August Book

Thanks for leading the discussion on our July book, Cat! I know there are more of you who read it than have had a chance to post comments. Feel free to continue with that discussion as we move on to August!

Alright, the time has come to choose our next book. Please leave a comment with your 2 book suggestions for the month. We will hold the drawing on August 1.

July book thoughts....

I enjoyed the book once I read it more, but when I finished I was left with a feeling of overall sadness. Sadness about Rebecca's life outcome, her sadness in general and how she was treated by those she had called her family for so many years. Her children were so ungrateful I don't think I would have been able to bite my tongue like she did with them. They never thought of her like a mother, were always demanding and never thankful. Her step-daughter even complained to her about taking care of someone elses children while still in her honeymoon phase...I could have screamed at those girls. Ok now that I have vented some I will get to Catherine's questions.

1. I did have a moment like Rebecca in my first marriage, my epiphany if you say, I was married and had a child (like I always wanted, but unhappy at where I was in my life). I didn't understand how I could have gotten what I wanted and be so unhappy...I just didn't get the one meant for me. I have since fixed that, by like Rebecca taking the hard road to make myself happy. My husband now and daughter (along with my son) are the life I wanted, getting it isn't easy though.

2. Yes, I think Rebecca would have stayed, but she would have been unhappy in the end. A husband who works too much, so ritualistic with his career that she would have been more alone than as a widow. Knowing they are gone is one thing, having a husband around who's never home is worse.

3. When my husband met my family in Georgia he was a little surprised at the calamity having 2 parents, 4 siblings (with spouses) and 11 children all but two under the age of 5...needless to say he found our traditions quirky and maybe a little country at times, but he embraced them instead of trying to change us.

4. I believe Rebecca forgot the life she had hoped for since she felt she was thrown into the one she ended up with. She was left with 4 children at a young age and was so overwhelmed so quickly that I think she forgot what she had wanted. Also, she didn't get to develop those rituals at first because they were already in place, the rhyming toasts was her idea and eventually most ways became Rebecca's way.

5. Will's life was in a tailspin when Rebecca called him again, he was so sad and alone that he wanted to grasp some happiness, his memories of Rebecca if he remembered her as she was, his failure of a life; as he saw it, wouldn't have happened. They were happy and starting out, he wouldn't have ended up alone and unhappy.

6. I do think Zeb was waiting for Rebecca, I think she would have to change how she saw him...because she still sees him as her husband's younger brother and I think he has other ideas. Personally I would love to see them together, I think they would both be happy. Although Rebecca did mention she was the one still in mourning every now and again.

7. My favorite character was Poppy, he was the only really happy one to me. He enjoyed his life and his routines. He of course couldn't remember much of it once it happened, but he was cute and quirky. I loved his birthday speech and how he always loved and missed his wife.

Ok, so there is my opinion; all be it a long one, but my question is:

Do you think there was anything Rebecca could have done differently once she realized she wanted to change how she had ended up?

Back When We Were Grownups....discussion

I finished reading this book yesterday. And while I loved the book, I felt very sad at the end. I could identify with Rebecca, and I felt that the author conveyed very realistic emotions to help me identify with her.

Here are some questions to get the ball rolling. And since I am in charge, most of them are about Rebecca b/c I thought she was a great character.

1. "How on earth did I get like this?" wonders Rebecca at the start of the novel about the person she has become. Have you ever had a moment like this? Did you end up with the life you thought you would have?

2. Do you think that Rebecca would have stayed with Will if she had not met Joe?

3. Tina's visit leads Rebecca to observe her life from the uncomfortable perspective of an outsider. Have you ever had that experience with a guest?

4. Will reminds Rebecca that she wanted a big family with all of its rituals, a fact Rebecca had forgotten about the girl she once was. How could Rebecca have forgotten such an important piece of information about herself?

5. Why is Will so determined to see Rebecca as she is not?

6. Zeb never married. Do you think he has been waiting for Rebecca all these years? What do you think will happen with Rebecca and Zeb? Who will have to make the first move if this relationship is ever to get off the ground?

7. Which is your favorite character in this novel and why?

If anyone else has questions they would like to discuss, feel free.

For Cat... (and any other writers on the blog)

Below is an article from Writers Digest, written - ironically - by Jodi Picoult about how she became a writer. I don't know how many of you like to write, but Cat and I get together once in a while and read eachother's work. We even took an online writing class last fall. Anyway, I liked the article:

I'VE ALWAYS WANTED to be a writer, but I never really thought I'd succeed. Children always have grandiose plans to become astronauts and Major League pitchers and movie stars. But somehow in real life that translates into accountants and stay-at-home moms and sales reps. Still, in the mid-1980s, I struck off for a creative writing program at Princeton University, certain I was going to set the literary world on its ear.

