Lisbeth

Theresa found this:

I just read this in one of the book blogs this morning. Yes!

In an interview with Word & Film, Niels Arden Oplev, director of the Swedish film version of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, said the "key to the whole Larsson success is Lisbeth Salander. You have a rich family on an isolated island and in comes this classic investigating journalist with a flair for women. If you read crime novels, there's nothing new about that. But then Lisbeth comes in. That's his stroke of genius. She's this punkish squatter who looks like she walked out of Berlin/Copenhagen in the '80s. At the same time she's the best hacker in Sweden, which is also certainly a cliché, but she gets away with it because she's a woman with the worst past you could ever imagine. And instead of making her a victim, he makes her a fighter. She's the violent dark angel of revenge who draws the line in the sand that says, 'Whatever man dares to cross this line, I will fuck you up bad.' Women respond to the fact that she's not a victim."

In Anticipation of Mockingjay's Meeting

I copied from my family's blog:

About a month has passed...so I now have some perspective. And I realized that I went to three book stores on Mockingjay Day.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...Right?

• HearthFire Books, Evergreen
• Borders Books, Lakewood
• Boulder Book Store, Boulder

Below are a few Mockingjay Moments, but to view the whole slew, click here.

City of Thieves, David Benioff

Needing a little more City of Thieves, found this interview.

City of Thieves

The SPREAD:
Greek ("Greece is closer to Russia than the US") Pasta Salad
Summer Borscht with Tzatziki
Baklava (again, with Greece? DELICIOUS!)
Baked Stuffed Mushrooms
Chocolate Stout Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting (is this the right one, Alayna?)
Eggplant caviar (recipe?)
Peach-flavored vodka, from Palisade, CO, I think!
Wine and tea served in china - we are so classy if you ignore the YouTube sensation below.

Complete with YouTube sensations, and Mockingjay anticipation, the night was DELICIOUS!

June - "Sookie!!"

6/25/10
Notes to come, but here are some pics!!

Radical 2010 Reading

JAN - Classic - A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare
FEB – Lisa's choice: The Help, Katherine Stockett
MAR – Theresa's choice: The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver
APR – Kjirsten's choice: The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
JUNE – Suzie's choice: Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
JULY 23rd – Sadie's choice: Committed, Elizabeth Gilbert (+Oscar Wao recap?)
AUGUST 27th – Alayna's choice, City of Thieves, David Benioff (also discuss Oscar Wao?)
SEPT 24th Kristen's choice: Sashenka, Simon Montefiore
OCT 22nd – Leslie (or Jade)’s choice TBD
NOV – (Dec 3rd) Jade (or Leslie)’s choice TBD à we should discuss when to meet.
DEC/JAN 28th – Classic: The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck

Mockingjay meeting to be scheduled for sometime in September, so we have a chance to get and read the book?


I guess we haven’t yet decided on a Mockingjay meeting yet…

Time's Most Influential People 2010

Did you see Suzanne Collins is on there?

April - The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Photos from the night in the Capitol!

- Dress like the people in the Capitol (bright colors, wigs, crazy clothing and makeup – we had a Prep Station with $1 makeup / accessories people could use to do swirls or crazy tattoos on their faces or arms, one girl spray painted her hair)

- It seems like bird necklaces are all over the place. I got one at a thrift shop! ‘Mockingjay’ necklaces, excuse me. And Carey, the local jeweler, actually cut the jacketsleeve of her book, and glued it onto a pendant for a necklace. That’s dedication, man.

- A couple of girls did go for the Katniss look – one even cut bamboo from her yard to fashion a bow and arrow!!!

- Another girl made several (one glass of wine is too much tonight…I can’t remember what they’re called?? The canopy of fabric that has strings attached to it, so its “load” floats gently to the ground???) I need to sleep! She stood out of sight and threw them at our group – attached were little shooters of vodka, a loaf of bread (it did make it!), dental floss, and other items one might need in the arena!

- Zach’s mining helmet, complete with light!

- Books all over the place



Food ended up being:

- goat cheese with basil leaves and marinade (like Prim made),
- (I think somehow we missed bread!, but I envisioned some really hearty, seedy, fruitfilled bread, and assorted pastries),
- Coconut Shrimp with pineapple apricot dip
- Dhall soup
- Cupcakes
- A delicious peach and lavender dessert crumble
- Crackers and stuffed brie
- Oh, wine
- Mango strawberry lime-scented salad
- Peeta’s Pockets – pitas to stuff with ???
- Molten lava cakes (recipe attached, yummmmmm)

The Lacuna

Why Do We Love YA?

