I can't do the 8th-11th, Sari can't do the 13th-17th. I think Maggee has volleyball on Thursdays... Would Monday 12/22 work or are people going away early for the holidays?
Monday, November 24, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Try to get me your selections by Friday at 10am. Thanks!
"The Vote," by Sybil Downing
In the early summer of 1918 when American men are fighting in Europe Kate Brennan is in a cab on the way to Washington's Union station. A sheltered, upper-class college graduate, she is going home to resume a life she dreads. As the cab passes the White House, she sees a line of suffragists holding banners. The surly crowd gathered nearby suddenly surges forward and Kate dashes across the street to help. Police arrive. She and the suffragists are arrested. And without benefit of a lawyer or a trial, they are sentenced to fourteen days in the Occoquan Workhouse, a "model" prison in the Virginia countryside. Galvanized by the experience, Kate becomes a passionate supporter of the National Woman's Party. Its leaders, Lucy Burns and Alice Paul teach her how to operate in the precarious and often dangerous world of hardball politics. She falls in love with a man who may or may not sympathize with her cause. As the vote nears, she is sent to Colorado to defeat one of her family's closest friends in his reelection bid for the Senate. She joins forces with Mary Daly, an intrepid union leader, and they put their lives on the line. The Vote is the riveting story of women who face prison, ridicule, and the destruction of their private lives in the final (and almost-forgotten) battle for women's right to vote. Seen through the eyes of three remarkable women, The Vote is about courage and love and the value of personal integrity --- as timely as today's headlines. (272 pages)
"A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolf
This 1929 essay is perhaps the author's most important work--part feminist manifesto, part literary theory and part personal reflection presaging her suicide. However intriguing on the page, a treatise of this length can easily bore a listener. But Atkins, celebrated for her one-woman play based on this work, never allows the complexity of Woolf's ideas to get the better of her. Instead, she uses the superb writing and rich intellectual capital to best advantage. If she errs, it's in giving the narrative personality greater maturity than is warranted. (112 pages)
"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See
Lily at 80 reflects on her life, beginning with her daughter days in 19th-century rural China. Foot-binding was practiced by all but the poorest families, and the graphic descriptions of it are not for the fainthearted. Yet women had nu shu, their own secret language. At the instigation of a matchmaker, Lily and Snow Flower, a girl from a larger town and supposedly from a well-connected, wealthy family, become laotong, bound together for life. Even after Lily learns that Snow Flower is not from a better family, even when Lily marries above her and Snow Flower beneath her, they remain close, exchanging nu shu written on a fan. When war comes, Lily is separated from her husband and children. She survives the winter helped by Snow Flower's husband, a lowly butcher, until she is reunited with her family. As the years pass, the women's relationship changes; Lily grows more powerful in her community, bitter, and harder, until at last she breaks her bond with Snow Flower. They are not reunited until Lily tries to make the dying Snow Flower's last days comfortable. Their friendship, and this tale, illustrates the most profound of human emotions: love and hate, self-absorption and devotion, pride and humility, to name just a few. Even though the women's culture and upbringing may be vastly different from readers' own, the life lessons are much the same, and they will be remembered long after the details of this fascinating story are forgotten.–Molly Connally, Chantilly Regional Library, VA
(288 pages)
"The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt"
"Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reasons, turn one's back on life". This is the credo of a great woman, and though her family urge that she "slow down" this lively curiosity and even more the overwhelming sense of responsibility to her fellow man makes slowing down almost impossible. Rarely has there been an autobiography-despite its limitations to her interests and activities and those of her husband's in which she was so integral a part - which so completely reveals this great woman. The first three sections (This Is My Story; This I Remember, and On My Own) were published individually, and appear here in somewhat abridged form and with a continuity so that one is scarcely aware of a break in the flow. Her growing up years capture a period that has gone forever, and once again make her growth from a painfully shy girl into the outgoing, dedicated woman she became even more of a miracle. The final brief section, In Search of Understanding, should be read by all who would recognize the challenge of today's world, the need to understand and live the democracy we preach. This is the story of the life and times of one who will always be America's First Lady.
(pages – a lot 504)
One Thousand White Women: The Journal of May Dodd" by Jim Fergus
One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians. The covert and controversial "Brides for Indians" program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians into the white man's world. Toward that end May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetime. Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time.
