January 2011 Meeting

"Breaking Trail"


January 13, 2010
7 pm
Host: Mor Mor Kris

January 2011 Book - The Places in Between

The Places in Between

Rory Stewart

Dancing Baby

December 2010 Book Selection - A Short History of Women, a Novel

A Short History of Women: A Novel

Kate Walbert

Meeting at Entrepreneur's
Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Grilled Polenta

Grilled Polenta

Ingredients
4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup yellow cornmeal (dry, in the box)
1/4 cup of half and half (or heavy cream)
1 tablespoon butter, softened
garlic (I used 3/4 teaspoon crushed from the jar)
herbs, about 1-2 Tablespoons of fresh herbs (I used what I had in the garden: chives, tarragon, thyme, basil, oregano...you can use whatever, probably just chives would be fine)
3/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan
Fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
Olive oil
Balsamic Reduction: Balsamic vinegar, heat on low until reduced......it will get even thicker as it cools.

Directions
Bring water and salt to a boil in a large saucepan. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal in a slow steady stream. Lower heat and continue to whisk until the polenta is thick and smooth, about 20 minutes. Add the cream and butter and continue to stir until incorporated. Remove from heat, strain if desired to remove any lumpiness. Fold in Parmesan cheese and black pepper. Pour the polenta into a buttered 9 by 9 inch baking dish and spread evenly with a spatula. Cover and chill a few hours. Cover a cookie sheet with foil, brush some olive oil on the foil. Cut the polenta into squares/triangles/whatever you like. Brush the top and sides of the polenta shapes with olive oil, let come to room temperature if you have time. Broil, until golden brown...takes awhile, maybe 15+ minutes or so.

Serve warm broiled polenta over salad (heirloom tomatoes, herbed goat cheese, salad greens, shredded carrots, avocado), drizzle all with a balsamic reduction.

November 2010 Book Choice - The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

“I loved my brother, but relying on him was like closing a hand around air.”

Book Club Discussion Questions

1. Rose goes through life feeling people’s emotions through their food.  Many eat to feel happy and comforted.  Does this extreme sensory experience bring any happiness to Rose or only sadness?  

2. What does Rose mean when she says her dad always seemed like a guest to her? How does this play out in the rest of the novel? 

3. “Mom's smiles were so full of feeling that people leaned back a little when she greeted them. It was hard to know just how much was being offered.”  What does Rose mean  and how does this trait affect the mother’s relationships? 

4. Why do you think the dad like medical dramas but hate hospitals? 

5. Rose says, “Mom loved my brother more.  Not that she didn’t love me-- I felt the wash of her love everyday, pouring over me, but it was a different kind, siphoned from a different, and tamer, body of water.  I was her darling daughter; Joseph was her it.”  Do you think Rose is right in her estimation and why do you think the mother might feel this way? 

6. What does the grandmother suggest when she tells Rose “you don’t even know me, How can you love me?”  How has the grandmother’s relationship with Rose’s own mother affected the family dynamic? 

7. What is Joseph trying to accomplish by drawing a ‘perfect’ circle when it, by very definition, is impossible? How does George’s idea to create wallpaper out of the imperfections affect him? How does validation and affection through art recur in the novel and what does it signify? 

8. Why does George suddenly conclude Rose’s gift isn’t really a problem and stops investigating it? 

9. What is the significance of the mother’s commitment to carpentry (compared to other, short-lived hobbies)? How does this play out in the rest of the novel? 

10. What is the impact of Rose's discovery about her father's skills?  Did this change the way you see the father?

11. Joseph is described as a desert and geode while Rose is a rainforest and sea glass. Discuss the implications. 

12. Why does Rose want to keep the thread-bare footstool of her parents’ courtship instead of having her mother make her a new one? 

13. Are the family dinners—with Joseph reading, the dad eating, Rose silently trying to survive the meal and the mom talking non-stop—emblematic of the family dynamic? How has it evolved over the years? 

14. How did you experience the scene in Joseph's room, when Rose goes to see him?  What did that experience mean to Rose? Is there any significance to Joseph choosing a card table chair?

