The book for our August book club is The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. This is the 2007 Booker Man Award Winner. As we were discussing last Tuesday night, the book is dense with description, and a little bit slower reading. It is probably not something you want to save until the last minute to go out and buy, thinking you can knock it out in a weekend. (I don't even think Erica could read this one that fast.) The August meeting will be August 28 at 7:30.
We also went ahead and made our pick for September: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Start thinking about some other books you would like to be reading and we can plan a couple of more months ahead next time we meet. Remember, both fiction and non-fiction are fair game in this group.
Happy reading and see you soon. ~ Jen
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Peace Like a River Brought Forth Piece of a Chocolate Cake
Thanks to everyone who came to book club on Tuesday - it was good to see so many people there! And thanks to Erica who brought the Zucchini Chocolate Cake. As promised, here is the recipe:
Zucchini Chocolate Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups shredded zucchini
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate baking chips
1 cup salad oil
4 large eggs
In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in zucchini, and chocolate chips. In a small bowl, beat oil and eggs; add to dry mixture and mix well.Spread batter in an oiled 9 by13 inch baking dish or pan.
Bake in a 325° oven until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. (recipe from Erica's friend Judy Perez)
It sure was a nice treat for such delightful conversation. ~ Jen
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2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups shredded zucchini
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate baking chips
1 cup salad oil
4 large eggs
In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in zucchini, and chocolate chips. In a small bowl, beat oil and eggs; add to dry mixture and mix well.Spread batter in an oiled 9 by13 inch baking dish or pan.
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It sure was a nice treat for such delightful conversation. ~ Jen
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Book Club meets Tuesday to Discuss Peace Like a River
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With the summer rolling along, I want to remind everyone that we will be meeting next Tuesday, July 31 to discuss Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger. If you haven't picked it up yet, I think you will find there is still time. It's a real quick read and a very enjoyable story. Leif Enger is a reporter and producer for Minnesota Public Radio - his writing style is relaxed, spiritual, and just a tinge on the folksy side. It's a nice summer read.
I thought for a change I would include a reading/discussion guide for the book. Take a look over the questions - it may get you thinking of ideas you would want to discuss about the book. I will bring copies of the guide, but I don't intend to go question by question, structured like school. Maybe it will be good for discussion starters:
I thought for a change I would include a reading/discussion guide for the book. Take a look over the questions - it may get you thinking of ideas you would want to discuss about the book. I will bring copies of the guide, but I don't intend to go question by question, structured like school. Maybe it will be good for discussion starters:
Reading Guide - Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
1. As the novel begins—indeed, as the very life of this novel's narrator begins—a miracle happens. Describe it. How does it happen? Who accomplishes it? Begin your discussion of this book by recounting the major and minor miracles that occur throughout. What role do they play in Peace Like a River?
2. Born with a severe case of asthma, Reuben Land, our young hero and narrator, must often struggle to bring air into his lungs. Throughout the book, Reuben is preoccupied with his own breathing, and the act of breathing functions in this story as a metaphor for life itself. How does Reuben cope with his ailment, and how is his character influenced by it? Provide instances where breathing takes on special meaning in the narrative.
3. Consider the details of the double homicide committed by Davy, Reuben's older brother. Does Reuben see Davy as a murderer, or as one who acted in self-defense? Does he want Davy brought to justice, or does he think justice has already been served? What about the other main characters: how do they feel? And what about you, the reader? How was your impression of Davy—and of this novel—influenced by his actions? Discuss how the novel explores the idea of loyalty.
4. Peace Like a River is set mainly in rural Minnesota and the Badlands of North Dakota during the early 1960s. Like early American pioneers, or perhaps like mythic heroes, the Lands set out to rescue one of their own amidst the beauty and cruelty of the natural world. How does the Land family contend with this raw, uncivilized, and sometimes brutal landscape? Identify events or circumstances in which the novel's setting contributes to its elemental or mythic quality.
5. Swede, Reuben's imaginative, prolific, and precocious younger sister, creates an epic poem about a cowboy named Sunny Sundown. Talk about Sunny's ongoing saga as an ironic commentary on Reuben's larger narrative. What are the parallels?
6. Besides the Sunny Sundown text, several other outlaw tales, literary allusions, biblical legends, and historical asides are offered—by Swede or by Reuben himself. Identify a few of these stories-within-the-story, explaining how each enriches or influences the main narrative.
