July Book Club: The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown – I really liked the premise of this book – three sisters end up back at home when their mother gets sick. Their father is a professor of Shakespeare and they have grown up indoctrinated in the Shakespearian world. They are each named after heroines in the plays and their lives somewhat mirror the characters. The name ‘weird sisters’ is a reference to the three witches in Macbeth. Sounds interesting, right? Well, I couldn’t sympathize with any of the characters – they were all pretty annoying and selfish. And they kept making dumb decisions. On top of that, I felt like the book didn’t go anywhere. There was no climax, no resolution, at least not a strong one. Definitely not one of my favorites. 4/10

Reasons for God by Timothy Keller – It took me months to read this book. Not because it was long but because it was dense. I would finish a chapter (or paragraph) and just sit and let it sink in. It was not a quick read. I think what hit me the most was Keller’s tone throughout the book – it is intelligent and thoughtful, easy to understand but not condescending. It is so good to read an intelligent Christian’s response to how we are lead to believe in God. It certainly helped me lay some of my doubts to rest. So very thankful for this book. 10/10

August Book Club: From High Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond (aka the Pioneer Woman) – Such a fun book! It has the same tone that her blog has – silly, self deprecating and easy to read. It is probably the closest to ‘chick-lit’ that my book club will ever read. The story is how Ree met Marlboro Man (her husband). It literally had be laughing out loud at times. What probably cracked me up the most is the way she writes about her husband, it’s so sweet and cute, but really, who calls their husband all of the pet names that she has for hers? My only complaint about the book was that it just kinda ended after the birth of her first daughter – I wanted to read more about the start of the blog and her journey to blog fame! Maybe there will be a part two. . . A fun and light-hearted read, not heavy on recipes. 8/10

Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott – Oh goodness. I love Anne Lamott and her honesty. I have read Traveling Mercies and Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith and enjoyed both. Her book on her first year as a single mother was no different – she wrote things down I only thought in my head! This is certainly one to read as a new parent experiencing the highs and lows. She had me laughing at moments and close to tears in others (just as parenting does). If you like her other books and you are a parent, you will enjoy this book. 8/10

Enemies of the Heart by Andy Stanley – Such a practical book. Some of it feels a little oversimplified, repetitive or basic but the application is completely there. Stanley addresses how guilt, anger, greed and jealousy rot your heart and destroy your life. Guilt – “I owe you”; Anger – “You owe me”; Greed – “I owe me”; and Jealousy – “God owes me.” He doesn’t leave it there though, he leaves you with a fairly simple solution to resolve these destructive forces – from guilt to confession; from anger to forgiveness; from greed to generousity; from jealousy to celebration. I think the most impactful part of the book for me was his discussion on how the good virtues apply in parents to transform your children’s life. If they grow up knowing how to recognize and diffuse these destructive heart issues, they will grow up with healthy relationships. 8.5/10

September Book Club: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – This is a book I had never read although it seems to be a common high school book read. To be honest, I didn’t know the storyline before picking up the book. I knew that it was supposed to be a love story between Catherine and Heathcliff and that was about it. I didn’t know it was going to be so dark and twisted. Honestly, I didn’t feel like this was a love story at all – the individuals were selfish and obsessed – neither of which signifies love to me. It took me about 10 chapters to really start enjoying the book where I wanted to pick it up and continue reading. Part of that is the character introductions are slow and fairly intricate. I’m glad I read this one for it is certainly fascinating (we had tons to talk about at book club), but not sure I would call it a favorite. 7/10

October Book Club: Midwives by Chris Bohjalian – I don’t know that I would recommend that anyone pregnant read this book. The story is intense and very interesting, but very sad. The story is set in the mid 80s about an ex-hippie who is now a midwife. The story is told from the point of view of her daughter, who although young in the story, tells it as a grown women trained to be an OB-GYN. The midwife has one home-birth go horribly bad and had to go to court against the state to defend her innocence. I was impressed at the description and detail that the male author was able to portray about the birth experience – he obviously did a lot of research. This is a well written, easy to read story but not for those of the faint of heart that can’t deal with birth speak. To be honest – I’m not sure I could have read it and enjoyed it pre-motherhood. Having had the experience of a natural, non-medicated delivery, I understood exactly what was being talked about. Not for every reader, but a good book nonetheless. 8.5/10

