January 2009 Meeting

The Host: Haelie
The Book: A Page Out of Time, by Kathleen Reid

Response of Book Club Members: members who scrapbook brought some completed scrap books to pass around so member could take a look. Some members thought the book was believable while others questioned that. Joann wondered if the author was a little bit inspired to write this novel by the late Charles Kuralt.

February 2009 Meeting

The Host: Teresa
The Book: Poet's Corner, compiled by John Lithgow

Response of Book Club Members: club members got inspired to write poems of their very own to bring to the meeting and share. Take a look.

Delaine's Poem:

Run free run free through the field

Clip clop clip clop see me trot

Graceful graceful graceful graceful I float

Oh see me Oh see me

What am I? A horse of course!

Cindy's Poem:

Times-tables

My clock ticks awaythe seconds,

The sand slips through the hour glass

I have too much time on my hands.

Quality time, prime time,over time, on time, out of time, time after time.

Haste makes waste-

A stitch in time saves nine-

Make hay while the sunshines-

Never put off for tomorrow what can be done today.

I was born prematurely into a world that is ina hurry.

I'm out of breath and wasting time.

Dickie's Poem:

Songs For My Heart

You've brought songs to my heart

and awakened anew,

feelings and laughter from the

brightness of you.

I dance with the stars in

the brightest moonlight,

and coax you to come

and share in the flight.

To find such pure joy

in just being with you

it's something quite special

for only a few.

For the gift I do thank you

and can only pray,

that to you I'll return

this gift in some say.

Joann's Poem:

Poems Are Like Buds On a Tree

***

Poems are like buds on a tree.

Each bud has many tightly wrapped petals.

And each petal unpeels another thought.

Each bud is a delight to the searching soul who finds it.

And each poem like each tree bud is a divine delight.

***

Poems are like spring days in winter's eye.

They cleanse our dulled eyes and brain.

They awaken our senses from a deep sleep.

They make us delight in the sound of works expressed.

They create images that express our true feelings.

***

We fall in love with poems.

We use poems to declare love.

We recite poems to those we adore.

We equate poems with a time and place and lost love.

We hunger for another poem to stir our soul.

***

Poems are small while novels are big, sometimes huge.

Poems carry more meaning then their weight in gold.

Sometimes novels are not worth the paper to print them.

Novels almost never are worth their weight in gold.

Poems do have more meaning then their weight in gold.

***

Peoms represent good economy.

A huge product from so little material.

But the mental production progresses slowly.

Poems don't come from assembly lines.

Poems come from struggling words along a line.

***

Nursery rhymes are poems for mothers and babies.

And babies respond with coos, laughts and mimics.

Patriotic lyrics are musical poems for citizens.

And folks respond with tears, zeal and volunteering.

Gospel songs are poems for souls in search of God.

***

Poems are like buds on a tree.

Each bud has many tightly wrapped petals.

And each petal unpeels another thought.

Each bud is a delight to the searching soul who finds it.

And each poem like each tree bud is a divine delight.

Consensus of members to this book from question posed by Connie:

Could the world live without poetry?

Answer: A world without poetry would be sorely lacking!

Where Have All The Leaders Gone

We are now reading Where Have All the Leaders Gone written by Lee Ioccoca. Want to get a heads up about this book. There is a good post on Snopes.com on this book. Check it out. It will definitely make you want to sit down and read this book. Ioccoca spares no one. He tells it like he sees it. Click here to read the book entry on Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/iacocca.asp

Meeting Author Vincent Lash

Vincent Lash the author of The Jeweler's Mark attended the meeting that Teresa hosted. He both discussed the writing of his book about the jewelry industry and discussed jewelry appraising. Vincent Lash is an independent appraiser of jewelry, gold, silver and clocks. Vincent Lash is a G.I.A. graduate gemologist and a senior member of the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers. Book club members brought to this meeting jewelry for Vincent Lash to appraise for a fee.

Recipes From PiedmontReaders

#1 Chocolate Saltine Cracker Delight
Quick and Very Good

Ingredients:
40 or so Saltine Crackers
1 cup butter (do not substitute)
1 cup brown sugar
1 12 oz. package semi-sweet chocolate morsels
Optional Topping:Approx. 1/4 cup shelled walnuts or pecans, chopped ultra fine

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a jellyroll pan with aluminum foil. Arrange saltine crackers on foil. Make sure crackers are flat, and pan is full. Melt butter and brown sugar in a saucepan and boil for 3 minutes. Pour over crackers, spread with spoon to coat evenly. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 5 minutes.

Remove from oven, pour chocolate chips over and let stand 5 minutes to melt. Spread around with a knife or spoon, then cover with bits of chopped nuts or some kind of brickle if you so desire. Place in refrigerater or freezer until hard. Break into bite-size or cracker-size pieces. You may also substitute white chocolate pieces or whatever you like instead of the semi-sweet chocolate.

