We have a task ahead of us and the results are due by tomorrow night, 02/15/11 at 11:59pm. The task is choosing a book for our March book club reading!
Comment here or post on FB by Tuesday, 11:59pm if you have a recommended reading or you want to vote for one of the following:
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See
Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry
The Help, Kathryn Stockett
Queenmaker: A Novel of King David’s Queen, India Edghill
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
Whisper Falls, Toni Blake
The Thorn Birds: A Novel, Colleen Mccullough
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Anne Rice and A. N. Roquelaure
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
My Secret Garden, Nancy Friday
Lady Chatterly's Lover, D.H. Lawrence
Female Perversions, Louise Kaplan
Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follet
Brooklyn Follies: A Novel, Paul Auster
The Giants House: A Romance, Elizabeth McCracken
Outlander, Diana Gabaldo
We'll post the March reading on Wednesday, February 16th.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Valley of the Brunch Drunch
In Hobbiton our Sunday brunch at 1pm would be considered 4th meal, 2nd lunch or 3rd breakfast. In the SF bay area, drinking and eating at 1pm is also considered Drunch, drinking during lunch. In order to simplify the potluck choices we are calling this meeting Brunch!
Here is the potluck list so far:
Angela ~ Hibiscus Cocktails (champagne, hibiscus flowers in syrup)
Nicole ~ Wife Saver (egg, cheese, bacon casserole)
Here is the potluck list so far:
Angela ~ Hibiscus Cocktails (champagne, hibiscus flowers in syrup)
Nicole ~ Wife Saver (egg, cheese, bacon casserole)
Kim ~ Apple Crumble
Jenny ~ Fruit Plate
Gloria ~ Breakfast Casserole
Gloria ~ Breakfast Casserole
Melissa ~ Champagne/Orange Juice
And... that's it. If you haven't made a choice yet or you need a little nudge, here is what the hostess suggests:
little sandwiches
potato dish
salad
beverages (Nicole will have coffee)
You may comment here or on Facebook to give your dish of choice and I'll update the blog.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Juicy Peaches and Bitter Nuts
Reading Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls (VotD) is similar to eating a juicy peach. We get to enjoy the fruity celebrity personalities while sucking on the juice of a few tantalizing sex scenes. Here are the celebrity inspirations for each of the characters we are about to meet:
Carol Landis = Jennifer North
Dean Martin = Tony Polar
Judy Garland/Betty Hutton = Neely O’hara
Ethel Merman = Helen Lawson
After we devour the celebrity bits and slurp up all of the good juiciness we are left with the story’s remains… the hard, wrinkled shell that contains the bitter nut; the message that getting old in Hollywood sucks.
With her introductory poem, Jacqueline Susann warns us about the journeys we are about to witness while reading VotD yet our desire for celebrity gossip and sex overwhelm us and we dive right in, letting the story wash over us in waves of hope only to battle a vicious riptide of the reality of beautiful, ambitious, naive young women in 1960’s New York:
“You’ve got to climb to the top of Mount Everest
to reach the Valley of the Dolls
You stand there, waiting for
the rush of exhilaration you thought you’d feel – but
it doesn’t come.
You’re too far away to hear the applause
and take your bows.
And there’s no place left to climb...
…Anne Welles had never meant to start the climb.
Yet, unwittingly, she took her first step
the day she looked around
and said to herself,
‘This is not enough – I want something more.’”…
This “something more” is a common thread that binds the three main characters, Anne Welles, Jennifer North and Neely O’Hara into friendship. Outside of their ambitious career aspirations the pressure to find and marry “the one” is intense and adding to the intensity is the introduction of Helen Lawson. Helen is divorced, loud, brash, and overconfident. At the age of 32, she is considered old and decidedly unsexy by the successful men that surround her. Helen is inserted into the story by Susann like a threat to Anne, Jennifer and Neely that beauty fades with age and if you choose to be independent and don’t marry a successful man by the age of 25 you may end up with a nickname such as Old Ironsides.
Here are some book club questions to ponder as you read through VotD:
• What type is “the one” for Anne? For Neely? For Jennifer? How does the type you chose for them compare to the men they chose for themselves?
• Go back to your youthful early 20’s for this question: which character did you most relate to Anne, Jennifer, Neely or Old Ironsides?
• Could you relate to Anne’s sexual awakening? What was the first time like for you? Was it as awkward and immature as Anne’s? Or was it everything you ever dreamed of?
• What did you think/hope about Allen and Anne?
• What are your thoughts about the evolution of Neely?
• What did you think about the relationship between Maria and Jennifer North?
• While reading VotD are you longing for the simpler requirements of the women in the 1960’s? Or are you grateful for all the opportunity women have today?
• What did you think of Lawrenceville? And Anne’s picturesque house in Lawrenceville? Do you think Anne will change her mind about Lawrenceville as she matures?
Returning to our topic of juicy peaches and bitter nuts, we are working on the potluck list for Nicole’s brunch on February 13th. If you know what you’re going to bring then comment here or post on Facebook. We’ll post the potluck details on the blog next week.
Carol Landis = Jennifer North
Dean Martin = Tony Polar
Judy Garland/Betty Hutton = Neely O’hara
Ethel Merman = Helen Lawson
After we devour the celebrity bits and slurp up all of the good juiciness we are left with the story’s remains… the hard, wrinkled shell that contains the bitter nut; the message that getting old in Hollywood sucks.
