Literary League Of Extraordinary Women

For 3 Years

2009-09-21T14:08:00.002-04:00

I have been wanting to post on our website and today I got a notice to use my gmail account and IFOUND IT!!!!!!!

Reeves

2009-05-18T11:11:00.006-04:00

Author: Sue Monk Kidd

Title: The Mermaid Chair

Genre: Fiction

Original Language: English

Setting: Contemporary

Meeting: Lesley's beach themed home complete with fishing net (knotted by monks no doubt!).

Read Score: 6.5

Discussion Score: 10

About This Book -- B&N Synopsis

Telling the story of Jessie Sullivan-a love story between a woman and a monk, a woman and her husband, and ultimately a woman and her own soul-Kidd charts a journey of awakening and self-discovery illuminated with a brilliance that only a writer of her ability could conjure.

Mother Night

2009-04-06T10:30:00.003-04:00

Author: Kurt Vonnegut
Title: Mother Night
Genre: Fiction
Original Language: English
Setting: Contemporary (1961)
Meeting: Anne's home. Wonderful book discussion while enjoying German fare.
Read Score: 8
Discussion Score: 10

About This Book -- B&N Synopsis

Mother Night is a daring challenge to our moral sense. American Howard W. Campbell, Jr., a spy during World War II, is now on trial in Israel as a Nazi war criminal. But is he really guilty? In this brilliant book rife with true gallows humor, Vonnegut turns black and white into a chilling shade of gray with a verdict that will haunt us all.

March 6, 2009 HAPPY 3rd BRITHDAY LLOEW! A Thousand Splendid Suns

2009-03-25T09:28:00.003-04:00

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Genre: Fiction

Original Language: English

Setting: Contemporary Afghanistan

Meeting: Maryanne's home. Wonderful book discussion while enjoying a lavish feast of Indian food.

Read Score: 10

Discussion Score: 10

About This Book -- B&N Synopsis

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years — from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding — that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives — the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness — are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heartwrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love — a stunning accomplishment.

January 2009 The Alchemist

2009-03-25T09:15:00.003-04:00

Author: Paulo Coelho
Title: The Alchemist
Genre: Allegory
Original Language: Portugese (Brazil)
Setting: Spain and Northern Africa
Meeting: Dayna's
Read Score: 7
Discussion Score: 7

About This Book -- B&N Synopsis

Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its simplicity and wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an Alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a meditation on the treasures found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is art eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.

December 2008 Eat, Pray, Love

2009-03-25T09:10:00.004-04:00

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert

Title: Eat, Pray, Love

Genre: Memoir

Original Language: English

Setting: Contemporary Italy, India, Indonesia

Meeting: Jackie's Xmas wonderland!

About this book -- B&N Synopsis

Oddly but aptly titled, Eat, Pray, Love is an experience to be savored: This spiritual memoir brims with humor, grace, and scorching honesty. After a messy divorce and other personal missteps, Elizabeth Gilbert confronts the "twin goons" of depression and loneliness by traveling to three countries that she intuited had something she was seeking. First, in Italy, she seeks to master the art of pleasure by indulging her senses. Then, in an Indian ashram, she learns the rigors and liberation of mind-exalting hours of meditation. Her final destination is Bali, where she achieves a precarious, yet precious equilibrium. Gilbert's original voice and unforced wit lend an unpretentious air to her expansive spiritual journey.

October 2008 Loving Frank

2009-03-25T08:58:00.004-04:00

Author: Nancy Horan
Title: Loving Frank
Genre: Fiction
Original Language: English
Setting: early 1900's America
Meeting: October 2009. Reeve's meeting at Jackie's house.
Read Score: 9
Discussion Score: 7

About This Book -- B&N Synopsis

"I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current."

So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives.

In this ambitious debut novel, fact and fiction blend together brilliantly. While scholars have largely relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America’s greatest architect, author Nancy Horan gives full weight to their dramatic love story and illuminates Cheney’s profound influence on Wright.

Drawing on years of research, Horan weaves little-known facts into a compelling narrative, vividly portraying the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual. Horan’s Mamah is a woman seeking to find her own place, her own creative calling in the world. Mamah’s is an unforgettable journey marked by choices that reshape her notions of love and responsibility, leading inexorably ultimately lead to this novel’s stunning conclusion.Elegantly written and remarkably rich in detail, Loving Frank is a fitting tribute to a courageous woman, a national icon, and their timeless love story.

