North Carolina Literary Festival

Coming up the weekend of September 12th is the North Carolina Literary Festival, being held at UNC. I really enjoyed it when it was last held in 2006, at Duke. I believe a group of us went to listen to Barbara Kingsolver. I think it would be fun to do something similar this year. There are several evening keynotes, including John Grisham, but most of the authors will be speaking throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday. One of my favorite sessions at the 2006 festival was a conversation between Allan Garganus and Ann Patchett. Garganus is speaking several times at this year's festival so he's definitely on my list of must-see authors. Take a look at the schedule and let me know if you'd be interested in making this a group outing.

Eat, Pray, Love: The Sequel

Another memoir from Elizabeth Gilbert is coming out in January. Titled Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, it's a follow up to the previous book, exploring her marriage to "Felipe," the man she met her "Love" chapters.

What do you think? Was Eat, Pray, Love enough? Or are you ready for more Gilbert?

First the Food is on Twitter!

We have recently started tweeting. I think it is a good way to share and keep track of news/public debate on items of personal interest. We will mostly tweet links to interesting literary or book club related articles. Perhaps a few on women's relationships and on politics! Or local NC/RTP area goings on. Please follow us if you're interested in these topics. And let me know: what would you like to see us tweet about? What do you think you would use it for, if at all?

The Lace Reader: Final Results

didn't like it - 1

it was OK - 5

liked it - 2

8 votes total.

Yay, we had a lot of people voting this time!

Monica Ali

Has anyone read anything by the author Monica Ali? The New York Times recently reviewed her latest book. Brick Lane and her new book, In the Kitchen, both sound really good. And In the Kitchen seems like it would have a nice culinary theme for a book club meeting.

Where's Spike?

You may have seen this week's cover of EW, with the 20 best vampires of all time.

The list includes Lestat, several different versions of Dracula, Edward Cullen, Bill, Angel, and Keifer Sutherland from The Lost Boys! But I was dismayed to find that you-know-who did not make the list. This is so wrong. It is obvious that Spike is the best vampire ever! Angel whines, Edward pines, Lestat attempts suicide. But Spike is the only vampire who ever has come to the realization that he is evil, and then gone out and done something about it. He's the only one who fought Hell demons to get his soul back, and won. And then, he became a hero. Sure, Spike was the comic relief and Buffy's man stud for a while. But he saw his flaws and tried to make himself a better man, much like another favorite hero of mine.

It's a shame that Spike only made EW's list of hottest vampires. But at least he got something.

The Girls from Ames has a local connection

I'm becoming more and more intrigued by this book, especially as many of my friendships are now in their second decade, along with this book club. It turns out one of the Girls lives here in NC and is a cancer survivor- http://unclineberger.org/news/2009/release0730/

Two Questions

With which to start a book club meeting, per Book Group Buzz:

“If you particularly enjoyed this book, what did it offer that you found most satisfying?” or “If the book disappointed you, how would you define its most glaring weakness?

I like the idea about asking what was the most satisfying aspect of a book. Or the least satisfying.

The Monsters of Templeton: Final Results

didn't like it - 0

it was OK - 1

liked it - 1

really liked it - 0

it was amazing - 0

didn't finish it

2 votes total