Sunday Brunch Club: Strength in What Remains

Our September/October 2012 selection was Strength in What Remainsby Tracy Kidder.


Synopsis:
Deo arrives in America from Burundi in search of a new life. Having survived a civil war and genocide, plagued by horrific dreams, he lands at JFK airport with two hundred dollars, no English, and no contacts. He ekes out a precarious existence delivering groceries, living in Central Park, and learning English by reading dictionaries in bookstores. Then Deo begins to meet the strangers who will change his life, pointing him eventually in the direction of Columbia University, medical school, and a life devoted to healing. Kidder breaks new ground in telling this unforgettable story as he travels with Deo back over a turbulent life in search of meaning and forgiveness.

An extraordinary writer, Tracy Kidder once again shows us what it means to be fully human by telling a story about the heroism inherent in ordinary people, a story about a life based on hope.

Club Rating Details:
My rating: ****/5
HR's rating: ****/5
CC's rating: ***/5
Average Rating: 3.67/5

GoodReads Rating Details:


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Saturday Snapshot: Happy Birthday!

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

We are celebrating the 100th birthday of our city library this year. A great announcement was made two weeks ago that all new and renewals would be free for the whole year! Such a great marketing move to bring people into the fold. Happy 100th Birthday!

Sunday Brunch Club: A Little Stranger

Our August/September selection was A Little Stranger by Kate Pullinger.


Synopsis:
Fran has been happily married to Nick for twelve years, until a “little stranger” arrives in the form of a baby, and their lives are irrevocably changed. Louis has good health and a sweet nature, but Fran feels stifled with her old life merely a memory. So, one day, she simply walks away.




Club Rating Details:
My rating: **/5
HR's rating: ***/5
CC's rating: ***/5
Average Rating: 2.67/5

GoodReads Rating Details:


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Saturday Snapshot: Spring Flurries

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.


This past Thursday we had a lovely gift to celebrate the beginning of spring - 30 cms of snow via all day flurries! It was quite pretty to watch the flurries, and was grateful I didn't have to go out at all. Lots of traffic accidents around the province that day.

I took this around 7:30am:

And this one around 1pm (see how large the snow flakes are?):

Accumulation on the balcony:

Adaptation: Game of Thrones

Dragons! Dragons!

I really enjoyed season one of Game of Thrones; I looked forward to watching a new episode every Sunday night. The second season, well, came and went and I don't believe I watched more than maybe 30 minutes...tops. I blame the lack of Sean Bean for my disinterest.

This trailer has my interest returning, as it looks like Jon Snow is going to get more involved. Maybe?? I'd probably know if I read the books but that is just not going to happen. Guess I'll just have to tune and find out on March 31!

Sunday Brunch Club: Geek Love

Our selection for June/July 2012 was Geek Love by Katherine Dunn.


Synopsis:
This is the story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias set out–with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes–to breed their own exhibit of human oddities. There’s Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family’s most precious–and dangerous–asset.

As the Binewskis take their act across the backwaters of the U.S., inspiring fanatical devotion and murderous revulsion; as its members conduct their own Machiavellian version of sibling rivalry, Geek Love throws its sulfurous light on our notions of the freakish and the normal, the beautiful and the ugly, the holy and the obscene. Family values will never be the same.

Club Rating Details:
My rating: ****/5
HR's rating: *****/5
CC's rating: ****/5
Average Rating: 4.33/5

GoodReads Rating Details:


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Saturday Snapshot: Sweet Rolls

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

Back to baking again here, and trying out a new recipe and spelt flour. I had not baked with yeast for at least 12 years; it's always made me a bit afraid. Well, that and nothing beats my mom's homebread bread so why bother?!

But I wanted to continue trying out different tastes (hence the spelt) and recipes so I decided to try raspberry sweet rolls. Here is the final batch prepping for the oven. I ran out of parchment paper so foil had to substitute to line the pan, but this actually worked out better in the end.

 

The rolls turned out pretty good for a first time try, though the bake time provided with the recipe was too long as the raspberry juice at the bottom of the pan got a bit scorched. I revised the timing and all worked out well.

I am going to try this recipe again with blueberries and apples later on. Think they would work well with the nuttiness of the spelt flour.

Out of the oven and ready to go into my belly!

 

Sunday Brunch Club: The Dovekeepers

Our May/June 2012 selection was The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman. This book inspired a very lively and rich discussion, which is still referenced now and again in other book discussions.

Synopsis:
Blends mythology, magic, archaeology and women. Traces four women, their path to the Masada massacre. In 70 CE, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on a mountain in the Judean desert, Masada. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived.

Four bold, resourceful, and sensuous women come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the horrifically brutal murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her twin grandsons, rendered mute by their own witness. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and expert marksman, who finds passion with another soldier. Shirah is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power. The four lives intersect in the desperate days of the siege, as the Romans draw near. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets — about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.

Club Rating Details:
My rating: ****/5
HR's rating: **/5
CC's rating: ****/5
Average Rating: 3.33/5

GoodReads Rating Details:


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