August 2012: Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness

Moving now to the African continent, we'll read about the story of Nicola Fuller and her journey through the book "Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness" by Alexandra Fuller.

Here's a Book Summary:
In this book Alexandra Fuller returns to Africa and to her unforgettable family. At the heart of this family, and central to the lifeblood of her latest story, is Fuller’s iconically courageous mother, Nicola. Born on the Scottish Isle of Skye to a warlike clan of highlanders and raised in Kenya's perfect equatorial light, Nicola holds dear the values most likely to get you hurt or killed in Africa: loyalty to blood, passion for land, and a holy belief in the restorative power of all animals.

We see Nicola as an irrepressible child in western Kenya, then with the man who fell in love with her, Tim Fuller. The young couple begin their life in a lavender colored honeymoon period, when east Africa lies before them with all the promise of its liquid honeyed light, even as the British empire in which they both once believed wanes. But in short order, an accumulation of mishaps and tragedies bump up against history until the Fullers find themselves in a world they hardly recognize.

A story of survival and war, love and madness, loyalty and forgiveness, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is an intimate exploration of the author’s family and of the price of being possessed by this uncompromising, fertile, death-dealing land.

We'll be meeting in the Van Ness area at the Quetzal Cafe on Sunday August 19 at 2pm!

Next books to read:
September 2012 - Honor Lost: Love And Death In Modern Day Jordan by Norma Khouri
October 2012 - The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

July 2012 Book: Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton

For the heart of the summer, I thought it would be nice to read a light summer read for a change and go through the travels of cuisine with "Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertant Education of a Reluctant Chef" by Gabrielle Hamilton.

Here's a book summary:
Blood, Bones & Butter follows an unconventional journey through the many kitchens Gabrielle Hamilton has inhabited through the years: the rural kitchen of her childhood, where her adored mother stood over the six-burner with an oily wooden spoon in hand; the kitchens of France, Greece, and Turkey, where she was often fed by complete strangers and learned the essence of hospitality; the soulless catering factories that helped pay the rent; Hamilton’s own kitchen at Prune, with its many unexpected challenges; and the kitchen of her Italian mother-in-law, who serves as the link between Hamilton’s idyllic past and her own future family—the result of a difficult and prickly marriage that nonetheless yields rich and lasting dividends.

Blood, Bones & Butter is an unflinching and lyrical work. Gabrielle Hamilton’s story is told with uncommon honesty, grit, humor, and passion. By turns epic and intimate, it marks the debut of a tremendous literary talent.

Next 3 book choices: July to September 2012

Many of you have requested to have a list of books beforehand to have more time in advance to read the books that we'll be discussing in the next three months. Here are the choices:

July 2012: Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton - Blood, Bones & Butter follows an unconventional journey through the many kitchens Hamilton has inhabited through the years: from the rural kitchen of her childhood, where her adored mother stood over the six-burner with an oily wooden spoon in hand to the kitchens of France, Greece, and Turkey. This is what I would consider a light read for our book club that involves traveling and food!

August 2012: Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller - A story of survival and war, love and madness, loyalty and forgiveness, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is an intimate exploration of the author’s family and of the price of being possessed by this uncompromising, fertile, death-dealing land (Zimbabwe). This book is a sequel to the book "Don't Let go to the Dogs Tonight" which I highly recommend, if you want to try reading it before this book.

September 2012: Honor Lost: Love And Death In Modern Day Jordan by Norma Khouri - Norma Khouri's book is a gift to the memory of her friend, in which she recounts a powerful love story that ends in an appalling tragedy, and also attempts to bring to the world's attention the continuing practice of honor killing in Jordan -- an ancient tradition that encourages the murder of women considered to have dishonored their families. 

Feel free to share your book suggestions in the comments of this blog posting. See you all soon!

June Book: The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

After a stop in the Middle East, we are heading over to China, as we'll be discussing our next book "The Woman Warrior; Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts" by Maxine Hong Kingston.

Here's a book summary:

The Woman Warrior is a pungent, bitter, but beautifully written memoir of growing up Chinese American in Stockton, California. Maxine Hong Kingston (China Men) distills the dire lessons of her mother's mesmerizing "talk-story" tales of a China where girls are worthless, tradition is exalted and only a strong, wily woman can scratch her way upward.

The author's America is a landscape of confounding white "ghosts"--the policeman ghost, the social worker ghost--with equally rigid, but very different rules. Like the woman warrior of the title, Kingston carries the crimes against her family carved into her back by her parents in testimony to and defiance of the pain.

We will be meeting on Sunday June 3rd at 2pm.

Stay posted for next book to read in July!

The Bread of Angels by Stephanie Saldana - May 6th

Let's travel to Damascus, Syria! Our next book club will meet to discuss the book The Bread of Angels by Stephanie Saldana.

Here's a Book Summary

In 2004, twenty-seven-year old Stephanie Saldaña arrives in Damascus with a broken heart and a haunted family history that she has crossed the world to escape. She has come on a fellowship to study the role of Jesus in Islam, but speaks very little Arabic, has no friends in the city, and has no place to live. Nor is it an ideal time to be in the region—the United States has recently invaded neighboring Iraq, and refugees are flooding into the streets of Damascus. Still, Stephanie does the only thing she can think of: she begins knocking on doors in the Christian Quarter, asking strangers if they have a room to rent.

So begins The Bread of Angels, the unforgettable memoir of one woman’s search for faith, love, and the meaning of her life in the place she least expects to find it.

We're meeting on Sunday May 6th at 2pm at the Epicenter Cafe in the SOMA neighborhood.

Next Book:

June 2012 - The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Coming from a consensual interest from the book group, we'll be discussing People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks in our next book club meeting.

Here's a book summary:
Inspired by the true story of a mysterious codex known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, People of the Book is a sweeping adventure through five centuries of history. From its creation in Muslim-ruled, medieval Spain, the illuminated manuscript makes a series of perilous journeys: through Inquisition-era Venice, fin-de-siecle Vienna, and the Nazi sacking of Sarajevo.

In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed manuscript, which has been rescued once again from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with figurative paintings. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—she becomes determined to unlock the book’s mysteries. As she seeks the counsel of scientists and specialists, the reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book’s journey from its creation to its salvation.

We'll be meeting at a coffee shop in the Russian Hill neighborhood on Sunday April 8 at 2pm.

Country under my Skin; A memoir of love and war

Let's discuss our next book based in Nicaragua with the book "The Country Under My Skin: A Memoir of Love and War" by Gioconda Belli.

Here's a book summary:

An electrifying memoir from the acclaimed Nicaraguan writer and central figure in the Sandinista Revolution.

Her memoir is both a revelatory insider’s account of the Revolution and a vivid, intensely felt story about coming of age under extraordinary circumstances. Belli writes with both striking lyricism and candor about her personal and political lives: about her family, her children, the men in her life; about her poetry; about the dichotomies between her birth-right and the life she chose for herself; about the failures and triumphs of the Revolution; about her current life, divided between California (with her American husband and their children) and Nicaragua; and about her sustained and sustaining passion for her country and its people.

Looking forward to meeting you at the Coffee Bar in Potrero neighborhood on Sunday March 11, 2012 at 2pm.