The July 16th meeting was fun. Our light hearted book choice Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella was an easy summer read (especially for teachers who choose to remain unburdened from deep thought for the few short months before school resumes). Members in attendance in the upper room at Kairo's Coffe House were Barb, Becky, Cheryl, Christine, Ginnie, Lori, Jody, Sharon, and me.
The meeting opened with a short vocab quiz on some of the main character's, Becky Brandon's, commonly used words: pram, fab, knotty, gubbins, queue, etc. The quiz also asked for the name of Becky's favorite candy bar which Ginnie promptly answered, Kit-Kat! Kit-Kats were then passed around the room costing only 5 Weight Watcher points for 3 snack size bars. Following the quiz and intermittent book discussion, we shared shopping stories. Jody wore her shopping story, a pair of red leather shoes she purchased in the 80's. After spending what her mother would have considered an outrageous sum on them, she guiltily hid the evidence of her splurge in a box for many years. Book club member Becky (not to be confused with our character Becky Brandon) shared an epic story about her quest to aquire a bistro style patio set. Now, since Becky's saga, I have been spotting bistro sets everywhere!
Even though Shopaholic and Baby was measurably a shallow book, lacking in interpretative passages, in comparison to other books we have read; Kinsella's ditzy character Becky is nevertheless worthy of loving. As her husband Luke pointed out to Venetia when she asked him why he married someone as frivolous as Becky, he summed it up perfectly. "Becky's instincts match no one else's. Becky has ideas no one else has. Her mind goes to places no one else's does And sometimes I'm lucky enough to go with her." Becky encourages us to think out of the box, to dare to take the scenic route, it may have more twists and turns, but the sights are much more interesting along the way.
Some of our favorite quotes from Shopaholic and Baby were made by Mum and Janice when they accompanied Becky to her breathing classes. Desparately trying to keep the birthing mothers positive and relaxed, the breathing coach was especially ired when Mum stated, "Dear, when you're gripped by agony and wanting to die, a bath doesn't help!" We all agreed on this fact then shared our own birth experiences, comparing levels of pain, doses of potossin, and strenghths of epidurals. Our discussion was still frightfully fresh for Christine who just recently delivered her son Grant only a few short months ago.
I hope Sophie Kinsella continues the bio of Becky Brandon with another book in the Shopoholic series. Since Becky already describes her new baby as a "...total party girl... Her favorite time is one in the morning, plus she quite likes 3 in the morning and 5..." Kinsella may be preparing us for more zany Shopaholic adventures.
At the end of the July meeting, we shared our book ideas. The result is our slate of book picks for 6 months of stimulating reading:
Month Title AuthorAugust A Thousand Days in Venice Marlena de Blasi
September Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Lisa See
October Sunshine Robin McKinley
November Loving Frank Nancy Horan
December No book Christmas DinnerJanuary The Red Tent Anita Diamonte
February Elegant Gathering of White Snow Kris Raddish
In addition to planning our book agenda, we also planned a book club field trip at the July meeting. Spawned by our August read A Thousand Days in Venice and talk of Italy, Lori recommended we continue our vicarious Italian adventure at the movie theater on Thursday, July 31. The movie Mama Mia is playing at Regal Cinema, Moraine Point Plaza, at 7:15 P.M. Regardless of the inflated cost per ticket ($8.75 in case you haven't been to a theater in a while), please try to join us. Anyone interested, we will meet in front of the snack bar area between 7:00 P.M. and 7:15 P.M.
Lastly, the next book club will meet at 6:00 P.M. on Wednesday, August 20, at Kairo's Coffee House. I can't wait to get started on A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena de Blasi. The book, a true story of de Blasi's time spent in the romantic city of Venice, features many of her own recipes. With that thought in mind, I have a homework assignment for us. Bring copies of your favorite Italian recipe to the next meeting, or if you don't have one, try one of de Blasi's recipes before we meet next and give us your critical opinion of it. Also, another homework assignment, please post any thoughts you have while reading the book this month on our blog, tsmithkcwwbc.blogspot.com/ !
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Seven members attended last night's book club field trip to see Mamma Mia at the Regal Cinema: Ginnie, Cheryl, Lori, Barb, Sharon, Jody, and myself. It was a great idea thought of by Lori. We laughed our hearts out as Meryl Streep's character Donna faced her three former lovers in a paternal crisis. Maybe it was the Abba songs that made the movie so endearing, or the loveable characters despite Streep and her costar Pierce Brosnan's lack of singing talent.
Even so, when Donna and her girlfriends sauntered down the Greek Island trail to the tune of “Dancing Queen,” it was tempting not to jump out of our seats and join them. It reminded me of a bachelorette party, 25 years ago. After much merry making the group of free spirited young women set out for a stroll through the town of Chicora. The parade began at the Hilltop Bar where the bride-to-be was hoisted into a contraband shopping cart from the nearby Friedman’s Grocery store. From there, the group gaily wheeled the bride down the steep main hill touring the local bars along the way. In and out of the taverns the women paraded her while touting their own freedom, chanting Helen Reddy's hit song "I am Woman!” Unleashing bras ala Helen, various cup sizes were waved in liberation as they marched. However, in contrast to jumping in the water at the end of their procession, as in Mamma Mia, this group ended their pageantry fleeing from the police. After ditching the shopping cart, they went on the lamb by jumping in the back of a local redneck’s pickup truck joining his fresh load of bloody rabbit carcasses. So for me, Mamma Mia was nostalgic. Not only were the songs from the same era as the noted bachelorette party, but the movie fondly recalled my own memory of a riotous night of female emancipation.
After the movie we made a unanimous book club decision to change the location of our next meeting. Instead of meeting at Kairo’s Coffee on Wednesday, August 20, we will meet at Lori’s house. This provides us with the opportunity to bring our own food to the meeting since our homework assignment was to share an Italian recipe. Christine suggested that instead of sharing recipe cards, we could actually share the food. We will have our own mini trip to Venice by sampling our Italian dishes!
I can not sleep so I decided to blog. Emmy's second birthday party is tomorrow and it is going to be huge! I have yet to fall in love with this book. However, I have completely embraced some of her comments on motherhood. Read over page 41. Although she is referring to single moms, I can still relate. She reviews her fears.
First, happy birthday to Emmy!
As for the book, I loved it. I have post it notes everywhere. The author Marlena De Blasi has so many insightful comments about life, food, and people.
So, when I opened the book up to page 41, Christine, I wasn't surprised to see that I had marked the same passage. The line "Yes, yes, of course you must leave. Yes, I understand" really hit home. The fact is, yes, we know our children must leave, and yes, on one level we understand, but on another level we don't understand at all. Why does life have to be so cruel to take away what we love the most? If we were living 100 years ago the likelihood that our children would only live a street away from us was much higher, now they will most likely live thousands of miles away as globalization becomes more and more a reality.
I can't wait to discuss "A Thousand Days in Venice.” I savored every minute of this reading experience, nibbling on every morsel of Marlena's thoughts like I would the buttery layers of a warm crescent roll!
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