(320 pages)
"The Faith Club" by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, Priscilla Warner
Meet the Faith Club. We're three mothers from three faiths -- Islam, Christianity, and Judaism -- who got together to write a picture book for our children that would highlight the connections between our religions. But no sooner had we started talking about our beliefs and how to explain them to our children than our differences led to misunderstandings. Our project nearly fell apart.
We realized that before we could talk about what united us we had to confront what divided us in matters of faith, God, and religion. We had to reveal our own worst fears, prejudices, and stereotypes.
So we made a commitment to meet regularly. We talked in our living rooms over cups of jasmine tea and bars of dark chocolate. No question was deemed inappropriate, no matter how rude or politically incorrect. We taped our conversations and kept journals as we discussed everything from jihad to Jesus, heaven to holy texts. Somewhere along the way, our moments of conflict, frustration, and anger gave way to new understanding and great respect.
Now we invite you into our Faith Club to eavesdrop on our conversations. Come into our living rooms and share our life-altering experience. Perhaps when you're finished, you will want to have a faith club of your own.
(416 pages)
"The Vote," by Sybil Downing
In the early summer of 1918 when American men are fighting in Europe Kate Brennan is in a cab on the way to Washington's Union station. A sheltered, upper-class college graduate, she is going home to resume a life she dreads. As the cab passes the White House, she sees a line of suffragists holding banners. The surly crowd gathered nearby suddenly surges forward and Kate dashes across the street to help. Police arrive. She and the suffragists are arrested. And without benefit of a lawyer or a trial, they are sentenced to fourteen days in the Occoquan Workhouse, a "model" prison in the Virginia countryside. Galvanized by the experience, Kate becomes a passionate supporter of the National Woman's Party. Its leaders, Lucy Burns and Alice Paul teach her how to operate in the precarious and often dangerous world of hardball politics. She falls in love with a man who may or may not sympathize with her cause. As the vote nears, she is sent to Colorado to defeat one of her family's closest friends in his reelection bid for the Senate. She joins forces with Mary Daly, an intrepid union leader, and they put their lives on the line. The Vote is the riveting story of women who face prison, ridicule, and the destruction of their private lives in the final (and almost-forgotten) battle for women's right to vote. Seen through the eyes of three remarkable women, The Vote is about courage and love and the value of personal integrity --- as timely as today's headlines. (272 pages)
"A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolf
This 1929 essay is perhaps the author's most important work--part feminist manifesto, part literary theory and part personal reflection presaging her suicide. However intriguing on the page, a treatise of this length can easily bore a listener. But Atkins, celebrated for her one-woman play based on this work, never allows the complexity of Woolf's ideas to get the better of her. Instead, she uses the superb writing and rich intellectual capital to best advantage. If she errs, it's in giving the narrative personality greater maturity than is warranted. (112 pages)
"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See
Lily at 80 reflects on her life, beginning with her daughter days in 19th-century rural China. Foot-binding was practiced by all but the poorest families, and the graphic descriptions of it are not for the fainthearted. Yet women had nu shu, their own secret language. At the instigation of a matchmaker, Lily and Snow Flower, a girl from a larger town and supposedly from a well-connected, wealthy family, become laotong, bound together for life. Even after Lily learns that Snow Flower is not from a better family, even when Lily marries above her and Snow Flower beneath her, they remain close, exchanging nu shu written on a fan. When war comes, Lily is separated from her husband and children. She survives the winter helped by Snow Flower's husband, a lowly butcher, until she is reunited with her family. As the years pass, the women's relationship changes; Lily grows more powerful in her community, bitter, and harder, until at last she breaks her bond with Snow Flower. They are not reunited until Lily tries to make the dying Snow Flower's last days comfortable. Their friendship, and this tale, illustrates the most profound of human emotions: love and hate, self-absorption and devotion, pride and humility, to name just a few. Even though the women's culture and upbringing may be vastly different from readers' own, the life lessons are much the same, and they will be remembered long after the details of this fascinating story are forgotten.–Molly Connally, Chantilly Regional Library, VA
(288 pages)
"The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt"
"Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reasons, turn one's back on life". This is the credo of a great woman, and though her family urge that she "slow down" this lively curiosity and even more the overwhelming sense of responsibility to her fellow man makes slowing down almost impossible. Rarely has there been an autobiography-despite its limitations to her interests and activities and those of her husband's in which she was so integral a part - which so completely reveals this great woman. The first three sections (This Is My Story; This I Remember, and On My Own) were published individually, and appear here in somewhat abridged form and with a continuity so that one is scarcely aware of a break in the flow. Her growing up years capture a period that has gone forever, and once again make her growth from a painfully shy girl into the outgoing, dedicated woman she became even more of a miracle. The final brief section, In Search of Understanding, should be read by all who would recognize the challenge of today's world, the need to understand and live the democracy we preach. This is the story of the life and times of one who will always be America's First Lady.
