Rexburg Readers

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

2011-05-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

Click here for a very brief plot summary

This past Wednesday we enjoyed another delightful evening chatting about yet another amazing read! Everyone in our group gave this book a thumbs up! One of my favorite parts of the discussion focused on the letter writing format of the novel. We talked about how you get to know the characters in bits and pieces through their letters. It was a little hard for some of our readers to get used to, but once we figured it all out, we really enjoyed the format! Reading these letters made us want to write letters! Not emails or Facebook posts, but actual, hand-written letters.

This novel wasn't just fun to read, it was also enlightening. We all felt that we learned something from reading this novel. Few of us knew much (if anything) about the Channel Islands and we certainly didn't know about the German occupation of Guernsey during WWII. We all felt we learned something about the difficulties of that war and of how deeply it affected the lives of people in England and Guernsey. Most of us had not known anything about the Todt slaves and the abuse they faced at the hands of the Nazis - this was something that was particularly haunting for some of our readers. One of the things that we came to feel was that everyone had been hurt by the Nazi regime. Those who suffered in countries that were occupied, or targeted by Hitler, or even (for some Germans) forced to participate in and fight for a cause in which they did not believe (as was the case with Christian Heller). For me the emotions felt during the reading of this novel went all the way from heart-wrenching to utter joy!

The characters in this novel really came to life for most of us and we really came to feel deeply involved in their (fictional) lives. It was a great novel to read for a book club! Thanks to all our readers for a great evening! Thanks to Brady Davies from the Standard Journal for visiting our book club. We are looking forward to your article! :)

COMING SOON (although it may be after baseball season)...recipes from the meeting, including a recipe for a delicious Potato Peel Pie! :)

Please feel free to leave comments about further observations on the novel or thoughts you wish I would have included above!

* A note on our next book. We are now reading Peter Pan, or as it was first titled, Peter and Wendy the author is JM Barrie. I wanted to be sure to include both titles so you will know what you are looking for. I know you can get a free version of this book both online or at Amazon for your Kindle (or similar). Just make sure you search for the Peter and Wendy title to find the free version. Happy Reading!

Silas Marner

2011-04-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

Click here to find a good plot summary.

Most of our readers agreed that, aisde from the rather engaging first chapters detailing Marner's life in Lantern's End, this book was a bit slow for the first half of the book. However, once we got through to the arrival of Eppie at Marner's door, we all felt that reading was easier and more rewarding. We had a nice discussion about Marner's gold and the place it had in his life. We discussed the place of religion in his life and how Eppie effected his life and really brought about his redemption. We were all touched by the devotion that existed between Eppie and Marner. We talked further of Eppie's biological father, Godfrey, and talked possible motives for his actions as well as the regrets that he had to live with from the choices we made. We all pitied him to a degree.

Language, pacing and sifting through seemingly extraneous material was a challenge for all of our readers, but in the end the message of this book really won most of us over. It was a good, challenging read and was great fun to discuss. Thanks Ladies!

Want to find the recipe for the delicious trifle we had that night...look below!!!

Raspberry Cream Trifle
(I used strawberries instead)

Ingredients

* 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
* 1 cup cold water
* 1 teaspoon almond extract
* 1 package (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix
* 2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped
* 1 prepared angel food cake (8 to 10 ounces), cut into 1-inch cubes
* 2 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
* 2 cups fresh raspberries
* Chocolate curls and fresh mint

Directions

* In a large bowl, beat the milk, water and extract until blended. Add pudding mix; whisk for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Cover and chill until mixture is partially set. Fold in the whipped cream.
* Place half of the cake cubes in a 2-qt. glass serving bowl. Top with half of the cream mixture. Carefully spread with jam. Sprinkle with 1 cup raspberries. Layer with remaining cake cubes, cream mixture and raspberries. Garnish with chocolate curls and mint. Yield: 14-16 servings.

After the Dancing Days

2011-03-03T09:24:00.000-08:00

Phew! This is the last catch up post and then we are all up to date!

Last night we had a great meeting discussing After the Dancing Days by Margaret I. Rostkowski. This is the story of 13 year old Annie Metcalf whose father is coming back from his assignment treating wounded soldiers as a doctor during World War I. Annie begins visiting him at the new hospital where he is now working to continue to treat and help WWI vets who have been severely injured. Annie overcomes her initial revulsion to a young man (Andrew) whose face has been completely destroyed by exposure to mustard gas and a deep friendship blooms.

