Book Club: In the Garden of Beasts

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I feel so fortunate to be part of a church with a lot of fellowship activities. We have potlucks, a weekly music and art program, and groups that get together to just enjoy each other’s company. One such group for me is our book club, Fellowship with Books. I have always loved reading and, for the longest time, wished I had a group of friends to discuss my book selections with. When I learned that our church had a book club, I jumped at the chance to join these lovely ladies in their monthly book discussions. I enjoy this group so much, I consider it part of my self-care routine.

There are so many things I love about our book club. One aspect I love is how inter-generational it is. There are young moms with little ones, retired grandmas, and everything in between. Some of us work outside the home and others do not. We have a mix of home towns with some ladies growing up in NC and others of us transplants from other states. The beauty of having such a mix of women is the varied perspectives they bring to our book discussions.

Once or twice a year, we vote on a selection of books that are nominated by our members. We try to keep the books as varied as the women who suggest them. The point is not to choose the most popular bestseller to read, but rather to choose books that are thought-provoking and foster a good conversation. We also like to switch up genres reading both fiction and non-fiction. This month we read a selection I nominated, In the Garden of Beasts (#ad) by Erik Larson. I’d heard really good things about this book, and since we have read and enjoyed other books by this author (Dead Wake (#ad) and Devil in the White City (#ad) – my favorite!), I thought it might be time to read another.

Except for our September planning meeting at the church, we meet in members’ homes one Monday a month. I always make sure to offer to host at least one time per year, and since every hostess has a co-hostess volunteer to help, it’s less daunting. It allows me to give back to the group and is a great excuse to clean the house and use serving pieces that rarely see the light of day. There is no need to get fancy with the theme and food, but I enjoy trying to match the book’s theme to the food I prepare. A few years ago, I decided to keep track of my different entertaining ideas in a cute little notebook my mom gave me that I now use as a memory book of these get togethers. I just write down the event, foods served, drinks, desserts, and any other ideas I used for the event.

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For In the Garden of Beasts, which is set in early Nazi Germany, I thought it might be fun to serve foods that honor some of the Allied nations that fought in the war. I also tried to accommodate special diets for our members such as vegetarian, paleo, and low fodmap.

Here is what I came up with:

• China– Paleo/Low Fodmap Asian Meatballs (recipe below)
• Russia– Paleo/Low Fodmap Russian dressing over salad
• Belgium– Belgian Endive stuffed with Paleo/Low Fodmap Chicken Salad or Vegetarian Egg Salad
• France (the government in exile) – Cheese and Fruit board with Paleo Crackers and French Baguette
• Mexico– Low Fodmap/Paleo/Vegetarian Guacamole with salsa and chips (my co-hostess’s recipe) served with Paleo-friendly chips. I also made a paleo Garlic Cilantro Salsa
• Morroco– Low Fodmap/Paleo/Vegetarian Eggplant Tahini Dip (my co-hostess’s recipe)
• USA– Paleo Hot Apple Cider; California wine, Paleo Store-bought Snickerdoodle Cookies
• England– Sticky Toffee Pudding (my co-hostess’s recipe- definitely not paleo, but the non-Paleo folks raved about it)
• Australia– Red wine (Syrah)

I kept the decorations simple by placing a small country flag next to its corresponding food. To keep it authentic, I researched which flag was used during that time period, printed it out in color, and taped a toothpick to it before placing it near the food.

By far the most requested recipe of the night was the Asian meatballs, which I had made over from a Rachael Ray recipe I’ve had for years. In Ray’s Thirty Minute Get Togethers (#ad), she features an Asian dumpling recipe with a meat mixture that is meant to be stuffed into a wonton wrapper. To keep things paleo and low fodmap, I made some changes to the original ingredients and came up with the following:

Hosting a book club meeting also requires some preparation to lead the discussion. Sometimes, you luck out and there are discussion questions at the back of your book thoughtfully provided by the author or editor. But, if you have to hunt for questions, below are some suggestions.

Here are my favorite book club discussion question sources:

• LitLovers.com has reading guides, discussion questions, book reviews and even recipes for your book club meeting!
• Goodreads is another great resource. If you are a book lover and haven’t joined yet, you should. It allows you to keep track of books you have read, and by rating them, you will receive book recommendations. You can also connect with your friends who have joined the Goodreads community to see what they are reading and if you both have any common book choices. It also has book reviews and discussion questions.
• ReadingGroupGuides and BookRiot.com both have general questions that you can use for discussing any book.
• Of course if you Google the name of the book and “discussion questions” you will also find resources.

What are your favorite book selections? Any recommendations I can pass along to my book club? Are you interested in any of the other recipes that I did not include in this post? Leave a comment below.

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