These is my Words.... for REAL THIS TIME!

We are meeting at Stacy Crumpton's house on December 8 at 8:00 pm!!! Be there or be square!!!!!!!!

November's Book

November's MOM is Stacy Crumpton and she's chosen "These is my Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine" by Nancy Turner.

I'll let Stacy fill everyone in on the synopsis and author info.

Sarah's Key

As many of you are aware this month's read will be, Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay. Have you read it yet? Our meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 13 @ the home of our MOM, Leslie Colbert. Refreshments will be served beginning at 7:45 pm. The book discussion will begin at 8:15 pm....don't be late!

Thirteenth Tale to Meet Tomorrow!

Our next book club meeting is upon us. It is TOMORROW NIGHT! We will be discussing 'The Thirteenth Tale' at Leslie's home. Appetizers will be served at 7:30 and the book discussion will begin at 8pm. If you have any questions please contact our MOM, Jen or our hostess, Leslie. To give our hostess an idea of how many of you will be coming, please RSVP by responding to this post.

"The Thirteenth Tale"

September's book is "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield. Jennifer Ruggles is the MOM. I believe that the meeting will be back at Jenae's house, yes?

This is a gothic novel set in modern day England. An eccentric, super-famous author has told a different story of her life every time she was interviewed. Now, old and in ill health, she wants an obscure, amateur biographer to write the tragic story of her family. Both her secrets and those of the biographer must be revealed. Lots of mystery. When I closed the back cover of this book, I immediately flipped it around to the front and wanted to read it again right then.

This is Diane Setterfield's first book. She was born in 1946 in England. Before writing, she studied French literature and taught in public and private schools. Wikipedia says she is currently working on a second book. Woo hoo!

The manuscript for this book inspired a bidding war among publishers in the UK and the US. It was the first book chosen by the Barnes & Noble Recommends program. It hit #1 on the NY Times bestsellers list one week after it was published in September 2006.

Study questions to be posted later.

Location Change~ Meeting This Tuesday!

AHOY, MATEYS!! Don't forget, our book club meeting will be this Tuesday, August 11. Refeshments will be served starting at 8pm and the book discussion will begin at 8:30pm. Our MOM for this meeting will be Alisha Oldroyd. SO...Listen to your MOM (see MOM rules to the right)!!! The location for our meeting has changed. We will be gathering at Leslie Colbert's home. Because this is an open blog, if you would like an address or directions to Leslie's house please leave a comment below and she will get back to you. There will be extra points given if you decide to dress in pirate garb. (Similar to the point system from the old Drew Carrie show, "Who's Line Is It Anyway?") Really, it would just be fun to see you ladies with eye patches and gold hooped earrings! ARGH!!

A Piratical Way of Life

This month's TTNBC selection is "Pirates!" by Celia Rees. It's a story of scandal, love, & most importantly, friendship.

Celia Rees is a British author. There doesn't seem to be anything remarkable about her as an author. She was just a young girl with an active imagination and a love for literature. Ms. Rees was an English teacher until she started writing full time in 1997. She has written many other books, none of which I've read, but would like to. (You can read her full biography here.)

I love the descriptive dialogue in Pirates. I was introduced the the book when my sister was listening to it on a trip down here to visit. I only heard a few minutes but wanted to keep listening so I checked it out for myself... twice.

I hope you all enjoy the story as much as I did. I'll post some questions for feedback as we go so keep checking back!!!

Reminder- MEETING NEXT TUESDAY

Just wanted to remind ya'll to READ the book (you still have time- it's a quick read) (this reminder is for you SS!). The meeting will be at my house next Tuesday night. Little nervous about posting my address on a public blog (like it matters since I'm sure someone can look me up anywhere else online) so I'll let you guys find me in the stake directory. Since I am now employed (YAY!) I probably won't have a clean house or well-thought out appetizers, but I'll do my best.

Let me know if you'll be able to make it.


Jenae


P.S. Shout-out to those girls who will be out of town and miss the festivities- Les, Chels, etc. Comment and let us know how much you liked/disliked the book!

Girl Discussion

I have no idea how to moderate a book club blog discussion. So I'll wing it with questions I collected online! Please contribute and participate or my self-esteem will plummet.




1. What is your first impression of Johannes Vermeer? Did this change throughout the book?

2. Did anything in the book make you uncomfortable? If so, why? Did the uncomfortable-ness add to or take away from the novel?

3. Why did Griet feel so torn between her new life and old life? What did she enjoy about her new life in Vermeer's household? What did she miss about her old life?

4. Do you think Vermeer truly cared about Griet, or was he only concerned with the painting? Were his feelings toward her defined by passion, love, lust, paternal instincts, camaraderie? What about her feelings toward him?

5. In many ways, the primary relationship in this novel appears to be between Griet and Vermeer. Do you think this is true? How do you feel about Vermeer's relationship with his wife? How does that come into play?

6. Why was Catharina so upset by the painting? Do you think Vermeer betrayed his wife? Did he love her? What was the nature of their relationship?

7. Maria Thins obviously understood Vermeer's art more than his wife did. Why do you think this was the case? Do you think she shared Griet's talents?

8.Why did Griet hide her hair? Why did she feel so revealed once Vermeer saw her hair, that "it no longer mattered what I did and did not do?"

9. Rate Girl with a Pearl Earring on a scale of 1 to 5.

No need to answer all (or even any!) of these- they are just to get everyone thinking about what we're reading. If you do feel strongly about any of them, please comment. If you have a question about the book or just an observation, COMMENT (I know you're not shy)! Before our next meeting I'll go ahead and print out the blog and comments so we have a springboard for discussion.

Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Just a reminder that our next meeting is July 14th at 8:30 at my house. I'll probably post some discussion questions in the next couple of weeks once I start re-reading Girl.

Let me know if ya'll have any questions/suggestions!