Now reading: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Thanks again to Sara for hosting a fab book club, once again. Lower your expectations, ladies. I am not a gourmet chef. This month's book is The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Please let me know which of the following dates will be best for you to meet by posting a comment below. I hope you enjoy the book!

Tuesday, January 15
Thursday, January 17
Wednesday, January 23
Thursday, January 24

Atonement - the movie!

Just an FYI - it is currently playing at the Landmark Cinema in Edina:


Landmark Edina 4 Theatre3911 West 50th StreetEdina, MN 55424
Atonement11:00am, 1:40, 4:20, 7:10, 9:50

I would love to go see it - I know this si a busy time of year but maybe we could squeeze it in? If anyone is interested, let me know!

The wind -- it talks and it breaks!

I think my name was much more descriptive. Perhaps not of the movie or topic, but nonetheless.

Windtalkers

Here's another one which might cause some confusion:

Breaking the Waves

Addendum to Dec. Book Club notice

Just a reminder that in addition to the Suite Francaise discussion and exciting ornament exchange at December's meeting, we'd also like to hear a review of any other book you may have read recently.

If you, like me, haven't read another book outside of book club for 2+ years, then, well.... just know I'll be bringing a review of the latest Martha Stewart Weddings or People magazines.

Suite Francaise

Looks like Tuesday, December 4th is a date that works for all who responded with their preference, so mark your calendars and start shopping for ornaments!

Here's a link to a (quite lengthy) review the New York Times did on the book, for those interested in the back story of Irene Nemirovsky's life.
Read about the book in the NYT

Wednesday, October 24th

Just a reminder that our next book club meeting for "Eat, Pray, Love" is Wednesday, October 24th! Also, please see Ashley's post and submit your opinion for holiday book club!

Holiday Meeting of Book Club

Hey all -

Hope the month of October is treating you well...

Things have been a touch slow on the blog, so I thought I'd throw out a discussion topic (we can also discuss in person next week at Christina's).

Discussion topic: What to do for December book club?

Questions to answer:

• What are everyone's thoughts about reading or not reading a book for December?
• Should we read something that isn't a book (i.e. interesting article or short story)?
• Whatever we read or don't read, should we still continue with the holiday tradition (2 years and going strong!) of exchanging ornaments?
• Should we meet at a local establishment or have a host?
  

FYI - the hosting schedule, as of today, is as follows:

October - Christina
November/December - Sara
January - Ashley
February - HaiVy
March - Brenda
April - Kerstin
May - Sarah
June - Jonell
July - Becky

To further your reading pleasure....

As a follow up to Ashley's post about Oprah featuring "Eat, Pray, Love" on her October 5th show, click here to dig further into "Eat, Pray, Love" on Oprah's website. From there, you will find features about leading a well-balanced life and taking your own "pleasure tour" by planning your own trip or just living vicariously through Elizabeth Gilbert's trip through recipes and making the most out of simple pleasures.

The Other Boleyn Girl coming to theatres soon

Natalie Portman (Anne) and Scarlett Johansson (Mary) are starring in this film which is set for release in Feb. 2008. Looks like we have another movie outing to add to our to-do list.

This month's author on Oprah Oct. 5

I just found out that Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love, is going to be on Oprah on Oct. 5. I will TiVo it if anyone wants to come by and watch it with me. I am LOVING the book so I am very excited to hear the author talk about it. Thanks for picking such a winner, Christina.

Another Philippa Gregory great

Although I didn't read the last book club book (nothing against the selection or Shelly), I have been able to recently finish The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory, which was a birthday gift from Ashley. Thanks, Ashley! Since I think most of us were fans of The Other Boleyn Girl, I thought this would be the appropriate place to share my views.

Although I wasn't as immediately drawn in as I was with The Other Boleyn Girl, The Virgin's Lover turned out to be another fascinating read. As a huge fan of Elizabeth starring Cate Blanchett (a "sequel" comes out this year -- WooHoo!), I already knew a little about the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Robert Dudley. The Virgin's Lover is about their relationship from beginning to end and believe me, it gets juicy!

I won't give anything away except to say that my obsession has moved on from the Boleyn girls to Robert Dudley. Those Tudors were crazy!

My grade = A-/B+. Only because the beginning wasn't as enticing. But I could not put the book down and the ending is WAY dramatic.

Atonement - the book and movie

Hi ladies,

I read the book Atonement a couple years ago in a different book club (gasp, I know! I admit I had a brief fling with some side action), and to this day, it remains one of my favorite books of all time. Of course, I am easily amused and a sucker for anything British, but seriously, it's a good book and if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it!

The inevitable movie adaptation has been completed, and it stars Keira Knightley and cutie James McEvoy, who was just in that Jane Austen movie with Anne Hathaway. More importantly the movie is getting rave reviews in the UK:
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=11344

The movie opens in the U.S. in December. Hooray!

HaiVy

September's Read

I'm really hoping that my inability to remember the title of the book doesn't mean it won't be a good read!

Our September book is Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See. If you want to find it on amazon, check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Flower-Secret-Fan-Novel/dp/0812968069/ref=pd_sim_b_3/103-1394379-0307008?ie=UTF8&qid=1187809438&sr=1-1

As for dates, I'll list a few for everyone to choose from and I'll send directions later (FYI, I'm out of town from 9/19 to 9/26):

Monday, September 17
Thursday, September 27
Tuesday, October 2
Wednesday, October 3
Thursday, October 4

Feel free to take your time and let me know when your schedule is more concrete.

Happy reading!

Blogging Basics

Hi all,

Here are some helpful resources to get us started in the bloggin' world!

Blogger.com's basic help
http://help.blogger.com/bin/topic.py?topic=8912

Blogging for beginners
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/14/blogging-for-beginners-2/

Another book club's blog
http://werkingtitle.blogspot.com/.

Enjoy!

HaiVy

Welcome to our blog--what was your favorite read?

Hey ladies---welcome to our official book club blog. This is a place for us to connect between book clubs, share our thoughts on the book-of-the-month or other books we're reading and connect with former book club members. Anyone can become a blog author. Just let me know and I'll sign you up. For our first post, review the books we've read on the right and share you're all-time favorite. Does one of the books stand out above the rest? Why?