Svenska tales - all covered in dill

The evening began with appetizers on the deck! Fig carmel sauce on tart apples was a hit! Dinner followed with the much loved Swedish meatballs, a bit of cucumber salad, tomatoes and carrots to add a bit of color to the palatte, and a delicious dessert selection of almond cake and a sticky gooey chocolate delight!

Small but mighty nice…that was night's meeting. Great discussions of book love and book hate, though hate appears to be the consensus on" Grandmother". But I'll get to that in a sec. First though, let me talk about the fine social aspects of our meeting. Maggie and Miriam's deck has the most phenomenal view of the glen her neighborhood is named for. As the sun descended in the west, its glow framed palm and other majestic trees while we enjoyed appetizers and a tour of the luscious grounds. And conversation, always the best part. We had a sumptuous meal of noodles, meatballs and vegetables. Only the photos can do justice to the food.

“Ove” was a favorite and after an emergency phone call to Lu, we rated it a 4.

{A late vote from Nancy solidifies that score!} It had its detractors, some who did not have a chance to vote, but mostly, we loved it and could hardly wait to get back to it. We discussed its merits and its drawbacks. A layered story with complex and likable characters, the author bringing the past into the present, layer by layer. Predictable? Yes when the story is laid out chronologically, but intriguing in its presentation. As one person said, age and experience has a way of exposing predictability. And predictability does not always kill a good story. “Grandmother” was not so well loved by anyone and got a 1 from those of us who read it. Some finished it, with difficulty, and felt the story was a little too adolescent for our group. Others found it hard to believe that both books were written by the same author.