Loving Frank Background

2008-10-09T13:21:00.010-04:00

Edwin Cheney House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

Cheny divorce as reported in the Chicago Tribune.
To read this clipping click here

Ellen Key

Taliesin

Slideshow

September 2008

2008-10-09T13:03:00.002-04:00

Author: Irene Nemirovsky

Title: Suite Francais

Genre: Historical Fiction

Original Language: French

Setting: Occupation of Paris and France 1940

Meeting: September 19, 2008 Dayna's "french" inspired dining room

Read Score: 8

Discussion Score: 8

About this book --

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review

Celebrated in pre-WWII France for her bestselling fiction, the Jewish Russian-born Némirovsky was shipped to Auschwitz in the summer of 1942, months after this long-lost masterwork was composed. Némirovsky, a convert to Catholicism, began a planned five-novel cycle as Nazi forces overran northern France in 1940. This gripping "suite," collecting the first two unpolished but wondrously literary sections of a work cut short, have surfaced more than six decades after her death. The first, "Storm in June," chronicles the connecting lives of a disparate clutch of Parisians, among them a snobbish author, a venal banker, a noble priest shepherding churlish orphans, a foppish aesthete and a loving lower-class couple, all fleeing city comforts for the chaotic countryside, mere hours ahead of the advancing Germans. The second, "Dolce," set in 1941 in a farming village under German occupation, tells how peasant farmers, their pretty daughters and petit bourgeois collaborationists coexisted with their Nazi rulers. In a workbook entry penned just weeks before her arrest, Némirovsky noted that her goal was to describe "daily life, the emotional life and especially the comedy it provides." This heroic work does just that, by focusing—with compassion and clarity—on individual human dramas. (Apr. 18) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Whiskey Rebels -- Early review for Librarything.com and Random House

2008-09-10T13:15:00.005-04:00

The Whiskey Rebels: A Novel by David Liss

David Liss has been on my "to read" list for quite some time. After reading The Whiskey Rebels, he's sky rocketed to the top of that list. Though some earlier reviewers say this "is not his best", you could have fooled me.

18th century America is not my favorite period in historical fiction, but colonial Philadelphia and the factors leading up to the Whiskey Rebellion would have grabbed my attention. Freshman Pennsylvania history in high-school and Colonial history II in college (both in Pennsylvania) came flooding back to me, this time, in a good way.

Liss' has wonderfully built period atmosphere, compelling characters, and an intriguing story full of suspense, all of which is enhanced by flawless research. He's also hit everything I look for in historical fiction -- a story based on history I know little about (or have forgotten) that I can get lost in! I hit the jackpot with The Whiskey Rebels and am really looking forward to reading his earlier works. 4 stars

June Meeting aka FEET ON THE DASH BOARD SUMMER BLAST Road Trip

2008-07-10T14:23:00.006-04:00

Author: Kim Edwards
Title: The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 1964 to present
Meeting: June 6, 2008 on Anne's Patio with hoagies galore!
Read Score: 5
Discussion Score: 7

About this book --
from Publisher's Weekly:
Edwards's assured but schematic debut novel (after her collection, The Secrets of a Fire King) hinges on the birth of fraternal twins, a healthy boy and a girl with Down syndrome, resulting in the father's disavowal of his newborn daughter. A snowstorm immobilizes Lexington, Ky., in 1964, and when young Norah Henry goes into labor, her husband, orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Henry, must deliver their babies himself, aided only by a nurse. Seeing his daughter's handicap, he instructs the nurse, Caroline Gill, to take her to a home and later tells Norah, who was drugged during labor, that their son Paul's twin died at birth. Instead of institutionalizing Phoebe, Caroline absconds with her to Pittsburgh. David's deception becomes the defining moment of the main characters' lives, and Phoebe's absence corrodes her birth family's core over the course of the next 25 years. David's undetected lie warps his marriage; he grapples with guilt; Norah mourns her lost child; and Paul not only deals with his parents' icy relationship but with his own yearnings for his sister as well. Though the impact of Phoebe's loss makes sense, Edwards's redundant handling of the trope robs it of credibility. This neatly structured story is a little too moist with compassion. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

May Meeting

2008-05-15T15:19:00.006-04:00

Author: Dai Sijie
Title: Balzac and The Little Chinese Seamstress
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 1970s China; Cultural Revolution
Meeting: May 2, 2008 at Leslie's home with all members except 1, Chinese food and bitchin "Bitch" wine!
Read Score: 7
Discussion Score: 7

About This Book --
from Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers

The power of books -- to excite, to enlighten, to inspire -- serves as the theme of this engaging gem by Chinese-born filmmaker Dai Sijie. The tale takes place in China during the harsh days of the Cultural Revolution, when millions of young people were sent to the countryside for "reeducation." That is, they were charged with manual labor and steeped in Communist propaganda. The two teenage boys in Sijie's novel fail to escape this fate, but lonely and frightened as they are in the rural mountain village to which they've been exiled, they find themselves transformed when they uncover a forbidden treasure trove: a suitcase filled with Western literary classics. Hugo, Stendhal, Dumas, Flaubert, Dickens, and especially Balzac become the boys' secret companions, firing their imaginations and giving their lives new meaning. The books become the motivation and the sweet reward for everything they do: They lead them into danger but also help them out of scrapes. And the books also become the vehicle by which one of the boys, Luo, woos a beautiful seamstress who lives on the other side of the mountain. Ultimately, the secret books become the catalyst for Sijie's provocative and unexpected ending.

