September 2013 Meeting: #doing40different(ly)

This was a special meeting and we celebrated Dara's 40th birthday! We met at Grimaldi's for dinner and almost completely finished off three large pizzas. Then we went to Dara's mom's house to watch a movie in her theater room...Life of Pi. Not officially a book club book, but almost all of us have read it. For most of us it was several years ago. Watching the movie together led to a discussion of the book and what we thought of it. It was interesting that we ended up discussing a book because we hadn't picked a book to read and discuss this time. We had lots of desserts: double chocolate pumpkin cake with pumpkin spice buttercream, homemade pumpkin and vanilla glazed donuts and some very refreshing autumn sangria. We also gave Dara her birthday cards and an Amazon gift card instead of books. Such a fun night!

Dad is Fat

Author: Jim Gaffigan

One-sentence summary: New York City-based comedian, Jim Gaffigan, spins humorous tales of parenting, drawing from his own experience as a father to five children.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: It was quick and funny and very relatable since we’re all parents.

Our least favorite thing about it: There was only one comedic subject…parenting.

Main Topics of Discussion: NYC, big vs. smaller families, marriage, discipline, babies, childhood

Our favorite quote: “I sometimes believe preschool was created by a parent who needed a reprieve from the incessant questions of a three-year-old.”

Notes: There is no question that we all laughed out loud many, many times while reading this book. Despite the fact that he has more children than any of us and lives in NYC, we related to every single thing he wrote. It was a very fun and hilarious book. We had a great time reading the quotes we had all highlighted. Our only criticism against the book was that it felt a little one-note. Parenting was the entire subject matter. There may have been a couple of paragraphs about marriage…as it related to parenting. This is not entirely a bad thing and not entirely unexpected, but toward the end, it felt like we were hearing the same joke repeated again and again. Overall, this was a great book and a lot of fun to read.

Memorable Meeting Moments: We solved all the world’s problems in a few hours…like usual.

What We Ate: Greek Pitas with homemade Tzatziki sauce, roasted potatoes and carrots, and Greek salad. We had key lime pie with fresh whipped cream for dessert.

Gone Girl

Author: Gillian Flynn

One-sentence summary: A story of a missing wife turns from mystery to suspense to psychological thriller as the truth comes out about both main characters.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: This was a fast and entertaining read.

Our least favorite thing about it: The ending (or lack thereof).

Main Topics of Discussion: Marriage, Dating, Relationships, Mystery, Dysfunctional Families, Lying

Our favorite quote: “It’s a very difficult era in which to be a person, just a real, actual person, instead of a collection of personality traits selected from an endless Automat of characters.”

Notes: Most of our discussion centered on how much we enjoyed this book in general. And how the twists and turns were so entertaining and genuinely surprised us, which is hard to come by in a book. We discussed the nuances of being completely misled by the first 1/3 of the book and how crazy the rest of the book was. Family dynamics, how men and women perceive each other, and the role of honesty were all discussed. We talked about how, even after the “big reveal” moment in the book, we all went back and forth between agreeing with and siding with the main characters. We felt some of the things they did were out of character even though they were both crazy and unpredictable.

Most of all, we talked about the ending. Or the fact that we felt the book didn’t really have one. Of course, there are certain books with endings that are up in the air or don’t really resolve and it just goes with the rest of the book and you’re okay with it. But we could not give this book a pass on the terrible ending. To us, it felt like the author just gave up and couldn’t figure out a way to end the book at all, so it just ended. We felt jipped.

Memorable Meeting Moments: We were at the lake house when we discussed this book!

What We Ate: This wasn’t a regular meeting (because we were at the lake house) so we didn’t have a meal for our discussion (but we did have LOTS of yummy food that weekend!)

5th Annual Lake House Weekend

At the end of July, we went on our 5th annual book club trip to the Fair's lake house at Possum Kingdom Lake. We did it right this time and left on a Thursday night and came back Sunday afternoon. That means we had two full, glorious days to spend together and relax. It was wonderful.

Less than an hour into our trip, we stopped for treats....at Dairy Queen! We have had a tradition in the past to stop at the Cracker Barrel for brunch when we've left on a Friday morning. But since this was night time and after dinner, we decided we'd just have to get dessert.

Few things say "road trip" more than Dairy Queen treats.

Thursday night we basically just got settled and went to bed. Sleeping is such a luxury for all of us moms that we have not problems just going to bed! On Friday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, we went out to the pool.

Meals outside are such a treat...especially with friends. (This was yummy Papa Murphy's pizza.)

