Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

Published on June 17, 2012June 18, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

News Journalist, Ellen Gleeson is complete when she sees the little bot in the hospital with the heart condition that is up for adoption. When he becomes hers, she is over the moon in love with her now son, Will.

Two years later Ellen is coming home from another harried day on the job and as she sorts through the mail, a Missing Child flyer catches her attention… the boy in the picture, looks exactly like her Will. How could that even be? The birth mother and father has signed over their rights and a judge had awarded Will to Ellen. Yes the flyer does not stop nagging her and Ellen used her journalist instincts to get to the truth, all the while knowing the truth… may cost her everything.

What Ellen uncovers leaves her shell-shocked and fearing for her and Will’s life. She is the only one that knows what she knows… is it best to cover it all back up and pretend it never happened? Or is it best to do what is right for Will, no matter the painful consequences.

(not a big fan of book trailers, with just a few exceptions… this one is one of the reasons why… they man’s voice… is a little too much I think.)

Why did I read this book? My book club chose this book for our June read.

When Lisa Scottoline’s book was chosen for our June book club read I am the first to admit, I wasn’t overjoyed. I had recently finished an audio book of her’s that left me confused and with more questions in the end than I had in the beginning. HOWEVER… I did say I would try her again.

I just didn’t know it would be this soon. 😀

Look Again is every mothers nightmare. Imagine jumping through all the hoops of adopting a child. When that day finally comes that the child is fully yours you are… ecstatic beyond belief. (I have friends who have adopted – I have seen this first hand). This child becomes as much your own as if you had birthed him or her yourself. You know their every expression, their likes, dislikes, joys, and fears… and you love them so much you think your heart can hold no more…

Now imagine that something, or someone… can come along and take away that pure joy.

Ellen is a protagonist you can root for. She is a strong independent single mom, doing the best she can between work and home. It is apparent in this reading that home is the most important of the two as her whole life revolves around Will.

The storyline is consistently updating, but at first it was not at a pace that held me captive. You spend time learning about where Ellen works, her co workers (BOO!!!! to one of them….) and her hot boss Marcelo (double kudos to Lisa Scottoline for coming up with that name…. it oozes hotness, it really does!) for the first half of the book I could have continued on or put it down… I was not overly committed, mainly I think because I had a feeling as to where it was going.

Well… color me wrong. Once all starts to come together the books pace takes on a fast trot and now I do not want to put it down. Every page, reveals a new twist, a new turn… what I think is about to happen… doesn’t… what does, is something totally left field… totally…

brilliant.

As I flew to the end of this book, tears on some pages, anger on others… I fully appreciated what Lisa Scottoline invested into this book. It is smart and clever. I did not see it coming…

while some (uhem…. Bookies book club members) found the ending a little too neat all wrapped up perfectly with a bow… I think I had bee through so much with Ellen that I liked the neat ending, what some would call the easy way out, I applaud in this case as it was just what I needed.

The Bookies (book club) thoughts:

Oh the Bookies….. a difficult group…. lol… I am kidding! Our discussion was not passionate as it has been in some recent reads, and I admit I missed that, but it was a good discussion. For the most part, the group found this book to be a slightly over average read. A few found it predictable, and said they had figured out how it was all going to go down long before the end. (I had not). While the book did not blow anyone away with “WOW!!!! Why did it take us so long to read this?” It was a good discussion and brought up conversations around adoption, and connections between birth parents.

Oh, and of course we had food to go with the book:

**Ellen and Will live in Philadelphia, so we had Phili cheese steak sandwiches**

**These are for the end of the book…. which, I can not tell you about 😉**

**More about the end… sorry, no hints here 😉**

And I don’t know how I missed this picture, but two of us brought lime jello, the abducted boy, Timothy Braverman’s favorite, as well as Will’s.

I am linking my review to Beth Fish reads Weekend Cooking because where there are Bookies… there is food. 😀

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

Audible.com

Other fab reviewers thoughts:

Petrona

S Krishna’s Books

You’ve Gotta Read This!

By Book Or By Crook!

