Tuesday, October 8, 2013

I Joined a Book Club. HELP!!



I've finally joined my first book club. Yippee! Sadly, I haven't been terribly consistent in my attendance but I'm working on it.  I'm having great fun though.

This coming month, I'm hosting the book club meeting and I need some help...lots of it!

I know.  I know.  I'm always asking for help and you might be muttering "Why doesn't she figure something out on her own for a change?!"  I should.  I know.  But I really would appreciate the help.  Here's what I need though:

First, I need recommendations for good book club reads or books you think would lead to both fun and great discussion.  I need to recommend 4 or 5 to the group to vote on.

AND

Secondly, I need help implementing a pasta bar.  Eek!  In our book club the host provides the main dish and everyone brings something along to go with it.  I want to do a pasta bar.  I just want to.  So how do you guys think I should go about it?  Should I provide 3 different types of pasta and 3 sauces?  Or should I provide the pasta, a few toppings, and one sauce?  Or do I do something else.  All ideas would be appreciated.
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10 comments:

  1. How exciting! My recommendation is any book with a twist - something unexpected, so y'all can discuss whether or not you saw it coming. Exs. Gone Girl or Before I Go to Sleep, S.J. Watson. If you want non-fiction that reads like fiction - try The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness & Obsession, David Grann.

    And a pasta bar sounds fantastic.

    Tanya Patrice
    Girlxoxo.com

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  2. For books we had great discussions for Gone Girl, The Painted Girls, and A Place at the Table.

    I love the pasta bar. I would say at least two different sauces so you cover both marinara and cream. Also you could do a sauce with meat or have two different meat options as. Another thing to consider is do you have anyone who has a gluten or a lactose intolerance, vegetarian or vegan, or other dietary needs that you need to accommodate for?

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  3. A pasta bar sounds like a great idea, it gives people a large variety of choices and it should be easy to do what Lisa said and have options that will suit guests with certain dietary needs ^_^. Here is a link for a Pasta Party recipe over at the Pioneer Woman. She has 3 pastas, 3 sauces and 7 toppings that I am sure you can pick and switch out to your liking.

    As for book recommendations I would suggest books that are maybe something with a mystery or like others have suggested a twist - The Demon Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan, White Cat by Holly Black or maybe something on your to-read list that you haven't given a try because it's outside your comfort zone (I always prefer to read those kinds of books with a group, it makes it easier to get through like Josie and Jack by Kelly Braffet [definitely a book more gritty then what I would choose to read but something I appreciated reading and it definitely inspired discussion]), or you could also choose a book that's going to be movie - The Book Thief by Mark Zusak, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, Divergent by Veronica Roth.

    I hope this helps ^_^

    Sandy

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  4. FUN! I'm itching to start a book club.

    I don't know anything about pasta bars but you should check Pinterest. That's my go to place for party ideas. :)

    Check these out: http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=pasta%20bar%20party

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  5. Oh no pressure then! ;) We provide nibbles (light snacks) and drinks but not meals. This is my second book group that I have set up, I left the first group as it became too big and more of a social event than a book group, (books got little discussion maybe 10 minutes out of 2 hours). This group is more serious in that we get good discussion but we have a laugh and a chat too. I hosted last time and checked out the latest bestsellers and offered a mix of those and some from the libraries reading groups list.

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  6. This sounds like so much fun ! I've never done a pasta bar, but I think like a linguine and penne pasta and then different sauces would be good.

    As for books, I know the book club in this area usually puts something on their Google group and then members can vote. If it were me, I think I'd pick a book from either the National Book Award or Printz awards. That way you know it will be good and you can talk about why it was nominated for an award.

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  7. Oh man, sounds like fun! I love the idea of a pasta bar, but you could also just do two choices instead of three… I would say two kinds of pasta and two kinds of sauces like a meat&tomato sauce plus something meatless like pesto.

    Books are a little tricky because there are just so many to choose from! Recently, I read and loved Z (the story of Zelda Fitzgerlad) by Therese Fowler and The Paris Wife by Paula McLean; Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott; The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling; and The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings. These all make for good discussion, I think.

    Good Luck and keep us posted with how it all goes :)

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  8. Congrats on joining a book club ! I've been meaning to but have never found the time.

    I'd suggest The Night Circus, Daughter of Smoke and Bone or The Shining !

    As for a pasta bar I'd suggest Cajun pasta, it is so good since it's a nice twist on alfredo ! I also second Srcibing Shadow for recing Pioneer Woman. She never disappointing.

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  9. Pasta bar is a great idea! What about an angel hair with pesto and veggies.

    Books I think are great The Kitchen House, Gone Girl is always our book club favorite conversation. It was a July book of the month and we are still talking about that book and what about The Fault in Our Stars.

    Have fun!!

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  10. Wow!! I think that a Pasta Bar is a great Idea! And is easy to prepare before hand, sauces particularly, they get better when you heat them up.

    As for books, I don't know if your book club has like a theme or something, but I recommend Catherine McKenzie's books Arranged and Forgotten, they are a little bit chick-lit ish, a little bit women's fiction and a little bit romantic. Arranged is about a girl who gets into an arranged marriage because she doesn't believe she'll find true love; and Forgotten about a woman who comes back to her life after six months where everyone thought she was dead, but that's just like the hook, the book is about much more :D

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