The Three Tomatoes Book Club, Movies, Music, and More

The Divorce Party

2009-08-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

When to Stay and When to Go
We love a book that gets you into it from the get-go. The prologue of Laura Dave’s The Divorce Party starts off in 1938 in Montauk, the year of the worst hurricane ever to hit Long Island. There was no warning that a storm of such force was about to happen. The novel then opens up on the alternating stories of two women who find themselves swept into a storm of emotions they didn’t see coming.

The fast paced novel takes place in one day in Montauk. Gwyn, described as still beautiful at 58, and her equally handsome husband, whom she still loves, are throwing a divorce party for their friends and family - a “celebration” of their life together on their 35th wedding anniversary as they prepare to part ways. Maggie, who is engaged to their son, and whose story alternates chapter by chapter with Gwyn’s is about to meet her future in-laws for the first time. As secrets and betrayals unravel, both women are faced with the dilemma of when it’s time to stay and when it’s time to leave a relationship. In this emotional roller-coaster you truly feel their pain. Laura Dave has real insights into relationships. One of the most poignant scenes is when a glance dashes Gwyn’s hope for reconciliation.

Expecting a breezy summer read, we were pleasantly surprised at the depth of this novel, and the questions it raises. There are lessons here for all of us.

And not surprisingly, the movie rights have been picked up by Universal Studios for Echo Films, Jennifer Aniston’s new production company. The part of Gwyn has Meryl Streep written all over it.

Three Tomatoes up!

Rafael Yglesias’ A Happy Marriage

2009-07-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

Rafael Yglesias’ A Happy Marriage is not beach reading, but it is must reading for every tomato this summer
by Ronna Lichtenberg

Alternating between scenes describing the first three months of his relationship with Margaret, and the last three months of her losing battle with bladder cancer, Yglesias somehow manages to capture the mystery, nuance, tedium, fluctuations, and joy of an almost three-decade-long marriage.

After too many years of reading women’s magazine articles about what “he” really thinks, I was somberly grateful to find out what one “he” really did think. Yglesias’ unflinching courage in revealing the inevitable small disappointments of self completely avoids the look-at-me show turns of routine misery memoirs.
Written as an autobiographical novel, the book combines a screenwriter’s instinct for revealing detail with the uncalculated impact of a story that is emotionally true instead of “real life.”

I wish there were a less predictable thing to say than that the book made me laugh and it chocked me up so much I often I had to put it down. My only regret is that Margaret couldn’t read it, too.

Getting Reacquainted with Gerunds

2009-07-22T04:52:00.000-07:00

Editor's Note: Mr. Tomato wrote today's review. He loves factoids. Plus we asked him to. He always does what we ask. Well most of the time. Well some of the time.

Not that I ever really understood or cared about gerunds when Miss Kennedy, my English teacher, covered them more than 50 years ago. However, Readers Digest has published an interesting trio of books covering just about everything you maybe learned then quickly forgot. It’s a walk down memory lane. They are a perfect gift for the perennial student.

I Used to Know That: Stuff You Forgot From School By Carol Taggart, the first of the trio, will trigger your memory with fun facts you learned in school – from adverbs to the Pythagorean Theorem. Witty, engaging, entertaining; the information is presented in east-to-retain, bite sized chunks.

Covering subjects such as English language, English literature, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, History, Geography, Religion, and Music, this book features all of the most important theories, equations, phrases, and rules we were all taught years ago.

The second book My Grammar and I…Or Should That Be Me? (How to Speak and Write It Right) By Carol Taggaet and J.A. Wines covers everything from gerunds to parts of speech I don’t ever remember learning in a compact, interesting, and light-hearted manner. This is a book that you will keep handy for reference as it is packed with those long-forgotten “rules” you once learned in school.

i before e (except after c) …old-school ways to remember stuff By Judy Parkinson rounds out the trio. Featuring all the memory-jogging tips you’ll ever need to know, this fun filled little book will help you recall hundreds of important facts using simple, easy to-to-remember mnemonics from your school days. For dyslectics like me, who live by spell-check, this book is a keeper.

All three books are perfect for teachers, students, parents, and general knowledge enthusiasts as a quick way to look up things you forgot from school.

The Mother-in-Law's Manual

2009-07-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

When her boys married, Susan Lieberman had no idea that there was an entire new learning curve waiting just around the corner. She had expected parenting to be demanding, but it never occurred to her to think becoming a mother-in-law would bring its own challenges. Where was Dr. Spock on this stage of development?

Now in the The Mother-In-Law’s Manual: Proven Strategies for Creating and Maintaining Healthy Relationships with Married Children Lieberman uses the same strategy she found so helpful when her children were growing up – talking to other women going through the same experiences. She invites women everywhere to join in the conversation. It begins with women’s expectations before their children marry and ends with hopes about how their children will behave when their mothers are really old. It deals with all facets of the in-law relationship, including how to handle difficult family members, how to discuss what seems like impending disaster and how to approach our babies having babies.

Susan Lieberman, Ph.D. has written six books, including New Traditions: Redefining Celebrations for Today’s Family. She attended Vassar College and the University of California, holds a master’s in city planning from Berkeley, a Ph.D. in public policy from the University of Pittsburgh, and she is ordained as an interfaith minister.

Listen to our interview with Susan Lieberman on Tomatoes in the Trenches, Wednesday July 15th at 1 PM.

The Penny Pinchers Club got us at the prologue

2009-07-10T10:34:00.001-07:00

The Penny Pinchers Club - Sarah Strohmeyer

Engagement ring: $7,340
Wedding and reception: $23,000
Raising one kid for eighteen years: $250,000
House in Jersey suburb: $462,000
Two Mint Tingle Trojan condom wrappers found in your husband's pocket: $1.40
Being financially ready when your husband announces he's leaving to be with his assistant: Priceless

Living in New Jersey--the state that boasts the most malls per capita—Kat Griffin’s favorite recreational activity is a no-brainer: shopping. But when she discovers that her husband, Griff, has been hiding a secret bank account, her joyful consumerism suddenly loses its appeal. Are their fights about money more serious than she understood? Is he, as her friends suggest, preparing for a divorce? Just in case, Kat decides it's time to start saving.

Kat has never saved a penny in her life and begins cutting back on things like kicking her $240 monthly Starbucks habit, canceleling HBO and quitting her gym membership. And soon she’s baking her own bread and dumpster diving. Let the fun begin.

The Penny Pinchers Club by best selling author Sarah Strohmeyer is a delightful, fun read that's perfect for summer travelling and beach reading.

The Three Tomatoes Ten Summer Reading Picks

2009-06-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

We love summer and catching up on reading in a lounge chair, book in one hand, martini in the other. Here are few of our suggestions for entertaining reads this summer.

Our #1, 2, and 3 picks – Cathy Lamb
We have just recently discovered author Cathy Lamb and have just finished reading three of her books. She is a wonderful writer and her books feature fabulous strong women and great characters you will love. Here first two novels, Julia’s Chocolate, and The Last Time I Was Me are available in paperback. And our favorite, Henry’s Sisters will be released in July. It is a must read. Here are the synopses.

Julia’s Chocolates
“I left my wedding dress hanging somewhere in North Dakato.” From that very first sentence to the last, Cathy Lamb’s debut novel will have you laughing, crying, and falling in love with its cast of some of the most wonderfully eccentric women since The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and The Secret Life of Bees, as she explores the many ways we find the road home.

From the moment Julia Bennett leaves her abusive Boston fiancé at the altar and her ugly wedding dress hanging from a tree in South Dakota, she knows she’s driving away from the old Julia, but what she’s driving toward is as messy and undefined as her own wounded soul. The old Julia dug her way out of a tortured, trailer park childhood with a monster of a mother. The new Julia will be found at her Aunt Lydia’s rambling, hundred-year-old farmhouse outside Golden, Oregon.