The Bookies Summer Fav Book Exchange

Published on June 13, 2012June 13, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)52 Comments

On Tuesday we had our June Bookies book club meeting. Usually for July we have a “free read” month where we do not chose a book together but instead just read whatever and when we meet for our annual picnic/queen event in July just chat about whatever we read.

Amy P in out group heard of something a little different that we decided to try this year…

We were all to bring a wrapped up favorite book that we LOVED to let someone else experience. The only rules were that it needed to be a book each of us truly enjoyed, not a book that we had all read together, and we were to put a post it note on the book saying why we wanted someone else to experience it and if the person who picked it could keep the book, or if the owner would like it back.

After we completed our June book review (Look Again by Lisa Scottoline), we each drew a number and in that order opened our books one at a time and the giver had a chance to say out loud to all of us why they enjoyed that book so much.

I brought a long time favorite of mine and a book that holds a special place in my heart:

The exchange was a lot of fun and the cool thing was, no one picked a book they had already read.

We are asked to now read the book we chose and talk about it next month at the Queen event.

The books that people brought as the “best of the best” must read were (from top left and across)

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve

The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani

First Family by David Baldacci

The Mermaid’s Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

The Bonesetters Daughter by Amy Tan

Dance Upon The Air by Nora Roberts

The Crying Tree by Naseem Rahka

One Second After by William Forstchen

Wine And War by Donald Cladstrup

One of our Bookies who was unable to attend the meeting sent a book so she could be included in the drawing When it was picked and opened the book was a Baby Names book and inside it the post it note said:

**“I do need this book back because we are expecting our first baby!”**
**Kerri**

How cool is that? Congratulations Kerri!!! A new Bookie Baby coming in 2013!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my book club and can not wait to read the book I drew – The Crying Tree. And next months Queen event.… is the highlight of the year… and that is saying a lot!

Have you read any of the books that were chosen as favorites above? If so, which ones did you love?

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Published on May 10, 2012May 10, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

Alice Howland has a wonderful life. She has three grown children, a loving hard-working husband, and she herself is a well established Professor at Harvard. At age fifty, she is not really too surprised when she starts to forget where she left things like her keys and her Blackberry. She is a little more concerned when she gets lost on the Harvard campus that she has always known very well, but a brief Google check regarding menopause brings up forgetfulness as one of the symptoms. Still… it doesn’t hurt to see a doctor…

Alice is stunned when she is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Certainly an active woman like herself, can beat this. Yet what follows is a struggle of losing ones memories…. a family in despair and crisis, and a woman who is fighting the biggest battle of her life, just to be…

still Alice.

Lisa Genova has also written Left Neglected about a brain injury and Love Anthony will be out in 2013, about a boy with autism.

I didn’t want to read this book.

When my book club voted this as our May book club read, I was not thrilled. There are few things that truly frighten me, but the thought of not knowing who you are, or fearing people you have known all your life as they have become strangers in your mind – truly frightens me.

When I posted I was reading this on my sidebar under the Bookies tab, many readers shared what an amazing read it was, and honestly – that helped me dip cautiously into this book.

I read it… in one sitting.

Author Lisa Genova wrote something wonderful here. Brilliantly, the story is told from Alice’s perspective. Seeing Alzheimer’s through her eyes was both frightening and informing. I cringed when she introduces herself to the same woman twice, having forgotten she already had done so. When she is lost inside her own home desperately looking for the bathroom, my heart breaks for her.

Page by page as a reader, you are right there with Alice through good days and bad. This fictional story flowed so well from the very start – moments of laughter and yes, moments of tears…. this book is a MUST READ. If you are in a book club, it is an incredible discussion book as well, with questions in the back of the book.

I knew when I had read this book that our book club discussion was going to be deep and it was going to be good. There was so much to talk about! This week when we met and I started asking the questions from the book, I hardly needed to say a word… the conversation flowed. The ladies in our group has much to say about Alice’s journey, her family, and their own personal connection to Alzheimer’s as well.

This is one of those reviews where we didn’t even really need the questions. The book brought memories of people to our review that I had never met but wish I had. Grandparents were discussed, some still living with the disease, and some who have passed on. How Alzheimer’s affects each person differently was amazing. Some reverted to a much younger time in their life, believing they lived somewhere else. Others who had English as a second language – reverted to their first language. Some remembered a spouse, but could not recall anyone else.

