April 2011 Selection

Carol has chosen The Help by Kathryn Stockett as the April 2011 selection.

From the author's website:

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women--mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends--view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

The Book Snobs Gathering

The Snobs gathered at Carol's home on Monday, April 25th. We enjoyed appetizers and wine followed by a delicious white asparagus lasagna served with salad and garlic bread. Dessert was a light but very tasty pound cake with strawberries and white chocolate pudding.

Several of our usual attendees were absent, but that didn't slow down our discussion one bit. We talked about life in the South and how it has changed and not changed since the 1960s. We discussed specific characters and the impact that changing roles of women and integration had on their lives. We even discussed the most radical or unusual beauty treatments each of us has undergone in the name of beauty. I was particularly interested in the different perceptions of race among our members and we talked specifically about changes that have taken place in our own lifetimes. There was a significant difference that I perceived to be related to the differences in our ages.

I highly recommend The Help to anyone who is looking for an interesting book that is great for discussion.

March 2011 Selection

Charlene has chosen The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy as the March 2011 selection.

From the author's web site:

Yamacraw Island was haunting, nearly deserted, and beautiful. Separated from the mainland of South Carolina by a wide tidal river, it was accessible only by boat. But for the handful of families that lived on Yamacraw, America was a world away. For years these families lived proudly from the sea until waste from industry destroyed the oyster beds essential to their very existence. Already poor, they knew they would have to face an uncertain future unless, somehow, they learned a new life. But they needed someone to teach them, and their run down schoolhouse had no teacher.

The Water Is Wide is Pat Conroy’s extraordinary memoir based on his experience as the only teacher in a two-room schoolhouse, working with children the world had pretty much forgotten. It was a year that changed his life, and one that introduced a group of poor black children to a world they did not know existed.

The Book Snobs Gathering

The Snobs gathered at Charlene's home on Monday, March 28. The Snobs enjoyed wine and hors oeuvres served on the patio overlooking the canal on Padre Island. Charlene served delicious and authentic Low Country Cuisine consisting of the most delicious grits I've ever tasted served with 82 Queen BBQ Shrimp. The evening was topped off with delicious Apple Dumplings with Mountain Dew Sauce. Be sure you check out the recipes below. You won't be disappointed. I'd like to give a special shout-out and huge thank-you to Charlene's husband who served as chef for the evening.

Discussion of The Water Is Wide focused on education in general. This book spurred a great discussion primarily about education. We discussed integration and the changes in education that have been brought on by the current testing policies. Many members expressed disappointment that the vibrant and interesting characters in this book were not more fully developed. Some of us were frustrated that there was no follow-up about what happened to the children later in life. We talked about Pat Conroy's creativity in bringing the outside world to the children on Yamacraw Island and his determination and frustration in trying to take the children off the island to see the world.

While this may not have been one of our favorite books, it was an excellent book club selection and gave us plenty of fodder for interesting discussion.

Recipes from the Book Snobs

82 Queen BBQ Shrimp and Grits

Makes 6 dinner portions

LOW COUNTRY GRITS
2 cups of heavy cream
2 cups of water
¼ lb. of butter
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
1 cup of quick grits

Bring cream and water to a boil. Add butter, salt and pepper. Slowly add grits and reduce heat. Cook 20 minutes, being careful not to scorch mixture.

SOUTHERN COMFORT BBQ SAUCE
¼ lb. bacon, diced
½ cup red onion, finely diced
½ cup red bell pepper
½ cup green bell pepper
2 14-oz. bottles of Heinz ketchup
½ cup of brown sugar
3-4 Tablespoons Southern Comfort
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook Bacon until ¾ done. Add onions and peppers. Saute until done. Flame with Southern Comfort. Add remaining ingredients and season. Simmer for 10 minutes and then cool. (Can last under refrigeration several weeks.

SHRIMP
Place in Southern Comfort BBQ Sauce and simmer for one minute.

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour

APPLE DUMPLINGS

2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and quartered
1 can (8 ct) crescent rolls
½ cup of sugar
1 stick of butter
¾ tsp vanilla
1 can of Mountain Dew
Cinnamon to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cake pan.

Wrap apple quarters in crescent rolls. Put in pan. Melt butter and sugar over medium heat stirring constantly and bring to a boil. When sugar is all dissolved, remove from heat, add vanilla and pour over apples. Sprinkle top of dumplings with cinnamon. Pour Mountain Dew around dumplings and bake 25 minutes.

Serve warm with ice cream.