The first year of book club this recipe showed up at a lot of the meetings.

#2 California Veggie Wraps
Bev's recipe
For each wrap you need these ingredients:

1 T. spreadable cream cheese
1 ten inche flour tortilla
2 T. shredded carrot
2 T. thinly sliced red or yellow pepper
2 T. chopped red onion
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar or monterey Jack cheese
1/4 avocado, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup baby spinach leaves or torn arugula
1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts
salt and pepper

Directions:
Spread cream cheese over the tortilla to within 1/2 inch of the edges.
Arrange the filling ingredients in a row along the center one third of the tortilla. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roll the tortilla up as tightly as possible to enclose the filling without tearing the tortilla. Cut in half crosswise and arrange made wraps under plastic wrap and refrigerate till time to serve.

Every member raved about these wraps that Bev made with her hubby Shorty for all the bookies to enjoy Thanks for the recipe, Bev.

Settings For Books Read

Afghanistan

A Thousand Splendid Suns

The Kite Runner

Africa

Little Bee

The Crocodile on the Sandbank

The Poisonwood Bible

The Power of One

The Triumph of the Sun

China

The Memory Keepers Daughter

The Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

The Piano Teacher (Hong Kong)

Eastern Europe

The Shell Seekers

Egypt

The Crocodile on the Sandbank

England

The Atonement

Pride and Prejudice

The Crystal Cave

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night

The Dress Lodger

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Socierty (Guernsey Island)

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Oliver Twist

The Outlander

The Other Boleyn Girl

The Queen's Man

The Pillars of the Earth

The Plain Truth

The Reading Group

The Third Witch

The Thirteenth Tale

Till We Have Faces

Wicked: Life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Years of Wonder

France

The Da Vinci Code

The Gourmet Rhapsody

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank

Blackberry Wine

The Immoveable Feast

Holland

The Girl With the Pearl Earring

India

The Interpreter of Maladies

Italy

The Last Promise

Israel

The Red Tent

Western Europe

Loving Frank (France, Italy, as well as Chicago)

The Pillars of the Earth (England, France, Spain)

Eastern Europe

The Book Thief

Japan

Memoirs of a Geisha

Unbroken

Jordan

Leap of Faith, Memoirs of an Unexpected Life, by Queen Noor

Latin America

Bel Canto

Peru

Turn Right At Machu Picchu

Portugal

The Alchemist

Spain

The Sun Also Rises

The Pillars of the Earth

Little Indiscretions

United States

A Day Late and a Dollar Short (The South)

A Long Total Love Chase (Northeast)

All the Presidents' Children (U.S.)

Best Friends (U.S.)

Breakfast With Buddha (U.S.)

Buffalo Winged (Northeast)

Cane River (The South)

Chesapeake (Virginia, Maryland and Delaware)

Diary of Libby Beaman (Alaska)

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (The South)

Ella Minnow Pea (The South)

For One More Day (The Northeast)

Ford County (Mississippi)

Gardenias For Breakfast (The South)

Gods and Generals (The South)

Half Broke Horses (Arizona)

House of Sand and Fog

It's Not about the Bike

Isaac's Storm (Galveston, Texas)

Loving Frank (Chicago and Europe)

March (Virginia and New England)

Middlesex (Detroit)

My Losing Season (The South)

My Sister's Keeper

One For the Money

Outfoxed (The South)

Page Out of Life

Pleasure of My Company

Pull of the Moon

Rococo

Seabiscuit

Skipping Christmas

Standing in the Rainbow (The South)

Still Alice

The Awakening (The South)

The Bitch in the House

The Corrections (Philadelphia and New York City)

The Gift From The Sea (American beach)

The Glass Castle (The South)

The Help (Mississippi Delta)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Virginia)

The Interpreter of Maladies (California)

The Jeweler's Mark

The Last Child (North Caroline)

The Lovely Bones (New York)

The Master Butchers Singing Club (North Dakota)

The Memory Keepers Daughter

The Merlot Murders (The South)

The Mermaid Chair (The South)

The Monk Downstairs (San Franciso)

The Nanny Diaries (New York)

The Plain Truth

The Pat Conroy Cookbook, Recipes of My Life, by Pat Conroy (The South)

The Wife (New York)

The Secret Life of Bees (The South)

The Shack (Cascades of Oregon)

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (Wisconsin)

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters (Hollywood and Midwest)

The Weird Sister (Ohio)

The Widow of the South (The South)

The Witching Hour (The South)

This I Believe (Essays On Living In U.S.)

