INTRODUCTIONS: Say "How do you do?" and shake hands!

[ugalawgirl]

Hello!

UGALAWGIRL here! I'm a law student at the University of Georgia School Of Law with hopes to become a prosecutor. I have a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, love to run, exercise, read, and spend time with my Yorkshire Terriers! I look forward to participating! 

[Melissa_W Moderator]

Welcome!   We'll start Charlotte Bronte's Shirley on Monday - the reading will be broken up into quarters (or so, depending on chapter breaks, etc).  Great to have you with us!

[zaphiragirl]

=D thanks for the invite!! when I read the title Shirley it clicked me and it turns out I have it!! and I didn't even remebered it [shame on me! ] so yes!! I'm thrilled to discuss the book next month, never had an experience like this before so wohoo!!

[dulcinea3]

I started Shirley last night, and read the first two chapters.  I generally don't think that Charlotte Bronte has a lot of humor in her work (although I enjoy her books for other attributes; I've only read Jane Eyre and Villette), but already I am seeing some humor (bickering curates), which is a nice surprise!

[Valentini]

Hello LbW club!  Peppermill recommended that I check out this book club and after reading some threads and posts, I decided to join you for the discussions on Shirley.  I just downloaded the novel on my Nook yesterday and only have read the first two chapters, so I hope I’ll be able to keep up! 

I live in Michigan with my two sons and two Calico cats.  I teach college English and technical writing at a local university.  I enjoy reading women’s fiction.   During college, I took numerous literature classes, but they were almost exclusively Brit. Lit courses focusing on male-authored novels; I did enjoy reading those novels, but I would have liked to have read some female-authored literature, too.   The most memorable novels I read were from a Victorian Lit course, in which I read numerous Wilkie Collins novels as well as Mary Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret.  Today, I enjoy reading a variety of women’s fiction, and in 2010, I read books by Adriana Trigiani, Jodi Picoult, Kate Morton, Elizabeth Berg, Vicki Myron, Nancy Thayer, Katherine Howe, Dianne Setterfield, Katrina Kenison, and other “beach” reads offered as B & N Nook specials.

These B & N online book clubs are my first venture into book club discussions and I look forward to participating in the discussions on Shirley.

--Valentini

[macbethchick]

Hello! My name is Beth and I'm a high school English teacher in Ohio.

Pepper from Classics pointed me this way.

I'm new to the Nook and this type of book club, so hopefully I'll be able to figure things out quickly.

I'm really looking forward to this. Too many of my days are spent dragging uncooperative students (suffering from chronic cases of Senioritis) through literature - ANY literature. Some days I feel like I'm casting pearls before swine. There are many good days too, but it can be quite discouraging -  especially with the classics. NOW I'll be able to get my "Lit-fix." 

[Peppermill]

Beth and Valentini -- Welcome to the LbW board!  Dulcinea will be delighted that Shirley has attracted new participants! As will the rest of us who dabble here!

I printed out the first two chapters last night, but fell asleep somewhere in the clerics conversation in the very first chapter, so anyone on Chapter 2 is ahead of me. (Dulcinea said she started last week.)  I picked up a library copy today; hopefully the one I own will show its face soon so I have one on which I can make notes.

Melissa will give us some threads this week, I am sure, to channel our discussions.  This should be fun!

Pepper

P.S.  The link above to the online text may be useful if you want to quote passages in your comments.

[dulcinea3]

Welcome, new members, and the more the merrier for our Shirley discussion!  Pepper, thanks for the recruiting efforts!  I've managed to read the first nine chapters, which seems to be about the first quarter of the novel.  It is longer than I had realized it would be.  And I still haven't met Shirley!  I think she will appear soon, however.  In the meantime, Caroline is a nice character.  I'll refrain from getting into too much discussion until Melissa has posted the 'official' discussion threads!

