Author: Erin K.

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of Run, Rose, Run.

Are you enjoying the reading experience so far? What did you think of that prologue? It sure started with a bang, didn’t it? I wonder how long it will take for us to get to that part in the book. I can’t imagine why AnnieLee would need to leap off of a balcony, but apparently, she will need to. It makes me think that she might get in over her head once she gets some fame? 

The action continued right after the prologue. What did you think of the fact that AnnieLee stole that semi-truck? One thing I wished I had understood was what happened to the semi-truck after she drove away. Did she leave it at the rest stop she told the drive to walk to? She didn’t drive it all the way to Nashville, right? I thought that might come back to haunt AnnieLee later, but it wasn’t really mentioned. I was also surprised that she was able to drive it–I think I would need more training to do it successfully. 

AnnieLee gains traction pretty quickly after singing in the bar. It was pretty lucky that she happened to sing in Ruthanna’s bar. I was surprised how welcoming Ruthanna was from the beginning. She gives AnnieLee a place to sleep, she gives her advice–do you think it’s because Ruthanna sees her daughter in AnnieLee? There’s some sort of secret there with her daughter. I wonder what the story is with Ruthanna and her daughter. It has to be something big because Ruthanna seems pretty sad and broken. 

Near the end of this section, AnnieLee is attacked in her hotel room. Who in the world would want to attack her? The whole scene felt like something out of a spy thriller, but I have a hard time imagining AnnieLee is some government operative or something. Why is she so secretive about her past, and why won’t she share more about the attack. She doesn’t seem to be too surprised that she’s attacked. Do you think she was in a gang or something? I just have no idea what could be happening with her. 

Ethan is going to protect AnnieLee–Ruthanna asks him about it right at the end of the section. Do you think the music producer Mikey is someone that AnnieLee has to be protected from? 

In the last chapter in this section, AnnieLee is going to start recording with Ruthanna. I think she’s going to hit it big quickly. Do you think she’ll find instant success in the next section? I just can’t wait to keep reading because I really want to figure out why she is being followed and attacked. 

Before you go, check out this video of Dolly Parton and James Patterson talking about the book. Did you think the two of them were an unlikely writing pair? 

I can’t wait to hear all of your thoughts and opinions on this first section in the comments! Make sure to read through chapter 64 for next week! Thanks for following along!

Welcome to Week 1 of the Online Book Club discussion of Run, Rose, Run by James Patterson and Dolly Parton.

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

Run, Rose, Run follows two women: AnnieLee Keyes, an up-and-coming singer who is desperate to get her big break in Nashville and Ruthanna Ryder, a country music superstar who is interested in retiring from the music business. The lives of both of these women overlap and readers soon realize that both women are hiding secrets. Will each women’s secrets overwhelm them, or will they be able to fight back against the demons from their past? 

Because this book is so new, it doesn’t have a movie version…yet. But, you can enhance your reading experience by listening to the album of original songs Dolly Parton created to go with the book. Check out the video above if you’d like to hear one of the songs! 

We’re reading the first 32 chapters for next week. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Welcome to Week 4 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Great Train Robbery. 

Did the book end like you thought it would? Did you enjoy reading how all of the details and plans finally came together? I thought it was a satisfying ending. I thought there would be more scenes with the trial, but I wasn’t sad that there weren’t. I didn’t think the trial was going to bring up any new information, so I wasn’t upset that there weren’t more courtroom scenes. 

This section starts with Pierce climbing across the top of the train to get to the gold. I thought it was hilarious that Pierce later said that he wore two pairs of undergarments to protect him from harm. Like an extra pair of underwear would really do anything! I thought it was interesting that Pierce planned meticulously for every single thing that could go wrong, and he planned the heist down to the last detail. But, he didn’t consider the fact that he would get so dirty while climbing on the top of the train. It’s a good thing that Agar was willing to share his clothes, or I think the whole thing would have been ruined. If you’re curious about the climbing across the top of the train scene, check out the clip below. And, check out Michael Crichton’s website page about the book. If you scroll down, you’ll see the script for the scene, and you can read a description of how the filming went for Crichton and Sean Connery. 