And as in most Bookies events there was food.

005 — Alice mentions enchilada’s early in the book so chicken enchiladas were a must!

014 — Blueberries and dark chocolate are mentioned in the book as brain and memory enhancers

Some interesting facts about Still Alice: Still Alice was initially a self published book, and approved by the Alzheimer’s Society. STILL ALICE debuted at #5 on the New York Times Bestseller list and has spent 40 weeks on that list. It won the 2008 Bronte Prize and the 2011 Bexley Book of the Year, and it was nominated for the 2010 Indies Choice Debut Book of the Year by the American Booksellers Association. It was the #6 Top Book Group Favorite of 2009 by Reading Group Choices, a 2009 Barnes & Noble Discover Pick, a 2009 Indie Next pick, a 2009 Borders Book Club Pick, and a 2009 Target Book Club pick. There are over a million copies in print, and it has been translated into 25 languages. (as seen and noted on the authors website)

A few other thoughts on this book:

Musings Of A Bookish Kitty

A Novel Menagerie

Always With A Book

Care’s Online Book Club

Thank you to our local Library and their “Book Club In A Bag” program!

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

Want to listen to it on audio?

Morning Meanderings… Book Club Of Laughter and Tears

Published on May 9, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

Good morning! Happy Wednesday!

I am about to gush about my book club again. 😯

I can’t help it.

Last night we met to review Still Alice by Lisa Genova. It is a book about a women with Alzheimer’s, and it was a book I absolutely did not want to read. I did of course, read it, and I am so glad I did.

I knew our discussion was going to be good no matter what each of the eighteen Bookies thought of this book. Love it or hate it, this book was going to hit a nerve or a heart string in each and every one of us….

and so it did.

I spent 2 1/2 hours with these amazing women discussing the book, the characters, and people in our own lives that have experienced this disease that honestly, scares the nutter butters out of me. We ate food centered around the book, and we ate food mentioned that is supposed to be good for brain power and memory (dark chocolate and blueberries). We laughed, and we cried.

Driving home after 9 pm, I had to once again think how lucky I am to be part of such an amazing group of women. The topic was not an easy one. One of our members found that it hit so close to home that she could not come and discuss it with us, but instead sent a letter along with another member saying what a painful topic it was, her thoughts on the book, how it touches her personally, and she would see us next month.

And that is what I LOVE about us. We keep it real. A book can generate raves, or it can cause pain and anger, yet we stick together, appreciate each others opinions, even when they differ from our own. I can not even begin to tell you how that makes me feel, what a level of security and trust we bring to each meeting.

Our review will go up on Thursday (I can’t wait!!!) . Today I have a book tour review for In The Bag.

As I head out to work, I will leave you with this, have you hugged a book club member today? 😀

Morning Meanderings… BOOK CLUB TUESDAY!!!

Published on May 8, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. I woke up to a light rain (again) pattering on the back deck as I let the dogs out but today… I dont mind. After I write this I will be on my way to work, after work to the store to get my ingredients for tonight’s Bookies review of Still Alice by Lisa Genova.

To all of you who have said to me “I can not believe you have not read this one yet!” or “That is one of my favorite books!” Now that I have read it, I can not believe I had not read it yet either, and yes, I think it is quickly rising in my mind to on of the best books I have read this year. Our review will go up on Thursday.

So as it clouds up over here in Central Minnesota, my mind is circling around ideas of if I can make pumpkin ravioli for the first time ever and serve it to 18 girls in my book club successfully, or….

am I better off making enchilada’s… a safer recipe I am more familiar with…. 😀

In Shelf Awareness this morning, one of those lovely morning reads that pops in my email and makes me smile, this was stated about the best book club reads out there right now:

Top Book Club Books in April

The following were the most popular book club books during April based on votes from readers and leaders of more than 32,000 book clubs registered at Bookmovement.com:

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy by E.L. James
3. Defending Jacob: A Novel by William Landay
4. The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain
5. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
6. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
7. Before I Go to Sleep: A Novel by S.J. Watson
8. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
9. Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue
10. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

I have read #1, #5, #7,#8.#9, and #10. How about you? Have you read any of these? Would you agree with their choices? I would have to add Still Alice should be added to that group. I think our discussion tonight is going to be deep, and amazing.

