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Heads Up, Bookworms…

10/14/2010 in Events, Highlands, What we're Doing, What we're Reading by Lindsay | 1 comment

Attention!  We have a famous author in town…

Nick Hornby

After a long hiatus, the Ballroom Book Bash returns to the Highland Inn’s Ballroom Lounge on Monday, October 18 @ 7:00 p.m., when the well known British author Nick Hornby will be on hand to celebrate the paperback release of his latest novel, Juliet, Naked, which was published in hardcover late last year.  Hornby will discuss his work and sign copies, and afterward the party will kick into high gear with a performance by the local band Can Can, known for their Judaism-inflected brand of punk-metal.

Hornby is of course well known for his best-selling books High Fidelity, About a Boy, Fever Pitch and others, several of which were turned into successful films.

(A little known LR factoid - H.F. is the book that got me into reading for fun.)

(one of my fav. movies)

Garnering the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Hornby has also made quite a name for himself in the music world with Songbook (2003), a collection of essays on his favorite songs.

Songbook (31 Songs - U.K.)

Additionally, Hornby is involved in a much-talked-about new collaborative album of  ”musical short stories” with Ben Folds, Lonely Avenue.

The Ballroom Book Bash at the Highland Inn kicked off three years ago with an appearance by Irvine Welsh, the author of the cult classic Trainspotting.  It has also featured current and former Atlanta provocateurs:  Karen Abbott, Jack Pendarvis and N. Frank Daniels.  Following the appearance by Hornby, the series continues on Monday, October 25 @ 7:00 p.m., with a night devoted to Daniel Pinchbeck, the author of the 2006 New York Times bestseller 2012, whose new book, Notes From the Edge Times, is set to be released in mid-October. 

Tickets for the Hornby event may be purchased online or at A Capella Books: 484 Moreland Avenue, 404-681-5128.  They are $15 each and include a copy of Juliet, Naked.

Purchase tickets here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/131516

Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge
644 N. Highland Ave. NE
Atlanta, GA 30306

And, LK + I will see you there, bookworms!  :)

Ladies Who Lit

Watch out, book club (LWL), Juliet, Naked is next on our list!

xx, L

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When I dip, you dip, WE dip!

06/14/2010 in Appetizers, Chelsea Handler, Entertaining, Parties, What we're Doing, What we're Reading by Lauren | 3 comments

Confession: I am a book club slacker. We’re on our 4th installment and I haven’t read a single sentence of the book.  I mean, I read The Glass Castle (loved it) and of course I read Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

Duh

…but I must admit, I have not even cracked our current assignment, The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

As one of my favorite authors, Augusten Burroughs says, “I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.”

Luckily, my book club ladies’ love is unconditional and they didn’t appear to judge me one bit when I managed not to read a single sentence of last month’s book, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, even though I hosted the club at my condo.

Luckier still, the group is comprised of some pretty spectacular chefs! So while the girls were discussing Steig, I found myself face first in all their delicious offerings.

The Club and The Carnage

There wasn’t a bad dish on my coffee table that night, so I BEGGED the girls to send me their recipes ASAP so I could share them with you now…almost a whole month later. (please refer to the Burroughs quote above.)

Anyway, better late than never!

Buffalo Chicken Dip a la Jen DiLorenzo
1. Mix: One pound chicken (cooked and shredded) and one bottle of your favorite wing sauce and layer in your oven-safe serving dish (like a Pyrex)
2. Mix: one small bottle of Ranch dressing and two blocks of cream cheese
NOTE: It mixes best if you warm the cream cheese in the microwave (be careful not to overheat!)
3.  Layer cream cheese/ranch mixture over chicken mixture
4.  Cover with shredded cheese (Jen likes Monterrey Jack).
5.  Bake at 350 until cheese is melted…and serve!

Avocado and Serrano Salsa a la Ellen Terchila
Ingredients:
1/2 Cucumber, diced
2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
1 red onion, diced
2 Serrano chilies, finely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Juice of 1/2 Lime

In a large bowl, combine the first 4 ingredients.  Toss well.  Gently stir in the salt, pepper, and lime juice (take care not to let avocado get mushy!)
Serve immediately or cover and put in fridge for up to 1 day.  Return to room temp before serving.