The men successfully steal the gold by switching it with lead shot, and Pierce makes it off the train. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go–I’m sure he looked a complete mess once he got off the train. It’s lucky for him that his dirtiness translated to him looking sickly and not just dirty. After they steal the gold, it almost seems like nothing will come of the robbery. It seems like all of the authorities will just fight about it all and wouldn’t get organized enough to look for a suspect. However, eventually, Pierce gets connected to the crime because Agar’s mistress tries to get Agar out of prison by giving information about the train robbery. Were you surprised that Agar told what he knew about Pierce? I guess Pierce messed up by not giving Agar all that he was promised. 

In the end, Pierce is convicted, but when he heads to jail, he’s able to escape. Do you think Miriam passed him the key when she kissed him in the court room? I definitely think that’s what happened. I was glad Pierce escaped in the end–I think it was believable that he was able to trick everyone and stay out of jail. 

What did you think? Were you satisfied with the story? What do you think was your favorite part? Did you have a favorite character? 

If you’d like to read more about the real robbery that inspired the story, check out this site. You’ll have to scroll to the bottom to get to the The Great Gold Robbery part. It’s a pretty interesting story. How do you think it compares to the book we read? 

Finally, check out this museum description of the lead shot bullion box from the real robbery. Isn’t that neat?

If you enjoyed this book and would like to read or watch similar items, check out this list I created. Make sure to let me know if you check out anything on the list! Or, let me know if you’ve enjoyed anything on the list. 

Thanks so much for following along this month! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts about the book in the comments section. Next month, we’re doing James Patterson and Dolly Parton’s new book, Run, Rose, Run. There’s no movie to accompany it, but there is a CD with original music from the book! Make sure to check out the Run Rose Run music CD to listen to while you read the book. I hope you’ll join us again next month!

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Great Train Robbery

Did you enjoy this section? Are you liking how all of the parts of the robbery are coming together? It’s just crazy to me that Pierce has to keep track of so many details!

One of my favorite parts of this section occurred right at the beginning. I loved how Miriam went to that safe shop so she could figure out if the safes were being changed before the robbery. She played her part so perfectly! I couldn’t believe how confident and belligerent she was. I loved how the men didn’t take her seriously and thought she was a loon, but she found out all of the important information the team needed. I thought that scene was really well-done. 

Clean Willy sure made some wrong decisions in this section. He tried to get more money from Pierce, and then he ended up getting killed. I thought that was pretty sad. Were you surprised when he ended up dying? I thought the Crystal Palace that they met in sounded really interesting. Check out this article to learn more about the Crystal Palace, and click here if you’d like to see what the ruins of the place look like now. 

I was sad to see Elizabeth Trent show back up in this section. She was pretty sad that Pierce hadn’t kept up his conversation with her. Do you think she believed Pierce’s story about the lost letter and then finding a new lady since he never heard back from Elizabeth? I don’t think I would have, but things were different back then. I guess it would be believable for a wealthy man like Pierce to get married quickly, especially if he was hoping to have heirs or something. I was just sad that she was a victim to the whole scheme. She didn’t do anything wrong. 

The whole having Agar pretend to be a dead body in a coffin to gain entry to the train was gruesome but ingenious. What an ingenious way to sneak someone on to the train. I liked how Pierce explained why the coffin had to be opened in the way it was opened. The railway workers were going to search the coffin either way, but if they hadn’t heard the bell and thought the body was alive, they would have checked for pulse and looked around. But, since they were expecting a live person and saw and smelled a dead looking person, they shut the coffin back up again quickly without an inspection to the body. That was so smart. If you’d like to see how the scene played out in the movie, check out the clip below. 

I thought that Pierce was never going to be able to get rid of Fowler once they were on the train. Didn’t that part make you nervous? I couldn’t believe how tense I felt while I was reading it. It was smart for Pierce to light that smelly cigar. I was so relieved when Pierce was finally alone in his train car. 

Pierce thinks that he will be able to climb across the roof of a moving train car to get the gold. I have a hard time imagining that he will actually be able to do it. How will that work? I really doubt there are a lot of hand holds on the top of a train. I would think it would be pretty slippery! I think the wind alone would be enough to disorient a person. Do you think he will do it? Will he be successful? 

