A collection of book reviews, suggested reading, and an ongoing chronicle of meeting minutes from a lively group of Austin-area women who meet monthly and discuss a chosen book, belly laugh endlessly, eat, drink, get a little crazy, and laugh some more.

Enjoy reading!

Friday, August 13, 2010

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson

The subtitle of this message is, "How Stephanie Gaines Missed the Opportunity of a Lifetime by No-Showing."  That's right.  Because Stephanie was a no-show, she didn't get to meet Chrissy, who made a surprise appearance specifically to set her up with Chrissy's friend, Scot.  Yes, they were also married once and yes, they have two children together, but they are still friends and all Chrissy wants is for him to be happy.  And that's all we wanted for Stephanie, too.  But noooooo. She'd prefer to continue her "relationship" with a fella who expects her to go native and let her kitty cat spread out like a 70's porn star.  Whatever blows your skirt up, Stephanie. 
Topics you missed if you weren't at the July meeting:
Kitten shortage in central Texas - you can adopt kittens for free right now.  Suzy is NOT ALLOWED to adopt any kittens. 
We determined some people like to use big, meaningless words to make themselves bigger and better.  For example, "heretoforewithin."  The word means abso-freaking-lutely NOTHING and yet it's used in attorney circles occasionally and also by some people who have really tiny penises.  However, for some reason, Farrah LOVES this word and has asked that we get on a rotating schedule so that each of us is sending the word to her in a text message every single day for the rest of her life.  I'm working on getting that schedule put together, Farrah.
Brazilian waxes - specifically, how can these be incorporated into book club... it was discussed that maybe we could do a waxing assembly line.  There was also discussion about which way is better:  butt-spread kind, or doggy-style kind.  Not really sure what the consensus on that was, but we were all in agreement that whichever position you choose, it's awkward no matter what to show all your goods to someone else, especially after giving birth because things aren't in their original locations and don't necessarily look as perky as they once did.
Let it be known that Stacy does not do anal.  Anal glands, that is.  (This is good stuff, people.)  Did you know that you could have your dog's anal glands removed??  WHO KNEW??  Apparently they aren't really necessary and yet they can be completely gross, so why WOULDN'T you have them removed?
Then there was the 45-minute "discussion" (I think "argument" is more accurate) about Kate & Ali, the teen twin stars from the mid-80's hit TV show, "Double Trouble."  Not really sure where the reference first started, but Chrissy insisted there were twins in the 80's named Kate and Ali and nobody agreed.  There was cell phone-web surfing happening throughout the room while people tried to prove their memory was better than everyone else's.  Chrissy took top prize when she found the proof that these girls definitely did exist.  
Other stuff you missed was delicious taco salad, if I do say so myself, (although it gave Mia techni-colored diarrhea... anyone else have that problem?  Oopsy-poopsy!), bucket of margaritas from Farrah, and yummy chocolate-chip-cookie-crust-pudding-cream-cheese-pie thing from Anissa that made my freaking day.  Sunday wasn't able to cook anything because all of her fingers were cut off a few days before our meeting.  She did show up with a bottle of wine between her bloody stumps, though.  Thank you, Sunday!
We talked about Lisa's fabulous haircut and color, Cara's attempt to track down a knock-off purse guy, her 2nd-day shampoo secret, Ana's case about a man who popped his wife's breast implant, Leighton's impending move to Waco to be a trophy wife (albeit a Waco trophy), and even managed to fit in a discussion about the book, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. 
The consensus on the book, The Girl with the Dragon Tatto, was that it was slow to start, then picked up dramatically.  Everyone who read it seemed to like it a lot.  Most of those who have read the other books in his series reported that the second book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is not as good as the first, but that the third book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest, is the best of the three.  I am about 20 pages from finishing the second book and I completely disagree that it isn't as good as the first.  I think it is far better and have found myself thinking about it all during the day, wondering what will happen in the chapters I'll be reading that night.  I can't wait to read the third book, but I don't know when that will happen, since we have a big, thick book to read for next month's meeting.
We did some research on the author, Steig Larsson, who died fairly young of a heart attack but there's been lots of skepticism about whether that's what really killed him. 
 Chrissy has decided to join book club for a few months - AND she's hosting our September meeting (we decided August is way too busy to try to get together).  Besides, her book choice is very thick, so we'll need as much time as possible to get it read before we meet.  Next month's book is How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, by Jenna Jameson.  Our meeting will be at Chrissy's house around the middle of September.  I think we should wear pumps and glitter and Marilyn should bring boas from the dance studio so we can be porn-star-like!!!  
Have a great month and we'll see you next month! 
Kristan

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, by Chelsea Handler

Hi ladies, 
Thank you, Farrah, for hosting book club again - the book was Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang and we all seemed to have enjoyed the book (except Sunday who didn't even read it.)  We did discuss the book for a bit and we all decided that while Chelsea is witty and dry and quite hilarious, she probably would not be a very good friend.  She'd always be looking to sell you out if you did anything embarassing; and if you didn't, she'd probably just make something up.  While I think it's pretty funny that she says stuff like, "that puppy was a complete dick," Lisa pointed out that it was a bit much that she'd call babies assholes.  That was pretty much the concensus...  Still, she's a hoot and the book had everyone laughing out loud at one point or another. 
Farrah served delicious Greek salad that had me burping cucumber for the next 48 hours.  Good thing it was so yummy, because that gift certainly kept on giving!  We also had hummus and crackers, a veggie tray with the tiniest, sweetest carrots I've ever had the pleasure of laying upon my tongue.  Anissa brought a bucket o' margaritas and some amaretto - if you've never had amaretto margaritas, you are missing out!  They are the perfect blend of tart and sweet and they go down like golden heaven.  Mmmmmm....  just thinking about them makes me want one, even though it's only 10am on a Sunday morning.  I think in the spirit of Chelsea Handler, I might have to make that happen.  We finished off the evening with absolutely DELICIOUS lemon bars.  I really hope nobody noticed me stuffing extras in my purse.  Awkward!
Anyhoo...other topics of discussion were: a mini-battle of who would host next (Sunday or me.... Sunday won); how skanky all our toes were and how we all should go get pedi's asap; how, for some bizarre reason, I always seem to forget about Anissa, who has become one of my sweetest friends.... but she lives the wrong direction on Bordeaux; Shana's engagement (congratulations, Shana!  We've been missing you at book club!); and Sunday's favorite swimsuit, which is completely see-through in the rear-end, and she's ok with that. 
Ana and Mia gave us some hilarious stories from their childhood, a crowd favorite being the one where Ana told their parents how Mia was chatting online with her friends after curfew, earning Mia a THREE MONTH grounding.  And lastly, and probably most importantly, how Farrah really should always keep her hair ratted and wear a girdle. It's only proper and people will surely not think her mother raised her right if she doesn't start doing these things immediately.
Here are some books I've come across that look really good to me, so I thought I'd share - if you have any recommended reads or books that are on your wish list, let us know.  I'm always looking for book ideas and I know you ladies probably are, too. 

The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin
Open by Andre Agassi
Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson
Spoken from the Heart by Laura Bush

Happy reading, friends!

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