This article in the LA Times got a lot of attention yesterday in the publishing and book blogs that I pay attention to.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-young-adult8-2010mar08,0,1082099.story

It explores a question that I think we've discussed amongst ourselves. What is it about YA literature--which, of course, I am obsessed with--that keeps us reading and talking?

Here's looking forward to YA month in April!

Inspiration

My mom forwarded this list of some book club's books read.
I *heart* book lists.

1999
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Anne Tyler
Stones from the River Ursula Hegi

2000
Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya
The Bean Trees Barbara Kingsolver
Mutant Message Down Under Marlo Morgan
O Pioneers! Willa Cather
Snow in August Peter Hamill
Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner
Vanished Arizona Martha Summerhayes
The Giver Lois Lowry
Rebecca Daphne DuMaurier
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee

2001
Jewel Brett Lott
The Shipping News Annie Proulx
The Red Tent Anita Diamant
Falling Leaves Adeline Yen Mah
These is My Words Nancy Turner
Time and Again Jack Finney
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Rebecca Wells
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom
Corelli’s Mandolin Louis de Bernieres
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith
Cold Sassy Tree Olive Ann Burns

2002
Gift from the Sea Ann Morrow Lindbergh
The Gold of Exodus Howard Blum
A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens
The Wheel of Life Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Crossing to Safety William Stegner
Stolen Lives – Twenty Years in a Desert Prison Malika Oufkir
The Shell Seekers Rosamunde Pilcher
The Testament John Grisham
Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson
King Lear William Shakespeare
A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley
Skipping Christmas John Grisham

2003
The Great Divorce C.S. Lewis
I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith
Empire Falls Richard Russo
Ladder of Years Anne Tyler
The Good Earth Pearl Buck
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou
The Kitchen God’s Wife Amy Tan
New Moon Rising Eugenia Price
East of Eden John Steinbeck
The Secret Life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd
Peace Like a River Leif Enger
The Christmas Train David Baldecci

2004
Back When We Were Grownups Anne Tyler
Good Harbor Anita Diamant
Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton
The DaVinci Code Dan Brown
Cold Mountain Charles Frazier
Life of Pi Yann Martel
A Passage to India E.M. Forester
The Master Butchers Singing Club Louise Erdrich
Hadassah Tommy Tenny
Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood

2005
A Skeleton in God’s Closet Paul Maier
The Stone Diaries Carol Shields
Standing in the Rainbow Fannie Flagg
Your Oasis on Flame Lake Lorna Landvik
Death Comes to the Archbishop Willa Cather
East of the Mountain David Guterson
Run with the Horsemen Ferrol Sams
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons Lorna Landvik
The Kite Runner Khaled Hasseini
Joy Luck Club Amy Tan
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
Patti Jane’s House of Curl Lorna Landvik

2006
A Year by the Sea Joan Anderson
1776 David McCullough
Light on Snow Anita Shreve
Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden
Sarah’s Quilt Nancy Turner
The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood
An Unfinished Life Mark Spragg
The Other Boleyn Girl Philippa Gregory
The Bonesetter’s Daughter Amy Tan
The Road from Coorain Jill Ker Conway
A Patchword Planet Anne Tyler
Their Eyes were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston

2007
My Latest Grievance Elinor Lipman
Welcome to the Great Mysterious Lorna Landvik
Digging to America Anne Tyler
The Painted Drum Louise Erdrich
The Thirteenth Tale Diane Setterfield
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter Kim Edwards
Going Back to Bisbee Richard Shelton
The Whisper of the River Ferrol Sams
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carston McCullers
Tales of a Female Nomad Rita Gelman
Water for Elephants Sara Gruen
The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls

2008
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Lisa See
The Amateur Marriage Anne Tyler
The Woman in White Wilkie Collins
The Memory of Running Ron McLarty
A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini
People of the Book Geraldine Brooks
Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortensen
The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri
Out of Africa Isaac Dinisen
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
March Geraldine Brooks
Christmas Carol Charles Dickens

2009
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Dai Sijie
Five Quarters of the Orange Joanne Harris
The Shack William P. Young
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle David Wroblewski
Bel Canto Ann Patchett
Sarah’s Key Tatiana DeRosnay
Born on a Blue Day Daniel Tammet
The Devil in the White City Erik Larson
Loving Frank Nancy Horan
My Sister’s Keeper Jodi Picoult
Run Ann Patchett

Dushanbe Tea House

Perhaps more appropriate than last year's high tea book accompaniment ('twas a wee bit ironical to be sipping bellinis at The Brown Palace whilst commenting on the hardships wrought in The Grapes of Wrath, was it not?), we were scheduled to discuss Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Dushanbe Tea House for this year's annual tea and book planning outing.

