Flipped and American Experience: Dolly Madison

Two good movies to check out. I found these on Netflix.

1. Flipped. Cute, innocent, clean little coming-of-age romance. This is what I will watch with my daughter when she's 12 and is home on the weekends because 12 is too young to have a social life, and still young enough to enjoy Movie Nights With Mom. Put it right next to Anne of Green Gables and Ever After. Just such a nice movie with universal appeal. I recommended it to my sister and she watched it and loved it. This is one of those movies people mean when they say, "There are good, clean movies out there, I know there are." Good. Clean. Funny. Delightful. Great way to spend an hour or two.

2. American Experience: Dolly Madison. I knew nothing about Dolly Madison, wife of president Madison. Fascination little documentary, interesting, clever, informative. Really good for anyone who has any inkling of interest in American history. Had I been able to watch this instead of hearing a lecture about the War of 1812, I may have actually been interested. This is how history should be taught and learned. Great stuff.

State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy

I had a bad attitude about this book when I saw it on our book club list for this year. I'd tried other culinary-based fiction and came away wishing I'd tried another place to feast. So far, the only one would could pull of writing with a foodie twist was Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires, but that was non-fiction.

So food mystery? Please.

But I was wrong! I love it when I'm wrong and the book is good! State of the Onion is a pleasure. No Pulitzer necessarily, but a fun, breezy, escape-y, "ooh, that sounds yummy", good plot, decent writing, nicely constructed foodie mystery.

My library doesn't have the rest of the series and that makes me sad. So I wrote them a nice note on their website and suggested they purchase the rest of the series. Usually they take my advice (it's nothing personal, I think they are just glad someone has a suggestion) and I hope they do. If not, I'll have to find another library or treat myself to buying the rest of the series.

Nothing sketchy. Well, not really. It is a murder mystery, so don't be shocked when there's shooting. But it's such a nice little murder mystery . . . think Poirot, but with more food, in the White House, with a female protagonist.

Yes. Think that. Then roll your eyes that I'm trying to compare Poirot to a White House food chef and go find yourself a copy of State of the Onion.

To Mormons with Love by Chrissy Ross

It's the English major in me that likes to clump books together: maybe the grad student, actually, looking for a fun class to teach. But along the same lines as Mirvis's portrayal of insider/outsider in Jewish culture, a great read is Chrissy Ross's To Mormons with Love. Not about Jewish culture, but about Mormon culture, specifically Happy Valley culture, which is grandly different than Mormon culture at large.

Ross, not a Mormon, moves into a community that is predominately (OK, about 95%) Latter-day Saint. Ross is devotedly Christian, as are her husband and three sons. And Ross talks honestly about what she experiences.

There are two things I really liked about this book. 1) Chrissy Ross is funny! It's a delightful read. Her intent is to explain and entertain, but not to lecture. And 2) There's no agenda here. There are no sides. It's just one woman trying to get her footing. And she actually does become friends with her Mormon neighbors (Imagine!) and they become friends with her. She never says it outright, but the gist of her writing is, "They aren't perfect. I'm not perfect. We can still be friends and not agree. I drink wine. They don't let their kids play on Sundays. We can still be friends."

I liked it. She's honest. She calls it like she sees it and it's not always perfect. It's human. That's what I liked. It's human.

And my very favorite, part, I have to admit, was when she talked about going to her (Mormon) girlfriends at 39, wanting another child and wondering if she's too old. Their response . . . "Girlfriend, this is UTAH. You can be pushing your grandbaby in a stroller and nursing your own baby at the same time. You are not too old!"

See? Foibles and all, you gotta love girlfriends like that.

And I think that's Ross's point.

I think this would be great for any book club, whether you have Mormon readers, non-Mormon readers, or a blend of both. It's a short read, though, so I think you could easily pair it with Mirvis's The Ladies Auxiliary and have one great discussion about insider/outsider religious culture.

Laura and Liz, have you read this one yet? You can get it on Amazon. Worth the money, and then it can be one of those books that's fun to loan out.