Last night, with the rain softly pattering down on the skylights in our events space, we nestled in with some Montefalco Rosso at our monthly book club. Our friend and book club member Dick, who researches our wine and runs weekly tastings, educated us on the two wines we sipped for a brief moment while we noshed on some Italian cheese.

Once fueled, we started on discussing our latest book – How to be both by Ali Smith.  Though shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and in the display windows of every independent book store in DC, this group gave it a resounding thumbs down. Three of our book club members gave up reading in exasperation, while those who powered through had difficulty reconciling the style and the themes in a productive way. The conversation was wonderful nonetheless.

Did any of you art history buffs recognize the eyes from the cover of this book from our very own National Gallery here in DC? That’s right, Francesco del Cossa (who is a protagonist in this novel) has his painting of Saint Lucy in the permeant collection of the National Gallery of Art!  Anyone want to go on a field trip?

Next month’s book should be significantly earlier to digest. Nancy Harmon Jenkins has just published a tome on olive oil, called Virgin Territory. It is a definitive guide to our favorite liquid gold, where stories, science, and recipes weave together in perfect harmony. On flipping through we even found our good friend Salvatore in it’s pages!

But don’t take our word for it (as our word has been tarnished apparently by last month’s selection), you can always read the review in the Washington Post.

If you missed this month’s club, be sure to join us next time, on Tuesday April 7th at 7PM, to discuss Virgin Territory. And stop by to pick up your copy in-store, where we will happily let you taste some of the fine oils she writes about in her book!

— Via Umbria