April 21st Meeting

We had our first meeting last night of the BookShare reading group and, although our numbers were few, we all felt it was successful and look forward to regular monthly meetings and great discussions on the books we have been reading. Last night we had Ann Wing, Geri Christensen, Marjean Giraud and Beth Hedengren there. We'd like to double our numbers by next time. Some of the books we talked about were:

1) "One Summer In Between" by Melissa Mather (Ann Wing)
2) "Have A Little Faith" by Mitch Albom (Ann Wing)
3) "The Hotel On The Corner of Bitter & Sweet" by Jamie Ford (Beth Hedengren)
4) "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett (Geri Christensen)
5) "The Tallgrass" by Sandra Dallas (Ann Wing)

We talked about these books and why we thought they were well worth reading.
We then talked about other books and authors we have enjoyed in the past.

Marjean recommends anything written by David McCullough. She also enjoys listening to books by Nevil Shute. Her favorite book was "Trusty From The Tool Room". Other books he has written are "A Town Like Alice" and "The Pied Piper". Marjean also likes the "Mitford" series by Jan Karon and mysteries of all kinds, especially Dick Francis.
Geri recommends the wonderful and entertaining 'Agatha Raisin' series by B.C. Beaton starting with "The Quiche of Death" and "The Vicious Vet".
She also enjoys the whole "Cat Who" series by Lillian Jackson Braun starring Koko and Yum Yum, the two mystery-solving Siamese cats who live in Pickax which is 500 miles north of everywhere.
Also mentioned were the Mrs. Polifax books by Dorothy Gilman

Other books that were discussed and recommended were:

"The Undanted" by Gerald Lund
"The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Wall
"Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay

Recipe: HOLLY'S CAKE (A Recipe from Geri's daughter-in-law, Holly Christensen)

1 Yellow Cake Mix
4 Eggs
1/4 C. Oil
1 T. Flour
1 small Vanilla Pudding Mix
5 heaping teaspoons Sour Cream
3/4 C. Water

Mix everything together. In a separate bowl, combine approximately 1 C. sugar and cinnamon to taste (I used about 1/8 C.). Grease bundt pan generously and coat the pan with the cinnamon and sugar mix. Add half of the batter and sprinkle with more cinnamon and sugar. Add the remaining batter and sprinkle more cinnamon and sugar.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes in the pan. Use a sharp knife around the edges and invert onto a serving plate. Serve plain or with whipped cream. Enjoy!

OUR NEXT MEETING WITH BE ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 26TH AT ANN WING'S HOME. MARK YOUR CALENDAR. WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!