Same Topic, Different Books

My recap of our Jackie Kennedy meeting (where we read different books on the same topic) is up at ReadingGroupGuides. Click here to check it out!

Recap: Books about Jackie Kennedy Onassis

This month we tried something a bit different. Annette wanted to read a biography of Jacki Kennedy. Rather than choosing one biography, each person could choose any book about Jackie that looked interesting to her. This idea worked very well!

We began by discussing Jackie's childhood and family background. We then moved on to the Kennedy years, then the Onassis years. We concluded our discussion by focusing on her years as an editor and her relationship to Maurice Templesman.

Six of the gals at the meeting were too young to remember Jackie, while the other three did remember some things about her. I think that everyone left the meeting knowing more than they did before though.

Nine people attended the meeting; those 9 people read 8 different books. Four read biographies, two read photo biographies, and two read books on fashion, and there were a few other books we browsed through. For the most part the books agreed with each other and covered the same parts of Jackie's life. One book, however, focused on Jackie's relationship with her mother and THAT one contradicted most of the other books - it made for some great discussion!

Here's a list of who read what and what they rated it ...

• Heather: Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: A Life, by Donald Spoto ... 7
• Heather: One Special Summer, Lenn and Jacqueline Bouvier ... 10
• Nicole: Jackie Kennedy: A Life in Pictures, by Yann-Brice Dherbiert & Pierre-Henri Verlhac ... 7
• Annette: Jackie: Her Life in Pictures, by James Spada ... 10
• Lenore: Janet & Jackie, by Jan POtter ... 7
• Bev: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, by Ellen Ladowski ... 7
• Nancy: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, by Ellen Ladowski ... 10
• Stephanie: Jackie, The Clothes of Camelot, by Dominick Dunne ... (?)
• Kara: Jackie Style, by Valentino ... 8
• Melissa: America's Queen, by Sarah Bradford ... 4
• Carrie: America's Queen, by Sarah Bradford ... 7

Since we didn't all read the same book, we decided to rat our meeting. Everyone had a great time ... here's how our ratings went:

• 8 x 1 vote
• 9 x 4 votes
• 10 x 3 votes

for an average of 9.3.

If you want to read more about Jackie, check out this post and this one too. We had a lot of fun reading about her and doing our meeting this way. We'll definitely do something like this again soon!

More Info on Jackie O.

Here are some interesting links to check out as you are reading about Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis this month.

• The National First Ladies Library has a brief summary of her life as well as some unique tidbits about her experiences as First Lady
• An article based on an interview she did just after her husband's assassination
• News footage and interviews from after the assassination
• Photos from her life
  
• Jackie's obituary
  
• Info about Jackie's grave site in Arlington National Cemetery
• Read her Last Will and Testament
• Lots of info/videos/photos about Jackie in the movies
• Quotes by and about Jackie

2008 Baltimore Book Festival Recap

I finally finished posting all my pics, videos, and thoughts from The Baltimore Book Festival on my personal blog. Whew! That was exhausting.

Here's a recap of all my posts in case you want to check them out:

• Author Panel: Kathleen McCleary (House and Home), Megan McCafferty (the Jessica Darling series), and Norma Jarrett (the Sunday Brunch series)
  
  
• Author Panel: Andrea Lavinthal and Jennifer Rozler (Friend or Frenemy?)
  
  
• Chef and Cookbook Author Martin Yan of "Yan Can Cook!" (Martin Yan's China)
  
  
• Author Reading: Susan Fraser King (Lady MacBeth)
  
  
• Caterers and Cookbook Authors Dan Smith and Steve McDonogh, aka The Hearty Boys (Talk With Your Mouth Full)
  
  
• Panel Discussion: In-Print Book Reviews vs. Book Blogs (my panel)
  
  
• Books I Discovered at the Festival
  

I hope you enjoyed coming to the festival with me! Maybe you can join me in person next year - mark your calendar now for Sept. 25-27, 2009.