pumpernickel bread with creamy tomato soup, followed by banana cream pie.
10-23-11: Jean, as someone hands her copy of The Help to her: "It's not mine." Collective response: "Are you ill?" Jean, after a quick recovery: "Oh, I think it's my sister's."
10-23-11: Jen, relating the story of how she acquired two books to share with the group: "Tucker got sick at school while I was away, so I stopped to buy him a balloon with a tractor on it to cheer him up. The balloon also says 'Happy Birthday' but he can't read yet. Anyway, this Hallmark store had a few shelves of great books--many of them are the same ones we're passing around right now--so I bought two books and a balloon. I also gave them a copy of Jan's latest book to review." Gold star!
10-23-11: Menu: Middle Eastern Fare: Lentil Soup, Tabouleh Salad, Stuffed Grape Leaves, and nifty little cookies for dessert.
09-18-11: Jean, referring to a book we're borrowing from a friend of hers: "just pencil in Jean Bloom if you'd like, darling."
09-18-11: Our guest from last month, Sherry, sent the book Mokoka'i to our meeting with Janelle. Our first remote member.
09-18-11: Menu: Sweet Potato Bisque, Couscous Salad, Hummus and Crackers, Baked Apples
08-21-11: BA had a guest at the meeting--a rare event! Sherry, Janelle's sister-in-law, is visiting and wanted to attend the meeting. We didn't hold back at all--she witnessed a very interesting meeting.
08-21-11: Angie, reviewing a book: "Unfortunately, I still remember it."
08-21-11: Janelle, reviewing a book: "It's fun and enjoyable while you're reading it, but completely forgettable afterward. Like a Golden Girls rerun."
08-21-11: My favorite quote on the bird-shaped cards Janelle had at each place: "If you have never said 'excuse me' to a parking meter or bashed your shins on a fire plug, you are probably wasting too much valuable reading time." --Sherri Chasin Calvo, a woman after my own heart!
08-21-11: Janelle has a new Kindle! Jean still doesn't like the electronic readers, but she's glad Janelle can download State of Wonder by Ann Patchett so Jean can take the hardback copy home...
08-21-11: MENU: Tossed salad with avocado and hard-boiled egg slices; Orzo salad with tomatoes and toasted pine nuts; rustic bread; apple crisp and ice cream. Wonderful!
07-10-11: Incendiary by Chris Cleave was awarded the Bookworms Anonymous Stamp of Approval.
07-10-11: Jan attended Ann Patchett's signing in Harbor Springs this past month and delivered a brief synopsis of Ann's witty comments.
07-10-11: MENU: 1st course: watermelon bites and blueberries, topped with a dollop of yogurt. 2nd course: couscous salad in zig-zag tomatoes. 3rd course: asparagus avocado soup (cilantro, lite sour cream, lime...). Dessert: chocolate cheesecake. Fabulous!
06-12-11: Jen announced her new reading method: audio books. "I can listen to an audio book on the way to work, while playing in the sand box with Tucker, while folding laundry. I read so much this month I am now measuring the amount I've read by the inch rather than the number of books. I finished four books, but it counts as six inches."
06-12-11 MENU: Veggie Lasagna, fresh strawberries, spinach dip, garlic bread, chocolate pie.
06-10-11: Three bookworms (Jan, Anne and Christine) attended a dinner with The Readers, a reading group from Sault Ste. Marie. Wonderful food and conversation fed us all evening. Thank you, The Readers, for inviting us!
05-15-11 MENU: Eggplant Parmigiana, Salad (one fruit, one tossed), herbed bread, wildberry pie, and Funky Llama Merlot!
04-17-11: Angie, presenting a book she read during the month: "I read it every day, but I didn't get up at five to read it. I slept til six." We agreed that a book worth getting up at five am to read is truly a great book; unfortunately the book Angie was presenting didn't earn that status.
04-17-11: MENU: Jean's fabulous Veggie Quiche, fresh fruit and rice pudding served in pedestal glasses with whipped coconut milk. "It looks like mortar, but it tastes pretty good," said Jean.
03-13-11: Jean, on The Senator's Wife: "It's a long short story, really, with a wham bam thank you ma'am at the end." Of course everyone wants to read this one now!
03-13-11: MENU: Anne's famous Lentil Casserole, fresh veggies and dip, cheese and crackers, and a grand finish with sweet potato casserole/crisp, topped with a brown-sugar-pecan crust and served with vanilla ice cream.
02-13-11: Christine met someone the previous night who asked her, "Are you one of the members of the exclusive book club in DeTour?" She said yes.
02-13-11: Jean's response to the exclusivity claim: "I must remember to bequeath my Bookworms Anonymous membership to someone in my will."
02-13-11: Jean and her granddaughter belong to the smallest book club ever: the two of them make up the entire membership. They read the same book and then call each other to discuss it.
