ROOM by emma donoghue

We met and discussed ROOM this week at, our bi-monthly,  book club.  ROOM was our second book.  We all agreed that we liked it, but none of us really enjoyed it…..I’ll try to explain.  ROOM is written from five year old Jacks’s perspective.  Room is his world.  It is where he was born, and where he and his mother, Ma, exist.

“Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it’s the prison where she has been held for seven years.  Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in an 11×11 square foot space.  But Jack’s curiosity is building along side Ma’s own desperation and she knows that ROOM cannot contain either much longer.”

Phew!  See what I’m saying?  I couldn’t stop reading for a couple reasons.  One the whole book is written from the perspective and in the voice of five year old Jack.  Very interesting seeing “the world”  through the eyes of a child.   Two, I HAD to find out what happened to the characters….did they escape, did they survive, etc. etc.   At one particularly suspensful point in the book I actually was so drawn into the story that I think I had a panic attack.  I couldn’t take it!  I absolutley was putting myself in the characters position and I couldn’t breath, my heart was pounding out of my chest, and sweat was spurting from my arm pits.  It was horrible!  (After that you’re gonna just want to run right out and buy this book aren’t you?!)  With that said, I feel like I also need to tell you that the author did a marvelous job of not giving away too many gory details……but just enough detail, so you knew what was happening.  She let you use your own imagination…of which I have a very large, vividly graphic imagintation…that made this a hard read for me.

We all agreed we would recommend ROOM.  It made for great discussion.  However, we also all pretty much agreed that it is a book that left you wanting to know more about the characters.  Very cleverly written in, but it was one persons perspective.  I wanted to know more about what the other characters were thinking.  Room is definitely a book that will keep your wheels a turnin’ even after you are all done reading it.

OK, so I know you want to know what we ate…..or what I ate.  Why do I feel like I’m the only one eating at parties sometimes?!@#^*&^!  Wassupwiddat?  It was my baking day for the Pregnancy Resource Center, so I made sure I baked extra for the Book Club Babes sweet tooths.  Then the rest was super easy.  Heres’s what I served:

To Drink: Sangria~ 2 bottles white table wine, 1 bottle merlot, 1/2 cup orange rum, fruit( lemon, lime, orange, apple, couple hands full of grapes, peach) + bottled waters

To Eat: Naan Bread Pizza’s~ Sun dried Tomato with fresh Mozzarella and Ree’s Fig Proscuitto Pizza
I buy the Naan bread from Costco, it comes 6 slabs of bread per pack.  It is perfect for making quick pizza’s.   Turn your oven up to 450-500 degrees, top the naan bread with what ever toppings you love and pop them in the oven.  Seriously, they make a fantastic quick crust!

The sun dried tomato and mozzarella pizza was made with a spread I had received as a gift, plus thin sliced fresh mozzarella.  You could also used canned pizza sauce.  It’s all good!  You can’t mess this one up.  I promise.

Hummus served with Pita Chips~ Purchased from my local grocery store….easy peasy. I spruced up the hummus with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil, Voila!

Indian Layered Dip (recipe here)  served with warmed Naan bread and/or pita chips

Sweets~ Ginger Chocolate Banana Bread,  and Brownies
The brownies were from a box, the banana bread recipe is from A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg.  This banana bread is heavenly, I will be sharing the recipe soon!

I love to prepare food, so for me this was all very simple and fun.  But I do realize that for some of you this sort of gathering would send you running for the hills.  Remember it’s all about the people you’re with not how clean or in style your house is.  It’s not about the food that’s served,  OK well maybe just a little about the food that doesn’t have to be hard or fancy.  Pick it all up at your deli, dips, brownies the whole chabang!  Set it out with paper plates and call it good.  As my good friend Sandy says we need to focus on the people we have in our home, not on what our home isn’t or how what we are serving has fallen short or your self imposed expectations.  When you start apologizing for your not so perfect house, food etc. that takes the focus off your guests and puts it on you.  Make no apologies for your hostessing abilities.  But I digress…I will get off my soap box now because that is a whole other hospitality post.

Stay tuned:  I’m going to be giving away a signed copy of one of my all time favorite Foodie Reads, and I will also be sharing a recipe from this book.

Can you guess what book it might be?

With Luv,
Sheila