May Book

For the month of May, Alise Quayle will be hosting. She has chosen to read I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith. A synopsis follows below:

I Capture the Castle tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her family, who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives, over six turbulent months, to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry, she has "captured the castle"; and the heart of the reader; in one of literature's most enchanting entertainments.

For those who are still working on Midnight in Austenland, we will be sure to discuss it as well at the next meeting!

Happy Reading!

April Meeting

We met on Friday night at Gelato-icious, a new gelato shop around the corner from where I live. It was oooh sooo divine!!! I highly recommend the place. We will soooo be going back again!  :)

We had a great time enjoying our rich and creamy smooth gelatos, while sitting around in the comfortable lounge area of the shop. Everything was discussed, from kids to hubbies and back again. Everything, that is, except the book we read for April! Only two of us had the chance to read it, so we will wait to discuss Midnight in Austenland at our May meeting!

Those in attendance were Alise Quayle, Anne Bodily, JoLyn Thompson, and myself. Thanks for a great night out, Ladies!!!

April Book

With Spring Break, the first of the month snuck up on me! Now it is ten days in, and I am only getting our book assignment out! For April we will indulge my anything-Jane-Austen-goes passion and read Shannon Hale's brand new novel Midnight in Austenland! I just finished reading it and had a lot of fun with it. My copy is available to circulate about!

Here is a synopsis:

"When Charlotte Kinder treats herself to a two-week vacation at Austenland, she happily leaves behind her ex-husband and his delightful new wife, her ever-grateful children, and all the rest of her real life in America. She dons a bonnet and stays at a country manor house that provides an immersive Austen experience, complete with gentleman actors who cater to the guests' Austen fantasies.

Everyone at Pembrook Park is playing a role, but increasingly, Charlotte isn't sure where roles end and reality begins. And as the parlor games turn a little bit menacing, she finds she needs more than a good corset to keep herself safe. Is the brooding Mr. Mallery as sinister as he seems? What is Miss Gardenside's mysterious ailment? Was that an actual dead body in the secret attic room? And-perhaps of the most lasting importance-could the stirrings in Charlotte's heart be a sign of real-life love?

The follow-up to reader favorite Austenland provides the same perfectly plotted pleasures, with a feisty new heroine, plenty of fresh and frightening twists, and the possibility of a romance that might just go beyond the proper bounds of Austen's world. How could it not turn out right in the end?"