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Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of A Dog’s Purpose.

What did you think of the beginning of the book this week? It took me a bit to get used to reading a story from a dog’s perspective. Once I got used to the narration, I enjoyed the first section. I will admit, though, that reading an animal’s inner thoughts made me feel a little differently towards my dog. Did anyone else feel like they had to be a little extra loving to their pet after reading Bailey’s (or Toby’s) inner thoughts?

I didn’t read the plot description before starting the book, so I was really surprised when Toby was reborn (as Bailey) for the first time. Were you surprised by that development? I really liked Toby, so I was sad to see him go. I was a little confused about the place where Toby lived. Did the person who rescued him just have a huge yard of dogs? It wasn’t like she owned an animal shelter, right? 

I like Ethan and his family, and how they are so attentive to Bailey. One of my favorite inner-dialogue sections of Bailey’s was when he was figuring out how to use the doggie door. It was so funny to read how he figured out that the door worked both ways. I also liked reading about what he did to occupy his time in the garage. Reading that section helped me to understand my dog and the weird things she does when she’s bored. 

I have a bad feeling about Todd, don’t you? He seems like bad news. The description of his bedroom and his attitude immediately made me think of Sid from the original Toy Story. He was just destructive throughout the entire section. What do you think he was planning to do when he lured Bailey away from his house? It was all so creepy and weird. 

This section ended with Ethan getting lost and then found in the woods. It was interesting that Bailey knew where they were, but he went along with Ethan. I imagine that if he were a more mature dog, he might be able to steer Ethan back home earlier, but since he had never been in that situation before, he trusted that Ethan had a plan. 

What section was your favorite? Did you have a favorite thing that Bailey thought? 

I thought it was really creative that W. Bruce Cameron decided to write the book from the perspective of a dog. I figured that Cameron would have to be a big dog lover to decide to write an entire book series about dogs, and I was curious to find out what inspired him. The biography on his website tells what inspired him to write this book and its sequels. 

Finally, did you know in the movie version, Josh Gad voices Bailey? He’s such a versatile voice actor, playing Olaf in Frozen and now this dog. If you want to hear him talk about his role, check out the video below. 

I hope you enjoyed this first section and are excited to keep reading. Please let me know your favorite parts, and if you have a guess about what Bailey’s ultimate purpose will be, you can always leave that guess in a comment to me. 

Make sure to read through chapter 22 for next week. I hope to hear from you in the comments section. 

Welcome to August’s Online Book Club discussion! This month, we’re discussing A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron.

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.

A Dog’s Purpose is a fictional book told from the perspective of a dog named Bailey. Originally, Bailey is a stray mutt, but after his life ends tragically, he is reborn as a golden retriever, and throughout the rest of the book, Bailey strives to figure out his purpose in life. The story is both funny and heartwarming, and the writing style is so innovative since the narrative is told from the dog’s point of view.

If you want to follow along with us, but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the movie adaptation starring Dennis Quaid. I’m including the trailer above if you want to get a feel for the way the story plays out on screen. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you are only watching the film and not reading the book.

We’ll be discussing the first twelve chapters in the blog post next week. I hope you’ll join in on the discussion!

Welcome to our final Online Book Club discussion of Can You Ever Forgive Me?

What did you think? The ending wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought for sure that she would serve jail time or feel some sort of remorse for her crimes. It didn’t seem like she did. Were you surprised by her tone throughout the book? Were you also surprised by the scope of her forgeries? She created 150 letters for Noël Coward alone. She made so many letters! 

Did any of you feel like her “Trimester Two” was even more bold than her original plan? I couldn’t believe that she was able to get into the libraries and steal letters from them.

I don’t mean to harp on the typewriters, but I just can’t get over the fact that she dumped all of her typewriters in the trash when she felt like the FBI was coming after her. All of those typewriters, just in the trash! I can’t believe it. If she were unloading all of those typewriters today, she could get a lot of money since typewriters are such collector’s items.

Speaking of typewriters and collectors of typewriters, did you know that Tom Hanks is a big collector of typewriters? He loves them so much that he wrote a collection of short stories that all involve typewriters, called Uncommon Type. He also wrote the foreword to Typewriters, which you can read at the Chronicle Books Blog. 

