Book Club Wrap-Up: Gold

August 10, 2012

Our book club recently met during our lunch break to sit down and talk about “Gold” by Chris Cleave. Here’s what you missed!

Denise picked out a few of her favorite quotes to share.

Everyone appreciated reading the book during the Olympics, since Cleave gave us a realistic glimpse of life as an Olympic athlete and insider knowledge of a sport we didn’t know much about. Then, the conversation got heated as we discussed the plot’s many twists and turns.

Most of us struggled with the dynamic between Kate and Zoe (we would’ve liked to shake Kate to her senses), but we all agreed that Cleave gave us richly detailed characters, however flawed. In fact, we got a little carried away and cast the movie. If you’re listening, Chris Cleave, we pick Keira Knightley as Zoe, Emily Blunt as Kate, and Orlando Bloom as Jack. We haven’t quite figured out Sophie and Tom yet. (Comment below if you have ideas!)

We snapped a few pictures to share how we translated “Gold” from page to party!

Everyone brought their lunch, so we thought sweet snacks would work well. Taking our cues from the book jacket, we went with a black and gold palette. We sipped lemonade and cider, our favorite gold-tinted beverages, from black-and-white striped straws.

Kristen brought metallic-wrapped chocolates and sorted them by color in trophy-shaped candy dishes.

I tried to make bike-wheel-shaped cookies, but you may need to use your imagination! I got the recipe from Martha's Vineyard magazine. These golden shortbread cookies have a layer of blueberries (fresh from my backyard in Maine!) sealed in the middle.

Charlotte and Jen, book club members from the food department, brought a healthy veggie platter and decorated the dip with pretzels to mimic the Olympic rings.

If you finished “Gold” and have any thoughts, please share them in the comments. Don’t forget to check back on Monday to find out our book selection for August! (And if you want to make the shortbread-blueberry cookies, you can find the recipe on Martha’s Vineyard magazine‘s website.)