Already Dead

Already Dead.  What foresight the author had!  His title aptly describes the level of discussion that ensued from our June book pick.  The upside is, the book gets a score of 8 by default, since El Jefe was the only one who read enough to vote, let alone finish.  For what it's worth, El Jefe loved this noir-to-the-core novel with a crazy cast of offbeat characters--pot growers, spiritualists, Buddhist monks, and deadbeat policemen-- set along California's far north coast.  On the other hand (and here, El Jefe had to resort to Amazon just to get a counterpoint opinion!), "It's extremely long, meandering and often losing the thread of the plot; disturbed by meaningless shifts in the method of narration (from first to third person to retrospective documents), marred by far too much stream-of-consciousness rambling, such as a series of letters written by a lunatic which hold no interest at all."  Amen.

For anyone who noticed the format change, it's because there was simply no book discussion, so might as well dispense with it up front!  There was, however, plenty of enjoyment to be had otherwise at our little summer BC retreat, held in Cabana 173 down at the Bel Air Bay Club.

#173 is slightly north of this view

How many people in the world have the chance to relax at a cozy beach retreat, spending a weekday night with good friends, lots of wine, discussing books (or not) while the sun sets and the waves crash against the shore not 10 feet away?  Only nine people!!  How lucky can we get?  Pretty amazing.  We noshed on the Contessa's roasted eggplant and red pepper tapenade, always a winner, followed by a cheese and charcuterie platter and Feast from the East Chinese chicken salad (yes, yes, a bit of a mixed bag, but hey, no cooking facilities), and for dessert birthday cupcakes in honor of El Jefe and Logan's Run.  Delish!

We also just had to do a little beachside shopping... some of El Jefe's faves from Janna Conner Designs:

Gold wrapped smokey druzy briolette on an antique gold plated chain.

Gold wrapped cobalt quartz and turquoise.

Yellow gold starburst with diamond.

Our next meeting is at The Saint's house, on Wednesday July 11.  The Highlander is on apps and we need a dessert volunteer.  Surely most of you are nearly finished with our book, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, and ready to start on the August book, Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn.  We need great picks for the fall, so bring your LOD suggestions to the meeting!  Until next time, Read Early and Often! xoej