The Other Boleyn Girl

Hey,

I just finished this and its FANTASTIC!! I have a copy so anyone interested, let me know and I'll get it to you when it gets back tome. Also, as you are probably aware, this has just been made into a movie starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana. I think I'm going to venture out to see it next week (probably a very late show) so if anyone is up for the movie version you're more than welcome to join me!!

Have a great week and Happy Reading!!

-Vanessa

Feel-Good, Smiley-Tears, Warm-Fuzzy of a Read...

I know, I know - who is this "Abi" that thinks that she can just post to this blog without actually attending club meetings? Who does she think she is anyway?

I don't really have an answer for that... other than I get up at 4:30am. And I have to get a lesson ready before I can go to sleep at night. My reading time is a tad bit limited and usually filled with lesson manuals, institute student manuals and other materials that require full concentration and heavy thinking. I sleep really well.

Anyway, there's a story out there that I absolutely love. I hesitate to recommend it here because there are a few swear words in it (totally NOT needed - but are they ever?). It's a feel-good, smiley-tears, warm-fuzzy of a book that ends the way that it should.

The book is called Love Walked In, written by Marisa de los Santos. It's a quick read and one of the few that I will read more than once.

And get this - there's a woman in it named Phaedra. She's nothing quite like our Phaedra though. No other Phaedra could match our Phaedra!

Barnes and Noble has a preview of the first few pages that you can check out before picking up the book from the library or a friend's house if you're interested in reading more.

Much Ado About Carmel Corn

All you girls who didn't come last night really missed out on a lot of great desserts! Michele made 2 fresh strawberry trifles -did anyone get a picture? They were beautiful and tasted amazing!
A few of you asked for the recipe for the Carmel Corn I brought, so here it is. This one is really easy, and I always have the ingredients to make it on hand so I can whip up a great treat with little effort. -I am NOT a cook. I come from a family where Grandma and Mom were chefs extraordinaire so I never had to learn how to make anything! -Just sit and eat. My sister majored in Food Science at BYU and is the ultimate Top Chef. Thanksgiving is a great place to be at the Vreeken house. All I do is set the table, which I enjoy as I like to decorate!
So here's the recipe, you'll be amazed how easy it is.

Sara's Carmel Corn

1 cup Sugar
2/3 cup Karo Syrup
1/2 t. Salt

1 cube Butter
1 can Nuts
2 bags of microwave popcorn (6-8 cups)
-I use the movie butter kind

Boil the Sugar, Karo, and Salt together for 1 minute.
Stir in Butter until dissolved, then mix in the Nuts.
Add popcorn and stir until well coated.
Enjoy!

Looking for something new to read?

I went to dinner on Saturday with some of our friends from Orange County and one of my friends who is an avid reader (while pregnant and unable to do much she read 25 books in 21 days!) -said Atonement was one of the best books she has ever read.
They recently made a movie about this book (R rated) but I really wanted to see it... I'm thinking I'll read the book instead. Becca said it was better than the movie anyway. I haven't read it yet, so can't personally vouch for it yet, so I'll let you know what I think after I read it; and if anyone else has read it please comment!

Here's a review of the book: The interwar, upper-middle-class setting of the book's long, masterfully sustained opening section might recall Virginia Woolf or Henry Green, but as we move forward--eventually to the turn of the 21st century--the novel's central concerns emerge, and McEwan's voice becomes clear, even personal. For at heart, Atonement is about the pleasures, pains, and dangers of writing, and perhaps even more, about the challenge of controlling what readers make of your writing. McEwan shouldn't have any doubts about readers of Atonement: this is a thoughtful, provocative, and at times moving book that will have readers applauding. --Alan Stewart, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

-Sara

Breaking Dawn!!

Get ready Ladies!!

It's been announced Breaking Dawn will be released in August 2nd @ 12:01 am. I am so excited I can barely type straight. And now with the discovery of Twilight moms (thanks to DeEtte) I'm embracing my Twilight obsession with full fervor!! You best bet I'll be at Barnes and Noble and midnight, so anyone who's up for it is invited. The cover art and first chapter will be released on May 31st in a new deluxe edition of Eclipse. So get ready for August book club with the Cullen Family (and another trip to Buca of course!)
Read about the release at here

We're Not Alone!!

I was browsing around looking for more information on the Twilight movie today (I am not happy with what I'm finding), and I happened onto this website. It's hilarious. It makes me feel so much better that I'm not the only semi middle-aged lady whose obsessed with a teenage vampire! Check it out. -DeEtte

http://www.twilightmoms.com/home.html

Much Ado About Breakfast

I hope everyone is enjoying this month's selection, Much Ado About Nothing.  I forgot just how funny this play is and I think I can appreciate more now than the last time I read this while in college.  You know, February's a funny month, its all about the L-O-V-E.  

On Valentine's day, I made Sydney hot pink heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.  She was so thrilled I began to wonder if I should worry about her new found enthusiasm for breakfast foods and food coloring combined.  The next day she wanted green eggs and the day after that, it was all about blue oatmeal.  As my excitement for the adventure in food artistry was beginning wane, she asked me a question. 

 "Mom, what does love taste like?"  

"I don't know Syd, what do you think love tastes like?"

"Hmmmm....I think it tastes like syrup, or maybe this blue oatmeal."

I stopped doing the dishes for a minute just to let that sink in.  It's amazing to me that the concept of love can be so palpable to a small child that, to her, there MUST be a taste.  Love is just as real as the oatmeal in her bowl and the spoon in her hand.  

There are a lot of novels written about love.  Lost love, found love, passionate love, motherly love, you name it--its written.  I've read quite a few of them, but none can hold a candle to that tiny moment in my messy kitchen with my daughter and the feeling of real true love I had that with a simple gesture of an artificially enhanced blue breakfast feast.  Apparently (at my house anyway) love can be made in the microwave.   

Books are Dangerous!

My sister has this on her myspace page and I thought it was kind of funny.

New Great Book

Hey All--

I have a new great book that I'm raving about. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See is about two women in 19th century rural China, documenting their footbinding experience(ghastly), their marriages, and friendship. In their provice in China, women developed their own writing that they used to communicate with each other. Women, due in part to their footbinding, did not leave their homes much except on festival days. For hundreds of years, they used this special writing to communicate with each other. I love that even in such a male dominated world, women still used their creativity to be able to communicate apart from the men. It is well researched and highly accurate from what I can tell. Love it, love it, love it.

Cullen Family Tree

You know you want one….

Seriously though ladies, what is it about these books we can’t get enough of? Just a few days ago, one of our members told me she was restarting the series and now she’s hooked all over again. I’m personally plowing through every Orson Scott Card book I can get my hands on simply because he’s Stephenie Meyer’s favorite contemporary writer. Maybe its because Edward is the most perfect being ever created, fictional or not; or maybe it simply because Bella is so tragically funny and clumsy we can’t get enough of her either. I often find myself every few days pulling one of the books off the bookshelf and turning to a favorite chapter just so I can have my Twilight fix. The books are so deliciously written, it seems you can never read them too much!

For any of you needing a Twilight fix, don’t forget about Stephenie’s website. www.stepheniemeyer.com or the lexicon www.twilightlexicon.com (my favorite part of this is the character bios and the timelines)

much ado...

Ladies,

I have two O.P.L. copies of our next book if anyone would like to borrow.

-Phaedra