Wednesday, October 22
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!
Sunday, October 12
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 ...
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!
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
- 8 x 1 vote
- 9 x 4 votes
- 10 x 3 votes
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!
Tuesday, October 7
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:
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
Wednesday, September 24
Recap: Redeeming Love
On Thursday night we met at Chevy's for Happy Hour to discuss Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers.
First off, it was crowded! We usually sit on the porch outside and have it almost to ourselves. This time I snagged the only two empty tables out there. The noise level was higher than we're used to as well. And the parking was horrendous! It's never good, but this was ridiculous.
Ok, on to the book. This was Kelli's pick and she'd read it before. Most of the girls LOVED it, even the ones who didn't particularly want to read it. Lenore read it in two days, Nicole stayed up late even though her littlest boy is still waking up every few hours at night, Kara didn't want to get out of the car whenever she arrived at work (she listened on CD), and Shayla is planning to give copies to her sister and cousins. Personally, I wasn't a big fan. Neither was Annette, and Jennifer and Amy both thought it was just ok.
We talked a bit about what made Michael Hosea such an appealing character and our reactions to women like Angel in today's world. Stephanie and Melissa both empathized with Angel, as they've come across girls like her in their respective careers.
It was interesting to me to see the two different covers for this novel. They certainly give very different first impressions! Scroll to the bottom of this post for some examples.
Our discussion was rather brief this time. The noise level contributed, but we also wanted to finish year so (most of) us could go to the movie (click here for details on that).
Here are our rating for Redeeming Love:
First off, it was crowded! We usually sit on the porch outside and have it almost to ourselves. This time I snagged the only two empty tables out there. The noise level was higher than we're used to as well. And the parking was horrendous! It's never good, but this was ridiculous.
Ok, on to the book. This was Kelli's pick and she'd read it before. Most of the girls LOVED it, even the ones who didn't particularly want to read it. Lenore read it in two days, Nicole stayed up late even though her littlest boy is still waking up every few hours at night, Kara didn't want to get out of the car whenever she arrived at work (she listened on CD), and Shayla is planning to give copies to her sister and cousins. Personally, I wasn't a big fan. Neither was Annette, and Jennifer and Amy both thought it was just ok.
We talked a bit about what made Michael Hosea such an appealing character and our reactions to women like Angel in today's world. Stephanie and Melissa both empathized with Angel, as they've come across girls like her in their respective careers.
It was interesting to me to see the two different covers for this novel. They certainly give very different first impressions! Scroll to the bottom of this post for some examples.
Our discussion was rather brief this time. The noise level contributed, but we also wanted to finish year so (most of) us could go to the movie (click here for details on that).
Here are our rating for Redeeming Love:
- 5 = 2 votes
- 6 = 2 votes
- 8 = 2 votes
- 9 = 1 vote
- 10 = 4 votes
Saturday, September 20
Schedule for the rest of 2008
October 7
your choice of any biography of Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy
(bring your book to the meeting to compare)
chosen by Annette
meeting at Lures Bar & Grille, Crownsville
November 15
The Glass Castle
by Jeannette Walls
chosen by Nancy
meeting at Melissa's house
December 21
Christmas Party & Planning Meeting, and
The Memory Keepers Daughter
by Kim Edwards
chosen by Joan
meeting at Jessica's house
your choice of any biography of Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy
(bring your book to the meeting to compare)
chosen by Annette
meeting at Lures Bar & Grille, Crownsville
November 15
The Glass Castle
by Jeannette Walls
chosen by Nancy
meeting at Melissa's house
December 21
Christmas Party & Planning Meeting, and
The Memory Keepers Daughter
by Kim Edwards
chosen by Joan
meeting at Jessica's house
Friday, September 19
Movie Night: Nights in Rodanthe
Because of our presence on the internet, I was contacted by a marketing group offering SdelleS free tickets to an exclusive screening of the new movie Nights In Rodanthe, based on the book by Nicholas Sparks.
The movie was scheduled for the same night as book club and in the same mall as the restaurant where we'd be meeting. So rather than miss out, we ended our meeting a bit early and (most of us) headed off to the movie.
