Book Clubs are Cozy: Mr. Pip by Lloyd James

Last night the infamous (by our own accord) Bad Girls and Boys book club met to discuss the novel Mr. Pip by Lloyd James.

I think it would be unanimous to say that the club reached a new level of RAUCOUS and I’m not sure if it was because of the exciting news of Miriam’s pregnancy (congrats!!!) or of Marc and my decision to move to Seattle or maybe the pic below had a little something to do with it….

We drank DELICIOUS WINES! Thanks everyone for the great choices! To usher in the springtime and having absolutely nothing do do with the book, participants were leaning towards roses and whites last night although Miriam brought a gorgeous bottle of Amarone which will be enjoyed by the private book club of Leslie and Marc! Thanks Miriam! but please don’t ask for any book reports from us on that one!

Seems our hostess was in need of a little (translate a lot) of help and Meredith and Sara were happy to pitch in. Couldn’t have done it without you girls, great job and Meredith those Asparagus were pretty darned delish!

Conversation started out on the patio and then drifted inside for dinner. All members were in agreement that they really enjoyed this book and found it thought provoking and inspiring.

Mr. Pip is set against the stunning beauty on the island of Bougainville in the South Pacific during the civil war in the early 1990s. Only one white person, Mr. Watts stays behind on the island after the soldiers start the invasion. Mr. Watts steps in to teach the children when there is no one else. His only lessons consist of reading from his battered copy of Great Expectations, a book by his friend Mr. Dickens.

The novel Mr. Pip really shows what magic a child’s imagination makes possible even in the face of terrible violence and what power stories have to fuel the imagination.

I think our book club can definitely agree with this as we all seem to really enjoy escaping into all the different worlds the books we read offer us.

I think this review I found sums it up well:

“Mister Pip is sheer magic, a story about stories and their power to transcend the limits of imagination and reside in the deep heart’s core. Lloyd Jones is a brave and fierce writer, and he has given us Dickens brand new again.”
—Keith Donohue, author of The Stolen Child

The main course, pasta with peas, mint and tomatoes

Luckily, there was food to soak up the fine wine, however you wouldn’t know it from our “extra-creative” casting. Buckle up, here we go!

The Casting:
Matilda – Beyonce/stand in Rhianna
Mr. Watts – David Bowie
Mrs. Watts (Grace) – Iman
Dolores, Matilda’s mom – Madonna/soon to be replaced due to control issues by Whoopie Goldberg
Mr. Gilbert – Tracy Morgan
Daniel Gilbert – Gary Coleman
Mrs. Gilbert – Michelle Obama
Older Matilda – supermodel Alek Wek
Matilda’s dad – Tiger Woods
2nd wife of Mathilda’s dad – Margaret Cho
Pip – Michael Cera. As if there could be anyone else.
Miss Havisham – Faye Dunaway
Estella – Kim Kardashiam
Joe Gargery – Michael Landon
Pips bitchy sister Mrs. Joe – Shannen Doherty
Abel Magwitch – the convict -Padma Lakshmi
Jaggers the lawyer – IDEAS ANYBODY? Cloris Leachman?

School Women:
Oprah
Aretha
RuPaul
Eddie Murphy
Dennis Rodman
Dr. LaFaye (topic: the color blue) and Sara’s aunt!

Redskins:
Sharon Stone – Jaundiced Redskin
Aasif Mandi
Deepak Chopra
Cher
Ghandi
Djimon Hounsou
Betty White

Slain dog – Osama bin Laden or Cujo (yes, we did cast this)

Rebels:
Tyrese
Tyson
Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and their kids
James Dean
Fonze
Dennis Hopper
Peter Fonda
Billy Holiday
Billy Idol
Grace Jones

Pigs:
Mario Batali
Tom Colicchio
Babe
Arnold Ziffel

Log Matilda floats on:
Barack Obama (yes, we also really did cast this….)

My crazy barely legible notes…

A barely legible guest…!

Next time I better buy 2 Raspberry Tarts, sorry ’bout those skimpy portions gang. I didn’t realize we would have our two “dessert crashers” Ryan and Marc who I’m pretty sure were traumatized by our idea of a book club but you can’t say we didn’t warn them!

What are we reading next? It’s Craig’s pick:
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Meeting slated for the week of July 19th
Cross your fingers everyone until then, be good (or be bad, love you all either way!)

good night from yours truly,
Leslie and our mascot,