louie, louie

last night the bookwomen were joined carolyn's new pup louie. louie is a wheaten terrier, a breed which originated in ireland. I didn't have a chance to ask about louie's story before he joined carolyn's family, since he's just about a year old I expect he has one.

louie is very, very soft and very, very friendly.

last night's book was Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India by Madhur Jaffrey. perhaps louie is trying to tell us that he is salivating thinking about the tasty treats that our host prepared.

in order to restrain louie from said tasty treats, carolyn has louie secured in a loving leg lock.

incidentally, everyone in the group enjoyed jaffrey's memoir. we were disappointed to learn from carolyn, our discussion leader, that jaffrey has no intentions of writing a sequel. jaffrey was born in 1933 and this book covers the first eighteen years of her life. these were important years in the history of modern day india. although the book is primarily a personal memoir about family and food, jaffrey personal story overlaps with topics such as the relationships between hindus, muslins, and christians in india, the caste system, arranged marriage, the nonviolence movement of mohandas gandhi, india's involvement in wwII india's independence from britian in 1947 - resulting in the partition of india, and so on.

the book is a quick read and very enjoyable. the final section of the book includes family recipes from jaffrey's most delicious childhood!