02-13-11: Jean, while reviewing Heather Lende's newest book: "It's an uplifting tale about a woman who gets hit by a truck." (The funny thing is, she's right! If you haven't read it yet, get yourself a copy.)
02-13-11: Angie presented a new book, Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell, which she purchased from Amazon after viewing the movie from Netflix.
02-13-11: Angie then presented another new book, Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon, which she purchased on Amazon to avoid paying shipping on the first book. (Thank you, Amazon, for the great free shipping policy!)
02-13-11: Angie, after listening to Christine and Jean co-review The River Wife and mentioning the horrible husband who lives a very, very long time: "Evil men do." So true, so true.
02-13-11: Rush Home Road by Lori Larsens was awarded the Bookworms Anonymous Stamp of Approval.
02-13-11 MENU: Vegetarian Mediterranean Calzones, tossed salad, homemade hummus and crackers, and fruit sorbet. Preparation madness ensued when I discovered I'd misplaced my coffee pot, needed an extra chair and didn't have a carafe to keep the coffee hot on the table. Luckily Jen had all three and arrived toting the awkward items and saved the day.
01-16-11: Angie announced her impending grandmotherhood—her son and his wife are expecting in May.
01-16-11: Amy and Isabelle was recognized as a serious contender for the Bookworms Anonymous Stamp of Approval.
01-16-11: Angie, while holding up a book to review: “I know I liked this book because I remember telling someone what I was reading and that I liked it.”
01-16-11: Jean, talking to Anne: “You have to read The Leisure Seekers before your daughters, Annie. It’s for us wizard people.”
01-16-11: Jean, discussing a certain speaker they’d heard at the library who shall remain nameless: “When ‘x’ spoke at the library they were a terrible, awful speaker!” Angie’s reply: “They were a better speaker than writer!”
01-16-11: The Girl Who Fell From the Sky and Little Bee were awarded the Bookworms Anonymous Stamp of Approval. Stickers were affixed and wine was sipped in recognition of this honor.
01-16-11 Janelle’s Menu: Shrimp pie with spinach crust, tossed salad with strawberries, peapods, carrots, lettuce and ginger vinaigrette, fresh fruit and asparagus—in January! Fabulous. Dessert was a faux tiramisu, quite scrumptious and featuring about 1/8 of the calories of traditional tiramisu.
12-19-10: Angie brought her date loaves as a Christmas gift, each tagged with a fancy Christmas tag marked: To Bookworm, From Angie. Delicious!
12-19-10: Jean stated the other book club is reading Escape, a serious tome about living as one of multiple wives and how she finally broke free. We, on the other hand, are reading The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall, a riotous novel exploring the social intricacies of maintaining several familes at once.
12-19-10: Angie brought The River Wife, a book of Jean's, to pass along. "It's a good yard," said Jean. "I just needed fiction so bad, and this was really, really good," said Angie.
12-19-10: Someone (Angie or Christine) brought the book Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill and explained it's about the end of life, and the way we face it. "It's for us wizard people," said Jean.
12-19-10: Jan brought her new Kindle for show and tell. Many oohed and aahed, and wondered how it will work for trading books around; Jean's comment was: "I don't like it, honey. Put that on the website."
12-19-10: Menu: Veggie Lasagna, tossed salad with pear vinaigrette, garlic bread, lemon bars.
12-19-10: For the first time in history, we are holding a meeting at 3pm. Santa Claus's scheduled appearance at 6pm the same evening made it impossible for Jen to host the BA meeting and take Tucker to face his fears and tell Santa what he wants for Christmas.
11-14-10: Observed at the meeting--Anne can't wait to lug her books home--she's surreptitiously reading the first pages of an intriguing hardback.
11-14-10: Angie, when reviewing a neat little book: "I'm glad this book was short."
11-14-10: (when Angie was reviewing The Zookeeper's Wife):
Jean: "That's mine."
Chorus: "Sssuuuurrrreee."
11-14-10 (when Christine presented the book Earth: Then and Now): Christine: "This book is not our standard novel but I have to bring this stuff in case someone wants to check it out."
Jean: "It's good for us, honey. Like a vitamin pill."
Janelle: "It's bitter, but we'll take it."
11-14-10 (about a random book being presented by Angie): "Is that mine?" asked Jean. "Well, it's not mine," replied Christine. Angie checked. It's Christine's.
11-14-10 at Christine's: Menu: couscous salad with lemon & oil dressing, Almond Crusted Tofu with Tahini sauce, and green beans in a dandy mint sauce served at a cool temperature. Dessert was comprised of shortbread with cherries and whipped cream. Dreamy! Christine is cooking her way through Vegetarian Traditions and we gave her 4 out of 4 stars for this meal. Spectacular.
10-17-10: Angie, after reading a certain book that is enjoying bestseller status and has already been read by two other Worms: "It took me 200 pages to find it interesting."
10-17-10: Angie, holding up a Sherwood Anderson book entitled Poor White: "You'll never want to read this one." Sure enough, no one did.