(pages – a lot 504)
One Thousand White Women: The Journal of May Dodd" by Jim Fergus
One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians. The covert and controversial "Brides for Indians" program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians into the white man's world. Toward that end May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetime. Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time.
(320 pages)
"The Faith Club" by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, Priscilla Warner
Meet the Faith Club. We're three mothers from three faiths -- Islam, Christianity, and Judaism -- who got together to write a picture book for our children that would highlight the connections between our religions. But no sooner had we started talking about our beliefs and how to explain them to our children than our differences led to misunderstandings. Our project nearly fell apart.
We realized that before we could talk about what united us we had to confront what divided us in matters of faith, God, and religion. We had to reveal our own worst fears, prejudices, and stereotypes.
So we made a commitment to meet regularly. We talked in our living rooms over cups of jasmine tea and bars of dark chocolate. No question was deemed inappropriate, no matter how rude or politically incorrect. We taped our conversations and kept journals as we discussed everything from jihad to Jesus, heaven to holy texts. Somewhere along the way, our moments of conflict, frustration, and anger gave way to new understanding and great respect.
Now we invite you into our Faith Club to eavesdrop on our conversations. Come into our living rooms and share our life-altering experience. Perhaps when you're finished, you will want to have a faith club of your own.
(416 pages)
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
I can't make it tonight and I'm pretty sure Erin is still in Italy. Have fun and I'll be sure to make it to the next meeting! Do you think the new book will be posted on the blog by the end of the week?
I'm in for 7pm at Smokin' Joes. I'm usually one of the people that needs it later, but we changed our hours for daylight savings and I get out earlier now. Whee! Erin, are you able to make it by 7pm?
Monday, November 10, 2008
I could make it by 7:00 but I think other people have trouble getting there that early.... Smoken Joe's is fine with me, I've been wanting to try it anyway.
Red bones is definitely a loud place, plus i always find a long wait for more than like 2 people but it does have good BBQ for those folks that like it.
There is a new bbq place in brighton which isn't bad and does have sit down if we want to go that route instead of Red Bones.......it's called Smoken Joe's. Here's the info:
http://boston.citysearch.com/profile/45654540/brighton_ma/smoken_joe_s_bbq.html
There is a new bbq place in brighton which isn't bad and does have sit down if we want to go that route instead of Red Bones.......it's called Smoken Joe's. Here's the info:
http://boston.citysearch.com/profile/45654540/brighton_ma/smoken_joe_s_bbq.html
Friday, November 07, 2008
Has anyone been able to find out what happened in the end of this cliffhanger? What ever happened with her mom? I'm not having much luck in finding what happened after her trip to Montana to see her mom.
BBq is yummy for me. Besides Red Bones, is there another place? Red Bones might be loud as well.
BBq is yummy for me. Besides Red Bones, is there another place? Red Bones might be loud as well.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
I had a few ideas:
Looking for cafeteria, ther is a restuarant called Cafeteria on Newbury, but a review a read said it was loud
I thought fireplace in Brookline, (because their trailer burned down) but its pretty pricey and the menu didn't excite me.
so how about Zaftig's in Brookline? Because the auther is NOT Zaftig? And i just like it...
Or...
It could be an excuse for Bar-B-Q, the authors mother was a cowgirl...
Looking for cafeteria, ther is a restuarant called Cafeteria on Newbury, but a review a read said it was loud
I thought fireplace in Brookline, (because their trailer burned down) but its pretty pricey and the menu didn't excite me.
so how about Zaftig's in Brookline? Because the auther is NOT Zaftig? And i just like it...
Or...
It could be an excuse for Bar-B-Q, the authors mother was a cowgirl...
Hospital cafeteria would be appropriate but not very enjoyable. Are there any cafeteria style restaurants that might have better food?
