DC SLA Fiction Club, August Review and September Preview

by Barbara Folensbee-Moore

Everyone is coasting towards the last long weekend of the summer so we want to encourage you to read this weekend and hopefully join us on September 15th to discuss what you read. The topic for our September meeting is any book that takes place in New Orleans. There actually are books that take place there that aren't about vampires so hopefully we'll hear about some of those. The group voted on no date restriction so that makes choosing something even easier. There is plenty of time this week to swing by the public library or bookstore and pick up some fun reading for the Labor Day weekend.

Our August topic was books made into movies. We had a wide swing in books chosen and the discussion was fun. I think I have decided that seeing the movie first works the best for me - other members were on both sides of the issue.

The books/movies discussed included :

• Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan - this was one that I think everyone agreed both the book and the movie were good and definitely recommended.
• Small Island by Andrea Levy - a book that was featured on Masterpiece Theatre involving Jamaica/Britain and the era around World War II and after. The film version was seen first but the book was also recommended.
• Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman - the movie was seen first and the book read later. The story involves two sisters being raised by their aunts - both of them witches. While both were enjoyed there was a great difference between the movie and the book.
• The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Trapp - the movie Sound of Music was seen years ago (most of a generation could sing at least of few of the Julie Andrews tunes, I'm sure) but the book was read recently and there were a lot of differences in the stories. The real story of the family and their life in Austria and then in the United States made a great read, even if not fiction.
• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - the book was read first and the movie seen later. The book was much better and more involved than the movie which definitely skipped over parts that had added to the complexity of the story. Seen first, the movie would have been better received.
• The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler - both book and movie were good. The focus of the movie was much darker than the book but the mystery was conveyed much better in the book than in the movie. Both would be recommended.
• Ghost World by Daniel Clowes - a story about two teenagers who have know each other growing up and finally come to the time in life where they are going to go their separate ways. This is a graphic novel made into an Indie film and recommended both in the print and movie version.

March Librarians & Friends Fiction Book Club -- Books on Food!

In spite of the lure of celebrating St. Patrick's Day elsewhere, a good crowd showed up on March 17th, enough to fill the hour with plenty of discussion on books. The topic for the month was books with a food theme.

The books read by the group included:

• Dying for Chocolate by Diane Mott Davidson - a woman goes into the catering business in the hills of Colorado and has a mystery to solve
• Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs - an aging host of a TV cooking show must reinvent herself and her career while dealing with intergenerational family issues
• Beat til Stiff by Claire Johnson - a pastry chef comes to work early and stumbles over a dead kitchen employee tied up in a laundry bag and takes on the task of finding out who killed him
• Snack Thief by Andrea Camilleri - translated from the Italian, this is an Inspector Mollinari mystery, with a food theme concerning regional snack food
• Too Many Cooks by Rex Stout - From the Nero Wolfe series, this mystery involves food and chefs.

We also had one non-fiction holdout - Fish on Friday, by Brian Fagan, discusses the role fish has played in the lives of cultures around the world throughout history.

All the books were recommended by their readers and we also strayed off to other books that had a food theme of some sort while finishing up the discussion.

Next month, we will be reading and discussing DC-themed books concerning events from the 20th century, any time between 1900 and 1999. No excuse for having trouble with this topic - it will more than likely result in way too many options. Please join us on Wednesday, April 21st, at VNS Group, 805 15th Street, NW, right near the MacPherson metro station at 6pm. All readers are welcome! RSVP to Barbara Folensbee-Moore at bfolensbee-moore morganlewis com. More info is here.

Librarians and Friends Fiction book club March topic - fiction with a food theme - March 17 from 6-7 pm

The book club will hold its March meeting on Wednesday, March 17. The time is from 6-7pm and the location will be at VNS Group, 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 100-14. It is right near the Macpherson metro exit. Our host will be Vesselina Stoytcheva.  I have included some possible reads for you below. There are a lot of books with a food theme so it shouldn't be too hard to find something that suits your interests. Join us and tell us about what you found.

 

Scarlet Feather, Maeve Binchy,(2001)

 

Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather hope to take Dublin by storm with their new catering company but not everyone shares their enthusiasm. Cathy's mother-in-law disapproves of her new hobby, while Cathy's husband buries himself in his legal work. Tom's ambitious girlfriend struggles with her career and Tom's family expects him to follow in his father's footsteps.

 

Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments, With Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies, Laura Esquivel, (1992)

 

The classic love story takes place on the De la Garza ranch, as the tyrannical owner, Mama Elena, chops onions at the kitchen table in her final days of pregnancy. While still in her mother's womb, her daughter weeps so violently she causes an early labor and is born amidst the spices and fixings for noodle soup. This early encounter with food soon becomes a way of life and the child, Tita, grows up to be a master chef. She shares special points of her favorite preparations with listeners throughout the story.

 

Beat Until Stiff, Claire Johnson, (2002)

 

Cranky Mary Ryan has sunk a lot of time and talent into the in-vogue American Fare, the town's hottest spot, while grieving over her broken marriage. At work very early one morning, she steps on a laundry bag stuffed with the dead body of one of her employees. The investigation soon exposes all the dirty secrets that the food business would like to keep secret.

 

Death Dines In, (2004)

 

This collection of stories that mix crime and cuisine features 16 acclaimed mystery authors who serve up suspenseful tales with all-new recipes. Includes works by Carol Nelson Douglas, Lyn Hamilton, Claudia Bishop, Donna Andrews, Rhys Bowen and others. Each story comes with its own recipe

 

 

As always, a list of books that were read on our most recent topic - librarians in fiction - is below.

 

• Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstein - involves the New York public library in the story. 
• The Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris - involves a public librarian who in the first book is a member of a club that discusses well-known murders and ends up with one of their own. 
• Mobile Library Mysteries by Ian Sansom 
• Dewey Decimal System of Love by Josephine Carr 
• The Rover by Mel Odom - first in a series of books that are fashioned on a Tolkien style world where books are threatened and librarians have adventures rescuing and conserving the books 
• Catalogue of Death by Jo Dereske - mystery where the detective is a librarian in Bellehaven, Wa. 
• The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett -one of a series of books - the librarian is an orangutan.

 

 

 

Barbara Folensbee-Moore. Director of Library Services, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004
Direct: 202.739.5131
Main: 202.739.3000
Fax: 202.739.3001