What do you think will happen in the last section? We’ve had hints throughout the book that there will be a trial. How do you think that’s going to go? 

I hope you enjoy finishing the book for next week! I can’t wait to hear what you thought of this section in the comments!

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Great Train Robbery

Were you sucked into the story from the beginning? It took me about two chapters to really get into the story, but after that, I was hooked. I liked how the pieces of the story unfolded slowly–it was nice to have the story emerge piece by piece. Sometimes, I feel like that can slow the story down, but in this case, it just made me want to keep reading.

In these first two sections, the biggest obstacle that Pierce and his companions overcame was the problem of the four keys. They knew that two keys for the safes were stored in the railway office, and they knew, from a conversation with Fowler that Fowler kept the third key on his person at all times. But, the group had to figure out where Edgar Trent kept the fourth and final key, and they had to figure out a way to get copies of all of the keys. I thought it was fascinating the way they went about securing the keys. I felt sad that Elizabeth Trent was just used for her connection to her father. I think she was probably a nice person, and she didn’t deserve to be dragged around by Pierce. She did inadvertently share that her father had a weird habit of going in the wine cellar in the mornings, and that made Pierce believe that Trent was storing his safe key down there. Were you surprised that Trent’s key was actually the first key they obtained? I thought it was going to be the hardest one to get, but it ended up being pretty easy. I liked how they did that carriage fake to gain entry to Trent’s house. 

It was hard for them to get the keys from the railway office! There were so many moving parts during that section. I couldn’t believe that they were able to keep everything straight. Could you believe they actually got the keys? What did you think about the fact that they used that little boy as a distraction so that Agar could pick locks in the office? That was wild that that actually worked. Watch the clip below if you’d like to see how that scene played out onscreen. 

Were you shocked during the section about the hanging that public hangings seemed like public entertainment? I couldn’t believe the people around the hanging site would rent out their houses so that rich people could watch the hanging without being around the common folk. I cannot imagine wanting to watch something so gruesome. That sounds disgusting. But, the hanging did provide a distraction for Willy to escape from prison. Want to read more about the prison that Willy escaped from? Check out this article about the Newgate Prison. It sounds like a pretty ugly and sad place. 

Were you curious why Pierce wants so much lead shot? I thought that was an interesting thing to need. I assume it’s something needed for the robbery, but I can’t imagine what. Do you think they are going to be shooting a lot of people? That doesn’t really seem like Pierce’s style, though. 

This section ends with Pierce getting a leopard. This leopard allows Agar to go on the train unnoticed, and then, he is able to work on the safes. The team now has an inside man, Burgess, so it seems like they will be unstoppable. I thought it was so interesting that all of the men agreed to work for Pierce, and they did so much work without knowing what they were going to be stealing. Agar didn’t know for sure until the very last page of this section. They must have trusted that Pierce had something really big to take. Did you catch that when Crichton was writing about the people’s interest in leopards that he mentioned an automaton statue of a leopard attacking a man can still be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum? Clink this link if you’re interested in seeing the automaton that captivated the interest of the people. Make sure to watch the video at the end of that article, so you can see how the automaton was played!

What do you think will happen in the next section? We still have half of the book left! Do you think they will end up being successful? 

I hope you enjoyed reading this section. I can’t wait to hear all of your thoughts in the comments! Make sure to read Part 3 for next week!

Welcome to July’s Online Book Club! This month, we’re reading The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton.

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

In The Great Train Robbery, a handsome and charming thief named Edward Pierce pulls off the greatest train robbery of the century, stealing a train car loaded with gold bullion. The story tells the why and the who of the mystery, but even though readers follow the action of the robbery, they are still left to wonder exactly how the crime took place. 

If you want to follow along with us but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the movie version starring Sean Connery. Check out the trailer above if you want to get a feel for the movie. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you’re only watching the movie and not reading the book.

We’ll read Part 1 and Part 2 for next week. I can’t wait to hear what you think in the comments section!

Welcome to the final discussion about National Velvet by Enid Bagnold. 

Did you enjoy the ending? The final chapters did not go down like I thought they would. I was genuinely surprised by the way things turned out. What did you think? 

