Ahhh…. a post about one of my favorite subjects. Well, two really….. books and my book club “The AMAZING Bookies”… ok, they are really just called the Bookies but you know… I love them. I would take a punch for them.
A couple of weeks ago we met at a restaurant to discuss the book Delicious by Ruth Reichl. I had read and reviewed this book two years ago and LOVED it then and was so excited to have my book club choose it for our November read. Ruth Reicht used to be a food critic for the New York Times. She writes about this in the highly recommended read, Garlic and Sapphires (another one my book club read and boy did we have fin with that review!)
Delicious is Ruth Reichl’s first dab into fiction. It is about a young girl who takes a job at a magazine called Delicious. When the magazine goes under, she is kept on the payroll for an additional year to handle the guarantee hot line that Delicious offered to its readers. Yet Delicious is so much more than that…. it is about that – it is about taste, and smell, hidden rooms, secret recipes, relationships, friendships, and more.
The Bookies the night of our review. We were only missing one. We had to take a couple of pictures since I asked our waitress several times if she would take a group picture of us and – well… we did it ourselves. 🙂
We rarely go out to restaurants any more. We usually meet in homes due to the size of our group and that we do not want our discussion to be a distraction to other diners (ie… loud voices, laughter, difference of opinions, topics of discussion depending on the book….) however this restaurant had a large private room that we could close the door to. The food was well…. Delicious, which is what we were going for. I had a mushroom pasta that made me want to try to duplicate it at home:
Another sweet thing about this room that we were in is that they hang books from the ceiling. SOOOOO COOL. I thought I had taken a good picture of the ceiling but I guess I did not, however in the below pic you can see some of them hanging.
To take this discussion to the next level we all shared a recipe that was a favorite. We were suppose to make copies for everyone and share why that recipe had special meaning to each of us. I LOVED this part of our discussion. It was a common theme as we went around the room that each of the recipes had connections to family somehow – either a tradition, a wedding or a funeral…. there was something special about each related to the food. I shared my white chicken chili recipe which was one of Justin’s favorites. If he was coming into town and I asked him what he would like for dinner, this one was almost always on his list.
Over all, the Bookies game Delicious a slightly above average rating. Some of us (like me!) loved it. A few found it too spread out – several story lines between the hidden messages, underground railroad, etc… left them feeling there was too much going on, some found it predictable. No matter what we each thought, the book lead to a wonderful discussion.
What Makes Delicious A Good Book Club Choice?
There is much to discussion in Delicious. If your group enjoys food that goes with the book, this is a winner. The food described in this book is so mouth-watering (the cake discussed will be at our Bookies Christmas party this year).
Between sharing recipes, talking about how the book mirrors Ruth Reichl’s real life (yes some of the things in this book actually did happen to the author!), the underground railroad connection, your group will be able to have a lively discussion.
Discussion group questions (as found at LitLovers)
I am connecting this discussion to both Saturday Snapshot and Weekend Cooking.
Book Journey 
I had to press this one because I love your book club and what a super cool restaurant!
Reblogged this on Worth Getting in Bed For and commented:
Sheila is one of my favorite book bloggers and I love her book group. This latest post may give you some ideas and the restaurant hangs books from the ceiling!
I enjoyed your “delicious” post. Looks like a fun time. Thanks for the introduction to your book club, as well as sharing your opinion of the book. It sounds like one I’d enjoy.
Sandy @ TEXAS TWANG
I enjoyed Delicious, though not as much as her memoir books. It would lend itself nicely to book clubs and it looks like you’ve got a great one going.
JEALOUS! What a wonderful book club you have. As an author, I have visited almost a dozen book clubs in CA and MA, talking about the writing process and how I ‘created’ the characters in my books. Each book club has its own personality, but each member of all the book clubs is passionate about the books she reads. As an author, how I love the groups’ questions about my plot, setting, and characters! I have not yet been invited to a book club meeting in a restaurant; all are in readers’ homes. But I would LOVE any restaurant that hangs books from the ceiling. 🙂
I wanted to like Delicious. I loved Garlic and Sapphires. But like some of your book club I found Delicious to be too predictable. I’m glad I got it from the library.
I like Ruth Reichl’s nonfiction better than her fiction so far, but one of the library book clubs had a very good discussion about Delicious this past year, so it’s a good choice for a book club! It’s nice to see more photos of the Bookies. Some of them are starting to look familiar!
You have such a wonderful book club! I love the books hanging from the ceiling also!
I really liked this book.
It looks like you had a wonderful time with your book club.
Love how books were hung from the ceiling, and I love your books club. Wish I lived closer.
Your mushroom pasta looks DELICIOUS!! 🙂
Elizabeth
You have the coolest book club in the world! As you know, I enjoyed that book too.
I enjoyed Delicious too. Cheers from Carole’s Chatter!
I prefer her non-fiction more also! I wanted so much to like “Delicious”, but I just couldn’t get into it for some reason. May try again some day. But it looks like you all had a lovely time!
Linda in VA
Great post — I envy your wonderful book club!
What a wonderful book club, and that restaurant is amazing!! I just heard an NPR book editor talking about this book on the radio. She loved it.
Wonderful post, Sheila! The restaurant has a warm and cozy ambience. I post a lot of food pics on Instagram! And I often get recipe ideas when I dine in restaurants.
I love the idea of books hanging from the ceiling…and that mushroom pasta looks very yummy!
I want to be a Bookie!
What a great setting for a book club gathering. I will have to check out both of Ruth Reicht’s books. Mushroom pasta…..yum!
What a wonderful large group and I bet a good time was had sampling food and discussing the book.
Want to share those recipes everyone brought? I love recipes!! 🙂