April Book Club

Hostess: Jennifer
Book: Defending Jacob by William Landay
Food:  Chickpea and Kale Stew, Cheese/Beer Dip, Homemade Bread, Fruit Salad with a Citrus Glaze, and adorable desserts
Month: April
Wine of the Night: Smoking Loon Pinot Noir


This was a rough week for a lot of us.  I had book fair, Jill and Chrissy had finals, Mary and Alyssa had been volunteering at the book fair, Jennifer had to get ready for us to descend upon her like locusts, and Kelly had wedding duties and couldn't attend. However, the day was beautiful and everyone was looking very forward to book club at Jennifer's house, to kick back, relax, imbibe, and eat.


This was the line up when we walked in:

We waited about five minutes to see how far away Mary and Alyssa were, and when we realized they were still twenty minutes away, decided it was time to eat. The stew was filling and yummy, and I am going to make it myself some time in the future.  But then, I can eat soup and stew everyday, its my favorite. The beer cheese dip is from Founders, and I seriously ate the hell out of it. I liked it more than the dessert, which I am sure seems crazy. And dessert was fantastic by the way, so that tells you something about the dip. Jennifer got the dessert from Shatila's, and they were almost too pretty to eat!

But we did eat them. I actually only ate half of mine, and Jill ate the other half, since I had pigged out on the dip. Lol.

Jennifer and I talked about the book, which I had devoured almost as quickly as the cheese dip.  I read it in just a few hours, and it kept me on the edge of my seat!! It led to a general discussion about nature vs. nurture, and whether there is a "murder gene".  Fascinating stuff, in my opinion.  I am thinking about reading Landay's other books since I loved this one so much.

As always, we had a great time getting together, chatting, and chilling.  Next month is Chrissy's month, and she has picked Into the Darkest Corner for everyone to read. 

It's Monday, What Are You Reading ~ May 6

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Read Last Week:

  

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare: I found myself crying at 1:30 in the morning over this book!  I really loved it, but now I feel I need to read  the Mortal Instruments Series again to clear up some questions in my head.  But I loved this book and wanted to gush about it to my husband immediately after reading it, but he is reading the series too, and wouldn't let me reveal spoilers. 

The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb: This book fell a little short for me although the atmosphere was perfect.

Reading this Week:

  

  

My Backyard Jungle by Robert Barilla: I received this from Netgalley. I had to check it out, I have always thought it would be cool to transform the backyard into a habitat.

Palisades Park by Alan Brennert: I didn't get to this last week, sadly.

The Sassy Belles by Beth Albright: I needed something bright and shiny to read, to match the new weather we are having.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? ~ April 29th

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Read Last Week:

    

The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs: I never expected what I got from this book. Mystery and history, I like it. 

Defending Jacob by William Landay:  Holy Crap! That is what I have to say about this book. Lol. Definitely a book to read. I am going to check out the rest of Landay's books too. Review after book club, since this is our book club book. 

Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews: Not my favorite by Andrews, but I didn't dislike it. First, one of the main characters has an English Setter, just like me! And second because I really like food.

Reading This Week:

  

  

The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb: This looks perfect to me for a rainy spring afternoon.

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare: Didn't get to this last week. May not this week either! But I am going to try.

Palisades Park by Alan Brennert: I love Brennert's books, and I can't wait to read this one!

I may not get to everything this week, or anything really, because I am in charge of this:

The school's Scholastic Book Fair. It is fun yet exhausting! And all the proceeds go to the school library, where I work.  It is a full week, but a worthwhile one.

Saturday Snapshot - April 27th

Saturday Snapshot

is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books

It's easy to participate- just post a picture that was taken by

you, a friend, or a family member, and add your link

on Alyce's site. (no pictures from the internet!)

This is Rorschach, Rory for short. He is around the neighborhood, chasing birds and climbing trees. I am not sure if he belongs to anyone, but he eats at our house.  He is shy and I am definitely going to get him fixed, as soon as I find out the answer to the ownership question. 

The Apple Orchard ~ Review

Title: The Apple Orchard
Author: Susan Wiggs
Source: NetGalley

Goodreads Summary:

Tess Delaney makes a living restoring stolen treasures to their rightful owners. People like Annelise Winther, who refuses to sell her long-gone mother's beloved necklace—despite Tess's advice. To Annelise, the jewel's value is in its memories.

But Tess's own history is filled with gaps: a father she never met, a mother who spent more time traveling than with her daughter. So Tess is shocked when she discovers the grandfather she never knew is in a coma. And that she has been named in his will to inherit half of Bella Vista, a hundred-acre apple orchard in the magical Sonoma town called Archangel.

The rest is willed to Isabel Johansen. A half sister she's never heard of.

Against the rich landscape of Bella Vista, Tess begins to discover a world filled with the simple pleasures of food and family, of the warm earth beneath her bare feet. A world where family comes first and the roots of history run deep. A place where falling in love is not only possible, but inevitable.

And in a season filled with new experiences, Tess begins to see the truth in something Annelise once told her: if you don't believe memories are worth more than money, then perhaps you've not made the right kind of memories.


My Thoughts:

I remember visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. and standing in front of an exhibit with a boat.  The exhibit was dedicated to Denmark during World War II, and how they saved almost all of the population of Jewish people.  They rowed their people to safety under the cover of night. I was struck by the heroics of this nation. The Denmark Rescue saved 7,200 people, a momentous act of bravery and compassion.

