My Secret Santa Came to Town!

Well, I must have been an awfully good girl this year because Santa came a little early and brought lots of goodies!

A few days ago, my Secret Santa was revealed -- it was Kim from Page After Page. Ironically enough, guess whose Secret Santa I was? She sent loads of wonderful gifts including a Borders Gift Card, a snowflake ornament, a Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark bar, and an adorable metal bookmark.

A huge thanks to Kim for sending such wonderful (and thoughtful) gifts!

Review: My Life in France

Summary: Julia Child single handedly awakened America to the pleasures of good cooking with her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her television show The French Chef, but as she reveals in this bestselling memoir, she didn't know the first thing about cooking when she landed in France. Indeed, when she first arrived in 1948 with her husband, Paul, she spoke no French and knew nothing about the country itself. But as she dove into French culture, buying food at local markets and taking classes at the Cordon Bleu, her life changed forever. Julia's unforgettable story unfolds with the spirit so key to her success as as a cook and teacher and writer, brilliantly capturing one of the most endearing American personalities of the last fifty years. -- Anchor

My book club decided to read MY LIFE IN FRANCE by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme for our December meeting. You can read more about our discussion here. I was thrilled when the book was chosen because I had already read JULIE & JULIA and I had even seen the movie (and I never see movies) with two members of our group. I absolutely adored the movie, and I especially enjoyed the Julia Child/Meryl Streep parts. It was a natural extension that I wanted to learn more about the woman -- Julia Child.

I vaguely remember seeing Julia Child on television when I was a young girl, but I don't remember much beyond her very distinctive voice. While many households owned copies of Julia Child's cookbooks, ours was not one of them! I really knew little, if anything, about her before picking up JULIE AND JULIA. But once I saw the movie, I was definitely charmed by her vibrant, larger-than-life personality.

This book was such a treat to read! I loved it each and every page! I found the book to be very interesting, and I even liked seeing how the movie portrayed Julia versus how she appeared to me in the book. This book really had to so much to offer the senses -- from the food and wine details to the descriptions of France. In addition, it also touched my heart because it gave some insight into the relationship between Julia and her husband Paul.

I really can sum up this book by calling it a love story! But it was a love story on so many levels. Not only did Julia realize that she "belonged" in France and she really did appreciate almost everything about the country, but she also discovered that cooking and writing cookbooks was what she was destined to do. In addition, she found her true love in her husband Paul. They had a very special relationship built on mutual respect! How very fortunate Julia was to get to live out her passions each and every day.

I have to admit that I was much more interested in getting to know Julia Child that I was with all of the French recipes. I felt the same way when I read Julie and Julia! I just don't think I have "an appreciation" of French food. Most of the meat recipes sounded absolutely disgusting to me; however, the dessert and bread recipes sounded wonderful! I guess that tells you what I like to eat.

I wasn't sure how MY LIFE IN FRANCE would translate into a book club discussion, but it did. I'm not going to say that it was our best, most thought-provoking meeting of the year; however, I think we were all excited by the book and did manage to talk about the book (and the recipes) for quite awhile. There is no doubt that we all enjoyed the book, and I actually think we caught some of Julia's joie de vivre! The publisher doesn't have a reading guide, but we did find some questions here.

I'm not entirely sure you can tell how much I enjoyed this book! Needless to say, I highly recommend MY LIFE IN FRANCE! It would make a wonderful gift too!

Book Club Exchange - Gerbera Daisy Mom

Welcome to another installment of Book Club Exchange, a not-so-new feature on Booking Mama which highlights anything and everything book club-related! I am so glad that Daisy Mom/Melissa Mc. from the wonderful blog Gerbera Daisy Diaries is stopping by today to share some of her own book club's rules! Our book club doesn't have anything official, but I admit that there are times when I wish we had something like this before we got started.

Book Club Rules for The Big Love Book Group

I was asked by a friend recently how we started our book group -- I’m sure there is an official book group handbook out there somewhere (it probably has Oprah’s seal on the front)…but here are my rules (and I made them up as I went along):

1. Ask a lot of like minded friends to join. I sent postcards to nearly everyone in my women’s church group. Only 10 women came to our first meeting. You must have devoted readers, or people will drop out, or won’t read the book, or they will only come because there are refreshments. Which isn’t a bad thing necessarily, but for those who are there to discuss a book, secondary chatter is forbidden and non-participants eaten.

2. You need to decide at the beginning WHAT you want to read: Adult fiction/non-fiction/YA literature/Christian fiction. My group is an adult fiction/non-fiction group – they are very vocally opposed to anything that varies from those choices. It's easier as a group to start out all "on the same page" than to hear people complain about what you are or are not reading (been there, done that). If your members aren’t in agreement – they need to “go rogue” and start a separate group.

