The Sunday Salon: Review The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

About The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (from author website)
  

A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wifecaptures a remarkable period of time—Paris in the twenties—and an extraordinary love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.

In Chicago in 1920, Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and finds herself captivated by his good looks, intensity, and passionate desire to write. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group of expatriates that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

But the hard-drinking and fast-living café life does not celebrate traditional notions of family and monogamy. As Hadley struggles with jealousy and self-doubt and Ernest wrestles with his burgeoning writing career, they must confront a deception that could prove the undoing of one of the great romances in literary history.

My Thoughts:

I must admit that I have not read any of Hemingway's novels but am interested in his work and I have visited The Hemingway House in Key West, Florida. Despite this, the premise behind the novel The Paris Wife intrigued me as well as the setting of Paris. Paula Mclain does an excellent job of taking the reader to 1920's Paris featuring Hemingway's early career through the voice of his first wife Hadley Richardson. I found The Paris Wife to be a mesmerizing novel featuring the lost generation a  group of authors that included Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald who lived life in a frenzy of parties and volatility. The Hemingway's weren't prepared for the drinking, competition amongst their friends, open relationships and beautiful woman they would meet and become friends with. There was much creativity and freedom that allowed Hemingway to spread his wings and find his way as a novelist. Hadley had much to do with this through the inspiration and support she gave him. We know that Hadley was Ernest's first wife (he had 4 wives) so it was not a surprise when the marriage is challenged and crumbles but it was difficult to read. Hadley endured a great deal as she truly adored and idolized Ernest and believed in his writing and abilities. This novel captured the voice of Hadley beautifully and I often felt as if I was reading a diary or a biography experiencing their life through her eyes. 


There is an epilogue that explains what happens to Hadley and Ernest but I found myself interested in reading more and searching for more information about Hadley and Ernest's lives after their marriage ended.  I am definitely interested in reading more of Hemingway's work and plan to read A Moveable Feast, which is a memoir of Hadley and Hemingway's life in Paris which was not published until after Hemingway's death. 

Check out a recent guest post and interview with the author Paula McClain that I posted a few months ago.




Thanks to  Random House  for sending me an advance copy of the book for review. 

The Sunday Salon: The Help Movie Review

I read The Help by Kathryn Stockett when it first came out in 2009 (my review is here)and then discussed it with my book club last year. It was on my list of best books for 2009 and remains a favorite book for me. I saw the movie together with my book club instead of a book club meeting this month. The Help, the movie is based on the best selling book by Kathryn Stockett  in which both look at  the relationships between the white women and the African American maids that work for them in a southern town in Jackson, Mississippi  in the early 1960's.  

I  believe that they did an excellent job adapting the book to the movie. Although it's been awhile since I've read the book, I didn't notice any significant changes.  I felt it stayed true to the heart of the book. I was drawn into the movie from the start and didn't want it to end. The casting was excellent and true to the characters in the book. They were all outstanding in my mind and I hope to see some academy award nominations down the road. The Help is a movie that engages the audience, even if you have not read the book. I heard laughter, tears, cheers and clapping from the movie theater. It touched my heart and I loved it. This is definitely a must see movie, perfect to see with your friends, book club, for mothers & daughters and couples. 

The Sunday Salon: Review of Skinnygirl Cocktails White Sangria and Margarita

I heard about the Skinnygirl Cocktail line from a friend and decided that I wanted to try them. I liked the idea of a healthier cocktail and liked that Skinnygirl  Cocktails  are lower in calories lightly sweetened and with nothing artificial. I have rosacea, a skin condition that is triggered when I drink white wine and my dermatologist recently suggested that I stick to cocktails or beer and stay away from  wine. I am not a daily drinker but I do enjoy a glass of wine or a cocktail.  The Skinnygirl Cocktails are available in Margarita and White Sangria.

The Skinnygirl Margarita has been out for awhile and is easier to find. I found a bottle of Skinnygirl Margarita last month at a local grocery store and it was on sale for $11.99 which was comparable to the other bottled margarita brands. I have to say that I was not fond of the Skinnygirl Margarita. I found it sour and the flavor wasn't palatable for me. I added it to a fruit smoothie I made and thought that it would taste like a frozen margarita. It dominated the flavors and didn't blend with the fruit flavors. I have to say that my husband loves the Skinnygirl Margarita and finished the bottle. He thinks that "Skinnygirl Margarita rules", maybe they should make a Skinnyguy line as many of my friends have shared with me that they weren't fond of the Skinnygirl Margarita either.

