November Meeting

Our wonderful group of ladies met at El Espolon tonight to discuss the book The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted by Bridget Asher.  It will come to no surprise that we have loved this book.  With comparisons to Eat, Pray, Love and Under the Tuscan Sun, the warmth of the characters, the house in Provence, the recipes and a neighbor who knows all the family skeletons, this book has the makings of a great movie!

After a short discussion about the book, a lively and impassioned discussion took place about a possible French immersion school in our area.  Even though we loved the book with its French background, the school did not get such a favorable review.

Our next meeting will be December 13 at Hunan's.  Bring a $10 gift to exchange and be prepared to discuss The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson!

Related articles

• The Provence cure for the brokenhearted : a novel by Bridget Asher. (alleganylibrarycollections.wordpress.com)
• Thanksgiving at Provence (timesunion.com)

September Meeting

Our book club met in September at the always wonderful Arris Cafe.   We discussed the book On Folly Beach by Karen White.  Our book club is a huge fan of her.    The author does a wonderful job of weaving the present and the past in this book, a task not easily done and which can become tedious in a story.  The mystery was unraveled through well developed characters and a developing plot that kept you glued to the book.

Kelsey and the new baby

Joan, Linda, Antoinette, Paula, Ashley and Glenda

Look at these portion sizes!

Terri

We got on the discussion of bottle trees.  Terri was given a bottle tree from a group of her friends when she was first diagnosed with cancer.   Bottle trees were used to ward away evil spirits.   Several books we have read, including On Folly Beach, mention bottle trees.

Our next meeting is October 4 at 5:00 at Kate and Allie's.  The title of the book is Southern Belles of Honeysuckle Way by Linda Bruckheimer.

August Meeting

The August 2011 meeting was held at the home of Terri Steffes.  The book club was unable to Skype with author Michael Lee West.  However, the discussion of the book Gone With a Handsomer Man was lively.  All agreed that the female characters were well developed and likeable, even the protaganists. 

Paula, Linda, Terri, Kelsey, Joan

A meal was shared among the members present.  A tomato tart, like the one mentioned in the book, was the featured course.  The recipe follows.


Tomato Tart

1 prepared pie crust
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 large, ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 lb fontina cheese, sliced
salt and pepper

Press the pie crust dough into a tart pan and bake at 450 for 9 minutes.  Remove from the oven, let cool.  Spread the garlic over the pie crust.  Lay slices of fontina cheese over the garlic.  Layer slices of tomatoes over the cheese, then lay more cheese over the tomatoes.  Bake at 350 for abou 30 minutes or until the cheese melts and the tomatoes are warm.

Dessert was "Teenie" cheesecakes from BK Bakery from Linda E.  Three different varieties of turtle, vanilla bean and cookies and cream were selected. 

The next meeting will be held on September 6 at Arris Cafe at 5:00.  We will be reading On Folly Beach by Karen White, author of the well liked Tradd Street book.

May Meeting

We had a small but very interested group that discussed the book Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back.  Experiences were shared about heaven and a great conversation about various beliefs were shared.

We ate at the newest El Jimador on West Edgewood.  Good food was had by all!

Our books, Gone with a Handsomer Man, have arrived!  We will do this book for our July meeting which will be held at Terri's house.  Our June book will be a children's novel and will be sent out by our wonderful member, Linda in an email soon!

Here you go:


  When:  Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 at 1:00
  Where: Frenchies at Apache Flats

What:  Moon Over Manifest (2011 Newbery)
                   by Elizabeth Kennedy

April Meeting

Pickwick Society met tonight at Bingham's in the Truman Hotel.  Members discussed the book Fugitive Spring written by former Jefferson City resident Deborah Sugarbaker Digges.  The book sparked much discussion about the style which Mrs. Digges used in writing the book.  A 1965 Jefferson City High School yearbook was brought to the meeting and photos were shared of several of the Sugarbaker daughters.

The next meeting will be May 3 at El Jimador on Westwood on the patio if weather permits.  We will be reading and discussing Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back.

Lisa's sweet babies joined us tonight!

This article appeared in the L.A.Times after Mrs. Digges death:  Obituary

Gone with a Handsomer Man

Ladies, the book is set to ship April 26 so let's do this as a June book instead of May.  I will contact Michael to do our Skype in June. I will shoot for the first Tuesday in June. 

Gone with a Handsomer Man was recently picked as the Mystery Guild's Book of the Month!

March Meeting

Tonight we met at Prison Brews and discussed the book A Reliable Wife.  Most felt it was a good book with a nice twist at the end.  The characters were well developed and the storyline complex.  Good food was had by all.

Pat, Linda, Kelsey

Ashley, Linda, Antoinette

Joan, Linda, Paula

Terri, Ashley

We had an opportunity to toast Linda Eisinger's announcement of her retirement.  We will meet at Bingham's at the Truman Hotel in April.  We will be reading Fugitive Spring.