You can add atmospheric fun to meetings with a little time
and imagination. If members want to cook the books a little, so to speak, check
out butterybooks.com, a site which provides regional or time-period recipes, and
much other info compiled for and by book groups. It might seem a little
far-fetched, but activities like this add to the experience, helping bring to
life setting and activities in a book.
One butterybooks selection, for instance, is “Shantaram,” by
Gregory David Roberts. It’s an affecting novel about the choices one makes in
life, as well as the decisions that may save it. “Shantaram” is based on the author’s
life, so it’s fact-based fiction—real life, thinly disguised. He calls himself “a
revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his
integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum-security prison.”
His life is amazing, and butterybooks shares recipes based on the book’s
atmospheric setting in India, one of three continents where life takes him.
Lest you think the site would choose fluffy books, read this
excerpt from “Shantaram”:
“I don’t believe that there
are Good men or Bad men. I believe that the deeds we do are Good and Bad, not
the men and women who commit them. … I’ve known mafia men who took
responsibility for feeding the poor in their district, and I’ve known cops who
were ruthlessly cruel. We human beings are just that—human animals with the
capacity to do Good or to do Bad—and we all do both, to a greater or lesser
degree.”
So if you’d like to discuss freedom, choices and hope—while
sipping mango lassi or eating alu palak—this is the opportunity.
For “The Worst Hard Time,” by Timothy Egan—about the bleak
Depression years and blinding dust blizzards of the High Plains—the site
suggests German Stewed Apples, a dish commonly made by the settlers on the
plains. This book tells the stories of a dozen families, through the rise and
fall of the region.
There is a recipe for Strawberry Tarts, mentioned in Steinbeck’s
“East of Eden.” “The kitchen was sweet with tarts, and some of the berries had
boiled over in the oven and burned, making the sharp bitter-sweet smell
pleasant and astringent. … There was a quiet rising joy in Lee. It was
the joy of change.”
Readers frequently contribute their groups’ ideas, recipes
and photographs to the site. (One has to wonder what kind of pie they made for
“The Help.”) Some groups are surprisingly dedicated to the idea of bringing a
book discussion to life that way, incorporating visual props as well as food at
their meeting.
Butterybooks.com references numerous books a club may enjoy,
with plot summary, questions for discussion, specific references in the book,
suggested recipes and book club ratings for the reading. Even musical
background is considered. It’s all pretty cool.
***
Another book about
bookclubs, definitely on my to-read list, is “The End of Your Life Book
Club” by Will Schwalbe. Sitting at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center,
the author asked his mother, diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer and six
months to live, “What are you reading?” Thus began a deeply personal exchange
of views between them, over two years. They discussed faith, courage and
gratitude throughout the course of a wide-ranging selection of books,
illustrating the ability of reading to gain comfort and guidance, as well as
understanding, in life.
***
In Hartford,
Conn., Mark Twain scholar R. Kent Rasmussen begins a series of early evening
free lectures May 8 at The Mark Twain House & Museum. Based on wildly
eclectic correspondence to the author, “Dear Mark Twain” starts at 5 p.m.
(lecture at 5:30).
***
What the groups are
doing:
Books, Brews and Banter, meeting at O’Connor’s
restaurant on West Boylston Street in Worcester, is open to men and women, and
its book selections are “gender neutral.” Members plan to discuss Jodi
Picoult’s “The Storyteller” on Thursday, May 23, at 6:30 p.m. First-timers
should look up the group on Meetup (www.meetup.com)
to register, as room reservations are made based on number attending.
Appetizers, drinks available.
Reading, Sharing and
Laughing meets Thursday, May 30, 7 p.m. at Chaibo in Fitchburg. Author
Phoebe Baker Hyde will attend to discuss “The Beauty Experiment: How I Skipped
Lipstick, Ditched Fashion, Faced the World without Concealer, and Learned to
Love the Real Me.” Her book has stirred up some controversy and has been
discussed on Katie Couric’s television show and major news outlets. The author
will give a short talk and answer questions.
The Women’s Issues
Book Group meets at 7 p.m. on the second Monday monthly at Barnes &
Noble, 541 Lincoln St., Worcester. Organizer Joan Killough-Miller (jkmiller@wpi.edu) says for May 13,
participants should “read something from the ‘feminist canon.’ We can share
what we’ve read, and talk about differences between generations.” Meetings are
free, open to anyone interested in discussing the current topic. Worcester
chapter of National Organization for Women supports this group. The book selection
for June 3 is “Keepsake” by Kristina Riggle.
The Oakridge Bookers
of Leicester, residents of a 55-plus community who meet at members’ homes, recommend
author Ed Londergan (ed.londergan@gmail.com) as a lively guest, having recently
hosted him for a discussion of his book, “The Devil’s Elbow,” a coming-of-age
story about an incident that occurred in West Brookfield during King Philip’s
War. Londergan lived in W. Brookfield before moving to Leicester. He is at work
on a sequel.
Audio Journal’s
“Speaking Volumes” call-in book group airs on the first Tuesday of the month, 8
p.m. All are welcome to listen live at www.audiojournal.net. Find the schedule
for upcoming books at http://www.audiojournal.net/programming/speaking-volumes.
The May 7 selection is “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak; June 4 will consider
“The Light Between Oceans” by M. L. Stedman.