Like I mentioned in the blog post last week, Velvet did not seem well-prepared for the race. I’m still not sure how she actually made it all the way through the event since it didn’t seem like she had any prior notice to the course. I was surprised during the racing part, Mi couldn’t even see what was happening. I thought that was a little bit frustrating because readers didn’t really know what was happening to Velvet. It felt like we built up her conquering the race, but we didn’t even get to see her participate, and we didn’t get to see her perspective. Were you disappointed by that? The racing scene was so chaotic since it was so busy and packed. I didn’t enjoy it. 

Then, Velvet dismounts from the horse too quickly after winning, and the doctors realize she is a girl. I guess Mi and Velvet just never expected that she would win and that’s why they had no contingency plan for people finding out her gender? The whole plan was a mess from the get-go. Were you surprised that the racing officials were so upset that she was a girl? The men believed that she was committing fraud and was trying to get prize money in a dishonest way. But, it really seemed that Velvet didn’t care at all about the prize money. She just wanted to jump and she wanted The Pie to have the experience of winning. And, she wanted him to be famous. Don’t you think The Pie will continue to be famous even though he didn’t get to keep the title? 

In the end, Velvet is not convicted of fraud, and she is able to continue on with her life. At the end, we figure that this isn’t the last adventure Velvet will have since she is the kind of person who just has great things happen to her. It is pretty spectacular how many great things happened to Velvet in a short time over the book. She was given a bunch of horses in an inheritance, she wins a raffle, she wins a race and is given prize money to enter another big race. Then, she wins that big race. What else could possibly happen to her? I can’t imagine what would be left for her to do in life. 

Are you curious about how some of the racing scene played out in the movie? Check out the clip below to see Velvet and Mi working to get into the race. 

Do you think Elizabeth Taylor plays a convincing Latvian young boy in that scene? I think it was pretty obvious that she was incredibly young to be participating in the race, but I guess people weren’t as concerned about that sort of thing back then. Want some more behind-the-scenes information about Elizabeth Taylor and the movie? Check out this list of facts from the filming. Which fact were you most surprised by? 

And, if you’d like to read more about the mother character, check out this article. I thought Velvet’s mother was so kind and generous, but she wasn’t described in a very flattering light. So, I enjoyed how this article reinforces that she was a great mom.

Finally, if you enjoyed this book and are looking for similar books or movies, check out this list I created. Make sure to let me know if you check out anything on the list!

Thanks for following along this month! I can’t wait to read your thoughts about the last section in the comments! Come back next month as we read The Great Train Robbery. I hope to hear from you in the comments!

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of National Velvet.

Did you enjoy this section? I’m still having a bit of trouble keeping up with the dialogue. It’s just so different than modern dialogue. I can definitely tell that this book wasn’t written in the past couple of years. What do you think? Did you have trouble keeping up with the story?

One thing that drove me crazy in this section was the fact that I could not find any information about what a Threadneedle Race was. That’s the race that Velvet wins before she decides she wants to go for the Grand National. I found lots of information about threading the needle, but nothing seemed like what Velvet was doing in this section. During the race, readers see Mrs. Brown several times with a needle flashing in the air. I could not find anything about this kind of horse race anywhere. Can any of you help me out? If you want to see what threading the needle is, check out this article or check out the clip below. 

Mi was sure nice to the girls, making sure they were able to enter into the races. Why is he so nice to them? Is it just because of how much he respects their mother? It seems like he has kind of adopted the family as his own. I think that’s really nice because the Dad doesn’t really stand out as an overly loving or kind character. He’s not really mentioned that much. 

In this section, Velvet wins her first race, and then, she decides that she wants to race the piebald in the Grand National race. I didn’t realize before starting this book, but the Grand National race is incredibly dangerous, and many horses have died while attempting it. If you’d like to read more about the dangers of the race, check out this article. It was a little surprising to me, after knowing what I know about the race, that a 14 year old girl would be so excited about entering. The dangers of the race were not really mentioned at all in this book, and I think that was a little unfortunate. The book is less believable once readers understand how incredibly dangerous it would be for Velvet to even consider racing. 

