May's Bookshare Gathering

Greetings Book Lovers:



We had a very successful meeting last Thursday evening at Ann Wing's home and decided this is a good way to have a book club. We discussed some wonderful books and enjoyed sharing our love of good books. We are just hoping to be able to increase our numbers.
This past meeting we had Sara Trivedi, Nancy Nay, Geri Christensen, Beth Hedengren and Ann Wing. We missed Marjean Giraud who was with us in April and we were sorry we also missed Jenny Ashby who was unable to make it and Julie who was at Provo High's graduation that night, as well.

The following books were presented and discussed:
SARA TRIVEDI:
(1) "The Forever Island" by Patrick Smith. This is a work of fiction, but it deals with the subject of the wanton destruction of one of the most beautiful places in the Florida Everglades and the human greed that causes it. It was written in the 1970's, but has an enduring charm and beauty and she was captivated by both the characters and the writer's simple yet effective ability to convey the message of concern for the environment and the terrible things that can happen to it.

(2) "Beneath A Marble Sky" by John Shors. This book is a historical fiction published in 2004 which centers around the building of the Taj Majal in India. Sara loved this book and recommends it highly to anyone who enjoys historical novels which is her favorite genre.

NANCY NAY:
(1) "84 Charing Cross Road" by Helene Hanff
This is a very charming and endearing book written in an epistolary style (letters)
and is the true story of a native New Yorker, a single woman, who had a great love of rare and obscure English literature. She begins a long and wonderful relationship with a bookshop clerk in London who answers her letters (requests) for some of these books and they correspond back and forth for almost two decades, becoming great friends as a result.

GERI CHRISTENSEN:
(1) "The Firm" by John Grisham. This is a great page-turner book, one of the earlier ones by this author, which tells the very believable story of a young attorney, newely graduated from law school and one of the top students in his class, who is hired by a small but seemingly high class law firm in Memphis, Tenn. It doesn't take him long to figure out that they are a front for the Mafia and are involved in money-laundering and fraud and signing on with this firm is almost like signing his own death warrant if he doesn't go along with their illegal activities. One of John Grisham's best novels thus far.

(2) "The Last Juror" by John Grisham. This is a somewhat different type of story by this author as the main character is a journalist rather than an attorney; a young man who buys a small-town newspaper in rural Mississippi and reports the news of the town which includes a scandalous rape-murder trial. He befriends a wonderful black woman (the first black woman ever to serve on a jury in Mississippi) and thus begins a relationship that spans many years and serves to open his eyes to the plight of the black people in the south in the 1970's and the way they rise above their oppression with grace and dignity.

BETH HEDENGREN:
(1) "The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Lord. This book is a somewhat 'Romeo and Juliet' story as it concerns two young people of different cultures, one Chinese and one Japanese during World War II who are living in the Pacific Northwest and become very close friends. They have to deal not only with the prejudice and hatred of the people living around them but also of their own families' hatred of their ethnic heritage and background. As a result of our discussion of the book, we also talked about Topaz, the Japanese internment camp located near Delta and how little is left of it today. Beth e-mailed some wonderful pictures taken by her son, Mark, a professional photographer, that gave us an idea of the conditions they were living in at that time.

(2) "Keeping House: The Litany of Everyday Life" by Margaret Kim Peterson. This is a beautifully written book on the dignity and the importance of being a homemaker and all the seemingly small but consequential tasks that we perform every day over and over again. Beth read a small excerpt from the book and we all marveled at the writer's style and the beauty of her words.

ANN WING:
(1) "The Persian Pickle Club" by Sandra Dallas. This is the story of a group of women from Kansas in the 1930's who band together to support one another through their tough times using their sewing and quilting crafts as a common interest.
Ann thoroughly enjoyed this book and also another one by the same author called "Alice's Tulips", a Civil War story about a woman whose husband goes to war and she is left to live with her very difficult mother-in-law and all of the challenges and adventures she has on the 'home front'.

(2) "Leah and Rachel" by Orson Scott Card.
n this third volume of his Women of Genesis series, Orson Scott Card paints a vivid picture of the intertwined lives of four celebrated women. We meet Leah, the oldest daughter of Laban, whose "tender eyes" prevent her from fully participating in the daily work of her nomadic family, and Rachel, the spoiled younger daughter, the petted and privileged beauty of the family - or so it seems to Leah.
Ann also read and enjoyed "Have A Little Faith" by Mitch Albom and "Murder Between The Covers" by Elaine Viets

Here is a dessert recipe you might want to try. It's not one that we had at Bookshare last week, but good nonetheless. Just remember to make it the day before you want to serve it as it needs to be refrigerated overnight.

Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake

1 recipe chocolate crumb crust (see below)
1 11oz bag chocolate chips
3 packages cream cheese, softened
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Fresh raspberries or strawberries to garnish

Prepare chocolate crumb crust; set aside. Melt chocolate chips in microwave on high power for 1 minute; stir. Microwave 20 sec more and stir until well blended; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk and melted chocolate. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Pour into prepared chocolate crumb crust. Bake at 300 degrees for about 1 hour or until center is set. Cool, then chill in refrigerator overnight. To serve, garnish with fresh raspberries or strawberries. Makes 12 servings.


Crumb Crust:
1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup butter melted

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Press firmly on bottom of greased 9 inch spring foam pan. You can also use a quiche pan if you don't have a spring foam pan. Enjoy!

OUR NEXT BOOKSHARE MEETING WILL BE ON THURSDAY, JUNE 24TH AT ANN WING'S HOME.
COME AND JOIN US AND BRING A FRIEND WITH YOU. WE LOOK FORWARD TO ANOTHER EVENING OF BOOK SHARING AND GOOD COMPANY.