The author, who was himself "reeducated" in the early 1970s and emigrated to France in 1984, has penned a startling and lucid story that evokes the nightmarish world of Mao's China as seen through the eyes of two utterly charming young boys. An immediate bestseller in France, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is sure to find its way into the hearts of Americans as well. (B&N Fall 2001 Selection)

The truth behind book clubs!

2008-05-05T18:10:00.001-04:00

BookReporter Network Interview

2008-05-02T11:02:00.007-04:00

April showers brought us more than just May Flowers as we were one of the featured Book Club Interviews at ReadingGroupGuides.com (part of the Bookreporter.com network) :--

The Literary League of Extraordinary Women

Dayna Delmonico is a member of “The Literary League of Extraordinary Women” in Haddon Heights, NJ, which celebrated its second anniversary in March. In this interview, Danya explains that her club operates in a “21st century” manner by holding discussions with “virtual” members living in Ohio, Utah and Arizona. She also shares an amusing anecdote about Anne Boleyn’s special place in the group.

Q: Does your group have a name and/or a theme? How long has your group been in existence?

A: We named ourselves “The Literary League of Extraordinary Women,” or LLOEW for short. The name is a takeoff on the comic book and movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. That League is made up of 19th century fictional adventurers --- Allen Quatermain, Tom Sawyer, Dorian Gray, Mr. Hyde of Jekyll and Hyde, The Invisible Man, Captain Nemo and Mrs. Harker from Dracula. We will be celebrating our second anniversary this month.

Q: How many members do you have? How many men, how many women? What age are most of your members?

A: So far we have nine female "baby boomer" members who repeatedly celebrate their 39th birthdays. We also have three "virtual members" in Ohio, Utah and Arizona.

Q: How often do you meet? Where do you meet?

A: We meet every six weeks or so at the homes of members.

Q: Do you eat at your meetings? What do you eat? Who brings the food?

A: It's usually BYOB with everyone bringing munchies or a desert for the group. Sometimes the faire is indicative of the book being discussed. For A Thread of Grace we had Northern Italian cheeses and common everyday wine from the Piedmont region of Italy. The Historian was discussed over two lovely wines named Dracula and Vampire, both imported from Transylvania. PuPu platters and Chinese beer was enjoyed by all for the Snow Flower and the Secret Fan meeting.

Q: Who leads the discussion? Do you use reading group guides?

A: The hostess usually leads the discussion and we always use reading group guides.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: Our first year we leaned heavily to historical fiction, which seems to be a favorite of most members. We've gotten a tad more eclectic in scope since then.

Q: How do you choose your books? Do you choose one new book at each meeting, or do you choose the books for a number of meetings ahead of time?

A: Our reading year starts in September and ends in June, so our May meeting is when we pick the next set of books. Every member has the choice of adding one book to the upcoming year OR choosing a random title from the ReadingGroupGuide.com Best Of list.

Q: What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the group read?

A: Our discussions seem to be based on selections "theme" or "themes" and can take off in a number of directions. For The Red Tent, childbearing as a life experience in addition to the Old Testament as history led to discussions of personal experiences and religious beliefs. Our Snow Flower discussions had a definite "the importance of females as a community" flavor to them.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: That's a problem we've never had. Our members, by nature, are funny and fun loving.

Q: What advice would you give to other reading groups?

A: Don't forget what you've read in the past or older works as potential selections. With the recent death of Kathleen Woodiwiss, we realized that a great many of us read her books in the '70s. After we toasted her memory, we started to talk about our other old favorites. I'm pretty sure my next choice for the club will be the banned in Boston --- the first super bestseller, Forever Amber from 1944.

Q: Do you have any horror stories, amusing anecdotes, or other special tales to tell?

A: It will take a lot to outdo our May 19, 2006 meeting. For that meeting the book was The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. A few days before the meeting we learned, quite by accident, that Friday night was the 470th anniversary of Anne Boleyn's' beheading! It's the first story we tell new members. We call it the HEADS UP Meeting, and Anne has had a special place with this club ever since.

Q: Is there anything else unique or noteworthy about your group that you would like to share?