10-17-10: Janelle, after a brief discussion about the merits of short stories (they are each an entity unto themselves) and the faults of same (who can schedule reading time that meticulously?): "Short stories are all foreplay and no satisfaction." Amen!
10-17-10: Angie, calculating how many books she should take: "We only have 5 weeks until the next meeting and I've been reading 1-2 books per week...actually just one per week...well, I'll take it but it might sit a while."
10-17-10: Jean, three times (she was right twice, I think): "Is that my book?"
10-17-10 Menu: Tortellini Three Cheese Bake ("This is sssooo unhealthy," said Angie as she pulled it from the oven. "I just realized how fattening it is when I was buying the ingredients. Three cheese pasta, then three more cheeses."), home-canned beets, tossed salad, peppers, and birthday cake for dessert! One of us has an impending birthday and we ate apple cake with nuts and wonderful creamy frosting. Yum! The Tortellini Three Cheese Bake received rave reviews; we focused on the high calcium content and chose to disregard the fat.
9-12-10: We agreed to split the Stamp of Approval into categories rather than one broad list, so we can award books on more individualized merits such as "high literature" or "fluff". I will categorize the existing list soon.
9-12-10: Three books were awarded the BA Stamp of Approval tonight (this is a new record!): Every Last One by Anna Quindlen, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Murieal Barbery, and On the Divinity of Second Chances by Kaya McLaren.
9-12-10: From Jean: "Unfortunately, I read it." We made her keep the book.
9-12-10: Menu: Absolutely fabulous smothered whitefish fillets. I think they were panfriend first, then layered in a casserole dish, then topped with a mixture of gently cooked cherry tomato halves, kalamata olives, garlic and fresh ground black pepper. Out of this world. Served with wild rice, crusty bread, fresh fruit and sweet chutney (see my blog for chutney recipe), and followed with banana cream pie. You can imagine how we had to roll ourselves out of the meeting.
7-18-10: Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving was awarded the Bookworms Anonymous Stamp of Approval. Our list is growing!
7-18-10: Menu: Pasties! A yooper theme, with vegetarian pasties and various fresh veggies and dips. Yum.
6-20-10: A historical (hysterical?) event: for the first time, we discussed a book that hasn't yet been brought to a meeting. The Help by Kathryn Stockett has been read by Jean and a few of us are familiar with the story line, but Jean borrowed a copy elsewhere or loaned hers out elsewhere so it's not going around the circle just yet. We spent at least five minutes discussing this book. Hopefully it'll make the rounds soon.
6-20-10: Only one new book was introduced: Little Bee, by Chris Cleave, brought by Angie. She said she's been seeing it everywhere since she bought it and sure enough, I checked the Bookworms Anonymous page on Amazon.com and it's partnered with my book!
6-20-10 Menu: Roasted Vegetable Lasagna, tossed green salad, cheese and crackers, munchies and lemon bars for dessert.
4-18-10 Menu: Crab Cakes, tossed green salad and Rice/Veggie Pilaf, followed by ice cream and frozen wild blueberries picked last season. Delicious! We also tried a new white wine called Sekt, a bit bubbly but approved by all.
4-18-10: The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver received the Bookworms Anonymous Stamp of Approval.
4-18-10: There were a total of 35 books on the table at this meeting; I had read zero books for the first time since our group's inception. One of the books was mine, however, as I brought my new Anna Quindlen Every Last One as an offering in case others are book poor.
4-18-10: Janelle and Christine both had reading crises this past month and were both forced to declare a state of emergency and purchase books of questionable value to give their eyes something to peruse. These emergency books were termed tourniquets--used to stop the bleeding, but unfortunately also cut off the blood supply to the brain.
4-18-10: Angie read a book which I shall not name here (I didn't even write down the title or author) and she said she read 100 pages but couldn't stand it any longer. It's a mystery/suspense style book she swears she took from our previous meeting, but none of us have seen it before (or are willing to admit we've seen it). It goes without saying no one took this toothache of a book.
4-18-10: Angie read 10 books over the month and, lugging them all to the Bookworm meeting, the zipper broke on her book bag. Yet another form of collateral damage.
3-12-10 Menu: Italian Bean Soup, followed by tossed salad, then a pasta and asparagus casserole sprinkled with toasted nuts, finishing with date cake and ice cream. Fabulous!
3-12-10: Angie brought the book Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels, but it didn't make circulation after she admitted it was well-written but hard to read, dealing with WWII and the concentration camps. The highest praise she gave this book was summed up in her comment, "I was never tempted to quit." Janelle pronounced it "obtusely written".
3-12-10: "Oh, that was a woof," said Jean, regarding Anita Diamant's Good Harbor, which circulated through the club a year or two ago.
3-12-10: The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates received the Bookworms Anonymous Stamp of Approval (we have stickers now, so it actually received a real stamp on the cover! First book to receive a visible Stamp of Approval).
