Bookclub Junkies

Hello to the greater blogosphere, Ali here. It’s taken me almost a month to decipher my red wine chicken scratch so I could accurately record our last get together. :) We had an intimate affair, just Dylon, Mia, and I, aka the “bookclub junkies”. Stacy was there early on and eager to share her wonderful news with us (even if it did mean getting a speeding ticket on the way to the North 40). We had some good belly laughs and great conversation.

The book we discussed was Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. We thought that it was a wonderful story of female empowerment. The last sentence of the book ends the story with a bang – the author gets it and wants to make sure that we get it too – that a woman’s beauty and self-worth is a great price. It was interesting how Luo read to the Seamstress to make her “worthy” of him, thinking that she needed to become better educated and more cultured, and when the books did just that for her, she left him in the dust! You go, girl! Educated women realize that there’s a bigger world out there and that they can make decisions and choices for themselves; they’re not stuck. I can’t remember who said it, but they nailed it, “If he had only kept her stupid, she would have been with him forever!”

The rest of our night consisted of solving the problems of the world. Here are some highlights:
· We discussed Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and got on a lengthy discussion of eating habits and making good food choices.
· We also talked about what a great tool facebook is for us voyeurs out there. How do we end up looking through pictures of people we've never met before?!
· The topic of meeting celebrities was touched on, including Hugh’s line to Rosario Dawson as he dropped her off, “Well, I guess I’ll see you on the big screen!”
· And there’s a tie between my two favorite lines of the night, courtesy of Dylon. The first one was referring to short guys dating tall women and motor boating, “He’s got two black eyes and a big smile!” The other was from an older woman who was telling the secret of a long marriage, “I kept his stomach full and his balls empty!”

Amber graciously offered to host our next book club on May 1. We’re reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I just finished it and am looking forward to a good discussion about that one too! I also look forward to spending time with a wonderful group of women!

At Last, We Meet Again

The holidays came and went. Our busy lives have continued on at a crazy pace, and we are somehow aready in the month of March! But we did have a chance to slow down and meet for a fun book club night in February.



The problem with blogging about it a month later.....I can't remember many details about our conversation that night. (Ok, maybe it was the wine.) :) So fellow bc ladies...feel free to remind me again or add details to this blog if you drank less than I did!

I DO remember discussing two recent book reads that evening....The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, and Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Radish. General consensus was a liking for both, although they were two very different books!

Our next book club selection is called Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie. We had a little chuckle about the title. Some (ok me) were not clear on how to pronounce "Balzac." It sounds like quite a different phrase when you add some strong accents! But all kidding aside, we're hoping for a good read about 2 boys who go through the Chinese period of "re-education"....and maybe some Balzac references along the way. :)

The night consisted of good wine, lots of yummy chocolate (those chocolate mint cookies were amazing Ali...I think you should post the recipe), good conversation, and great friends. I love how we can laugh, share stories, ask for advice about something, or just be a listening ear for eachother.... although some (me again) did much of the talking....sorry ladies, the wine speaks through me. :)

Most of all, I see our Book Club as an "outlet" and a "safe place" when I need it. I trust and lean on all of these women when I'm struggling with something, or when I just need a laugh. I'm reminded about what's important in life each time we meet...a reminder I need especially this time of year when I get easily caught up in the fast pace of life, jobs, stress, and routines. Girls, every month, I love slowing down with you, eating, drinking, and being merry! So, until we meet again........cheers!

Rawarrrrr.....

Wow, we got BC in before the holidays, but then the holidays took over and here I am almost a month later finally writing the blog!

As always, it was a fun night of wine, friendship, good advice and good discussions.  This time we actually did NOT discuss the book "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" because for most of us, it was a busy fall and we did not finish it.

However, we did discuss the "spicy fire", how the Biggest Loser contests were down to "like 2 fat rolls", and how some of us wouldn't mind making puppies with Jacob (New Moon). We all admitted (right? or was that just me?) to feeling like dirty old ladies at times in the company of attractive younger men (boys?!). ("If you feel teeth, don't worry...") Oh my.

There was some intimate sharing of fudge between Joy and Amber and some classic misunderstandings: talk of the movie "Turtleman" (instead of Turboman), and how little Pierce is "Amber-dextrous".

A couple of other Book Club original quotes:
"If Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie break up over Jennifer Aniston, THAT IS my business!" (Referring to the ridiculous amount of media coverage on Tiger Woods affairs.)

"Hubba Hubba - only Down's Syndrome people and my mother say that!" So polically incorrect, yet so funny....

Talk also turned to the upcoming Christmas through a child's eyes and how we all discovered the harsh realities of Santa and then as adults we rediscovered how magical Santa and Christmas truly are.

Joy has offered to host our next book club where we'll discuss the "Physick Book" as well as our new book: "Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral" by Kris Radish. http://www.amazon.com/Annie-Freemans-Fabulous-Traveling-Funeral/dp/0553382640
It's about a woman who dies and asks her 5 best friends to take her ashes on a traveling funeral. I have started it and love it so far. I think it will spur some great discussion about friendships we've had, and how people from different periods in our lives know us so differently. 

