book club - Jezebel

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Stars In The Sky: A Tribute To Betsy-Tacy
Heathcliff Didn't Sparkle, Though
A First Look At Michelle Style
"Foreign Bodies In Surgery"
A Career Romance For Young Moderns: A Campaign For Pam
Novel Idea

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margareita metermaid
10/10/09

In reply to Stars In The Sky: A Tribute To Betsy-Tacy
Oh Sadie, you have made my week, and possibly my year. Betsy Tacy COMPANION??? I never knew. I just read the series over and over again since I first tricked my dad into buying me the first one at age 8. He asked me if I knew who the author was and if they were good books, and I said 'oh of course', tho i had never heard anything about them before. I just loved the cover art and little pics of Betsy Tacy and Tib. Here's hoping the companion is not out of print like the last four in the series were when i was trying to find them as a kid....
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No Luck
10/09/09

In reply to Stars In The Sky: A Tribute To Betsy-Tacy
When I was in first or second grade I decided to write a Betsy-Tacy musical. Of course I only got as far as the first song (about Betsy wishing for a best friend), but I still remember exactly how it went! Thanks for bringing up the memory. I should go back and re-read a book or two.
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formergr promoted this comment No Luck was starred No Luck was unstarred

formergr
10/10/09

@No Luck: When we were about 8 and 10 years old, my sister and adapted Betsy, Tacy, & Tib as a play, and acted it out for our parents and neighbors (I haven't read the books since then, but remember a dramatic scene with a sledding accident and snow, with the snow represented by a white sheet).

Except we spent our summers in Germany (where my mother is from), so our neighbor were of course German, and now when I think back to this, they must have been so confused!!
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Edited by formergr at 10/10/09 9:01 AM formergr was starred formergr was unstarred

Tikitacky
10/09/09

In reply to Stars In The Sky: A Tribute To Betsy-Tacy
Thank you, Sadie. I, too, get weirdly choked up when I try to explain the Betsy-Tacy universe to the uninitiated. These books, simply put, are my version of Xanax. Whenever I'm overwhelmed, or need comforting, I crack open one of these books. Friendship issues? Betsy Was a Junior. Mad I don't have the funds for travel? Betsy and the Great World. Man trouble? Betsy and Joe. (At my wedding, text from B&J stood in for a bible reading. No, really.) This world of onion sandwiches, Tony Markham, skating parties and secret societies is just...swoon. I have a two-year-old daughter, and I'm counting the days until I can introduce them to her. I don't care if she grows up to be a republican pundit on Fox news as long as likes these books.
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YourScreenplaySucks
10/09/09

In reply to Stars In The Sky: A Tribute To Betsy-Tacy
I might have read one of these - is there a book in the series where Betsy decides to make herself over into someone mysterious & glamorous and a major part of her plan is to start wearing more green & wearing her hair in a pompadour?

I remember this plot very well because I remember deciding that I too wanted to make myself over into someone glamorous & mysterious. My hard-won advice to young Jezebels as easily influenced by books as I was: a jr. high school student in the 1990s who wears a pompadour doesn't look glamorous. She can, however, look mysterious, but mainly in the "Oh, who's that poofy-haired freak over by the lockers?" sort of way.
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smoakes
10/09/09

@YourScreenplaySucks: Yes, that was Betsy in Spite of Herself. Betsy also realized that maybe trying to be someone she wasn't was a bad idea.
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Sadie
10/09/09

@YourScreenplaySucks: I think we all tried finding "rats" after this, and discovered they were available in only ancient and suspect small-town drugstores!
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TheFormerJuneBronson
10/09/09

In reply to Stars In The Sky: A Tribute To Betsy-Tacy
I need information. In what order are they? And how many altogether?
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smoakes
10/09/09

@TheFormerJuneBronson:
The little kids books: Betsy-Tacy;
Betsy-Tacy and Tib;
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill;
Winona's Pony Cart (Betsy isn't the star of this one); Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown
The teen books: Heaven to Betsy; Betsy in Spite of herself; Betsy Was a Junior; Betsy and Joe; Carney's House Party (Betsy isn't the star of this one but it might be my favorite); Emily of Deep Valley (Betsy isn't the star of this one); Betsy and the Great World; Betsy's Wedding
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TheFormerJuneBronson
10/09/09

In reply to Stars In The Sky: A Tribute To Betsy-Tacy
I never read these. I think I might have to. For some reason, reading about high schoolers of the past is one of my very favorite things to do. Though because I'm like this, I'll have to read the whole series.
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Ultraprison!
10/09/09

In reply to Stars In The Sky: A Tribute To Betsy-Tacy
Betsy, Tacy, and Tibb! I'd forgotten all about this book... oh my gosh, I love it so much.
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Plum-Pie
10/09/09

In reply to Stars In The Sky: A Tribute To Betsy-Tacy
Am I the only one who finds themself opening Amazon in another tab before even finishing Sadie's book posts?
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TheFormerJuneBronson
10/09/09

@Plum-Pie: Um, no. I got as far as "High school in the 19-teens? I wonder if they're still in print..."
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Plum-Pie
10/09/09

@TheFormerJuneBronson: They are and old copies are v cheap on Amazon UK (i.e. they must be in the US too.)
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Rooo sez BISH PLZ
10/09/09

@Plum-Pie: It's like hypnosis.
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Plum-Pie
10/09/09

@Rooo sez BISH PLZ: But they keep being good! I'm reading one currently about the wives of famous Victorians and it's brilliant!
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otherginger
10/09/09

In reply to Stars In The Sky: A Tribute To Betsy-Tacy
So odd. Betsy and Joe was the first I read in this series, and after that I devoured them (my mom and her sister had the whole series). Aunt Betsy said she resented Tib for showing up and spoiling the twosome when she was a little girl. I loved the sense of the pre WWI world - had some of the same feeling that All of A Kind Family had.
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Anne is Spiderman
10/09/09

@otherginger: I LOVED All of a Kind Family! I can't find anyone else who read them, ever.