3. Pick something readily available and has multiple copies at the library, so people don't feel obligated to buy the book (we're in a recession folks!). The more people that have access to the book, the more successful the discussion. I absolutely hate the excuse, "I didn't read because I couldn't find a copy.” Our library has book group “kits.” They come with 10 copies of the book and discussion questions. They are extremely helpful.

4. We don't pick books that are only available in hardback -- again, the cost issue and access issue. The Help won't be on our "to-read" list anytime soon, because there are 50+ holds on it at our library system and only available in hardback. The only time we've made an exception to this rule was when we picked The DaVinci Code, and for some reason, enough people had copies, there were plenty to pass around.

5. This is not necessary, but I'm the unofficial book group leader -- so I assign months for every member to discuss a book. It eliminates the blank stares that plagued us when we first started, and the question, "whaddya want to read?" Fortunately, we have enough members that we each usually pick one book a year. Then we all volunteer to host once a month. For those of us with small children it's more difficult to host, but I try to host during the summer months when school/bedtimes aren't an issue.

6. Pick a night and stick to it. We always meet on the 3rd Thursday. Regardless if we have 2 members or 12. And we only meet 11 months out of the year. We take December OFF because of the holidays and reconvene in January. We try to pick a longer book to read during that time. Our greatest accomplishment was reading Gone With the Wind 5 years ago.

7. This rule is also optional, but we try to pick a book that someone has read before, so we don't have any surprise objectionable material. We have a fairly conservative group of women, so some graphic content (violence or sexual) is not welcome (although, I read just about anything in a binding).

8. Pick a snazzy name: We are The Big Love Book Group – don’t ask me why, but I promise, there isn’t a sister-wife among us.

9. Have LOTS of yummy refreshments! Because, really, it’s all about the food!

******

Gerbera Daisy Mom/Melissa Mc. is a mother of 3; wife of 1; daughter, sister, friend, aunt; lover of football, politics, food, travel, walking, theatre and all things literary. She’s without talent in most normal activities – she doesn’t paint, sew, craft, scrapbook or quilt. She can be found in front of the TV during every March Madness college basketball tournament and on every Saturday during college football season. Her youngest was born with a congenital heart defect and had open heart surgery at 5 weeks. She knows more about Children’s Hospitals than she ever wanted too. And when she grows up, she wants to be the first female commissioner of the NFL.

A huge thanks to Melissa Mc. for stopping by today and sharing some very helpful book club rules! If you are interested in participating in a future Book Club Exchange, please contact me at bookingmama(at)gmail(dot)com.

Review: Omaha Steaks & Giveaway

I just recently tried Omaha Steaks Filet Mignons, and I have to say that I am impressed! My husband and I are pretty picky eaters and we are definitely choosy about our filet mignons. In fact, we really eat filet mignons when we want beef (we're not real fond of other types of steaks); and we even use filet when we fondue! I know, I know....

Omaha Steaks are a terrific idea for gifts this time of year, especially for the hard-to-buy-for person. There is a huge variety of products available, and I liked that the website was broken down into types of meat as well as a Gift Center. It definitely makes shopping easy. I recently signed up for their email notifications, and I am amazed by some of the Deals of the Day that they have offered in just the past week or so!

My parents have been buying gifts from Omaha Steaks for years, and they have always been very happy with the customer service and quality of the meats. My grandparents are usually the recipients of these gifts, and I can assure you that they absolutely love everything from the steaks down to the hot dogs!

I am so thrilled to announce that Omaha Steaks wants to giveaway a $50 gift certificate to one lucky tweeter as part of a holiday contest!!! That's right -- a $50 gift certificate! To enter you have to have an account with Twitter. (If you are not already a member, you can sign up here.)

Here's how it works:

1) You must follow @Omaha_steaks on twitter
2) Tweet the contest details using the hashtag #OmahaHoliday -- for example: Enter the @bookingmama giveaway for $50 Omaha Steaks Gift Certificate. Contest ends 12/22/09. #OmahaHoliday - http://tinyurl.com/yzugmut
3) Leave a comment with a valid e-mail address telling me that you completed steps 1 and 2

This contest will be open until December 22, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. ET; and I will notify the winner the following day. U.S. and Canadian addresses only so the products will be fresh; however, Omaha Steaks only ships overnight within the U.S. In addition, there are some products that can't be shipped to Canada because of trade restrictions. Good luck!

A huge thanks to Omaha Steaks for providing my family with a box of Omaha Steaks Filet Mignons.

Wondrous Words Wednesday -- December 16, 2009

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Kathy aka Bermuda Onion where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. Feel free to join in the fun.

MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS: A MEMOIR OF GOING HOME by Rhoda Janzen

coloratura - There was also a new release by my cousin's daughter Starla, who had carved out for herself a career in opera, but who had recently begun rendering perfervid coloratura show tunes a la Ethel Merman. (p. 45)

coloratura: runs, trills, and other florid decorations in vocal music.

