Narnia Fans

Hope you all did not overeat on Thanksgiving.

Did you know that since the Chronicles of Narnia was first published in 1950, more than 85 million copies have been sold?

Don't forget that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will premier on the big screen on December 9. Now the Hallmark Channel has announced that it is going to show the life of the writer, C.S. Lewis, on the small screen in C.S. Lewis: Beyond Narnia, also on Friday, December 9 at 8:00 PM. Set those VCRs. Don't miss it!

We will discuss the movie, the book and the Hallmark docudramawhen we meet in January 2006.

Meet Legal Thriller Author

Here is another opportunity to meet a writer right here in Waycross. Claire Hamnet Matturo will be at the public library during the Festival of the Trees on Monday, December 5 at 6:00PM. She is the writer of two legal thrillers: Skinny Dipping and Wildcat Wine.

Claire started writing in 2002 while she was an unemployed lawyer living in rural southwest Georgia. Her third book Bone Valley will be available next year.

Wonderful Meeting

Hot Toddy

At 4:00PM I realized that Andrew's Grill was not going to be available for our usual meeting. We gathered at Andrew's and made our way to Hot Toddy nearby. The decor was lovely there and we had privacy upstairs to discuss our book. Eight of us met to discuss The Glass Castle. It was a wonderful meeting as usual.

Welcome back Gloria

Welcome Gloria! This was Gloria's second meeting. The last time she came to the book club we were meeting at KD's. It's been a while. Gloria will be going off on retreat shortly to write her own novel.

We have not yet chosen our books for February and March. Gloria wants us to think about a book by a Latin American writer. Her first choice is the writer Isabel Allende.

THIS WEEK

TUESDAY, November 15
This is the week that we meet the writers of RING OF LIES. The event will take place on Tuesday at 12:15PM in the common area in front of the Waycross College Library.

FRIDAY, November 18

Remember we also meet this Friday at Andrew's Grill at 6:00 PM to dicuss the memoir The Glass Castle.

From Gothamist.com

Aside from her Southern accent, Jeannette Walls bears no outward traces of the extremely poor, nomadic childhood she chronicles in her brilliant new memoir, The Glass Castle. The tall, elegant MSNBC columnist bravely bares her lifelong secret of growing up with her three siblings and having to eat butter for dinner, make her own braces, and suffer the whims of her artistic, intelligent and utterly selfish parents, one she thought would get her kicked out of polite society and leave her socially ostracized once it was revealed.READ MORE

In this online interview, Jeannette offers an explanation for her mother's behavior, "Arrested development I guess is what it is. I think psychologically mom is around 4-years-old. Intellectually, she’s incredibly advanced. People say she was selfish with the candy; she was selfish in the way that a child is. “This is mine and I don’t want to share it!”

Personally, I think her mother was bipolar!

Small town faith-based novels

Did anyone see the article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution dated Tuesday, November 8, 2005 about Jan Karon's Mitford series? According to the article, millions are sadly but eagerly awaiting the release of Karon's final Mitford novel titled, Light From Heaven. Jan Karon has paved the way to success for other Christian fiction writers using a small town as the setting for their stories:

Life Goes On by Philip Gulley, Harmony series
Setting: Harmony, Ind.
Friendship Cake by Lynne Hinton
Setting:Hope Springs, N.C.
Cape of Light by Thomas Kinkade and Katherine Spencer
Setting: Cape Light, New England
Mercies and Miracles by Sharon Downing Jarvis
Setting: Fairhaven, Alabama
On a Wing and a Prayer by Katherine Valentine
Setting:Dorsetville, New England
Aprons on a Clothesline by Traci DePree, Lake Emily series
Setting: Lake Emily, Minn.