BONUS: Ellen notes,  “I learned that this also makes a fabulous “day after” sandwich by toasting two pieces of whole grain bread, scooping on a delicious helping of the salsa, and a slice of Havarti cheese…just saying.” (You are so adorable, E)

Last but not least…

Spicy Corn + Cheese Dip a la Shanon Perry

Ingredients:
1 bar of cream cheese
1 4-5 oz package of goat cheese (S likes to get the kind that has the seasoning in it, but get what you like)
4 cups of sharp white cheddar cheese
2 regular sized cans of white corn kernels (drained)
5 fresh jalapenos – remove the ribs and the seeds, then dice into small pieces (you can obviously adjust this to your own palette)
3-4 scallions – finely chopped
S says that the following ingredients are estimates…she just likes to add and taste as she goes and suggests you do the same.
2 tsp of garlic salt
2 tsp of fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp of Mexican Chili Powder

Add cheeses and corn to an oven/microwave proof bowl. Warm in the microwave for about 2 minutes to soften the cheeses.  Stir in remaining ingredients, but keep aside enough cheddar to sprinkle over the top of the mixture.  Once you’ve sprinkled the rest of the cheddar over the top of the mixture, then put the bowl back in the microwave for about 5 minutes until the cheese is melted on top and the mixture is heated through – OR – you can place the bowl in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or so.

Serve each of these with your favorite chip…pita chips or Fritos scoops have been tried and were proven to be a success!

I can’t tell you which was my favorite…they were ALL delicious! It’s always good to have a good go-to dip, so next time you have to bring an app or a side, try one of these!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta dip! (couldn’t resist.)

xx, L

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Summer Reading

05/27/2010 in What we're Reading by Lindsay | 5 comments

As previously mentioned, I just finished reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo for book club.  It was incredibly loooooonggggg and detailed, but I really enjoyed it.  I want to see the Swedish movie, but I feel like something might get lost in translation with the English subtitles.  Lucky for me, it looks like they are remaking it in the U.S. with none other than Mr. Brad Pitt:  http://alturl.com/am7t  Now that’s exciting!

For June, book club decided to move on to The Help.  I just got it in the mail today, and it is kind of a beast – but I’m really looking forward to reading it.  I’ve heard it’s a bit like the Million Little Pieces of 2010.  (Not in the storyline, of course, but the fact that everyone is reading it poolside.)

Here’s the Q+DD on The Help:

The Help is a 2009 novel by American author, Kathryn Stockett.  It is about African American maids working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s.  The novel is told from the perspective of three characters: Aibileen, a middle aged African American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny, an African American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family’s struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Skeeter, a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared.  These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around “the help;” yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.  The novel is Stockett’s debut.  It took her five years to complete the book, which was rejected by at least 45 literary agents.  The Help has since been published in 35 countries and in three languages.  (www.wikipedia.com)

Simultaneously, I’m reading Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Jhumpa Lahiri’s, latest book, Unaccustomed Earth.  She is my one of my favorite authors, and I’m absolutely tearing through UE!  If you liked Interpreter of Maladies, you will love UE.

Here’s the Q+DD on Unaccustomed Earth:

After Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Unaccustomed Earth is her second collection of short stories.  Much like her other books, Unaccustomed Earth is also a reflection of life with two separate cultures, and how people cope with one and the other.  It made number one on the New York Times Book Review list of “10 Best Books of 2008″ as chosen by the paper’s editors. (www.wikipedia.com)

She’s so pretty, too…

you are brilliant.

AND, without further adieu, here’s a picture of our adorable book club:

nerds

Happy reading!  :)

xx, L

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Driving w/ Dead People

04/21/2010 in What we're Reading by Lindsay | 16 comments

I would definitely consider myself to be an avid reader, but since the beginning of Twenty Ten I’ve been absolutely devouring books.  I love how it feels to read the very last page of a book, and I’m a little bit of a book hoarder, I must admit, as I consider each one that I finish to be an important mini-accomplishment.  Like little trophies overflowing my bookshelf… 

Lately, I’ve been reading memoirs - all of which have focused on childhood trauma, dysfunctional families and serious personal struggles.  I think these stories are of particular interest to me as I had the good fortune of growing up in a relatively uneventful, suburban North Dallas neighborhood with a pretty functional family.  By comparison, my childhood was boring, but these books make me realize how truly lucky I am. 