There, among uppity chickens and toilet bowl planters, Julia is welcomed by an eccentric, warm, and often wise clan of women, including a psychic, a minister’s unhappy wife, an abused mother of four, and Aunt Lydia herself—a woman who is as fierce and independent as they come.

Filled with warmth, love, and truth, Julia’s Chocolates is an unforgettable novel of hope and healing that explores the hurts we keep deep in our hearts, the love that liberates us, the courage that defines us, and the chocolate that just might take us there.

Buy direct from the publisher for $9. 80 (30% off list price.) Also available at booksellers everywhere.

The Last Time I Was Me
"I wrapped up my grandmother’s tea cup collection and my mother’s china, then grabbed a violin I'd hidden way back in my closet that made me cry, a gold necklace with a dolphin that my father gave me two weeks before he died of a heart attack when I was twelve and, at midnight, with that moon as bright as the blazes, I left Chicago.”

When Jeanne Stewart stops at The Opera Man's Cafe in Weltana, Oregon, to eat pancakes for the first time in twelve years, she has no idea she’s also about to order up a whole new future. It’s been barely a week since she succumbed to a spectacularly public nervous breakdown in front of hundreds of the nation's most important advertising and PR people. Jeanne certainly had her reasons—her mother’s recent death, the discovery that her boyfriend had been sleeping with a dozen other women, and the assault charges that resulted when Jeanne retaliated in a creative way against him, involving condoms and peanut oil. Now, en route to her brother’s house in Portland, Jeanne impulsively decides to spend some time in picturesque Weltana. Staying at a B&B run by the eccentric, endearing Rosvita, she meets a circle of quirky new friends at her court-ordered Anger Management classes. Like Jeanne, all of them are trying to become better, braver versions of themselves. Yet the most surprising discoveries are still to come—a good man who steadily makes his way into her heart and a dilapidated house that with love and care might be transformed into something wholly her own, just like the new life she is slowly building, piece by piece.

As heartfelt as it is hilarious, The Last Time I Was Me is a warm, wise novel about breaking down, opening up, and finally letting go of everything we thought we should be, in order to claim the life that has been waiting all along.

Buy direct from the publisher and save 30%.

Henry's Sisters Cathy Lamb Pub Date : July 28, 2009 Kensington Publishing

Write July 28 on your calendar and then immediately go to Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or any other bookseller and get this book. If you loved Terms of Endearment, the Ya Ya Sisterhood, and Steel Magnolias, you will love Henry’s Sister. Cathy Lamb just keeps getting better and better. We loved, loved, loved this book!

Ever since the Bommarito sisters were little girls, their mother, River, has written them a letter on pink paper when she has something especially important to impart. And this time, the message is urgent and impossible to ignore—River requires open-heart surgery, and Isabelle and her sisters are needed at home to run the family bakery and take care of their brother and ailing grandmother.

Isabelle has worked hard to leave Trillium River, Oregon, behind as she travels the globe taking award-winning photographs. It’s not that Isabelle hates her family. On the contrary, she and her sisters Cecilia, an outspoken kindergarten teacher, and Janie, a bestselling author, share a deep, loving bond. And all of them adore their brother, Henry, whose disabilities haven’t stopped him from helping out at the bakery and bringing good cheer to everyone in town.

But going home again has a way of forcing open the secrets and hurts that the Bommaritos would rather keep tightly closed—Isabelle’s fleeting and too-frequent relationships, Janie’s obsessive compulsive disorder, and Cecilia’s self-destructive streak and grief over her husband’s death. Working together to look after Henry and save their flagging bakery, Isabelle and her sisters begin to find answers to questions they never knew existed, unexpected ways to salve the wounds of their childhoods, and the courage to grasp surprising new chances at happiness.
Poignant, funny, and as irresistible as one of the Bommarito sisters’ delicious giant cupcakes, Henry’s Sisters is a novel about family and forgiveness, about mothers and daughters, and about gaining the wisdom to look ahead while still holding tight to everything that matters most.

Available July 28th at booksellers everywhere.

# 4-5 The Higgins Clarks

Anything by Mary Higgins Clark or Carol Higgins Clark. We thoroughly enjoyed their two latest novels, Just Take My Heart (Mary Higgins Clark) and Cursed, Carol Higgins Clark. See our previous reviews.

Picks #7-8 Marie Bostwick
Another wonderful New York Times best selling writer is Marie Bostwick. We loved A Single Thread (which we reviewed awhile back, and the sequel, which we're reading now, A Thread of Truth.

If you read the NY Times bestseller, The Knitting Club, you will find a similar theme, in A Single Thread and it’s sequel, A Thread of Truth. However, we much preferred both of these books. With fuller, richer characters and a multi-thread plot line, you’ll love the stories that bind the characters together, and to our hearts.

A Single Thread. Get 30% off list price direct from the publisher.

A Thread of Truth. Get 30% off list price direct from the publisher.

#9 Nelson DeMille

Our favorite DeMille novel is The Gold Coast (1990). It was laugh out loud funny, especially for those of us who know Long Island’s North Shore quite well. And finally he has written the sequel, The Gate House. It’s on our summer reading list. Here’s what Publishers Weekly had to say:

Fans of bestseller DeMille will welcome this sequel to The Gold Coast (1990), in which Susan Sutter, then the wife of tax attorney John Sutter, had a torrid affair with Frank Bellarosa, a powerful Mafia boss and the Sutters' neighbor on Long Island's tony Gold Coast, with fatal results for Bellarosa. After divorcing Susan, John sailed the world for three years, then built himself a new life in London. Now John has returned to the small gatehouse that was once part of his ex-wife's family estate, only to find Bellarosa's thuggish son, Anthony, living next door. In another coincidence, Susan has just reacquired the six-bedroom guest cottage where she and John lived as a married couple on her family's former property. Susan and John soon begin to explore an improbable reconciliation, even as they suspect she may be in Anthony's gun sights. The plot more than takes its time getting to its violent and predictable resolution, but DeMille devotees should have plenty of fun along the way. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

#10 Jodi Picoult

We are huge fans of Jodi Picoult and it all started when we read My Sister’s Keeper. The book has been made into a movie which opens June 26th and stars Cameron Diaz and Alec Baldwin. Don’t skip the book for the movie. It’s a classic.

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate - a life and a role that she has never questioned… until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister - and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable… a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life… even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less?

Tick Tock Stop the Clock

2009-05-27T12:46:00.001-07:00

In her second book, Lois Stern has brought together eleven nationally renowed experts on how we can "stop the aging clock". The book covers what's new in the world of lasers, fillers, dermal devices; advice on how to keep your skin, teeth, and hair at their best; the value of spas and estheticians; make up illusions; and body options from exercise, to diet to surgery. The book provides a comprehensive guide to the many non-surgical options now available to keep you looking your very best.

For more information and to buy the book go to: http://www.ticktockstoptheclock.com/

New book from Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway

2009-05-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

Rituals for Love and Romance: Attract Your Soulmate with Self-Love and Ceremony Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway

In addition to daily rituals (e.g., making coffee, reading emails, going to work) and life event rituals (e.g., weddings and funerals), there are rituals and ceremonies that allow us to combine the everyday ordinary with the highly spiritual. This gives us an opportunity to enact an experience we would like to create in our lives as if it were already so. It also gives us a chance to spiritually heal emotional wounds.

Ritual arouses emotions and sends signals to the psyche in a positive way, and in doing so begins to bring us closer to our goals — or draw our desires closer to us.

