Sara's comments
(member since Feb 14, 2008)
Sara's comments from the Chicks On Lit group.
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Ohhhh I just finished The Red Tent! I wish I had read it before I had my daughters. It would have been an amazing read while pregnant...it's a must read for any woman.
I'm sorry I've slacked off you guys....I've been wicked sick lately. It's my yearly spring cold and it's pretty well knocked me on my butt.
Coupled with my MS that has decided to come out and dance with the cold....I haven't really been around much. And since reading when I'm having an MS flare gives me a migraine that would knock a hippo on it's ass...I haven't really been reading.
So sorry you guys...
First, everyone knows I LOVE this book...I certainly feel Emily's love for Susie in her words. You can tell how Emily misses Susie when she's away and almost acts like she may never see her again.
I'm always torn when it comes to Emily's love for Susan. On one hand I can see how it might seem like Emily is "in" love with Susan. However, I have a few very close girl friends who I love in this same manner...and I think about the words I use when I write to them and it might seem like I'm romantically involved with them too.
Emily Dickinson will never cease to touch me...in the heart, mind, and soul.
Some of Emily's character comparisons with people she's close with confuse me. One, because I don't know much about some of the people she's discussing from her real life, and two, because at times she pulls very obscure Dickens' characters and I'm not up on my Dickens unfortunately.
I feel as though Emily had a greater connection with those characters in the novels she kept on a shelf in her room than with the people she might have seen or talked to everyday.
" - have all the fun wh' you possible can - and laugh as often and sing, for tears are plentier than smiles in this little world of our's -" pg10
So, what does everyone think so far?
Do you feel Emily's love for her beloved "Susie" through her words?
What do you feel is the nature of Emily's love for Susan?
Did any of Emily's words touch you?
Were there any confusing points in any of Emily's letters?
How do you feel about Emily's playfulness of comparing her real life family/friends to characters from popular novels? Do you feel like she knew and understood those characters better than she understood those real life people she compared them to?
Anyone have any favorite quotes they'd like to share from Section 1?
I have a few ideas why....Pedophiles, kidnappers, rapists, killers, ax murders, kids who runaway to meet their 50 year old internet boyfriends who are pretending to be 13 year old boys who live in the next town over, teen pregnancy, drugs, STDs...Umm, do you need more reason why your mother is being "paranoid"?And another thing...you're 13, try being a kid...get off the internet and go outside and find something to do.
If you want a quick easy non-fiction read...Read Kabul Beauty School. I just finished reading this...and "Wow!" is all I have to say. It's non-fiction without all the non-fiction hang-ups. Read it...you won't be disappointed!
Tera has asked me to lead the discussion for this book and I have gladly accepted the invitation to do so. For some of you who don't know...Emily Dickinson is my all time favorite writer and she was the subject of the bulk of my Master's thesis. In short...I love her.
So far the best biographical web information I've found is from wikipedia. Dickinson Biographical Info It may be helpful to read this before starting the book so you start the book knowing some of the basics of what made her tick.
Open Me Carefully addresses many of the issues surrounding Emily, including whether or not her love for her sister-in-law Susan Huntington-Dickinson was that of a sisterly nature or of a romantic love nature. We'll discuss how everyone feels about this as we get through the book...
I propose that we discuss this book in sections using the already defined sections in the book as a guideline. All together there are four sections, all of which are about 60 pages. This book is 321 pages long, however almost 100 pages is dedicated to various indexes. I further propose that we should take about 2 weeks or so to get through the book giving us adequate time to discuss each section and if we want to move quicker we can make that decision at that time.
So, here's my proposed time frame...
Section 1 - March 12th - 15th
Section 2 - March 15th - 18th
Section 3 - March 18th - 21st
Section 4 - March 21st - 24th
Final Discussion - March 24th
This should give everyone enough time to find and pick up the book and start reading Section 1.
Until then...let's discuss our favorite Dickinson poems.