As we roll into 2010 (already??!) I just want to express my gratitude for such an amazing group of women. I always look forward to our time together and get some of the best advice from you as a group. Thank you for making my abs and cheeks (the ones on my face) hurt everytime we get together and thank you for the regularly scheduled girlfriend fix. I love you girls and here's to an AMAZING 2010. May it be filled with love, laughter, joy, abundance in all things meaningful to you, and pretty young men -just to look at. :)  Rawarrr....

October 10th

This is Dylon M. We had the last BC at my house on October 10th. We had planned on sitting outside by the fire pit but Mother Nature thought I would be funny to snow. So we had a great fire in the den with lots of candles. Mia apparently liked the fire because she practically crawled in it. Luckily, she moved from sitting on the hearth about 15 seconds before a huge fire log rolled out to where she was sitting!!! (I've always thought she had some sort of premonition power!).

We also found out that Chester (my 3 year old English Fox Hound) was entirely too big to be in between the couch and the coffee table. His big butt knocked over a couple wine glasses, which in-and-of -itself is a tragedy! However, due to Joy and Stacey's quick reflexes no wine was spilled on the carpet. Hooray!

Other notable happenings include Amber's questions about Joy's "normal" people, Joy's gratefulness of Brooks (Mia's husband) for watching Pierce so that she could attend, and of course the much discussed "big log" I brought to the fire. A new vocab word of "nootch" was discovered but I can't remember what it means (so typical of me and vocabulary).

The book that we read was "Time of My Life" by Allison Winn Scotch. The story was about a woman who got a second chance at seeing what life might have been like if she had made other choices (and some sacrifices). This took us through a discussion of what things we would maybe like to change about our pasts and how they could have affected our future. A dabbling of fate talk was included, as would be expected from such a topic. Overall, those who finished reading the book (I'm still working my way through it!) seemed to enjoy it.

The book we decided on for next time is "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" by Katherine Howe. We did not discuss who would be hosting the next BC. The holidays are usually a difficult time for us to put together a date that will work for everyone.

Overall, it was a great night filled with laughter and conversation. We all left with a little bit of wine in our bellies, some good memories and just a hint of carbon monoxide poisoning.

August 29

(This is Mia R.) For this BC we read "Same Kind of Different As Me" by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.  http://www.samekindofdifferentasme.com/  On the whole I think we all liked it. Our conversation about it led us to how we feel about hand outs to the homeless and homelessness in general. Some of us feel ok about giving handouts without strings, some of us feel we have a responsibility to give the person a "foothold" to better their life. We discussed the religious aspect of the book and how it contributed to our feelings about the characters. We were all touched by the emotional connection these two men felt towards each other at the end of the book. For some reason - I can't remember much other conversation about the book - help me out here girls!

Next on the agenda, picked by Amber D: "Time of My Life" by Alison Winn Scotch. http://allisonwinnscotch.blogspot.com/

We talked about meeting at Dylon's next time on October 10 for a bon fire BC! More to come on that.

Highlights from the night:
"You wouldn't care as much about what other people thought of you if you realized how seldom they do."
"You're the cutest whore I've ever seen without sores!"
"Her two favorite things in the world are Mass and Convertables."
A polite little squeek when our group pic was taken. :)

Thanks Amber for an awesome night, great food!  Can't wait until next time girls!

Our history

Our Book Club (BC) started about 3.5 years ago.  We came together as women who loved to read and who wanted to share that passion. Little did we know what BC would come to mean to us....
In the last 3.5 years we have been through layoffs, breakups, difficult pregnancies, birth of children, stressful times with friends, financial difficulties and personal losses.  And we've celebrated holidays, birthdays, weddings, engagements, new jobs, new loves, new babies, new friends, great adventures, and great wine. Our group tries to meet monthly, though it usually actually happens every 6 weeks or so. We hardly ever make it every 4 weeks only because the chemistry of us all together makes it worth it to put off the next date until the day that most of us can make it.
When we began BC we decided to meet Thursday nights. Fridays and Saturdays were days reserved for precious boyfriends, husbands, families or other obligations.  After suffering through our hangovers following that first BC we all agreed, Thursdays just would not work. I think we stayed at the inaugural BC until 1 or 2 AM. We laughed so hard we cried.  We drank enough wine to put our men under the table.  And we realized the magic of this group.
We are: Dawn V (not pictured), Stacy H, Mia R, Alli A, Amber D, Joy D and Dylon M. We are strong, loving, loyal, intelligent, successful, happy, and really fricking funny women.  We are Book Club. We are Inclement Bitches.
Don't get too excited: no secrets will be revealed here.  This is merely a way for us to chronicle our hilarious moments and actually discuss and keep track of the books we've read. (Yes, we do actually read and discuss books.) The plan is for the hostess of the last meeting to be in charge of blogging about that meeting and post our next book. Ladies, when it is your turn, make sure you indicate who is doing the writing.  We should all feel free to comment and share this with anyone who may appreciate what we're all about: good times, good friends, tasty wine and great books. Cheers!