Some Background
Ellie's 1997 letter to an interested reporter
Dear Stephanie,
I'm so excited that you want to do an article on our book club. My husband, Hal started the book club in 1993. He initially invited mainly people that he worked with but he also invited an old high school friend of mine. When we first started, we were the only married couple and also the only ones with a kid so we always met at our house (so we didn't have to get a babysitter.) Over the years things have changed so that now almost everyone is married and all the new spouses belong and there's now 5 kids between us [ed. note: 10 kids now (5/2000)]. At each meeting we pick the next book, the date of the next meeting and pick the host for the next meeting. Right before the meeting the host will send out e-mail stating the theme. The host will make the entree and everyone else either picks or is assigned a dish keeping with the theme. We always laugh that we spend more time picking the book and the date than actually discussing the book.
Initially we did not pick the theme in keeping with the book but recently we have been doing that and its been quite fun. My favorite was when we read The Fifth Business by Robertson Davies and we had to bring foods with a filling or a secret ingredient. I made spanikopitas. Four out of the eleven of us are vegetarians so often the meals are vegetarian. Six out of the 11 of us profess to be good cooks. Eight out of the eleven of us work with computers, one person is an engineer, one is a magazine editor and one person is a doctor.
Tom is a web maniac and about a year ago he made up our web site. He and his wife Mallary set up and maintain the site and the links. Another member, Kirsten had been collecting and keeping a record of all our meetings, meals and hosts so they could be entered into the web site. Mallary, Mary, and June are the most well read and often are up to date on the New York Times Book Review so they are the ones that most often suggest the next book. Kevin and Bob rarely speak at the meetings but if they do its almost always a great comment. Mary always comments on any scenes with a sexual innuendo. We have a rule that if you haven't read the book you can't come to the dinner. Beth rarely reads the whole book but always comes anyway. Tony has slept through several dinners but he makes a wicked antipasto so he's always forgiven.
Elizabeth
Our Next Book
The Cave
by Jose Saramago
Meeting Information
Date: October 2, 2010
Host: Mary & Kevin
Food Theme:
TBD