A: Because two club members are professional web content editors who specialize in technology, we have a blog, http://lloew.blogspot.com/, virtual members and are working on members having the ability to attend meetings via the web. We're SO 21st century.

© Copyright 2001-2008, ReadingGroupGuides.com. All rights reserved.

March 2008 Meeting

2008-03-19T12:00:00.010-04:00

HAPPY 2nd ANNIVERSARY LLOEW!

Author: Lionel Shriver
Title: We Need To Talk About Kevin
Genre: Fiction
Setting: Present, New England
Meeting: 3/28/08 at Dayna's. Our longest book discussion to date and our longest meeting!
Read Score: 7

Discussion Score: 10

About This Book

from the publisher --

The gripping international bestseller about motherhood gone awry
Eva never really wanted to be a mother—and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklyn. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.

Meeting Memories -- The Red Tent

2008-01-22T10:45:00.001-05:00

Author: Anita Diamant
Genre: Fiction; some consider it a midrash
First published: October 1997
Setting: Time of the Jewish Patriarchs, between 1800 and 1500 B.C.E. aka the Middle Bronze Age
Meeting: 1/18/08. Held at Jackie's house with kool jazz, roaring fire, great munchies and our first male guest, Gerry.
Read Score: 9
Discussion Score: 10

The Old Testament Dinah story Christian
The Old Testament Dinah story Jewish

Key Moments & Discussions:

* a toast to the late Katherine Woodiwiss (Shanna, The Wolf & The Dove, The Flame & The Flower...) as we lamented our readings of the 1970's.
* a quick trip around Pitcairn Island (YIKES!)
* Lesley's post sailing black and blue marks
* conversation that's forcing Gerry to read the old testament
* childbirth as a defining experience
* quoting an Anne email we're "never looking at bricks the same way again! LOL
* the bible as history
* Jackie's introduction of sparknotes.com into the club.

Though sparknotes.com (owned by Barnes & Noble) has very few post modern fiction notes, if they do cover something we're reading, it's a great site especially if you haven't read or finished the book. It really shines if you want more backgound, context, themes...

More Red Tent Context --

This quote is from sparknotes.com -- "The Red Tent has been quite controversial, because its narrative adapts the biblical story of Jacob’s family. Some critics, mainly devout Jewish and Christian scholars, believe Diamant essentially blasphemes against the Bible in her version of Dinah’s life, changing basic elements of the stories of Jacob and his wives and presenting Leah and Rachel as polytheistic—a representation that directly contradicts the Judeo-Christian belief that Leah and Rachel were the matriarchal founders of the Jewish people and pioneers of monotheism. "

For more on the Red Tent click here

The Red Tent

2008-01-08T12:04:00.001-05:00

Rachel's tomb (outside of Bethelem) circa 1910. Rachel with water jug.

Leah and Rachel.

Fall Reading

2007-12-03T11:15:00.000-05:00

After 3 Fall meetings, we've converted Karen to a virtual member and added Anne Murphy and Jackie Williams as new members. Now our virtual readers are in Utah, Ohio (Aunt Betty) and Arizona!

We --
*met about Snow Flower by candle light on the deck and ate Pu Pu platters and drank Chinese beer as we discussed "same olds".

*did a part 1 and 2 on Wally Lamb's twins (wouldn't Dr. Patel be a great member!)

** and are on to Dinah, the 4 wives of Jacob and life in early Biblical times.

Time flies when you're having fun...

2007-05-02T13:45:00.000-04:00

The March meeting at Dianne's was the 1st Anniversary of the LLOEW! How could we forget?

March Meeting

2007-03-12T12:33:00.000-04:00

Diane hosted a lovely March meeting at her home. As always there was a lovely atmosphere, good wine, good food and good conversation about The Kite Runner and other book topics.

2007 Starts With A Good Book

2007-01-26T14:41:00.000-05:00

Robyn's hostessing tonight's meeting of The Thirteenth Tale. If you can't make it post comments here.

The Plot Against America -- Other Players

2006-10-13T11:02:00.000-04:00

TOP: Mayor La Guardia
Bottom: Ann Lindbergh
Opposite: Walter Winchell

The Plot Against America - Lindbergh

2006-10-13T10:45:00.000-04:00

THANK YOU,KAREN!!!!!

