Multi-Generation Book Clubs

…for women and their daughters, granddaughters, nieces, friends & neighbors.

Rule # 1—There are no rules.

We encourage each of you to form a Chic-Lit and Chocolate Multi-Generational Book Discussion Group. Set it up to suit yourselves. Keep it small enough to encourage free exchange of opinions of life and literature. Agree to discuss a book that everyone has read or take turns reviewing a book for the group, or read and discuss your own writings. And take turns bringing something chocolate for sustenance, mental clarity and sheer bliss.

The point is to have conversations about life and literature, and about what you think, with girls and women older and younger than you. Get together in someone’s house or a library or a bookstore, to discuss a book. Schedule the meetings to fit in the lives of the members. Once a month during the school year, works well for most book groups. You might want to take turns doing a review or critique for the group. Or, maybe you’ll find the personality of your group is more suited to informal discussion. Either way, it works best if someone leads the discussion.

Email me your suggestions for books to add to our list of favorite books, or comment on the books I have suggested. We will list the first name and town of those who recommend a book, and may add brief commentary. And if you come up with a creative new chocolate recipe, send me that, too.

Below is the first recipe I remember making all by myself. There are many other great chocolate recipes in my book Eat (More) Chocolate–Lose Weight (Anyway): The Chocoholic’s Survival Guide and Practical Handbook. I’ll try to put a different recipe in this space every month or so—or maybe annually.

image (c) Kirby Wright

Chic-Lit and Chocolate Book Suggestions

This is a short list of books I have loved reading and discussing with a group of women. Some are appropriate for all ages. Many are appropriate for more mature readers. I have purposely left the list short and encourage all Chici-Lit & Chocolate members to make their own recommendations, or comment on the recommendations I have made.

Best Girl Group Discussion Books
Non-Fiction:

“Athena’s Disguises” by Susan Ford Wiltshire
“The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion
“Reading Lolita In Tehran” by Azar Nafisi
“Bathsheba’s Breast: Women, Cancer & History” by James S. Olson
“Father Joe” by Tony Hendra
“Small Wonder” by Barbara Kingsolver
“Operating Instructions” by Anne Lamott
“A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” by Dave Eggers

Fiction:

“The Saga of Baby Divine” by Bette Middler
“The Secret life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd
“The Life of PI” by Yann Martel
“The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls
“The Longings of Women” by Marge Piercy
“The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant
“Galileo’s Daughter” by Dava Sobel
“Inez of My Soul” by Isabel Allende
“Daughter of Fortune” by Isabel Allende
“A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole
“The Flamenco Academy” by Sara Bird

Books for Foodies – Nutrition, Culinary Memoirs & Fiction

“My Life In France” by Julia Child with her nephew, Alex Prudehomme
“Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver
“The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan
“The True History of Chocolate” by Coe &Coe
“The Emperors of Chocolate” by Joel Glenn Brenner
“Tender At The Bone” by Ruth Reichle
“Kitchen Confidential” by Anthony Bourdain
“Eat Cake” by Jeanne Ray

Historical, Voyages and Discovery

“Undaunted Courage” by Steven Ambrose
“Brutal Journey” by Paul Schrivner
“Mayflower” by Nathaniel Philbrick
“Panther In The Sky” and other books by James A. Thom
“1776” by David McCullough
“1066” by David Howarth
“Wings of Madness: Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight” by Paul Hoffman
“Blue Highways”, “Waterhorse” by William Least Heat Moon
“Touching The Void” by Joe Simpson
“The First Man In Rome” and the rest of Colleen McCullough’s series on Rome

Books for Aspiring Writers

Two things you must do to be a writer:
1. Write something everyday.
2. Read a variety of very good authors. So, other than the first book on this list, which is hilarious, as well as instructional, the list consists of some authors who are consistently fine writers. There are many writing manuals to tell you how to write; reference books to check punctuation, grammar and style. Reading these authors gives the reader a feel for beautiful writing; the well turned phrase, evocative prose. It will also afford some perspective on how much modern writers owe to those who preceded them. In reading “War and Peace”, you will recognize plot twists and devices that show up in TV sitcoms, movies and modern literature.

“Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott
“War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy
“Remembrance of Things Past-Swann's Way” by Marcel Proust
“Pride and Prejudice” and everything else by Jane Austen
“Huckleberry Finn” and everything else by Mark Twain
“The Poisenwood Bible” and anything else by Barbara Kingsolver
“The Bluest Eye” and anything else by Toni Morrison
The Amelia Peabody Series by Elizabeth Peters

On Books and Collecting Books

If you have a serious book habit, these two books will give you insight, in a cautionary tale sort of way, and will show the way to collecting successfully and maintaining your sanity.

“A Gentle Madness” by Nicholas A. Basbanes
“Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen” by Larry McMurtry

My First Brownies *** (Modified many times over the past 45 years, or so.)

Serves 16 Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly oil an 8” square pan.

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa butter shortening*
¾ cup unbleached flour
½ cup white sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Combine chocolate and shortening in a medium bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of very hot, but not boiling water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is completely melted.

Remove the bowl from the pan of hot water and quickly beat in sugars, eggs and vanilla.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and walnuts together and stir into chocolate mixture, just until combined.

Spread the batter evenly in the pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, just until brownie begins to pull away from the edges of the pan.

Allow it to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting

Calories (per brownie) 168, fat 9 grams, protein 2 grams, carbohydrates 20 grams. *The original recipe called for shortening, I changed it to butter in my teens. Cocoa butter shortening makes it yummy and better for you.