Near the end of the book when Israel first meets and talks to an FBI agent who was known to have uncovered forgeries, she mentions the Hitler diaries and the Mormon forgeries. The Hitler diaries forgery is fascinating, and if you’re interested in learning more, check out this news story from The Independent published 35 years after the forgeries were first discovered. The plot of this forgery is so interesting that I think it would make for a great movie. The Mormon forgeries are equally as interesting, so make sure you check out this news story from the Deseret News as well. I’m surprised I had never heard of either of these forgeries before. Do you remember when they were in the news? 

Israel also mentions finding stationery from hotels to make her forgeries more believable. Do you want to visit the Lombardy or the Algonquin Hotel after seeing how they figured in to Israel’s story? 

Lee Israel seems like she was a very interesting person. Even though I read this book, I feel like I don’t really understand her, and I don’t feel like I learned much about her through the book. Do you feel like she is still a bit of a mystery? If you’re curious how Melissa McCarthy got into character for the movie version, check out the clip below. 

I hope that you enjoyed reading along with us this month. If you liked the book and are interested in reading and watching related books and movies, check out this list I created. Let me know if you check out anything on the list. 

Thanks so much for following along this month. Make sure to leave a comment to tell me all of your thoughts. I hope you’ll join us again starting August 5 as we read A Dog’s Purpose. 

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of Can You Ever Forgive Me? 

What did you think of this section? I thought one of the most interesting things from this section was that the title of the book came from a forged Dorothy Parker line that Lee Israel wrote. Did you catch that detail? I thought that was really bold that Israel named the book for one of her forgeries.

Typewriters play an important role in this section. I thought it was so cool that Israel got different typewriters so her letters could have the same look as the people she was impersonating. I never really thought about typewriters having different fonts. Israel mentions that the first old typewriter she bought was a Royal typewriter. If you’re interested to see what Royal typewriters looked like, check out Machines of Loving Grace, a site that has tons of information and pictures about different typewriters. I especially like the look of the Hermes typewriters. What do you think about their cool color? 

Are you impressed how Israel created a light box to help her create the signatures for the letters? I thought it was pretty ingenious to use the old, broken television in this way. I also cringed reading about it, since I knew she was using it to commit a crime. 

Israel mentions selling her first letters to the Argosy Book Store. The bookstore is still in existence, and it has a huge selection of autographed letters, books, and photos available on their website. Take a look and see if you find any interesting autographs. I loved the signed letter from Victor Hugo, and the signed photograph from Princess Diana and Prince Charles. Aren’t they cool? 

In this section, Israel talks the most about forging letters from Dorothy Parker and Louise Brooks. I didn’t know anything about Louise Brooks before starting this book, so I had to do a little research about her. Have you watched any of her movies? The Louise Brooks Society website has tons of information about her if you’re interested. She had such a distinct look—I really enjoyed seeing her style and hairstyles in some of the photos. Check out the biography page to learn more about her, or check out the films page to learn more about each film in which she appeared. 

I’ve read a bit of Dorothy Parker’s work, but I don’t know enough about her to appreciate the letters that Israel included in the text. I knew that Dorothy Parker had an incredible wit (scroll down on this article to see what she chose for her epitaph), but that’s pretty much all I knew about her. I found the The Dorothy Parker Society website informative, so check that out if you’re interested in learning more. 

Do you feel sorry for Israel as you’re reading? Are you curious to see how her story will end? Do you wish she seemed more sorry for her crimes? 

I hope you are excited to finish the book for next week. I’m also interested to hear what you thought of these chapters. Leave a comment to share your impressions! 

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of Can You Ever Forgive Me? by Lee Israel.

This book is different from anything we’ve read before, isn’t it? And the story moves so quickly, it was hard to stop reading after just five chapters. 

What do you think about the story so far? Are you enjoying Israel’s exploits, or are you finding it upsetting to read about her willingness to break the law? 

Lee Israel starts her forgery career by stealing some Fanny Brice letters. I’ll be honest—I had no idea who Fanny Brice was. After doing a little research, I discovered that the musical Funny Girl is based on her life. This article from the Jewish Women’s Archive has much more about her life. I found that it gave a little more context to the story when I knew more about why people would want some of Fanny’s letters! 

Israel mentions that she stole letters from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Did you know the New York Public Library had such a specialized branch? It seems like a really cool place. Check out their website to see some of the special collections and archives they have in their building. If you could attend one of the upcoming events they have listed on their site, which one would you attend? I think I would attend a jazz program. 