Last week, I found a bottle of the Skinnygirl White Sangria and it was the last bottle on the shelf. I was excited that I found a bottle as I thought that I would like this better than the Skinnygirl Margarita. It was a bit pricier and not on sale at $12.99 a bottle. I cut up some fresh fruit (peaches, raspberries, strawberries) and added the fruit to the chilled sangria and garnished it with a strawberry and slice of orange (picture above) for my husband and I. The Skinnygirl Sangria is sweeter than the Skinnygirl Margarita but it has an unusal aftertaste that I didn't care for. When I tasted it without the fruit, It tasted "tinny" as if I was drinking something from an aluminum can. I didn't care for the color and my husband commented that it was an unusual yellow color. It is not an appealing color compared to the margarita which is primarily clear with a white hint of color. I preferred the Skinnygirl White Sangria with the fruit as it gave it a sweeter flavor with less of the tinny aftertaste. Overall, the Sangria was definitely my favorite compared to the margarita flavor. I doubt that I'd buy the Skinnygirl Margarita or Skinnygirl White Sangria again. I'm glad that I tried it but I'd prefer to make it myself. I found these recipes for Skinnygirl Margarita's and Skinnygirl Sangria that you can make from scratch. I plan to try them both...or maybe my husband will make them as he thinks it's easier and more cost effective. These are both nice summer drinks, you can sit on your deck or patio and enjoy them with a group of friends. These would be great drinks for a book club gathering as well.

Here are some Skinnygirl cocktail recipes:

How To Make a Skinnygirl Sangria

Make Skinnygirl Sangria (doesn’t need to be made in advance) using freshly cut fruit, reasonably priced sparkling wine served in large pitchers so you don’t have to play bartender.

8 peaches, pitted and sliced 4 white plums, pitted and sliced 1 pound green grapes, cut in half 3 bottles Prosecco (an Italian sparkling wine) One 12-ounce can Fresca or diet lemon/lime soda (I would think that you can use regular lemon/lime soda also) One 12-ounce can club soda

Combine all the ingredients and chill for at least 1 hour. Serve over ice.

 * Other fruit that would work could be strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, oranges etc.

 (recipe from Bethenny Frankel's website)

Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl Margarita

For a delicious Margarita on the rocks (that will not blow your diet), try Bethenny's easy recipe:

What you'll need: 

• 2 oz of Clear Premium Tequila (count 1, 2 while you pour, no need for measuring)
• Tiny splash of Orange Liquor
• Juice of four Fresh Lime Wedges
• A splash of Grand Marnier or BOLS Triple Sec

Combine all ingredients over a glass of ice and garnish with a lime wedge.

Makes one serving   (Recipe from Health.com)

There are more cocktail recipes here:  5 fabulous Cocktails under 220 calories 

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, go to Beth Fish Reads.

The Sunday Salon: Summertime, Reading & Orchids

The summer is passing quickly and it will soon be time for my son and I to head back to school. He is entering the 7th grade in middle school and I'm returning to part time work in the schools. I seem to be a slow reader lately. I have many wonderful books to read although I haven't had as much time to read and write my reviews. I'd love to go on a reading vacation and sit in a hammock somewhere beautiful and relax and read with a nice cold drink at my side and no responsibilities. Wishful thinking, I know...that is not in the cards for me at this time. Someday...a girl can dream. 

I received an orchid as a gift this summer and have fallen in love with these beautiful flowers. I am not the most talented at gardening and I don't have a green thumb. I am determined that my orchid will thrive and survive. It's a beautiful pink/purple Just Add Ice Orchid. Yes, the name says it all, you feed your orchid once a week with three ice cubes. I've heard that you need to feed your orchid as well and I'll have to figure that out. The Just Add Ice Orchids are gorgeous orchids grown by a local grower and are available across the US. Their website has a wealth of information and they can be found on Facebook as well. They featured my orchid picture that I posted on Facebook in a closeup and sent it out on twitter. I wrote about it on my Facebook wall and got so many comments that my husband felt like we had added a new member to the family. It brightens my day as I have it sitting by my kitchen window. Here are some pictures:

 Is anyone else a fan of orchids? 

The Sunday Salon: Book Club Mini Reviews:

I mentioned in last weeks Sunday Salon post that I had gotten behind in sharing my book club reviews this past year. I've decided to highlight what we've read and discussed in a mini review format. I haven't done this before so we'll see how it works. I'd appreciate your feedback!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Rebecca Skloot is a science journalist and has been fascinated by HeLa cells since she first heard about them in her high school biology class.  Ms. Skloot does a fabulous job telling this true-to-life story that reads like a detective novel as she unravels the truth as to where the HeLa cells originated and shares the truth about Henrietta Lacks and  her family. Her research is impeccable and she explains it in a way that a layman can understand. I am a health professional and never heard about HeLa cells in my college courses. I've since asked friends that I know that are nurses and doctors and they said that they may have heard mention of HeLa cells but not the significance of them or the background story. Ms. Skloot fairly looks at the historical process of the HeLa cells and lets the reader know how this has effected our own health care and medical care, research and medical ethics. As a reader, it makes you wonder what happens to those samples that we give so freely without questiong when we are at the doctors office and sign the HIPPA privacy act forms at every doctor visit.  The story that centers around the uncovering of who Henrietta Lacks is, her children and family and interviewing them will touch your heart. Her story deserved to be told and Ms. Skloot has done an honor to her memory and her family in writing this book. This is an excellent book to discuss with a book club as there are many themes to talk about. 

