We're a Year Old!!

It was the third Monday of March, 2008 when a small group of readers met at Applebee's at Shea Blvd. and 90th Street in Scottsdale, AZ. "The Other Boleyn Girl" (By Phillippa Gregory) was our first book, and it was so much fun we decided to keep the ball rolling.

We've had our ups and downs, starting as a group of 16 and quickly dwindling to only 5 who attended regularly. Thanks to MeetUp and our administrators Abbie and Joanna, we have upped our numbers to 96. We usually only have 10 - 15 people that attend, but its often a different mix of new book friends.

It has been a wonderful year, we've all made new friends, and exposed ourselves to a wide variety of modern day and classic literature.

Here's to many more years of reading, socializing, and expanding our minds!!!!!

Pride and Prejudice (By Jane Austen)

We were VERY fortunate to have had our second call in from Laurie Viera Rigler, author of "Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict" and the soon to be released sequel "Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict". Being a Jane Austen officianado, I emailed her and asked if she would be willing to discuss Pride and Prejudice with our group on February 16th. She was willing. We had approximately 90 minutes worth of discussion and all learned a little more about this beloved story. We talked about the author, her life and times, and some of the reasoning behind her subject matter.

We laughed a lot, and had a fabulous time. We also arranged to have her call in and discuss her sequel "Rude Awakenings" with us in August. We're so excited to read the sequel - our third book was her "Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict".

We even went so far as to take a group photo with us holding her book and Jane's book.....but the camera disk had an error and we lost the picture......sorry gals (and Chris).....we'll try again next meeting.

Laurie - we thank you for your time and can't wait for your sequel!!!!!