15. What does the last image about the trees have to do with this family?  How do you interpret the last line of the novel?
(Questions issued by publisher.) 

Book Club Meeting Schedule

2011
January 2010 - Mor Mor Kris
February 2011 - Awakening Angel
March 2011 - Dakota Angel
April 2011 - Dutchbaby
May 2011 - Peggers
June 2011 - Angel in Love
August 2011 - Treasurehunter
September 2011 - Awakening Angel
October 2011 - Mor Mor Kris
November 2011 - Entrepreneur
December 2011 - Dakota Angel

ARCHIVES

2010

January 2010 - Angel in Love
February 2010 - Awakening Angel
March 2010 - Mor Mor Kris
April 2010 - Entrepreneur
May 2010 - Dakota Angel
June 2010 - Dutchbaby
August 2010 - Peggers
September 2010 - Angel in Love
October 2010 - Fall Adventure in Point Reyes!
November 2010 - Treasurehunter
December 2010 - Entrepreneur

2009
2009 01 - Dakota Angel
2009 02 - Entrepreneur
2009 04 - Angel in Love
2009 05 - Awakening Angel
2009 06 - ?
2009 07 - Dakota Angel
2009 08 - Entrepreneur
2009 09 - Mor Mor Kris
2009 10 - Dutchbaby
2009 11 - Treasure Hunter and Peggers

2008
2008 01 - Dakota Angel
2008 02 - Dutchbaby
2008 04 - Entrepreneur Angel
2008 05 - Peggers
2008 06 - Awakening Angel
2008 09 Angel in Love
2008 10 Mor Mor Kris
2008 11 - Dutchbaby
2008 12 - Treasurehunter

2007
2007 09 - Angel in Love
2007 10 - Mor Mor Kris
2007 12 - Graphic Artist Angel

Book Selections

• Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken
• Abraham Verghese, Cutting for Stone
• Rory Stewart, The Places In Between
• Kate Walbert, A Short History of Women
• Aimee Bender, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
• Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Dave Eggers, Zeitoun
• Michael Lewis, The Big Short
• Sue Miller, Lake Shore Limited
• Cara Black, Murder in the Palais Royal
• Craig Thompson, Blankets
• Jamie Ford, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
• Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge
• Kathryn Stockett, The Help, a novel
• Any John Steinbeck
• Ori Brafman, Sway: The Irresistable Pull of Irrational Behavior
• Yoko Ogawa, The Housekeeper and the Professor
• Jean-Dominique Bauby, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
• Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven
• Rose Tremain, The Road Home: A Novel
• Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
• J. D. Salinger, Nine Stories
• Nancy Horan, Loving Frank
• Dashiel Hammett, The Maltese Falcon
• Elizabeth Berg, the day i ate whatever i wanted
• Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
• Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper: A Novel
• Tobias Wolff, Old School
• Billy Collins, Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems
• Darnell Arnoult, Sufficient Grace: A Novel
• Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants
• Michael Dorris, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water: A Novel
• Iren Nemirovsky, Suite Francaise
• Claire Messud, The Emperor’s Children 
• Lori Lansens,  The Girls
• Amanda Eyre Ward, How to be Lost
• Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale
• Clare Morrall, Natural Flights of the Human Mind
• Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle
• Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain 
• One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd – Jim Fergus 
• The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver 
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night – Mark Haddon 
• Brick Lane – Monica Ali 
• The Red Tent – Anita Diamant 
• The Glass Castle: A Memoir – Jeannette Walls 
• The Samurai’s Garden – Gail Tsukiyama 
• The History of Love – Nicole Krauss 
• Skinny Dip – Carl Hiaasen 
• Stones from the River – Ursula Hegi
• Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi

Inspiration for Saturday night cooking

Remember the kitchen scene in "The Big Chill"?

Here's the original version by the one and only Temptations.
Time to practice our moves:

Panini Heaven

Thank you Angel in Love for another stupendous evening!

