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Sunday, May 23, 2004
Local Group Offers Reading, Eating in 'The Book Club Cookbook'
By David Steinberg
Journal Staff Writer
Middle age does have its joys. For 12 Albuquerque guys, it's reading and talking monthly about the assigned book they've read.
This particular gang of 12 is the Last Thursday Book Club.
"One book a month," said Tom Genoni, who hosted the April 29 discussion on Dashiell Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon."
The meeting host gave advance notice on the book to be read.
Genoni chose "The Maltese Falcon" because he likes to occasionally read classics. When he does, Genoni consults a Random House Modern Library list from which to pick them. The novel is No. 56 on the list, he said.
"It's a quick, easy read and it's set in San Francisco. I'm from the Bay Area," Genoni said.
The April meeting opened with a relaxed, informative chat about Hammett's life and about the famous movie that was based on the mystery.
For the 10 years the club has been meeting monthly, it's operated in relative anonymity.
Anonymous no more. The club is now a minor literary celebrity: Its name is inside a thick, new publication, "The Book Club Cookbook, Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors."
It's a compilation of recipes and discussion ideas for 100 popular book club selections. The recipes may come from authors or from book clubs themselves. Some clubs do serve tasty treats.
Page 129 of "The Book Club Cookbook" has Last Thursday's book choice— "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" by Alfred Lansing. "Endurance" is about the heroic survival of a group of explorers trying to cross Antarctica 90 years ago.
The recipe that follows is for Sweet and Hearty Oatmeal Biscuits; the biscuits were given to the 1912 Amundsen-led expedition to the South Pole.
Jack Ferrell, who recently moved to New Mexico from "back East," said in an e-mail that the club gave him "a jump start on meeting new people who shared my love of reading."
He eagerly anticipates the monthly sessions. "It is always a learning experience for me to read books I might not have otherwise read and then hear how the other members interpret and rate them," he said.
Last Thursday's May meeting is open to the public. It will be Thursday, May 27, at Page One.
Club members will autograph copies of the cookbook and the public can quiz members about the club.
But the bulk of the time at the store will have club members discussing Simon Winchester's "The Map That Changed the World," the choice of May host Rob Bousek. This is the club's regular monthly meeting.
"We don't really plan to cook anything ourselves (we seldom do!) but Ron Bousek plans to bring snacks and some dessert, and Page One is planning to provide little cups of strawberries and whipped cream in our honor," Last Thursday member Mike Blackledge wrote in an e-mail.
The April meeting, held at the Genoni home, was special if only for the homemade desserts. Tom Genoni's wife, Sheila, created two for the clubbers— Royal Meringue, made with fresh strawberries, and Praline Ice Cream Roll, made with a touch of Kahlua.
Space doesn't permit running the full recipes here, but I'd be happy to share them via e-mail. (dsteinberg@abqjournal.com)
Last Thursday has its own Web site, which is http://mike.blackledge.com/LTBC_home.htm
The site has all the books the club has read over the years in order of quality. That's based on the averaged numerical votes of members. The list is reorganized at the end of each calendar year to integrate the current 12 selections.
"The Book Club Cookbook"
By Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp
Tarcher/Penguin, $15.95, 509 pp.
-- Members of the Last Thursday Book Club sign "The Book Club Cookbook" and hold the club's regular meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 27, at Page One, 11018 Montgomery NE