Tags
art, book club, Devil in the White City, Dinner, Family, Ottoman Empire, Pamuk, van Meegeren, Vermeer
We seem to be reading about some pretty shady characters lately.
My mom reminded me at book club last night that I never did a proper post about her book choice. Sorry mom!
Mom’s choice was Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Everyone (I think) agreed that the book was pretty reminiscent of River of Doubt, a great historical book that really reads like a novel. We had Chicago style steak sandwiches to go with the book that tells about the making of the World’s Fair in Chicago.
Here’s H. H. Holmes (or Hermann Mudgett’s) mug shot; one of the prime characters in Devil in the White City. Apparently there’s going to be a movie based on his story starring Leo D.
I’m now realizing I also forgot to follow up on Will’s pick! Another book of murder and mayhem, though really different from Devil in the White City. For Will’s pick we read My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk. It takes place in Turkey during the Ottoman empire in the world of miniaturists.
For this meal, Will and I made homemade lamb meatballs using our new meat grinder (thanks Matt!). They were yummy.
I think one of the best things about family book club has been reading about so many different things. We went from reading about spies in WWI and WWII, to reading about 16th century Turkish miniaturists, to reading about Chicago at the turn of the century, to reading about art forgery in WWII. Love it.
Our conversation about My Name is Red turned into an interesting conversation about “What is art?” Which brings us full circle to Evan’s pick that we just discussed last night, The Man Who Made Vermeers. My favorite question of the night was, “Are there forgers who forge van Meegeren forging Vermeers?” I believe that one was Will.
For this meal we went Dutch. I’ll let Evan describe the lovely stew he made with juniper berries and a potato and celery root mash, maybe he’ll share the recipe. We had a traditional cucumber salad, apps of fish and crackers, Belgian beer (because we couldn’t find Dutch, and figured it was close enough, a forgery you might say…), and “Dutch” chocolate cake, as my mom insisted.
Some of us were not very taken with van Meegeren or Vermeer’s art.
Here’s a Vermeers you might recognize from a book of the same name and then a movie, note the girl and her pearl earring:
And a van Meegeren. This looks like one to hang in the bedroom:
Next up, my pick, Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden.