"The Goldfinch" Part II Book Club Ideas {by Donna Tartt}

Do you remember how I teased you at the end of the Goldfinch post  Part I with this huge empty drivers license?

well, because you waiting so patiently, I will now reward you with the HILARIOUS photo collage you are about to witness.
Wait for it...

And just for the record, NO ONE looks good in a tacky blonde wig, a gangster beaded necklace and cheap red lipstick, except for maybe Xandra.

"I found myself confronted by a strange woman, tan and very fit looking: flat gray eyes, like dcoppery skin, and teeth that went in, with a split between them. Her hair, the color of caramel straw, was very straight and tattered at the ends; she was chewing gum and a strong smell of Juicy Fruit was coming off her. It's Xandra with an X, she said in a gravelly undertone. Not Sandra. 

And, God knows, not Sandy." (pg. 184)

Behold, our ode to Xandra with an X!

We used decorations that combined items inspired by Hobie's and his workshop, the Barbour's, Audrey (Theo's mother) and a few others. 

(Not all decorations are shown, a couple of my photos didn't turn out, boo.)

“Caring too much for objects can destroy you. Only—if you care for a thing enough, it takes on a life of its own, doesn’t it?”

The living room was decorated with several objects mentioned in the book to go along with the quote mentioned above. Right before we got down and dirty into our discussion, we took the following quiz to win the Goldfinch Prize of the night. You can play along and feel free to use this quiz in your own book club discussion.

 (Answers at the bottom of the post)

Delicious Reads GOLDFINCH OBJECTS Quiz

Describe the significance of the items mentioned:
1)    A white coat
2)    Silver Balloons
3)    Lollipops
4)    Emerald Earrings
5)    Tiffany's Boxes
6)    Sailboat
7)    Juicy Fruit
8)    Coffee Mug
9)    White Plate
10)  Heart Charm
11)  Hunter Boots
12)  Drivers License
13)  Passport

Bonus/Tie Breaker: What is Hobie's first name? 

Congrats to KELLIE HALL for winning in the Tie Breaker to get the fabulous prize, complete with a Goldfinch Mug, Heart Keychain, Goldfinch Wine Charm and Xandra's favorite Juicy Fruit gum!

Can I just take a minute to gush about how crazy TALENTED this book's Moderator Brooke is?!? 

Check out this Goldfinch painting that she just whipped up in a couple days before book club- I mean, come on, that's almost IDENTICAL to the original! (see below) 

 

Here you can see the original 350 year old Goldfinch painting done by Carel Fabritius, painted in 1654  measuring only 9 X 13 inches. The bird in the painting is actual size. If you saw the painting hung high on the wall, as the painter intended, the size of the bird and the angle of its two perches might easily persuade your eye that it was seeing a real goldfinch.

DID YOU KNOW...

"The Goldfinch was painted the year Fabritius died. The most promising painter of his time, student of Rembrandt, an influence on Vermeer, he was killed at the age of 32 when a gunpowder magazine exploded in Delft in 1654. Nearly all his paintings were destroyed. The Goldfinch, for whatever reason, survived. The man explaining the painting in the museum claimed that if you look at its surface closely, you could still see minute traces of the explosion."

Photo Source

 One more time, just like in the Old Spice commercials-
look at the original,
now look at the painting Brooke did.
Look at the original,
now look at the painting Brooke did...

I didn't take any photos during Brooke's fabulous presentation BUT luckily you can download the wonderful Power Point she created full of facts, about the author, quotes, discussion questions and photos!

DOWNLOAD THE GOLDFINCH POWER POINT HERE.

After our engaging book discussion ended, Brooke handed each member their own little brown paper bag with a "morphine lollipop" inside just like Pippa's.

 (Beginning of Chapter 4 and pg. 159)

At the very end of The Goldfinch, Theo, now an adult, looks back on all that happened to him since the explosion, since his fate and that of Fabritius’s painting were joined. As much as he would like to believe otherwise, he says, “I've come to believe that there’s no truth beyond illusion. Because, between ‘reality’ on the one hand, and the point where the mind strikes reality, there’s a middle zone, a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists, and all magic.”

After reading The Goldfinch, I feel that Fabritius AND Tartt have made art and together, they created magic.

