Hello book clubbers! I hope everyone has found a romance to read this month, as discussed in my last Between the Lines post. Can’t wait to see everyone in person in Sacramento on June 25, 2016, at the newly refurbished Arden Dimick Library!

Recently I read The Book Club Cookbook, by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp. I fell in love with this cookbook for the following reasons:

• It gives descriptions of book clubs all over America, each of which has a different focus and a different chemistry. It was so fun to compare these different groups.
• It talks about how food fits thematically into various specific books – how the inclusion of food affects the reader’s perception of the story and the characters.
• It explores how different clubs use food to enhance their experience.
• All the food sounds delicious.

I’m not much of a cook, personally, but I liked the approach of one group of non-cooks who had some small food item at each meeting that related to the book, and members had to guess how. For instance, the leader brought little honey candies to a discussion of A Secret Life of Bees. Some members were more ambitious, but keeping it simple seems to have been part of the challenge. What do you think, book clubbers? Shall we take our snacks up a notch?

You can find my full-length review of The Book Club Cookbook at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.