The rituals and ceremonies presented in this ebook are powerful, and designed to help you deepen your love for yourself - and make yourself ready for love with another

Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway is very popular contributor to The Three Tomotes. Read her columns.

Management - Jennifer Aniston's new movie

2009-05-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

What was Jennifer Thinking?
MANAGEMENT is a romantic comedy that chronicles a chance meeting between Mike Cranshaw (Steve Zahn) and Sue Claussen (Jennifer Aniston). When Sue checks into the roadside motel owned by Mike's parents in Arizona, what starts with a bottle of wine "compliments of management" soon evolves into a multi-layered, cross-country journey of two people looking for a sense of purpose. Mike, an aimless dreamer, bets it all on a trip to Sue's workplace in Maryland – only to find that she has no place for him in her carefully ordered life. Buttoned down and obsessed with making a difference in the world, Sue goes back to her yogurt mogul ex-boyfriend Jango (Woody Harrelson), who promises her a chance to head his charity operations. But having found something worth fighting for, Mike pits his hopes against Sue's practicality, and the two embark on a twisted, bumpy, freeing journey to discover that their place in the world just might be together.

Honestly, we have to ask what was Jennifer thinking? And she was executive producer too. First of all, the movie is just lame, unfunny and there is NO chemistry between Jennifer and Steve Zahn. And Woody Harrelson can't save the day either.

And what we really didn't get is that even in her lame movies, she looks great and her hair is her signature. Except that in this one she seems to be wearing a really ugly red wig. Why? We have no idea. It's not like her character is supposed to be dowdy.

Save this one to watch when it's absolutely free and you have nothing better to do.

Those Higgins Clark Gals have done it again

2009-04-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

Two great summer reads!

“A page turner...it grabs right from the start and will have you burning the mid-night oil.”

In her new thriller, Just Take My Heart, America's #1 bestselling Queen of Suspense delves into a legal battle over the guilt or innocence of a man accused of murdering his wife. Woven into her plot is an eerie, little-understood but documented medical phenomenon -- the emergence of a donor's traits and memories in the recipient of a heart transplant.

Pack this in your summer beach bag

Cursed, is the 12th Regan Reilly mystery. In this book, the New York City PI heads for Los Angeles to help an old neighbor, film hairstylist Abigail Feeney, track down her ex-boyfriend, producer Cody Castle, who owes Abigail $100,000 she loaned him. The plot thickens when Cody's filmmaking partner goes missing and police suspect Abigail of murdering an 85 year old man. Regan has her hands full in this one!

Meet Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark on May 28th for Cocktails and Conversations with The Three Tomatoes.

The Informers - Opens in theaters April 24

2009-04-22T12:58:00.001-07:00

"There is No Sun"

That's the last line spoken in The Informers, which aptly sums up this disturbingly dark movie based on a novel by Bret Easton Ellis in which he dissects contemporary American society, a culture in which too much is never enough. It's a story of hedonims run amuck and no moral compasses. As one young character says, "I need someone to tell me what's right and what's wrong."

The movie is set in Los Angeles of the early 1980’s with a multi-strand narrative that deftly balances a vast array of characters who represent both the top of the heap (a Hollywood dream merchant, a dissolute rock star, an aging newscaster) and the bottom (a voyeuristic doorman, an amoral ex-con). Connecting all his intertwining strands are the quintessential Ellis protagonists—a group of beautiful, blonde young men and women who sleep all day and party all night, doing drugs—and one another—with abandon, never realizing that they are dancing on the edge of a volcano.

THE INFORMERS features a great ensemble cast, with Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke, Winona Ryder, Jon Foster and Amber Heard. And while well acted, there is not one likeable character in this overall depressing movie.

If you're having a bad day, we'd for sure recommend skipping this one.

Is Anybody There? A new movie staring Sir Michael Caine

2009-04-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

Sir Michael Caine gives a wonderful and touching performance. And Bill Milner, who plays ten-year year old Edward, will steal your heart. The entire cast is terrific in that very real way that only the Brits seem to do really well. It’s a movie that will touch your heart.

From the producers of LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and HARRY POTTER comes IS ANYBODY THERE?, a heartwarming story about the unlikeliest of friendships. The film stars Academy Award winner Michael Caine and promising newcomer Bill Milner, recipient of a British Independent Film Award nomination for SON OF RAMBOW.

Set in 1980s seaside England, IS ANYBODY THERE? tells the story of ten-year-old Edward (Bill Milner) whose parents have turned their house into a retirement home. While his mother struggles to keep the family business afloat and his father copes with the onset of a mid-life crisis, Edward becomes increasingly obsessed with the ghosts and afterlives of the residents when they die. Edward’s is a lonely existence until he meets Clarence (Michael Caine), the latest arrival at the home, a retired magician and grieving widower who refuses to give in gracefully to old age. Their relationship begins at odds until Clarence notices that the boy is growing up even more fitfully than he is growing old. As they begin to face life together, Clarence comes to terms with his past, Edward tames his obsession with the unknown and they are both reminded of what magic is possible when life is lived to its fullest. Opens in theaters April 17.

View the trailer.

A poignant reminder of the single thread that binds us all

2009-04-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

In A Single Thread, Marie Bostwick weaves the unforgettable story of four very different women whose paths cross, changing their lives forever.

It’s a long way from Fort Worth, Texas, to New Bern, Connecticut, yet it only takes a day in the charming Yankee town to make Evelyn Dixon realize she’s found her new home. The abrupt end of her marriage was Evelyn’s wake-up call to get busy chasing her dream of opening a quilt shop. Finding a storefront is easy enough; starting a new life isn’t. Little does Evelyn imagine it will bring a trio like Abigail Burgess, her niece Liza, and Margot Matthews through her door.

Troubled and angry after her mother’s death, Liza threatens to embarrass her Aunt Abigail all over town unless she joins her for quilting classes. A victim of downsizing at the peak of her career, Margot hopes an event hosted by the quilt shop could be a great chance to network—and keep from dying of boredom.

As they stitch their unique creations, Evelyn, Abigail, Liza, and Margot form a sisterhood they never sought—but one that they’ll be grateful for when the unexpected provides a poignant reminder of the single thread that binds us all.

The sequel, Sunlight in the Courtyard, is scheduled for June 2009.

Lymelife: The best dark family comedy since American Beauty with a great ensemble cast

2009-03-31T19:07:00.000-07:00

From executive producer Martin Scorsese and producer Alec Baldwin comes LYMELIFE, a funny, biting and loving tribute to the American family directed by Derick Martini, making his directorial debut. Award-winning filmmakers Derick and his brother Steven collaborated on the script based on their experiences growing up on suburban Long Island.
LYMELIFE, opeming in movie theaters April 8th, is a story about the dark side of suburban paradise and the loss of innocence centers on two deeply troubled, dysfunctional families during the late 1970s. The film revolves around an awkward, sensitive 15-year old boy, Scott Bartlett (brilliantly played by Rory Culkin), whose family life is turned upside-down after an outbreak of Lyme disease hits the community spreading illness and paranoia. Scott’s parents -- a workaholic father, Mickey (Alec Baldwin) and an overprotective mother, Brenda (Jill Hennessy) -- are on the verge of a divorce as his older brother Jim (Kieran Culkin) is about to ship off for war. Complicating matters, Scott has fallen in love with his next door neighbor, Adrianna Bragg (Emma Roberts). Adrianna seems to be the only person in the world who understands Scott demonstrated by her equally troubled, less affluent family including an uptight mother, Melissa (Cynthia Nixon), carrying on a not-so-clandestine love affair, and a father, Charlie (Timothy Hutton), slowly slipping away from the effects of Lyme disease. Both profoundly funny and deeply moving, LYMELIFE looks at first love and family dynamics during a time of drastic economic and cultural change.
The ensemble cast is terrific, but Rory Culkin and Emma Roberts as the young teens steal the show. Their performances are fresh, real, and poignant. Alec Baldwin plays the philandering husband to perfection, and Jill Hennessy’s performance is brilliant and light years from her Law & Order assistant DA character. Cynthia Nixon is great in the role of the sexy cheating wife, and Timothy Hutton is frighteningly insane. Lymelife is funny and poignant, and eventhough the ending is foreshadowed, it is jolting none the less.

