Vinita Still Writes in Chicago

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Vinita Hampton Wright, the author of this month’s book, is an editor, writer, teacher and speaker. After several years working as a public schoolteacher in Kansas and Missouri, Wright got her master’s degree in communications from Wheaton College. During her time at Wheaton, she was allowed to do creative writing projects in place of taking exams, provided the writing dealt with a theological theme. With her projects revolving around the theme of grace, Wright wrote what became her first book, Grace at Bender Springs. 

Her second novel (and our book this month), Velma Still Cooks in Leeway explores the theme of forgiveness. Wright’s ability to make her characters come alive and the art of her storytelling in this book have been highly praised. In 2007 Dwelling Places, her third novel, won Christianity Today’s award for best fiction.

According to her website, Vinita now lives in Chicago and has been working as an editor for almost 20 years. She also leads workshops helping artists connect their creative work and spiritual lives. Much like her character Velma cooked her way through life, Vinita is still writing today, working on another novel and a book of essays.

If you’d like to learn more about Vinita Hampton Wright, take a look at her website, or check out the article that appeared in Christianity Today shortly after Velma Still Cooks in Leeway was published.

Join us next Thursday, November 10 at 7 p.m. at Paradise Café and Bakery at Hamilton Town Center as we discuss Velma Still Cooks in Leeway. Hope to see you there!

Murder At the Vicarage Recap

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It was unanimous. After reading our first Agatha Christie novel, we understand why she is the bestselling author she is. She is so clever; we were all surprised by the ending. There’s a good chance we’ll be reading more of her work in the future. So if you haven’t finished yet, go ahead and do that right now.

We’re not fond of the truly scary, and this book fit the light-hearted murder mystery bill. It actually reminded us a lot of Monday the Rabbi Took Off by Harry Kemelman which we read in September of 2008.

For more discussion, show up on the 2nd Thursday of the month for the live, play-by-play reaction to what we’re reading!

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Plus, there’s always yummies to snack on!
(and who can say no to a pumpkin spice latte this time of year?)

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Next time, Thursday Nov. 10th @7pm, we’ll be discussing Velma Still Cooks in Leeway. All I know about Velma is that life happens, and she still cooks. I’m ready to dig into this highly recommended novel and perhaps try a few of her recipes!
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(While you’re ordering Velma, go ahead and buy A Year In Provence, our December book by Peter Mayle. Who couldn’t use comedic stories of the South of France to add even more cheer to your Holidays?)

How did you compare to Miss Marple?

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If you haven’t finished Agatha Christie’s Murder at the Vicarage, you still have a few hours left to get reading before we meet tonight at Paradise Bakery and Café for our discussion. With cooler, damp, fall weather moving in, it’s the perfect time to be inside a cozy café sipping a warm beverage, enjoying a delicious baked treat and discussing a good old fashioned murder mystery from one of the most prolific authors of all time.

Here are a few questions to get you thinking and to get us talking about the book (in no particular order):
  1. The book is told from the first person point of view of the vicar rather than from the point of view of a narrator or Miss Marple. Was this unusual to you? Do you think it enhanced or hurt the book?
  2. At one point Miss Marple says she has a certain number of suspects. Did you suspect the same number of people she did?
  3. When the mystery was solved, were you right? If not, who was your prime suspect and why?
  4. Do you have a “Miss Marple” in your life? Do you see your self having Miss Marple-like tendencies?
  5. How did this mystery novel compare with any other mystery novels you have read. Were they written after this one? If so, do you think Agatha Christie’s writing may have influenced that author? Why or why not?
Hope to see you all tonight at 7!

"best selling novelist of all time"

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According to the Guinness Book of World Records our author this month, Agatha Christie, is the best selling novelist of all time! No matter how big or small a book club is… they should read the best, right?!

I previewed this book earlier this year, and I know I will read more of her mysteries. Murder on the Orient Express is now in my ibooks waiting for me. Granted, I’ve only read one of her 66 detective novels I may not be the best judge… but the mystery, the funny, the British, the lack of gore won me over, for sure.