2006-10-02T09:13:00.000-04:00

It was a really nice meeting at your house,Karen. The discussion was great(even if some of us zoned out!!!!) Also,the desserts were delish! As my old friend,Rose Candy used to say about our Friday night cocktail hours after a tough week "we are blowing off some stink." I had just read in our local paper that my daughter's dreaded b/f threw a fire bomb into our mutual friend's house and now awaits court date for arson! Thus,I had the need to party, Being a big girl and very much in control,I assure you I was fine and fine one Saturday too! Soon as I finish Marley and Me a very un-nazi book I will start The Plot..... See ya'all on Oct. 20th at my house where once again I assure you,I WILL be cooking with wine!....love,Bea

THE FINAL (I promise) LIST 2006

2006-09-07T10:02:00.000-04:00

2006-2007 Meeting dates

The reading year runs September to June.
8 dates, 1 hostess home per date.
Everybody brings a munchie per meeting and BYOB

[hostess contacts all attendees in advance so there's not 8 deserts...].
Each hostess picks the book for her meeting.

Hostess books must be determined 2 months or more in advance, ie. Jan. hostess announces her selection by Octobers meeting.
Everybody has a favorite genre and this gives us all a chance to read things we wouldn't ordinarily read and share our favorite book or genre.

[ If your stuck for ideas, call or email Reeves she's great at choosing interesting books. HOWEVER, force her to identify whether or not Nazis are part of the plot!!!! We're attempting to keep her to one Nazi book per year, though many have tried and few have succeeded.....So beware and choose accordingly. LOL]

September 29
Hostess -- Karen
Book -- The Historian

October 20
Hostess -- Reeves
Book -- The Plot Against America -- Philip Roth

December 8 (XMAS Gala)
Hostess -- Dayna
Book -- Daughter of Time -- Josephine Tey (no Nazis!)

British mystery written in 1951. Somewhat of a cult classic and, along with Name of the Rose, started the historical mystery genre.
New York Times -- One of the best mysteries of all time.
Boston Sunday Globe -- The unalloyed pleasure of watching a really cultivated mind in action! Buy and cherish!

Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant lies in a hospital bed with a broken leg. To alleviate his boredom, a friend brings him a pile of pictures: photographs, prints, engravings, and clippings. Among the more engrossing images is the portrait of King Richard III. Studying the benign face, he asks himself how such a sensitive-appearing soul could have been the infamous murderer of his own nephews. With the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, Grant reconsiders 500-year-old evidence pertaining to one of the most intriguing murder mysteries of all time. Josephine Tey's answer to who really killed the two princes in the Tower of London has provoked controversy ever since its publication in 1951.

January 12, 2007
Hostess -- Robyn
Book -- The Thirteenth Tale -- Diane Setterfield

A compelling emotional mystery in the timeless vein of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, about family secrets and the magic of books and storytelling.

Margaret Lea works in her father's antiquarian bookshop where her fascination for the biographies of the long-dead has led her to write them herself. She gets a letter from one of the most famous authors of the day, the mysterious Vida Winter, whose popularity as a writer has been in no way diminished by her reclusiveness. Until now, Vida has toyed with journalists who interview her, creating outlandish life histories for herself - all of them invention. Now she is old and ailing, and at last she wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. Her letter to Margaret is a summons.

Somewhat anxiously, the equally reclusive Margaret travels to Yorkshire to meet her subject - and Vida starts to recount her tale. It is one of gothic strangeness featuring the March family; the fascinating, devious and wilful Isabelle and the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline. Margaret is captivated by the power of Vida's storytelling. But as a biographer she deals in fact not fiction, and she doesn't entirely trust Vida's account. She goes to check up on the family, visiting their old home and piecing together their story in her own way. What she discovers on her journey to the truth is for Margaret a chilling and transforming experience.

February 16
Hostess -- Diane
Book -- TBD

March 23
Hostess -- Lesley
Book -- TBD

April 27
Hostess -- Maryanne
Book -- TBD

June 1
Hostess -- Lise
Book -- TBD

Fun With Vlad!

2006-09-07T09:53:00.000-04:00

Top to bottom:
1. Symbol of the Order of the Dragon
2. The monastery at Snagov
3. Vlad III -- WITH his head!

book not mtg!

2006-08-25T07:43:00.000-04:00

You said you needed a book club night and I said why does it have to be around a book??? So,if ya can come to my house on Sept.8th for just wine,food and tawk let me know. Lise is game.!!!!I read Water For Elephants and really enjoyed. Its a quick read,too.When I go upstairs I will check my list and blog further titles I read this summer.Bea Readon!

Slight CHANGE OF EVENTS

2006-08-24T10:46:00.000-04:00

The Historian (aka "the summer tome...") meeting has changed to the 29th. The additional dates below work around holidays and give us all a few nights out (though I seem to be the only one with no social life). Some dates are still **tentative, as our nurses work weekends and we obviously don't want to schedule dates that conflict with their ability to attend.