More pool time...

And some jumping from Dara and Lindsay. They also showed off some gymnastics skills with their jumps.

The weather was so gorgeous for us...here we are on the porch in the evening drying off before we eat dinner.

And after dinner...s'mores. We had to make them in the oven after three explosions from the fire pit...we couldn't get it lit correctly. But the s'mores tasted great anyway. We also watched a couple of movies and generally just went from one lazy activity to another...in other words, it was a perfect weekend!

Flight Behavior

Author: Barbara Kingsolver

One-sentence summary: A small-town wife and mother feeling suffocated by her life discovers a wonderful yet sad Monarch migration phenomenon near their house in the Apalachian mountains which becomes a catalyst for change and awakening.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: Beautiful writing and insightful character development.

Our least favorite thing about it: The story kind of plateaued about half way through the book and lost any forward momentum.

Main Topics of Discussion: Butterflies, Nature, Weather, Marriage, Family Relationships, Small Towns, Poor/Rich dynamic, Education, Science and Religion.

Our favorite quote: “Man against Nature. Of all possible conflicts, that was the one that was hopeless. Even a slim education had taught her this much: Man loses.”

Notes: Overall, we liked many things about this book, but felt that it just didn’t have the oomph that we wished it had. The thing that disappointed us the most was the plot…that it didn’t move forward after a certain point. It just was not an event-based story line and that affected our enjoyment of the book a little bit.

There is always something that we learn from a book. It may be factual knowledge or some insight into human behavior. In this book, it was probably both. The facts about the monarchs were really interesting and we felt that the descriptions of the insects as they hung on the trees was beautiful.

Equally as beautiful was Kingsolver’s writing. She can so uniquely and poignantly describe human emotions and conditions. She does not waste words, but crafts each sentence to pack the most punch. This, we loved. A few quotes to illustrate:

“It’s like I’m standing by the mailbox waiting all the time for a letter. Every day you come along and put something else in there. A socket wrench or a milkshake. It’s not bad stuff. Just the wrong things for me.”

“Every loss she had ever borne had been declared the Lord’s business.”

“There’s just not room at our house for the end of the world.”

“In her experience people had worries of they had tons of money, not both.”

She also can be very clever and humorous in her writing, which we thoroughly enjoyed:

“People automatically estimate a mom’s IQ at around her children’s ages, maybe dividing by the number of kids, rounding up to the nearest pajama size.”

“Will you explain to me why people encourage delusional behavior in children, and medicate it in adults?”

There were so many topics packed into this book and they heavily overlapped each other. In that way, the story was brilliant. We just wish it had more momentum so that we were more eager to read it.

Memorable Meeting Moments: We made plans for our lake house trip and shared some memories about our last Jeopardy game at Christmas! :)

What We Ate: Cream Cheese and Avocado Canapés, Tequila Lime Chicken with Fiesta Lime Rice, Strawberry Basil Margaritas, and Dr. Pepper Cake with Ice Cream.

Carry On, Warrior

Author: Glennon Melton

One-sentence summary: Glennon’s collection of blog posts and essays speak to everything from addiction, motherhood, marriage, womanhood, and much more.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 8

Our favorite thing about it: We loved the strength and honesty with which Glennon wrote these essays. It was truly inspiring.

Our least favorite thing about it: If we had to pick something, it might be that we had already read a good bit of this material on her blog.

Main Topics of Discussion: Honesty, Relationships, Marriage, Motherhood, Addiction, Forgiveness, Courage

Our favorite quote: Ok. Two this time…I couldn’t pick just one.

“If working out your faith is not beautiful and hard, find a new one to work out.”

“Be confident because you are a child of God. Be humble because everyone else is too.”

Notes: We all loved this book and we all talked about how it made us literally laugh out loud when we read it. Glennon is so very relatable and writes in such a wonderful, witty way. But, she does not shy away from the difficult things. In fact, she champions honesty and authenticity and we just loved what she had to say about secrets…and how they create isolation. Being that transparent and honest is a really brave thing to do, but Glennon shows us how that kind of courage brings us closer together. We all identified with her and felt that she was really relatable. Overall, we really appreciated the insights and truths that Glennon shares about her life and experiences and what they have taught her about people and about God. A really beautiful book.

Memorable Meeting Moments: We had dinner at Brooklyn’s pizza for the third time at book club meetings. I think we may all remember the devastating tornado in Moore, OK that happened earlier in the day on the date of this meeting.