Books like these are just so incredibly awesome. I want to live in them.
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Sadie promoted this comment Anne is Spiderman was starred

Sadie
10/09/09

@Anne is Spiderman: YES, All of a Kind is also terrific; the later books lost me a little, sadly. Which is to say I only re-read them, like, four times.
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LittleWindmill
08/06/09

In reply to Heathcliff Didn't Sparkle, Though
As a teenager I absolutely LOVED Wuthering Heights, it was my favorite novel, bar none, and I read it over and over again until I had to put it away for a while. I re-read recently after a long hiatus, and found myself falling out of love with the novel as I was reading it. Whereas my younger me identified with the "difficult" lives of the protagonists and their non-existant parents and swooned over their tragic romance, the now-me just kept on getting really annoyed with their ridiculous behavior, all the drama they induced and all the pain they created with their childish ways. Now I'm a fan of the twilight books, but found that those protagonists annoyed me in the same way Cathy and Heathcliff did during my re-read. I still love Wuthering Heights for what it meant to me when I was younger but am definitely glad that I grew to be a rational human being. Twi-fans however should looooooooove all the needless drama created by Cathy and Heathcliff, much as they loooooooooooove the drama created by Edward and Bella.
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girlleastlikelyto
08/06/09

@LittleWindmill: I can't look down on the girls who love Twilight precisely because I loved Wuthering Heights so much as a teenager. When I re-read it as an adult, I still loved it, but I was shocked at how abusive and horrible Heathcliff was. I thought he was so dreamy and that his undying love for Cathy was so romantic. That kind of over-the-top drama appeals to something in teenage girls -- everything is so big when you're that age, and the crazy emotion of the protagonists just feel so real and right .
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funnyface promoted this comment girlleastlikelyto was starred

funnyface
08/06/09

@girlleastlikelyto: Except that Wuthering Heights is well-written and a gateway to other classic lit, and Twilight is poorly written trash. So yes, you can still look down on people who love Twilight.
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girlleastlikelyto
08/06/09

@funnyface: I also read V.C. Andrews books. So, yeah, there's that, too.
Maybe I can look down on grown women who should know better and still love Twilight. Because, you know, gotta look down on someone!
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Jill7
08/06/09

In reply to Heathcliff Didn't Sparkle, Though
In "Sense and Sensibility" and "Northanger Abbey", Jane Austen mocked Romantic novels and their pernicious influence on young ladies.
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taranwanderer promoted this comment Jill7 was starred Jill7 was unstarred

Zombie Ms. Skittles
08/06/09

In reply to Heathcliff Didn't Sparkle, Though
Because I love you all THAT MUCH.
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Sputnik_Sweetheart
08/06/09

@Zombie Ms. Skittles: I feel loved. Wuthering Heights also happens to be one of my favorite Kate Bush songs.
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Miss. Money-Sterling
08/06/09

@Zombie Ms. Skittles: How about this one?
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Her Grace promoted this comment

Her Grace
08/06/09

@Sputnik_Sweetheart: My favourite version is actually a cover by the stunning Kate Miller-Heidke. Unfortunately, I can't find any evidence thereof on youtube. Blast!
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sewradical
08/06/09

In reply to Heathcliff Didn't Sparkle, Though
My last comment got removed. Now I am really paranoid that I did something wrong, but I don't know what it could be. If I am reposting this comment and I shouldn't be, because I broke the house rules, I'm sorry. I'm working on the assumption it was a glitch.
My sister is with me and saw this post (age 16, Twihard) and she tells me that Edward and Bella talk about Wuthering Heights a lot but don't actually like the book, particularly the characters, and use Wuthering Heights to talk about obsessive love. Is there anyone who has read the book and can confirm?
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LilaFowler
08/06/09

@sewradical: The book tries to substitute Edward for Heathcliff and Jacob for Edgar, positing that Cathy chose the safe guy over the dangerous guy but that the love between her and Heathcliff - a love so deep, perfect, true, eternal, unfathomable - could never lie dormant oh my god. Stephenie Meyer definitely ignored (although she did give some lip service to) the implication of the parallel - that Cathy and Heathcliff drag everyone into their horrible emotional shitstorm because THE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND THEM - in favor of the much-touted idea of eternal love from beyond the grave, which is what people think Wuthering Heights is about if they haven't actually read it.
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Zombie Ms. Skittles promoted this comment Edited by LilaFowler at 08/06/09 3:49 PM LilaFowler was starred LilaFowler was unstarred

Zombie Ms. Skittles
08/06/09

@sewradical: I found your comment. It accidentally posted in my thread about Wuthering Heights not being a romance novel.
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sewradical
08/06/09

@Zombie Ms. Skittles: Weird but thanks.
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southernbitch
08/06/09

In reply to Heathcliff Didn't Sparkle, Though
i would NEVER date a man whose favorite book is wuthering heights. signals, people. SIGNALS.
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jenniferhill
08/06/09

In reply to Heathcliff Didn't Sparkle, Though
I would much rather see the semaphore version.
(Fast forward a little bit if you don't want to see someone confess)
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AJ promoted this comment jenniferhill was starred jenniferhill was unstarred

AJ
08/06/09

@jenniferhill: HA! I was thinking the same thing, apparently at the exact same time.
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jenniferhill
08/06/09

@AJ: Woo! Monty Python love!
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scandalouskiki
08/06/09

@jenniferhill: I hadn't ever seen this - Thanks!
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