Questionnaire: Thea

Book Club: First of all, let me say how thrilled I am to have been invited. I hope our association will be a long and enjoyable one!

1) What is your vision for book club?
Book Clubs are a great vehicle for expanding our views, broadening our horizons, reading a variety of books, as well as challenging others to do the same.

2) What do you hope to get out of the club? What do you hope to contribute? I hope to hear other people's views on life's happenings, and hope to share mine from my life's experiences.

3) Suggest one helpful guideline for discussion. Try to stay on topic as much as possible, be open to each other's views, and know when to agree to disagree.

Books:
4) What are a few of your favorite books? I enjoy a variety of genres, such as biographies, some fantasy fiction, historical non-fiction and historical fiction. Authors: Stephen Lawhead, Robert Massie, John Ronald Tolkien, Clive Staples Lewis, George MacDonald, Marian Zimmer Bradley, Thomas Hardy... could list more but these come to mind quickly.

5) How much do you typically read? (for example: # of books/week or month or year) I generally read one or two books a week, depending on my schedule.

6) What is your most commonly read genre? what is your least favorite genre? What genre have you never really read (and maybe always wanted to..) ? I most often read fiction, but that is only because I am librarian of my church library and fiction is the type of book needing a read-through at the moment.

7) What kind of books would you like to read in book club? More of your favorites? Something new? Any specific titles? I would like to experience books that I would not normally be inclined to read, sprinkled with the odd book that I have really enjoyed. Three titles that come to mind are "The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel, or "The Stone Diaries" by Carol Shields, or "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis. Has the book club done these yet?

8) What characteristics does a book need to make it a good discussion book? It needs to be generally well-written and have some literary value.

Cooks:
9) Do you like to cook/bake? What are you favorite things to make/eat? On occasion I enjoy cooking and baking. Mostly when I have dinner guests, or around Christmas, when baking is so much of the part of the season.

10) Do you like to experiment with new recipes, ingredients or cooking techniques? Would you like to cook/bake or eat new things in book club? I do not experiment too frequently, but would be amenable to trying.

11) What kind of menus would you like to see in book club? Would you prefer low-effort, simple snacks or more inventive meals? Or some of both? A bit of both would be fun.

12) Give an example of a book that you've read and a dish that you could serve with that book to enhance the experience. Biography of Olga Ivinskaya "Captive of Time". We could serve up saika, or kulich or farfel, all Russian pastries. There are other Russian dishes, but they tend to be heavier meals and soups.