Please introduce yourself!

[Wrighty]

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vivico1 wrote:
Wrighty, did you ever see the movie The Inn of the Sixth Happiness? its a very old movie with Ingrid Bergman going to China as a missionary alone and the things she does there. One of the things she tries to do away with is foot binding of the little girls. It is based on the true story of Gladys Aylward who in the 1930's went to China and became famous not so much for her missionary work but for leading over 100 children to safety in enemy territory during the Japanese_Chinese war. Anyway, in the movie when she is trying to get the mothers to stop this barbaric act, some husbands come and sweep up the girls, some mothers do but they are standing there listening as one mother is crying with her daughter whose feet they are about to bind. She talks to these women, pleads with them asked them to let her loosen some of them. Finally this grandmother sits and starts to unbind her own feet, Gladys is scared for her and what it could mean for her and how it might hurt her to do so, she doesnt know. The grandma in this film is a real Chinese woman who really did have her feet bound and she does take of the bindings and you actually see her foot all broken and folded over, looking like what you will find on the internet, but more visual in a movie format. She does it to help stop the others and the women do stop. I saw this movie again just recently, bought it at Walmart in one of their cheap movie bins and had forgotten that part. I was amazed they showed it in that old a movie, but they didnt do it with some gasp or horrific music behind it, but in the powerful way of showing it and showing a grandmothers love to finally come forth and say stop.

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I never saw that but I will keep it in mind. It sounds like a good movie and I would understand it better now too. I had heard of foot binding but never knew the process or the long history behind it.

[LisaSee]

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Wrighty wrote:
Hi I'm Debbie from NY state.... I had to look up foot binding on the internet to really see what it looked like. The things we women do for beauty!

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Isn't it incredible what we'll do for beauty...even today? I often compare foot binding to breats enhancement. Did you know that the most popular age to get breast enhancement is 17 years old? When you think about it, the reasons for why girls get it and who encourages it are exactly the same as when girls had their feet bound in China. We think we've changed so much, and in many ways we have. But in other ways we haven't changed much at all.

[LisaSee]

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cindersue wrote:
Hi, I'm Cindersue the "yankee" from IL. ...Look forward to meeting everyone, especially the author.

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Hello, Cindersue, and welcome!!!

[seagate]

I am joining in not only because I am an old time member of BN Book Groups but mainly due to the name LISA SEE. Lisa is such a talented author and her latest book Peony In Love is the work of literary genius. To take an opera and bring it life as Lisa See did in this book is an amzing feat!

[Wrighty]

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LisaSee wrote:

Isn't it incredible what we'll do for beauty...even today? I often compare foot binding to breats enhancement. Did you know that the most popular age to get breast enhancement is 17 years old? When you think about it, the reasons for why girls get it and who encourages it are exactly the same as when girls had their feet bound in China. We think we've changed so much, and in many ways we have. But in other ways we haven't changed much at all.

---

I thought of breast enhancement too and all of the plastic surgery that is becoming so common. 17 is the most popular age and many of these girls receive the surgery as a graduation gift! Not in my town they don't! I have noticed that with all of the media coverage of Hollywood and all of the ways you can access it (internet, TV, videos, etc.) the girls today "mature" so much younger than when I was a teenager. The makeup, clothes and even their physical development starts early. It makes me glad I have boys! Probably the main distinction between foot binding and some of the extreme plastic surgery of today is just the anesthesia!

Message Edited by Wrighty on 09-06-2007 02:12 PM

[Magenta]

Hello, everyone,
I read somewhere that Americans always introduce themselves by their jobs. Instead, I am going to tell you that I am a woman with a few years behind me and a few years ahead of me. In the past years, I have always enjoyed reading a variety of books and hope to do so for very many more years. I like historical fiction the best though I also read many mysteries, some romances and historical non-fiction off and on. I live in the beautiful state of Colorado and enjoy variety in my life, having new adventures, meeting new people and reading about new places. I probably won't post frequently, but I will post about books that I truly enjoy.

