Let's Get Together

Hi everyone,

Right now, only Wednesdays are not good for me because I work at the Family History Center. I think sisters with children and/or jobs should pick the date and I'll work around it.

Shannon Hale I don't know but I am game. There is nothing that says we can't talk about other books we have read also. Let me know what date you decide on!

It's a big book, for the women being so little . ..

So, I actually did finish Little Women, but I struggled through parts. I read an abridged version years ago, so I was surprised at how much moralizing there was in the full version. Which isn't terrible, but it took a lot more time to read! Another surprise was how Amy's wedding came about - in the kid's version I read, she just showed up at home married, and everyone was delighted! I did enjoy the added details in that case.

I really appreciated the wisdom of Marmee, how she knew exactly when to counsel her girls and when to just let them make their own mistakes and learn from them. She seemed to do the latter more often, and I hope I have that kind of wisdom and patience with my children - and that it works out as well!

As for meeting for the movie, when is a good time for most of us? As for the next book, I loved the one Shannon Hale book I read (Book of a Thousand Days) and would love to tackle another one! Any other ideas?

Another Confession

Thanks for fessing up Miki! Now I can admit that I haven't even started. I too had another book I have been reading and just didn't get to Little Women with all the Holiday Hubbub. Just out of curiosity - has anyone read Little Women this month? If not maybe we could talk about Twilight. That is, if everyone has read it. I've only read the first book but have been told about the others. Maybe we could pick something recent for our next book. Are there any other fans of Shannon Hale? Maybe we could read one of her books. I love the ones I have read so far. I haven't read Princess Academy yet. Just an idea...

I GAVE UP

Ok everyone, I admit it! I gave up on Little Women. Instead I am finishing the Twilight Series. Wooo-oooo! I couldn't put it down. I read the first one about a month ago. Then I started the second book about two weeks ago. I am almost finished the 4th book now. I guess I must have some teenage girl in me somewhere - I loved it and can't wait for the 5th book. And I loved the movie. Anyway, I will still enjoy getting together in January to see the Little Women movie. I really like to read fast moving books. I got through Jane Eyre ok but Little Women? Just can't do it! Let me know what the next book is when it is decided.

Anyone else having a problem reading this book?

Hi Ladies,

I am having a terrible time getting through this book. I finally watched the movie and it has helped some but I just can't seem to get into it. Is anyone else having the same problem? I am beginning to think I have gotten so used to easy-to-read books (most of today's novels are easy to read) that my brain doesn't want to work harder to read a classic. But....I am still plodding through it. Any ideas on when and where we can get together in January?

The New Book

Hi Ladies,

It looks like the Little Women book is on for November - maybe into December. I don't know about all of you but my Novembers/Decembers are crazy! I am thinking maybe we could do this book for the rest of November and December and talk about it in January. Maybe we could get together and have a real discussion. January is such a dreary month with a big letdown from the holidays. It would be fun to meet at someone's house/apartment and have refreshments and talk about both books. What does everyone else think?

Next book?

Hi ladies,

Sorry I've been a bad admin the past few weeks - I've had 3 papers to write for school! Anyway, there's been some interest in picking out our next book, theoretically to be discussed in December. I know we'll want to get crackin' on that, so does anyone have a suggestion? I personally have been wanting to read Little Women, but I don't know if you guys want to do another girly classic or switch gears a bit. Your thoughts?

ARE YOU ALL THERE?

Hi Gang, Have we decided on a new book yet? Who makes that decision? I can come up with one if you want. Let me know.

I'm from the "bra burning" era!