Boomerangst

2009-03-25T08:14:00.001-07:00

Boomerangst: Coping with the Angst of Aging with Wit, Wisdom and Humor, is the ideal recession-friendly gift for those milestone birthdays when you want to give more than greeting card.Baby Boomers reading this book have been observed nodding, groaning, laughing out loud, and definitely relating. This generation of almost 80 million, now turning 50 and 60 at the rate of about 10,000 per day, is challenged with facing their own mortality and doing what any respectable boomer would do--rejecting it.Filled with the wit and wisdom of the ages, expressed by the pundits of their times, in their own words, Boomerangst brings a little humor to the reality of aging and helps relieve--if only for a moment--the accompanying angst.

Author Judy Massey, a tomato and baby boomer, she is a freelance writer, marketing consultant and former marketing executive at a number of consumer publications who began to speak on behalf of her generation in 1996, when the first boomers turned 50.

Alexander the Last

2009-03-18T12:22:00.001-07:00

Alexander the Last a film by Joe Swanberg produced by Noah Baumbach of The Squid and the Whale and Margot at the Wedding, had it's WORLD PREMIERE AT SXSW AND ON IFC FESTIVAL DIRECT MARCH 14th, 2009. And it is available nationwide on-demand for 90 days on most major cable systems .

In tomato speak, the film Alexander the Last would be most suitable for junior cherry tomatoes. That’s right, not even cherry tomatoes, but junior cherry tomatoes. The film is about a husband and wife – musician and actress respectively – and in the words of Joe Swandberg, the film “explores how they deal with their creative relationships with other people while keeping their [young] marriage together”. It is clear that the director is exploring his own relationship while making it clear that his marriage is worth fighting for.

So is this film a tomato worth picking? Seems to us tomatoes are the kinds of people who realized a long time ago which relationships are worth fighting for and which need to be let go and the kind of people who have ‘found themselves’. So we would pass on that one and perhaps recommend it to some junior cherry tomatoes we know.
Click here to view the trailer below.

The Hour Glass Solution

2009-03-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

The Hour Glass Solution
A Boomer’s Guide to the Rest of Your Life

Jeff Johnson, PhD, and Paula Forman, PhD

“This book may just be the kick in the butt you need to jump start a stalled life.”
The Three Tomatoes

Synopsis:
YOU’VE FOCUSED ON YOUR GOALS, achieved almost everything you had your eye on, and now that you’ve arrived, you ask yourself: Where am I?

Many boomers are surprised to find themselves stuck in the middle of the hourglass, constrained by the choices they made earlier in life and downright afraid of the retirement days that stretch ahead. But as the voices in The Hourglass Solution confirm, it’s all a matter of perspective: you can remain stuck in that narrow channel for the rest of your life—or it can be a passage to an expanding future of possibilities.

In this groundbreaking work, two experts define this problem that didn’t have a name—until now. They tackle the sense of ennui, fear, and confusion that confront many of us who are fifty and older, and offer up stories from those who broke free from the neck of the hourglass. You’ll meet a successful attorney who’s ready for a life change. You’ll hear from a big-city banker who packs up and moves to Phoenix, to the surprise of friends and family. Also here are stories of a couple looking for ways to reconnect after caring for aging parents, a former accountant who finally does buy that dreamed-of diving shop in Costa Rica, and a couple who downsizes to travel.

The Hourglass Solution is not about making the perfect choice; there is no single right choice. Rather, it’s about increasing your options and possibilities
in later life. This book will give you the energy, the self-awareness, and the courage to set out on a new course that includes wonderful new adventures—and new meanings.

Check out the Hourglass blog too.
http://thehourglasssolution.com/

Short Stories and a Writing Workshop in Italy

2009-02-25T11:43:00.000-08:00

Meet Peter Selgin

A couple of weeks ago we had the pleasure of cocktails with critically acclaimed author, artist, and creative writing professor, Peter Selgin. He's smart, charming, good looking, and single too we might add. (And he actually likes women his age and even older.) But we digress. Let's us tell you about his books and his workshop in Italy.

Drowning Lessons
Winner of the Flannery O'Conmnor Award
In this collecton of short stories (perfect for bedtime reading), Peter introduces us to characters navigating the choppy waters of human relationships. In one of the stories, "Swimming" a husband who is a bit bored in the sameness of his marriage, tries to get his out-of-shape wife to learn to swim with almost diastrous results. Peter writes with empathy and wit. His writing style is beautifully simple, and his characters real. The stories in Drowning Lessons, remind us that of all bodies of water, none is deeper or more dangerous than our own. His latest novel, Life Goes to the Movies will be published this spring.

Join Peter at his writing workshop in Vitorchiano, Italy
June 14-21, 2009

So you want to write that book you've always talked about, or finish the one you've started, or just became better at the art and craft of writing, then what could be better than spending a week in Italy, learning, writing, meeting other writers, drinking wine and eating pasta? Not much that we can think of.

Then join Peter and his group. In addition to teaching writing at Gotham Writers Workshop, Manhattan, Montclair State University, and at the MFA Writing Program at Western Connecticut State University, Peter holds his own annual writing workshop in Vitorchiano, Italy.

This one-week workshop offers a great opportunity to focus on your creative work in a stunning setting--a walled medieval village in the rugged, hazelnut-tree lined hills north of Rome. In addition to the workshop, seminars and one-on-one tutorials, you'll visit lovely Italian gardens, castles, and picturesque towns. A week of beauty, inspiration, free-flowing wine, food, and conversation. Whether your focus is fiction or nonfiction, memoir or novel, take advantage of this opportunity to enjoy the beauty and culture of Italy while working on your writing.

Cost: $1,850.00 (includes workshop, hotel, meals and all excursions). Enrollment limited to 12 participants. APPLY BY MARCH 1st WITH A DEPOSIT OF $200 AND PAY THE DISCOUNTED RATE OF $1,650. For more information, visit Peter's website.

Dr. Ruth Has Done It Again...

2009-02-11T06:57:00.000-08:00

Dr. Ruth's Top 10 Secrets for Great Sex

With candor and humor, America's favorite sex doctor distills a lifetime of experience, clinical research, and teaching to reveal the secrets that will enhance your life with the most pleasurable and loving sexual experiences ever.
Although the emphasis in the book is on finding sexual pleasure in your relationship, Dr. Ruth is also a realist. She explains that every couple changes over time and offers expert advice for dealing with approaching speed bumps so they won't turn into barriers. Dr. Ruth also shows how to embrace change—change that can help push boredom aside and keep the romance alive!
In this wise and often funny book, the nation's best-loved sex therapist boils down her life's teaching to ten basic secrets and offers suggestions for:

· Making Sex a Priority
· Getting to Know Yourself
· Understanding Your Partner
· Exploring the Kama Ruthra
· Kicking Boredom out of the Bedroom
· Remembering the Romance
· Indulging in Afterplay—It's as Important as Foreplay
· Improving Communication
· Preparing for the Changes That Lie Ahead
· Improvising to Sustain a Terrific Sex Life

Dr. Ruth Has People Talking . . .
"Dr. Ruth writes the way she talks — enthusiastically, nonjudgmentally, and informatively."—Booklist

"Her name and the distinctive thrill of her voice have become inextricably linked with the subject of sex."—New York Times

"Her energy level is higher than that of a charged particle."—People Magazine

For Ann Patchett Fans

2009-01-29T06:54:00.001-08:00

The first Ann Patchett novel we read was the best selling BelCanto, which was our book of the month a while away. To join that four week discussion, click
http://thethreetomatoesbookclub.blogspot.com/2008/08/bel-canto-week-two-discussion.html.