[guitargirlHL]

Hello, my name is Hannah and I can't wait to join your discussions. Currently I am reading Jane Eyre and I love it so far. I play guitar as my major in school but I also write as my minor. I have three cats and one dog. My main goals in life are: 1. Play guitar professionally. 2. Write a novel. 3. Travel the world.

[Melissa_W Moderator]

Welcome, Hannah!   Jane Eyre is one of my favorite novels.

Slightly off topic:  Do you follow author Maggie Stiefvater's blog? (Words on Words)  She's the author of Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls Series #1), Linger (Wolves of Mercy Falls Series #2), Forever, Ballad, and Lament.  She posts on her blog all the fun places she goes to for her book tours (she had great pictures of a recent tour in Lithuania) and she plays the bagpipes (as well as the guitar and several other instruments).  So I think your goals of #1 and #2 may help with goal #3

[AlmH]

Hi Hi, I'm Alm Hlgh a screenwriter masquerading as a novelist.  All of my eBooks are based on my screenplays that were stuck inside my hard drive collecting dust.  I am extremely pleased tht my work has found an audience with so many of you readers.

I sincerely hope to one day turn my novels into the films that I envision them to be.  Please check out my page and I hope that you find something in my nook to your liking.

Alm Hlgh... 

http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?store=book&ATH=Alm+Hlgh

[Melissa_W Moderator]

Alm,

Are you joining us to read Bronte's Shirley or Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian?

[Melissa_W Moderator]

And with that resounding silence...I'm thinking you're not going to be joining us but merely "borrowing" the introductions thread for this group to toot your own horn.

I have very few restrictions for discussion here at Literature by Women, but I do ask that all self-promotion for published work, etc. be done in THE BOOK NOOK thread (if you think that your work is germane to the spirit of Literature by Women) or on the READ MY BOOK! thread in the general community room. 

The INTRODUCTIONS thread here in LbW is for reading group participants to introduce themselves as needed.

[GioPago]

Please, please DELETE my previous post... Did not know it was a book club/ literature like that. Sincerely apologizes for the mishap.  Sorry for offending you with my post....  And then delete this post also, just wanted you to know it was a true mistake.  

[dulcinea3]

---

GioPago wrote:

Please, please DELETE my previous post... Did not know it was a book club/ literature like that. Sincerely apologizes for the mishap.  Sorry for offending you with my post....  And then delete this post also, just wanted you to know it was a true mistake.  

---

Your only other post is on a completely different board (I think the Community Room).  Suggest you learn to navigate the boards first before posting.

[Melissa_W Moderator]

@GioPago I don't have the "delete" ability - which is why it's still there (I assume you also post as Aim High).

[Bad_Witch]

Hello.   My name is Stacey, my friends and co-workers call me Stace.  I started reading for fun about 15 years ago.  So, I have a lot of catching up to do.  I am a big fan of Paricia Cornwell and Dean Koontz.

[Melissa_W Moderator]

Welcome, Stace   We're reading Memoirs of Hadrian this month - don't forget to stop by the voting thread to see the ballot and vote for your top four titles.  We're making the next several months' reading schedule.

[KarlaDaniels]

Hello there.  I am Karla Daniels, 45, from Ky.  I have been a Nook owner about a week and a half and I totally, absolutely, compleetely LOVE my Nook!  I have downloaded a bunch of the free books and plan to keep searching.  The only problem there is I guess I need to develop some patience because even though I have the 3G paging through all the free books (which I wish were ALL on the website instead of just the first couple hundred!) and then downloading is kind of slow.  Sometimes I lose patience.  I love to read Christian fiction, (Neta Jackson, Terri Blackstock, Kristen Billerbeck, Brandiloyn Collins, Kathy Herman)  mystery, suspense, CLEAN (as in NOT Erotica) romance, and biographies. 

[Melissa_W Moderator]

Welcome, Karla We'll be starting a discussion of Daphne du Maurier's

Jamaica Inn 

 next week.