But are we a group that's known for being altogether all together? I should hope not! So, true to form, most of us did not in fact (re-)read the selection, and those of us who did get to it felt compelled to note that it wasn't one of Shakespeare's greatest works. I love, by the way, that we are comfortable making such a statement. Who mentioned having a friend whose book club left a lot to be desired? I think we're perfect; the answer to this paragraph's first sentence not withstanding.

I was among the didn't-read-it-ers, of course. I did check out several copies though: indadvertently, one collection of commentaries on the play; one awesome, faded little volume; and one Easy Reader version. Somehow even with all of those in my immediate vicinity, the play did not get read. Huh.

What were some of the comments? The play seems somewhat silly, and that the female characters were written intentionally flat. Maybe, maybe it could be adapted for a high school setting with the love triangle - or was it a square? In any case, I am proud of us for having selected a classic, and a play. And thank you to Sarah and Theresa for leading our discussion.

As usual, we spent a good portion of our time together catching up on busyness of Momfullness and our assorted other roles. We really are fabulous, ladies, you know. We all dabble in a lot, and its fun when we bring all those energies around one table. *sending out some love, I guess.*

Speaking to the fabulousness, wasn't it great how many of us brought books and recommendations, as assigned?! Here's the summary of the selections made so far:

Unless we make other arrangements, the assumption is that the FabuMom who selected the book will also host the evening (at her home or another locale of her choice).

Feb 26th - Lisa
The Help, Kathryn Stockett

Mar 26th - Theresa
The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver

Apr 23rd - Kjirsten
YA Lit Month – with Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games strongly recommended by Kjirsten

May 28th - Sarah
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz (We can also celebrate her Gradumavation!!! Woo hoo!!)

Jun 25th - Suzie
Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris

July 23rd - Sadie
Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, Elizabeth Gilbert

Aug 27th - Alayna
City of Thieves, David Benioff

Sep TBD
Oct TBD
Nov TBD
Dec TBD

We always seem to mention other books, and I love to have a log of these as well:

The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin
Gods Behaving Badly: A Novel, Marie Phillips (Was this it? I had written down "Belong" instead of Behaving, so I'm not sure this is right.)
Labor Day, Joyce Maynard
Pope Joan, Donna Woolfolk Cross

We also touched briefly on the Haitian tragedy, and Theresa mentioned the bad blood that has existed between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and specifically the parsley massacre.

We loved the beauty of the tea house, though not the glare of the sunlight piercing each of us momentarily, and Sarah remarked that without the hubub (my silly word, not hers) of the farmer's market outside, the area was remarkably different. I can't wait to get back for a F.M. some day!

We missed those of you who couldn't join us and look forward to seeing you all soon!

Please, please comment with tidbits I missed! :)

Jefferson County Library Distinguished Author Series - Rick Steves - 12/7/2009

Thanks Sarah for clueing us in on the Rick Steves event, way back in October!  Last year it was Anne Lamott, and we all loved her!  This time, we all signed up for tix, but when the 7th approached, the realities of holiday prep prevented most of us from attending.  Sarah and Lisa were there, along with Sarah's friend Becky (who, as it turns out, is the daughter of the realtor who sold Lisa & John their house 8 years ago, and who sketched the housewarming gift/print of their house that's hanging downstairs!).