Under Orders (The South)

Water For Elephants

Where Have All The Leaders Gone? (United States)

White Oleander (California)

South America

The State of Wonder

Sudan

The Triumph of the Sun

Vietnam

The Things They Carried

The World

Poet's Corner

Memoirs/Biographies Read

Memoirs/Biographies/Non-Fiction Read and Discussed

All the Presidents' Children

Always Looking Up

The Bitch (Self Help Stories for Women)

Cane River

The Diana Chronicals

Eat, Pray, Love

The Glass Castle

It's Not About the Bike

My Losing Season

The Pat Conroy Cookbook, Recipes of My Life

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank

Poet's Corner

Princess: A True Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia

Seabiscuit

This I Believe (Self Help Essays)

Unbroken

Books Members Recommend:

Joann: I read this month Sarah's Key and I couldn't put it down. 5 stars.

Bev: I read The Ninteenth Wife and loved it.

Dickie: Learned last night the The Autobiography of Helen Keller is a great book about a genius locked in blindness and deafness.

Future Book Club Meetings

2011
January: Teresa's House, Isaac's Storm, by Erik Larson
February: Cindy's House, Little Bee, by Chris Cleave
March: Joann's House, The Last Promise, by Richard Paul Evans
April: Carol's House, This I Believe, with forward by Studs Terkel, edited by J. Allison and D. Sediman
May: Bev's House, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
June: Dickie's House, The Weird Sisters, by Elenore Brown
July: Pat's House, Breakfast With Buddha, by Roland Mercullo
August: Haelie's House, Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
September: Brenda's House, Half Broke Horses, A True Life Novel, by Jeannette Walls
October: Delaine's House, Turn Right At Machu Picchu, by Mark Adams
November: Maura's House, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford
December: Lucille's House, The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein

2012

January: Teresa's House, The Diary of LibbyBeaman

February: Carol's House, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collias

March: Dickie's House, The State of Woncer by Ann Patchett

Christmas Cookie Exchange for Book Club

Sunday December 21, 2008 the book club had its first cookie exchange for current and past members at Joann Shipley's home. Each participant brought six dozen cookies of one type and the ladies sampled and shared and exchanged them and discovered new cookie recipes.

The great cookie walk.

Yum, yum!My bag has more cookies than your bag!

Meeting Author Ellen Crosby

Our book club's first outing away from the Piedmont neighborhood was to Swedenburg Winery near Middleburg, VA. We were able to meet Ellen Crosby, the author of the Merlot Murders, and to listen to her speak about how she creates her mystery novels. Ellen was a former state department employee who lived all around the world including Paris, France. We were able to have our book purchases autographed by Ellen.

Current Book Club Members

Cindy

Haelie

Teresa

Joann

Dickie

Bev

Brenda

Maura

Delaine

Lucille

Carol

The three original members from 2001 are Cindy,Haelie and Pat.

The four newest members are Lucille, Carol, and Cindy R.

A returning member is Brenda. Pat has left the group.

Past Book Club Members

Debbie Geis

Cathy Miclat

Margie Goodwin

Kathy

Brenda Burleson

Mouna Karas

Peggy

Joan Roy

Karen

Leia Santos

Robbyn Lessig

Laurie Kane

Connie Bourne

D. J. Cleary

Chronological List of Books Read

Over 116 Books Read and Discussed So Far

2001

She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb (Debbie)

The Shell Seekers, by Rosamund Pilcher (Cathy)

The Winter Solstice, by Rosamund Pilcher (Pat)

White Oleander, by Janet Fitch (Cindy)

Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden (Margie)

2002

Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis (Teresa)

The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien (Joann)

A Day Late and a Dollar Short, by Terry McMillan (Kathy)

A Long Total Love Chase, by Louisa M. Alcott (Brenda)

The Girl With The Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier (Debbie)

The Red Tent, by Anita Diamont (Hailie)

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells (Karen)

The Nanny Diarys, by E. McLaughlin and N. Kraice (Mouna)

The Lovely Bones, by Alice Seybold (Peggy)

The Painted House, by John Grisham (Cindy)

Bel Canto, Ann Patchett (Joan)

The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen (Cathy)

2003

Skipping Christmas, John Grisham (Margie)

Princess: A True Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia, by

Jean Sasson (Joann)

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen (Kathy)

Gods and Generals, by Jeff Shaara (Pat)

House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III (Debbie)

The Dress Lodger, by Sheri Holman (Cindy)

The Third Witch, by Rebecca Reisert (Haelie)

The Morality Play, by Barry Unworthy (Brenda)

The Power of One, by Bryce Courtenay (Dickie)

Outfoxed, by Fern Michaels (Peggy)

Seabiscuit, by Lauren Hillenbrand (Cathy)

Standing in the Rainbow, by Fanny Flag (Joann)

2004

It's Not About The Bike, by Lance Armstrong (Joan)

One For The Money, by Janet Evonovich (Margie)

