Monday, October 4, 2010

Chix Books

I haven't had a lot of time to update my blog but I absolutely had to tell everyone about a really cool little group that I'm in. It's called "Chix Books" and it's a bookclub. A few ladies in Airdrie or Calgary (mostly Airdrie) read a different book every month and then get together a discuss it. We've only had two meetings so far but they have be AMAZING! The first book we read was "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld and wow, what great conversation this book inspired. so many different ideas about how we think about ourselves and how we treat others. It was my second time reading it and I was ready to go read the rest of the series after that!

The second book we read was "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield. This book was so intense. The writing was amazing and the story, although somewhat disturbing at points, was so engaging. I HAD to know what was going to happen next for this family. The book had kind of a "Jane Eyre" feel to it, definitely a gothic novel and although it was a sad story the author told it in such a way that it was light and had almost a happy overtone. The end was so surprising and the story so involved that our Chix Books discussion was all about the plot and subplots. The funniest thing was seeing how others imagined how the different characters looked in their minds. One lady totally pictured one character to be black when he most obviously wasn't and I pictured the same character to be in his 30's kind of rugged looking with dark hair, which he wasn't! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes to read!


For this last dicussion we had a themed threat. Since the book took place in England our theme was "Tea & Crumpets" or English treats since who really knows what a crumpet is! We had a table full of things like scones (to take place of crumpets), turkish delight, tea, yorkshire pudding, york mints and little cookies and chocolates. I wish I would have taken a picture and am now resolved to always bring my camera. We discussed dressing up...we'll see how far that goes! haha



To the left I'm hoping to post whichever book we read for the last month and what I thought of it just incase you're looking for something new to read!
Also, we have an amazing group that's called "Flix Chix" and we get together once a month to watch a flick chick sometimes at the movie theater and sometimes at someone's home. We have so much fun with this and hit up Boston Pizza or Applebee's for dessert afterwards and that's when we usually have the most fun!! If you aren't in a group of some kind you should find one to join or start your own! I schedule it out through facebook and email, pick a date, time and place so everyone can mark their calendars. We usually get around 10-15 people showing up each time. So much fun!! Great friends and a great time!

4 comments:

Shirley said...

Kina, this sounds like great fun! We too have a bookclub through RS and I am the administrator but our membership is slim. Any suggestions on growing this? We've had two meetings thus far. Our first book was Lunenberg Letters written by a local author who did a presentation for us. The second was a highly recommended book but only three attended despite it being announced in the newsletter, RS and on Facebook. Help!!

Emily said...

What a fun idea! I've tried book clubs a few times and I always fizzle out because I'm not great at reading books when I have to (also why I wasn't a great student) but I loved the Uglies/Pretties books (until the very last one that's not about the main character--skip it!). I've heard a lot about the Thirteenth Tale, I'll have to check that out next.

Kina and Nathan said...

Hey Shirley, RS is a hard thing to get people out to sometimes...I know ours is. I have never been in a ward that has a functioning bookclub. I think it's because with all the things people have going on in their lives esp for church people tend to opt-out of church things unless it's mandatory...sad but true. If you want to get a good club going I would suggest getting your good friends going and excited about it. I send out a few reminders though fb, one sometime during the month, one at the beginning of the week it happens and one the day before. the reminders get shorter and shorter...haha then there are a few ladies that I take note have asked me questions about it and sound interested and I'll talk to them about it or send them a special msg through texted or something. sounds like a lot of work but it's actually not bad at all. I also have to realize that if I have a month where I just don't have time to send out all the reminders I do normally I just have to be ok with the result. People just need a good motivator. Make sure you talk it up to, like how much fun you had, etc. take some pics. :)

Em, try a movie club! I love movies esp. chick flicks and nate won't spend money on those (like most hubbies)! haha but we have an agreement that once a month I can spend the $12 on a movie and $6-8 on dessert afterwards once a month. I put it on the calendar and we plan around it. It's super fun!! all the ladies really look forward to it.

Shirley said...

Movie night sounds terrific!! This month we are reading Persuasion by Jane Austen and next month in lieu of reading, because it is such a busy month, we are having a movie, a showing of Persuasion. It'll be a nice relaxing break before Christmas!