Here are some of Lisa's notes from his presentation, for those who are interested:

• Meeting people (when travelling) "carbonates your experience"
• Find places that don't have promotional budgets; this keeps away "the most obnoxious slice of the traveling population" - the ones who insist upon nice hotels
• All tourist info that comes to you is motored by someone's financial need; therefore, you need to be a savvy consumer
• If the art's not fun, you don't know enough about it.  Study up before you go to understand the context in which the art was made
• He talked about the difference between feudal vs. medieval romantic castles, and it actually sounded somewhat interesting!
• He also talked about a Roman aqueduct in Nimes, France which illustrated a very early display of social consciousness.  I can't remember the exact details, but the system ensured that the poorer neighborhoods received their allowance of water before extra water was doled out for the wealthy r for asthetic irrigation purposes.  For more on the aqueduct itself, see http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/france/nimes.htm.
• Lately he's into "experiences" while travelling; recently he & his family attended a sports match in the UK and found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable & unique experience
• Suggests planning big, multi-destination trips so that you start mild and end "exotic" when it comes to culture shock (ie, start in England and end in Turkey; not vice versa)
• Delay your shopping until the last 20% of the trip, and load up in cheap, interesting countries
• Big bus tours are OK if you use them only for transportation and hotels, but ditch them during your free time and go out and find an adventure
• Some of his audio tours are now available on iTunes, as well as from his website: http://www.ricksteves.com/news/podcast_menu.htm. Also on his website are some interesting interviews from his radio program
• Recommends hulu.com (so does Sarah!) to watch shows like his Rocky Mountain PBS show about Iran
• Dining:  Immigrant restaurants are a great value and typically delicious food (eg, a Pakistani restaurant in Oslo).  Picnicing is your budget mainstay.
• His new book is called Travel as a Political Act.  Sarah and I found ourselves nodding our heads vigorously with the (sometimes surprisingly passionate) political commentary at the end of his lecture.  Sometimes I forget that people could actually disagree with his belief that Americans have a responsibility to educate themselves about other cultures and to understand why we may not be well-liked in some cultures, but they obviously do.  This was interesting to read: http://www.ricksteves.com/about/pressroom/activism/feedback_text.htm
• I couldn't help but have the opinion that maybe he's "been there, done that" with Europe, and it's time for him to focus his cultural prowess and ambassadorship on the more mis-understood areas of the world - especially the Middle East.  I was thrilled he did that PBS piece on Iran (which I have yet to see, and Sarah and I talked about gathering all of us around zulu.com to watch it together sometime).  He said while filming it, a woman walked up to him, asked if he was a journalist, and asked him to tell the truth about them, to stop fueling the erroneous stereotypes we have in the West.  She then said she didn't like her daughter watching western TV because she doesn't want her to grow up like Britney Spears.  Misconceptions and generalizations abound.  If I had been brave enough in the Q&A I would have asked him something along these lines.

Transcribing my notes a month later has got me thinking about travel again, and reminiscing about some of my own experiences.  Two of my 3 highlights were in Italy, when we went in 2003.  One was when John and I set out to find the Via Appia (the Appian Way), one of Rome's earliest and most strategic roads, made famous in the movie Spartacus (slaves crucified alongside it).  Although there was a brief mention of it in the tour guides, once we found it (after a series of confusing bus transfers), it was virtually empty.  There it was, this tree-lined ancient stone road, all ours!  We walked for miles on it, marveling at all that must have transpired there in the thousands of years since it was built.   The other Italian experience a week later was when we decided on a whim to drive up to Michelangelo's marble quarry at Carrara, en route between Pisa and the Cinque Terre in our little rental car.  We started questioning the decision 20 minutes into the seemingly endless drive UP, up, up the mountain as daylight was beginning to fade, but were so glad we stuck with it.  It was stunning - and sad - to see this glorious mountainside ripped apart, revealing the gleaming white marble below.  There is a small museum there, run by a dear old man named Walter Danesi, who grew up on the mountain as a child of a quarry worker.  He wrote a book, which we purchased, and he signed.  He also proceeded to flirt with me, in Italian, a little of which I understood!  I'll never forget him and how he devoted his life to telling the stories of the laborers who risked their lives up there.  I just googled him to see if he's still alive and alas, he isn't.  But I just became a fan of the museum on facebook, of all things.  Who knew?

In Costa Rica in 2005, we rented a car and drove from where we were staying in Jaco Beach, to the incredible Manuel Antonio National Park.  Taking a rest from our hike, we met an older couple from Chile.  John hit it off with the husband, who practiced his English on John, and was gracious in letting John practice his Spanish on him.  Mostly the wife and I just smiled and nodded at each other, because the only language we had in common was French and that was, oh, about 20 years ago for me! :)  We ended up giving them a ride back to their apartment in Jaco, and they invited us in for a drink and some delightful conversation.  Someday we hope to visit them in northern Chile and stay in one of the tourist cabins they run.  If you're ever heading that way want their info, let me know! :)

Anyone else have some experiences to share?