A couple of our readers had read this YA novel years ago and loved it and found it very interesting to revisit it now as adults. They noted that through adult eyes it was much easier to understand Annie's mother's desire to protect her young daughter from the ugliness of war. We discussed the desire to forget the ugly things that happened during the war and pretend like they didn't happen. This brought us to a discussion of people who look different today and how we react to them. Whether the people we come in contact with have mental challenges or physical challenges, we discussed how every person wants and needs to be acknowledged no matter what their appearance is like. Another insightful point of our discussion for me was in considering Andrew's choice and strength of character in moving on with his life. He found a job that he could do and a way to help and serve others despite his obvious challenges. It was instructive for me to consider that no matter what challenges I may have it is important to find a way to keep going, moving forward and finding ways to help others and find self-worth in what I can do, rather than wallowing in self-pity for what I can't accomplish.

We all know book club wouldn't be book club without food! Here are Lindsey's recipes for the delicious treats we enjoyed!

Although it doesn't have to be be 7 layers, here are suggestions for the layers of the bean dip:
Bottom layer: 2 cans refried beans mixed with 1 package of taco seasoning
Next layer: Guacamole (either homemade or canned, but if you use homemade, make sure you put lemon juice in it. Otherwise, it will not keep a nice green color.)
3rd layer: sour cream
4th layer: shredded cheese (any kind works)
(these 4 layers are the main ones. All layers following can be whatever you personally like)
5th layer: chopped tomoates
6th layer: chopped green onions
7th layer: olives

Fruit pizza (makes one pizza crust):
1 can 16-18 oz refrigerated sugar cookie dough
(Or homemade recipe. This is the one I used:
Cream together 1/2 c softened butter and 3/4 c white sugar. Mix in 1 egg. Add 1 1/4 c flour, 1/2 t baking soda, and 1/4 t salt.)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Press cookie dough into a well-greased pizza pan.
3. Bake 10 minutes (could be shorter or longer depending on the thickness of the crust. It will continue baking after it's pulled out of the oven, so take it out just when it's starting to turn a golden brown color.)
4. Cool completely.

Cream cheese topping (makes enough for 2 pizzas):
1 8 oz package of cream cheese (straight from the fridge)
5 T room temperature butter
1 t vanilla
Cream these together.
Add 2 c powdered sugar

Add whatever fruit toppings you want after frosting the pizzas (I used mandarin oranges, kiwis, strawberries, grapes, and bananas).
Chill for at least 1 hour.

Fire in the Bones

2011-03-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

For our January meeting we "discussed" the book, Fire in the Bones: William Tyndale, Martyr, Father of the English Bible by S. Michael Wilcox. This book proved, I think, a little too intellectual and not reader friendly for our readers (I can say that without making somebody feel bad because I chose the book!). I was really the only person who attended who had read the book, but I still say it is an amazing book and for me it read like a novel. I loved learning about William Tyndale and found that knowing more about him and other reformers deepened my gratitude for their lives and sacrifices. Further, it led me to feel a deep and profound gratitude for the Bible. (As a side note I have an ancestor who is discussed at the very end of the book, John Rogers who continued Tyndale's work and who was also burned at the stake for him participation in moving that work forward).

The book is written by an LDS author whose purpose in writing is to help an LDS audience appreciate the significance of the work of William Tyndale. He points out, quite rightly, that Tyndale fought battles that made it possible for Joseph Smith to perform his work. One of my favorite links from the Reformation to the Restoration is that Tyndale said that he wanted for the plow-boy to know more of the scriptures than the priest (because the priests knew little of the actual contents of the Bible and the plow-boy would be able to read the translated work). That was certainly fulfilled in the person of Joseph Smith who was a plow-boy who read, loved, and applied the holy words of the Bible to his own situation which lead to coming to know his own mission on earth.

As I told our readers this is on my list of life-changing books. We had a great discussion about our own purposes and how we must have the same sense of conviction to accomplish what we need to on earth, most notably raising our children. It was a fun discussion! Thanks Ladies!!!

