Bluff Country Co-op’s book club meets once a month.
Kitchen Chinese: A Novel About Food, Family, and Finding Yourself by Ann Mah
Isabelle Lee thinks she knows everything about Chinese cuisine. After all, during her Chinese-American childhood, she ate it every day. Isabelle may speak only “kitchen Chinese”—the familial chatter learned at her mother’s knee—but she understands the language of food. Now, in the wake of a career-ending catastrophe, she’s ready for a change—so she takes off for Beijing to stay with her older sister, Claire, whom she’s never really known, and finds a job writing restaurant reviews for an expat magazine. In the midst of her extreme culture shock, and the more she comes to learn about her sister’s own secrets, Isabelle can’t help but wonder whether coming to China was a mistake . . . or an extraordinary chance to find out who she really is.
Meets: Thursday March 8th, 6:30pm, Ed’s No-Name Bar
Cost: 12.60 +tax if purchased through the Co-op
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Written by first-time Mexican novelist Laura Esquivel, the novel follows the story of a young girl named Tita who longs to marry her beloved Pedro, but can never have him (because of her mother’s upholding of the family tradition of the youngest daughter not marrying but taking care of her mother until the day she dies). Pedro reluctantly marries Tita’s older sister Rosaura instead, but the thwarted lovers smoulder with passion and longing under the watchful eye of Mama Elena, the girls’ tyrannical mother.
Set against the background of the Mexican revolution at the turn-of-the-century, the book is divided into twelve sections tied to the months of the year. Each section begins with a Mexican recipe, prepared by Tita, who expresses her passion for Pedro through preparing delectable dishes. Tita’s strong emotions become part of her cooking and the result is food so delicious as to be an almost erotic experience for those who taste it.
Meets: Thursday April, 12th, 6:30 pm, Ed’s No-Name Bar