Since then, we’ve been hooked on her books, and have now read The Patron Saint of Liars, her first novel, set in a home for unwed mothers in the 1960s. And her newest novel, Run, set over a period of 24 hours. The story takes us from the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard to a home for retired Catholic priests in downtown Boston. It shows us how worlds of privilege and poverty can coexist only blocks apart from one another, and how family can include people you've never even met. As in her best selling novel Bel Canto, Ann Patchett illustrates the humanity that connects disparate lives, weaving several stories into one surprising and endlessly moving narrative. A recurring theme in all her novels.

And now we’ve just finished Truth & Beauty, her frank and startlingly intimate first work of nonfiction. Based on her friendship with Lucy Greeley, who wrote about losing part of her jaw to childhood cancer, the years of chemotherapy and radiation, and then the endless reconstructive surgeries in her critically acclaimed and hugely successful memoir, Autobiography of a Face.
Ann Patchett and Lucy Grealy met in college in 1981, and, after enrolling in the Iowas Writers' Workshop, began a friendship that would be as defining to both of their lives as their work was. In Truth & Beauty, the story isn't Lucy's life or Ann's life, but the parts of their lives they shared. This is a portrait of unwavering commitment that spans twenty years, from the long, cold winters of the Midwest, to surgical wards, to book parties in New York. Through love, fame, drugs, and despair, this book shows us what it means to be part of two lives that are intertwined.

Truth & Beauty is one of those books that stays with you for a long time.

If you’re an Ann Patchett fan, what’s your favorite of her books?

Post your comments below.

Tomatoes up for Last Chance Harvey

2009-01-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

We had the chance to see Last Chance Harvey, starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson and we give it a definite “tomatoes up”. How refreshing to see a romantic movie featuring a couple who are definitely not kids. While the script is decidedly predictable, and even has “An Affair to Remember” moment, the performances of Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, and the rest of the terrific cast, make this movie a delight and more than just a chic flick, although we’d definitely suggest it as a fun girl’s night-out movie. Our only beef is the movie trailer highlights so much of the film, you feel like you’ve see it. That peeve aside, Hollywood needs to make more movies with actors and actresses tomatoes can relate to, so that’s another reason to go and see it.

A note to tomatoes from Emma Thompson

Dear Fellow Females –

I’ve been asked to offer a blog on my new film, ‘Last Chance Harvey’ – which, as a computer illiterate, I get confused with ‘snog’ (British slang for kissing) and ‘shog’ (Shakespearian word used by Pistol in Henry V meaning ‘leave’) neither of which - I realise - is the correct interpretation.
But it is a comment, or view, I think, that you want, and here it is –
I shall turn 50 this year, which is not without its odd emotions and has got me thinking about being, well, old. I don’t mean decrepit, I mean not infantile, no longer so attached to things, no longer so concerned about what others think, no longer so anxious to prove myself – you may know the sort of thing I mean. It was rather a treat, therefore, to play what is – in a way – my first modern romantic lead in a film that is more romantic than comic (although it has very funny moments and is underscored with irony and subtle humour throughout) where I was not required to be stunningly attractive or in despair or in need of rescue, but simply an ordinary woman in her forties living a rather stale-looking life as best she can.
Along comes this rather brash American (Dustin) and he blows a great hole in her defenses (don’t you think we all build them for various stages in life and then FORGET TO DISMANTLE THEM when the danger is past or the trauma has been lived through?). So what you are watching is a sudden flood of real communication (how rare is that?), the sort of communication that shifts the emotional tectonic plates and provokes seismic movement in the soul.
Again, it’s rare to watch this on the screen because you need to be a little thoughtful and not require explosions of the literal kind to keep you interested. I’d guess that’s a fair description of us.
If you see the picture, and I hope you will because I love it very much and am moved by it every time I see it, you’ll notice I am decidedly unglamorous and at least size 16. I really wanted to look like a “normal” woman, I mean in terms of body size.
Actresses seem to be getting tinier and tinier and I do wonder how we think we can present really powerful women, matriarchs and the like, when we seem to insist upon having such attenuated physiques.
So Kate is solid – probably worries a bit about her muffin-top (mine is more like a desk-top these days if you must know) but can’t find the energy to worry enough to go to the gym and can’t find the time either.
She’s a real sort of person, someone I could relate to entirely and I hope you enjoy her. If you do, tell your friends because the more we can get films like this well distributed the more films we can make about (for want of a better epithet) real women as opposed to (let’s face it) pretend ones.

Warmest wishes to you all for 2009 from Emma Thompson, a first time blogger at fifty

What do you think? Post a comment below.

Great book for the technology challenged

2009-01-14T12:54:00.000-08:00

How to Be a Geek Goddess by Christina Tunan-Wood

Do you sigh in frustration when your computer shows a blank screen for no apparent reason? Are you tired of waiting for your husband to install that wireless network? Have you felt belittled by the sales guy at your local tech emporium? Well, you're not alone. In "How to Be a Geek Goddess," author Christina Tynan-Wood shares the expertise she gained while writing for magazines like "PC World" and "PC Magazine" but keeps the book light and conversational. Like advice from the geek girlfriends you always wished you had, the book explains topics in a way you'll understand: No patronizing guy bluster, unnecessary jargon, or information you aren't interested in, just the stuff you need to know to get the job done. You'll learn how to use your computer to get more done in less time, shop for gear, fit an ugly computer into a lovely living room, hang out in online communities, and keep yourself and your family safe online. Tynan-Wood covers basic and not-so-basic topics, like how to use VoIP to make inexpensive telephone calls over the Internet and set up a wireless network in your home.

What we're reading

2009-01-07T12:24:00.001-08:00

740 Park - Michael Gross

Synopsis
From a bestselling author and journalist renowned for his access to the rich and famous comes the epic story of the last great apartment building erected on Manhattan's Gold Coast--home to countless 20th Century icons including Bouviers, Rockefellers and Chryslers, as well as modern Midases like Edgar Bronfman, Henry Kravis, Ronald O. Perelman and Saul Steinberg.
Seven-forty Park Avenue is the best known and most lusted-after co-op apartment building in New York—and so, in the world. Built by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s grandfather, James T. Lee, the building has long housed America's oldest, richest, and most powerful families. More than just a sensational read, 740 Park is rich in social history, providing a glimpse into a world that most of us can only dream about.

What we think so far: It's a big book with very tiny print. That said, it is rich in history, and the scenarios of the 1929 crash are scarily familiar. It's definitely a book NYC insiders will like, with lots of the rich and famous through the years. It's a bit slow going though.

What are you reading? Leave a post below.

