Booktini Gathering

What a great night!  The Booktini gals got together to discuss Michelle Moran's book, Cleopatra's Daughter.  We started our evening with some pomegranate wine, pita bread, hummus, and very tasty olives. In keeping with our Egyptian theme, we had Egyptian music in the background, place cards with our names in hieroglyphics, and modern Egyptian food (that didn't turn out so great except for the Baklavan - yum).  

We all enjoyed reading this fascinating novel.  The story begins with Cleopatra and Marc Antony's suicides and tells the story of what becomes of their children.  The Romans have taken over Egypt and the fate of these children, in particular Cleopatra's daughter Selene, is very uncertain.  The development of these characters and vivid descriptions of Egypt and Rome transport the reader to this tumultuous time in history. 

We had the opportunity to speak with Michelle and enjoyed hearing how she came to telling this previously untold story.  It is a story of survival, loss, power and love.  Michelle's passion for these characters and this story is evident in every page.  So, if you are at all interested in Ancient Egypt, Rome, or Cleopatra then you would love this book!  Michelle also revealed to us what her next book is about and we can't wait to get our hands on it, but you will have to keep checking back - we aren't going to spill the beans!

The next book we'll be reading is Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Our next Booktini gathering will be April 23rd and it's going to have a Swedish theme.  IKEA anyone?