7. Discuss the character of Jeremiah Land, Reuben's father—and the center of his moral compass. What are Jeremiah's strengths, as a person and a parent? Does he have any weaknesses? Why did his wife leave him, all those years ago? And why does he "heal" the grotesque employer who fires him (p. 80)? Explain how the novel's dual themes of familial love and ardent faith are met in this character.
8. Both during Davy's trial and after his escape from prison, we encounter a variety of public viewpoints on what Reuben's brother has done. Such viewpoints, usually presented as personal letters or newspaper editorials, are always steadfast yet often contradictory. What does Reuben seem to realize about the so-called "court of public opinion," in light of these viewpoints?
9. Prayer is described in many ways, and on many occasions, in Peace Like a River. Reading this book, did you discover anything about the activity of, reasons for, or consequences of prayer? What larger points—about religion and human nature, say—might the author be making with his varied depictions of people at prayer? For instance, when remembering a prayer he said that included blessings for even his enemies, Reuben comments thus regarding Jape Waltzer: "Later I would wish I'd spent more time on him particularly" (p. 285). Why does Reuben feel this way? What power does he recognize in his own prayers? Discuss the impact prayer has on Reuben, and how it transforms him.
10. Recovering from a near-fatal asthmatic collapse, Reuben muses: "The infirm wait always, and know it" (p. 290). Given Reuben's physical condition, and given what we know about his ancestry and the story at hand, what is Reuben "waiting" for? How is his waiting resolved? Can this analogy be applied to any of the other characters?
11. The final miracle in Peace Like a River occurs, of course, when Jeremiah surrenders his life for Reuben. But why, at an earlier point in the story, does Reuben observe, "Since arriving at [Roxanna's] house, we'd had no miracles whatever" (p. 257). Discuss the truth and falsehood of this remark. How might Roxanna herself be seen as a miracle?
12. What does the character of Roxanna bring to the Land family? What does she provide that the Lands had lacked before her arrival? Over the course of the novel, Reuben's attitude and his physical descriptions of Roxanna change. In what ways does it change, do you think Roxanna’s attitudes toward the Lands as a family and Jeremiah as a person undergo a similar metamorphosis?
13. In "Be Jubilant, My Feet," the next-to-last chapter, Reuben and Jeremiah enter a world beyond this one. "Here in the orchard," our hero recalls, "I had a glimmer of origin: Adam, I thought" (p. 301). Where exactly are Reuben and his father? What happens to them? How have these crucial events been foreshadowed, and how are they new or unprecedented?
14. Much of this novel concerns the inner life of childhood: imagination, storytelling, chores, play, and school life. Discuss the author's portrayal of childhood. Do the children depicted here seem realistic? Why or why not?
15. Remembering his own childhood, author Leif Enger recently noted: "I grew up squinting from the backseat at gently rolling hills and true flatlands, where you could top a rise and see a tractor raising dust three miles away. So much world and sky is visible, it's hard to put much stock in your own influence." Does this type of relationship between the individual and the natural world appear in Peace Like a River? If so, where? Identify key passages or scenes where the characters seem inferior to the landscape, or even at the mercy of it.
16. Finishing his story, Reuben notes: "You should know that Jape Waltzer proved as uncatchable as Swede's own Valdez" (p. 309). What do the characters of Jape and Valdez represent in this novel? Conclude your discussion by comparing and contrasting Peace Like a River with the traditional morality play—the symbolic drama (dating back to medieval times) based on the eternal struggle between Good and Evil.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Book for July 31 - Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Thanks to everyone who joined in a spirited discussion of presidential assassinations last month.
This month's book, Peace Like a River shifts gears to a winding narrative:
From Booklist
What readers will appreciate first in Enger's marvelous novel is the language. His limpid sentences are composed with the clarity and richness for which poets strive. It takes longer to get caught up in the story, but gradually, as the complex narrative unwinds, readers will find themselves immersed in an exceptionally heartfelt and moving tale about the resilience of family relationships, told in retrospect through the prism of memory. "We all hold history differently inside us," says narrator Reuben, who was an adolescent in Minnesota in the 1960s, when his brother, Davy, shot and killed two young men who were harassing the family. Rueben's father--in Rueben's estimation fully capable of performing miracles even though the outside world believed him to be lost in the clouds--packs Reuben and his sister up and follows the trail Davy has left in his flight from the law. Their journey comprises the action in the novel, but this is not really a book about adventures on the road. Rather, it is a story of relationships in which the exploration of character takes precedence over incident. Enger's profound understanding of human nature stands behind his compelling prose.