The Hunger Games (May book club book), Catching Fire, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – Yes. I finished the whole trilogy and I couldn’t get enough. I’m actually considering reading them again although thankfully a friend has borrowed them so they are currently out of my house. This is a good thing. I finished the first book long before vacation and wouldn’t let myself pick up the other two until I was on vacation. I couldn’t put the first book down and thereby wasn’t getting anything done for work or around the house. I was a useless human being while reading it but I mean that in the best way possible! I know that these are being called ‘the next Twilight’ and I’m not sure how I feel about that because I feel like these books are written for more than love struck teenagers (sorry if you liked Twilight – I just swore not to read them). They are complex, political and have interesting social commentary. And now I am a little obsessed and can’t wait for the movies to come out next summer. Oy – what have these books turned me in to? I don’t even know if I want to go into a description of the books – I might just type for too long and most likely you have already heard about these books since they are so popular right now. So all I will say is that if you like books like Fahrenheit 451, The Giver, Anthem or Brave New World, you will likely enjoy these books. Quick reads, fascinating story, and great for escaping reality! (And just curious, how many of you guys are as obsessed as I am? I don’t want to be alone in this!) 9/10

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba – Erica! I finally read this book that you gave me so long ago! And you were right, I loved it. What an inspiring true story. William lived in rural Malawi and had very little compared to most American children. Yet with the very little that he had, he turned into hope for his village. At 14, he had already faced death, disease, famine and rejection of his school dreams. And still, he didn’t give up. Using simple resources that he had nearby, a library and a junkyard, he creates a windmill to provide reliable electricity for his simple mud house. I can’t get over how much hope this book carries with it. Even through the telling of the most bleak years of William’s life, he continues with a simple, beautiful hope for better things. What impacted me the most about this book actually surprised me – William’s family are Christians and the way he talks about God and Christ in the face of trial is so wonderful and modest that it took me off guard. I was reminded of how American my faith is and how much I have to learn from people of faith from other countries. An uplifting read in the face of so many discouraging things in the world today. 9/10

A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenburg: June Bookclub Book – Molly is the voice behind the blog Orangette and her book, A Homemade Life, chronicles the stories behind important recipes in her life. I’m pretty sure all of you know how I feel about food by now. It is something that I write the story of my life with – I use it to show others how much I love them, it soothes me to be in the kitchen, I will spend hours talking anyone’s ear off about my food experiences – whether I cooked it with my own hands or enjoyed the fruits of another chef’s labors. So of course I enjoyed hearing someone else’s account of recipes and foods that are special to them. There are some lovely stories in this book that should make her family happy that she shared. There are many recipes that I am hoping to try after reading this book and I will be thoughtful about the stories behind each one as I am preparing them. A fun read if you enjoy cooking. 8/10

O Me of Little Faith: True Confessions of a Spiritual Weakling

Book Club – February 2011: Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach – Growing up, one of the many professions that I wanted to pursue was to become an astronaut. I’m pretty sure this may have had something to do with growing up down the street from NASA’s Houston head quarters. We often went on field trips to visit the space center which led to dreaming about going up into space. Let me tell you, after reading this book, I have no desire to go to space! Roach tells it like it is, once more, in this book – leaving no stone unturned. Although, this book was fascinating, it was no Stiff. Some chapters were more enjoyable than others, but I found that others dragged. Towards the end of the book, I was ready for the book to end. The most interesting topics were discussed at the front end of the book. A fun read if you enjoy space, but not a book I would recommend as heartily as her first. 7/10

Book Club – March 2011: My Life in France by Julia Child – Oh my goodness, this book made me want to pick up and move to Europe tomorrow and see if my French speaking skills would return. I was so excited when my book club voted to read this book, as it had been on my reading list since reading Julie and Julia in August of 2009. Reading about Julia Child’s life was incredibly inspiring. She speaks openly of becoming comfortable in her own skin later on in life in so many areas – her passions, her relationships, her height, even her political tendencies. And of course, reading about her journey to love French cooking, oh my goodness, so entertaining! She jumped into the French culture with both feet, embracing the people, markets and food with a such a whole hearted gusto, that you can’t help but love her. Julia’s zest for cooking inspired me to continue exploring all of the different methods of cooking and to keep pursuing my own passions. I could not put her book down and will forever have a spot in my heart for the outgoing American cook that took on the great task of making French cuisine accessible to the American public. 9/10

