Hey girls, who wants to go to this with me? H.G. Wells: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow A live theater experience featuring: The Time Machine War of the Worlds The Invisible Man Saturday, October 31, 2015 at 7:30pm Mountain Time Tickets are $10- available in advance at the MonDak Heritage Center and at the door MonDak Heritage Center • 120 3rd Avenue SE, Sidney, MT 59270 • 406-433-3500 or 1-800-482-5109 For more information, please call, visit or email us at mdhc@richland.org. Proceeds will go to the MonDak Heritage Center and the Richland Community Complex.

Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

Hi Ladies! 

Our next book club choice will be Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens. Martin Chuzzlewit was Dickens’s sixth novel.  It was first published in installments that began in January of 1843 and ran through July of 1844.

The overriding theme of Martin Chuzzlewit is selfishness, selfishness of all types.

This was Dickens sixth novel, written in installments after taking a year off during which he visited America for the first time. It was less than enthusiastically received. The novel deals with the greed of Old Martin Chuzzlewit's relatives, chiefly Mr. Pecksniff, hoping to inherit his wealth.

During the writing of Martin Chuzzlewit,  sales of the monthly parts were disappointingly low and Dickens was experiencing financial difficulty. He had borrowed from his publishers for his American trip in 1842 and his wife Kate was expecting their fifth child. He responded by planning a small book for the Christmas season of 1843 which followed the theme of greed he was writing in Martin Chuzzlewit. The result was the classic A Christmas Carol, published in December 1843.

The BBC made this novel into a mini-series in 1994. It's a little over 6 hours long. It might be fun to read part of the novel and then watch the first 3 epidodes and then schedule our discussion and the last 3 for a second evening. Can we shoot for perhaps the weekend of October 16th to watch the first half of the movie?

Let me know your thoughts!

Kris

Hey there Busy Ladies!

Are you ready to get together for another book discussion? A couple of us are and hope the rest are ready too. Especially after the lesson on' Chastity' we had in church today that made us think of the book for this discussion, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.


We will start by setting up a date for this Friday Sept. 18, 2015 at 6 pm at Kris' house.

You can bring what ever you want for the meal.

Please let me know if this date doesn't work for you.

Sharon

Jane Austin Kick

We are on a Jane Austin kick I guess. We are reading the first book written by Jane Austin,

Sense and Sensibility.

Sorry, I haven't written a post before now.

We would like to get together between the 10 and17th of July. Please let me know if you have a conflict in the Summer schedule. It will be at Lorraine's.

Thanks,
Sharon

Pride and Prejudice

We will be getting together Saturday night at 6:30 pm at Tammie's home to discuss Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin.

We will watch the movie after. Yeah!

Please bring what ever you would like. At this point in time I don't have any specific requests for food items. Just something yummy, healthy or creative. Let me know what you are bringing or tell someone else in the group because we want to have a good mix of choices and we want a dessert for sure, but not all desserts either.

Sharon 

Remember Pride and Predjudice by Jane Austen? Tomorrow night (Tues., March 31) we will watch the movie Death Comes to Pemberly; an adaptation of a book written as a continuation of the story. Since our book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn has some Irish heritage, and since we are celebrating Easter time, let's bring food on an Irish or Easter theme. See you @ Lorraine's movie room @ 6!

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Discussion

Hey Gals,

Our book discussion for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn will be held Tuesday March 31st. We will have it at Lorraine's home starting at 6:00 pm. 
Bring some yummy food to share.
We won't be watching the movie for the book after the discussion but the movie can be borrowed if you would like to watch it.
See you there.

Sincerely,
Sharon

How well do you know your literature?

Busy Gals,

We have read quite a few books over the years. Many of you are serious readers inside and outside of this book group. So, as well read as you are if you haven't gone to Deseret News recently you might find something of interest that will test your literary knowledge. Plus, it might give many of you ideas on classic books you would like to read for future selections.  We could do this with the books we have read already read too (we could save that when we reach 50, 75 and 100). I like to put the pictures with the authors to test how well I could recognize their faces too.

http://www.deseretnews.com/top/1760/0/Think-you-know-literature-See-if-you-recognize-these-famous-first-lines.html

Movie/documentary screening TOMORROW, Sunday, March 15 at the MonDak. Let's go! 2 PM 6 Brothers Film Screening March 15, 2015 2:00 PM at the MonDak Heritage Center Free to the Public

The MonDak Heritage Center will host a screening of 6 Brothers, a story of hope, loss and perseverance on the Northern Plains on Sunday, March 15 at 2pm. The screening is free and open to the public. 6 Brothers is an hour-long, Emmy-nominated documentary by McKenzie County native Daniel Stenberg. It focuses on the experiences of his grandfather’s family as homesteaders in McKenzie County. Weaving together interviews, archival footage, and letters, the film shows how this ordinary family survived the Great Depression, became deeply involved in World War II, and experienced many other joys and challenges of life during one of America’s most intriguing time periods. Further, it touches on how their lives and experiences have helped to shape future generations. 6 Brothers has been screened at five college campuses throughout North and South Dakota, the North Dakota Heritage Center and shown on Prairie Public Television. At this screening Daniel Stenberg will be in attendance to give background about the film, answer questions, and display some of the material (e.g. old letters, country school memorabilia, military records and farm documents) that helped in his research for the film.

Next Book Selection

Our next book selection will be "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn", by Betty Smith. This is a book that was popular with the soldiers during WWII.

This is the painting of Napoleon that I was able to see at the Louvre over Christmas time (Paris), by Delaroche, painted in 1848. It is of Napoleon crossing the Alps in May 1800 (before the time of War & Peace). Napoleon commissioned painter Jacques-Louis David to paint him crossing the Alps in 1801, but that painting was "heroic" (not realistic), because Napoleon crossed 2 days after his men on a mule, not on a beautiful horse. The painting by Delaroche (pictured) was more realistic; painted in 1848. From Wikepedia: "Arthur George, 3rd Earl of Onslow, who had a large Napoleonic collection, was visiting the Louvre with Paul Delaroche in 1848 and commented on the implausibility and theatricality of David's painting. He commissioned Delaroche to produce a more accurate version which featured Napoleon on a mule. While Delarouche's painting is more realistic than the symbolic heroic representation of David, it was not meant to be demeaning - Delaroche admired Bonaparte and thought that the achievement was not diminished by depicting it in a realistic fashion."

Little Women Book Discussion

Hey everyone,

I hope you all had a great Christmas holiday and are ready to get back to the regular everyday busy lives we all have when we aren't extra busy with holiday events.
Did that make sense? I hope so. I meant that we are all busy, hence the name of the book group and blog.
January 9th will be the next book discussion and it will be at my house. Please remind any book group members you see in case they are too busy to see this message or additional email that I might post.
I should require you all to come in period costume of Little Women. I think it would be fun to wear the big puffy bell shaped dresses. Where would we get them?  So I guess that is out of the question, this time.  Those dresses were probably thought of to prevent anyone from coming within two feet of a young lady.
We will eat of course and you can bring whatever you like to eat. If you found something mentioned in the book and want to try to make it be my guest. I love experiments.
I hope this night will still work for everyone. Please let me know so we can have a great discussion.

Thanks,
Sharon