ANSWERS to The Goldfinch QUIZ

1)  White Coat- Audrey's coat she wore on her last day with Theo.
2)  Silver Balloons- Pippa had silver balloons hanging in her bedroom at Hobie's.
3)  Lollipops- Pippa had a morphine lollipop when Theo came to visit her.
4)  Emerald Earrings- Audrey's earrings that Theo's father took and gave to Xandra (then Theo takes them back later)
5)  Tiffany's Box- Theo and Kitsey shopped at Tiffany's.
6)  Sailboat- Andy and Mr. Barbour- sailing.
7)  Juicy Fruit- The gum that Xandra likes to chew.
8)  Coffee Mug-  They drank coffee a TON throughout the novel- many times to sober up.
9)  White Plate-  Represented the China plates Theo and Kitsey shopped for.
10) Heart Charm- Goes along with Theo's musings at the end of the book that the heart wants what it wants… and what if it wants things that won't be good for it?
11) Hunter Boots- Theo places some items in Pippa's green Hunter boots right before he leaves for Amsterdam.
12) Driver's License- Theo and Boris find Xandra's license. It reveals that her real name is Sandra Terrell.
13) Passport- Theo gets stuck in Amsterdam because Boris has his passport. He tries to obtain a new one and gets stonewalled by unhelpful personnel.
Bonus/Tie Breaker: Hobie's real first name is James.

Hope you enjoyed our quiz! Thanks for participating!!

Be sure to stop by tomorrow to catch a glimpse into our discussion of the full BOOK REVIEW!

"The Goldfinch" Part I Book Club Ideas {by Donna Tartt}

Our book club has been looking forward to reading THE GOLDFINCH for the past four months- let me explain why.
Back in March I opened an email that came from a lovely gal who works for Little Brown & Company. Wait, is this for real, did someone from one of the LARGEST PUBLISHING HOUSES actually contact me and my book club?!? Yes, this is REAL, this is a real email!

Here is an excerpt from the email I received,

"I love your book club. In fact, everyone here at Little, Brown loves it—ever since I saw your post about BOSSYPANTS and sent it around to my colleagues, we've been raving about you guys. The editor of the book—our publisher, Reagan Arthur—even forwarded your post to Tina Fey. Her response? “Oh my goodness, that is adorable. And it must have been a nine-hour meeting.”
 I wanted to reach out and see if you’d like to become one of our Book Club Insiders, From the PowerPoint to the menu, from the performance to the discussion, you guys are really a perfect example of what book clubs can be. Finally, would your group be interested in reading THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt?" 

I didn't realize until I finished reading that email that I was standing in place doing my happy jig that I do when I'm really excited! (It's a real thing, I can't help but dance when I'm happy!) I was thrilled that our book club became noticed by Little Brown and even more thrilled to know that they wanted Delicious Reads to become "Book Club Insiders" for them!! So, when Little Brown asked us to read the 770 page Pulitzer Prize winning book THE GOLDFINCH we all immediately said "YES!"
My hope is that anyone reading this post will find some great ideas for their book club and find inspiration in the pages of this fantastic book.

This Book's Moderator was

BROOKE!

*Brooke is an aspiring author, obsessed with debuting her first novel- REMality. She blogs once a week and also contributes on Delicious Reads with her "Writerly Rants" series. As our Moderator, Brooke planned the entire evening including: finding the book inspired décor, putting together the menu, hosting her quiz, creating the discussion questions and powerpoint and putting together the fun "art exhibit" we toured before our book discussion!

Welcome to "Hobart and Blackwell's," 

Please ring the green bell if you'd like to come in to join our book discussion. (pg. 120)

Right as members walked into book club, they were escorted into the "art gallery" where they were directed to enjoy the "festive champagne" and hors d'oeuvres. 

Everyone sipped their drinks and nibbled on the yummy finger foods while observing the many "masterpieces" hanging on the walls as we discussed the difference in Line, Texture, Color, Shape...just kidding, we mostly gossiped about the book because we couldn't wait to start talking 

about it!

Brooke explained to us that all of the "art" we were looking at were actual paintings mentioned in The Goldfinch.

If you want to see all of the artwork mentioned and/or described in The Goldfinch then you have to check out THIS Pinterest board that compiled them!

These finch inspired appetizers that Elizabeth created were DELICIOUS!
If you would like to learn to make them for yourself, you can find the blog post with instructions HERE.

After we finished "culturing" ourselves (cough, cough) in the art gallery, we moved into the kitchen to load up our dinner plates and grab a Goldfinch Mocktail.

Here is the full menu Brooke put together for The Goldfinch and if you read closely, you will see page numbers marked by many of the foods indicating why she choose what she did.

You can find this AMAZING and addictive carbonara recipe at Cara Nicoletti's Yummy Books blog which is GORGOUS and will make you want to lick your computer screen.  

(Photo by Nicoletti from Yummy books)
Find this decadent open faced cheese sandwich recipe over at Yummy Books along with many other Goldfinch recipes

The recipe we used for this heavenly panna cotta was from The Kitchn and it was DELICIOUS!

Want to know WHY there is an over sized Xandra drivers license sitting in the middle of the kitchen during our meeting? 

Then you'll just have to come back tomorrow for Part II of The Goldfinch post where I explain the rest of our evening including why Xandra was on all of our minds. ;)

Looks from Books: The Goldfinch

For the month of June in Delicious Reads Book Club we are reading the Pulitzer Prize Winning book: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. 

