W3 Book Club-“Wicked” by Gregory Maguire

by Teri E. Popp & Laura Chin, Tastemakers in Residence

What’s better than getting a group together for book club? Getting your book club together to celebrate a Halloween birthday at a Wisconsin cabin!! And that’s what W3 Book Club did when reading Gregory Maguire’s novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” a 1995 book written from the witch’s perspective that was also featured in a very popular Broadway play.

A political and social satire, written in a way reminiscent of the novel “Animal Farm,” “Wicked” shows how discrimination against those different from us can lead to confusion, pain, suffering, and, sometimes even, death. Although written almost 25 years ago, it’s a wickedly good take on today’s society with many parallels to current politics and social problems covering issues such as demagogue rulers, societal injustice, inequality, and lack of care for our environment and living creatures.

We started the weekend with appetizers and glowing green cocktails before visiting the local bar for a quick game of dice!

On Saturday morning, we headed off on a wickedly fun scavenger hunt and pub crawl through the crisp Wisconsin fall. From The Silver Bear to Big Swede’s Tavern & Resort to shopping at the local gift shop, we gorged on cheese curds and sampled Wisconsin beer, including Spotted Cow and Totally Naked.

We ended our spell-binding day with a scrumptious dinner of:

Terrifying Tomato Basil Soup;

Scarecrow Coleslaw;

Flying Monkey Mashed Potatoes;

Cowardly Lion Carrots; and

Wicked Witch of the West’s Prize-Winning Pot Roast.

And we topped it all off with Wickedly Good Birthday Cake, lots of wine, and shots of limoncello!! As they say in Boston, it was wicked, good fun!!