** These dates are good!

Just a reminder of the original club set up --
1. If you haven't finished the book, show up anyway (you might get teased, but not pilloried!).

2. As long as 5 members can attend a meeting, dates stay the same
3. Meetings are 7:30 Friday nights about 6 weeks apart
4. Live membership is capped at 12. We currently have 8 probably 10 (possibly Robyn Dellemonache and Julie Williams). We also have 3 virtual members (on our blog) and a book club in Utah (colleagues of mine) that scan our blog/reading lists all the time.
5. Meetings are at members homes -- 12 members, 12 meetings per year, one time per member. If you can't do that, for whatever reason, somebody usually volunteers their home for your turn.

September 29 -- The Historian -- Karen's house (we're car pooling to Burlington Twnshp.)
October 20 -- Water for Elephants new $14.37 used $12.99, 335 pages Amazon-- (TBD)
December 1 (Holiday GALA) -- Are Men Really Necessary in paperback 10/3/06 -- (TBD)
January 12, 2007 -- (TBD) -- (TBD)

Fall Events

2006-08-14T11:53:00.000-04:00

Now that summer is winding down and the real world looms large, here are reminders of upcoming meetings, possibole titles and FYI stuff --

September 8 -- 7:30 Meeting The Historian
October 20 -- Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
December 1 -- Are Men Really Necessary by Maureen Dowd (paperback out 10/3/06)

FYI -- (Back to the Tudors...)
*The Pa Renissance Faire (Elizabethan England) opened Saturday and runs Saturdays and Sundays through Halloween.
*New Philippa Gregory Book "The Bolyn Inheritance" coming out Dec. 5. Just in time for the WHAT MOMMY WANTS FOR XMAS list. Picks up where "The Other Bolyn Girl" leaves off, aka the rest of Henry's wives.
*Alison Wier's 1st historical fiction novel "Innocent Traitor" (about Lady Jane Grey) gets published in the US Feb. 27, 2007.

We Remember the 470th - Meeting 5.19.06 Heads Up

2006-05-20T08:04:00.000-04:00

Dayna,Lise,Marianne,Leslie and Dianne all came to my house last night for our discussion of The Other Boelyn Girl. Sorry that Karen and Pat could not join us. It was a great evening even if we did go a bit ................. off subject!!!! We did manage to pull it together with Lise's help and did discuss some interesting parts of the book. Thanks,Dayna for the asides of historical information that you provided us. However, there is so much to discuss in this rich book and time in history that I feel we could have a whole mini series of discussions about it!!!! We agreed that our next book is The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. This is a biggie lengthwise. We will not meet till Sept. because of summer,etc. I have a suggestion: I get the on demand feature from Comcast. For $3.99 I can order here some chick flicks or whatever that we all missed. So I suggest a girls movie night some Friday. Bring the pop corn!

Sweating Sickness -- Thanks Reeves

2006-05-17T16:34:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sweating sickness, also known as the "English sweate" (Lat. sudor anglicus), was a mysterious and highly virulent disease which struck England and later Europe in a series of epidemics the first beginning in 1485 and the last in 1551, afterwards apparently vanishing. The onset of symptoms was dramatic and sudden, with death often occurring within hours. Its cause remains unknown.
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May Meeting

2006-05-15T12:56:00.000-04:00

Meeting: Friday May 19, 2006
Time: 7:30
Place: Reeves' Home
Selection: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
470th Anniversary of Anne Boleyn's Execution

As you know, just about all the characters in the book were real people, but did you/do you know --

1.Two other female characters were beheaded for treason on "Tower Green". One died before Anne's execution the other a few years after. Can you guess who they were?
HINT -- 1 character is a main character the other briefly mentioned.
5 women and 2 men were beheaded on "Tower Green" which is inside the walls of The Tower Of London. Most executions took place on "Tower Hill" which is outside of the walls and a Tube station today.

2. Guess which character was burned at the stake by Mary I ("Bloody Mary") ?
HINT -- If you remember what he did for Henry, you'll know why Mary did him in!

3. Do you know why "the court" changed residences soooooo often?
HINT: It wasn't because they got bored.

4. Henry is buried under the floor of St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. You will literally walk over his grave and not necessarily know it unless you happen to look down. Which wife is buried with him?

5. Another wife of Henry's is buried with Anne (parts of her that is) in the chapel at The Tower of London. If you know which wife it is, you'll know which main character, surprisingly, kept his evil ways and went fairly unscathed into old age.

6. Tudor historians as well as the real characters would laugh out loud over the portrayal of one of the main characters. This character had a well established reputation long before coming to court, and it's NOT what the book leads you to believe. Who do you think may not be portrayed accurately?

7. And finally, what do you think happened to Thomas Percy?

Learning So Much.......

