You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Slick's Slugs 1-6

Grand Dames

Books in this milestone are linked because they are biographies of strong women.

1. The Pope's Daughter: The Extraordinary Life of Felice Della Rovere 400 pages1/25/2014✔
and Mistress of the Vatican: The True Story of Olimpia Maidalchini: The Secret Female Pope 452 pages1/25/2014✔
Total 852 pages
2. Elizabeth I 672 pages1/20/2014✔
3. The Life of Elizabeth I 636 pages: 1/8/2014✔
4. Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion 640 pages: 2/20/2014✔
5. Marie Antoinette: The Journey 544 pages: 2/1/2014✔
6. Queen Victoria A Personal History 557 pages 2/22/2014✔

Mickey Mouse Marchers 7-12


7. Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume I, 1884-1933 608 pages (linked biography about a woman) 3/11/2014✔
8. Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume II, The Defining Years, 1933-1938: 2 , The Defining Years, 1933-1938|1291783] 740 pages (linked same author) 3/26/2014 ✔
9. No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II 759 pages (link same characters: Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt are in book 8 and book 9.) 3/31/2014 ✔
10. Olive Kitteridge 270 pages (link Pulitzer Prize winners #9 & #10)4/24/2014 ✔ & 1776 pages 386, 4/20/2014✔ total pages 656 (link Pulitzer Prize winner)
11. Angle of Repose 569 pages (link Pulitzer Prize winner) 4/23/2014 ✔
12. The Hours 230 pages (link Pulitzer Prize winner) 3/27/2014 ✔ & Mrs Dalloway 233 pages (link The Hours mirrors Mrs.Dalloway) 3/28/2014 ✔ & Orlando 273pages (link same author) total pages 736 4/2/2014✔

Roadrunner Racers 13-18

13. A Room of One's Own 216 pages ✔5/2/2014(linked same author) & To the Lighthouse 327 pages ✔ 5/1/2014 (linked same author) total pages 543; ✔
14. Of Human Bondage 610 pages (linked Boxall's 1001 books & classics) 5/10/2014✔
15. Death Comes for the Archbishop 304 pages ✔5/5/2014(Boxall's 1001 books, Modern Library 100 books, classic) & A Death in the Family 310 pages ✔ 4/30/2014 (linked with the word "death" in the title, classic) total pages 614. ✔
16. The Goldfinch 771 pages (link Pulitzer Prize).5/14/2014✔
17. Gilead 247 pages (link Pulitzer Prize) 5/22/2014✔ & March 280 pages (link Pulitzer Prize) total pages 527: 5/24/2014 ✔
18. The Luminaries 834 pages ( link award winner; historical fiction) 5/22/2014✔

Tasmanian Devil's Trouncers 19-24

19. This Dark Road to Mercy 232 pages ✔ (author's last name begins with the letter C) & The Snow Queen 258 pages (author's last name begins with C)✔
20. The Moonstone 528 pages (author's last name begins with the letter C)✔
21. Jamaica Inn 320 pages (classic; setting England) ✔& Rebecca 410 pages (classic; same author) 730 pages total ✔
22. Silas Marner 262 pages (classic, set in England) ✔& The Turn of the Screw: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism 271 pages (setting England; classic) 533 total pages ✔
23. book:The Portrait of a Lady|264] 656 pages (same author; classic)✔
24. The Great Gatsby180 pages (classic) ✔& Travels With Charley: In Search of America 277 pages (classic) ✔ & A Rose for Emily 140 pages (classic): total pages 597 ✔



Buzz Lightyear's Bombers 25-"to infinity and beyond"

25. The Golden Bowl 656 pages (classic)✔ 7/22/2014
26. The Wings of the Dove 518 pages (classic, same author)✔ 6/28/2014
27. The Forsyte Saga 912 pages (classic, set in England)✔ 7/5/2014
28. Jane Eyre 682 pages (classic, set in England)✔ 7/12/2014
29. Wuthering Heights 625 pages ( classic, set in England, author has same last name)✔ 7/5/2014
30. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 535 pages ( classic, set in England, author has same last name)✔ 7/14/2014
31. The Bookshop / The Gate of Angels / The Blue Flower 608 pages (characters last names begin with letter G) ✔ 8/27/2014

Congratulations on finishing Slick's. I love your Grand Dames connection. Whatever will you come up with for Mickey?