My professor was Mary Morris, an astoundingly fine writer herself. The day my first story was being workshopped, she made me sit on the floor with a glue stick, scissors and construction paper. As the class ripped my masterpiece to shreds, I was to cut and paste together their suggestions. I left the class that day in tears and edited my piece over and over until Mary finally told me to send it to Seventeen magazine. Three months later, an editor left a message on my dorm-room answering machine. They wanted to publish the story. And did I have any more?.....(read more)

http://www.writersdigest.com/articles/picoult_trytryagain.asp

Have you read this author?

So during some down time after finishing our book club book and waiting for Harry Potter, I picked up "Plain Truth," by Jodi Piccoult. I have seen Piccoult's books on many best seller lists, but never read one. I'm just curious who out there is familiear with her? I can't put this one down! Are they all like that? Do tell.

How's the reading?

Hi everyone!

So are you enjoying "Back when we were grownups"? I just finished last night and can't wait to talk about it at the end of the month. Without giving away any plot, I'd like to hear your opinions on the main character - what do you think about Rebecca Davitch?

And here is information on the author:
- Anne Tyler lived in several Quaker communities while growing up. She started writing short stories when she was 7 years old.
- Tyler attended Duke University, where she majored in Russian.
- Most of her novels are set in Baltimore, where she now lives with her family.
- Tyler is known for her keen ear for dialogue and life-like characters which have won critical acclaim.
- Throughout Tyler's novels, characters struggle to negotiate a balance between self-identity and family identity.

Has anyone read any of her other books?

Just for fun

This is really cheesy - so just ignore it if its too much for you to see on our blog. But since I know most of us Harry Potter lovers, I have no shame positng it. There is a "how high is your Harry Potter" IQ test on USA today

I'm about to take it and see how well I really know Harry...

Okay, my predictions for HP7.

Will Harry die?

No, I don't think so. I know the temptation is strong so that JK Rowling won't be harassed to continue the series, but it just doesn't make sense. Does it make sense for another character close to Harry to die....like Dumbledore in HP6? Yes, but Harry himself, no, I don't think so.

Whose side is Snape on? Why?

I think he is actually true to Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore knew that Draco was attempting to kill him the entire year, Snape knew as well b/c he's in the Order and Draco's Head of House. Snape made the unbreakable vow to help Draco fulfill his assignment. Dumbledore knows that sometimes sacrifices have to be made. I think he wanted to prevent his death by convincing Draco to go into hiding, thus freeing Draco and Snape from the murder/vow and thus living. Since it didn't happen, just as Harry was instructed by Dumbledore to do whatever he had to do to have Dumbledore drink the potion in the cave, I think Snape was bound by the same order. Were not Harry and Snape's reactions the same from the cave to the tower?

This is just for fun, but I would like to see Harry and Ginny back together. She's smart and Harry's equal in a lot of ways. They would have cute babies.

Those are the only questions that are burning my brain right now.

I hope Voldemort gets his butt whooped by a 17 year old.

Okay, it's not letting me put a title? Am I retarded or something?

Question: Are you a muggle?

If you know what a muggle is, then you are a Harry Potter fan. If you are a Harry Potter fan, then you are probably dying for July 21 to read the last book. So if you are a Harry Potter fan, please make yourself known so we can have support on this blog to talk about the book once we've read it - which will probably be by July 22, right ;)

So who loves Harry Potter? And what are your predictions for the last book? I'm re-reading book six now to get all refreshed for the grand finale.

And the July book winner is...

Back when we were grownups, by Anne Tyler

Amazon Reveiw... The first sentence of Anne Tyler's 15th novel sounds like something out of a fairy tale: "Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person." Alas, this discovery has less to do with magic than with a late-middle-age crisis, which is visited upon Rebecca Davitch in the opening pages of Back When We Were Grownups. At 53, this perpetually agreeable widow is "wide and soft and dimpled, with two short wings of dry, fair hair flaring almost horizontally from a center part." Given her role as the matriarch of a large family--and the proprietress of a party-and-catering concern, the Open Arms--Rebecca is both personally and professionally inclined toward jollity. But at an engagement bash for one of her multiple stepdaughters, she finds herself questioning everything about her life: "How on earth did I get like this? How? How did I ever become this person who's not really me?"

J'aime Lire Online Book Chat... Mark your calendars to begin discussing this book on Thursday, July 26.

*** Cat - Would you mind leading the discussion, since this book was one of your selection? Thanks for the pick and I am looking forward to reading. I've never read an Anne Tyler book, so this is a first for me.