A girl in my book club caught wind of my memoir kick and recommended that I read Driving with Dead People.  I finished it in three days flat – which is very fast for me.  If you are into memoirs or enjoy books that aren’t rainbows, butterflies and sunshine, I suggest you check out this one.

Here’s the Q+DD on Driving with Dead People:

Small wonder that, at nine years old, Monica Holloway develops a fascination with the local funeral home.  With a father who drives his Ford pickup with a Kodak movie camera sitting shotgun just in case he sees an accident, and whose home movies feature more footage of disasters than of his children, Monica is primed to become a morbid child.

Yet in spite of her father’s bouts of violence and abuse, her mother’s selfishness and prim denial, and her siblings’ personal battles and betrayals, Monica never succumbs to despair.  Instead, she forges her own way, thriving at school and becoming fast friends with Julie Kilner, whose father is the town mortician.

She and Julie preferred the casket showroom to the parks and grassy backyards in her hometown of Elk Grove, Ohio, where they would take turns lying in their favorite coffins.  In time, Monica and Julie get a job driving the company hearse to pick up bodies at the airport, yet even Monica’s growing independence can’t protect her from her parents’ irresponsibility, and from the feeling that she simply does not deserve to be safe.  Little does she know, as she finally strikes out on her own, that her parents’ biggest betrayal has yet to be revealed.

Throughout this remarkable memoir of her dysfunctional, eccentric, and wholly unforgettable family, Monica Holloway’s prose shines with humor, clear-eyed grace, and an uncommon sense of resilience.  Driving with Dead People is an extraordinary tale with a wonderfully observant and resourceful heroine – a story all the more astonishing for being true.

It was very heavy, but it’s a pretty incredible story – and a fast read. 

Lauren + I are starting this one now… 

It’s over 500 pages, so hopefully that will keep me busy through my trip to Puerto Rico next week!

xx, L

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In Defense of Puffy Eyes

02/24/2010 in What we're Reading by Lindsay | 7 comments

I have puffy eyes today and I’d like to address them.  There is no need to assume the worst (the demise of  Big Red) or that I’m sick.  You do not need to ask if I am tired or if I forgot to wear make-up.  I am and I happen to be wearing it – thank you very much.

After dinner club@ Cari’s last night, which was predictably delicious, I stayed up really, really late to finish my book club’s book of the month, The Glass Castle.

I just couldn’t put it down; I absolutely had to finish it – regardless of how astonishingly late I had to stay up to do it…

Here’s the Q+DD on The Glass Castle:

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation.  Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children.  In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains.  Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly.  Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn’t stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an “excitement addict.”  Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever.

Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town — and the family — Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape.  He drank.  He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days.  As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents’ betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.

What is so amazing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity.  Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.

For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots.  Now she tells her own story.  A regular contributor to MSNBC.com, she lives in New York and Long Island and is married to the writer John Taylor.  (www.barnesandnoble.com)

The Glass Castle stayed on the New York Times Best Seller list for 100 weeks and is now under development as a film by Paramount.   By late 2007, The Glass Castle had sold over 1.5 million copies, had been translated into 16 languages, and received the Christopher Award, the American Library Association’s Alex Award (2006) and the Books for Better Living Award.  (www.wikipedia.com)

Water for Elephants still holds down my 2010 #1 spot, but TGC is a very close runner-up.  (WfE really had me pondering what the zebra running around downtown Atlanta last week must have been thinking…)

The Glass Castle is under 300 pages,a selling point for some, and it’s a story that is definitely worth reading.  In fact, it’s really hard to believe that it’s someone’s memoir.  I encourage you all to put it on your book list ASAP!

Good luck finishing it soon, LK!  Book club will be here before you know it…  :)

xx, L

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