Dear Reader Column 03-29-11

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Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life

Dear Reader,

We may be a virtual book club, but frequently readers tell me that it feels like we're sitting at the kitchen table together, drinking a cup of coffee, talking about books and chatting about everyday life.

So today, pretend that all 375,000 of us are meeting together for an in-person book club meeting. We've discussed this week's books, dunked some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies into coffee or soda (yes, some readers report they dunk cookies into Dr. Pepper!) and now our meeting is winding down to the chit-chat part. Small talk about the things of every day life, that's what I'm looking for today. Send me your chit-chat, interesting "whatevers" you'd share with other book club members if we met in person. I'll share everyone's "conversations" and you can read it at your leisure.

Your "chit-chat" can be about whatever. Today, I'm passing on a time-saving tip a reader recently sent to me.

"Dear Suzanne, I love to sew, quilt, and knit. I save magazines and books with little Post-it notes as bookmarks, where there was a project I wanted to try. But when I decided to make one of the projects I usually spent an hour digging around wasting precious sewing/craft time. Then I got a scanner! I scan these articles and projects, then organize them into categories on my computer making them a lot easier to find."--Judi Stonik

Share chit-chat (comments and tips), with fellow book club readers and when you do, I'll enter your name in a drawing for a copy of my book, Muffins and Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life. (The paperback version is being released April 5th.)

Email your "chit-chat" to: [email protected]

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

* This month's Penguin Classics book is THE SAGA OF GOSTA BERLING by Selma Lagerlof. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/March11Classics

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

 

Comments

[MG]

Working on health, exercise to keep the body moving, eating better, and right now meds for a sore throat...at the stage when maintenance takes more effort, but worth it!

[SR]

This isn't a hint, but rather just a "fun" item that girlfriends and I have talked about.

Imagine you're having an old-fashioned slumber party. What 5 women would you invite? They have to be a 'celebrity' of some sort (entertainer, author, politician, etc.), they must be alive (e.g., no Eleanor Roosevelts), and they must be women you have never met and will probably never meet in your lifetime. You also need to explain why you selected each.

My personal list has changed over time, but is currently:

1. Ellen DeGeneres -- loves music and dancing
2. Leah Rimini -- in-your-face honesty
3. Sharon Osborne -- pee-your-pants funny
4. Diane Sawyer -- willing to try just about anything
5. Whoopi Goldberg -- funny in her own right, but would keep the rest of us in line

Who would be on your list?

[PT]

I love to read, and doing crafts of most kind and I walk for exercise and squeeze in my homework since I am trying to finish a college degree, my girls tell me I will be 70 before I finish, but at least I will have my degree. I drive 45 minutes one way to work so I started listening to books on tape, sometimes it is nice to have someone else read to you, it reminds me of how my mom and big brother read to me when I was small. I think when they did that I got the love of reading too. But my most special time is on a nice raining day with a good book and a cup of coffee just reading away the afternoon. Good reading and enjoying friends.

[CW]

I wonder how long a kittie can live without eating or drinking? Our poor old cat, Eartha, has gone down so quickly.....she hasn't eaten in forever, and has lost all her weight to where she's now just skin and bones. She won't even eat yogurt, which she LOVED before. Is this too downer for our virtual bookclub, Suzanne? It's all I have on my mind lately.

[MR]

I am retiring this week and during lunch yesterday we discussed sharing the television with your spouse. It was fun discussing the different remedies each couple has used to make each other happy. My solution might be to just hide the tv control and see who is the most motivated to get up and change the channel.

It is fun to share and you always have something special each day to read and share.