The Pull of the Moon, by Elizabeth Berg (Debbie)

The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory (Pat)

Awakening, by Kate Chopin (Kathy)

The Bitch in the House, by Cathi Hannauer (Cindy)

Years of Wonder, by Geraldine Brooks (Karen)

Blackberry Wine, by Joanne Harris (Dickie)

The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart (Brenda)

Buffalo Winged, by Patricia Reilly Panera (Haelie)

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides (Cathy)

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hussein (Joann)

2005

The Monk Downstairs, by Tim Farrington (Joan)

The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver (Bev)

Little Indiscretions, by Carmen Posadas (Margie)

The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kid (Dickie)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, by

Mark Haddon (Cindy)

The Reading Group, by Elizabeth Noble (Karen)

Cane River, by Sue Tademy (Joann)

Pleasure of My Company, by Steve Martin (Brenda)

The Lion, The Witch anThe Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis (Haelie)

The Wife, by Meg Wurlitzer (Bev)

Leap of Faith, memoirs of an Unexpected Life, by Queen Noor (Teresa)

The Plain Truth, by Jodi Picoult (D.J.)

2006

My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult (Maura)

The Crocodile on the Sandbank, by Elizabeth Peters (Margie)

Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by G.

Maguire (Brenda)

Gardenias for Breakfast, by Robin Jones Gunn (Haelie)

My Losing Season, by Pat Conroy (Joann)

The Interpretor of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri (Leia)

The Pat Conroy Cookbook, Recipes of My Life, by Pat Conroy (Joann)

The Mermaid Chair, by Sue Monk Kidd (Dickie)

The Triumph of the Sun, by Wilbur Smith (Teresa)

The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (Cindy)

The Widow of the South, by Robert Hicks (Pat)

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho (D.J.)

2007

Under Orders, by Dick Francis (Delaine)

Timeline, by Michael Crichton (Laurie)

The Witching Hour, by Anne Rice (Maura)

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, by Thad Carhart (Dickie)

The Wild Swans: Three Daughter of China, by Jung Chang (Bev)

The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri (Leia)

The Painted Veil, by Somerset Maugham (Teresa)

The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls (Robbyn)

A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hussein (Joann)

The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway (Cindy)

The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards (Pat)

Ella Minnow Pea, by Mark Dunn (Haelie)

2008

The Queen's Man, by Sharon Kay Penman (Laurie)

Water For Elephants, by Sara Gruen (Pat)

The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown (Maura)

The Atonement, by Ian McEwan (Bev)

The Jeweler's Mark, by Vincent Lash (Teresa)

The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield (Dickie)

Rococo, by Adriana Trigiani (Joann)

The Merlot Murders, by Ellen Crosby (Cindy)

For One More Day, by Mitch Albom (Connie)

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters,by Elizabeth Robinson (D.J.)

Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett (Carol)

The Story of Edger Sawtelle, David Wroblewski (Lucille)

2009

Page Out of Life, by Kathleen Reid (Haelie)

Poets' Corner, by John Lithgow (Teresa)

Where Have All the Leaders Gone, by Lee Iaccoco (Dickie)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by

Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Bev)

The Shack, by WM. Paul Young (Pat)

The Gift From The Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Connie)

Always Looking Up, by Michael J. Fox (Maura)

Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan (D.J.)

March, by Geraldine Brooks (Delaine)

Chesapeake, by James Michenor (Joann)

The Book Thief, by Markus Zuzak (Carol)

The Gourmet Rhapsody, by Muriel Barbery (Dickie)

2010

Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert (Lucille)

The Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon (Haelie)

All the Presidents' Men, by Doug Wead (Teresa)

The Help, by Kathryne Stockett (Cindy)

Ford County, by John Grisham (Bev)

The Master Butchers Singing Club, by Louise Erdrich (Joann)

Best Friends, by Jennifer Weiner (Delaine)

The Piano Teacher, Janice Y. Lee (Carol)

The Last Child, John Hart (D.J.)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot (Dickie)

Still Alice, by Lisa Genova (Maura)

The Immoveable Feast, by John Baxter (Pat)

2011

Isaac's Storm, by Eric Larson (Teresa)

Little Bee, by Chris Cleve (Cindy)

The Last Promise, by Richard Paul Evans (Joann)

This I Believe, edited by Jay Allison and Dan Sedimon (Carol)

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand (Bev)

The Weird Sister, by Eleanore Brown (Dickie)

Breadfast With Buddha, by Roland Merullo (Pat)

Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens (Haelie)

Half Broke Horses, by Jeanette Walls (Brenda)

Turn Right At Machu Picchu, by Mark Adams (Delaine)

Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford (Maura)

2012

The Diary of Libby Beaman,by Betty John (Teresa)

The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein (Lucille)

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (Carol)