What We Ate: We met at Brooklyn’s Pizza for dinner and enjoyed some stuffed meat pizzas (except Lindsay who had pasta). Then we had a lovely dessert at Lindsay’s house of cookies and ice cream!

Eighty Days

Author: Matthew Goodman

One-sentence summary: At the turn of the century, two American women journalists set out on a race around the world aimed at beating Phileas Fogg’s fictional record of 80 days.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 6

Our favorite thing about it: We enjoyed hearing about historical details and information.

Our least favorite thing about it: Unfortunately, the book was too detailed and that distracted from the story.

Main Topics of Discussion: 1900s, Industrialization, British Colonialism, Immigration, Women, Journalism and Writing, Railroads, Travel

Our favorite quote: “That was what the trip had given her – the vividness of a new world, where one was for the first time…where the light of night and day had new meaning, where years of indifference could fall away like a dried-up husk and every sense respond with the keenness of faculties newborn.”

Notes: The overwhelming consensus on this book was that it was about 100 pages too long with far too many details. That being said, most of us enjoyed the details and historical information presented, but all felt that it really distracted us from the main story of the book, which was the race around the world.

So much detail was given about tangents from the story that every time the author would come back to the travels of the women, we would have to reorient ourselves as to where we were, who he was talking about and what was going on when we last left the story line. We felt that the editor should have cut 80-100 pages of this 400-page book to make it a more focused and less rambling narrative. The action of the story was simply buried beneath a mountain of historical detail.

Although we felt the details ultimately distracting, they did provide an interesting snapshot of the world, especially America, at the turn of the century (1900). The commentary on immigration, America’s view toward other nations, British Colonialism, and traveling customs in general were very enlightening.

The characterizations of Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland were also interesting and also very lengthy. We got the impression that Nellie Bly was written in a less than flattering light, however the details surrounding these descriptions seemed factual rather than editorial.

Memorable Meeting Moments: Dara’s lemon curd was amazing, but the word “curd” is not. The difference between artsy, crafty, and just plain crazy…Lindsay knows the distinctions. And Stephanie opened her birthday books and cards.

What We Ate: Panko-Crusted Salmon, Orzo with Tomato and Asparagus, Kale, Spinach and Arugula Salad with Homemade Vinaigrette, Wheat Bread. And Cloud Cake with Homemade Lemon Curd and Fresh Whipped Cream for dessert.

Yes, Chef

Author: Marcus Samuelsson

One-sentence summary: Chef Samuelsson takes us through his journey to becoming the chef he is today, including his background, family life, and professional ups and downs.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: We loved gaining insight into the world of restaurants and chefs.

Our least favorite thing about it: There really wasn’t anything we just didn’t like about the book, it just wasn’t earth-shattering to us. It was just kind of so-so.

Main Topics of Discussion: Passion, Work Ethic, Business, Honesty, Ethnicity, Food, Traveling, Chef Culture, Teaching/Learning

Our favorite quote: “One of the things I have learned during the time I have spent in the United States is an old African American saying: Each one, teach one. I want to believe that I am here to teach one and, more, that there is one here who is meant to teach me. And if we each one teach one, we will make a difference.”

Notes: We enjoyed reading this book about Marcus’s life and professional journey. The most fascinating thing for us was how the chef and restaurant world functions behind the scenes. We found the emphasis on learning and hands-on training inspiring. The “chef culture” of yelling, berating, humiliation, etc. was interesting to learn about but we didn’t necessarily identify with it.

Marcus obviously worked very hard and along with a natural talent, was able to drive himself to success. He was goal oriented and as he himself said, “chased flavors.” One of the most interesting parts was his discussion about the ethnicity of food and how rediscovering his home country of Ethiopia was so central to his make-up as a chef.

We really appreciated how honest Marcus was in his account of his life and experiences even when it highlighted some of his self-professed mistakes and downfalls. Never more so than when he talked about waiting 14 years to meet his daughter and have a relationship with her.

As interesting as we found the book, our one criticism was that it just wasn’t amazing, or life-changing or even that revelatory to us. It was easy to read and fairly well-written so it was an enjoyable book for us overall.

Memorable Meeting Moments: Memorable meeting moments are best recorded as close to the time of the meeting as possible. Maybe even in written form in notes. However, this time, neither of those things happened – so, sorry!

What We Ate: Roast Chicken Thighs, Salad, Beet and Quinoa Salad, Roasted Asparagus and Brussels Sprouts, and Purple Potato Mash. Cinnamon Cake with Honey for dessert.