Christie had a full life, a life she chronicled in two autobiographies.

So I don’t spoil those books, incase you’d like to read them, here is a glimpse of her life… in numbers:

1890 -the year she was born
1 brother
1 sister
4 yrs old -when she taught herself to read
1st World War -worked as a hospital nurse, and in a pharmacy (with poisons… great for her future plots!)
1914 -married first husband, Archibald Christie an aviator
1 daughter, Roselind
11 days -how long she was missing after news of her first husband’s unfaithfulness
1930 -married her second husband, an Max Mallowan an archeologist
2nd World War -worked in the pharmacy at University College Hospital, again with poisons.
1968 -because of her husbands knighthood, she became Lady Mallowan.
85 -age at her death

66 detective novels
14 short story collection
24,000 performances of her stage play, Mouse Trap

1st recipient of the Mystery Writers of America’s highest honour, the Grand Master Award


I hope you join us next Thursday October 13th at 7:00 at Paradise Bakery and Cafe for a great discussion!

Happy Reading,
Sarah

A Dinner Fit for a Hobbit (and Some Recipes Too)

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Another Book Club dinner party is in the books, and this year’s event was just as lovely as the previous year.

Beautiful decor…

Fresh Salad…

Delicious soup…

Decadent dessert…

Oh, and conversation about The Hobbit as well…

While this book goes down as a favorite for some of us, others were not fans of the fantasy fiction genre or any of Tolkien’s works. However, we all could agree that the dramatized version available on Audible got a big thumbs down for leaving out narration, the dialog being too hard to follow and just generally not doing justice to the story.

For those of us that liked the book, we appreciated Bilbo as the reluctant hero and enjoyed following his very unhobbitlike adventures. Several of us are excited to one day read this book to our own kids as they start looking for adventures of their own.

And now, what you all have been waiting for…the recipes!

Corn Potato Poblano Soup
Makes about 2 quarts
6 ears organic corn, kernels shaved and reserved, cobs cut in half for stock following
8 c. water
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. sea salt

  1. In a medium saucepan combine corn cobs, water, oregano and salt. Simmer 30 minutes.

2 poblano peppers
3 yellow onions, small dice
4 ribs celery, small dice
4 yukon gold potatoes, medium dice
1/4 c. olive oil
1 tsp. sea salt
pinch of cayenne
1 c. white wine
red bell pepper coulis or cilantro pesto

  1. Using tongs, roast poblano peppers directly over a medium high flame. The skin of the peppers should be blistered and black all over. Put roasted peppers into a small bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap.
  2. In a large stock pot combine corn kernels, onions, celery, olive oil and remaining salt. Cook medium high until vegetables color.
  3. Add white wine and cook a few minutes more.
  4. Add potatoes, and strain corn stock into the main pot.
  5. Peel seed and chop poblanos, and add to soup. Simmer until potatoes are tender and flavors combine.
  6. Garnish with red bell pepper coulis or cilantro pesto.

Roast Pumpkin Soup
Makes about 5 cups
4 medium cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 kg peeled deseeded pumpkin (you will need about 1.5 kg or pumpkin to yield the 1 kg of peeled, deseeded pumpkin needed for this recipe)
1 tablespoon oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
Cream, for serving
Ground nutmeg, for serving

Preheat oven to 375º.
Chop pumpkin into even-sized pieces (larger pieces will require a longer roasting time). Place pumpkin and unpeeled garlic cloves in a baking tray/dish, drizzle with three teaspoons of the oil and toss to coat with oil.

Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the garlic so that it doesn’t overcook. Continue baking pumpkin until tender and cooked through. Keep an eye on the pumpkin to ensure it doesn’t burn.

Heat remaining teaspoon of oil in large (at least 3 quart capacity) saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, nutmeg, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for one minute.

Add pumpkin and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until the onion is soft and stock has reduced, about 20 minutes. The more the stock reduces, the thicker the soup will be.

Peel roasted garlic and add to saucepan. Allow the soup to cool for about half an hour before pureeing in batches in a blender.

Serve the soup hot. Top with a drizzle of cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg, if desired.