Children's Book Review

2011-03-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, ok, so I'm way behind on updating our book club blog. I'll try to get us all up to date today! :)

In January we had a Children's book review. We did this because we knew that nobody would have a chance to read a big long novel in December. We had a great time talking about some of our favorite children's and adolescent books. I don't think I could possibly capture what was said about all the books, and yes, there were many(!), but I will just say that we loved talking about children's books and I can definitely say I added a lot of books to my to-read list at our January meeting! :)

Feel free to comment with other favorite children's books that we should all know about! :)

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

2010-12-14T13:23:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a lovely December evening discussing Charles Dickens' Classic, A Christmas Carol. Becky prepared excellent questions about the book including: Which ghost was the most effective? and Why is this book such an enduring classic? We talked about each of the ghosts and how they worked on Scrooge. His transformation wouldn't have been complete without the visits from all three of them. We felt that everyone can relate with some facet of Scrooge's character. We wondered about his father and what the novel really told us about him. We also spent some time talking about film adaptations: how faithful they are to the book, where they have taken license, etc.

I welcome comments to include significant parts of our discussion I missed, my time is short this season! :)

For January's meeting...

We realize that everybody is super-duper busy in December so we are not going to be reading a specific book. Instead we will be sharing books with each other. This will help us to keep meeting, and still have something fun to do at our meeting in January without having to feel guilty about not having time to read our book club selection for the month! Mijken will be hosting and leading our next discussion. See below for details!

Book Club-Children's Book Review

Please select a picture, children's, or young adult book to review.

Come prepared to share the following information:

Title:
Author:
Pages: (Number)
Type: (ie. picture book, children's, etc.)
Genre: (i.e. fantasy, sci fi, fiction, non-fiction)
Description: (doesn't have to be long)
Recommended by:
Rating: (from 1 - 5 stars)

It would be super helpful if you could bring all of this info written out. I have extra forms at my house for anyone who wants to have it already printed out.

***Also - we will be moving our meeting time in January to accommodate schedule changes for several of our readers. We will now be meeting on the first Wednesday of each month.***

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

2010-11-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

We had another great discussion last night! This one was about our latest book, The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. Our first surprize was that this book wasn't about a marriage! It was, in fact, C.S. Lewis' argument that Heaven and Hell do not coexist. There is no part of Hell in Heaven - that is the great divorce. The book details a bus journey from Hell to the the "edge" of Heaven. There, the ghosts who have come on the journey are given the opportunity to choose to go on to embrace all that Heaven offers or return to Hell. Interestingly, most choose to return to the bus and return to Hell, not having the desire nor the faith to go on and make the choice to embrace joy, happiness and Heaven.

Most of us could see something of ourselves in some of the caricatures of the ghosts who were depicted. We discussed making the choice to be happy now and the get comfortable with the things of heaven now so we will feel comfortable when we do "arrive" there.

Thanks to Dacia for hosting us!

And...if you want to recreate the deliciousness she served us last night...follow this link to her Cooking Momma blog for directions and pictures. Yum-Oh!

***********************************************

Our next book has been chosen by Becky and is perfect for the beginning of the holiday season! We will be reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (seriously, how perfect is that?) and plan to meet the first Tuesday in December.

Prologue: The Brothers by Chris Stewart

2010-10-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

We had a great discussion last night about Chris Stewart's The Great and Terrible Vol. 1 - Prologue: The Brothers. We all felt that it was a book we enjoyed. Some readers took issue with a few points of doctrine, but that didn't make anyone feel that it was not a book worth reading. Most of all we enjoyed how this book made us think. For many of our readers this book caused us to reflect on what promises we may have made in our life before earth and how we are living up to our promises now. We thought of how meaningful it is that we have been given the responsibility of raising our own children and what their missions might be.

Most of our readers expressed a desire to read on in the series, in fact some have already read multiple books in the series. We were interested to know what the prologue really has to do with the characters we came to know in this book. We enjoyed getting to know the characters introduced in this book and to know their pre-earth stories.

Along with a great discussion we were treated to a delicious Apple Crisp served with whipped cream. Thanks to everyone for coming! Dacia's choice for our next read is: The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis - get ready for a fun meeting in November!

Here's Carrie's recipe for Apple Crisp - It's from her mom and is written in mom fashion!