September 2010 Book Selection and Meeting

Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010

Angel in Love hosting

August 2010 Book Selection and Meeting

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Meeting at Peggers

August 15, 2010

Time tbd

Book Club Meeting changed to Cascals

Cascal's
400 Castro Street

Mountain View
650.940.9500

7 PM
Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Sorry about the confusion about the next meeting. I inadvertently said July instead of June on the last post. NOLA's couldn't guarantee a quiet room so I decided to change to Cascal's. They said they can give us either outside seating or a table towards the back where it's a little quieter. 

To get a sneak peek at their tapas menu click here.

Please let me know if you can not make it so that I can change the count on the reservation. 

Book Club Meeting at Nola Restaurant

7 pm

June 30

Hosted by Dutchbaby

535 Ramona St 

Palo Alto, CA 

94301 

(650) 328-2722

Google Map

From San Jose:

1. Take the US-101 North from San Jose towards SAN FRANCISCO.
2. In Palo Alto take the UNIVERSITY AVENUE exit.
3. Keep LEFT at the fork in the ramp for about 250 meters.
4. Next Keep RIGHT at the fork in the ramp.
5. Merge onto UNIVERSITY AVENUE OVERHEAD/CA-109 S.
6. UNIVERSITY AVENUE OVERHEAD/CA-109 S becomes UNIVERSITY AVENUE OVERHEAD.
7. Stay straight to go onto UNIVERSITY AVE.
8. Turn LEFT onto RAMONA ST.

From San Francisco:

1. Take the US-101 South towards SAN JOSE.
2. In Palo Alto take the UNIVERSITY AVE. exit.
3. Make LEFT Turn at Stop Light, heading WEST on UNIVERSITY AVE.
4. Turn LEFT onto RAMONA ST.

There is a parking garage next door to Nolas on Ramona Street

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Hosted by Dutchbaby

7 pm

Artichoke Arugula Pizza

Move the oven rack to the lowest level for a crisp crust on the pizza.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 wedges)

Ingredients
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 (13.8-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
2 tablespoons commercial pesto
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 (9-ounce) package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and drained
1 ounce thinly sliced prosciutto
2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups arugula leaves
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation
Position oven rack to lowest setting. Preheat oven to 500° (425° if convection oven)

Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray; sprinkle with cornmeal.
Unroll dough onto prepared baking sheet, and pat into a 14 x 10-inch rectangle.
Spread the pesto evenly over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border.
Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over pesto.
Place baking sheet on the bottom oven rack; bake at 500° for 5 minutes.
Remove pizza from oven. Leave oven on.

Coarsely chop artichokes.
Arrange artichokes on pizza; top with sliced prosciutto.
Sprinkle with Parmesan.
Return pizza to the bottom oven rack; bake an additional 6 minutes or until crust is browned.

Place arugula in a bowl.
Drizzle juice over arugula; toss gently.
Top the pizza with arugula mixture.
Cut the pizza into 4 (7 x 5-inch) rectangles; cut each rectangle diagonally into 2 wedges.

Nutritional Information

Calories	419 (28% from fat)
Fat	13g (sat 4.4g,mono 6.4g,poly 0.6g)
Protein	20.1g
Carbohydrate	55.3g
Fiber	5.7g
Cholesterol	20mg
Iron	3.6mg
Sodium	1001mg
Calcium	265mg

Kate Washington, Cooking Light, JANUARY 2007

Herbed Greek Chicken Salad

Serve with toasted pita wedges.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
Cooking spray
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, divided
1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 teaspoons tahini (sesame-seed paste)
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1 cup peeled chopped English cucumber
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
6 pitted kalamata olives, halved
1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled feta cheese

Preparation
Combine oregano, garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl.
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
Coat pan with cooking spray.
Add chicken and spice mixture; sauté until chicken is done.
Drizzle with 1 tablespoon juice; stir.
Remove from pan.

Combine remaining 2 teaspoons juice, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, yogurt, tahini, and garlic in a small bowl; stir well.
Combine lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, and olives. Place 2 1/2 cups of lettuce mixture on each of 4 plates. Top each serving with 1/2 cup chicken mixture and 1 tablespoon cheese.
 Drizzle each serving with 3 tablespoons yogurt mixture.