Store soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.

Chocolate Mousse
The recipe for the chocolate mousse can be found here at Allrecipes.com.

Pumpkin Spice Latte
Jodi shared her pumpkin spice latte recipe last year, and we put it to use for this dinner party, too. Here is the recipe.

Hope you can join us for October meeting where we will discuss Agatha Christie’s The Murder at the Vicarage (the first Miss Marple mystery). See you October 13 at 7 p.m. at Paradise Café and Bakery at Hamilton Town Center!

Where’s your sense of adventure?

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The Bagginses had lived in the neighborhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected: you could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him. This is a story of how a Baggins had an adventure, and found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected. He may have lost the neighbours’ respect, but he gained–well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end. 

 –J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Do you seek out new experiences? Love to travel? Will you try just about anything once? Do you secretly enjoy getting lost because you get to be somewhere you hadn’t expected and might get to meet someone new? Or do you prefer the comforts of home and the familiar? Enjoy the company of close friends? Does the thought of traveling to places unknown make you uneasy? If presented with the opportunity, how quickly would you jump into an adventure?

In the passage above, J.R.R. Tolkien is introducing us to Bilbo Baggins, the hero of this month’s book, The Hobbit. In the full section of the chapter, we learn exactly what a hobbit is, and we find out that adventures are frowned upon and avoided in hobbit society. Bilbo’s quest goes against everything he has been taught as a hobbit, yet he goes anyway, and he finds himself in the middle of situations unlike anything he had ever imagined in his warm and safe hobbit hole.

So where is your sense of adventure? When an unexpected party of visitors comes knocking at the door of Bilbo’s hobbit hole will you join them on their journey? I hope you will accept their invitation and travel “There and Back Again” with Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. And when you have come “Back Again, ” I hope you will join us for our dinner party on September 8th at 7 p.m. If you can make it, please RSVP in a comment or reply to the Facebook invitation. Can’t wait to see you there!

A Girl Named Zippy: Recap

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Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for our discussion of
“A Girl Named Zippy!!”
(not pictured: me. the photographer. :D)
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Zippy was full of laughs, so we enjoyed reading some of our favorite bits and pieces aloud. If you didn’t get a chance to read it this month, stash it away for when you need to relax and have a good laugh.
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It was a great night, so we sat outside enjoying the cool breeze and the waning sunshine. Have you ever been more excited for fall?
I sure hope you’re excited because next month is our book club dinner party, and we’re hoping to kick off the fall book reading season with a soup and salad dinner on September 8th. Our book this month is The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. RSVPing is important for the dinner party, so go ahead and do so on the Facebook event. (If you don’t have Facebook, leave a comment or e-mail Sarah.) Other than the Christmas party, this is our favorite event of the year, so I can’t wait to see you there!

Don’t judge a book by its movie.

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Now, granted I haven’t seen the movie Gone With The Wind. But… after hearing the general consensus of the group, I won’t.
The book, on the other hand, was highly rated by our gathering of 10 ladies. Most of us gave it an 8-9.5! I’d love to hear how you’d rate this book on a scale of 1-10 if you were unable to join us. Leave us a comment!

Since the mercury wasn’t dropping, we moved our summer picnic indoors.
And you women sure do know how to make a salad! Excellent food, ladies- excellent!
Yum!
This summer is a rare one for me… all three of my sisters are local and were able to join us! Often the summers have found us on multiple continents!
Usually our discussions are peppered with discussion of the book that we read and the stories of our life.
This epic novel offered plenty of topics to discuss. I hope next time you will be able to join us as we chat great literature.
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Next time we’ll meet August 11th at 7:00pm at Paradise Bakery and Cafe.
Discussing:
A Girl Named Zippy
This may not seem like “great literature” at first glance, but like they always say don’t judge it by it’s cover. This is a funny lady who grew up very near us and gives quite the comical view of small town life from the eyes of a tom-boy third grader. A quick read and not one to skip!
Remember to think of your book-loving friends! August is Bring A Friend month!
See you in two weeks,
Happy Reading!
Sarah