2006-05-13T16:51:00.000-04:00

From all you sites you posted,Dayna! Really the internet is a wunerful thang!!!!!!!

I too went to Hever Castle site the minute I started to read about it in the book. Sorry there are no portraits of Mary?

I am trying to get thru the book but life gets in the way. But,like Dayna said,its not like I don't know what happens,mostly!

The meeting here will not have an English theme Just an ordinary night of extrondinary woman getting together with the usual wine,cheese,crackers,etc!!!!!

Hever Castle

2006-05-02T14:11:00.000-04:00

Lesley found this picture. No wonder Mary wanted to spend summers with the children at Hever. More pictures of Haver

Fun Tudor Stuff

2006-05-01T14:55:00.000-04:00

These are some extra Tudor goodies you might enjoy.

Tudor History This is a really good site. Would you believe from Texas?

Photo Galleries includes pixs of gifts, portraits, badges, graves...organized by wife.
Katherine of Aragon
Anne Boleyn
Jane Seymour

Tudor site blog.

Multimedia from the BBC site. Terrible Tudor facts is a riot.
Tudor costume game

Terrible Tudor Facts

Make sure you jump over to the Queens Burthday site while you're here. Also the list of succession is really interesting.
History of the Monarchy

Mary and "Uncle Howard"

2006-04-28T15:09:00.000-04:00

Mary's portrait at Hever Castle.
Uncle Howard looks pleasant doesn't he?

Other Tudor Things

2006-04-28T10:46:00.000-04:00

I just finished The Other Boleyn Girl and I must admit, it was better than I expected. I've owned the book since it was first published and keep starting and stopping over the past few years.

I haven't had enough of Tudor England so I've picked up, again, Alison Weir's history 6 Wives of Henry VIII. If you never read anything by her, she's a best selling popular historian from Britian who I highly recommend. She's really fun to read, as opposed to Antonia Fraser who I find really, really dry. Fraser wrote The Wives of Henry VIII.

Weir, a few days ago, just released her first Historical Fiction novel -- Innocent Traitor -- about Lady Jane Grey (takes place after Henry VIII dies and his young son Edward - by Jane Seymour - is on the throne). So far it's only available in the UK.

The pictures are of a Yoeman Warder at the Tower of London and my husband Jim at Hampton Court (built by Cardinal Wolsey and taken by Henry -- BTW bricks were the newest, and most expensive, building material in Henrys time). Both locations are in the book. Boy I wish I could wrinkle my nose like Samantha in Bewitched and have us all there on May 19 -- would that be great or what!

My last Word On Brad and Angelina

2006-04-27T17:06:00.000-04:00

The difficulties of adoption make one wonder why it was so easy for an unmarried Angelina Jolie when Tucker and his wife (who is African American) had so much trouble. Could $$$$ be a factor? HA! Two things I want to comment on in regard to this comment of yours.(I have been remiss in going online much recently) First of all I agree with you about the $$$$ factor. I am sure her fame and Brad's also has something to do with it. It also brings to mind the case in the news where they took the african american boy away from the white parents who had raised him for 2 years? The second thing is very trivial...I can't believe this woman and her very unattractive,huge lips was voted the most beautiful woman(heard that on GMa so I am not sure if its People Mag. or what).

Love in the Driest Season

2006-04-09T19:30:00.000-04:00

I recently read and appreciated "Love in the Driest Season", by Neely Tucker. This book starts in 1997, when Tucker and him wife move to Zimbabwe, where he was based as a foreign correspondent for the Detroit Free Press.

He and his wife become volunteers at a local orphanage where they fall in love with an abandoned little girl. Conditions at the orphanges in Zimbabwe are horrible....30 cents a day per child is the budget. There are thousands of orphans due to the AIDS crisis, and the sheer numbers are overwhelming to the bureaucratic system.

This is a story of the Tucker's attempt to adopt a child and the years of obstacles that are put in their way by the government functionaries. Set against the crisis in Zimbabwe and in the other parts of the continent which Tucker goes off to cover as a journalist, the book gives one an inside look at events in Africa. The difficulties of adoption make one wonder why it was so easy for an unmarried Angelina Jolie when Tucker and his wife (who is African American) had so much trouble. Could $$$$ be a factor? HA!

JOANN

My Reading Life!

2006-03-24T09:02:00.000-05:00

So I just finished Lucy fast so that I can take it over to Mom in "The Home". I got her two other books at the library but this is the one she is bugging me to read. I really enjoyed this book. It makes me want to reread Eleanor and Franklin. One thing struck me. Lucy is my age when she starts this fictional memoir. She sounds truly like an old fart in many ways......like Margaret Dumont would play her in her older years in a movie!!