Much of this book takes places in art galleries and centers around a young boy named Theo who loses his family at a young age. Theo desperately clings to a small painting that reminds him of his mother and the life he had before everything changed in the blink of an eye.

“This is just about the first painting I ever really loved,” his mom tell him as she pauses in front of a tiny canvas.
-Original painting done by Dutch painter, carel fabritus in 1654

 This goldfinch painting leads Theo to the underground art world where he finds intrigue and danger!

I wanted to use the setting of an art gallery to take photographs for this book and then put together a look I would wear to an art gallery. I found this gorgeous red dress via J Crew for under $30 and paired it with nude heels, a sparkly cardigan, a crisp white handbag and a simple tasseled silver necklace. These pictures were taken at an art museum, just west of Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

 Head over to Looksforlovelies.com to see more looks by Jacque as well as beauty and cooking posts  

Heels - Nordstrom Rack (also here) 

Handbag - TJ Maxx (similar)

Dress - J Crew

Cardigan - Nordstrom (similar)

Necklace - Target (similar)

Watch - Michael Kors (similar)

Characters: The ones We Love and The Ones We Love To Hate

(photo source)

Since we're all about devouring good books over here at Delicious Reads, we love to talk about the characters that that move us- the ones we're rooting for and the ones we love to hate. The more you understand why you're identifying with your favorite characters, the better you'll become at choosing books you can't put down.

Typically, the main characters can be broken down into the protagonist and the antagonist- they're pretty easy to spot: the protagonist is the one we're rooting for and the antagonist is the one in the way of the protag's goal.

(photo source)

But this is where it gets interesting. The characters who move me the most are intricately layered. The hero has several flaws that at any moment could be his/her undoing. And our favorite villains have a sliver of humanity in them- a reason to hope for redemption.

Think of Dexter (Dexter Book Series and Dexter TV Series)- the Miami Forensic specialist who is a serial killer- the caveat is he's only killing other serial killers who have slipped through the legal system and pose a significant threat. So you want to hate him… but he's saving lives, so it gets a little complicated. He's the protagonist in the series, but his "dark passenger" gives him an unexpected depth that leaves you questioning if you love him or hate him.

(photo source)

Consider Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada Book and The Devil wears Prada Movie). She is one of the most powerful women in the business. She gets what she wants with possess poise and grace toward those she wants to impress. But we love to hate her because she's so heartless to her staff. She's the antagonist, but we briefly catch a glimpse of a few redeeming qualities, leaving you to wonder if all her nastiness is a product of her situation.

(photo source)

Jay, from The Great Gatsby (The Great Gatsby Book and The Great Gatsby Movie) is a man of ambition. We admire his tenacity and his passion- we identify with him because we all want to make more out of ourselves. But as the story unfolds from the view of his neighbor, Jay's shallowness is exposed, leaving us with that sick feeling of a disappearing mirage.

(photo source)

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Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games Book and The Hunger Games Movie) is the protagonist of this series but in order to save her sister and herself, she has to kill many other innocent teenagers. You don't want to root for a murderer, but her circumstances force her to do what she does, so you can get behind her motives.

(photo source)

And of course we can't talk about layered and complex characters who get lost in their fight for good without mentioning Walter White. Walt from Breaking Bad is a high school chemistry teacher with lung cancer. In his quest to provide for the family he will leave behind, he begins cooking and selling Meth. Walt is about as complex of a character as you can get, and we both love and hate him.



(photo source)

As a writer, I try to infuse as much depth into my characters as I can because that evokes emotion and moves us. Everyone has flaws, everyone tries and fails. That's what we want as readers- to feel the humanity of our favorite characters. To identify with them and then question what you would do in their situation.

The next two books we're reading at Delicious Reads both have complex characters that I'm really excited to read and discuss.



(photo source)

In The Husband's Secret, by Liane Moriarty (our May selection to be discussed at the beginning of June), the lives of three women are intertwined when Cecilia Fitzpatrich finds a letter from her husband that is only supposed to be opened in the event of his death. The secret held in the envelope will make her question everything.

(photo source)

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt is our June selection that I will be moderating at the beginning of July. I'm SO excited about this book!! Little Brown & Co. invited us to be one of their Book Club Insiders and generously sent us copies!! We love Little Brown & Co!

The Goldfinch just won The Pulitzer Prize! Congrats Donna Tartt!! It's the story of Theo Decker, who survives an explosion at a museum that kills his mother. It's in this dire moment that he's entrusted with a painting of a Goldfinch that changes his life forever. Theo is a very layered and complex character and I'm so excited to discuss everything about him. I'm not going to reveal anything here because I don't want to spoil your read. Just trust me, pick up this book!!




I hope that my rant will help you pick out the complexities of your favorite characters, allowing you to appreciate your favorite heroines, heroes and characters you love to hate.

Your Writerly Ranter,
Brooke