The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs includes some of this history. She handled this sensitively, and with the respect that the subject needs. She did not reduce it to some literary device or  add it to give the book more weight. It added to the book in a way that taught as well as told the back story.

That being said, there were lots of twists and turns to the book.  I thought for a minute that it was going to be like The Parent Trap, and then the story spun down a different path.  There were a few loose ends that I didn't feel were resolved, but this looks to be the first in a series, so perhaps resolution will occur in the following books.  There was also a scene that didn't make sense- all of a sudden a character is in the story in a part he wasn't before, without being introduced into that scene. It was very confusing for a second!

I thought the characters were fun and diverse, and I liked them all, but I liked Isabel the best. I hope we get to know her better in the future, but for now, I enjoyed reading about her cooking and baking. Their were some delicious sounding recipes at the beginning of each chapter - some of them made me long for summer even more than I already do.  I could imagine reading this book in my yard, enjoying the sun eating fresh tomato slices and drinking Pellegrino. Or a Californian Pinot Grigio. Yum!

Overall I think this book has a lot to offer -mystery, romance, history.  If you like any of this in the books you read, give this book a try.

Yoga Bitch ~ Review

Title: Yoga Bitch; One Woman's Quest to Conquer Skepticism, Cynicism, and Cigarettes on the Path to Enlightenment
Author: Suzanne Morrison
Source: Library

Goodreads Summary:

What happens when a coffee-drinking, cigarette-smoking, steak-eating twenty-five-year-old atheist decides it is time to get in touch with her spiritual side? Not what you’d expect…

When Suzanne Morrison decides to travel to Bali for a two-month yoga retreat, she wants nothing more than to be transformed from a twenty-five-year-old with a crippling fear of death into her enchanting yoga teacher, Indra—a woman who seems to have found it all: love, self, and God.

But things don’t go quite as expected. Once in Bali, she finds that her beloved yoga teacher and all of her yogamates wake up every morning to drink a large, steaming mug…of their own urine. Sugar is a mortal sin. Spirits inhabit kitchen appliances. And the more she tries to find her higher self, the more she faces her cynical, egomaniacal, cigarette-, wine-, and chocolate-craving lower self. 

Yoga Bitch chronicles Suzanne’s hilarious adventures and misadventures as an aspiring yogi who might be just a bit too skeptical to drink the Kool-Aid. But along the way she discovers that no spiritual effort is wasted; even if her yoga retreat doesn’t turn her into the gorgeously calm, wise believer she hopes it will, it does plant seeds that continue to blossom in surprising ways over the next decade of her life.


My thoughts:

I apparently have the same sense of humor as a 5 year old - and Suzanne Morrison at 25 years old.  I laughed my way through a lot of this book, to the point of tears, crying and hyperventilation.

Part of the humor for me was fart jokes, and fart stories. I have no idea why they have so much power over me; my husband only has to say the word to make me laugh. And this book talks frequently about passing gas. It makes sense. If you say yoga, people say fart. I have heard it happen in class, I am sure we all have heard it. I have even read articles on Do You Yoga that address it. I manage to be mature in class, so that I do not embarrass anyone, and pride myself on being yogic. Just like Suzanne in the book - she fights laughter, does laugh, and later tries to understand and relate to a fart, when the unthinkable happens and she lets one go in class herself. She tried to be detached, but later says , "I want to die. And I can't stop laughing. I'm in strait-jacket territory." I of course was laughing my head off reading all this.

This is not the only thing that made me laugh - Morrison so perfectly describes all the phases one goes through when practicing yoga, and the other personalities that show up in classes as well, that I recognized these same type personalities in my own classes. Many of these characterizations struck a chord with me, and some of them made me giggle and nod my head in agreement.

On a more serious note, Yoga Bitch is also about one woman's search for something more, something beyond her and beyond this world. Something like God. Morrison searched for enlightenment from her mat, covered in sweat, sore and stretched out, looking for God. Within Buddhism, within Christianity, from anywhere that seemed to prove that there is something greater out there. Her beliefs come and go, and she can't seem to find just the right fit, until someone says something to her at the end of the book that describes her search and herself dead on.

It is easy to identify with Morrison.  We have all been there in one way or another. She seems approachable, and makes yoga seem approachable as well. She is my new hero.

This book is written in honestly and with humor, and I think this is a book that could be enjoyed by anyone. (Unless they don't like fart jokes)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? ~ April 21st

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Read Last Week:

   

  

Yoga Bitch by Suzanne Morrison: I absolutely loved this book!! Review will be up Wednesday.

The Night is Watching by Heather Graham: This book was fun and escapist, which is good, because those are the exact reasons I pick this series up, hoping that they are. 

The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila: I thought this book was interesting. There are a few recipes I want to try, and in fact, I am going to try one out tomorrow. I will keep you posted!

Canning for a New Generation by Lianna Krissoff: I picked this up from the library, read through it, and knew that I needed it, so I immediately bought it for my iPad. 

Drinking and Tweeting and Other Brandi Blunders by Brandi Glanville: Guilty Pleasure Number One: I am addicted to the Real Housewives franchise. And Brandi is one of my faves. So I indulged in her book this weekend. 

Reading This Week:

  

  

Defending Jacob by William Landay: This is our book club pick for the month. I am looking forward to reading it, the premise sounds kind of like The Mourning Hours, which I loved!

Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews: As soon as the springtime weather kicks in, I always turn to an Andrews book. 

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare: Team Jem!

The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs: Because apples are the most perfect fruit.