ANA Book Club?

[Kate B]

I will finish The Friday Night Knitting Club today. 
How's everyone else doing?  Are we on target for discussion on the 14th?

Jan

Today is the 15th....

[leapyrtwins]

Today is the 15th....

Yes, it is - and I asked the first question on the 13th.  Sorry I was a day early, but I'm out of town and was unsure of internet access 

K -

I didn't realize what would happen to Georgia when I only had a few chapters of the book left.  Actually I had kind of lost interest in the story line at that point and was seriously contemplating not reading the ending because I wrongly assumed it would be a "Happily Ever After" ending.

Not that I'm opposed to such endings, but I just thought I had everything figured out.  I assumed that Georgia would recover, move on to marriage, have a couple more kids, etc.  The ending very much surprised me at least as far as what happened to Georgia.  I pretty much figured out what would happen in the other character's lives though.

Jan

[sgerrard]

Like others, I spotted the dark cloud coming when Georgia was making the appointment for Anita, and got asked to come in too.

The odd thing about the ending is that it didn't really seem necessary for the story. It would have ended up almost the same anyway, if Georgia had still been there; she had already had such an effect on everyone else.

Can we talk about Gran and James?

Steve

[Soundy]

Like Cindy I figured something bad was coming due to the Steel Magnolia reference but also
thought Dakota ...

Also pregnancy crossed my mind before real problem was revealed

If Georgia had opened James letters when she got them do you think their relationship would have
rekindled sooner or do you think it had to wait til she was ready and really her own person?

[Kate B]

Can we talk about Gran and James?

Steve

Jan--My error, I don't know why I didn't see that whole page of posts....

Steve: Yes, I'd like to discuss them. Can we discuss James first?.... He was a transformed man.... But I am curious as to what you were thinking when you asked about discussing him?

[sgerrard]

I found James interesting, and that there was not enough about him. He started out as a stereotype playboy of some sort. I guess not revealing the letters for so long kept him in that status for much of the book, though he changed pretty soon after leaving Georgia. That makes her not reading the letters in the first place kind of mean, don't you think? This will get me in trouble, no doubt, but it seemed like Georgia falling for James in the first place was kind of typical "bad boy love," if that means anything. She had no basis for thinking he was all set to settle down and raise a family - she just sort of assumed that. Not that I am a fan of playboy types, but if that is what they are, the whole "I can change him when we get married" idea seems lame to me. I didn't see any evidence that James misrepresented his intentions to her.

Okay, I think I've dug the whole deep enough for now...

Steve

[MaryBKAriz]

Hi,

I know I have only read 100 pages or so....but am reading about the book and I did feel that Georgia was too hard on James when she seemed to know what she was getting into.

Mary

[cindyj]

Just a quick stop in to say that I agree w/ you, Steve

James was really one of my favorite characters in the book...

Got to run, but hope to be back later to further discuss...

[leapyrtwins]

Steve -

IMO you are absolutely correct.  I think that Georgia saw James as a "bad boy" relationship also. 

I think his character would have been better if it was developed more, but the way I see it this "lack of development" kind of went along with the whole "this is a women's book" theme of the book.

For those of you who read this book and Thirteenth Tale, which one did you like better, and why?

Jan

[Soundy]

I agree with you too Steve...

thoughts ... you can't go into a relationship and think you can completely make a person be who
you want them to be ... they will evolve and so will you but trying to force it or read into it what you want
to see is waiting for disaster...

my step dad was a bad boy ... mom was gonna fix him and he was gonna be great ... didn't happen and they
divorced when my little sister was about a year old and mom kept him at a distance and away from my sister...
he started growing up and was getting his act together , had a good job , a new wife and baby on the way and
was killed in a car wreck... my sister now 28 is still mad at mom for keeping them apart ... I saw Cory(sister) in Dakota
with  the feelings she had toward her mom when James came back in the picture

I think she was unfair to not read the letter ... he changed for the best but she never gave him , herself
or Dakota a chance to know that...

I liked Thirteenth tale better

[MaryBKAriz]

I liked Elephant book best of the three and it was good to me from the get go.  I really didn't care for 13th tale that much. This book (Friday Knitting) I never finished but it was a little more engaging from the beginning to me. Knowing how it ends wouldn't stop me from reading it, but for some reason it isn't my kind of story, either, I guess. Or maybe it is my health right now. Just a dizzy dame!

Take care all,

Mary

[cindyj]

Definitely liked Thirteenth Tale better...thought the writing was better, the characters were much better developed and the story was much more interesting.  For me, this one was too much like ordinary real life...if that makes sense...

I'm off to the beach this weekend, so I won't be back to the Club for a week!  Ya'll have fun w/ the rest of the discussion and have a good week.

Cindy

[leapyrtwins]

I definitely liked The Thirteenth Tale better - IMO it was more interesting and I found it a lot less predictable than Knitting Club.  It was the kind of book I couldn't put down - especially near the end when the author was putting all the pieces of the puzzle together for us.

Although with Knitting Club I didn't see Georgia's medical issue coming and I certainly didn't think the book would end up the way it did, I pretty much figured out most of the other stuff.  I found it somewhat boring.  I liked the challenge of Thirteenth Tale much more.

I'd have to rate the Elephant book 2nd, because although I liked My Sister's Keeper, it was a repeat read for me.

No one has commented on Gran yet.  I'm not sure what I thought of her.  Anyone?

Jan

[sgerrard]

The visit to Gran in Scotland was the point in the book where it finally got interesting to me. Up till then it seemed like a lot of typical contemporary life, with dialog that did not make me feel like I was reading about real people.

Gran changed that, with her rural Scottish village that has cell phones and organic biscuits on the tea shop menus, and her sharper than a tack perceptions about people and life. She picked up pretty quickly that Georgia was bearing her grudges far too long, with both James and Catherine (Cat), and seemed to be the turning point for getting Georgia to take another look.

Did anyone think the knitting was a useful element in the story?

Steve

[Soundy]

THE Scotland chapters did seem more real to me ... and Gran wizened Georgia up cause grans
are often wise people if you listen to them...

mine was odd and gave me advise like when you take a bath make sure you don't leave any stray
hairs on the soap... told me this when I was maybe 6 and I still remember it 40 years later...

Gran did open up Georgia's eyes to the fact that people can and do change and what a teen ager
did to you umpteen years before couldn't be held against their adult self...

The knitting was the common thread that brought them togethere... it could have been any number of
things ...quilting ,painting or even a reading group ... the story just needed something to bring the
group of people together and knitting was it