OT ~ Invitation

Hi Everyone! I want to thank Bonnie for the invitation to Book Buddies! Sorry it took so long to reply but I had computer problems and totally forgot about the invite until Oprah's new book announcement the other day. I went to her site and couldn't believe what a state it was in. It makes me sad. So I decided to respond to the invite and come here and see all of you instead!

Happy to be here. I will come back later tonight and tinker a bit and read some of the older posts to get a feel for things. I was happy to see a lot of names from the old Book Buddies, like Granita! It's been a long time.

Candy

Granita - OT

Hi Beloved BB's --

Thank you Bonnie for your email and invitation and for keeping in touch. I had to stop in to say hi. So nice to see so many familiar names gathered here -- Bonnie, Caboose, Denise, Gerry, Jo, Bookread, Marg, Margie, Margreet, Marylyn, Pamela, and Shirley -- wow! Some of you here now know I was one of the Buddies back from the 2003 days when Oprah kicked off the 'classics' version her book club with East of Eden.

Caboose, it's so nice to still hear from you occasionally. Pamela, congratulations on your South Beach success! Shirley, I'm so very sorry about your loss.

I have to catch you up on two things. First, I'm bursting at the seams to tell you that I returned this weekend from a trip to Europe, during which Margreet and I had a face to face meeting!! We've stayed in touch through the past couple of years although I've not been participating in the groups, and it was absolutely wonderful to get the chance to spend a day together! I flew into Amsterdam and hopped on a Eurail train, meeting Margreet in the town where she attended university. It was such a beautiful place. I loved the architecture and the canals. And best of all I loved getting to spend time with my dear friend Margreet! Thanks for being such a great hostess for the day, Margreet!

Second, I have to tell you that from the Netherlands I continued on to Tuscany, where I had the opportunity to live out our Book Buddies wrap party of Under the Tuscan Sun! A friend of mine rented a villa for a week and invited several people to join her. It was an unbelievable chance of a lifetime week, and time after time I flashed back on all the Buddies who were a part of our cyberparty at our virtual Italian villa back in 2003. Life imitating art?

Life is going quite well these days but I continue to feel time challenged with regard to finding balance between my personal and work life so for now I'm just here to say hi and say that I think of the Buddies often and hope you're all well. Although I haven't been an active participant in quite some time, it's remarkable to me that the discussions we had have served as the springboard for several great friendships, on and off the boards through the past few years. This is a great group of people, and I wish you continued enjoyable discussions!

All the best,
Granita

I Found You!

When I saw that Oprah finally picked a book I wanted to read and discuss (Love in the Time of Cholera), I thought I'd show up at Book Buddies and check in again. Well, you all know what I found there. Not the Book Buddies. So, I searched the words "book buddies bonnie" and found this site and hear I am!

How is everyone? It looks like I popped in in the middle of a discussion which I won't be joining because I'm going to Vermont next week for a long weekend and I'm also studying for the Professional Engineering exam on October 26th.

Denise

Hello

Whew, I am glad I found you all here, but it wasn't easy. My name is Jo, I am an eclectic reader. I have 9 grandchildren and a great grandson that I baby sit 5 days a week. (I retired a year ago, so I guess my family thought I needed a new job) I am an old time Book Buddy, who has been away for quite awhile. I went to the Oprah site to find BBs but what a mess. I found Esscensia (I was around when we created Esscensia on one of virtual vacations) Saw Anne's post that Bonnie had started a new site, but the PM was not working. Fortunately I was able to goggle it and here I am. I have not started the new selection yet, but I will pick it up and catch up.
It was great to see a few familiar people around, Margreet and Caboose Hi.

Till later
Just me
JO

Hello Book Buddies

Hello Book Buddies,

It looks like Bonnies Blog has led me once again to my old book buddies. I have been missing our old times together and the many chats that we were never quite sure where they would
lead. Our adventures all started with the opening of a book and ended with friendships we just won't let go of.

I am ready to see Bonnie's Blog emerge to its potential. The site looks terrific. Happy reading and happy posting everyone.

Lynne (otherwise known as bookread)

PS. Has anyone seen any of those pesky old camels around anywhere? They have been known to go where they aren't invited. Some may recall a slight problem we had with them in the past.

Each book I open, I find a friend.

Hello Book Buddies

I am so tickled to be home with friends and family.

Carole/Caboose

Guess who's on the way

Who would be bringing up the end of the train? Who would we miss if she weren't here? Whose presence brings a smile to your face? She'll be here in less than an hour, I hope. Who else ... but ... ?

Emily's overdue intro

Hello to all readers. I am glad to be in such a wonderfully interesting group! I may have met some of you at a book group of bonnie's but I cannot remember names. So, here I am introducing myself. Besides reading, I love being creative in many different mediums. Alas, my job is not creative, but it pays for all my supplies, and it does not use up any of my creative juices. I enjoy reading dark/gothic/horror(but not gorry) sci-fi, fantasy books. But also like the idea of "newly written books with substance" mentioned by Margreet earlier. Mary Lawson's
"The other side of the Bridge" sound good to me. I suggest we go with it for now, & let someone new suggest each book from now on. that way we do not spend a whole month making a decision.

Let's Read!

Hi All,

Its great to be back again with all of you. I have missed ALL of you, it was so wonderful discussing not just books and our readings but so much about our personal lives on the Island and I have missed it. Bless Bonnie for getting us all together again!

As I have mentioned, I dont mind reading modern classics or new books with substance. I enjoyed many of the earlier books we had read together, so as long as we all decide together I am sure, it will be a good selection. Or like earlier, we can all suggest one book and go from there.