With her introductory poem, Jacqueline Susann warns us about the journeys we are about to witness while reading VotD yet our desire for celebrity gossip and sex overwhelm us and we dive right in, letting the story wash over us in waves of hope only to battle a vicious riptide of the reality of beautiful, ambitious, naive young women in 1960’s New York:
“You’ve got to climb to the top of Mount Everest
to reach the Valley of the Dolls
You stand there, waiting for
the rush of exhilaration you thought you’d feel – but
it doesn’t come.
You’re too far away to hear the applause
and take your bows.
And there’s no place left to climb...
…Anne Welles had never meant to start the climb.
Yet, unwittingly, she took her first step
the day she looked around
and said to herself,
‘This is not enough – I want something more.’”…
This “something more” is a common thread that binds the three main characters, Anne Welles, Jennifer North and Neely O’Hara into friendship. Outside of their ambitious career aspirations the pressure to find and marry “the one” is intense and adding to the intensity is the introduction of Helen Lawson. Helen is divorced, loud, brash, and overconfident. At the age of 32, she is considered old and decidedly unsexy by the successful men that surround her. Helen is inserted into the story by Susann like a threat to Anne, Jennifer and Neely that beauty fades with age and if you choose to be independent and don’t marry a successful man by the age of 25 you may end up with a nickname such as Old Ironsides.
Here are some book club questions to ponder as you read through VotD:
• What type is “the one” for Anne? For Neely? For Jennifer? How does the type you chose for them compare to the men they chose for themselves?
• Go back to your youthful early 20’s for this question: which character did you most relate to Anne, Jennifer, Neely or Old Ironsides?
• Could you relate to Anne’s sexual awakening? What was the first time like for you? Was it as awkward and immature as Anne’s? Or was it everything you ever dreamed of?
• What did you think/hope about Allen and Anne?
• What are your thoughts about the evolution of Neely?
• What did you think about the relationship between Maria and Jennifer North?
• While reading VotD are you longing for the simpler requirements of the women in the 1960’s? Or are you grateful for all the opportunity women have today?
• What did you think of Lawrenceville? And Anne’s picturesque house in Lawrenceville? Do you think Anne will change her mind about Lawrenceville as she matures?
Returning to our topic of juicy peaches and bitter nuts, we are working on the potluck list for Nicole’s brunch on February 13th. If you know what you’re going to bring then comment here or post on Facebook. We’ll post the potluck details on the blog next week.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Reboot Post ~ January and February Meetings
Our January meeting is this Saturday the 22nd at Scotty's in Vallejo, 11am!
We haven't caught up to books 5-6 of the Sookie series so this meeting will be all about breakfast, future meeting topics and exchanging books. Bring a book or two that you would like to exchange and another book or two that you would like to discuss for future topics. We are on the hunt for fun/interesting books centering around the following topics:
Pirates (June meeting)
Resurrection/Religion (our theme for Spring)
Horse Racing (August meeting)
Here are the RSVP's we have for Scotty's:
Dalila, Angela, Melissa, Gloria, Alice, Ivy, Darla, Gemma
we'll be holding a table so let us know if you are not on the list or if your name is on the list but you can't make it.
Potluck Brunch at Nicole's place is now scheduled for February 13th at 1pm.
Arrange a designated driver and bring your Valley of the Dolls inspired dish/cocktail. We'll start a potluck list within the next week and everyone that RSVP'd will receive the address to Nicole's place too. We are arranging a carpool caravan from Angela's house in Vallejo, here's the list we currently have for the carpool :
Alice, Gloria, Gemma, Melissa, Angela, Jenny
If you don't have time for reading we found the Valley of the Dolls movie on Netflix!
Hope to see you on Saturday at Scotty's!
We haven't caught up to books 5-6 of the Sookie series so this meeting will be all about breakfast, future meeting topics and exchanging books. Bring a book or two that you would like to exchange and another book or two that you would like to discuss for future topics. We are on the hunt for fun/interesting books centering around the following topics:
Pirates (June meeting)
Resurrection/Religion (our theme for Spring)
Horse Racing (August meeting)
Here are the RSVP's we have for Scotty's:
Dalila, Angela, Melissa, Gloria, Alice, Ivy, Darla, Gemma
we'll be holding a table so let us know if you are not on the list or if your name is on the list but you can't make it.
Potluck Brunch at Nicole's place is now scheduled for February 13th at 1pm.
Arrange a designated driver and bring your Valley of the Dolls inspired dish/cocktail. We'll start a potluck list within the next week and everyone that RSVP'd will receive the address to Nicole's place too. We are arranging a carpool caravan from Angela's house in Vallejo, here's the list we currently have for the carpool :
Alice, Gloria, Gemma, Melissa, Angela, Jenny
If you don't have time for reading we found the Valley of the Dolls movie on Netflix!
Hope to see you on Saturday at Scotty's!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
2011 Meeting Dates Refresher
This post is quick refresher for everyone recovering from the Holiday excess.
Return to Sookie
11am on Saturday January 22, 2011 ~ Sookie Stackhouse, by Charlaine Harris, books 5-6
Hope you like apple fritters!
Scotty's Cafe
1645 Tennessee St
Vallejo, CA 94590
RSVP on FB
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
Dish over Brunch at Nicole's place
1pm on February 13
Oakland, CA
RSVP on FB and we'll email you the address
Stay warm and hydrated and we'll see you soon!
Return to Sookie
11am on Saturday January 22, 2011 ~ Sookie Stackhouse, by Charlaine Harris, books 5-6
Hope you like apple fritters!
Scotty's Cafe
1645 Tennessee St
Vallejo, CA 94590
RSVP on FB
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
Dish over Brunch at Nicole's place
1pm on February 13
Oakland, CA
RSVP on FB and we'll email you the address
Stay warm and hydrated and we'll see you soon!
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