The Book Club Cookbook by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp

Published on February 4, 2012March 2, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

What if there was a book that not only recommended GREAT book club reads with synopsis, but also recipes to go with the books from well-known authors and book clubs? For a book club gal, and a book lover – this is a GREAT FIND! Books such as Cutting For Stone, The Book Thief,The Help, ROOM, Reading Lolita, Bel Canto, Water For Elephants, Snow Flower And The Secret Fan, Jane Eyre, Freedom, Devil In The White City, etc…

Many years ago I discovered the first edition of this book. I loved the concept and used it religiously when planning out books to read for our group as well as food to go with the book. In fact, as I write this now, I think the first edition of this book was the beginning of our book club, The Bookies, introduction to food made to go with our reviews.

To this day, this very book sits in my front sitting room, in an honor spot on a stand next to the rocking chair.

1aa — The first edition: released in 2004

Now knowing all this, you can imagine my delight when last summer author Judy Gelman emailed me saying she had noticed my book club book and food combination reviews and wanted to know if our book club would consider reviewing a couple of books on her list and cook food themed to them. I admit to saying “YES!” before even asking my book club. 😛

Of course The bookies were honored and wanted to participate so we chose three books off the list Judy provided, Olive Kitteridge, Cutting For Stone, and Little Bee. We already had our monthly book club books chosen so these reviews became bonus reads and we would gather at my home with food and discuss the book.

We had a lot of fun and when I reviewed the books and food, I emailed Judith our reviews as well.

When the advanced release version of this book made its way into my hands recently I was sooooo excited! Not only for the fact that The Bookies are mentioned in the book, but also that I had in my hot little hands a second version of a book that I have loved through the years… a new Book Club cook book… new books… new authors… new recipes and ideas! (It’s probably no big surprise that I did not wait long to dive it!)

Now you might think this review is a little bias, but remember – I read and loved the first one years before I was reviewing books…. this one would have been on my list to own anyway!

Book Club members, book lovers, and food lovers will all appreciate this book! Not only does it list a wonderful group of books that make for wonderful discussion, but the food and the ideas to go along with the books will put that little extra into your discussion and have people waiting to get into your book group!

And of course I loved it! Each book gives a full page synopsis as well as publishing information, followed by food that would go well with the book, sometimes by the author, and always ideas from a book club as well. If anything, this book is dangerous as I drank in all the books I have yet to read and delicious food to go with them. The ideas were already forming in my mind….

I want to do a Bel Canto party… dress up the whole works…. maybe I can talk the Bookies into doing this one for our October classic read….. and I would love to do a Chocolat by Joanne Harris review as well with melt in your mouth chocolates…. maybe we could follow-up with the movie….. AND….

See what did I tell you? The book is dangerous!

This is a book I will keep close and refer to time and again, not only do I get a good taste of wonderful book club reads… but ideas to go along with the reviews!

This review is part of Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking. Pop over and see what wonderful food related books are being read and what is cooking this weekend!

Amazon Link

Goodreads Review

I received this book from the authors

Anyone ever feel like clocking a character? The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson/Richard DiLallo

Published on December 14, 2011December 14, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)30 Comments

Christmas is in the air, and along with the smells of gingerbread, pine, and holly, there also seems to be something else… a feeling of…

magic.

Gaby Summerhill is filled with a sense of something big is about to happen and through a series of videos to her grown children, 54-year-old Gaby shares a special message:

She is getting married.

Yes, Gaby, widowed for three years now, is asking all her children to come back home to where they had all their family memories and join her as she marries….

well.. that’s the fun isn’t it?

Three men have asked for Gaby’s hand and she is thrilled with the asking, but nobody, including the groom himself knows who will be Gaby’s husband until the wedding on Christmas.