Nutritional Information

Calories	243 (29% from fat)
Fat	7.7g (sat 2.3g,mono 2.9g,poly 1.6g)
Protein	29.7g
Carbohydrate	13.4g
Calories	243 (29% from fat)
Fiber	3.5g
Cholesterol	70 mg
Fat	7.7g (sat 2.3g,mono 2.9g,poly 1.6g)
Calories	243 (29% from fat)
Iron	2.5mg
Sodium	578mg
Calcium	216mg

Michelle Powers, Cooking Light, JULY 2007

The Lake Shore Limited

May Book Club Meeting

Thursday, May 27, 2010

7 pm

Dakota Angel's

Reader's Guide
1. Have you read any of Sue Miller’s other books? If so, does The Lake Shore Limited share any themes?
2. What do we learn from the first sentence of this novel? Now that you know the character Leslie, what does it mean to you?
3. Who did you assume was the main character when you first started reading? Did you change your mind?
4. Do you consider this to be a 9/11 novel? Why?
5. On page 7, Leslie wonders, “But was [possibility] necessary? . . . Weren’t there people, everywhere, who lived without it? Who didn’t imagine anything other than what was?” Ultimately, which of the characters are open to possibility, and which aren’t?
6. Discuss the marriages in the novel. What do they have in common? In what ways are they different? Which seems healthiest to you?
7. On page 41, Leslie realizes that “she had been asking [Pierce] whether he would come with her into what she thought of as this new life—and that he was telling her no.” How does Leslie react to this? Why?
8. In the play, Gabriel says to Anita, “It’s what we all feel. We want. Then we want more. It’s the human condition” (page 44). Is this true for Leslie, Rafe, Billy, and Sam?
9. What do you think Miller is trying to say about the creation of art and its reflection of real life?
10. The notion of playing a role is a recurrent theme in the novel. Who is most true to his or her authentic self? Who has mastered his or her role? Whose changes most drastically?
11. Why is the Henry James reference in the play (page 45) so important? What was Billy trying to say?
12. When Rafe asks Billy if the play is based on her own life, she insists it isn’t autobiographical (page 77). Is she intentionally lying, or is there something else going on here?
13. Why does sleeping with Billy affect Rafe’s performance in the play?
14. Both Rafe and Sam see themselves in Gabriel. Which man do you think is more like him? Why?
15. What does Gus represent to Billy? To Leslie? What role does grief play in the novel?
16. Over the course of the novel, various characters note that Billy looks like a child. What does this signify?
17. Why do Sam and Leslie stop at just a kiss (page 188)? What do you think would have happened if they had had an affair?
18. What is the purpose of the scene between Sam and Jerry (pages 206–212)? How does it affect Sam?
19. Why is Billy so frosty when Sam brings his son to see the play (page 221)?
20. On page 232, Leslie thinks, “But that’s what the play was about. . . . At least in part. The wish to imagine what life could be, how it could change, if you were unencumbered.” What do you think the play was about? Which of the four main characters most wishes for an unencumbered life?
21. Reread the alternate endings Billy considered for the play (page 251). Why do you think she chose to end the play the way she did?
22. On page 267, Miller writes, “Now as Sam sits in his living room, holding the Christmas letter from Emma, thinking of Melanie Gruber, he realizes that he’s called her up in part because he feels the same way about Billy, about the accident of Billy’s arrival in his life—exactly that surprised.” Why does he feel this way? How does it change him?
23. Discuss the ending. Was it satisfying? What do you imagine happens next?

Our Next Adventure

Thank you, Mor Mor Kris, for planning our next adventure!

April 2010 Book and Meeting

We will meet next time at Entrepreneur's, Tuesday, April 27th at 7 PM.

"Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford

Reading Guide

Reading Group Questions for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

NOTE:  If you haven't finished reading the novel yet, don't read further because there are spoilers in these questions.

1. Father-son relationships are a crucial theme in the novel. Talk about some of these relationships and how they are shaped by culture and time. For example, how is the relationship between Henry and his father different from that between Henry and Marty? What accounts for the differences?

