Happy New Year! 

I have been nominated to host the first read-along (RAL) of 2013, and we will commence February 1, which is a Friday, so we'll have a whole weekend to get a good start on the book!

The book is The Kitchen House: A Novel by Kathleen Grissom. (Thank you to REK for suggesting it!  It sounds fabulous, and it should generate a lot of great discussion.) Unfortunately, there are no copies available here on PBS, but it is obviously available at bookstores and on-line (both real copies and electronic).  I will be reading it on my iPad.  Of course, local libraries would have it too. 

I will post the discussion threads later this month.  For now, please let us know if you'll be joining us, and get your hands on a copy of the book!

Also, I'm told I'm in charge of soliciting a leader for the April KAL, so if you are interested, please let me know. I'd love to get this chore out of the way ASAP.  LOL! 

ETA - It's been brought to my attention that several of our "regulars" here have already read the book, so perhaps there is not enough interest in this particular book.  I assume those who have already read it may jump in on the discussion, but how many new readers will we have?  Does it matter?  I had never heard of this book until REK suggested it, and I was intrigued enough to acquire it.  It's one of those books that I maybe wouldn't read if there wasn't a RAL.  Hopefully there are others who are also intrigued enough to obtain the book and join in.  Anyway, PLEASE post if you'd like to join us and indicate if you'll be reading the book for the first time or if you have already read it but would still like to participate.  I'll wait until next week, and if there's not enough interest, I guess we can change books (although I don't relish the thought of choosing one). 

Love this book. I will definitley be interested in joining you guys.

I haven't read it, and I may join in, my work this Feb is crazy!  The spirit is willing but the schedule isn't.

I have already read it, but would love to join in the discussion.

Oh, I love it when things work out---REK had recommended this when I posted seeking a good but lighter HF read to introduce my IRL book group colleagues to HF we love, and guess what?! I scheduled it for February, so Shelley your timing is absolutely perfect!

I have NOT read it and will definitely read along....I understand there may be recipes to go w/ the book....off to research that now :)

I found this: (I am going to make them for my book group for the night we discuss the book)

Lavinia, a seven-year-old Irish orphan with no memory of her past, arrives on a tobacco plantation where she is put to work as an indentured servant. Placed with the slaves in the kitchen house under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her new adopted family, even though she is forever set apart from them by her white skin. As Lavinia is slowly accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles an opium addiction, she finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When Lavinia marries the master's troubled son and takes on the role of mistress, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare and lives are put at risk. The Kitchen House is a tragic story of page-turning suspense, exploring the meaning of family, where love and loyalty prevail..

The recipe offered with is this book is "Belle's Molasses Cake."

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup of molasses
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 dashes of ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inchsquare baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg. In a separate bowl, combine the milk and the molasses. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Add each of these alternately to the butter mixture, beating well between additions. Spoon batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!

Count me in as one who has already read it, but will be closely following the discussion. ~Kelly

I've also read the book, but will follow the discussion and may "chime in" now and then.

I haven't read this yet, and would love to join in, schedule permitting. 

Oooh, looks like we have takers - both new readers and those who have read it before.  Cool!  I think we'll stick with it.  It seems to be something people want to discuss.

Carolyn - Good for you in sticking to your guns!  I'm sure your library system has it, and you have plenty of time to request it.

Colleen - Yum!  I'm too lazy to bake right now.  Can you whip up a cake and send me a piece??  LOL!

I decided to buy it as my first e-book, so I purchased it off iCloud. It was $1 cheaper there than on Kindle.

@Shelley: will e-cookies work? especially if you are reading the e-version? what? no?

I predict you will be hooked on the ebook format--I love them, BUT I am cheap (Scottish ancestry flaring up there) and hate to pay full price, so unfortunately I've learned that all too often the free/inexpensive ones are worth what you pay for them.....most of them are awful. But every now and then on our thread there's a great score.

Colleen - No, it has to be cake, real cake!  Feel free to drive it to my house, and I'll invite you in for coffee!  I will let everyone know how I feel about reading something on a computer.  Right now I have my doubts.  I'm a paper person. Heck, if there's an article or something on the internet that's longer than a paragraph or two, I will print it out to read it!  (I know, I am a shameful waster of paper!  I recycle, though, so maybe it evens out.)  Anyway, I also cringe at the thought of  paying as much for an electronic version as a real book, especially when I never re-read things, and when I'm done with the e-book I can't even swap it here at PBS and get something for it. 

Shelley, Linda has nearly talked herself out of getting an e-reader for the very points you raise. We'll be interested in what you decide after actually giving it a try.

I have that same issue with not being a re-reader.  So at first, I only had free or super-cheap things on my Kindle.  That actually works out good for me because I read a lot of current CF and that comes free or cheap to the Kindle pretty quickly. Then I discovered Overdrive and stole my mom's library card number because my library only has about 1000 Kindle titles and hers has over 30,000!  A lot of the HF I read on my Kindle is checked out through Overdrive, but I think you have to have a real Kindle to use that, not just the app.    I do miss the paper book. I miss the cover, the feel of the book in my hand, turning that last page.  But with all my traveling, the Kindle is really handy. 

I don't want to promise too much since my ability to read anything is sadly lacking these days, but my friend just recommended this book to me last week, so I am very interested! 

It looks interesting.  I just got a sample from B&N for my Nook, and I expect I'll buy the full book.  I hate to pay full price for an e-book, too, but for a RAL, I will.

I held out against e-readers for a long time--kept saying I'd think about it once my paper TBR was down.  Hmph ... like that'll ever happen!  Eventually I caved.  It's so much more convenient than hauling doorstoppers.  And I love having so many options at my fingertips if my mood changes and I want something different.

I cleaned my bookshelves today and found my paperback copy of The Kitchen House so I'll be able to review and follow along.  I culled over 80 books from my shelves to donate and/or swap!  I have nice clean shelves and still have plenty of TBRs.  My Kindle is pretty loaded as well.  I like to alternate e-books with "p-books" but especially like reading magazines and newspapers on the Kindle.  My favorite right now is British History Magazine.

I get library books on the Kindle via Overdrive/library all the time. I can also read those books on my PC app as long as the book is still checked out.

That's good to know, Cathy.  I do know that I can't request Overdrive library books from my iPhone.  But I just checked and you are right...now that they have been checked out, I can download it to my phone.  So is it just the Amazon Lending Library that you have to have the physical Kindle, not the app? I know there is some type that applies to.

@ Christa, really not sure. I would have to experiment by checking out a library book and seeing if I had the option to send it to a free app. Have you tried that? Been a while since I've checked out a library kindle book. 

I have downloaded a few freebies and one or two really cheap ones from Kindle in addition to The Kitchen House, which I bought from iCloud.  I will let you all know what I think if "e-reading."  LOL!  I seriously doubt I'll buy any book for the e-reader that are more than just a few dollars.  Even if I love reading on the iPad, I can't justify buying books for it that I can't trade or do anything with when I'm done and when I have over 200 "real" un-read books on my shelves. It just seems like a waste.

Unfortunately our library doesn't have a large amount of HF books available electronically, but maybe that will change.

Just a note -- if anyone has a copy of this book that they've already read and are willing to part with, perhaps you could post here so that people wanting to participate in the RAL but who don't have the book can obtain a copy.  There aren't any available here.  You could maybe post a "first one to contact me will get the book" type of e-mail (obviously for a credit).  

Also a reminder to those thinking of getting it from the library - you might want to request it soon if it seems to be a popular item in your library system!

Doesn't look like I'm travelling much in Feb, and my market hours have been cut way back, so ... If my library has it, I'm in! Never done a RAL before! Debbie