Sunday, November 29, 2009

Holly and Goblins and Dickens! (Oh my!)

The end of a holiday weekend and an extremely gray day create the perfect combination for reading (or napping). As we are just over a few weeks away from our monthly meeting, I decided to remove the binder clip and preview our packet of readings lovingly and perhaps cheekily assembled by GBC Bill.

Contents if you're reading along at home:
  • "My Christmas Carol" by Budd Schulberg: short story which begins with a Hollywood reference. Nice.
  • "Another Christmas Poem" by Wendy Cope: 4 lines and funny.
  • "Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm" by Stella Gibbons: I have just recently re-watched the film courtesy of Hulu. Anyone else remember the Starkadders or the woodshed?
  • "Buying presents" by E.M. Delafield from The Diary of a Provincial lady, 1930: Burberry mentioned even then
  • "Lilliputians at the Malplaquet" by T.H. White from Mistress Masham's Repose: has to be the most unusual of titles we have read since HCBoTA
  • Charles Dickens' "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton" and "The Pickwickians Celebrate": both though quite old are new to me.


The packet also includes a couple of other holiday poems, and as I now gaze at my sofa covered with stories, perhaps I should have asked if these reading were intended to have been completed in order.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Eggs-actly What I Needed

I have a book entitled Deviled Eggs: 50 Recipes from Simple to Sassy by Debbie Moose. I am fond of the recipes which range from "The Yolk's on You" to "the devil made me do it." (Clearly some of these defer responsibility.) I read through the book and deliberated upon the recipe to use for yesterday's Thanksgiving dinner.

I was having a bit of an nontraditional holiday in that I was spending it with friends rather than my family. Staying local meant that I was to have a meal sitting around a table with a designated chair rather than either standing while eating or using long-ago honed musical chair skills to grab a seat from my 40 or so relatives which would have been gathered at my Aunt's home. Different indeed.

For this meal, I had made several traditional recipes "from scratch" and thought perhaps the deviled eggs may need a bit more flair. What to do?

In the end, after having decided to make nutty sweet rolls for an afternoon snack, I opted for traditional [dirty kitchen+time to eat=safe recipe]. I decided to make them like my parents do. (They each have different techniques so I cannot be more specific.) Two of the other guests also brought dishes that were always included in their annual menus, and I realized as the jello mold was passed, that while some things will and do change, some things can still remain the same.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Things I'm Thankful For

In a somewhat particular order:

  • the GBC - my friends and my family
  • neighbors
  • books
  • yoga
  • technology
  • new experiences and their life lessons
  • this journey
  • those of you who read this blog on a regular basis (and those of you that don't)

Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Reading Lolita in Tehran in Nashville

I am nearly at the half-way mark in Reading Lolita in Tehran. I am amazed at Nafisi's ability to shift from the world of literature and character studies to her life and experiences while in Tehran, both while at the university and during her meetings with students after her official resignation from teaching. But I think this is her point; literature and her life have these parallels. She has walked me through Lolita and now The Great Gatsby leaving me with my next read to tackle Section III called "James". Some of her sentences have a degree of foreboding, and I continue reading waiting for that moment when something bad will happen. I paused as I typed this last sentence as the first two sections have already been dotted with death and descriptions of dreams lost.

It is difficult for me to imagine a life where I would not be free to read any book of my choosing or one in which I did not have available door delivery from amazon. It is appropriate to have this reminder of my good fortune before tomorrow's holiday.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Why and What

In addition to attending GBC Kim's final defense Friday, I made an excursion to our downtown Main library. I had received an email the day prior that a requested book had become available and was being held for me. When I opened the email, I did not recognize the title and wondered what would have made me wish to read this book. So, I did what anyone would do and (instead of just going to pick up the book), I researched why I had wanted this book.

I checked my handy book spreadsheet and the title was there, but alas, there were no comments. (Note to self: add column for "how I learned about book"). Nearby titles jogged my memory and I was next in search of my travel notebook. Soon, all became clear as the San Francisco Bay! This was among the list of books I had noted while in The Booksmith with my sister last May; as I recall, it was listed as an employee's choice. I had requested it from the library upon my return in June and joined the list of fifteen or so other potential readers and patiently waited through the queue, so patiently in fact, that I had forgotten the book.

So when I arrived Friday, Nudge by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein was awaiting my attention near the front of the building. Not satisfied with checking out only one book, I made a trek to the third floor in search of Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. (I also was reminded that a call number that begins with "B" is a biography; I really should use call numbers more frequently so I would remember these types of things.) Finally, I picked up another third floor selection: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali translated by Sri Swami Satchidananda. Three is a good number.

