Reflections in the Nile

I have not finished reading the book Reflections in the Nile but this is really some deep reflection going on in Ancient Egypt. Chloe is on vacation with her sister in Egypt. She goes on a tour of a temple then decides she is going to hide and take photos from this temple after everyone leaves. Mysteriously she is whisked into a different century into the body of a priestess, RaEmhtepet called Ra Em for short. It is during the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut and her nephew Prince Thutmosis 111.

Initially, Chloe loses her ability to speak, gains access to Ra Em's mind in Ra Em's pregnant body and maintains her green eyes. The writer confuses me a bit because later on in the book,it seems Chloe is in her own body but still with Ra Em's skin. Anyway, in this ancient Egyptian world she disovers she is engaged to the obnoxious and crude Nesbek but there is sexual tension between her and Chieftu, Egyptian healer, and personal friend and counselor to the Pharaoh. Chloe suspects that Ra Em has also time traveled and is in her (Chloe's)body creating havoc in twentieth century Egypt.

Prince Thutmosis has some challenges in his role as Pharaoh-in-waiting. He has to deal with RaMoses, renamed Moshe, and his brother Aharon, the very ones we know as the biblical Moses and Aaron. RaMoses is in Egypt to set his people free so that they can worship their God, Elohim. The book really gets interesting after Chloe disappoints Thut and runs off with Chieftu.

I'll keep reading.

Quills Vote

Celebrate excellence in writing and publishing! Look at the highlights of The Quill Awards last year. Click Here. Now vote for your favorite books to receive Quill Awards for 2006 in 19 categories. Connect to the link here up to September 30.

MSNBC.com is the official voting partner for the Quills this year.

Sue Monk Kidd in Jacksonville March 2007

One of our book club members designed this library display showing books that have been made into movies.

This is a follow up to the post on The Mermaid Chair. Sue Monk Kidd is originally from Sylvester, Georgia which is not that far away from Waycross. However, if you want to meet her and engage in a Q&A and Book Signing, plan for a trip to nearby Jacksonville, FLorida on March 8, 2007 at 7:30 PM.

Location: Lazzara Theatre
University of North Florida's Fine Art Center
4567 St. Johns Bluff Road South
Jacksonville, FL 32224

Sponsored by: Friends of the Library
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

Contact: Vic Digenti 904-285-2258
vicdig@comcast.net

Don't forget to watch the TV version of The Mermaid Chair on Lifetime Channel September 9 @ 9:00PM.

Our September Selection

We are going to read about Ancient Egypt and a female pharaoh in our next book Reflections in the Nile by J. Suzanne Frank. Here is a link to female pharaohs.

Here is another more current article on cnn.com about a male pharaoh Ramses 11. Click Here.

First Look

Avon Books, mentioned yesterday, is part of the Harper Collins family. If you are interested in writing and voting in the Avon Books'Romance contest, make sure to check the link to the rules of the contest.

Harper Collins has a First Look program going on as well. You can register to review books before they are published. Check the website to register and make sure to read the program rules.

See the books on offer this month. Click here. The historical fiction, Abundance a novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Naslund is the one that sounds very interesting to me.

Contest for Romance Readers and Writers

Sometimes I think I am going to run out of things to write about and then I'll discover some interesting tidbit that I must share with book club members and other visitors to this site. I learned that Avon Books had an interactive community and was promoting a writing contest for romance readers. A story line will be created by Avon editors, readers will vote, and the winning premise will be announced on Sept 7. The second aspect of the contest is that readers can write chapters based on the premise and Avon editors will review the 10 chapters with the highest fan vote. You have up to October 27 to participate in this unusual contest. The end result will be a collectively written romance e-Book.

Go to www.avonfanlit.com to vote and to compete.

Bestseller in Brazil

James C. Hunter was surprised to find out last year that his book, The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership, was a bestseller in Brazil.

His 1998 book had been translated and renamed The Monk and the Executive without his permission. READ MORE

Over a million copies of the book was sold over a two year period. Apparently the Brazilian market is the new trendy market for writers and publishers.

Round and about Waycross, Georgia

Who says there is nothing to do around small town Waycross? If you love reading and would love to help someone else learn to read, go to the literacy tutors meeting on August 28 at 6:00PM at the public library. Call Midge, the Director of the public library, and she will tell you all about becoming a tutor.

Williams Heights Elementary is inviting the Waycross community and near by communities to an author talk on August 29 at 9:00AM. A children's book writer, will be the guest speaker.