Israel also mentions selling books to The Strand bookstore. Do you know anything about the Strand? The store’s slogan says it contains 18 miles of books (although it’s grown since it adopted the motto and now has 23 miles)! Can you imagine that? In addition to selling rare and collectible books, the store also sells books by the foot and will create ready-made libraries for customers. Would you be interested in buying one?  I think I would want to make sure that every title on my shelf is meaningful, but, I understand why decorators or people who do movie props might be interested in that service. 

Can you picture Melissa McCarthy as Lee Israel? I think Melissa McCarthy is one of those actresses that can play any character. She really immerses herself in the look of a role. If you want to hear how McCarthy prepared to take on the character, check out the video below from CBS Sunday Morning. 

I hope you’re excited to read chapters 6–10 for next week. Please make sure to let me know all of your thoughts and opinions in the comments section. I’m really interested to hear your initial thoughts of the book!

Welcome to July’s Online Book Club discussion! This month, we’re discussing Can You Ever Forgive Me? by Lee Israel. 

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.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a memoir by Lee Israel about literary forgeries she created and sold over two years. After her writing career declined, Israel turned to forging letters to make ends meet. The book is fascinating and includes many examples of Israel’s forged letters. 

If you want to follow along with us, but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the recently released movie adaptation starring Melissa McCarthy. I’m including the trailer above if you want to get a feel for the way the story plays out on screen. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you are only watching the film and not reading the book.

The book is really short this month, so we don’t have much to read before next week. I’ll be discussing the first five chapters next week, but feel free to read more than that!

Welcome to the final Online Book Club discussion of Anne of Green Gables!

This section sure starts interestingly with Anne accidentally dying her hair green. It’s so sad that Anne has to have all her hair cut off to hide it. Isn’t it funny how this whole incident wouldn’t really be a big deal today? Anne could just dye her hair again, or she could just leave it green! She would have so many more options that what was available back then. 

Didn’t it just kill you that Anne and Gilbert were so stubborn with each other throughout this section? I wanted to shake Anne and tell her she should forgive Gilbert. I know he embarrassed her, but it’s not as if he mortally wounded anyone in her family! I was so hoping she would forgive him once he rescued her out of the pond, but she stayed firm in her anger. I did think it was interesting that he responded angrily back to her, and I was surprised that she regretted her wrath so soon after displaying it. 

What did you think of Anne’s transformation throughout the book? It frustrated me that people made such a big deal of telling her that she wasn’t as ugly has she had been before. Did you notice how many people seemed genuinely shocked that she changed looks as she grew? I thought it was a little sad, too, that she became so much more quiet and reserved as the book went on. I know she was maturing, but it was a little sad that she lost so much of her whimsy. What did you think of her fashion transformation? Wasn’t it interesting that Matthew bought her so many different types of fashionable clothes? 

I felt like the section when Anne was at Queen’s Academy was a little rushed. The book condensed a whole school year into just a couple of pages. Were you surprised when Anne won the Avery scholarship? I assumed that Queen’s was a real place, but according to this blog post, it was fictional. If you’re curious to read more about what was real and what was fictional in the book, make sure to read the post. 

How did you feel in the last chapter about Matthew? Were you surprised that he passed away at the end of the book? Did you feel like you knew it was coming, or was it abrupt? I felt like it was a little sudden. Maybe if we had known more about what was happening to Matthew and Marilla while Anne was at school, we would have been less surprised when he died. 

What did you think of the ending? Were you a little sad that Anne decided to stay close to home and teach? Were you surprised that Gilbert gave up his teaching position so Anne could have it? Were you glad that Anne and Gilbert made up by the end of the book? I was so glad that they ended the book as friends. I love Gilbert, and I know I’m not alone. Check out this article from the New Yorker that explains why a whole generation of girls fell in love with Gilbert. Some other essays about how Anne Shirley has affected readers have been published in Vanity Fair and The Guardian. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this book along with us this month. I hope you’ll leave some comments about your favorite parts, and make sure to tell me if you watched any of the movie or television adaptations. You might also enjoy this list I made of similar titles, and let me know if you enjoy anything there!

Next month, we’re reading Can You Ever Forgive Me? which was recently made into a movie starring Melissa McCarthy. I hope you’ll join us again to discuss this exciting book and movie. 

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of Anne of Green Gables. 

In this section, we meet Gilbert Blythe and see Anne interact with him. Gilbert sure pushes her buttons immediately, doesn’t he? I love that he is so desperate for her to notice him the way other girls do, but when she finally does, he gets a lot more than he bargained for. Anne must have hit him pretty hard to break her slate on his head. Were you surprised that Gilbert wasn’t angrier? Or that Anne stayed mad for such a long time? 