Since Nudge focuses a bit on our poor choices, I decided to start with Reading Lolita in Tehran.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Ph-enomenal D-arling

Soon we will have our first PhD in the GBC. Yesterday GBC Kim defended her thesis and three years of work culminated in an hour of questioning from her committee. [This was actually hour two of the event. Hour one included the presentation and the audience's ability to toss her a few "soft" questions as warm-up. We were then (politely) kicked out for the tough part.] I have not yet had the opportunity to speak with her after learning that she passed, but I would imagine there is a measure of relief and perhaps wonderment of "what next?".

I was fortunate to be able to attend her presentation yesterday. It was really amazing - interesting, funny, clever, logical, shocking at times (due to some of the great quotations), and spot on 40 minutes, her allotted time. GBC T1m did a great job with her Twitterfeed, but I think he would agree with me that it really was impossible to fully capture what an incredible job she did in 140 characters. I felt proud and I am just her neighbor!

GBC Kim, congratulations from your fellow bookclubbers! We are extremely happy for you and I think you've earned the right to pick any book for 2010
.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

November Clubbing Downtown

On Tuesday evening, the GBC ventured downtown to GBC HeLen's pad for our monthly meeting. Reflecting on the evening, I am certain we did not pause in conversation the entire night. We enjoyed various nibbles pre-dinner and a scrumptious main menu of green salad followed by a seafood pasta. The pecan pie was delicious and congrats to GBC Bill for identifying the secret ingredient. (Of course, I won't tell you here...GBC book code and all.)

Each of us had read the book (always notable) and discussion ranged from character relationships to Holmes to the seance to Lincoln. My favorite moments are those as the meeting begins to wind down when we tend to share personal anecdotes inspired either by the book or the varied topics we have covered during the course of an evening (and several bottles of reading water).

GBC Bill prepared our reading materials for next month; we have a collection of short stories hand-picked for December. Start preparing your reading voice as it is tradition that one of the stories is read aloud in the round.

We also looked a bit forward to January for My Life in France by Julia Child for menu planning. We decided that we each should attempt one dish from Mastering the Art of French Cooking for the meeting. GBC HeLen was voted our stand-in for Ms. Child since she is the tallest.

As you begin to look towards Thanksgiving, remember the words of Ms. Child quoted several times in French Cooking: "Above all, have a good time."

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Mid-November

I have been feeling a bit under the weather these last days but last night could have been the turning point. In a conversation earlier yesterday morning, an out of area friend was kind to check on me and said that if he were closer he would drop off ice cream. My, the power of suggestion was strong. Over the course of the next six hours, this tiny strain of an idea would be become the full-fledged rope I was convinced I needed in order to be well. If only I had ice cream...

Luckily, I live in a great neighborhood, and I was convinced that someone nearby would have ice cream. Enter SMS: "Do you have ice cream?" In retrospect, this was probably a vague question to send out to a neighbor, but I was desperate. Finally, I received the magic answer: "No, but I will get you some." [Okay, the magic answer was really a series of texts where I explained I had been really sick and thought ice cream would help. This is a culinary neighborhood and I could have needed ice cream for bananas foster. My neighbors are great but no one is going to trek out in the rain for ice cream for your dessert if they had not been invited to dinner.]

If you are still reading, you might be wondering what this has to do with books. I am getting to that.

In about twenty minutes, the doorbell rang and I had ice cream. Since I was cashless, I moved to the barter system and traded ice cream for Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I had read it at some point while traveling this year and knew that my neighbor would probably enjoy it.

I received a text this morning as a review on the book: "it rocks."

Never underestimate the power of books and good neighbors.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

November Nods

A collection of short stories is a great thing to have on your nightstand for those times when either sleep is evasive or when odd dreams are frequent. Last night, I moved through two more of the short stories in Holidays on Ice. (After admitting that I had begun the book, I have now lost any guilt of continuing.) These are not your traditional holiday stories though; these are tales of dysfunctional families with some type of odd drama occurring near a holiday which results in an over-the-top behaviour by a family member. Hmmm, maybe they are traditional.

My day reading has been focused on 20th century U.S. Politics so I have quite the contrast to Sedaris.

Balance, or an attempt at balance.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Lucky 13

We have reached that magical time of the bookclub month where each must decide "in or out".

In meaning you have either:

1) read the book, listened to the audio, or watched a movie with similar themes [most of the group]

2) have the book in possession and will donate this upcoming weekend to reading, postponing all nonessential activities until after the meeting in a last-ditch effort to finish the book. Alternatively, you will schedule a long road trip so that you can complete that five-disc audio. This category also includes anyone who is still reading the book at the time of the meeting and usually cries, "Wait, wait, I'm not there yet" if we move too far along in the discussion. [This is usually where GBC Carole (not the singer) and I usually fall.]