The Kiwanis Club of Waycross meets every Friday at noon at Holiday Inn.

Okefenokee Toastmasters meets every Wednesday at 7:00AM at Holiday Inn.

There is also the Okefenokee Book Club which meets at Andrew's Grill every third Friday except in December. Try their grilled grouper, it's really good. Reflections in the Nile by J. Suzanne Frank is the September selection.

Mermaid Chair on Lifetime

We have not discussed the book The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd at the book club but this is a book worth reading. It is a family drama set in Atlanta and an island off the South Carolina coast. The made for TV version will star Kim Basinger on September 9 at 9:00PM on the Lifetime channel.

Dogtown

Remember Anita Diamant? She was the author of the Red Tent, that book that club members enjoyed so much. She has a book out since September 2005 called The Last Days of Dogtown set in the 1800's in rural Massahusetts.

Read an EXCERPT.

See what we are reading in September!

CLICK HERE to read about our book for September, Reflections in the Nile. It is the first in a time travel trilogy by the writer, J. Suzanne Frank.

J. Suzanne Frank, is a journalist from Texas who has traveled to Egypt.

Book club Meeting Today

We meet at 6:00PM today. See a list of author interviews HERE. Interesting interview on Dan Brown can be found there.

Author Interviews

Link to THIS SITE for interviews with some of your favorite writers. Jhumpa Lahiri, writer of the Namesake is on this list. We selected that book some time ago for discussion. She talks about the tradition of having two names: the good name, used in public, and pet name, used by families. Also, she talks about her pattern of writing from a male perspective.

Jance's Blog

The writer J. A. Jance has a new book on several bestselling lists, including the N.Y. Times. The book is Dead Wrong. Check out Ms. Jance's blog too. I read that a professor of Creative Writing at a certain university discouraged Jance from pursuing courses in his department. The best revenge was probably to become a successful novelist.

Personalized Weblogs

I just finished reading Exclusive by Sandra Brown and went to amazon to see what other readers thought about the story. I came across Sandra Brown's peronalized weblog, also known as a plog.

According to the plog, Sandra Brown's latest books are Chill Factor, recently released in paperback, and Ricochet.

Exclusive reminded me of another novel I read about the Presidency many years ago. In that story, the First Lady was kidnapped by the Russians and a Russian look-a-like was put in the White House as a spy. There was suspense to the very end as readers were not clear whether the right First Lady ended up back in the White House. Does anyone remember the name of that novel?

Top Three Bestsellers

From the list of Bestselling Books seen on USA TODAY this week:

1. Judge & Jury by James Patterson & Andrew Gross
READ EXCERPT

2. The Memory Keeper's Daughter
by Kim Edwards

3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Dear Reader Fiction Selection

Guess which book is on the Dear Reader Book Club Fiction selection this week! It is Joy Fielding's Puppet. SEE MORE about novels wriiten by Joy Fielding.

Books and Mongooses

More vacation pics from the Hope Zoo taken by my cousin M.J. Here is a critter you may not see in a North American zoo. This is a baby mongoose, a weasel looking creature, imported into the Caribbean from India to kill rats way back in the day. (If you click on the second photo you may be able to make out one of the cats sheltering from the sun with the mongoose family). The mongoose turned out to be an annoying pest to farmers, destroying eggs and baby chicks. Here is what I'd like to know, how comes the plural is mongooses and not mongeese?

And now back to books. I just finished reading The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry. I'd give it three stars out of five. There are anagrams and cryptograms to solve. Ancient documents and legends to interpret. There is intrigue in a religious order: greed, deception and a fight for leadership as in The Third Secret. Berry makes the following controversial points: The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are inconsistent in details; the New Testament is illogical;and the story of the resurrection has contradictions.

If you are a fan of religious thrillers here is another one to add to your reading list The Last Cato by Matilde Asensi, written long before Davinci I understand. I have not read it yet.

Book Club Reminder

Back from vacationing with the flamingoes at Hope Zoo and Botanical Gardens (Jamaica).

Here is what we decided at last month's meeting. We are reading and discussing fiction for the next few months. This month it is Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. Next month our selection will be Reflections in the Nile by J. Suzanne Frank. In October we'll have our new member's selection (Kathy's) Traitor's Gate by Anne Perry. Karen is reading the non-fiction, I Alone Survived. She will give us feedback soon if this one can be added to our reading/discussion list.