Correction

2006-03-20T13:14:00.000-05:00

Joann...Glad to see you posted! Above the comments on Lucy I put what a reader said. Much as I would like to take credit for the acurate review of the book. I am really enjoying it. Dayna said "we have to stay away from the Nazis for at least 2 months. At least this book is another era." She is as crazy as me about WW II stuff!

I am Reading Lucy by Ellen Feldman

2006-03-19T07:44:00.000-05:00

here is what one reader said:
An intriguing love story
I've been an avid reader of historical novels for the past forty years, and consider Ellen Feldman's Lucy one of the best. It is an informative, entertaining and richly detailed depiction of the love affair that Franklin D. Roosevelt had with Eleanor's social secretary Lucy Mercer. It is also a vivid and accurate account of that crucial period in world history between both world wars, and WWII itself. It takes courage and skill for an author to pen a book narrated by a historical figure, and Feldman does so with masterful restraint, thus creating a realistic and convincing portrait. Lucy comes across as a sensitive and caring woman willing to make any sacrifice for the man she loves, a man who returns her love, and realizes in the end that had Franklin left his wife for her the scandal would have ruined him, and history as we know it would be another story. FDR himself emerges as the giant he was, but susceptible to the passions that also made him human. And Eleanor bears it all with the type of stoical pride, dignity, and wit that made her the great woman she was. I once shook her hand, and still feel her warmth in my palm. It's an important story unknown to many. Overall, this is a wonderful novel by the underrated Ms. Feldman. One can only hope she continues to write such fine narratives.

What's New

2006-03-16T09:59:00.000-05:00

Welcome Joann, our FIRST virtual member. She lives too far away to attend meetings, as does my sister-in-law Margie who's reading our selections too.

For anyone (friends or relatives) who have to join virtually -- this BLOG is perfect. ALSO, if any of our VIRTUAL members have a web cam they'll be able to attend other LLOEW "Live via the web" when meetings are at my home . IF Anybody else has a web cam set up let me know -- we can Virtual member your meeting too. LORDY, LORDY how KOOL are we?

KOOL Links

2006-03-15T12:21:00.000-05:00

Author Web Sites
http://www.authorsontheweb.com

The Book Reporter
http://www.bookreporter.com

BookBrowse.com
http://www.bookbrowse.com

Reading Guides
http://www.readinggroupguides.com

The Lit Blog Co-Op
http://marksarvas.blogs.com/elegvar/

About Us

2006-03-15T11:32:00.000-05:00

The Literary League Of Extraordinary Women (LLOEW), was founded Jan.1, 2006 by 6 "Jersey Girls", some native some imported. After a little toooooo much bubbly at a New Year's Eve party we all learned we had one more thing in common - - other than homes, kids, and jobs -- we all loved to read. Some down right voraciously!

Meetings: Every 6 weeks
Locations: Rotation at members New Jersey homes.
Maximum Membership: 12 LIVE; Unlimited Virtual
Membership Requirements: Must read and be able to fog a mirror.
Optional Requirements: Post-it notes and a sense of humor.

2006-03-15T10:58:00.000-05:00

Thanks Dayna...this is really a great idea...

Inaugural Meeting

2006-03-15T10:44:00.000-05:00

The Literary League Of Extraordinary Women (pka Hot Flash Book Club) held their inaugural meeting Friday March 10, 2006 at Dayna's home with 5 members attending. Illness plagued the other members.

A spirited book discussion was the order of the evening. We also changed the name of the club and agreed to a few rules (see separate post) Keep an eye out for Lisa's "post-it" notes at the next meeting-- LOL!

Selection: A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
Club Rating: 8 (post your opinions on a scale from 1 to 10 and we'll post the true club rating)

Chronicles the Italian resistance to the Germans during the last two years of WWII. Three cultures mingle uneasily in Porto Sant'Andrea on the Ligurian coast of northwest Italy—the Italian Jews of the village, headed by the chief rabbi Iacopo Soncini; the Italian Catholics, like Sant'Andrea's priest Don Osvaldo Tomitz, who befriend and shelter the Jews; and the occupying Germans invited by Mussolini's crumbling regime. In the last camp is the drunken, tubercular Nazi deserter, Doktor Schramm, a broken man

Refreshments from the Piedmont & Liguria regions of Italy, where the novel takes place, included-- Docetta d'Alba ("Little sweet one")wine, Fontina, Romano and Mascarpone (with dates) cheeses and Grassini breadsticks.
Other Works by this author: The Sparrow; Children of God (sequel to The Sparrow)

Next Meeting: Friday May 19, 2006
Location: Reeve's home, Haddon Heights NJ
Selection: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory