Lisa really liked
Lady Vernon and her Daughter: a Novel of Jane Austen's Lady Susan by Jane Rubino & Caitlen Rubino-Bradway; I'm not always a fan of Oprah's book picks, but I do want to read her most recent selection- a short story collection by Nigerian Uwem Adpan,
Say You're One of Them. Just finished Dan Brown's
The Lost Symbol. Not one of my favorites, that's for sure. (Don't want to say too much right now and spoil it for all those out there still plugging through this one. We'll talk later.) Duck's Cottage Reading Group is reading Abraham Verghese's
My Own Country: A Doctor's Story. (I loved his novel
Cutting for Stone.) Verghese was practicing medicine in Johnson City, TN, in the late eighties and, because of his specialty in Infectious Diseases (ID), becomes the local AIDS expert when the disease explodes in this rural American town. Last month we read Nicole Mones'
The Last Chinese Chef, a great foodie book and very informative about the Chinese culture's relationship with food but not too much meat for discussion. Just out in paperback, popular with book clubs and selling quite well-
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. Another recent paper release- Sarah Vowell's
The Wordy Shipmates. Next up on my list- Audrey Niffenegger's
Her Fearful Symmetry. Yep, this is
The Time Traveler's Wife author and according to every single review of Symmetry it ranks right up there with TTW. Read
Catching Fire (the second book in
Suzanne Collin's Hunger Games YA trilogy) in about two days on our Montreal trip.. she always leaves me wanting more! Charlie and I finally talked Sarah into reading book one,
The Hunger Games and she is hooked too.. she also liked a little book we picked up called the
Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not So Fabulous Life by Rachel Renee Russell.. a sort of hybrid graphic novel (ala
Diary of a Wimpy Kid) but the whole story line of fitting in (or not) is perfect for readers just entering middle school. Another book I recently picked off the Young Adult shelves was Neil Gaiman's
The Graveyard Book. I thought it was a fascinating story about a boy who is orphaned but finds a home among the ghosts in a nearby cemetery. A cookbook I'm enjoying right now is
Mexican Everyday by Top Chef Master winner Rick Bayless. So far everything I've made has been great- Rice pilaf, salmon with creamy spinach and poblano pepper sauce- and not too hard! See for yourself at...
the Third Annual Duck Jazz Festival was wonderful! the weather held out, the bands were terrific- headliner Kim Waters came the whole way from California to play some sax in Duck- and more people than ever had a really great time enjoying this terrific event.. other bands included Connected, Joe Mapp & The Coordinates, Jackie Scott & the Housewreckers and Joe Baione.. lots of restaurants are starting to shutter for the winter- always remember to call before you show up somewhere expecting dinner... in case I forgot all summer to get this plug in, our new favorite pizza place is Pizza Stop in Southern Shores. Great hand-tossed crust, a lot of 'by the slice' options- and an easy phone number to remember- 261-STOP ...the buzz has started about next month's Wags & Whiskers Gala, a fund-raiser being held on November 20 at the Roanoke Island Aquarium... this fun evening includes food, music, live and silent auctions and will benefit Dare/Currituck non-profits (like Feline Hope and SPCA) that help our four legged friends... tickets available at Outer Barks (Scarborough Lane)... Sarah and I finally saw Julie & Julia.. it was great- a terrific adaptation of My Life in France and, I guess, Julie Powell's book... I could've used more Meryl Streep, Sarah wanted more Amy Adams.. didn't take them long: so retail outlets of a certain size in Dare County can no longer use 'single use' plastic bags.. leave it to them to find the loophole and start using 'reusable' plastic bags that are only slightly thicker.. isn't a plastic bag a plastic bag? Please REFUSE these if offered to you and ask for paper or, better yet, bring your own bags... for the record, the ORIGINAL Nutty Duck and the ORIGINAL Coconut Crunch coffee can only be found at one, and only one, Duck coffee shop and that's Duck's Cottage.. don't be fooled by recent knock-offs elsewhere (tho' they do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery).. two last minute shout-outs HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALLEN on the 18th!!! (yikes! that's tomorrow! we (heart) you bossman!)... and Happy Halloween on the 31st! 
The September selection for Jamie's Book Club was Benny & Shrimp, a slim little paperback by Katarina Mazetti. Mazetti is a Swedish author, previously nominated for the French Prix Cevennes and Benny & Shrimp is her first adult novel.
