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Reply To: Should this book stay on the list?

Kathy — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 16:42:02 +0000

Absolute Yes! Takes you many places so covers many categories and is an excellent read.

Amor Towles

Nancy Bethel — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 06:46:09 +0000

I loved A Gentleman in Moscow so much that I decided to read all of Towles’ books. I like them all, but Gentleman was my favorite, then Lincoln, then Rules. What was your favorite of Towles’ books?

Recipe

Kris Ingra — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 12:52:13 +0000

One of the women in my local book club just hosted The Lincoln Highway. She shared this with us and I thought I would pass it on here. Do any of you like recipes associated with your reading?

“Fettucine Mio Amore, is the dish that Duchess makes for Emmett, Woolly, Billy, and Sally on their last night together. Here’s the recipe:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large or two small onions, halved and thinly sliced

1 pound of smoked American bacon, cut crosswise into ¼ inch strips

1 bay leaf

3/4 cup dry white wine

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

3/4 cup crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce (and not an ounce more!)

½ cup chicken broth

½ cup parmesan

Fettuccine for four, preferably fresh, cooked until al dente

In a reasonably deep saucepan, cook the onions in the olive oil until soft and translucent, then set the onions aside. In the same pan, fry the bacon with the bay leaf until the bacon is brown but not crisp. Pour off most, but not all of the bacon fat. Add back the onions, the white wine, and let simmer for a few minutes. Add the tomato sauce, chicken broth, oregano and pepper flakes, stir and let simmer another ten minutes. (Add a little more chicken broth as necessary, if the sauce is drying out.) Toss about 1/4 of the sauce with the cooked fettuccine and parmesan, divide the pasta on the plates, then spoon the rest of the sauce on top of the pasta. Serves four.”

Reply To: Duchess – Sociopath

Kris Ingra — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 12:46:53 +0000

He may fit the definition of a sociopath: having a disregard for other people. Or perhaps he is more of a narcissist, being obsessed with his own wants and needs. He certainly is not well socialized. I would not be comfortable with him in a friend group.

Reply To: The Lincoln Highway- a dream

Kris Ingra — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 12:42:30 +0000

Traveling cross country on The Lincoln Highway or Route 66 or Route 20 or down Route 1 were dreams true to the era. Perhaps it was cheaper than a train or bus ticket, or more scenic? You could certainly control your agenda more in a car than on a train or bus. People would not have been flying much for leisure. I think getting in a car and following one of those routes would have been exciting, felt exotic then. What an adventure! There is a man in my walking group who took his sons to Time Square in NYC recently to find the start of the Lincoln Highway. Following it is his dream, so that open road still has appeal. Ever read Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon? He wrote about his adventures staying off the red (on maps) interstates and sticking to the blue highways. It is a looking for the real America experience.

Reply To: Woolly dying- perfect ending???

Kris Ingra — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 12:30:24 +0000

Life is messy. The ending sadly portrays that well.

Duchess – Sociopath

Nancy Bethel — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 16:28:55 +0000

I had a friend (a judge) who described Duchess as a sociopath. I did not see him that way. Altho he certainly overreacted, and in inappropriate ways. What did you think?

The Lincoln Highway- a dream

Nancy Bethel — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 15:16:12 +0000

“Well, that’s life in a nutshell, ain’t it. Lovin’ to go to one place and havin’ to go to another.”
Why do you think Towles chose the Lincoln Highway as their dream? I’m not sure. Because it was new and would take them to their destination?

Reply To: Woolly dying- perfect ending???

Penny Poff — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 15:11:59 +0000

I agree, I believe it was the right ending. Wooly never felt at home anywhere. He connected with the brothers, but he wasn’t a brother. He just wanted to go “home,” to leave this earth. Not every story has a happy ending. Most don’t. Not in real life. This ending made the book ‘real.’

Reply To: Should this book stay on the list?

Penny Poff — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 15:08:32 +0000

Absolutely! I love this book!