LDS Ladies Book Club discussion

Is there someone you always wanted to learn more about? Here's your chance! Read a biography, autobiography, or memoir!

- What are you reading this week?
- Why did you choose this person/group to read about?
- Did you learn anything new; or perhaps change your previous opinion about the person/group?
- How was the book?

- What are you reading this week?
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
- Why did you choose this person/group to read about?
I picked this book up because I had previously read Kaling's other book and enjoyed it, so I thought I'd give this new one a try.
- Did you learn anything new; or perhaps change your previous opinion about the person/group?
Nope, it was very similar to her first book and to how I saw her.
- How was the book?
It was pretty good, although I did enjoy the first one better. I found a few of the anecdotes funny, some were weird, and one or two were a bit on the "no thanks" side. I will state that this book is definitely PG-13, with some language and adult situations.

SamZ wrote: "Is there someone you always wanted to learn more about? Here's your chance! Read a biography, autobiography, or memoir!

- What are you reading this week?
- Why did you choose this person/group to ..."
I listened to Penny Marshall's book, My Mother is Nuts. I liked the first part of the book, which was about her childhood. I don't appreciate hearing about her drug use, and the men she has had sex with over the years. I did like hearing about the movies she directed or ones she acted in. She uses the F U way too much.

I wanted to read this book, because of the work she has done in TV and movies.

@Nancy - That's too bad! I think Penny Marshall (and her brother Gary) are hysterical! I wish there wasn't so much prevalent sex and swearing in books today, even in biographies - you can still be classy! I also think it's harder to "overlook" those words/passages when you're listening vs. when you're reading.

I agree, that the swear words stand out so much more when you listen to a book, instead of reading it. Penny Marshall is very funny in her book. She writes a lot about her brother Gary, and the help he gave her getting jobs in show business. He was only nine years older than Penny. He looked so much older when he played her dad in Laverne and Shirley.

- What are you reading this week?
Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage by Hazel Rowley

- Why did you choose this person/group to read about?
The book is about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and specifically focuses on their relationship. I didn't know much about either of the Roosevelts so I chose to read this book to learn about their lives.

- Did you learn anything new; or perhaps change your previous opinion about the person/group?
I learned a lot about the Roosevelts! The book did a good job of telling the history surrounding this couple. My opinion of them probably went down after reading the book because of the things I learned about some affairs Franklin and possibly Eleanor had and some of their political ideologies.

- How was the book?
I have mixed feelings about the book. I gave it 3 stars, because there were some things I really like and others I didn't. I would probably better enjoy a book about the Roosevelts that focused on the things they did and the turbulent times in which they lived, rather then about their relationship. The book brought up personality traits about them that made it hard for me to enjoy learning about their lives. At times it felt like the author was dwelling on sensational details to try to spice up the story rather than just telling the facts.

That's one of the hardest things about biographies, I think. Especially for people like FDR and Eleanor, who tend to get very romanticized because of the amazing things they did during an unimaginably difficult time period.

What are you reading this week? I read Anne Frank: Life in hiding by Johanna Hurwitz

- Why did you choose this person/group to read about? This was a children's biography on Anne Frank and I read it out loud to my students which we then followed up by doing a tour of the Anne Frank house of their website. Totally recommend that website. Google Anne Frank Museum. It has videos about what occurred and a tour of where they spent their days. All kid friendly.

- Did you learn anything new; or perhaps change your previous opinion about the person/group? The story was sad and my students were sad when we finished the book. I had never really studied Anne Frank so I did learn quite a bit about her life and what was going on at the time. It did prompt me to read the actually Diary of Anne Frank. Im currently reading that now.

- How was the book? Overall very good biography for kids.

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J.R.R. Tolkein - A life inspired by Wyatt North. The first book I couldn't put down was Lord of the rings and that got me hooked on reading so thought it would be good to find out more about the author. I learned more about his background which I really knew nothing about. Also about his friendship with C.S. Lewis. I didn't realise how short the book was and didn't go into much detail. For me it was summerising his life from facts and that the author didn't know him. A shame really.