Our Reading Group really enjoyed
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. One or two of us (myself included) found the letter format annoying but enjoyed the overall story nonetheless. I got some great new ideas for running book clubs from the readinggroupguides.com blog and tried a few of them at our meeting. They really helped keep the discussion going. Now we are reading Ken McAlpine's
Islands Apart which has become very difficult to get (publisher out of stock for some reason). Read
Push, the novel by Sapphire which the movie Precious is based upon. Wow.. really shocking but definitely worth reading. Prepare yourself for unimaginable levels of sexual abuse and neglect not to mention the smack in your face ignorance and illiteracy.
Movies coming in February include Dear John, another Nicholas Sparks' based pic; The Lightning Thief (hooRAY!!), and Dennis LeHane's Shutter Island. With the impending March release of Alice in Wonderland, Alice and Lewis Carroll have been popular subjects. One offering is Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin, a work of historical fiction focusing on the girl and woman who was Alice Liddell Hargreaves.
A lot of great books just out in paperback include Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone (Loved it!), The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (very popular in hardback), The Lost City of Z by David Grann (a new Duck's Cottage Reading Group selection) and The Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (can't wait to read it). Have been dabbling with Orangutan, a memoir by Colin Broderick, during lunches. Basically, he's Irish, he's a raging alcoholic because, well, he's Irish, and he thinks he should be a writer instead of a construction worker in NYC. Well, this jury's still out on the writer thing.
The Cottage Reading Group just picked our next six books- we'll start the list in March. Our new selections are Bloodroot (Amy Greene), The Lost City of Z (David Grann), Mary Todd Lincoln (Jean Baker), The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Jamie Ford), Saving CeeCee Honeycutt (Beth Hoffman) and The Glass Room (Simon Mawer).
The latest 'One to Watch' on bookreporter.com is The Postmistress by Sarah Blake, a book that questions what secrets should be kept and what price is bourne by the keeper. This features a Cape Cod setting and takes place just as the US enters WWII. Large parts of the novel also take place in London during the blitz, and Europe as thousands of Jews desperately try to escape the wrath of Hitler. A haunting book coming out on February 9th.
Something coming out the beginning of next month that I really liked is Bone Fire by Mark Spragg. Really, lovely story set on and around a Wyoming ranch. If I had to say what it is about I would say relationships. And whether its because of the mid-western setting or the wide range of ages of his characters, these gentle, people focused relationships seem almost of another age. Look for it March 9th.
This book came out in August but I can't remember if I mentioned it then or not... The Wet Nurse's Tale by Erica Eisdorfer was a terrific historical fiction read. Eisdorfer, a North Carolina writer, tells the story of Susan Rose, a professional wet nurse in Victorian England. I liked this book very much and highly recommend it for all you book groups out there!
That's about all the book news thats new... this is the season of dearth in the publishing world but the good news is... springs a-coming!
On a final note, leave it to Apple to right a wrong. Ebooks for Apple's upcoming Ipad will carry a much fairer pricing strategy than what Amazon's been doing with their Kindle. Ebook readers will finally be choosing between the format they want to read- electronic versus traditional print- versus selecting the technoversion simply because it is cheaper. And that just might help us little independent bookstores stay alive. For more about the impact of non-agency model book pricing, check out this October article...
According to many local business signs, Friday, February 12 will see lots of doors reopening! ..not sure if that's just for the holiday weekend or the duration of the Winter, time will tell... friend Janet let me tag along to the monthly meeting of a relatively new OBX group called Green Drinks.. so cool! everyone is welcome but having a green mindset is definitely a prerequisite.. the meeting featured a fantastic presentation about shade-grown coffee.. this month's speaker will be talking about converting cars from gas to used vegetable oil (french fry burners!).. thanks to OB Brewing Station for providing a place to meet... don't forget Thursday nights off-season means TAPAS at Chilli Peppers.. mmm-mmm-good... this month is the annual Frank Stick Art Show at Glenn Eure's Ghost Fleet Gallery.. a wonderful show featuring so many talented artists, both local and beyond.. worth catching.. have been using one of my favorite Christmas presents- a small bag of (limited edition) Outer Banks Sea Salt.. will definitely be buying more from the next harvest.. a fond farewell to Betsy.. Betsy has been at Duck's Cottage for four years and is the tall, raven haired barrista with the fierce tattoos.. she and hubby Steve are headed to California to work on a new venture centered on a cool Xtreme Sports card game they created.. we know all our loyal customers will join us in sincere best wishes for their success... and last but not least, big news from another Duck's Cottage employee- Deanna Near married Marc Murray on New Year's Day in Asheville, NC! Congratulations!
Towards the end of December I was asked to review a book for bookreporter.com. I really liked the book (mentioned it here in the January reading recommendations) and finished up the review proclaiming it a great book to start the New Year with. A few weeks later I was trying to decide what to send out to Jamie's Book Club members for the January selection. My thoughts came back to this book again and again and I finally decided that if I thought it was good enough to tell all of Book Reporter's readers to start the new year off with it, then it definitely fit the bill for my own readers!
We headed up to Snowshoe, WV, last month for a ski weekend. Had never been there before but figured that from the OBX you have to drive at least eight hours to get anywhere with some white stuff so we steered the course for Staunton, VA and hit the road. Not a bad drive- I always like the drive west from Richmond... the last two hours can get a little bit long, especially if you're stuck behind a convoy of church vans, which we were.. most of the resort is perched on top of the mountain which makes for really easy access to the slopes and the fun! I hadn't been on skis for a few years and Chris is still learning so we spent quite a bit of time at Silver Creek where the runs are a bit wider and gentler but shorter. The shuttle service between the two ski areas is great and beats loading everything up in the car and driving back and forth. We stayed in a Mountain Lodge condo (see link below) that couldn't have worked out better. Location was awesome, a very short walk to slopes, had everything we needed including linens and towels! We enjoyed ending our day in the Split Rock outdoor hot tubs (kids liked the outdoor heated pool).. we had great meals at Auntie Pasta's (and laughed our butts off at the Comedy Cellar next door) and Taste of Asia. Charlie and his buds really dug Red Rover Wine Dive and Doggery (they were there for the dogs, y'all, they're only 15!!).. we hit Ember late one night (our friends Jackie & Bill rave about this place) and got to sample their tangerine cotton candy... yum! There's a few other casual eateries in the Village- a very cool space that connects a lot of the condo buildings and also features ski shops and other services. I grew up skiing in PA and VT and this place is now TOPS on my list! All in all, a first class operation, a beautiful place to ski and a spot to put on your list! Here's the link to the VRBO condo that we stayed in...