Apple crisp....I peel the apples and put them in the baking dish (editor's note: I noticed Carrie used a 9 x 13 glass baking dish) so I know I have enough. Then I put them in a bowl big enough to mix in. Zest one lemon....if it is big only use half. Add about 1/3 cup sugar and cinn and nutmeg to taste. Dash of salt. Put back into baking dish. I used 2/3 cup flour, brown sugar and oats. 1/2 c soften butter. Mix together and spread on top of apples with fingers. Bake 350 until the apples are the softness you want. I left mine a bit crisp...about 35 minutes. Test with a tooth pick. Serve with nothing, ice cream, whipping cream, milk or use your imagination!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2010-09-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

At our September meeting, we discussed The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Our meeting was very well attended (thanks to all our new readers for coming too!) and everyone had something to say about this book! There was a lot of discussion about the plot of the book. We agreed that the whole idea of the Hunger Games was revolting and that you had to find something else (the love triangle, friendships, the family relationships, etc.) to focus on to get past the horrifying elements of the book. Some of our readers loved the book and others hated it. We had an interesting discussion about the new movie they are making of this book (and subsequent books in the series). We wondered if our culture and country were acting like "The Capital" by wanting so much to see this book dramatized in a motion picture. We discussed how much harder this book would be to see in a movie than even to read. Our thoughts were that the images would be hard to erase from your mind, while when you read you can gloss over them without fully forming them into images.

Several our our readers had read all three books by the time we met and others were not sure that they would read more than this first book. All in all it was an excellent discussion filled with differing opinions and viewpoints. Thanks to all the Rexburg Readers for a great discussion!

At our meeting Kate treated us all to "Peeta" (pita) chips with Tiffany's excellent artichoke dip. Also featured was mini cheesecakes with "poison" berries.

For those of you waiting for the recipe for Tiffany's artichoke dip...here it is!

8oz. cream cheese-softened
1 C mayo
1- 14oz. can or jar of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2 green onions, sliced thin
1/2 C grated parm
1 C grated Motz.
Dash of hot sauce
Dash of worchestershire sauce
salt and pepper
*beat all ingredients together. Transfer to pie plate and bake at 350 for 30-40 min.

Carrie selected our next book: The Great and Terrible, Vol. 1: Prologue, the Brothers by Chris Stewart. See you all in October! :)

The Last Promise by Richard Paul Evans

2010-09-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Conna for sending this report since I wasn't able to be at the August Meeting!

From Conna:

So, last night we enjoyed a wonderful evening at Camille's home with her yummy "Lemonade Party Cake" and fun discussion. We summarized the book for those who didn't quite get their hands on a copy. We talked about whether it was a true story or not but came to the conclusion that it probably is real. Dacia said she may try to contact Richard Paul Evans through Facebook so we'll see. Some of us thought that the main character Alina (sorry I don't have the book and forgot how to spell her name) was walking a fine line and emotionally crossed it with Ross to be unfaithful to her idiot husband. We did find it interesting that the jerk of a husband did finally let her go and she found her "true love".
We are excited to start the next book that Kate picked, "Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. Half of us have already read it but haven't for awhile so we are going to read it again. But in part because the third book in this series is coming out soon.

The 5 Love Languages

2010-07-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

Last night we discussed The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. I'm not sure that I can really summarize our discussion. I think you had to be there for this one since much of what we talked about was so personal. There seemed to be a consensus that we felt like this was a great book! We talked about the importance of communication in marriage and letting our spouse know what we really need from each other. We also all felt that knowing our husbands' love languages help us to better know and understand them and to bring us closer as a couple and happier in our families.

For our "treats" we had healthy veggies (since we are trying to have healthy relationships) and "Better than S@x" Cake ;)

It was a great evening!

Our next book is: The Last Promise by Richard Paul Evans - a nice light summer read!

The Candy Shop War

2010-06-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull was the topic of discussion for last night's meeting of the Rexburg Readers.

We enjoyed using the questions from the back of the Scholastic edition of the book as a basis for our discussion. Some of the group felt that this book would not be appropriate for young children, preferring to save this book for children in fourth grade and above - others didn't have the same reservations. The main reasons for concern were: the inability of parental figures to help the children when they were in trouble, some of the taboos that the children engaged in (taking candy from strangers, doing things that didn't feel right, etc.) and some of the characters (thugs) that might be frightening for younger readers.

