Kate Jacobs at Changing Hands Bookstore

We were priviledged to go to Changing Hands Bookstore on January 20th to hear and meet Kate Jacobs, the author of "Comfort Food", "The Friday Night Knitting Club", and "Knit Two". Kate did a reading from "Knit Two" and held a short Q&A session. The event was attended by only 5 of us, and unfortunately the group photo was disasterously blurry (thats what I get for handing a complex camera to a complete stranger). Too fuzzy to post anywhere....but it was awesome to meet her and learn more about her and her writing process. And....she's a fellow Canadian from Hope British Columbia!!!

Unfortunately I was not able to be at her call in a few weeks ago, however I hear it was eye opening and helped the reader gain a deeper appreciation for her work.

Pride and Prejudice (By Jane Austen)

I realize this is the BBC movie photo to the left, however isn't he the ultimate Mr. Darcy?? We're reading this as our classic for this February's book club selection. I won't synopsize this epic piece of literature, as most of us are familiar. I will say this much....if you're going to cheat and watch the movie version rather than read the actual book (naughty cheaters!!!), be sure to watch the BBC miniseries version that was released in 1995 by A&E (starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle). It is still an abridged version, but has much more substance to it than any other screen version, and is very true to the book. I personally am reading through the entire book from my gigantic leather bound collection of Jane Austen Books (ooh - my aching back from lugging it around!!).

The plan is to visit with Laurie Viera Rigler (author of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict - which we studied last year - and she has a sequel coming out this summer as well!!) via phone. I will confirm this detail, and will post on the MeetUp site if she can't make the schedule. If nothing changes then we can look forward to visiting with her!!! She loves nothing better than to talk about all things Jane Austen, so I for one am looking forward to it!!

Don't miss it!!!

The Alienist (by Caleb Carr)

We had our meeting on this book on January 19th at Gina's home in Central Phoenix. It was an interesting discussion about a book that we initially didn't love to pieces. It was one of those situations that as you delved deeper into why the author did things a certain way, you grew to love it. We all had a greater appreciation for the book after it was all said and done.

There was a great deal of 'comparison' in the story. The crazy cat lady vs. the insanity of the children and animals in the Roosevelt household (why is one thought of as crazy and the other one as eccentric?). Does our station in life and place in society dictate whether we take a person as insane or otherwise? We were able to draw so many paralells in the story that helped us to appreciate the author and his message.

It was fun to read a mystery for sure......

Kate Jacobs Call In Book Meeting

Don't miss this week's extra Saturday meeting when we will be discussing the newly released "Knit Two" by Kate Jacobs. She is calling in to our meeting, and this will be her second call in to our group. Thanks to Abbie for arranging the call and hosting the meeting!! Don't miss out!!