Crawling: A Father’s First Year by Elisha Cooper – Ah, such a fun read. It is always entertaining to read about child rearing from a father’s perspective, especially during the first year. Although the book is sometimes crass, it also has it’s poignant moments. I spent a lot of time laughing out loud at the recollections of similar moments that we had with Jude during his first year. This is a great book for a new dad to let him know that he is not alone is his weird fatherly tendencies. 8/10

Book Club – April 2011: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery – So somehow, I didn’t grow up watching these movies or reading this series of books. Honestly, I didn’t want to read this book, but that’s why I’m a part of a book club – to read books that I wouldn’t otherwise read. This was considered one of the ‘classics’ as we rotate between fiction, non-fiction and classics. I picked the book up reluctantly because I knew I was probably not going to identify with the main character, Anne Shirley. And you know what, I didn’t. I was annoyed by her constant chatter, the stream of conscious talk and so much moralistic talk from the supporting characters. But as the book went on and Anne got older, I became more endeared to her. Her honestly about faith was refreshing in such a moralist setting – she wouldn’t pray a scripted prayer, but instead prayed passionately when she was inspired by circumstance or setting. The little life lessons taught through the book were cute but sometimes felt a bit forced. Overall I didn’t hate the book like I thought I might, but I will certainly not continue reading the rest of the series or seek out the movies! 7/10

What books are you reading/enjoying right now?

Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan – This is a short little book that is almost more like a packet than a book but it’s the perfect follow up to In Defense of Food. My favorite food rule, by far was Food Rule #39, “Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.” Another close favorite is food rule 44. “Pay more for your food and eat less of it (aka quality over quantity). Better to pay the grocer than the doctor.” It’s a fun book that has easy to remember sayings to guide your eating habits. Quick read but useful, especially if you are wanting to change your eating habits! 8/10

Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace and Learning the Hard Way by Shauna Niequist – Well, you guys may know how I felt about Cold Tangerines so I was pretty excited when I saw that Shauna had another book out! Especially when I saw what the topic of the new book was on. I really enjoy getting to read about other people’s journey’s through faith, life, trials and celebrations and I had a feeling that this was going to be one of those books that I would relate to on an intensely personal level. I’m sure it’s no surprise that it was all that and more. I love Shauna’s writing style, the way she approaches subjects that often aren’t talked about (like talking about her multiple miscarriages – I know that couldn’t have been easy but it was a balm on many of my close friend’s hearts that have dealt with this) and how she makes you feel like you are being told a story over coffee with a good friend. I love her stories about food (especially the chapter called ‘what we ate and why it matters), stories about her relationship with her husband and son, stories about how to connects with God (thin places was a great chapter) . . . I feel like we are very similar people, so it helps heal my heart a little to read how she has processed through her hard times. And because I can’t help it, here are some of my favorite quotes from the book. I think it will make you want to read this book. 9.5/10

“I know better than to believe that the changes are over, and I know better than to believe the next ones will be easier, but I’ve learned the hard way that change is one of God’s greatest gifts and one of his most useful tools.”

“In some moments, it seemed to me that the stalls of that {farmer’s} market were more sacred and nourishing than any church I’d ever been to, like life itself was there, reaching out to me, with dirty fingers like carrots.”

“I don’t know where we’ll be in five years or how exactly we’ll pay the mortgage the next few months or when we’ll have another child, but I do know how to make dinner, and to see the people I care about gobble it up makes me feel like something is right, even when nothing is. There’s something so healing about those quiet moments at the table, when everyone’s mouth – or mind or heart – is full, when you feel connected and nourished and content, even if it’s just for a split second.”

“Motherhood has rumbled over us like a freight train, rendering us in some moments out of control and humbled, positions we’re not accustomed to. We’re get-it-done women. We’ve handled everything, all the time, all at the same time. We’ve made lists and plans and back-up plans. And motherhood has laughed at our plans, twisted up our expectations, and gave them back to us upside down, covered with blood and stretch marks and Goldfish cracker paste. Logic says mothers are crazy to hope as heedlessly as we do, to love as rabidly as we do, but there’s no other way. We have been made vulnerable by motherhood as we have by nothing else in our lives.”