We all liked the special powers of the candies and talked about which candy/power we would most like to have which proved to be an entertaining part of our conversation. We liked how the kids wanted their parents to be involved and how they realized that they needed their help when they were in trouble. We liked that it is a fun novel for children with some really good messages. Some of the children we know who have read it really, really enjoyed it and loved the fantasy of it all.

We enjoyed lots of super yummy treats including "white fudge", "shock bits", "Ironsides", "Sweet Tooth" and more! Thanks to everyone for a fun discussion!!! Please feel free to comment and share other insights or thoughts about last night's meeting.

Our next book: The 5 Languages of Love by Gary Chapman - see side bar for more info on our next meeting!

The Hiding Place

2010-05-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

At tonight's meeting we discussed the book, The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. The main feeling from our readers was that this is a life changing book. We were amazed by Corrie and Betsy and indeed the whole Ten Boon family. We discussed favorite parts of the book, or things that stood out to us as we read. It was astounding to all of us to think of the way Betsy and Corrie planned to help those who suffered from the concentration camps both those who were imprisoned and their jailers after their experiences. We loved their devotion to Jesus Christ and their ability to truly live what they read, studied, and "preached."

We talked about how it was hard to understand how anyone could treat human beings the way that Corrie and Betsy were treated. We talked about how the point of Hitler's regime was to dehumanize the Jews and those who helped them. We were able to see parallels in forms of discrimination that exist today, here and now.

As we discussed characters who helped or showed compassion for Corrie and Betsy (notably Lieutenant Rahms) and discussed how they tried to do what they could to help in small ways and how it must have been painful for them to be able to forgive themselves for their part in the tragic events surrounding the Holocaust. The ability to forgive that both Betsy and Corrie displayed was truly remarkable. It was touching for us to see the way they trusted in the love of Jesus Christ to help them to forgive and bless others.

We were all moved by Betsy's gratitude in all things even when she did not understand why she should be thankful for them (ie. the fleas). Our admiration for Betsy and Corrie's embracing of their ministry to teach of Jesus Christ and bring hope to those around them was inspiring.

All in all - we loved this book!!!

You'll find recipes for the delicious treats we enjoyed below:

Lemony Cooler (Drink)

6 cups white grape juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup lemon juice
1 liter club soda, chilled

In a pitcher, combine grape juice, sugar and lemon juice; stir until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate until chilled. Just before serving, stir in club soda.

Lemon Delight Cake

1 package lemon cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
3 eggs
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 T poppy seeds

Filling:
1 package (8 oz) reduced-fat cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 can (15 3/4 oz) lemon pie filling

Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 T flour
4 1/2 tsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 tsp lemon juice

In a large bowl, combine first five ingredients, beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Coat a 13x9 inch baking pan with cooking spray and dust with flour. Spread half of batter into pan.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Stir in lemon pie filling. Drop by teaspoonfuls and gently spread over batter. Top with remaining batter. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over batter.
Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Combine glaze ingredients; and drizzle over cake.

Fruit Dip

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
1 container of marshmallow creme
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix together and serve with fruit.

Our next book: The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull see sidebar for more info. :)

Post may be edited with other significant observations I have missed.

Remembering Isaac

2010-04-08T12:08:00.001-07:00

To find next month's book, scroll down to the bottom of the post.

At today's meeting we discussed our reading of Remembering Isaac by Ben Behunin. Because one of our members knows the author, she was able to ask him questions about the book (a big Thank You here to Ben, who answered these questions while on a much deserved Spring Break trip with his family). Which served as a great way for us to discuss the book.

These are the questions and his responses:

Rexburg Readers: Who do you relate to more as the author? Isaac or Jake?
Ben Behunin: I often say that Jake is who I am now and Isaac is who I hope to be when I grow up. I like to think I am becoming more like Isaac, but then I get upset and yell at my kids and want to kill someone in my ward, and I realize how far I have to go.

RR:  What  influenced you to create Niederbipp?  Is Niederbipp a real  place?
BB:  Niederbipp---ahhh. the place we all want to be--a place where everybody  knows your name. Niederbipp is a real town in Switzerland, not far from  the town in Germany where i apprenticed after my mission. I always liked  the name and used to tell my kids stories about a boy named Niederbipp.  My mission president told me once when we were driving past the exit  sign on the autobahn that if he were to have another son, he would name  him Niederbipp.

