June 2014 Host:  Nancy

 

A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout & Sara Corbett

 

Summary

 

This a powerful memoir detailing Lindhout’s fifteen month long captivity in Somalia.  Lindhout is passionate about travel and the first third of the book details some of her travels around the world to places such as Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.  Eventually, she utilizes journalism to finance her travel bug and she travels to Somalia with Nigel, her boyfriend/photographer.  After only four days in Somalia, they are kidnapped by Somali bandits and held for four hundred and sixty days.  The rest of the book details the sad result of her plan to break into journalism.  The kidnappers demand outrageous ransoms and the hostages are moved from one grimy building to another while Lindhout is treated with increasing brutality.  She is beaten, tortured, starved, raped, chained up and kept in the dark.  This is an amazing story of how one woman survived and forgave.  This is a book that will stay with you for a long time and is highly recommended.  It won the CBC Bookie award for best Canadian nonfiction and was recently optioned to create a screen adaptation of the work.   

 

Menu

 

White Sangria

 

Fruit and Cheese Plate

 

Dates and Figs/Cream Cheese and Crackers

 

Pastitsio (Greek Lasagna)

 

Lemon Tart

 

 

 

 

  

May 2014 Host:  Stephanie

 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

 

Summary

 

This classic novel is a story of a plain-faced, passionate, and intelligent English orphan.  Growing up, Jane is abused by her aunt and her cousins and then is sent to a very strict boarding school (where she is also abused).  She survives her relatives and the boarding school and takes a governess position.  Her employer is an aristocrat and despite their different stations, they are drawn into a powerful love.  Strange things then begin happening at the estate such as mysterious laughter, stabbings, and fires.  Her employer’s dark past eventually comes to light, even so, Jane is almost obsessed by her intense love for him.  This must-read novel is brilliant, dark, at times funny, and hauntingly eerie. 

 

Menu

 

Baked Potatoes

 

Chile

 

Cheese Topping

 

Salad

 

Carrot Cake