The Greatest Treasure Hunt in History - "The Monuments Men" {by Robert M. Edsel}

 We heard chatter about this interesting book called, "The Monuments Men" early last fall before we knew it was ever going to be made into a movie and after learning a little more about it, we knew right away that we wanted to read it!

Before you read  The Monuments Men (or even after), you should download this detailed character list that one of my fabulous book club members created to help keep who's who straight! I WISH I would have had this piece of gold before I started reading! 

It was well-known that Adolf Hitler was hoarding Europe’s plundered art for his planned Führer Museum in Linz, Austria. In addition to stealing Europe’s paintings and sculptures, he also intended to destroy “degenerate” works of art that he despised from both Jewish and modern artists. GASP!

American soldiers standing next to Manet’s ‘In the Conservatory.’
American soldiers and the Monuments Men later discovered Manet’s “In the Conservatory” hidden in Germany’s Merkers salt mines along with large amounts of Nazi gold, and many other stolen works of art in 1945.

Besides works of art, the Merkers mine complex held most of the Third Reich’s gold reserves (roughly $5 billion in today’s dollars) and paper currency.

We may not have had any Monet's or Rembrandt's but we had quite the collection of artwork and sculptures adorning our meeting! 
There are still TONS of missing paintings, sculptures, and documents from WWII that have not been accounted for. You can join the hunt and see a list of all the art still missing HERE.

Brittanie created several of these "MISSING, HAVE YOU SEEN THIS PAINTING" posters and had them hanging all around the room. 
Ahhhhhh, can't you just imagine coming across a Vincent Van Gogh painting in your great grandparents attics that they somehow forgot about?!? 
Or maybe the didn't...
Muuahahahaaa!

-Moving on-
We had a perfect Parisian menu for this book, mostly because we didn't want to eat army rations if we were being totally true to the book. We know that the Monuments Men traveled all over Europe but a large portion of the book was set in France and who doesn't like Crepes right?

Brittanie's mom visited our book club and brought with her this DELICIOUS Beef Bourguignon as our main course.
 (Yes, we were spoiled!)

We had Crepes coming out of our ears! Some were filled with a heavenly lemon creme anglaise and we also had a 'build your own crepe' station with all the fixings.
We wanted to have a little German influence represented so we also had a scrumtious homemade apple strudel. 

Download the recipes for all the food HERE!

CHEERS!

Brittanies parents brought home these adorable mini olive oil and Dijon mustard's from their recent trip to France as take home gifts. Is it just me or does food taste better when you know it comes from Europe?

DISCUSSION TIME!

Brittanie did a great job talking about each character, many of the artworks and major places mentioned in the book. We learned that one of the most frequently stolen art works in the world is the “Ghent Altarpiece.”

The altarpiece is ginormous, weighing over a ton! It was coveted by Hitler since it symbolized the ideal of Aryan supremacy, having been painted by a Germanic artist. The altarpiece has been moved several times over the centuries. Art historian Noah Charney describes the altarpiece as one of the more coveted and desired pieces of art, the victim of 13 crimes since its installation, and seven thefts! 

I found this beautiful piece of art FASCINATING! If you are like me and want to learn more about this amazing altarpiece and see the different panels close up, I'd recommend you go HERE.

ABOVE: Shows the altarpiece and its panels when opened
BELOW: Shows the altarpiece when its closed.

(The Monuments Men uncovering the famous ‘Ghent Altarpiece.’)

The Altarpiece was taken by the Germans in 1942 from its hiding place at Chateau de Pau, in the south of France, and found in the Altaussee salt mine by the Monuments Men after the war.

This Rembrandt self portrait once hung in the museum of Harry Ettlinger’s — the last surviving Monuments Men — old home town of Karlsruhe, in the south-west of Germany. In fact, Ettlinger still remembers when he found the painting in the salt mines of Heilbronn after the war.

Today, the World War II veteran now has a print of the painting hanging in his living room. “It reminds me of what we achieved and the sacrifices that people like my buddies made.” The real painting has been returned to the State Art Gallery in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Brittanie, gave us a tough WWII quiz and the three lucky winners won an AMAZING PRIZE! Brittanies parents recently returned from France and brought back these prints for her give-a-way, straight from Paris to our book club!

DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT OUR OFFICIAL STAR RATING AND REVIEW!
View our goggle docs presentation HERE
Download our recipes for this book HERE

Do your thing and don't care if they like it "Bossypants" {by Tina Fey} Book Club Ideas

We couldn't have picked a better book to start 2014 off with a BANG when we chose "Bossypants!" 

Tina Fey's writing is honest, intimate, observant and of course, H I L A R I O U S!!   

To start the evening off, we played a game where everyone had to guess which famous actor or actress they were by asking only yes or no questions to guess the name on their back.

 It was the perfect way to get the meeting going!

Now, let's E A T!

From what we read, Tina Fey is a junk food "foodie!"

We made sure to have as many of her favorite foods on the table as possible as we teetered on the edge of developing diabetes. 