Near the end of the section, Mi and Velvet decide to name the horse, “The Pie,” and Mrs. Brown gives her English channel money to Velvet, so that Velvet can enter the race. That was really sweet when Mrs. Brown handed over her coins to her daughter. Weren’t you surprised when the bank didn’t want the gold coins? I couldn’t believe that Mi didn’t seem to understand that what he was paying with was incredibly valuable. 

Velvet decides to actually do the riding in the horse race, and she cuts her hair, so she’ll look like a jockey. Near the end of the section, Mi explains the route to her, and again, that part is just so incredibly unbelievable. She doesn’t even seem to know where she’ll be going, and she has no idea what the jumps are. This is a dangerous course–she couldn’t just head into the race without knowing anything about any of the jumps. She would be dead after the first jump. Velvet doesn’t seem to have any idea what she will do if people find out she’s a girl and not a jockey. What do you think she will do? Will people find out? What do you think will happen at the end of the book? 

What other things jumped out to you in this section? Are you excited to get to the ending? Are you bothered by the fact that a young girl is participating in such a dangerous event? 

I hope you’ll be able to finish the book for next week! I can’t wait to hear all of your thoughts in the comments section!

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of National Velvet.

Did you enjoy reading this week? This is a different type of story than what we’ve had before. Definitely a lot less stressful than The Hunt for Red October last month! 

I felt like I had a bit of a problem getting into the dialogue. I felt like the conversations were just hard for me to understand. Did you feel that way? Maybe there was a lot of slang or descriptive words that I wasn’t familiar with that really hindered by ability to understand everything I was reading. 

So far, we’ve met the Brown family and Mi. Were you surprised that Velvet was as old as she was since she was pretending to ride the cut out horses? I felt very sad for Velvet because of her teeth and the band she had to wear. It seemed terribly uncomfortable, and everyone was quite mean to her about it. I also thought the way that everyone talked about Mrs. Brown was very odd. They mentioned her weight a lot, didn’t they? It was very different. I felt like her weight was her defining feature in this section, and I didn’t like that. 

What did you think was more surprising in this section? The fact that Velvet actually won the piebald horse in the raffle or the fact that she got all of Mr. Cellini’s horses? I think the fact that she became a horse heiress was way more surprising. I thought that scene kind of came out of left field. Did you think it was a little out of place? I felt like it almost took away from the special-ness of having the piebald horse because she had a bunch of other horses, too. I had to read the Mr. Cellini scene more than once to understand what I was reading. It started off so sweet with him showing the horses off and giving the horses away to Velvet. That was so kind, and it made sense that he would want a sweet person who was obsessed with horses to have his prized animals. But, then, Mr. Cellini kills himself right after talking to Velvet and she hears him do it? I don’t understand why that was the way the author decided to have Velvet get some more horses. It seemed unnecessary, and I think, it was more confusing than helpful to the plot. What did you think of that scene? Why do you think the author included this scene in the book? 

This section ends with Velvet deciding that she would like to race the horses in the local race. What do you think it going to happen to her when she races? Do you think she will enjoy it? What do you think will happen in the next section? 

Did this first section and all of the narrative choices make you really curious about the author, Enid Bagnold? Check out this article first to get some background information about her, and then check out this website to see some of her papers and books. I liked seeing her signature, and I thought the old copies of National Velvet were neat to look at. Finally, check out this article to see what her house looked like. Isn’t the house so grand? Which room would you enjoy the most? 

Finally, did you know there was also a television series based this story? Check out the intro below–does it look like it would have been a fun show? Have any of you ever see it before? 

I hope you’re able to read through chapter 12 for next week. I can’t wait to hear your impressions of the first section in the comments. 

Welcome to June’s Online Book Club! This month, we’re reading National Velvet by Enid Bagnold. 

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

National Velvet is the story of a young girl named Velvet who is completely obsessed with horses. After winning a horse in a raffle, Velvet is determined to ride the horse and win in the Grand National, the world’s greatest steeplechase. Will she be able to accomplish her goal? 

If you want to follow along with us but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the movie version starring Elizabeth Taylor. Check out the trailer above if you want to get a feel for the movie. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you’re only watching the movie and not reading the book.

We’ll read through the first 6 chapters for next week. I can’t wait to hear what you think of the first section in the comments!