Where's my Book?

Don't get me wrong, I love a deal. I have often ordered and happily received a book from Amazon that's in good, even great condition. Granted it does take a whole lot longer to hold the book in my hands than downloading it on my Kindle, or running down to my local book store. Buying a book on Amazon is usually a whole lot cheaper, and because I procrastinate, my book club buddy has surely run down to the local library to get the only copy on hand of the next book we are reading.


So I was feeling great that I got our new book club selection for $2.00 (plus shipping, of course). I was also feeling kindly in that I pick a vendor that was new and felt good helping someone out towards making their first book sale. But I'm still waiting for my book :/ Amazon had to contact me to tell me - Hey, where's your book? Do you think you might want to e-mail the seller and ask them? Well, not really- I just want to order my book on my phone while I'm waiting in the truck for my husband to pick up some more paint for the house, and several or more days later open my mail box and get all happy that I have a new book to read!


Well, I did e-mail the seller and no response to date. Yes, I'll get my money back and be a little more careful about picking a seller, even if I have to pay a few bucks more. Our book club meets on April 21st, so I'm pretty sure I'm adding a new selection to my Kindle very soon.


By the way, the book club selection is "The Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai. Here's a  2006 New York Times review of the book by Pankaj Mishra http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/books/review/12mishra.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Great gift for the 90 year old socially conscious guy that has everything

My 90 year old uncle hardly gets out these days -  but when he can - you can find him and my Aunt on Fridays nights at a busy corner of our town, holding protest signs against the wars in Afganistan and before that Iran. Our family runs the gamit from extremely conservative to extremely liberal, so driving past them is either inspirational to some or frustrating to others.

I heard everyone was getting him a gift card for his birthday (they don't have much room in their house for much). Considering his socially conscious leanings, I decided to go with a Llama, well not exactly a Llama - a contribution to http://www.heifer.org/ . I think he will apreciate that I made a donation in his name so that  a family will receive a llama and be taught how to raise it and earn funds to help support themselves.

Book club eats from IKEA

Book club met - great meeting - good food

IKEA is the place to go for food that fits with a Swedish theme - love those meatballs!

Not sure if there was a consensus about the book we read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Vintage). Some loved it and are now reading the second novel The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage). I have to admit I am now only just finishing the book myself :(  but would recommend it. Some thought it was too violent, but hey we can't close our eyes to something that women experience all over the world. It was a great who done it.

Gardening book over load!

                                 

 

                                  

Today I received two books by Gayla Trail - You Grow Girl and Grow Great Grub in the mail (a belated Mother's Day gift) . I barely started to look through them when my "Tia" (she is actually my husband's Aunt) came by to give me a two volume set of Success with House Plants. She got it at a yard sale for two dollars! It's so cool,  I learned on http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/book/msg0310340925932.html that what she bought was probable published from 1985-1993. By monthly subscription, cards /pages were issued to be placed in the binders. They are printed with pictures and description of plants and their care. We found that some cards are missing, but the person who owned the binders must have been pretty diligent about collecting their plant cards.  We could have sat for hours browsing through the cards, but we headed out doors so that I could show her the latest additions to my vegetable garden. In one day I collected quite a bit of info to help me in my quest to be a successful gardener.

God's Mountain - Read it

Babysitting this weekend, won't have time for much. Started The Girl with Dragon Tattoo last night. A Brown Eyed member text me yesterday that she finished the book. It's not like me to wait until the last minute to read the book club selection, but I have been running into books, that after I start a few pages I keep reading until I'm done.

 I read  God's Mountain  by Erri De Luca over the last few days, but I would have like to have read it in one sitting if I had the time. I checked Amazon to see if it's available in Italian and would have liked to buy it for my friend who has learned to speak Italian over the past few years, but the Italian copies I found must be first editions because they were way too expensive for me. Translated I found it so well written, I feel certain it becomes even more eloquent read in it's original Italian. A coming of age tale I would highly recommend to anyone.

