Evening Two

The majority has it!

Evening Two will take place on Sunday, January 10th, 5:00 PM at Gretchen & Jason’s place.

We will be discussing the movie Lars and the Real Girl.

See you then!

Evening One

We met on Sunday, November 8th at Gretchen and Jason’s.  While dining on veggie chili with lots of toppings, we discussed Everything Is Illuminated.

We were evenly split on whether we thought Lista was Augustine, and whether the final letter from Alex was actually written by Jonathan.  We also appreciated the story telling from different characters and points of view, and talked about the ways we each used to decipher Foer’s style.

And now we’re ready for Evening Two!

Our next discussion will be of a movie.  I have suggested Lars and the Real Girl as a possibility.  Please email me with other suggestions – or comment on the blog.  I’m happy to host again, unless someone else wants to.

We’re aiming for early January – please take the poll on the right to help us pick a day that works best for everyone.

Two Weeks To Go

Wow. Time has a way of getting away from me!

Our first Evening is scheduled for a mere 2 weeks from today.  Great!  Hopefully you’ve had a chance to read the book, or will have a chance to finish it before we gather.  If not, no worries.  Come and discuss it anyway!

A little business… we will meet at our place at 5:00 on Sunday, November 8th and dine and discuss until about 7:00 (so a few of our participants can run off to Lake Shore Jive rehearsal).

So, are you coming?  Please either comment on this post or send me an email at my gmail address so I can get a headcount for dinner.

Or, let me know if November 8th does not work for you.  I arbitrarily chose the date and will happily choose another to suit the majority of schedules!

An Old Idea... Finally Executed

I used to belong to a book club that was the perfect group of people, at a perfect time in my life, reading all fabulous books, and dining out at great Chicago finds.  I have been meaning to join a new book club for years, but somehow, the time and the idea got away from me.

Tom and I were talking about getting together to discuss books earlier this summer - and thus the idea revived.  I also thought it would be nice not to limit what we could discuss, adding movies, and the broader idea began.

In addition to discussion, how about some food?  I love to cook and will happily prepare dinner for a discussion night.  I am happy to head out to a great Chicago restaurant for a discussion as well!


A basic outline of Dine & Discuss: 

1. Frequency
   We will have an Evening once every 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the topic being discussed.
   It is likely that an Evening would be planned for 6 weeks for a longer book, but 4 weeks for a play or a movie.
   
2. Dining
   Each Evening will have a Host.
   It will be the Host's responsibility to plan and organize our dining, being considerate of our participants' dietary restrictions and finances.
   We have many dining options, such as the Host serving us dinner, having a potluck, ordering in, or dining out.
   We will take turns as the Host either on a voluntary basis or on a rotating schedule.
   
3. Discussion
   We will take a poll here on the blog to determine the category of our next discussion.
   At each discussion, a participant with an idea for our next discussion will present it to the group.
   The group will choose the item for the next Evening.
   
4. Communication
   We will communicate and contribute additional thoughts and ideas via this blog on a voluntary basis.
   I will maintain our participant list, Host scheduling, and all technical aspects of Dine & Discuss.

In order to get things started, I have chosen our first discussion item, an interesting read, "Everything Is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer.  I volunteer to host our first evening at my house, where I will cook you food.  I have chosen Sunday, November 8th, as our first evening, but we can modify this date based on our participants' wishes!

If this idea interests you, please let me know -- or request to join this blog (link below).

I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say on many subjects!