[Pat_T]

Hi, my name is Pat and I live in southern Arizona. This is my first B&N online book group. I like historical fiction, have read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan for another book group, and loved it. When I saw that Peony in Love was being discussed here and that Lisa See would actually be part of the discussion, I knew this was something I couldn't resist.

[cindersue]

Hi, I am Linda from Central Va. I am a old regular also. Just got through with Abundance and Many Splendid Suns with Rachel and now another one. I have read Snow Flower and the secret Fan but didn't get to join the last group. I love both books. I thoroughly enjoyed Snowflower and the secret fan, I learned so many of the customs of old China. I have read alot of Pearl Buck's books but learned so much more from Lisa's. Peony in Love is so different from any book I have ever read. I will further comment on this later on in the book.
Oh! hi Vivian. I see Cindy and Deb haven't made it yet. Talk at you later.

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Hello Wrighty, Viv and Kiakar! I'm plugging away ... still in the first part of the book. Glad to see you all here! And Mair, too. Looking forward to meeting new readers too.

[vivico1]

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cindersue wrote:
Hi, I am Linda from Central Va. I am a old regular also.
Oh! hi Vivian. I see Cindy and Deb haven't made it yet. Talk at you later.

---

Hello Wrighty, Viv and Kiakar! I'm plugging away ... still in the first part of the book. Glad to see you all here! And Mair, too. Looking forward to meeting new readers too.

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Hey there Cindersue, good to see you in here, we always need your input And hi Pat and Magenta. Pat if you are already a fan and know Lisa's work, you should be right at home here and Magenta, it will be interesting to see how much you post then, cause then we will know if you liked the book or not hehe.

[AnneinSC]

Hello Everyone ! My name is Anne and I live in South Carolina with my husband of 36 years. I am a project manager and need fiction to escape the real world. I belong to 2 book clubs; one is a club that reads mysteries and the other (my favorite) reads gendre related to female experiences. I recently read "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" - it was wonderful; one of my all time favorite books. In fact I had read a library copy but I liked it so much that I purchased a copy from Barnes and Noble. I have highly recommended it to all my book club friends; the writing was so wonderful that I felt like I was experiencing the scenarios.

I just received my copy of "Peony" from Barnes and Noble yesterday so I have some reading to do this weekend to catch up with the group.

I am eager to hear other member's comments and reactions.

And it is an honor to be able to communicate with Lisa See - really wish you would have appearances in the Southeast U.S. Thank you for sharing your writings.

[LisaSee]

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seagate wrote:
I am joining in not only because I am an old time member of BN Book Groups but mainly due to the name LISA SEE. Lisa is such a talented author and her latest book Peony In Love is the work of literary genius. To take an opera and bring it life as Lisa See did in this book is an amzing feat!

---

A work of literary genius? You've made my day!

[LisaSee]

---

Magenta wrote:
Hello, everyone,
I read somewhere that Americans always introduce themselves by their jobs. Instead, I am going to tell you that I am a woman with a few years behind me and a few years ahead of me. In the past years, I have always enjoyed reading a variety of books and hope to do so for very many more years. I like historical fiction the best though I also read many mysteries, some romances and historical non-fiction off and on. I live in the beautiful state of Colorado and enjoy variety in my life, having new adventures, meeting new people and reading about new places. I probably won't post frequently, but I will post about books that I truly enjoy.

---

I love Colorado and spend a lot of time there. It's truly beautiful. I'll be going for the fall colors in a couple of weeks.

[LisaSee]

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Pat_T wrote:
Hi, my name is Pat and I live in southern Arizona. This is my first B&N online book group. I like historical fiction, have read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan for another book group, and loved it. When I saw that Peony in Love was being discussed here and that Lisa See would actually be part of the discussion, I knew this was something I couldn't resist.

---

Hello, Pat, and welcome!