- Brad Hooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition
* Also Promised: The book that we will be reading is August is The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. More about this later.
For now, enjoy Peace like a River. Happy Reading! - Jen
This month's book, Peace Like a River shifts gears to a winding narrative:
From Booklist
What readers will appreciate first in Enger's marvelous novel is the language. His limpid sentences are composed with the clarity and richness for which poets strive. It takes longer to get caught up in the story, but gradually, as the complex narrative unwinds, readers will find themselves immersed in an exceptionally heartfelt and moving tale about the resilience of family relationships, told in retrospect through the prism of memory. "We all hold history differently inside us," says narrator Reuben, who was an adolescent in Minnesota in the 1960s, when his brother, Davy, shot and killed two young men who were harassing the family. Rueben's father--in Rueben's estimation fully capable of performing miracles even though the outside world believed him to be lost in the clouds--packs Reuben and his sister up and follows the trail Davy has left in his flight from the law. Their journey comprises the action in the novel, but this is not really a book about adventures on the road. Rather, it is a story of relationships in which the exploration of character takes precedence over incident. Enger's profound understanding of human nature stands behind his compelling prose.
- Brad Hooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition
* Also Promised: The book that we will be reading is August is The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. More about this later.
For now, enjoy Peace like a River. Happy Reading! - Jen
Thursday, June 21, 2007
We Meet Next Tuesday at 7:30
Okay - after talking to Erica, it seems as though I am the only one who has been thoroughly confused about what we are reading when. I am glad blogging has gotten me back on track. After a very long wait for some of you, we will finally be discussing Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell on Tuesday June 26 at 7:30. As always, we will be meeting at church. I hope you all have enjoyed/ are enjoying this book as much as I am.
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to participate in the Hunger Walk. Though the number of walkers for LMC was very low, we raised enough money to feed a family of three breakfast, lunch, and dinner for an entire year. Everytime I figure out my budget and go to the grocery store, I keep thinking about the book Nickle and Dimed. With rising food and energy costs for everyone I was happy to get up very early (for me) on a Saturday morning and walk a few miles to raise some money and help others out. Who knows, it might be the clerk at the grocery store I am helping to feed.
Here is a little video (my new toy) I shot at the Hunger Walk. I thought it would be fun to share with you all.
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to participate in the Hunger Walk. Though the number of walkers for LMC was very low, we raised enough money to feed a family of three breakfast, lunch, and dinner for an entire year. Everytime I figure out my budget and go to the grocery store, I keep thinking about the book Nickle and Dimed. With rising food and energy costs for everyone I was happy to get up very early (for me) on a Saturday morning and walk a few miles to raise some money and help others out. Who knows, it might be the clerk at the grocery store I am helping to feed.
Here is a little video (my new toy) I shot at the Hunger Walk. I thought it would be fun to share with you all.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Hey, Look, Jen Can Blog Again
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After a very long absence, and some mix-ups, I am back blogging again. My wrist is back in shape and book club is back in line - and we are reading Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell for June 26.
If you haven't picked it up yet, it is a fun, quirky little read - perfect for summer.
Have you ever played that game - if you could invite 3 people, living or dead to a dinner party, who would you invite? I was always able to come up with my first 2 very easily: Eleanor Roosevelt (my personal hero), Terry Gross (the host of NPR Fresh Air). And then I would stall. I couldn't think of a 3rd who I would really wan't to have a conversation with. I think that has now all changed. I think Sarah Vowell would be the dinner party 4th. I think I would enjoy talking about obscur historical events and possible parallel current events with her.
Happy reading, and I can't wait to talk about Assassination Vacation with all of you.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
No Book Club in December and Reading List for Jan, Feb, March 2007
Thanks to everyone who attended book club last Tuesday night. I know with all that was going on, reading Nickel and Dimed was just one more thing. But we did have great, spirited discussion about the ever-growing and very complex issue of the working poor.
I happened to catch a bit of 20/20 last night and they were discussing who gives the most proportionately in the US. Church goers give more to all charities than those who don’t go to church; and the rich give more than the middle class. But the group who gave most to others was the working poor (the middle class gave the least proportionately). I just thought it was an interesting fact for a group of people who, as we read, struggle so hard.