THE CHRISTMAS PEARL by Dorothea Benton Frank

truculent - Bless their hearts, they are a truculent bunch. (p.6)

truculent: fierce; cruel; savagely brutal.

What new words did you discover this week?

Review: The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein

Summary: Lotus Lowenstein's life is merde. She dreams of moving to Paris and becoming an existentialist. Yet here she is trapped in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with a New-Agey mom, an out-of-work dad, and a chess champion brother who dreams of being a rock star. Merci à Dieu for Lotus’s best friend, Joni, who loves French culture enough to cofound their high school’s first French Club with Lotus. At the first meeting, the cutest boy in the world walks in. His name is Sean, and he too loves French culture and worships Jean-Paul Sartre.

At first, Lotus thinks Sean is the best thing to happen to her in years. He’s smart, cultured, and adorable. Unfortunately, though, Joni feels the same way. And having an existentialist view of love, Sean sees nothing wrong with enjoying both girls’ affections. Things come to a head when all three depart for Montreal with their teacher, Ms. G, on the French Club’s first official field trip. Will Sean choose Joni over Lotus? And will Lotus and Joni’s friendship ever recover? -- Delacorte Press

I am always a sucker for a cute chick lit book whether it be Middle Grade, Tween, Young Adult, or even grown-up fiction. So I am very excited to tell you about a new YA book that I just finished called THE PILLOW BOOK OF LOTUS LOWENSTEIN by Libby Schmais. This book was positively adorable, and I found myself laughing a lot while I read it!

I think one of the main reasons that THE PILLOW BOOK OF LOTUS LOWENSTEIN was so special was because of Lotus. She was just a terrific character. In so many ways, Lotus is just a typical teenager (and believe me, that didn't always endear her to me!) She was at times self-centered and sarcastic; but by the end of the book, I absolutely loved her!

I really appreciated how the author chose to tell this story. The book was written through Lotus' diary entries; and while this presentation isn't exactly original anymore, I thought it was executed perfectly in this novel. The diary entries allow the reader to get to know (and love) Lotus; and I thought her witty remarks and insights into life were hilarious!

I mentioned earlier that Lotus was a typical teenager in quite a few ways, but she was also much more than that. Lotus loved all things France and actually wanted to move there and live as an Existentialist! I'm not sure I even understood all of that when I was a teenager, but Lotus is in many ways wise beyond her years. Unfortunately for Lotus, the closest she can come to France is visiting Montreal on a school trip with her best friend, love interest and teacher! It was when Lotus went to Montreal that I found myself really warming up to her character.

Even though Lotus could be a little difficult at times, my heart went out to her. Her parents weren't always the most attentive and supportive ones, and she exhibited many of the "normal" teen behavior such as angst, insecurity with boys, and best-friend trouble. What I loved the most about Lotus is that eventually she did make the right decisions for the right reasons. I liked that her character matured and evolved throughout the course of the novel. In some ways, I thought the book was a mix between a chick lit and coming-of-age novel.

I highly recommend THE PILLOW BOOK OF LOTUS LOWENSTEIN if you are looking for a cute and entertaining book! I can only imagine how much young teen girls are going to love Lotus and her witty insights!

Check out the book trailer. I think it definitely captures the essence of this very cute novel:

Lotus Lowenstein's My-Life-Is-Merde-but-Have a Bonnes-Fêtes-Anyway Blog Tourapalooza

Today’s French Word du Jour is poutine (which means "French Fries with Gravy"). If you collect all the French words du jour on the Blog Tourapalooza, you can enter a contest to win fabulous prizes (a $25 Sephora gift card and a personally autographed Pillow Book!). Once you’ve visited all the blog tour stops and collected all the words, email the complete list of words to lotuslowenstein@gmail.com with the subject line “French Word du Jour Contest.” All e-mail entries must be received by midnight (EST) on December 21, 2009. The winner will be selected at random on December 22, 2009. Be sure to include your name, e-mail address, and daytime phone number with your entry (If you're under age 13, give your parent's contact info). The complete My-Life-Is-Merde-but-Have-a-Bonnes-Fêtes-Anyway Blog Tourapalooza schedule can be found at lotuslowenstein.com. Our next tour stop is Shelf Elf on December 16. See you on the road, mes amis!

Thanks to Blue Slip Media for sending me a review copy of this book.

Bag Ladies Tea Novel Teas & Another Giveaway!

A few days ago, I reviewed a wonderful gift idea called Novel Teas! I was fortunate enough to receive some samples from Bag Ladies Tea, and I decided to pass along a small box of tea to one lucky reader.

Well, I'm thrilled to announce that the folks at Bag Ladies Tea heard about my little giveaway and have now offered up a 25 count box of Novel Teas. That means that I will now be giving away one 5 count box and one 25 count box of Novel Teas to two very lucky readers!

Now here's the tricky part: To enter this giveaway, you must go to this post and follow the directions there. I will not accept any entries on this post! Good luck!