Ok, church girls, here goes. Even though I don't consider myself to be a feminist, i.e., pro-choice, think men are the worst creatures God ever made, that women should have careers instead of/in spite of being mothers, etc., etc., etc., there are some feminist ideas that I believe are true. I do believe women should be paid the same as men for the same work. I do believe women should be educated so they can have a career; after all, not all of us get married, have children and/or have husbands who can support us. I definitely would NOT have survived in any other century but this one. Guess that is why I here at this time, huh? What we have to remember is that at the time this was written, women didn't have a lot going for them. They were basically under the thumbs of either their fathers, husbands or brothers. Or so the men in that era thought. But I think smart, clever women have always been able to get pretty much what they wanted. I feel the key here is the term "what they wanted". I think that has changed over the years.
That said, Jane Eyre was not your typical young woman for the age. I am guessing (I have not read about Charlotte's life) that Jane is very much as Charlotte was or wanted to be. For the times, Jane Eyre was a radical - but she still incorporates her radicalness (is that a word?) into her life as a woman in that century. She still rebels inwardly - but stays calm most of the time outwardly. She still falls in love - but to a man who is above her station. She demands much discipline from herself and her student - but accepts Rochester who seems to have little discipline for himself but a lot for others. She uses her righteousness to leave Rochester for a "technicality" (did I just call his first marriage a "technicality"?) - but won't consider marrying St. John (the saint) because they don't love each other as a husband and wife should. Jane has her opinions and pretty much sticks to them!
I kept saying out loud while I was reading toward the end, "Don't go with St. John; don't marry him; he is even MORE disciplined than you are and will discipline you to death!" And . . . . wonder of wonders, she listened to me and didn't go with St. John. But instead went back to find out what happened to Rochester; searched for him; found him and married him; and they lived happily ever after! What a heroine!!!

Finished

Well, I finally finished Jane Eyre! It was rather hard to read in places. In some spots I longed for the descriptions to end and to get on with the story already! Did they really talk like that back then? I think the hardest part was trying to read the heavy accented talk. Is everyone else finished reading it. I want to talk about the story but only after everyone has read it.

My Thoughts on Mr. Rochester

Okay, maybe I'm just too big a fan of Mr. Darcy and keep comparing the two, but Mr. Rochester has to be one of my least favorite leading men. Maybe it is because of the difference in culture, but it kind of bothers me when he talks to himself about Jane Eyre when she is right in front of him and he is so...um...passionate in his speech. I guess he's just not my kind of guy. I wonder if he was what Charlotte Bronte thought of as her ideal man or if she intended for him to be flawed and appealing only to Jane Eyre.

Chapter 12 and Girl Power

Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a constraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrowed-minded in their more priveleged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.

I do so love some good old-fashioned feminism! It's so much more eloquent than the "girls rule, boys drool" mantra I wore on my t-shirt in middle school. I had to wonder how anyone could have thought that Jane Eyre might have been written by a man after reading this!

Been longing for a bookclub for quite awhile!

Hi everyone, I have been looking for a bookclub to join for a long time. So glad to be part of this one. Can you believe I am 62 and have never read Jane Eyre? Neither can I! Later!!

October's Title: Jane Eyre

Hello church girls! I'm hearing a lot of votes for Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, so it looks like that will be our October book. Feel free to post to the blog any time you'd like - anytime something strikes you about the book, once a week, once when you finish, at the end of every paragraph . . . whatever you'd like.

Important to note - if I have not added you as a blog author, you will be able to comment on other people's posts, but you will not be able to write full posts of your own. I'm happy to add anybody to the author list, but I need your email address to do it, so let me know if you want to be added. Let me know if you have any questions. Happy reading!

Here's some background on Charlotte Bronte.

Some technical stuff

Okay, so here's the scoop, ladies - right now I am the only author of this blog. If you're not familiar with blogginess, that means that I'm the only one who can write long posts like this one will probably turn out to be, but anyone can leave a comment. My feeling is that it will probably work to have one person start a post about a book and everyone else comments, but it might work better to allow everyone to be a blog author and write as many posts as they want. So, either way we end up doing things, we need more blog authors! If you'd like to be one of them, please send me your email address and I'll add you to the list.

Also, there's the privacy issue. I have the blog set up right now so that anyone can read it, until we get set up. We may want to change it so that only we can read it - please let me know your preference in the comments to this post. The major benefit there would be that we would know exactly who is reading what we post, since book discussions might move into our personal lives as well - we wouldn't have to be quite so careful what we share.

I've set up a "Subscribe" gadget on the left sidebar, so if you use a blog reader, you can click the button to have the posts/commments sent to your reader. It's nifty. If you don't have a blog reader but think you might like one (it makes it so much easier to keep track of what you've read, and you don't have to check all of your sites every day), I'd be happy to help you set one up!

There are probably other technical issues I've forgotten to mention - let me know!

Welcome

Hello Church Girls!

We now have a blog for our baby book club - yay! Next step - let's pick a book to talk about in October. I've heard from a few people that they'd like to read something by Jane Austen or Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte; both are excellent choices. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Place your vote in the comments and I'll announce the winner here on October 1st.