Thanks, Marnie! I was planning to read Carl Jung for the next section, but the biographies were so dense and took so long that I am rethinking my original plan. I am looking for something much lighter for the next go round. I don't know what I was thinking before!! haha crazy me!!

Congratulations on finishing Slick's Slugs, Connie. If you could time travel back to meet one of those strong women, who would it be?

Janice, it would have to be Elizabeth I because she was so powerful in a man's world; however, I admire Felice Della Rovere greatly and think I would have enjoyed knowing her more. Besides being strong, she was also gracious. Both of them were very intelligent women who were fortunate enough to receive classical educations at a time when girls were generally not educated in this manner.

For me, it would probably be Anne Boleyn. I've always been fascinated with her story.

I don't know anything about Felice Della Rovere. I should read The Pope's Daughter. It looks really interesting.

Yes, I have always thought Anne Boleyn is an interesting character and that she was dealt with quite harshly. I find it interesting that Elizabeth never spoke of her but wore her mother's ring all her life. Of course, Elizabeth had the question of her legitimacy hanging over her head, (because Henry VIII declared her illegimate after her mother was executed and never reversed it) so she did not want to draw any attention to her birth. Didn't she have a jolly lovely childhood?

One of the scenes that stayed with me from the movie, "Ann of a Thousand Days" was the one of the Elizabeth as a young child wandering the grounds of the palace after the execution of her mother.

Janice, I think I remember that scene. I remember her walking holding her father's (the king) hand down a path (or maybe it was another movie).

I think that's the scene. I don't recall it being the king, but someone came and took her hand.

I don't think Henry was in a very doting mood as far as Elizabeth was concerned after the beheading of her mother. He was much more concerned with marrying the future Queen Jane.

Maybe I don't remember it as much as I thought I did. LOL!

I think you were right about Henry. Anne had just been executed allegedly for treason and adultery. He didn't think a woman would be able to unite the kingdom as a ruler which was why he was so focused on a male heir. Elizabeth would have been unwanted chaff to him.

I have to wonder what the real man was like.

Well, also, if there was any other boy in the family that could take the throne, they would have over Elizabeth. So it was highly unlikely in Henry's mind (don't get me wrong, the man was an arse) that Elizabeth would have taken the throne, as it was very strange there were no other boys in the family (besides her younger brother who obviously appeared after this scene you are discussing). But also, as Elizabeth was Henry's second daughter. Mary would have taken the throne before Elizabeth. This is ignoring the fact that Henry was making the girls illegitimate, then legitimate, then changing his mind again every 5 mins. The man cocked up (hah) his succession line entirely.

Which is what happened, sort of, when Edward died, but he gave the throne to Lady Jane Grey, who the two sisters threw off it within 9 days. And then they never really spoke again and kept on trying to kill each other.

Happy families.

Wonderful job on completing Mickey! I am intrigued by your books about Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt ...I'm not sure if I've read any books about them. My TBR thanks you :)

Eleanor is an especially fascinating person. It is also interesting to read about Winston Churchill's visits to the White House during WWII. He is an interesting character, too.

Connie, I think your solution of putting Buzz's following Tazmanian Devil's in the same message is the best. :)

Yes, I think it is the only workable solution. Thanks for taking the time to look at it. : )

Connie you are reading some amazing books. I should just copy/paste your list to my TBR. Congratulations on finishing Taz...you will be blowing through Buzz Lightyear in no time.

Only a couple more until Buzz lift-off!

You haven't posted dates. Have you finished? I am really impressed!

I have finished, Thing Two. I finished in July, but I guess I'll add a few books throughout the rest of the year.