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson – The final chapter in ‘The Girl Who. . .’ trilogy. The first is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which we read for book club, I finished up The Girl Who Plays with Fire this past December, so I was super excited to get to finish the series since I had enjoyed the first two books so much. I can’t say I enjoyed the first half of this book, it took awhile to get the story line ready and the new characters introduced, but once that aspect of the book was complete, it got pretty intense and I couldn’t put it down. There were many lose ends to tie up from the first two books, and Larsson ties everything up nice and tight. The ending was satisfying and surprising, at the same time. Not a predictable book at all – a thoroughly entertaining mystery thriller. 8/10

Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl that Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions by Rachel Held Evans – This is the first book I picked up to go along with my word of the year, belief. It is Rachel’s story of the evolution of her faith from a fully indoctrinated young evangelical that did Bible drills and saw the world in black and white, to a Christ-following adult that allowed the Bible and not ‘Christian culture’ to color her faith. This was so refreshing for me to read, I feel a bit like I can breath again. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I feel like a crazy for doubting and I feel like a crazy for being a Christian. I frequently wonder if other people have the same deep doubts. That sometimes they just want to leave the faith behind them. Thank you Rachel for just coming out and saying what I’m sure many of us feel. Thank you for allowing God to grow bigger than the box we put him in and giving me the freedom to know that I don’t know the answers and that grey is sometimes ok. As Relevant Magazine summed up their book review, “We can embrace the unknowing, affirming that while God’s love and grace are unchanging,we will continue to evolve in our understanding of heaven and hell, the earth’s formation, the nature of salvation, our role in this broken world.” 9.5/10

Book Club January 2011: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott – I truly forgot how much I love this book. As you can see, I was reading a lot of books this month, so instead of reading one more, I decided to listen to it. Being the cheapo I am, I found Librivox on iTunes and downloaded the books as a series of podcasts for free! Some of the readers were awesome, and some were awful. . .but I was able to ‘read’ a book while running errands, driving long distance, sewing or crocheting. I love multi-tasking. Anyways, this book is just so sweet to read – I love reading about the sister’s quest for goodness, their little blunders and silly stories. It takes me away to what seems to be a harder but simpler time. I have so many good memories of sitting on my mom’s knee at about 6 years old reading this story with her. I owe much of my love of reading to this book (and my wonderful mom). It was a job to read this book again and then share it with my book club ladies. 9/10

Book Club October 2010: Nickled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich – Have you ever read those books that make you feel like the society you live in is screwed up beyond repair? This is one of those books. I finished this book feeling completely helpless and not knowing what to do with the information that was presented. Ehrenreich temporarily discarded her journalist day job and set out to find out how the working poor make ends meet in America. She lives a variety of different places, working a variety of different jobs – waitress, maid, nursing home aid, wal-mart employee. . . etc, all the while trying to have basic needs met – food and housing. Most of the time, she just barely scrapped by financially and none of the situations she was in were ideal. Her housing usually consisted of a week to week motel rental because of the lack of money to put a deposit down on an apartment. Her food was usually fast food because of the lack of kitchen available. This book was fascinating and eye-opening. I finished it and felt like I wanted to help but didn’t know how. I partially feel like this book could have been improved by having a chapter on what action the reader could take to improve the situation with the working poor, but then again, I think this book was more of an expose than a solution to the problem. 7/10

Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas – This book has been on my reading stack for a LONG time. I mean REALLY long. Like two years. Somehow, every time I finished a book, this book just didn’t sound appealing as a follow up read. Finally, I just had to commit myself to reading it. And I dragged myself through it. Definitely good information to read and great reminders that marriage cannot survive if both individuals aren’t committed to living selflessly. I do agree with the author that marriage is a refining process. Marriage can make you more holy if you let it. So many deep issues can come to light through a marriage that otherwise can be left buried. Although I think there is truth to the idea that marriage is not only about making you happy, I do believe that you can find happiness in marriage and Thomas doesn’t quite address that. He focuses on persevering through trial and serving your spouse with a godly attitude. I think it’s a good book to read during tough times. 7/10

Book Club November 2010: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot – My brain hurt a little after reading this book. I was shocked by much of the information and how little has been made public. Henrietta Lacks was an African American mother of five that lived in the 1950s. She developed a form of agressive cervical cancer. Standard medical practice for the time, the doctors took samples of the cancerous cells with our her consent or knowledge. One of the doctors took the cells and made a revolutionary discovery. Henrietta’s cells could survive and thrive in a lab setting. These were the first human cells that science had successfully kept alive and reproduced. These cells, known as HeLa became the foundation for many medical advances. Sadly, Henrietta died shortly after this discovery was made. Her impoverished family was not made aware of these findings until many years later. The book follows Skloot’s journey into the Lack’s family and the emotions and discoveries regarding Henrietta’s cells. This book was absolutely fascinating although I felt like it lost storytelling steam towards the end. 8.5/10