So you want to know about the Book Club

So Nilki, you want to know how our book club works...well not like other book clubs I have heard or read about (they appear to be a lot more organized , but maybe not as much fun). A friend of mine who lives 300 miles away and has attended a few meeting over the years has told me she wishes she was close enough to attend regularly. So that says something about our little club! We do meet every 6 weeks or so, we focus on fiction, and food is mandatory. Beyond that, there isn't too much structure try as we may. But I do think the the following applies ( to date):

1. We have known each other for many years, some as far back as kindergarten.

2. We only have Latina women members with brown eyes, though we have never formally indicated it should be limited as such (regarding eye color, sex, or ethnic origin).

3. Members take turns hosting the meeting at their home, though not everyone does (and that's O.K.  they have their reasons).

4. The eats are potluck and the food is often connected to the book being discussed, though this isn't mandatory....any and all food is appreciated.

5. The host usually supplies the beverages and an appetizer - cleaning up is work enough!

6. Each year around Christmas time we meet at a location where we can have tea ( Huntington Library, The Biltmore Hotel, Trump International, Chado tea, Vintage leaf and others) and exchange small gifts.

7. One member selects a book we will read and discuss. We have been working on how to best do this for years, but I think (hope) we have it down now.  Alphabetically, each member chooses a book we will read at the next meeting. The books we read are fiction, and though we do often read popular or best selling novels, each person can select the book they wish to read. We have had our discussion/arguments about length, and content, etc. but if you pick it, we should read it is my motto. For the last selection a member offered up three books she would like to read, and the rest of us voted on which of the three we would ultimately  read - The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

8. How we discuss our books is another area of contention - as we come hungry - we meet around the dinner hour and chowing down takes precedence above all else. The problem is that we talk and eat, and eat and talk and laugh, talk and eat ..... you get the picture ( it can be loud and not usually an evening you will find my husband at home when it's my turn to host). Before you know it were full of food as well as drink (usually wine) and several hours have passed.

When we finally get to talking about the book, it may not be as involved and as detailed as it should. At the last meeting, I made sure to say that dessert would be served after the discussion, so we started a little sooner and had a lengthier and more interesting discussion.

Most discussion leaders use questions from the authors website if available, and we go from there. The friend that I mentioned previously, told me that she had tried to join several book clubs in her area that were more on the formal side and super cerebral, and not exactly to her liking. Well, not to say that we don't have our moments of literary enlightenment, but no one would feel intimidated by our book discussions or with our company...or at least I don't think they would.

So there you go, The Brown Eyed Girl's Book Club established in December 2002 and still  reading and meeting!

 I myself would be interested in hearing about how other Book Clubs came to be and if they have just as much trouble balancing the social and literary portions of their meetings as we do.

Art in San Pedro Ca.

I'm really hoping that I'll be back in shape by the weekend as I still plan to visit as many Art studios in San Pedro that I can on Sunday May 16, 2010. 50 Artist will open the doors to their studios located at Angels Gate Cultural Center. There will be free workshops, performances, demonstrations and munchies as well. There is a lot going on at Angel's Gate all year long and worth checking out, especially this weekend.

 The open Studio event will take place in conjunction with a San Pedro Studio Tour. Artist with Studios located from 3rd Street to 15th Street will also open their doors to the public. It's a big day for Art in Pedro. For more info and a map go to  http://www.angelsgateart.org/blog/.

Having enjoyed visiting quite a few Studios this past Thursday night in San Pedro, I'm feeling ready for more. On the First Thursday of each month, many of the same Artists that will open their doors this Sunday do the same.  In addition to the studios and galleries that are already there, businesses on 6th and 7th street participate by lending space to artists to show their work, and others provide music and special activities. Things get started at 6:00 p.m., and we were lucky to find parking when we arrived 30 minutes later. If you live any where near the Port of Los Angeles, save the first Thursday in June to get a taste of Pedro and the Art it offers.