<p>Thanks for the feedback, shyparentalunit!</p>
<p>I’m fine with State of Wonder.</p>
<p>I retain my right to vote either yea or nay all over again - in case of a coup. ;)</p>
<p>If State of Wonder becomes our next book, consider posting that info ASAP. I’m now #168 on the library hold list. No - I don’t think I’ll get it in time. Yes, I’ll purchase a copy, if need be. I enjoy the CC Book Club more than my real life one and get more out of it. I also like that though the discussion may start on the 1st of every other month, readers can chime in with their two cents whenever they want. (I see you noticed my recall of The Moonstone discussion.)</p>
<p>State of Wonder works for me. Shyparentalunits post is encouraging, and Bel Canto finally picked up at the 1/2 point today.</p>
<p>I’ll add my “yay” for State of Wonder! </p>
<p>I read the movie comments over on The Moonstone thread and thought of a mug I saw this week at a faculty meeting. It said…Never Judge a Book by it’s Cover.</p>
<p>Well, I was rushing to work earlier and just reread what I wrote. I meant to say “Never Judge a Book by it’s Movie”. :)</p>
<p>Hi everyone! Sorry I missed the discussion on FG & SG. I had read FG earlier for my real life book club several months ago. And I did, in fact, just re-read SG, which I hadn’t read since I was a kid. But, H & I just went through an exhausting move from CT to Cambridge, MA. We were fortunate to sell our house in CT, but the whole sorting, packing, cleaning, unpacking, etc thing has been more than a little crazy. A few days after we moved we bailed out for the beach where I spent several days doing absolutely nothing – and had limited computer access.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’ve barely skimmed the posts here, so won’t attempt to comment. I enjoyed both books. One note – I got Secret Garden for my Kindle and it was the “original version.” Does anyone know how that differs from any other version? I didn’t know there was more than one.</p>
<p>Re: next book – I’ve read “Bel Canto” and “Run” by Ann Patchett. I really enjoyed both books – IMO, Patchett is an excellent writer, meaning how she uses words. I hope to be “back” for the next discussion.</p>
<p>CBBBlinker, it’s good to hear from you! I hope you are enjoying your new home. I’m sure you earned every minute of your time on the beach doing absolutely nothing.</p>
<p>I think this is the answer to your question about the “original version” of The Secret Garden:</p>
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<p>I’m glad you’re on board for State of Wonder. I’ll wait through the weekend for any more comments or votes and then start a new thread on Monday.</p>
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<p>Good advice. I have a feeling we could start a long thread listing movies that did a hatchet job on the book. :)</p>
<p>Mary13, when you check the CC book discussion rules, I’m quite certain there is a clause that anyone “moving” is excused from participation.
CCBlinker,- congrats on surviving your move, and posting. This is from someone who moved 10 times the first ten years of marriage. Luckily they were before children, and in places like Utah, Salt Lake City, Billings,MT, and Missoula Mt, then back home to good ole’ NJ !!</p>
<p>Hi CBBBlinker - I remembered you’d be busy this time around but knew you’d check in when you could. Congrats on the sale of your house - and smartypants you for planning a beach vacation following the move. </p>
<p>I just checked my copy of The Secret Garden, and I think I read the ‘original version’ though nowhere does it specifically say so. However my book lists “Text copyright 1911 by Frances Hodgson Burnett” - so I’d think it the original text.</p>
<p>Now onto a brief thread hijack:</p>
<p>CBBBlinker: I assume from your ‘excellent writer’ comment re Ann Patchett that you liked Run?</p>
<p>newccuser: You mentioned Run also. Did you like it? Also I think you planned to read The Postmistress this summer. Did you like it? I still have a copy hanging around the house that I plan to read eventually.</p>
<p>I never got around to reading The Postmistress just yet - but I have read Run last year - and would very much recommend it. Deep and serious family and community issues rendered with excellent prose.</p>
<p>
Yes! And I did like “Run” a lot.</p>
<p>I downloaded State of Wonder and The Sugar Queen to my Kindle a few days ago. Once we decided to read State of Wonder for book club, I decided to read The Sugar Queen for my last hurrah of summer. I’m a teacher and school starts tomorrow, taking away a lot of my leisure time reading. I really enjoyed The Sugar Queen. The review on Amazon called it warm and whimsical. Both of those words are perfect descriptions. It’s a fun read, with a little bit of magic.</p>
<p>CBBBlinker - I grew up in CT, lived there for a while as an adult, and also lived in Boston for 10 years. I love both places. Enjoy your new home.</p>
<p>^^^ I went ahead and bought State of Wonder this morning because it looks to be our next discussion book. I don’t plan on reading it til shortly before Oct. 1 though.</p>
<p>BUandBC82: I have read all four of Sarah Addison Allen’s books. Your description of The Sugar Queen - “a fun read, with a little bit of magic” - could apply to all four. I’d have a hard time picking a favorite among the four - though it just maybe might be her latest The Peach Keeper. One of my reading friends sticks with SAA’s first, Garden Spells, as her personal favorite.</p>
<p>Me - I’ve started The School of Night.</p>
<p>ignatius - Thanks for the info on the other books. I guess I’m going to have to read them too! Owning a Kindle is quickly becoming an expensive hobby for me.</p>
<p>Yes, thanks to all for the book suggestions. I agree, BU, Kindle is an expensive hobby, but isn’t it wonderful to have an entire bookstore a click away. Great for this rainy northeast day.
Just downloaded more than 6 samples- thanks all.</p>
<p>Where can you read THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN online for free?</p>
<p>As an Australian resident of almost 60 years I can tell you how she got her passport. She established that she had lived in Australia all her life (specifically Queensland) and that she had been married there. She would have been obliged to register to vote at 21. In colonial Queensland (ie pre 1901) many children in rural areas did not get registered because Dad didn’t get around to it. Her siblings probably provided statutory declarations to the effect that she was their sister, she had been around all their lives (they being younger). </p>
<p>In fact, you have a similar arrangement in your own country. I have a friend who was born in the Philipines in 1953 while her father was posted there. They did not register births there at that time. So, her parents had to get her a passport so they could leave. They got posted to Sydney in 1969. It did get harder and harder for her to renew her US passport once she had left home, so in her 30s she became an Australian. I met her on the school bus in 1969 so I was the one who verified that I had known her ever since.</p>
<p>Many of our Asian migrants escaped from their birth countries without sufficient documentation and have had to establish their existence in order to become Australian citizens. I am sure you have people in the US who have gone through the same process.</p>
<p>Just posting to say, I very belatedly read The Forgotten Garden, thanks to a mention in the last book discussion. I found it a compelling read, but ultimately unsatisfactory, as I just didn’t fully believe in the motivations of some of the characters. Very interesting observation about plot driven vs character driven books. I’ll have to think about that one. I know I have a really hard time reading books centered on people I dislike. (Can I tell you how much I loathed Vanity Fair?)</p>
<p>^^^ mathmom recommended *Movie Shoes<a href=“alternate%20title%20-%20%5BI%5DThe%20Painted%20Garden%5B/I%5D”>/I</a> recently on another thread. Noel Streatfeild wrote it: she wrote Ballet Shoes et al. Movie Shoes tells the tale of Jane, a plain, “black doggish” (ill-tempered) English child who gets the chance of a lifetime to play Mary (The Secret Garden) in a movie being made in Hollywood shortly after WWII. Jane has a chance meeting with the producer and director of the movie: she reminds them of plain, ill-tempered Mary and they hire her for the role. I enjoyed the book - good stuff ;). I never did get around to watching The Secret Garden DVD and now really want to do so.</p>