Here's what the gals had to say about it afterward:
Stephanie: The movie was a good romance movie, but not the ending I wanted. Maybe that is what the author and production company intended.. not to have the ending please everyone, but more reality in theory!!
Melissa: I'd give the movie a 4.5 because I adore Diane Lane. Otherwise, eh? The ending came out of nowhere & seemed unnecessary, & I didn't like the subliminal message about the safety of the developing world. But Diane Lane gave a stunning performance as always!
Annette: OH boy about last night. So exciting I felt like a celebrity at the Premier. Especially with the reserved seats for the press in front of us. I really enjoyed it and you were never bored. It was a fun night out with my husband and family. Thank you Heather honey, we look for a night like this again. I rate the movie a 6.
Shayla: I really did not like the movie. The movie was all surface and no depth. I plan to read the book, hopefully the book will fill in some blanks.
Kara: i had a fabulous time -always fun w/the girls! the movie -i think all of us who went together - steph, my mom bev, steph's mother in law sue, melissa & her friend - didn't like it - it was good, neat having it filmed in the obx, and an amazing house we all wanted, but that was it! i like fairy tales - and there was a little "heated" debate afterwards, but our group decided we live in the real world, but as for movies - we'd rather not be realistic :) even though i didn't like the movie it was soo much fun and i found a movie i have to see - go watch trailer of 4 christmases - looks so funny like wedding crashers
Lenore: As for the movie, not a huge fan. Although I read the book a long time ago and am fairly certain the book was better, however not much can help the ending.
And from family members who attended:
Nick: it was slow to start, but it was very touching, I needed a drink when it was over!
Karen: The scenery was nice since we were just there, BUT I thought it was slow, and I wasn't that crazy about it! We had a wonderful time, though.
Thank you to Promotions and Publicity at Terry Hines & Associates for giving us tickets to this show!
I'll be posting a recap of our actual meeting shortly, as well as the schedule for the next few months so be sure to check back for those.
The movie was scheduled for the same night as book club and in the same mall as the restaurant where we'd be meeting. So rather than miss out, we ended our meeting a bit early and (most of us) headed off to the movie.
Here's what the gals had to say about it afterward:
Stephanie: The movie was a good romance movie, but not the ending I wanted. Maybe that is what the author and production company intended.. not to have the ending please everyone, but more reality in theory!!
Melissa: I'd give the movie a 4.5 because I adore Diane Lane. Otherwise, eh? The ending came out of nowhere & seemed unnecessary, & I didn't like the subliminal message about the safety of the developing world. But Diane Lane gave a stunning performance as always!
Annette: OH boy about last night. So exciting I felt like a celebrity at the Premier. Especially with the reserved seats for the press in front of us. I really enjoyed it and you were never bored. It was a fun night out with my husband and family. Thank you Heather honey, we look for a night like this again. I rate the movie a 6.
Shayla: I really did not like the movie. The movie was all surface and no depth. I plan to read the book, hopefully the book will fill in some blanks.
Kara: i had a fabulous time -always fun w/the girls! the movie -i think all of us who went together - steph, my mom bev, steph's mother in law sue, melissa & her friend - didn't like it - it was good, neat having it filmed in the obx, and an amazing house we all wanted, but that was it! i like fairy tales - and there was a little "heated" debate afterwards, but our group decided we live in the real world, but as for movies - we'd rather not be realistic :) even though i didn't like the movie it was soo much fun and i found a movie i have to see - go watch trailer of 4 christmases - looks so funny like wedding crashers
Lenore: As for the movie, not a huge fan. Although I read the book a long time ago and am fairly certain the book was better, however not much can help the ending.
And from family members who attended:
Nick: it was slow to start, but it was very touching, I needed a drink when it was over!
Karen: The scenery was nice since we were just there, BUT I thought it was slow, and I wasn't that crazy about it! We had a wonderful time, though.
If anyone else emails me with their comments I'll add them here as well.
Thank you to Promotions and Publicity at Terry Hines & Associates for giving us tickets to this show!
I'll be posting a recap of our actual meeting shortly, as well as the schedule for the next few months so be sure to check back for those.
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