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Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
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I love this piece more than anything else Dickinson has ever written. I have this very strange love and obsession with birds, feathers, and anything else that flies. So combining birds with Dickinson...well it's a no brainer. But beyond that, I firmly believe that it's man's ability to daydream, to fantasize...to hope...that keeps him breathing.
Ohhh I like Jane Green too! Fluff reading for me is picking up a magazine and thumbing through it, reading whatever strikes my fancy. I probably get between 10-12 magazines every month in the mail...hahaha!!!
I can't get into cheesy romance novels which is what I thought would be fluff reading for me...but it's laborious for me to read those!
I know Amanda...I KNOW! I think that's exactly why I was so weirdly choked up by Charlotte's Web. Cause there isn't always a faithful spider to spin a web and save us from falling...
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn??? That's an amazing book...one of my favorites....What about it don't you like?
Jennifer...GOOD LUCK!
I say at least two weeks...and I'd love to lead the discussion on this one.I say let's get a feel for what everyone thinks about doing something like this...and see where everyone is at with 5Quarters and then pick a start date!
Paige...I feel your pain. haha When I was in grad school I taught a Comp 101 class and a Poetry class...for some reason kids just don't give two you know what's about it. I know it doesn't exactly make or break life, but it can at least open up the world a little bit. Poetry is one of those stigma attached things. Men who write or enjoy poetry are often times looked at as effeminate...women are often times the ones that are looked at as the poetry reading sect of the population...
Maybe you should start out with some really strong poetry...or something that's really accessible instead of the old standards...
eh, just a few ideas...
Unfortunately I live in an area where I have to drive almost an hour to get to a larger scale bookstore that might have some sort of "membership discount." There is a pretty decent bookstore here that I probably buy on average a novel and 2-3 magazines a month from.
So between the god awful price of gas up here (3.29/gallon) and the cost of maintenance on my vehicle and the weather and the fact that I rarely have time to drive 2 hours round trip (not including the 2 hours I might spend browsing the bookstore)...it's a MUCH better deal for me to buy books from Abe's or Powell's or something of that nature.
Most of the books I buy on Abe's come out to be about $5 with the shipping. I haven't paid more than $2 for any book I've wanted and no more than $3-4 for shipping. And if you're in the market for more than one book you can search specific booksellers to see if they have all the books you want and the shipping costs are often times combined to a lower cost.
If it wasn't for internet bookstores (other than Amazon) I'd be broke from driving to and from the bookstore and paying their prices. For that matter it's a good think that there are internet stores for EVERYTHING cause I don't live in an area where things are readily available without driving quite a distance. Put it this way...the nearest mall is an hour away and it's pretty pathetic. The nearest DECENT mall is over 2 hours away.
So...I do a lot of internet shopping!
I guess I failed to mention that I no longer use Amazon.com for ANYTHING.
One...they outsource. (I called one time and the person wasn't even speaking English, when I asked for someone who could speak English I was told in very very broken English that I would have to call back and try again. Excuse me, what?)
Two...there customer service is AWFUL.
Three...they came close to ruining Christmas for me 2 years ago and I swore I would never order from them again...and to this day, I haven't.
In regards to what kind of poetry we would read...as much as I love Maya Angelou I think it would be more fun to delve into a poet who isn't as discussed.
Tera...Emily Dickinson would be fantastic! (I have a masters in Early American Poetry...with a focus ON EDickinson.) There's a fantastic book called "Open Me Carefully" that's an amazing read...we could actually combine the book and the poetry together!
I think it would be neat to do a volume of poetry...
Shoot...I've already read 4 novels this month and I'm almost half way through World Without End by Ken Follett and as soon as that's done I'm going to read 5Quarters....
I don't read...I devour. It's something I got from my mother. (Thought I'm not sure it's a good thing.)
And Amanda...you let me know anytime!
Christy...motherhood IS the #1 adventure! Congrats on the newest arrival in June! (Watch out for June babies, we're a handful! ;)And Amanda...the coast of New England is gorgeous! Let me know if you need any help planning your New England adventure...I have tons of connections up this way for places to see and stay! (I work for a hotel...a major chain one, that gives discounts to friends and family!)