The town that I describe is actually the town of  Tiengen, Germany--at least to a large degree. this is where I returned  after my mission to apprentice with Irene Adeler, a german potter I  baptized while a missionary there. The pottery shop is on Zubergasse,  just off of Hauptstrasse where the main fountain bubbles up natural  spring water. I lived in this town for a total of 9 months and fell in  love with its charm and character. I toook a lot of artistic liberty  with much of the layout of the churchyard/cemetery. I am realizing I  have a rather active imagination. I can see this town out on the banks  of the Allegheny in PA, but unfortunately, it is not there, yet. I  regularly get emails from folks planning trips to PA and wanting  directions to this most unusual town. My general response is, it's hard  to get there from here.

RR: Niederbipp  seems like a pretty idyllic place, why is Jake having such a hard time making up his mind?
BB: I  think we all have the problem Jake has, don't we? We all live in pretty  idyllic places, yet many of us wish we were somewhere else. Paradise is  always on the other side of the rainbow, the other side of the fence, or  the other side of the world. We don't recognize the beauty and  uniqueness of what we have until we stop and begin to open our eyes.  This is not really a book about an ideal town, it is about making our  town ideal--it is about reaching out to others and being a good  neighbor. it is about overcoming selfishness. Jake doesn't learn what he  has in Niederbipp until he clears his eyes of the selfishness that comes  naturally to him--and all of us. We can all be doing something more to  make our community more of a paradise instead of waiting to move on the  the next better place, wherever that is. Paradise is all around us, we  just have to discover it and do our part to make it paradise for  others--Only in selflessness can we see these things--can we see that  life is good

RR:  We  can see how pottery has influenced your writing - How has writing influenced your pottery?

BB:  The work of creativity is a  language with many dialects. Maybe  it is many languages with many  dialects, but I have learned that they all relate to each other--they  all tie in somehow with each other. My writing has obviously been  influenced with my work with clay, but my clay work has become much more  meaningful from my writing. Objects never really say anything until you  breathe meaning into them--then they can become a symbol.  A beehive is  just a place where bees live until you look for symbols and discover  all that a beehive can represent--see book 2.  As I have written, I find  myself looking for meaningful symbols in my work. I have always enjoyed  making bowls since I began my work in clay, but as I have thought about  it since writing, there is much significant meaning behind a bowl. It  is open, both to receiving and letting people take from it.  A bowl, I  think, is also the most basic instrument of nourishing our bodies. We  can to do without plates or mugs if we have a bowl that can function as  both. People throughout the world and throughout time have used bowls as  part of their daily rituals of nourishing themselves and their  families. As Thoreau would say, anything beyond necessity is vanity.  

That  probably sounds like a man talking--I know women like to collect dishes.  I think the writing has made me conscious of many other things with my  pottery. We all want to remembered after we are gone. I have always been  concerned about legacy, knowing that my pottery is going to be around,  in one form or another, for millennia. I am careful about what i make,  knowing I will be judged accordingly. Maybe we all need to think more  about legacy. I think our world might be better if we did--if we thought  long-term.  

Several years ago when I first  got Arthritis, I began making tiles that have sayings on them. This, in  part, was done in an effort to help us remember the simple things in  life. One of my favorites can be seen on my website- It  says, "Be still and know that I am God."

RR: Do  you know an Isaac?  What influenced you to create the characters you write about?  are they like anybody in your life?
BB: Do I know an Isaac?  To me,  Isaac is very much a Christ figure, so yes, I suppose I do know an  Isaac. In the Old testament, the sacrifice of Isaac was a type for  Christ. Isaac knew what he knew because of the sacrifice he made--his  will, his wife, his life--It is only after we lay upon the alter of  sacrifice our offering that we are able to live the higher life. I know  many people who know this from experience--who have lost or given up  much in life in order to grow. We all have to sacrifice what we have for  the potential of what can be--ie. marriage, children, missions,  careers, etc. I am not really answering this question, but I will say  that we all know people around us who know great wisdom, gentleness and  love because of the sacrifices they have made in life. It seems it all  begins with being willing to give up our will to a higher power. that is  the hardest step, but from it comes love, wisdom, understanding, peace,  happiness--all the good things is life have a cost. So, I don't know how  to answer the question as stated, but I hope this is a good substitute.  I might also mention that the name of my printing company that I formed  when I self-published, Abendmahl Press, is a German word. Literally  translated, Abendmahl means evening meal, but it also the word for  sacrament in German. The wheat and the grapes are symbols of the  sacrament--symbols of the greatest sacrifice the universe has ever  known.