And then, it was time for Tina Fey, 

The woman, 

The giggle factory ,

The legend herself,

To make her appearance.

Brooke was the PERFECT Tina!

(She could have filled in as her stunt or butt double on set if you ask me!)

Before "Tina" got us started on our book discussion, we were all treated to a short  but oh so sweet stand up act that had us giggling like book club girls through our Krispy Kreme's and Pepsi!

(You can see an excerpt of her performance on Brooke's writing blog HERE)

Brooke, you are FEARLESS and we love you for it!

"LIVE FROM NEW YORK, IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT!"

I mean, COME ON... 

She could totally pass for Tina's twin sister right?  ;)

Start start off our discussion, Brooke challenged us with a FOOD QUIZ.
We had three minutes to write down as many reasons why Tiny Fey brought up the list of foods mentioned through out the book!
   

"I WANT TO GO TO THERE"
And so we did.

Just as Tiny Fey writes/preforms many parodies for SNL that are hilarious, there is usually an underlying message of truth or importance. Bossypants is no exception. Here are a few of the topics we discussed that were highlighting in her book:

-Unfair Judgments

-Sexism vs. Equality in the workplace

-Rules of Improv-Saying YES

-Mommy Guilt 

The video below is of Tina Fey reading the prayer she wrote to her daughter which is HILARIOUS! You have to watch it! (Unless you don't like to laugh then this video is not for you.)

 

We have a few fabulous human beings in our book club, 

scroll through and see for yourself.



"Thank you and Goodnight!"

You can download our "Bossypants" PowerPoint presentation HERE.

And don't forget to check out our star rating and full book review HERE.

Don't forget to check out Brooke's Tina Fey SNL performance HERE

"Shadow & Bone" {by Leigh Bardugo} Book Club Ideas

My first thoughts upon reading the first chapter of Shadow and Bone...

"I want to own a kefta... in every color – including black. I want to attend The Little Palace and gawk at the Darkling and wonder what dark things he's up to.

Oh Mal...you can track me anyday.

:)

By the end of the book...

"I need Siege and Storm! I need to start reading it IMMEDIATELY!!! Ahhhhhh, this book is SO good!!"

Let's talk about our book club meeting and what we did to make "Shadow and Bone" jump off the pages...

(If only we could have figured out how to get the Darkling and Mal to jump out the book!)

Before and after shot of my living room with book club



The food table

Entryway table

More decor touches

The book themed Menu:

You can make some of our special dishes for yourself by simply downloading the recipes below!

BEEF STROGANOFF

BUTTERWEEK ALMOND CAKE

AND, as an additional BONUS FREEBIE, you can download an absolutely beautiful, amazing and DELICIOUS digital "Shadow and Bone Cookbook" created by Chef Elle Jauffret.

I contacted Elle Jauffret who gave me permission to share a sample of her S&B cookbook that can be downloaded HERE. 

I hope that Elle and I can work together in the future because she loves to take books to the next level just like we tend to do!

A little more about Elle:

Born and raised in France, Elle Jauffret left her native country in search of adventure with the only certainty that she would become either a lawyer or a writer. She is the author of the James Normal series (middle grader mysteries) She lives in California with her family where she entertains a growing following with a Facebook blog in which food and original fiction are tightly entwined. 

More details

A few of us dressed up in our own versions of keftas for the meeting while everyone else wore the Grisha colors, Red, Blue, Purple and Black!

Bethany was in charge of Moderating again and BOY did she did a fantastic job!! She turned my house into a Russian winter scene right out the book and created the most amazing presentation that allowed her to jump in and out of the Ravka map to show us different things!
She used an online presentation site called PREZI that allowed her to do this.

You can view Bethany's presentation for Shadow and Bone HERE

We held a drawing for a couple fun prizes and Angie and Brittanie were the lucky winners!

Angie won a copy of "Siege and Storm" and a gorgeous Stag Necklace! (shown below)
And Brittanie won the most adorable set of Russian Doll measuring cups along with a Shadow and Bone Soundtrack that Bethany made.
(More soundtrack info below)



This necklace can also be found here

FREEBIE BELOW!

This is the playlist that Bethany put together for Shadow and Bone! She researched Leigh Bardugo's favorite music, she added in a few that she thought went well with the book and ended the soundtrack with a song written by Leigh herself!

I created this playlist printable that can easily be downloaded for your own personal use.
I also created a blank version so you can add in your own text for whatever you decide to create with it!

DOWNLOAD ORIGINAL SHADOW AND BONE PLAYLIST HERE

DOWNLOAD BLANK VERSION HERE

Don't forget to check out Leigh's Pinterest page where you will find tons of awesome fan art, book inspiration and other clothing and imagery ideas for her books!

These were two of my favorites!

 Thank you again Leigh for commenting on our Instagram photo and finding the time to Skype with us at book club, you made our  night and made us giggle, what more could we ask for?!

Read our Skyped Q&A with Leigh HERE

Read our official book review HERE