Tuesday Tea and Tomes: The beginning of virtual Tea and Reads

Afternoon tea now features book club!

 

Afternoon tea is not just about tea and scones (although, those are delightful components). Our monthly family tea times have evolved to include not just a gab fest (although, another delightful component), but now book club, too!

At our initial tea, the conversation turned to latest Netflix shows and last reads. The latter topic lead to a an informal book club idea and Haley, my future daughter-in-law, had just picked up a book the weekend prior, "Mrs. Everything" by Jennifer Weiner.

Sis-in-law shows off fancy spoons and biscuits from Caffe Florian

Haley was drawn to the book because it's about two sisters growing up in Detroit. The time frame spans from the 1950's to present day and it's a page-turning journey of the sister relationship strained and forged over tragedies and expectations.

Having been on the cusp of the generation where women had the choice of stay-at-home mom or Ms. Career  - and a vast subtext of suspicion from each camp of the other - I understand the struggle to "do it all" with equal amounts of confidence and doubt.

The senior members of the book club found some of the sisters' antics exhausting. The millennials in our group were saddened by the limitations of the time for the Kauffman girls. 

With names pulled from "Little Women"  - Beth and Jo,  the pretty one and the tomboy -  the sisters carved out lives for themselves neither one anticipated.

And, all of this story with Michigan roots. There's some fun references to the Detroit area, but we all spotted out the incorrect geographic crossroads of Quarton and Lasher described as being part of Southfield. Not essential to the story, but still allows an "insider" to raise an eyebrow.

Definitely for mature readers, but a fast read and something, I'm happy to report on, out of my routine. It's nice to be in the new millennial from time-to-time.  

And, as with other teas, we still showed off what we were drinking and fancy accoutrements. We had a bit of a Caffe Florian theme - my sister-in-law, Sandy, showed off her beautiful silver teaspoons and biscuits (!)  from the Venetian tea room that she received as a birthday gift. I held up one of my selections from the Caffe Florian's 300 year's anniversary collection. Molto bene!

We've already selected our next book and scheduled the "Virtual Tea and Reads" for April. Looking forward to tea, scones, gab fest and book review - all delightful components for our next gathering!