The Perfect Christmas Book for Kids of all ages

2008-12-03T11:19:00.001-08:00

The Night Before Christmas Pop-up (Hardcover)by Clement Clarke Moore (Author), Robert Sabuda (Illustrator)

From Publishers Weekly

Those wishing to give the holiday some gleeful pop need look no further than Sabuda's The 12 Days of Christmas latest marvel of intricate paper engineering. In a slight twist, a tiny mouse family, tucked in and dreaming of shimmering sweets, wakens to sleigh-and-reindeer clatter. In Sabuda's signature style, a rainbow of solid-colored panels comprises the backgrounds, giving contrast to the white (save for St. Nick's suit) three-dimensional constructions. The pop-up of Santa's reindeer dramatically leaping toward readers is a stunner. All ages.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Perfect Gifts for the Holidays

2008-11-25T12:42:00.000-08:00

This is the perfect gift for wine lovers and foodies.
The most comprehensive guide to matching food and drink ever compiled, by the James Beard Award-winning author team of Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, with practical advice from more than seventy of America's leading pairing experts

In a great meal, what you drink is just as important as what you eat. This ground-breaking food and beverage pairing reference allows food lovers to learn to think like a sommelier, and to transform every meal - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - from ordinary to extraordinary.

Exceptional in its depth and scope - with over fifteen hundred entries - What to Drink with What You Eat is based on the collective wisdom of experts at dozens of America's best restaurants, including Alinea, Babbo, Bern's, Blue Hill, Chanterelle, Daniel, Emeril's, French Laundry, Frontera Grill, Inn at Little Washington, Jean Georges, Masa's, The Modern, Per Se, Rubicon, Tru, and Valentino.

You'll find authoritative recommendations for stocking your cellar and kitchen with must-have beverages, from wines to waters. You'll also learn what to drink with everything from French toast to Chinese food, and what to eat with everything from Pinot Noir to green tea, to create mouthwatering matches. Follow the authors' three simple "Rules to Remember" when making a match - or just dive into the wide-ranging listings in chapters 5 and 6.

This "incisive, hip writing team" (Publishers Weekly) distills history, geography, science, expert technique, and original insight to create a remarkably user-friendly and engaging reference. Lavishly illustrated with gorgeous four-color photographs, What to Drink with What You Eat is an instant classic essential to every connoisseur's bookshelf.

Books Make Great Gifts!

2008-11-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

Here are three books that are sure to please some of the folks on your holiday list this year.

Liz Smith's Dishing is the perfect choice for food and gossip lovers.

This juicy extravaganza of a book is at once a star-studded memoir, a mouthwatering reminiscence about great food and great meals, and a very special kind of cookbook by Liz Smith, bestselling author and surely America's most beloved gossip columnist (indeed, perhaps the only gossip columnist ever to be universally beloved). Here, great dish and great dishes are artfully blended with anecdotes and spiced with Liz's inimitable sense of humor, instinct for a great story, and joie de vivre to produce a life-loving, sometimes bawdy, and always utterly captivating read.

Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited

Arthur Schwartz knows how Jewish food warms the heart and delights the soul, whether it's talking about it, shopping for it, cooking it, or, above all, eating it. Jewish Home Cooking presents authentic yet contemporary versions of traditional Ashkenazi foods-rugulach, matzoh brei, challah, brisket, and even challenging classics like kreplach (dumplings) and gefilte fish-that are approachable to make and revelatory to eat. Chapters on appetizers, soups, dairy (meatless) and meat entrees, Passover meals, breads, and desserts are filled with lore about individual dishes and the people who nurtured them in America. Light-filled food and location photographs of delis, butcher shops, and specialty grocery stores paint a vibrant picture of America's touchstone Jewish food culture.

For all those special kids on your list, this is the book we all know and love by Marlo Thomas and her friends—brought to new life with brand new illustrations to captivate and inspire a new generation of readers on a journey of the heart. Whether you are opening Free to Be . . . You and Me for the first time or the one hundredth time you will be engaged and transformed by this newly beautifully illustrated compilation of inspirational stories, songs, and poems. The sentiments of thirty-five years ago are as relevant today as when this book was published. Celebrating individuality and challenging stereotypes empowers both children and adults with the freedom to be who they want to be and to have compassion and empathy for others who may be different. Working closely with Marlo and co-creator Carole Hart, Peter H. Reynolds, the New York Times Best Selling Children’s Book Author/Illustrator, conjured his whimsical drawings throughout the book bringing a new sense of unity and warmth to the pages. You will find yourself marveling at the illustrations, nodding in agreement with the stories and poems, and singing the words to all the classic songs! It is wonderful that the thoughts, ideas, and emotions the creators envisioned so many years ago can still have a magical effect on children today.

Books to Consider: Don't Mind If I Do and Embracing Your Big Fat Ass

2008-11-11T17:05:00.000-08:00

Don't Mind If I Do

George Hamilton

Publishers Synoposis

Don't let that tanned, handsome, charming surface fool you. Beneath the bronzed façade is a mischievous mind with a wicked wit. George Hamilton doesn't miss a thing. With a front row seat for classic Hollywood's biggest secrets and scandals, George has the intelligence, heart, and unflappable spirit to tell his story, and the story of Tinseltown's heyday, with great good humor and delicious candor -- as only he can. From Where the Boys Are to Dancing with the Stars; from Mary Pickford to Elizabeth Taylor; from smalltown Arkansas to the capitals of Europe -- it's all here, and George has lived to tell and to laugh about it.

As the child of a Dartmouth-educated bandleader father and a glamorous Southern debutante mother whose marriage crumbled early on, George had a childhood filled with misadventures and challenges that his mother always seemed able to turn from tragedy to comedy. Her idea of changing the family's fortunes involved a trip cross-country with three sons and a poodle in a Lincoln Continental, making stops along the way to search for husband/father number three. And she was quick to recognize that George's potential success lay in Hollywood.
George starved nobly for his art in the late 1950s, but was soon starring in major motion pictures directed by the likes of Vincente Minnelli and Louis Malle. He has forgotten more about Hollywood than most movie experts will ever know and shares intimate and hugely entertaining stories of his friendships with Cary Grant; Brigitte Bardot; Robert Mitchum; Merle Oberon; Mae West; SammyDavis, Jr.; and Judy Garland -- not to mention Lyndon B. Johnson and Elvis's Colonel Tom Parker as well as the King himself -- among others. The world is Hamilton's oyster, and this ultimate insider is ready to share it with us. So fasten your seat belt. We'll tell you when it's safe to move about the cabin again.

Note from The Three Tomatoes:

We’ve never been big fans of George Hamilton, but as we watched him promote his memoir, we were intrigued to read it. And we must say, it was a delightful fun read, and we are definitely fans now! His quirky family and descriptions of jet set sixties/seventies lifestyle are definitely worth the read.

***********************************************************************

Embracing Your Big Fat Ass - An Owners Manual

Laura Banks and Janette Barber, bestselling authors of Breaking the Rules

Life is short -- too short to spend most of it worrying about what you look like from behind. That fact hasn't stopped women everywhere from obsessing over their weight -- specifically, that portion of it resting on their asses. In this gleefully frank new book, Janette Barber and Laura Banks lampoon society's obsession with the gluteus maximus while offering solidarity, support, and inspiring advice to fellow B-FABs (Big Fat Ass Babes). Embracing Your Big Fat Ass encourages readers to accept and love every inch of themselves -- including the lumpier parts.

Week Four Discussion - Matriomony

2008-10-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

This Week's Questions:

Novels about relationships are usually the terrain of women, but Matrimony is written by a man. How much does the gender of the author influence the narrative?

Week Three Discussion - Matrimony

2008-10-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

This Week's Questions:

How does the stress of choosing schooling and careers affect these couples?

Post your comments below.

Week Two Discussion - Matrimony

2008-10-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

This Week's Questions:
Mia and Julian were prompted to get married because of her mom's cancer, and then Mia's own cancer scare seems to push them into the decision to have children. Is this a good way to run a marriage? What is Henkin telling us about adult decisions and consequences?