I have to confess that I didn’t really like Mr. Phillips, the teacher, at all in this section. I was shocked that to punish Anne for her spelling, he lifted up her marked up slate so all the other students could see, and I was really surprised that he punished only Anne for being late to class, even though a bunch of the boys were late, too. What did you think of Mr. Phillips in this section? Do you think you would have liked being his student? 

I like all the old-fashioned details sprinkled throughout the story. At one point in chapter 15, Diana complains that one of the Pye girls put her milk bottle in Diana’s spot in the brook. It’s interesting that the children brought their own milk bottles to school, and especially that they kept them cool by leaving them in a brook. 

One of the most famous events from this section is the tea party where Anne accidentally gets Diana drunk on currant wine. That whole scene is so sad. Anne wants so much to be grown-up and proper, but she makes so many unfortunate mistakes. If you’d like to experience how the raspberry cordial should have tasted, this recipe from the Mirlandra’s Kitchen blog should help.

Anne’s been admiring puffed-sleeve dresses throughout the book, and she finally gets one at the end of this section. Matthew was so incredibly sweet to get it for her. Didn’t your heart just break for him as he was attempting to talk to the saleswoman about the dress? I was so glad that Rachel Lynde came through in the end. I’m also relieved Marilla let Anne keep the dress—I was a little afraid she would decide it was too frivolous.

I was having a hard time imaging what these huge sleeves would look like, so I did a little research. Check out this article from the Historical Sewing blog if you want to see a whole bunch of pictures of dresses with huge sleeves. Make sure to leave a comment to tell me which style of sleeve is your favorite. Watch the video below if you’re interested to see how filmmakers interpreted the gown and Matthew’s interaction with the saleswoman. 

What other parts of this section stood out to you? How did you feel about Anne walking across the rooftop? What did you think about the chapter when Marilla thought Anne lost her amethyst brooch? Did I miss any other scenes that you really enjoyed? Make sure you tell me in the comments section!

I hope you’re able to read the rest of the book for next week. I’m excited to hear what you think. 

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of Anne of Green Gables. 

How did you enjoy the first part of the book? I love all the descriptions of the landscape on Prince Edward Island, don’t you? I feel like it must be a magical land with blooming flowers everywhere, and I would love to visit. Check out the book The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables to see more photos and drawings of the setting, or take a look at the Prince Edward Island Tourism site if the book is tempting you to visit the province where it takes place. 

What were your first impressions of Anne and the Cuthbert siblings? Marilla is a prickly character, but you can tell that she has a soft heart buried beneath the surface. Matthew is so sweet and kind. I love how he just lets Anne talk at him. Anne is a hoot. I like reading about her, but I’m not sure if I would enjoy spending time with her. Her temper might be a little taxing. What do you think? Do you think you could be friends with any of the characters? 

One of the most touching parts in this first section was where Anne was describing the imaginary friends she created at her first homes. At one home, she named her reflection Katie Maurice, and she called her echo Violetta at a second home. On one hand, it’s great that Anne had such an imagination that she was able to pretend these simple things were close friends. But it’s also sad that Anne was so lonely she needed these imaginings to fill a void for her. When I read this section as a child, it didn’t stand out to me, but now, as an adult, it made my heart feel heavy. Did it affect you this way?

When I was researching L.M. Montgomery, I found a list of facts about her that said she created imaginary friends from her reflection too. The list has plenty of details about Montgomery when she was younger, if you’re interested. If you prefer a more formal biography, the University of Prince Edward Island has one, with some photos. 

Do you have a mental picture of what each character looks like? If you’re struggling to imagine them, check out this site from the company that produced the 1985 movie and its sequels. It describes each character and the actor who portrayed them. I think I picture these actors in my head when I read the story, since I am most familiar with that adaptation. 

What chapters stood out to you? Did you feel sorry for Anne when people made fun of her for wearing flowers in her hat to church? Did you cheer when Matthew took Anne under his wing and brought her sweets? Did you cringe when Rachel Lynde made fun of Anne’s looks? I’m really interested to hear what your favorite parts of this first section were.

Before you go, check out the audition of Megan Follows, who portrayed Anne in the 1985 adaptation. I always enjoy seeing behind-the-scenes peeks at the movie-making process!

I hope to hear from you in the comments section. Make sure you read through chapter 26 before joining us next week!