Gaby feels that by generating this excitement it will create an atmosphere worthy of coming home too, and that is what she wants most of all… her grown children, busy with their own lives and the chaos within, have grown apart from what Gaby knew was once a tight knit family. Perhaps they will come to be together for Christmas… for a wedding…

Hmph. Every December our book club (yay Bookies!) chose a Christmas style read for our December gathering. In past posts I have mentioned that I find these books almost impossible as they are usually too light and perfectly (gag me) fluffy to get a real good read out of them.

I really thought we were going to be safe with Patterson.

Personally, I liked Gaby’s grown kids… each dip we had into their lives made me wanting to know more, Claire and her abusive drug addicted husband and troubled teen son Gus, Emily the lawyer go getter who runs from one project to another and has an adoring handsome doctor husband, Lizzie who’s husband Mike is a sweetheart who also has cancer, and son Seth who is a writer and lives his wonderful girlfriend Andie. Each of their stories could have been a book in itself…

But no, the story was about Gaby who had three men on the hook and thought it to be fabulous. My thoughts and the thoughts of the majority of the Bookies was what a selfish woman. Gaby was a little too self-centered for my liking. While the book was meant to be a sweet Christmas read of family coming home, I never got the sense that coming home was hard on anyone. There was no conflict between the siblings or Gaby that made the pull of the mystery wedding a necessity. I got the feeling that they would have come home for Gaby’s if she was mailing the mailman while standing in the front yard (and seriously, I am surprised he also was not a contender…. 😛

Over all the book read like a rush. It felt hurried and pieced together, a dabble into this life, a dabble into that. In the end, while I have to admit it was a lot better than some of our Christmas reads we have had in the past, it was not a book I would recommend to others.

*To give you my true feelings… I actually went to Wal-Mart looking for a pinata that could represent Gaby… I thought it would be fun to smack “her” with a stick. Lucky for her, I could not find one that fit the character – however I do reserve to hold on to the pinata plan for a future read. 😛

Overall the Bookies rated this on a scale of 1 -5, a 2.8. Most of the ratings were low but a couple hit middle 3’s and we agreed that as a Christmas read – we have read a lot worse.

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include The Christmas Wedding

I purchased this book from Amazon.com

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (A Bookies Review)

Published on October 12, 2011October 12, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)33 Comments

Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have a houseful. Five children, all girls… well, women really, living in a home in Georgia England during the Regency period.

Of the five, Jane is the oldest and the beautiful one, Elizabeth is the fast tongued smart one, Mary is bookish, Kitty is immature and Lydia… oh Lydia is the wild one.

Mr. Bennett is a pretty well put together man especially considering how over the top his wife, Mrs. Bennett can be. Set firmly on doing all she can to help her daughters marry and marry well, Mrs. Bennett will stop short of nothing… even to the length of sending Jane by horse to visit Mr. Darcy during a rain storm in hopes that she would become ill and have to stay at his home until she is better.

Her plan… works to that extent… but not all is she had hoped. 😉

Elizabeth is the one who comes to Jane’s rescue, appalled at her own mothers behavior she nurses Jane back to health,avoiding as much as she can the man who annoys her so much, Mr. Darcy himself.

What follows is a story that is described as a comedy of sorts, of sisters and men in their lives, and really… Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

This is my first time reading Pride and Prejudice. My book club started a tradition many years ago that every October we would read a classic. Back then, I was not thrilled by the idea, now… I love it. This gives us all a chance to experience one of the greats… we do not always like them, but they have always been pretty fun to review.

My personal thoughts on the read were I really enjoyed it. While some in the group struggled with the language, I enjoyed figuring it out as I went. The words are different than we use them, and it was fun to see words used differently in sentences and while they were a mouthful to read.. they made sense.

As much as the Bookies loved Mr. Darcy, I was odd man out on this one. I realized he changes throughout the book… but his snottiness (hoo yeah I said it!)in the beginning especially towards Elizabeth rubbed me wrong and I still wasn’t over it at the close of the read. I know this is supposed to be one of the great love stories… and I agree it was a good read, I just didn’t really like Darcy. Yes I know I am in the minority… but remember I do not read romance reads. 😀

I did however really enjoy the book and am so happy to now be able to say I have read Pride and Prejudice! The Bookies had a good discussion over the book, the era, The Bennett’s, fun with the language, and overall it rated a 3.5 rating out of 5.