Week One Discussion - Matrimony

2008-10-08T12:36:00.001-07:00

Matrimony by Josuah Henkin

ABOUT THIS BOOK It's 1987, and Julian Wainwright, aspiring writer and waspy son of New York City old money, meets beautiful, Jewish Mia Mendelsohn in the laundry room at Graymont College. So begins a relationship that spans twenty years, as it takes Julian and Mia across the country and through the depths of family tragedy, love and friendship, money and ambition, desire and tensions of faith.

This week's Questions:

Discuss the parent-child relationships in the novel. How much are the lives of Julian, Mia, and Carter a rejection of their parents' lives? Despite how much they try to get away from the patterns of their parents, are they successful? Also consider Professor Chesterfield as a replacement father figure for Julian. What role does genetics play in the parent-child relationships?

Week Four Discussion - The Lace Reader

2008-09-24T06:38:00.001-07:00

If you could learn to read lace and see things about your future, would you?

Post your comments below.

Week Three Discussion - The Lace Reader

2008-09-17T17:16:00.001-07:00

This Week's Questions:

Towner has a special bond with the dogs of Yellow Dog Island—do you agree that people and animals can relate to each other in extraordinary ways?

Post your comments below. You may do some anonymously if you choose. It's simple, so join in the disucssion.

Week Two Discussion - The Lace Reader

2008-09-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

This Week's Questions:

The author states that The Lace Reader is, at its core, about perception vs. reality. How does Rafferty's perception of Towner color his judgment of what she says and does? What about Rafferty's perception of Cal and his actions?

Post your thoughts. It's easy and you post anonymously.

Week One Discussion - The Lace Reader

2008-09-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

***The Three Tomatoes....We loved this book and give it our highest rating...a must read. Great story, well crafted, suspenseful, and we didn't see the ending coming.

This week's questions:

1. How do you rate the booki?

2. At the very start of The Lace Reader, Towner Whitney, the protagonist, tells the reader that she's a liar and that she's crazy. By the end of the book do you agree with her?

Week Five Discussion - Bel Canton

2008-08-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

This week's Questions: When the hostages are finally rescued, Mr. Hosokawa steps in front of Carmen to save her from a bullet. Do you think Mr. Hosokawa wanted to die? Once they all return to their lives, it would be nearly impossible for him to be with Roxane. Do you think he would rather have died than live life without her?

Week Four Discussion - Bel Canton

2008-08-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

Questions this week:

At one point Carmen says to Gen, "'Ask yourself, would it be so awful if we all stayed here in this beautiful house?'"And towards the end of the story it is stated: "Gen knew that everything was getting better and not just for him. People were happier." Messner then says to him, "'You were the brightest one here once, and now you're as crazy as the rest of them'" . What do you think of these statements? Do you really believe they would rather stay captive in this house than return to the "real" world?

Week Three Discussion - Bel Canto

2008-08-14T05:52:00.000-07:00

This Week's Questions:

The garua, the fog and mist, lifts after the hostages are in captivity for a number of weeks. "One would have thought that with so much rain and so little light the forward march of growth would have been suspended, when in fact everything had thrived". How does this observation about the weather mirror what is happening inside the Vice President's mansion?

Bel Canto - Week Two Discussion

2008-08-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

This Week's Questions:

Even though he is given the opportunity to leave the mansion, Father Arguedas elects to stay with the hostages. Why does he decide to stay when he risks the possibility of being killed? As the narrative states, why did he feel, "in the midst of all this fear and confusion, in the mortal danger of so many lives, the wild giddiness of good luck?" Isn't this an odd reaction to have given the situation? What role does religion play in the story?

Week One Discussion - Bel Canto

2008-07-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

This is a must read. We give it ***. This engaging, well written, novel will keep you rivited page after page. We literally could not put it town.

This week's questions:

1. How do you rate the book?

2. There are numerous instances in the story where Mr. Hosokawa blames himself for the hostages' situation. He says to Roxane, "But I was the one who set this whole thing in motion." Roxane replies with the following: "Or did I?" she said. "I thought about declining…. Don't get me wrong. I am very capable of blame. This is an event ripe for blame if I ever saw one. I just don't blame you." Is either one to blame for the situation? If not, who do you think is ultimately responsible?

Post your comments below.

Week Four Discussion - Domestic Affairs

2008-07-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

This week's question:

Food plays a significant role in this story. Describe that role and tell what you think it reveals about the author. What role does food play in your life? How has this role changed over the years?

Week Three Discussion - Domestic Affairs

2008-07-09T05:06:00.000-07:00

This Week's Question:

If you were going to cast this story as a movie, who would play the parts of the three women? Who would play the part of Lila's twin brother, Vaughn?

Week Two Discussion - Domestic Affairs

2008-07-01T14:19:00.001-07:00

Question:

Most Tomatoes are fairly successful women in terms of career, income, etc. If, through a reversal of fortune, you suddenly found yourself homeless and destitute, without any means of support, what would you do ? To whom would you turn for help? Where would you go?

Post your comments below.

Week One Discussion - Domestic Affairs

2008-06-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

Domestic Affairs **

We throughly enjoyed this book. It's a good old fashioned novel, with romance, betrayals, and happy endings. We give it Two Stars.
The Three Tomatoes rating system:

***A must read.
** Enjoyable.
*Only if you have nothing else to read.No stars. Forget about it.

This week's questions:
1. How would you rate the book?

2. Friendships that endure over time are usually tested at some time or another. Abigail's and Lila's friendship was torn apart by a betrayal when they were in their teens. Abigail has harbored resentment toward Lila all her life for that betrayal. Do you think her resentment was justified? Have you ever suffered a betrayal of friendship, and, if so, were you able to let go of the hurt, or, like Abigail, did you nurse the hurt for years? Ultimately, as with Abigail and Lila, did friendship prevail for you?

Post your comments.

Week Four Discussion - Free Food for Milliionaires

2008-06-18T09:48:00.001-07:00

This week's questions:

How does immigration affect Casey’s characterization and her goals? How might this book be changed if she were not an immigrant? If she were not Korean? If she had not grown up working class?

Post your comments below.

Week Three Discussion - Free Food for Millionaires

2008-06-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

This week's question:
How does immigration affect Casey’s characterization and her goals? How might this book be changed if she were not an immigrant? If she were not Korean? If she had not grown up working class?

Post your comments and thoughts.

Week Two Discussion - Free Food for Millionaires

2008-06-04T06:33:00.000-07:00

Questions:

The novel is divided into three sections entitled Works, Plans, and Grace, respectively. What do these title names mean to you, and why do you think Lee organizes her book this way?

Post your thoughts below.

Week One Discussion - Free Food for Millionaires

2008-05-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

Free Food for Millionaires**

by Min Jin Lee

The Three Tomatoes really enjoyed this book. It is so well written, with really interesting characters. We didn't want it to end. In fact, we hope she writes a sequel. We give it Two Stars.

This week’s question:
Casey often makes unpopular choices. Why does she make them? With which choices do you agree, and with which do you disagree?

The Three Tomatoes rating system:

***A must read.

** Enjoyable.

*Only if you have nothing else to read.
No stars. Forget about it.

Week Four Discussion - The Other Boleyn Girl

2008-05-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

Homosexuality and Incest

In King Henry's court, homosexuality was a crime. Why do you think George essentially flaunted his preference? What do you make of the intimate kiss between George and Anne that Mary witnessed? What is the impetus behind George and Anne's relationship? Discuss whether or not you believe that George slept with Anne so that she might have a son, and why.

Post your comments below.

Week Three Discussion - The Other Boleyn Girl

2008-05-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

This Week's Questions:

What do you like about historical fiction?