2. Why doesn't Henry's father want him to speak Cantonese at home? How does this square with his desire to send Henry back to China for school? Isn't he sending his son a mixed message?

3. If you were Henry, would you be able to forgive your father? Does Henry's father deserve forgiveness?

4. From the beginning of the novel, Henry wears the "I am Chinese" button given to him by his father. What is the significance of this button and its message, and how has Henry's understanding of that message changed by the end of the novel?

5. Why does Henry provide an inaccurate translation when he serves as the go-between in the business negotiations between his father and Mr. Preston? Is he wrong to betray his father's trust in this way?

6. The US has been called a nation of immigrants. In what ways do the families of Keiko and Henry illustrate different aspects of the American immigrant experience?

7. What is the bond between Henry and Sheldon, and how is it strengthened by jazz music?

8. If a novel could have a soundtrack, this one would be jazz. What is it about this indigenous form of American music that makes it an especially appropriate choice?

9. Henry's mother comes from a culture in which wives are subservient to their husbands. Given this background, do you think she could have done more to help Henry in his struggles against his father? Is her loyalty to her husband a betrayal of her son?

10. Compare Marty's relationship with Samantha to Henry's relationship with Keiko. What other examples can you find in the novel of love that is forbidden or that crosses boundaries of one kind or another?

11. What struggles did your own ancestors have as immigrants to America, and to what extent did they incorporate aspects of their cultural heritage into their new identities as Americans?

12. Does Henry give up on Keiko too easily? What else could he have done to find her?

13. What about Keiko? Why didn't she make more of an effort to see Henry once she was released from the camp?

14. Do you think Ethel might have known what was happening with Henry's letters?

15. The novel ends with Henry and Keiko meeting again after more than forty years. Jump ahead a year and imagine what has happened to them in that time. Is there any evidence in the novel for this outcome?

16. What sacrifices do the characters in the novel make in pursuit of their dreams for themselves and for others? Do you think any characters sacrifice too much, or for the wrong reasons? Consider the sacrifices Mr. Okabe makes, for example, and those of Mr. Lee. Both fathers are acting for the sake of their children, yet the results are quite different. Why?

17. Was the US government right or wrong to "relocate" Japanese-Americans and other citizens and residents who had emigrated from countries the US was fighting in WWII? Was some kind of action necessary following Pearl Harbor? Could the government have done more to safeguard civil rights while protecting national security?

18. Should the men and women of Japanese ancestry rounded up by the US during the war have protested more actively against the loss of their property and liberty? Remember that most were eager to demonstrate their loyalty to the US. What would you have done in their place?

19. Should the men and women of Japanese ancestry rounded up by the US during the war have protested more actively against the loss of their property and liberty? Remember that most were eager to demonstrate their loyalty to the US. What would you have done in their place? What’s to prevent something like this from every happening again?

"Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout

Thirteen linked tales from Strout (Abide with Me, etc.) present a heart-wrenching, penetrating portrait of ordinary coastal Mainers living lives of quiet grief intermingled with flashes of human connection. The opening Pharmacy focuses on terse, dry junior high-school teacher Olive Kitteridge and her gregarious pharmacist husband, Henry, both of whom have survived the loss of a psychologically damaged parent, and both of whom suffer painful attractions to co-workers. Their son, Christopher, takes center stage in A Little Burst, which describes his wedding in humorous, somewhat disturbing detail, and in Security, where Olive, in her 70s, visits Christopher and his family in New York. Strout's fiction showcases her ability to reveal through familiar details—the mother-of-the-groom's wedding dress, a grandmother's disapproving observations of how her grandchildren are raised—the seeds of tragedy. Themes of suicide, depression, bad communication, aging and love, run through these stories, none more vivid or touching than Incoming Tide, where Olive chats with former student Kevin Coulson as they watch waitress Patty Howe by the seashore, all three struggling with their own misgivings about life. Like this story, the collection is easy to read and impossible to forget. Its literary craft and emotional power will surprise readers unfamiliar with Strout. (Apr.)
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