We did dress up as we like to do for our Classic read – hats were requested, but you could go further with the look if you wanted to.

I wanted to. 😀

Here are a few pics of our evening:

A little candid pencil shot while we were setting up for the pictures

Kaydi wore her grandmothers wedding dress!

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include Pride and Prejudice

I purchased my copy of Pride and Prejudice at Barnes and Noble

Bookies Review/Discussion Of The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Published on September 17, 2011September 17, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)53 Comments

Last week my book club met for the discussion of The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. I had read and reviewed this book earlier this year and was not fond enough of it to read it again. I did consider trying it in audio but my library did not carry it.

As the time drew closer for our review… I have to admit, I was not looking forward to it. I decided to turn my focus towards the food part of our meeting and that is really when it got interesting for me.

The 1940s were all about rationing, protein stretching, substitutions, rediscovering “grandma’s foods”, and making do with less. Home cooks made sugarless cookies, eggless cakes, and meatless meals. Cookbooks, magazines, and food company brochures were full of creative ideas for stretching food supplies. Why the shortage? Food was needed to feed soldiers fighting in World War II.

When entertaining, I learned that finger sandwiches were quite popular, served open-faced (so the bread would go farther). They also drank a lot of tea as coffee was scarce and if you could find it… expensive.

At this point my creative side kicked in…. the book may not be the best for review, but by golly the food was going to make this discussion a success. 😀

The day of the review, I made the open-faced sandwiches, a cucumber one with a spread of cream cheese and ranch dip mix, and a delicious seafood one (see recipe below).

Then I also made a potato chip and tuna casserole, apparently popular in the 1940’s. This consisted of very few ingredients…. cream of mushroom soup, tuna, peas, and potato chips. Yup. I read the recipe and literally said, “ewww!”

other entries that the Bookies brought were Angie’s (By Book Or By Crook) Grandmother’s stand by hot dish of noodles and tomato’s…

the only meat available in the 1940’s was what you could raise and prepare yourself so…

Side dishes were often garden vegetables or a jello or pudding…

Maybe Creme Brulee was not quite the dish of the 40’s…. but after trying it, who was I to complain…. oh YUM! (recipe below) Thanks Sharon!

Between all that and the pickles, potato salad, tea and water with orange and lemon slices… we were set.

It was time to discuss The Postmistress. The surprise is, I loved our discussion and here are some of the things that came out of it. (Should be spoiler free)

We discussed how in the 1940’s your news came mainly from radio. We wondered if the news being broadcasted seemed more real than it does in today’s world of over saturation of all things media. This led to how powerful news was then and led us to discuss the airing of The War Of The Worlds and how people who tuned in late thought that broadcast was real.

When the motto for a journalist to get a story was “get in and get out” we discussed in such a story can you ever fully get out? Would not some of the things we see, hear, and do in life not ever leave us?

We had a great discussion over today’s media of too much immediate knowledge of all things considered “news worthy”. Were we better off then or now? Sure the modern ways of communicating are awesome, but I also believe there is truly such a thing as TMI (too much information). Facebook came up in the discussion of course and how some of the younger generation do not know how to filter what they put out there in the world for all to see. This led us to discuss what could possibly go even further for the next generation as so much is considered not taboo now…

Historical novels were discussed as a whole… love them/hate them… what are the pro and cons? I felt pro for historical fiction as I learn through them in a format that I may have at one time not read or found boring… the novels take me places I have not known.

Over all the discussion was wonderful and engaging. The food was good, except the potato chip tuna casserole which I did not like at all. We ended our discussion close to 9 pm which is unusual as we usually wrap up close to 8 or a little after. Maybe it was the recent anniversary of 9/11, but for some reason I feel even after the ten years of this group being together… we bonded even more on this night.

