Small Group

Would anyone be interested in meeting in a small group in the South Hills for reading and spiritual study--maybe two or three times a year?  This would not be a replacement for the book club, but rather an off-shoot, like in a garden.  One of the book club members mentioned this idea, reading a book that is grounded in some spiritual subject--similar to the reading that was chosen when the evening book club first started.

Please write a comment if you would like to form a small group.

New Books for 2010-2011

There is no Frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away,

Nor any Coursers like a Page

Of prancing Poetry.

~ Emily Dickinson ~

The summer storm was hours away, and the sky was covered with clouds like big brushstrokes across the Pittsburgh skyline.  What a nice view for our latest book club meeting, outside at Station Square.  We got the full Pittsburgh treatment, including long trains hurtling past.

The service was so slow that we had plenty of time to talk about books for the upcoming season.

Here are the choices and the Tuesday dates:

September 7, 2010
The Help, Kathryn Stockett

November 2 (Election Day)
Choose one to read and we will share:
Keeping the Sabbath Holy, Marva Dawn
or
An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor

January 11, 2011
Two books by Alice Waters (This will be our cooking and eating meeting!)
Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook
or
In the Green Kitchen

March 1, 2011
Strength in What Remains, Tracy Kidder

May 3, 2011
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot

The books include our theological choice, a novel, cookbooks, and two non-fiction stories.  Sounds like an interesting year.  As always, the best part is each other.

Summer Meeting to plan our New Season of Reading...

EVENING BOOK CLUB SUMMER MEETING
TUESDAY, JULY 20
6:00 p.m.
Bar Louie, Station Square.

Most of you thought the outdoor dining at Station Square was a good idea, so to keep it convenient for most we will meet at Bar Louie in Station Square.

Bring your book ideas and calendars…it was also suggested that the book clubs participate in the Rally Day festivities, with a booth of our own, so we can talk about that…

Hopefully it will be a nice sunny, but temperate evening.

Book Suggestions from Diane

Here are Diane's book suggestions for our new season of reading:


Fiction:

Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott
As the Ferguson parents struggle with various -iholisms of their own -- alcohol, work, career -- they must suddenly cope with those of their high school senior daughter.

Non-Fiction:

Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth
What are you hungry for? Hint: It's not food. In fact, it's everything but food. This provocative new book reveals the self-defeating truth about dieting, while lighting the path to a full and healthy life.


In the Green Kitchen, by Alice Waters
In the Green Kitchen is about getting back to the basics, using simple local, organic, and seasonal ingredients to make food that’s easy to create and delicious to eat. The book kicks off with the most basic technique — Washing lettuce (sans paper towels!) — and moves on to everything from making bread, blanching greens, pickling veggies, and roasting a chicken.


Thank you, Diane for these ideas!

LADIES:
Remember we will meet in the summer just for "food and fellowship" let us know your ideas for where and when!!!

Last meeting until September - keep posting

Hi All,

Our last book club meeting of the "semester" is this
Tuesday, May 4.

Please be sure to be on the lookout for book ideas for the new season of Evening Book Club, that starts in September. 

Post your ideas as you get them!! and let's keep the dialogue going...

Here is my book idea...one of my favorite authors, starting back when I lived in Baltimore, Anne Tyler. I've read everyone of her books. Her latest is "Noah's Compass" .You might get addicted to her...

ABOUT THIS BOOK

From the incomparable Anne Tyler, a wise, gently humorous, and deeply compassionate novel about a schoolteacher, who has been forced to retire at sixty-one, coming to terms with the final phase of his life.

Liam Pennywell, who set out to be a philosopher and ended up teaching fifth grade, never much liked the job at that run-down private school, so early retirement doesn’t bother him. But he is troubled by his inability to remember anything about the first night that he moved into his new, spare, and efficient condominium on the outskirts of Baltimore. All he knows when he wakes up the next day in the hospital is that his head is sore and bandaged.

His effort to recover the moments of his life that have been stolen from him leads him on an unexpected detour. What he needs is someone who can do the remembering for him. What he gets is—well, something quite different.

We all know a Liam. In fact, there may be a little of Liam in each of us. Which is why Anne Tyler’s lovely novel resonates so deeply.

Wendell Berry

The subject of the last two Sunday School classes has been "Does God Care What We Eat?" and Father Hall has done, I believe, an exceptional job of introducing us to the interconnectedness of food production, community and the Bible. 

My brain is idling too fast because due to state budget cuts my library is not open on Sunday and they have numerous books by Wendell Berry in there.  I want to break in and get one!  I'll have to wait 'til Monday when I plan to check out one of his novels.  I want to read the essays, too.

I'll keep you posted, but I strongly suggest that we read something by Wendell Berry as a future book selection.  Bea spoke at the class this morning and made an important point about not politicizing the subject. 

P. S. How can we get a conversation going on this blog?  Any suggestions?

Marianne

Food

The adult Sunday School class this morning was about "Does God Care What We Eat?" led by Father/Dr. Hall.  Now I want to read the book  by Michael Pollan about the "Natural History of Four Meals" (The Omnivore's Dilemma).  Maybe most book club members have read it.

Anyway, I offer it as a suggested selection for future reading.

Marianne