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson: The second book in “The Girl . . .” trilogy, this was a natural follow up to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Since I already knew the background information on the characters in the book, it hooked me in right way. The Girl Who Played with Fire dives into Lisbeth Salandar’s past and seeks to bring understanding and redemption to this deeply troubled character. The journalist Mikael Blomkvist is along for the ride once more. Larsson has a very intelligent way of writing that makes you feel as if you are discovering the mysterious information right along with the characters. While I enjoyed this book thoroughly, it is obvious how European it is. Once again, this book was written in Swedish and translated to English and it’s amusing to read as I’m sure some of the wit is lost in translation. It is once more very specific and graphic. Most fascinating to me? How often the author names brands – for example, when Salandar is furnishing her apartment, the exact details of the make, model and colors of the ikea furniture she used is present. Maybe that is a European practice? Not sure, but I couldn’t put this book down. Looking forward to reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. 9/10

After reading The Happiest Toddler on the Block, I knew that I also wanted to read Parenting with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and Charles Fay. I’m glad I did as both books seemed to agree on the big areas while also providing different parenting tools. The new concepts that I appreciated the most from this book all revolved about helping your child figure out how to make decisions on their own – developing their ‘logical’ abilities. I love the idea of giving your child lots of choices throughout the day by asking questions – “should we play with the blocks or the truck?”, “should we leave the park now or in 15 minutes?”. When the time comes that you need to call the shots, you can tell your child, “I let you make a lot of decisions today, now it’s my turn”. Seems pretty brilliant to me! The one concept that I didn’t like was the idea that your child only gets one shot with obeying instead of a warning, for example, if your child throws food on the floor, sing the ‘uh-oh’ song and take away the food. We have implemented the warning routine found in Happiest Toddler, with great success and even though you don’t always get warnings in life about everything, I feel a little like children should have warnings before action is taken on non-dangerous issues. One other difference is that Love and Logic is geared towards children that are a little older, whereas Happiest Toddler gave some tips for (preparatory) disciplining as young as 9-12 months. Overall, I felt like this was a practical book that had some great tools for disciplining and teaching your child to make good life choices. 9/10

Our September Book Club book was The Help by Katheryn Stockett. This fiction book had originally been removed from our reading list during voting, but we decided last minute to add it back in and I am so glad that we did. This book is set in the early 1960s and tells the story of a pre-integrated Jackson, Mississippi. I was honestly blown away by the clarity in which this book communicates the ridiculous hatred and racism that existed so prevalently back then. Since I grew up in a very racially diverse area, it’s so hard for me to understand how people could/can treat other people with such blatant hatred. These black maids were trusted to raise the white people’s children, cook their food, clean their houses but they weren’t allowed to use the same toilet. Ridiculous. The main white character, ‘Skeeter’, longs to become a writer and embarks on a dangerous journey of writing the black maid’s stories, good and bad. The leads to her gradual disillusionment of her small town and close friends. Very well written. 9/10

The Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips – This was recommended to me by a friend that enjoyed The Thirteenth Tale and searched for similar books. I definitely feel that this book incorporated some of the feel of the Thirteenth Tale, but lacked some of the complexity. I still to this day can’t fathom how Setterfield created such an intricate and detailed plot. I think this book was a combination of The Other Boleyn Girl, The Davinci Code and The Thirteenth Tale, so if you enjoyed those books, you will enjoy this one. There were elements of this book that I truly enjoyed but some of it was very predictable, at least in my opinion. There was a certain cleverness with how the two different story lines paralleled each other and met up in the end and it was an enjoyable read. Was it up to par with The Thirteenth Tale? Maybe not, but it was an entertaining read nonetheless. 7/10

Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott – I read her book Traveling Mercies and I really enjoyed it. It’s very raw. No fluff, no trying to be someone else – she is who she is and sometimes that means she cusses a little bit. She doesn’t try to justify her behavior, often the book is dealing with how she is rooting sin out of her life and the difficulties that ensue. Plan B was very similar to Traveling Mercies. Many people call her a female Donald Miller, and I can see that in some ways because she is very honest and open the way Miller is, but she has a certain raw element that comes from a rough upbringing and a difficult life. I loved this look into her life, growing older, parenting her teenage son and dealing with the then president G.W. Bush. (She is unapologetically, wholeheartedly liberal – you have to be able to take her political commentary with a grain of salt, regardless of your particular beliefs.) 8/10

August’s Book Club Book: firefly lane by Kristin Hannah – Talk about a tear jerker. I’m pretty sure this is as close to lipstick literature as we have gotten in our bookclub but that’s the reason I’m in a bookclub: to read books I wouldn’t have read otherwise! The book follows the life of two girls, Kate and Tully, starting in the 70s, during with a crisis during their tumultuous teenage years. The unexpected friendship grows and the two become best friends. They giggle and primp through high school, strut and date through their 80s college experience, and the climb the corporate ladder to become career women in the 90s. At this point, their paths diverge a bit as Tully strives for success in the news industry and Kate becomes a stay at home mom. Much of the book was fairly light hearted, but a heaviness starts to develop as Kate struggles with motherhood and Tully rises to fame and fortune, all the while, missing true relationships in her life. As surprised as I was, I appreciated this book. Hannah aptly describes the struggles and thrills of each decade, develops the characters into people that you feel like you know and wraps you up in the story line. Not to give anything away, but I sobbed for the last quarter of the book. To me, that means that I was wrapped up in the characters and the story. A fun read, nothing too intellectual, but entertaining! 8/10

A co-worker gave me the Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp, back before Jude was born and it was by far the most helpful baby book that I read. Granted, I didn’t read many books but Happiest Baby had methods for calming Jude that worked every time. Every. Single. Time. It was amazing. I thoroughly appreciated how middle of the road this book was – it seems to fall in the middle of the parent spectrum which I felt good about. And because we had such great success with Happiest Baby, I used PaperBackSwap to get Happiest Toddler on the Block. I am so glad that I did. As with Happiest Baby, this book breaks everything down in easy to understand language, making the techniques suggested very easy to implement. He does a good job creating scenarios to better explain the methods he suggest. As Jude gets older, I am looking forward to having tools to be able to discipline as situations arise without having to resort to spanking. Click this to see a demonstration of his techniques as modeled on Good Morning America. I am still planning on reading a few other books on discipling toddlers, like Parenting with Love and Logic, but I am glad to have read this book as a good base to continue to learn about parenting. 9/10

I finally finished up June’s book club book, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and I have to say, books like this are the reason I am part of a book club. I would not have picked up this book on my own, but I was excited when it was suggested to be one of the classics that we read. This book has been mentioned in so many other books that we have read, like Reading Lolita in Tehran, that I was glad to have a reason to make it a priority for reading. I didn’t get to attend the book club that discussed this book because I was out of town and I’m sad I missed it. I would have liked to discuss this one in a group, but I’ll settle for talking about it on the blog. It surprised me how much easier this book was to read than I had anticipated. There were certainly parts that I know I didn’t understand because of the difference in cultures and speech, but overall, I felt like I was excited to read the book every time I had the opportunity to pick it up. 9/10

Now for this month’s book club book, The Host by Stephanie Meyer. I know. I know. Stephanie Meyer wrote the Twilight series. . . I almost didn’t want to like this book because of that fact. I have sworn to myself that I will not get sucked in to the Twilight phenomenon and I almost felt like I was giving in a little by reading this book. I mean, I’ve read Ann Rice’s vampire books in the past, not to mention all of the R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike and Stephen King. . . all in that same genre of reading. I don’t know that I want to spend any more of my time reading books like that! This book is not associated with Twilight at all – where Twilight is a young adult novel, The Host is certainly written for adults. It’s about an alien invasion where the aliens take over human bodies and continue to live in society, making the world a more benign place. I didn’t anticipate getting so wrapped up in this story, but I found myself reaching for this book every time I had a spare moment. Meyer is a fantastic story teller even if there were elements of the story that I found a little predictable. Especially the ‘love’ part of the story. . . Overall, a fun sci-fi read. I enjoyed turning my brain off and not having to work to read and enjoy this book. 7.5/10

Aren’t we cute? I love my book club girls.

