Queen Hereafter

     

by Susan Fraser King

Our book this month was Queen Hereafter, a wonderful account of Queen Margaret of Scotland. Margaret led an interesting life and her piety and charitable acts make it easy to see why she was deemed a saint after her death. The only disappointment for some of us was the ending, some thought it a fairly dull ending.

We met at Arella Pizzeria in Bountiful and enjoyed some delicious pizza. We ordered several pizzas to share and they were all delicious! The Arella (Italian) soda was delightful.

The Dante Club

     

by Matthew Pearl

Our book this month was The Dante Club, a great book for Dante lovers.

We met at Market Street Oyster Bar in downtown Salt Lake City

The Swan Thieves

     

by Elizabeth Kostova

Our book this month was Swan Thieves, the story of an artist whose obsession with someone from the past eventually leads to his own unraveling. This book club member was unable to finish the book in time for the meeting so skipped out so as not to ruin the ending. I will rely on comments of others to fill in the details of the meeting.

The restaurant this month was Gourmandise, a French bakery in Salt Lake City serving gourmet soups, salads and sandwiches and an array of delicious pastries for dessert.

The Invisible Bridge

     

by Julie Orringer

There was lots of discussion about this month's book with less digression than most meetings. We all liked the different perspective on WW II, from a Jewish Hungarian rather than what we read in history books. We were interested to hear WW I referred to as "The Great War" (easy to forget they didn't know WW I would be followed by WW II).

When Andras started his life in Paris a couple of us found that our willing suspension of disbelief was stretched a bit thin with Andras' connections in Paris - him meeting Klara through Madame Gerard after hand-delivering and posting a letter to her from Hungary, and the connection between Klara and Novak, the same man he met on the train to Paris and later worked for. In such a large city as Paris, we found these coincidences to be a bit incredulous, but nonetheless we still enjoyed the story.

In terms of Andras and Klara, we could all understand why it took so long for her to tell him the truth about her history. She had to be sure she could trust him and she was justifiably afraid she might endanger herself by revealing her secret. Back in Hungary, we commented on the differences between the Levi family and the Hasz family but found it interesting how the war leveled the playing field so that even the privileged were subjected to labor camps and imprisonment.  

We also commented on how slowly news traveled during the time this story took place, versus the instantaneous communication we enjoy today via the internet. Its hard to imagine waiting 3 weeks for a reply to a letter. How difficult it must have been for people to know the truth during the time this story took place, since most news sources would not print the truth so it was only by word of mouth.

We all came away from this book feeling very lucky to be living in America where we enjoy so many freedoms that we sometimes take for granted. Even on a bad day when it feels that things are not going well, at least we are not fearing for our lives or those of our loved ones. The amount of uncertainty surrounding the lives of the characters in the story was staggering, it must have been a very stressful time to be alive.

Our venue this month was Mazza Cafe, a wonderful middle-eastern eatery with many delectable dishes. The dinners were presented so well on the plates that took pictures of all of them! 

March

     

by Geraldine Brooks

We all enjoyed this month's book, the story of Mr. March who was the absent husband/father in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Most of us thought Brooks did a good job weaving the story of Mr. March into the classic novel, but one of us thought she deviated a bit much and took too many liberties. Those of us that don't remember Little Women (or haven't read it) are now adding that to our list of books to read. We had an interesting discussion about the character Grace - March does not tell his wife about her and we could understand why he didn't. There would have been no point and he had nothing to confess. But we did think that March's early experience with Grace (when he was a young man) fueled his passion for helping slaves. We also discussed the March's relationship with John Brown - unlucky that their fortune was lost to him but lucky that they were not incriminated due to their acquaintance with him. We loved the part of the book told from Marmee's perspective. So interesting to hear her side of the story which was often so different from what he thought she was thinking. So true in relationships. 

This month we indulged in some good-old burgers and fries at a delicious new restaurant called Smashburger. The french fries were amazing and even satisfied the cravings of the pregnant member of our group. We tried the fried carrots and asparagus which were surprisingly good (and helped us to feel a little less guilty, at least we had some veggies).

The Red Tent

     

by Anita Diamant

We all liked this book and many in the group have read the book more than once. One of the things we marveled at was the wonderful support the women provided for each other, especially during childbirth. The idea of having a group of other women to take care of you during such a difficult time seems so simple yet it is rarely done these days. Our discussion continued into the world of midwifery and the amazing intuition midwives seem to possess, even in this day and age. We also admired the idea of a celebration for women during their first menstrual cycle. Most of us had rather ho-hum stories surrounding our own passage to womanhood, instead of a celebration full of pampering and indulgences shared with close female relatives.