There was another person on the show who did studies that showed giving makes people feel good – physiologically. That made me think. I once heard a pastor’s stewardship sermon (yes, I listened) where part of the message was that we think we should give until it hurts. He said we should give beyond that until we give until it feels good. No point in that antidote, just an interesting correlation that I remembered. But I digress.
As we decided, we will NOT be meeting in December. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you.
Here are the books for January, February, and March of 2007.
January: The Memory’s Keeper’s Daughter – Kim Edwards
From Publishers Weekly Edwards's assured but schematic debut novel (after her collection, The Secrets of a Fire King) hinges on the birth of fraternal twins, a healthy boy and a girl with Down syndrome, resulting in the father's disavowal of his newborn daughter. A snowstorm immobilizes Lexington, Ky., in 1964, and when young Norah Henry goes into labor, her husband, orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Henry, must deliver their babies himself, aided only by a nurse. Seeing his daughter's handicap, he instructs the nurse, Caroline Gill, to take her to a home and later tells Norah, who was drugged during labor, that their son Paul's twin died at birth. Instead of institutionalizing Phoebe, Caroline absconds with her to Pittsburgh. David's deception becomes the defining moment of the main characters' lives, and Phoebe's absence corrodes her birth family's core over the course of the next 25 years. David's undetected lie warps his marriage; he grapples with guilt; Norah mourns her lost child; and Paul not only deals with his parents' icy relationship but with his own yearnings for his sister as well. Though the impact of Phoebe's loss makes sense, Edwards's redundant handling of the trope robs it of credibility. This neatly structured story is a little too moist with compassion. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
February: The Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery – Wendy Moore
Book Description In an era when bloodletting was considered a cure for everything from colds to smallpox, surgeon John Hunter was a medical innovator, an eccentric, and the person to whom anyone who has ever had surgery probably owes his or her life. In this sensational and macabre story, we meet the surgeon who counted not only luminaries Benjamin Franklin, Lord Byron, Adam Smith, and Thomas Gainsborough among his patients but also “resurrection men” among his close acquaintances. A captivating portrait of his ruthless devotion to uncovering the secrets of the human body, and the extraordinary lengths to which he went to do so—including body snatching, performing pioneering medical experiments, and infecting himself with venereal disease—this rich historical narrative at last acknowledges this fascinating man and the debt we owe him today. (Amazon.com)
March: The Widow of the South – Robert Hicks
From Publishers Weekly Hicks's big historical first novel, based on true events in his hometown, follows the saga of Carrie McGavock, a lonely Confederate wife who finds purpose transforming her Tennessee plantation into a hospital and cemetery during the Civil War. Carrie is mourning the death of several of her children, and, in the absence of her husband, has left the care of her house to her capable Creole slave Mariah. Before the 1864 battle of Franklin, Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest commandeers her house as a field hospital. In alternating points of view, the battle is recounted by different witnesses, including Union Lt. Nathan Stiles, who watches waves of rebels shot dead, and Confederate Sgt. Zachariah Cashwell, who loses a leg. By the end of the battle, 9,000 soldiers have perished, and thousands of Confederates are buried in a field near the McGavock plantation. Zachariah ends up in Carrie's care at the makeshift hospital, and their rather chaste love forms the emotional pulse of the novel, while Carrie fights to relocate the buried soldiers when her wealthy neighbor threatens to plow up the field after the war. Valiantly, Hicks returns to small, human stories in the midst of an epic catastrophe. Though occasionally overwrought, this impressively researched novel will fascinate aficionados. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Relating back to our discussion from Tuesday again, I was reading Fortune on-line and came across these articles that show Wal-Mart is a complicated issue (as discussed). Thought you might be interested.
Attack of the Wal- Martyrs
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_
archive/2006/12/11/8395445/index.htm?postversion=2006112813
Wal – Mart Becomes Gay Friendly
http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/28/news/companies/
pluggedin_gunther_gayWalMart.fortune/index.htm
Wal – Mart’s New “Green” Image – The Green Machine
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_
archive/2006/08/07/8382593/index.htm
Wal-Mart extends $4 generic drug program
http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/26/news/
companies/walmart_drugs/index.htm?postversion=2006102609
I will see all of you around. Happy reading.