[LisaSee]

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AnneinSC wrote:
And it is an honor to be able to communicate with Lisa See - really wish you would have appearances in the Southeast U.S. Thank you for sharing your writings.

---

First, welcome. Second, I don't know why I haven't gone to the southeast. I go either where my publisher send me on book tour (and I have no choice about that) or where I'm invited by a group for an event. There are so many places I've never been. But I get to "meet" people in other ways. This book club is one example, but I also join book clubs by speaker phone all over the country. It's been a lot of fun these past couple of years talking to folks in places like Alaska or North Dakota -- places my publisher would never ever send me.

[vivico1]

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LisaSee wrote:

---

AnneinSC wrote:
And it is an honor to be able to communicate with Lisa See - really wish you would have appearances in the Southeast U.S. Thank you for sharing your writings.

---

First, welcome. Second, I don't know why I haven't gone to the southeast. I go either where my publisher send me on book tour (and I have no choice about that) or where I'm invited by a group for an event. There are so many places I've never been. But I get to "meet" people in other ways. This book club is one example, but I also join book clubs by speaker phone all over the country. It's been a lot of fun these past couple of years talking to folks in places like Alaska or North Dakota -- places my publisher would never ever send me.

---

Lisa, speaking on that topic, I find very few authors come to Oklahoma either so we dont get to attend book signings unless people can afford to travel to one. So I was wondering, do you have bookplates that you send out? Some of us in this club with you this month would really enjoy that if you do.

[kiakar]

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Magenta wrote:
Hello, everyone,
I read somewhere that Americans always introduce themselves by their jobs. Instead, I am going to tell you that I am a woman with a few years behind me and a few years ahead of me. In the past years, I have always enjoyed reading a variety of books and hope to do so for very many more years. I like historical fiction the best though I also read many mysteries, some romances and historical non-fiction off and on. I live in the beautiful state of Colorado and enjoy variety in my life, having new adventures, meeting new people and reading about new places. I probably won't post frequently, but I will post about books that I truly enjoy.

---

I love your post, Magenta. And also your name. I wonder why we always want people to know how high up the ladder we have gone. But I am bad with that, when I talk about my kids. I guess its the pride talking. ha.

[vivico1]

Speaking of names and Asian things LOL, I found this, its Japanese not Chinese but here we go:

chan (chahn)

"It's used when you're close and affectionate to someone. Most commonly for females and children you are familiar with (Yuugi, Honda, Otogi and Anzu all call Shziuka, "Shizuka-chan"


So, good to see you Kiakar-chan, Cindersue-chan, Wrighty-chan, Magenta-chan, Bentley_chan, Lisa-chan, Fozzie-chan, mairwill-chan, margoolio-chan, rkubie-chan, seagate-chan, Pat_T-chan, Ann-chan (hehe, i like that one), purplepaigeturner-chan, redcatlady-chan, and mybond-chan. WHEW, did I miss anyone? We must not leave out one sister, so I most humbly apologize if I have, let me know. And if any of you are men, or if there are some in here that I didnt see to name, then welcome to our pavillion where we sit and read books together whoeveryouare-kun. Vivian-chan

[narkey]

Hi!. I am Chinese but was born in Melbourne, Australia. I love reading about Asia. My dad was born in Hong Kong and mum in China. They have never been back.

"Peony in love" is my first Lisa See book. It was great.

I have a 11 yr old dog who is enjoying the Spring weather here.

Take care,

Evvie

[ladybug]

Hi, I am from California and have become a Lisa See addict. I used to teach California history, and On Gold Mountain was an incredible story of California "immigrants". I thought Snow Flower would be a hard one to follow, but Peony in Love is an outstanding read. I absolutely loved the character development. I am planning a trip to China in December, and Lisa's books give me such a wonderful perspective of the culture (much different than what is in the press right now). I also love your mysteries Lisa! Thank you for writing such compelling books.