Out meaning that you have accepted the fact that you will not read the book due to time constraints, boredom, an incredibly long library queue or book loss. You may even take pride in this rebellious behavior. [GBC nancy]

Technically, we may also have a "skimmer" category: anyone with book commitment issues or who likes to appear well-versed for discussion but is short on time. A skimmer will usually read the last chapter.

Regardless of your choice, the title is Arthur & George by Julian Barnes. See you next week!


Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Ho-Ho How Could I?

I gave in.

Maybe it was the Christmas tree I saw last weekend at the local Y. Perhaps it was the combination of ornaments, store displays, and the general "red" at Target. It may have been the Charlie Brown Christmas song "Skater" playing from the soundtrack as I purchased a skein or yarn. Regardless, I dived into Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris.

Although I had received this book from a dear friend just before Halloween, I had intended to wait until post-Thanksgiving before perusing the collection of six stories. It seemed the appropriate thing to do. I failed.

The stress of the week and the distinct possibility that I might too have a very odd job for the holidays drew me to the "SantaLand Diaries" like twinkling lights to a mobile home. I hope you understand.

I am not trying to rush events by any means, however if you need a little dose of Christmas laughter before the actual events of the season begin to transpire, I can now empathize (and I might event watch A Christmas Story with you).

Monday, November 9, 2009

November Wallowing

Although I could not have imagined what it must have been like to have been at Brandenburg Gate twenty years ago, I knew even then from my small hometown far removed that it was a significant event. Like many of you, I first heard the news from Tom Brokaw and the NBC Nightly News.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy


This morning as I read stories of celebration and reviewed this old footage of the wall, I am reminded of that girl who was, with this event, learning that the world is a much larger space than a small corner in East Tennessee.


As we move toward our historic events with healthcare reform, I feel optimistic that change is ever possible.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Cheers to November

We are one week into November which means your inbox, mailbox, voicemail, or ________ (insert favorite social media ap) will begin to be filled with invitations for various holiday functions. (Basic assumption: you are somewhat sociable.) These upcoming events give each of us the opportunity to meet new friends, reacquaint ourselves with old friends, and show off a bit quoting various items we have very recently read. In order to be sufficiently prepared for the season, you should begin reading new and interesting material in the imminent (nod to GBC K) future.

I would recommend you tailor your preparatory reading to your audience:
  • neighborhood parties deserve odd facts, organic recipes or current events
  • family meets warrant a review of your cousins's names and family tree (if your family is as large as mine) and a quick read through of Tennessee Home & Farm and
  • work events likely bring out conversations regarding financial markets, sports, television programming and kids. Pre-reads may include various articles on work Christmas party social etiquette and your local paper.

Two print options for new information are The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester and Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme by Chris Roberts. The first book is explained by its title and is useful for a bookish audience who would appreciate the use of pigeon holes for alphabetization. Heavy Words Lightly Thrown is a history of the nursery rhyme and might be interesting for any guests you encounter named Mary, who well, is a bit contrary. Another alternative, if you are short on time would be a visit to "the home of Schott's miscellanies" where you can explore samples of miscellany including a Tea Grading Nomenclature and other small facts.

Regardless of your reading habits, accept those invitations and enjoy time spent with those you like, love, or who pay you.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Books to Music

Tonight Music City USA lives up to its nickname with concerts by both Willie Nelson and Leonard Cohen. GBC members will be in attendance to each event. The Symphony is performing as well so we may have additional Club representation downtown. We do love our music (and our rhinestones).

To echo GBC Paige's email today, Doris Kearns will be speaking at the Main library this Saturday. The talk was billed as "stimulating" so you may not wish to miss.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

November Title

I know that GBC Paige & Wordwoman (Not the Singer) have begun our November selection, Arthur and George by Julian Barnes. I have this title as "Completed" in my spreadsheet thanks to neighbor and newest member GBC-C. I am anticipating another lively discussion and wondering if one our members will arrive in character (à la New Year's Eve 2008).

My next week of reading is dedicated to a soon-to-be-published manuscript authored by someone that many of you have met. Start saving for this "Must Have of 2010". (More details soon.)

Sunday, November 1, 2009

First of November

As I type, the sun is setting into golden hues, providing a nice autumnal backdrop for the first day of November. My friends and family are beginning to ask about holiday plans and the next few weeks have the potential to rush by in a blur.

One coping mechanism for the stress of the season: David Sedaris. This week I received a copy of Holidays on Ice from a dear friend, and I am already looking forward to that aptly timed moment where I will escape to the "SantaLand Diaries" for a bit of comic relief.