**The food portion of this review is part of Weekend Cooking, a wonderful meme you may find at Beth Fish Reads.

Recipes

The Seafood Spread

This was taken as part of a recipe I usually make as a salad. You will need:

imitation seafood

dill weed

mayo

onion

a generous dose of chopped Cilantro (I am a cilantro junky!)

salt and pepper

Chop the seafood into small pieces and place in medium bowl. I used two packages of the seafood (found in the deli department) for the Bookies. Add the mayo only using enough to coat, it should not be goopy with mayo…. sprinkle generously with the dill seasoning, add the cilantro and chopped fine onion, as well as the salt and pepper to taste. Place in frig until ready to serve. For this event I served it on Rye Bread Squares, buy you could use it on crackers too.

Creme Brulee

Yield – 4 servings
2 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean split lengthwise
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup plus 1 tbs sugar

1/3 to 1/2 cup white granulated or brown sugar (for topping)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, heat the cream with the vanilla bean for 15 minutes, stirring to ensure it does not burn. Remove from the heat and let it stand for 15 minutes. Remove and discard the vanilla bean. Strain the cream.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer on high-speed for 5 minutes, or until they are light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar. Add about half the cream, a little at a time (to temper the eggs), to the egg mixture, whisking until well blended. Then pour the egg mixture into the remaining cream mixture. Stir until completely blended.

Pour the custard into four 9-ounce ramekins or custard cups. Place the dishes in a large baking pan. Pour enough HOT water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the custard is set.

Remove the dishes from the baking pan and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 2 or up to 24 hours.

To serve, let the ramekins stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle the tops with sugar in a thin, even layer over each ramekin. To caramelize the sugar, light a propane torch and hold it so the flame just touches the surface. Start at the center and spiral out toward the edges of the ramekins. If the sugar begins to burn, pull the torch away and blow on the sugar to extinguish the flame.

*Sharon said this recipe took her three tries to get it right and she is an amazing cook so I think this one is not for the faint of heart…. or… errr…. me. 😯

Morning Meanderings… Celebrating 10 years with the Bookies!

Published on August 10, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)48 Comments

Good morning all!

After yesterday mornings “I am in limbo” post… this one excited me to write!

Last night was my August book club meeting, but this time it was more than that. It was also a surprise birthday party for Sharon in our group who turns 50 today, and it was also our 10 year anniversary.

I am pretty sentimental when it comes to my book club. Bookies was started in August of 2001 as a way to bring people together. At the time I had worked for Wal-Mart about 10 years and thought it was sad that many of us who had worked together for so long really didn’t know anything about each other.

The idea of a book club came out of the air. I figured I like to read… maybe others do too. So I posted a book title by the time clock (Dance Upon The Air by Nora Roberts) and put a date, place and time to meet in a few weeks. And….

crickets.

Yup. No one said a word to me about it.

The night we were to meet I thought I would show up at the meeting place, have a diet Pepsi and then go home if I was all alone. So I showed up. And a few minutes after me, Angie showed up (Angie now runs the book blog By Book or By Crook!) and Karen showed up. And we reviewed the book and I had brought another book to suggest for the next month (Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard). We agreed to meet again the second Tuesday of September. This was 2001.

On that second Tuesday of September… it was the 11th and we had the terrorist attacks on the world trade center. It was a day that filled with a lot of emotion and turmoil, and that evening I told my husband I was going to show up at book club. I did not know if we would have any new people, I had not heard from anyone… but I did not want them to show up and be alone so I went. The amazing thing was, the other two showed up as well as one more. We all agreed that there was nothing we could do at home about what was happening in the world, so we shared our thoughts on the days events, brokenhearted for the world, and yes, we reviewed the book.

Now it is August 2011 and we are currently 17 members. Walking into the Boardwalk Bread and Bagel last night was amazing to look at all the book lovers there… all a part of this group we call Bookies. We no longer can fit into a booth like we did that first meeting (although I did suggest we try :razz:)

Last night we reviewed Devil In The White City by Eric Larson. I can not wait to share with you my thoughts as well as the Bookies. We celebrated a milestone birthday with Sharon, and ate together. Coming home, I just could not get over how blessed I feel to be a part of such amazing women. It started out to be a few girls that worked together… then we added a few friends… and then it grew from there. We never said we were an all girls group… it just turned out that way.

Next month we are reading The Postmistress bu Sarah Blake. I read and reviewed this one a while back but think I will refresh myself by trying it on audio….