RR:   Why  did you decide to self-publish?  What would you tell other  aspiring writers about self-publishing?

BB:   After studying the market and the  economy, I self published because I realized i could either jump in with  both feet or wait three to five years for things to recover. Most good  literary agents receive 50-60 query letters every day, six days a week,  fifty-two weeks a years.  That is literally more than fifteen thousand a  year and yet they only sign 2-4 new authors a year. I didn't like those  odds, so I never wrote even one query letter. I was also told that no  publisher would be interested in spending the time to put my book  together like I wanted it with all the doodles, the flip book, etc. So I  figured I would go for it, and after i sold several thousand copies, I  might attract the attention I needed from a big publisher. So far, I  have sold about 11,000 copies, combined, of the first two books. We were  saving up to built onto our home, instead, I spent $65K last year  printing, editing, and laying out my books. My wife has been amazing.  She has really pushed me to do this. Without her full support, I know I  couldn't have done this. 

Self publishing is becoming  increasingly easy to do, but there are lots of people losing their  shorts--anyone will take your money. Print on demand is a bad deal. If  you want to self-publish, do some serious homework and spend some time  talking about it with a dozen people who have. Never go into the book  business with the illusions of becoming rich...it just wont happen and  you will have thousands of books in your garage for the rest of your  life. I am just now breaking even with my financial investment, but I  don't know if my time will ever be compensated. I realize this book was  my sacrifice, my Isaac. It was what i had to lay on the altar to know my  God. For that, it is worth it. Monetarily, it may never be what people  would consider a good investment. Life has to be about much more than  money.

Overall we all liked the book.  We generally agreed that the book made us all want to be better people and we appreciated the themes of positive values, legacy and the general sense of morality of the book.  Many of us felt inspired to be more supportive of the local craftsmen around us.  We found that we wanted to know more about the back stories for some of the lesser characters.  The greatest disappointment for most of us was that there didn't feel like there was a big enough resolution at the end.  All of the biggest questions were still left up in the air.  We are looking forward to reading book 2, Discovering Isaac.

Thanks to everyone for making our daytime meeting work this time!  We will go back to an evening meeting for our next event! :)

For those who wanted the roll recipe...here it is:

Lion House Rolls

2 T dry yeast (2 pkgs)
2 C warm water
1/3 C  sugar
1/3 C melted butter (can substitute margarine or shortening)
2  1/2 tsp salt
2/3 C nonfat dry milk
5 - 6 C flour
1 egg

Combine yeast and water in a small bowl  and let sit for 5 minutes.  In mixer - put sugar, shortening, salt, dry  milk, 2 C flour, and egg - mix to combine.  After yeast has bubbled up,  pour into mixer with the rest of ingredients.  Beat together until VERY  smooth.  Add 2 more C flour, one at a time, very slowly and beat until  smooth.  Start adding 1/2 C increments of flour until it reaches the  right texture and is mixed in.  Cover and let rise until triple in  size.  This could take up to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the temp where  you are raising the dough.

Once dough has tripled in size remove from bowl and place on a  greased, or lightly floured surface.  Let dough rest 10 minutes.  This  will make it easier to roll out (the dough won't keep springing back on  you).  Roll out dough and cut or mold into desired shapes.  Let rise  again.  Brush tops with melted butter or egg wash before putting in the  over (I skip this when doing the orange glaze).  Bake at 400 degrees for  10-20 minutes or until browned the way you like.

Orange Glaze
2 1/2 C powdered sugar
1/3 to 1/2 C orange juice
(you  can add some lemon zest to give it an extra zip)


OK...there  it is.  I have two Lion House cookbooks and the roll recipes in each  differ slightly, but both work equally as well - both recipes seem to be  pretty forgiving too which is helpful if you are a novice baker like  me!  Or just use your favorite dinner roll (probably not bread though) recipe and add the glaze.

Next month's book:  The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom copies can be found at the Madison Library, B&N, Amazon, Half.com, etc.

Links related to Remembering Isaac:

Ben's Pottery Website
Ben's Blog
Remembering Isaac Website


This post subject to editing if there are other significant things that need to be added. :)