The one thing that the book had going for it was it’s discussions of food. There were recipes included in almost every chapter (although towards the end of the book the recipes no longer related to the chapters they were included in. . . ), so we decided to do a potluck for bookclub, using recipes from the book. Fun, right?

We had goat cheese toast points with herbs and garlic:

I made the orange cous cous (which was just . . . ok in my opinion).

And I think the star of the evening was the chocolate cake with mascarpone chestnut cream made by Jenn. Delicious!

We tried to talk about the book some but really we ended up talking about food and eating the food that we all brought. So in light of that, I thought I would share the recipe that Jenn made with you.

Chocolate Cake with Mascarpone-Chestnut (ahem, nutella) Cake

8 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
1 c powdered sugar
3 large eggs
1 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 8 oz container sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt chocolate in microwave safe bowl at high for 30 second intervals until melted, or on stovetop. Stir until smooth.

Beat butter and powdered sugar at medium speed with a mixer, about 5 minutes or until blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating until just blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate, beating until just blended.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to chocolate mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended afte reach addition. Stir in vanilla. Pour batter into a lightly greased and floured deep 9-inch round cake or springform pan, or a 9×13 glass pan. Bake at 350 for 28-30 minutes or until tester inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove cake from pan and let cook completely. Served with a dollop of Mascarpone-Chestnut Cream (recipe below).

Mascarpone-Chestnut (Nutella) Cream

1 7 oz container mascarpone, softened
1 8.75 oz can creme de marrons (chestnut spread (or, nutella, because where in the world do you find chestnut spread in the states?)
1 tsp grated lemon zest

Beat mascarpone and chestnut spread together at medium speed, about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat whipping cream in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into mascarpone-chestnut mixture. Stir in lemon zest. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

What have I been reading lately?

The Secret History by Donna Tart – I got this book for Christmas and have been reading it between book clubs for a couple of months. It is a long read, that’s for sure. I’m not sure that this is a book I would recommend as I had a hard time finding empathy for the main characters of the book – there were so many of them! It was hard to keep them straight and I felt a little put off by all of them, which led me to not really care what happened to them. Interesting, but not interesting enough to keep. This one is getting put on paperbackswap to free up room on my bookshelf. 4/10

Reading Lolita in Tehran – by Azar Nafisi (Book Club: March) – I am naive when it comes to so many issues in the world. I had so little knowledge of the Iran/Iraq conflict in the 80s that it was embarrassing. This book walked me through the events through the eyes of an intelligent Iranian female professor. Such oppression. Such bravery. Such a different culture that I know so little about. I thoroughly enjoyed having my eyes opening to the way of life that these women were subjected to, and their struggle for love, knowledge, recognition and appreciation. While I ate up the story, I felt that the book itself was a little disjointed. There were four main sections, broken up by the American book or author and at times it was difficult to understand what part of the author’s life it was describing. Overall though, I felt that the flaws were minute in comparison to the knowledge I gained. Books like these are reasons why I love being in book club. I would have not picked it up otherwise! 8/10

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years – by Donald Miller – I am a Donald Miller fan. I appreciate his blunt style of writing and his willingness to say things about spirituality that others don’t even want to let themselves think. He is the guy that goes there and says it how he sees it. Stream of consciousness writing resonates with me (haven’t you noticed?) and Miller does it beautifully. ‘A Million Miles’ is Don telling his story to teach how to live a better story. It is inspiring and convicting, thought provoking and beautifully descriptive. I always seem to go back to the intro when people ask what the book is about. It doesn’t tell the whole story, as it shouldn’t, but makes you want to read more: “If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn’t tell you friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen. The truth is, you wouldn’t remember that movie a week later, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cried at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo. But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to feeling meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful.” 10/10

The Girls from Ames – by Jeffrey Zaslow – (Book Club: April) – Funny thing. When the book club girls picked this book, we thought it was a fiction book. Turns out it’s non-fiction. Oops. I had been under the impression this book was going to be a bit of ‘chick lit’ which is something I don’t typically read, so I was glad that the book club was taking me out of my literary comfort zone once more. Turns out the book was an examination of a particular group of women’s friendships over the years. It was written by a man, and somewhat obviously so because he noticed things about the relationships that most women would look past. Interesting book, full of facts about close female friendships, but not quite what I was anticipating when I picked it up. 7/10

What books have you been reading lately? Any you would recommend?