Jen
I happened to catch a bit of 20/20 last night and they were discussing who gives the most proportionately in the US. Church goers give more to all charities than those who don’t go to church; and the rich give more than the middle class. But the group who gave most to others was the working poor (the middle class gave the least proportionately). I just thought it was an interesting fact for a group of people who, as we read, struggle so hard.
There was another person on the show who did studies that showed giving makes people feel good – physiologically. That made me think. I once heard a pastor’s stewardship sermon (yes, I listened) where part of the message was that we think we should give until it hurts. He said we should give beyond that until we give until it feels good. No point in that antidote, just an interesting correlation that I remembered. But I digress.
As we decided, we will NOT be meeting in December. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you.
Here are the books for January, February, and March of 2007.

From Publishers Weekly Edwards's assured but schematic debut novel (after her collection, The Secrets of a Fire King) hinges on the birth of fraternal twins, a healthy boy and a girl with Down syndrome, resulting in the father's disavowal of his newborn daughter. A snowstorm immobilizes Lexington, Ky., in 1964, and when young Norah Henry goes into labor, her husband, orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Henry, must deliver their babies himself, aided only by a nurse. Seeing his daughter's handicap, he instructs the nurse, Caroline Gill, to take her to a home and later tells Norah, who was drugged during labor, that their son Paul's twin died at birth. Instead of institutionalizing Phoebe, Caroline absconds with her to Pittsburgh. David's deception becomes the defining moment of the main characters' lives, and Phoebe's absence corrodes her birth family's core over the course of the next 25 years. David's undetected lie warps his marriage; he grapples with guilt; Norah mourns her lost child; and Paul not only deals with his parents' icy relationship but with his own yearnings for his sister as well. Though the impact of Phoebe's loss makes sense, Edwards's redundant handling of the trope robs it of credibility. This neatly structured story is a little too moist with compassion. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Book Description In an era when bloodletting was considered a cure for everything from colds to smallpox, surgeon John Hunter was a medical innovator, an eccentric, and the person to whom anyone who has ever had surgery probably owes his or her life. In this sensational and macabre story, we meet the surgeon who counted not only luminaries Benjamin Franklin, Lord Byron, Adam Smith, and Thomas Gainsborough among his patients but also “resurrection men” among his close acquaintances. A captivating portrait of his ruthless devotion to uncovering the secrets of the human body, and the extraordinary lengths to which he went to do so—including body snatching, performing pioneering medical experiments, and infecting himself with venereal disease—this rich historical narrative at last acknowledges this fascinating man and the debt we owe him today. (Amazon.com)

From Publishers Weekly Hicks's big historical first novel, based on true events in his hometown, follows the saga of Carrie McGavock, a lonely Confederate wife who finds purpose transforming her Tennessee plantation into a hospital and cemetery during the Civil War. Carrie is mourning the death of several of her children, and, in the absence of her husband, has left the care of her house to her capable Creole slave Mariah. Before the 1864 battle of Franklin, Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest commandeers her house as a field hospital. In alternating points of view, the battle is recounted by different witnesses, including Union Lt. Nathan Stiles, who watches waves of rebels shot dead, and Confederate Sgt. Zachariah Cashwell, who loses a leg. By the end of the battle, 9,000 soldiers have perished, and thousands of Confederates are buried in a field near the McGavock plantation. Zachariah ends up in Carrie's care at the makeshift hospital, and their rather chaste love forms the emotional pulse of the novel, while Carrie fights to relocate the buried soldiers when her wealthy neighbor threatens to plow up the field after the war. Valiantly, Hicks returns to small, human stories in the midst of an epic catastrophe. Though occasionally overwrought, this impressively researched novel will fascinate aficionados. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Relating back to our discussion from Tuesday again, I was reading Fortune on-line and came across these articles that show Wal-Mart is a complicated issue (as discussed). Thought you might be interested.
Attack of the Wal- Martyrs
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_
archive/2006/12/11/8395445/index.htm?postversion=2006112813
Wal – Mart Becomes Gay Friendly
http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/28/news/companies/
pluggedin_gunther_gayWalMart.fortune/index.htm
Wal – Mart’s New “Green” Image – The Green Machine
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_
archive/2006/08/07/8382593/index.htm
Wal-Mart extends $4 generic drug program
http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/26/news/
companies/walmart_drugs/index.htm?postversion=2006102609
I will see all of you around. Happy reading.
Jen
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