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

This is a wonderful book that weaves the past and present in alternating chapters and voices as it uncovers a mystery that effects grandmother and grandaughter. A little girl is abandoned on a ship headed to Australia in 1913 with only her little white suitcase filled with clothes and a book of fairy tales. She is taken in by a kind man and woman and believed that she was their own until she was told the truth by her father on her 21st birthday. Her life was never the same, her identity as "Nell" was shaken and she was determined to find the truth someday. Over time, Nell is able to uncover some truths but it is her granddaughter Cassandra who learns on Nell's deathbed the story of Nell's life.  Cassandra is determined to unravel the mystery and is drawn into a story that has layers to reveal. The Forgotten Garden is  a story told through fairy tales related to the book that Cassandra finds in the little white suitcase that Nell has kept for so many years. I truly enjoyed this story, the setting and the characters and look forward to reading more novels by Kate Morton. This was an interesting book to discuss as there were varied opinions on the style of the writing and the story itself. Some had issues with the foundation of the novel being based on many stories already told but for me that was not a factor. I highly recommend this novel for your reading pleasure and as a book club discussion. 

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak is a riveting novel written with prose that is unique and gripping. Laurie Halse Anderson has an amazing writing style that will grab your attention and won't let you go until you finish the last page. I felt the same way about this authors writing style when I read Wintergirls last year (read my review, here).  In Speak, Melinda is an outcast after she calls the police at an end of summer party but wouldn't tell anyone why or what happened. When high school starts in the fall, nobody wants to speak to Melinda and she has chosen not to speak about it and she becomes sullen and withdrawn.  Her parents know that something is wrong but for me, I couldn't relate to her parents who seemed very selfish and could have done more to help Melinda. An art teacher realizes something is wrong and tries to draw her out through her art assignments. Melinda has become self destructive as she keeps this secret inside and doesn't know how to handle the situation. Melinda is representative of so many young girls and young women who are affected by a traumatic event and don't know what to do. She must make a choice to let the sorrow destroy her or speak and get the help she so desperately deserves. Speak is an excellent book for teens, more likely a high school student who has the maturity to discuss and handle the themes shared in this novel. This would be a novel to read together and  discuss with your teen daughter and son as well as a book club. We had a fascinating book club discussion about Speak and the reality of how this type of situation can occur and does occur more often than we realize. 

Sara's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay 

This is a novel that brings to light the seldom mentioned, little known piece of French history the Vel d'Hiv round ups of the Jewish people in France in 1942. I've read many novels and non-fiction books about the Holocaust and this is one time period and event that I was unfamiliar with. This is a dark period of history when thousands of Jewish families were rounded up and held in the Velodrome d'Hiver and then transported to Auschwitz.This is a fictional account of this time period but reads as it could easily be a true-to-life story. The novel centers around a 10 year old girl Sarah, who is forced out of her home with her mother and father during these round ups and innocently leaves behind her 4 year old brother locked in a secret cupboard thinking that she would be back soon to let him out. The story alternates between Sarah's life starting at this time when she was 10 in 1942 and the life of Julia, an American journalist living in Paris starting and in 2002,  is assigned to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vel d'Hiv round ups. She finds herself fascinated and drawn to this time period and the story of Sarah and the parallels to her own life. She is compelled to uncover Sarah's story in which she finds secrets and truth about her family, about France and herself. This is a riveting and emotional novel that I found hard to read at first as parts of the story are heartbreaking. As I read the book in chunks at first, I then couldn't put the novel down and found myself researching the historical background of the Vel d'Hiv round ups.  This is a part of history that should not be forgotten as with the Holocaust it is a difficult topic to read about but one so important not to every forget. When my book club discussed this book, none of us had heard of the round ups in France and we were drawn into this novel. Some had difficulty getting past the initial part of the book but all but one persevered and read to the end. It is a book that we all agreed had an impact on us. There were parts of the story in the modern day sections with Julia that some felt were unnecessary or questionable and some had difficulty with the alternating chapters between past and present day. Overall, it is an excellent novel and one that I would highly recommend for anyone and is a good novel to discuss with a book club.

This month we will be discussing How To Be An American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway which I read and reviewed last year (read my review here),  it will be another great book to discuss with my book club. In August, we will be going to the movies and plan to see The Help. I am looking forward to this, we discussed this book last year and it was a favorite. We are all excited about seeing this movie.