What aspect of The Other Boleyn Girl stands out the most?

How does the book change your impressions of life in King Henry VIII's court?

Week Two Discussion - The Other Boleyn Girl

2008-04-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

This week's question:

Discuss the Boleyn family's scheming and jockeying for favor in the court. In light of these politics, discuss the significance of Mary's explanation that she had "a talent for loving [the king]" (page 119). Is this simply a girl's fantasy? Why does Mary call herself and George "a pair of pleasant snakes" (page 131)?

Post your comments below.

Week One Discussion of The Other Bolyen Girl

2008-04-24T07:34:00.001-07:00

We really enjoyed this book and the sense of that era. Although, we are sure the writer took many liberties and true historians would find much for criticize, but we thought it was a good read, and give it two stars.

The Three Tomatoes rating system:

***A must read.
** Enjoyable.
*Only if you have nothing else to read.

No stars. Forget about it.

Here's our first week question:

First, tell us how you rated the book.

Why does Philippa Gregory choose Mary to narrate the story? Keeping in mind the relationship between the observer and those observed, is Mary a good, trustworthy, narrator? As Mary ages, how is her loss of innocence reflected in her telling of the story?

Our thoughts: We think it was ingenious to tell a story we all know the outcome of through the eyes of Mary. And it is interesting to see her go from the wide-eyed innocent, in love with being at court, and in love with the King, to a grown woman with a key sense of what's really happening, and what's really important in her life.

Post your comments below.l

Week Five Discussion - The Friday Night Knitting Club

2008-04-17T07:44:00.001-07:00

This is our last week's discussion for this book (thank goodness!)

Question: What is the main lesson of The Friday Night Knitting Club?

Post your thoughts.

And join us next week for our week one discussion of The Other Boleyn Girl.

Week Three Discussion - The Friday Night Knitting Club

2008-04-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, here we are only into week three of this book discussion, and maybe it's just us, but the discussion is getting a big difficult to continue. While we enjoyed the book, it's for sure a light read, and I think we just can't keep reading that much into it.

So, here's our question. With all the books published every year, how did this one, from a first time author, make it to the best seller list, and into a movie to boot?

Week Two Discussion - The Friday Night Knitting Club

2008-03-25T07:58:00.001-07:00

Question:

Georgia has a history of being burned by the people closet to her. First Cat, and then James. Do you think there are moments when her defenses against intimacy and protectiveness of Dakota are excessive?

Post your comments below, or pose another question.

Week One Discussion - The Knitting Club

2008-03-18T11:58:00.001-07:00

The Three Tomatoes
We enjoyed this book, a sort of a Steel Magnolias set in New York. We think Julia Roberts is perfect for the part of Georgia, in the movie version that comes out in June.

We give this ** stars. What do you think? It was definitely a light read after A Thousand Spendid suns.

The Three Tomatoes rating system:
No stars. Forget about it.
*Only if you have nothing else to read.
** Enjoyable.
***A must read.

This week's questions:
The role of friendships among women is a central theme. Some friendships develop easily, like K.C.'s and Georgia's, while others begin on unsure footing, like Darwin and Lucie's. Cat's insecurities create conflicitng feelings about drawing Georgia closer. How does emotional baggage and issues of class challenge trust between these various women?

Will you go to see the movie?

Post your opionions below.

Week Five Discussion - A Thousand Splendid Suns

2008-03-12T12:28:00.001-07:00

Question: While the first three parts of the novel are written in the past tense, the final part is written in present tense. What do you think was the author’s intent in making this shift? How does it change the effect of this final section?

Week Four Discussion - A Thousand Splendid Suns

2008-03-05T07:58:00.001-08:00

Last week, some of you commented on the scene in the hospital. This was one of the most disturbing chapters in the book to us. It was horrifying and almost unimaginable that even the Taliban could have that much disregard for women.

What was the most disturbing part of the book from your perspective ? And sadly there were so many.

Post your comments and join the discussion.

Week Three Discussion - A Thousand Splendid Suns

2008-02-26T17:20:00.001-08:00

Among other things, the Taliban forbid “writing books, watching films, and painting pictures.” Yet despite this edict, the film Titanic becomes a sensation on the black market. Why would people risk the Taliban’s violent reprisals for a taste of popcorn entertainment? What do the Taliban’s restrictions on such material say about the power of artistic expression and the threat it poses to repressive political regimes?

Post your comments below.

Week Two Discussion - A Thousand Splendid Suns

2008-02-20T10:19:00.000-08:00

Question:

Mariam’s mother tells her: “Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have.” Discuss how this sentiment informs Mariam’s life and how it relates to the larger themes of the novel.

A Thousand Splendid Suns: Week One Discussion

2008-02-12T08:28:00.001-08:00

The Three Tomatoes rating: ***A must read.
Rating System:
No stars. Forget about it.
*Only if you have nothing else to read.
** Enjoyable.
***A must read.

We had a little trouble getting into the story at first, but then we were hooked. This is truly a powerful story that will stay with us a long time.

This week's questions:

1. How would you rate the book?

2. The phrase “a thousand splendid suns,” from the poem by Saib-e-Tabrizi, is quoted twice in the novel – once as Laila’s family prepares to leave Kabul, and again when she decides to return there from Pakistan. It is also echoed in one of the final lines: “Miriam is in Laila’s own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.” Discuss the thematic significance of this phrase.

Okay Tomatoes....tell us what you think and post your comments.

Week Four Discussion - Water for Elephants

2008-01-31T09:57:00.000-08:00

Question: At the end of the novel, Jacob exclaims, “So what if I’m ninety-three? . . .why the hell shouldn’t I run away with the circus?” What would you project to be the elderly Jacob’s experiences after he runs away with the circus the second time? How does his decision reflect what we have learned about his early years?

*********************************

Well we just loved how this book ended, and we hope Jacob spent his last years drinking martinis, loving the circus, and died peacefully in his sleep after an amazing night with one of the aerialist. The Three Tomatoes

What do you think? Post your comments now.

Water for Elephants Week Three Discussion

2008-01-24T10:06:00.000-08:00

Here are this week's questions and our thoughts. Please post your thoughts too.

This week's question:

Looking at himself in the mirror, the old Jacob tries “to see beyond the sagging flesh.” But he claims, “It’s no good. . . . I can’t find myself anymore. When did I stop being me?” (page 111). How would you answer that question for Jacob or any individual, or for yourself?

You know, we feel like that everytime we look in the mirror these days. What do you think?

Post your comments now.

Water for Elephants Week Two Discussion

2008-01-17T07:14:00.001-08:00

Here are this week's questions and our thoughts. Please post your thoughts too.

1. How does the novel’s epigraph, the quote from Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hatches the Egg, apply to the novel?

We have to confess, we did not read the epigraph, much less think about its meaning in relation to the whole of the book. Maybe some deeper thinkers out there, can respond?

2. Who did you, upon reading the prologue, think murdered August? What effect did that opening scene of chaos and murder have on your reception of the story that follows?

Well we of course, thought it was Marlena until the end. and wondered how they would get away with that, and its impact on their life.

What do you think?

Water for Elephants Week One Discussion

2008-01-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

We absolutely loved this book -- it's charming, unique, well written, with a delightful surprise ending.

The Three Tomatoes rating: ***A must read.

Rating System:

No stars. Forget about it.

*Only if you have nothing else to read.

** Enjoyable.

***A must read.

Barnes & Noble Synopsis

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show.

Questions of the week?

1. How do you rate the book? (See our rating system above?

2. Did the chapters about the nursing home change how you think about older people? (And yes, we may be old too, but he was over 90!) What made Rosemary different? What does it say about agism, and will our generation change that perception?