This month we were reading Freedom, by Johnathan Franzen.
I have to thank Liz for pointing me in the direction of 'The Silver Palate Cookbook' which Patty, one of the principal characters uses. I have to confess this passed me by while reading the book, but after Liz's comment on last month's cake I looked it up and it does exist. So I used this decadent chocolate cake recipe, which I have to say is delicious, very light and chocolatey, although I would put in slightly less sugar.
Patty's husband Walter is a conservationist trying to protect just one species of bird, the Cerulean Warbler. After seeing its picture I did fall in love with this little blue bird, so I painted its portrait onto some fondant discs.
Anyway, the book scored an average of 8.5, with most people going for 9 or more. I did enjoy the begining and end, but found the middle hard going. However, after our discussion I feel that I maybe missed a lot of the symbolism and themes - the other book clubbers are much more literate than me: I found myself reading the book just to discover what cake I could make!
We haven't decided on the next book yet, as we are giving ourselves Christmas off.