The Indian restaurant in Bountiful is one of our favorites and we were not disappointed, the food was delicious. We love to order lots and share everything at this restaurant since everything comes in a serving dish and since there are too many good dishes to narrow it down to just one. We also shared the nan so we could try three different kinds - YUM!

Little Heathens

by Mildred Armstrong Kalish              

Everyone loved this book and one of the members even read it twice. We all agreed that it qualified for 5 stars since we would read it again. We loved all the recipes - food, cleaning solutions, and even medicinal recipes! One member even tried Bon Ami on her windows and reported great success with it. We all admired the 'waste not want not' philosophy in the book and commented on what a throw-away society we are today. There was some reminiscing about our grandparents and parents and the similarities between our parents generation and the culture in Little Heathens. We had some chuckles over a few of the passages in the book. We loved the story of Old Man Mealhouse moving his outhouse to out-prank his pranksters. And we laughed out loud at Millie's response to the question, "Are you a Christian?" "No, I'm a Methodist!" 

Our restaurant this month was Oasis Cafe in Salt Lake City, a fine eatery with a very creative menu and fresh ingredients. The food presentation was amazing and the taste was even better. The dessert sampler was the perfect ending to a delicious meal. After dinner we perused the book store that shares a building with the restaurant - a neat little store with all kinds of curios, from books to wind chimes to stuffed animals.

The Musician's Daughter

by Susanne Dunlap

This month we read a young adult mystery which everyone found suspenseful and enjoyable. Most of us agreed that although the story lacked depth it was still a quick, fun read. One member of the group commented on how well the author related the music scenes. She made a great analogy with our last book in terms of how well Verghese described the surgical scenes, easy to understand even for the layperson. There was not a tremendous amount of discussion about this book, partly because of its simple nature and partly because of the noise level at the restaurant - it was difficult to hear people across the table.

Our meeting spot this month was Squatters Pub in Salt Lake City. It was fun to venture out of Bountiful to 'the city' for a night. The only drawback was the noise level, we were amazed at how crowded it was on a Monday night! Good thing the food was delicious, it definitely made up for any noise issues.

Cutting For Stone

     

by Abraham Verghese

Although not all of us finished the book this month (a long one), those of us that did read it enjoyed it very much. There was much to discuss about this book. Even the multiple meanings of the book title prompted a discussion! We loved the characters of Hema and Ghosh and all admitted a softening towards Thomas Stone after hearing the story of his life (similar to Marion's experience). We loved how the author was able to describe surgery in terms we could all understand, and even keep us engrossed in a scene of surgery, waiting for the outcome with bated breath. We also really appreciated the message Verghese seemed to convey throughout the story - that the American medical system tends to focus on the physical aspect of ailments but sometimes overlooks the emotional side of patients, sometimes forgets to use "words of comfort". That said, all of us also agreed that we feel very lucky to have the great medical system we have in this country. How lucky we are that we aren't plagued by the conditions of the patients that ended up at Missing.

Several of us wanted to give this book five stars, but we decided that we would reserve the five star rating only for those books we would read again. Given the length of this book most of us probably would not read it again, so we decided on four stars.

Our meeting spot this month was El Matador restaurant in Bountiful, a delicious Mexican eatery. The long wait for a table proved to be worth it - dinner was "delightful" and the horchata was the perfect accompaniment to the mild spice of the food. One of us received a dinner with no beans and instead of just bringing extra beans, the waitress brought out a whole new plate with the full dinner, including the beans. Great service.

The Gargoyle

by Andrew Davidson

       

The group had mixed reactions to this book - some liked it, some hated it and the rest were somewhere in between. One comment was, "I couldn't even make it through this book! The writing is very descriptive about what it is like to be burned and about the life of pornography - but is there a point to the story?" Others found the book to be very disjointed with the author skipping around so much from one story to the other. And there were some that just enjoyed the novel and found it to be well-written.


Our venue this month was the Lone Star Steakhouse in Centerville. We paired up to take full advantage of their $25 dinner special - an appetizer, entree and dessert for two all for $25! The food was delicious and the conversation was even better.