Update : Still living in New Delhi, India. Building a new home with my husband(If any of you remember me mentioning that earlier, its because everything takes ALOT longer in India to get done but hopefully another month or so and we should be there!) Work is busy as usual and the festival season is around the corner here in India. So , not too much new here!

Love,
Simrit

Another Aussie!

Hi everyone

My name is Marg, and I live in Melbourne, Australia. I work full time and am a single mum, so reading is my escape and my me time! I am also 'lucky' enough to have a total of just over 3 hours reading time every day on my way to and from work!

I have been participating in Book Buddies for about 4 years now, although I have been a bit scarcer over the last 12 to 18 months. In the past I have really enjoyed the discussions of books that I just wouldn't have chosen to read by myself, and I look forward to more of those. I am hoping to be able to participate most of the time but there may be sometimes when I just can't!

Not only am I an avid reader, I have been an avid blogger for nearly two years, and really it was the discussion on places like Book Buddies that prompted me to explore more groups and then to start blogging, so it has been quite influential in my online life!

I am looking forward to joining in on discussion!

G'day all

My name is Sally and I live in Australia - have been around the Internet for a while - commonly known as Sally from Oz or sally906 - my blog is here.

I am a woman of a certain age - I have been married for 30 years to a reader, we have two grown up daughters - a reader and a non-reader. my non-reader has just presented us with our first grandchild, and he had a TBR pile before he was even born - LOL

I read most things - draw the line at hard core horror ( I like the light an fluffy paranormal stuff) and haven't read westerns - well don't watch westerns so not sure why I should read one :)

Looking forwards to discussing books and getting to know you

Hoo Roo

Introductions ~ reposted

Hey Bonnie!! I'm here!! As a rather Short Time member of Book Buddies, and someone who has been missing from Essencia for awhile, I'd love to get back in touch with everyone again!!! Sign me up, O Fearless Leader!!

Stephanie
9/19/07 8:22 AM
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G'day Bonnie
Thanks for telling me about book buddies. I would love to be part of it. I can't promise to be able to read every book - but what ones I can get here downunder I would certainly read and join in :)

Sally from Oz
9/20/07 4:40 PM
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Hi Bonnie,
This is great but then you are always rallying us back together. I have only been lurking on the Oprah site. between the inavailability of specific books, work and school. I have not even been on my blog in sometime. I will try and read along here when I can.

Marylyn
9/20/07 7:41 PM
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Hi Buddies,
So glad you did this Bonnie, and I see some of the starter members are here. You have been so missed. ... All of you.

I was truly shocked to see Oprah delete us all. Oh well! Time to move on. Bonnie, I love the blog.

I am sure everyone knows me but here goes for any that does not. I am Gerry from Florida. I have two children, a son and a daughter, both long gone from home ... One grand daughter who is the greatest. I am having her and two of her friends for the weekend. Love those teen agers. They keep me young.

I live with my Fur Baby "Ganesha". Islanders, you remember that name? ..... She is a toy poodle that will be one year old next month. What a delight she is. She filled a special place in my heart when I lost my beloved "Rouge". I still work but retirement is in my soon future. I am a financial manager for the DOD. Presently my job is consuming too much of me.

I just got back from a cruise to Alaska. I flew into Vancouver and met Teddy (some of you will remember her from the island) at Starbucks for a short visit before boarding the cruise ship. Teddy is a sheer delight. What a treat to get to meet her. The cruise was wonderful, I did lots of things and had the time of my life. Now vacation is over.

I look forward to reading lots of good new books with all of you. I am currently reading "A passage to India" and I am reading the Harry Potter series. I am reading book 2 and loving it. I am watching each one of the movies after I finish the book. It is so much fun being a child again and dwelling in fantasy land. I bought the complete set so Please .. No-one tell me how it ends. :}

Enough from me. Let's get started having as much fun as we use to have. No camels on the blog. Owen Meaney has kept a special place in my heart.

[Note from Bonnie: No camels? No camels on this blog? Umm, we really MUST explain our camel joke to all the newcomers. Somebuddy? Anybuddy?]

Thanks for letting me drift along here.

Gerry
9/20/07 8:16 PM
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Kailana,
Hi and Welcome.
Are you the Kelly that just recently joined the Classics Club?
I am looking forward to getting to know you. Fresh out of university, that is teriffic. Good luck with wherever your future takes you. It is a bright spot on the Horizon for you. So you like a lot of fantasy? A genre I have not ventured in much. That will be an interesting topic of conversation.

Gerry
9/20/07 8:33 PM
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Oh, yes, that is me. I joined and then my dog died and it distracted me from that group. I should be back for October's discussion, though.

I love fantasy, it's my thing. :) Everyone should try it once in a while. Lots of my friends are scared of the whole genre, but there are really things for everyone.

Kailana
9/20/07 11:04 PM
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Responding to Scamper:
Hi there! Congrats on your healthy eating goals! Metabolism stinks, as if people didn't have enough to worry about in their lives! Welcome to the group! I can't place you, so I am not sure if we have ever 'met'.

Kailana
9/20/07 5:55 PM
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Stephanie, you need to bottle how it is you manage to do all the things you manage to do! Glad to see you are joining in!

Kailana
9/20/07 5:57 PM
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Kailana said... Stephanie, you need to bottle how it is you manage to do all the things you manage to do!

Boy do I second that.
Stephanie, you amaze me.
You remind me of the song "I am woman, hear me roar." Go girl.
You make me feel or wish one that I am young again.
How is the job hunt going?

Gerry
9/20/07 8:28 PM
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Hi Scamper,
Welcome. You have sure been busy. Congratulations on the weight loss. They has to be really hard.

I would love to read Trollope. I have several on my TBR list and want so much to read him. What books has your group read and how are you going about reading theem?
Thanks for the information.

Gerry
9/20/07 8:22 PM
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Margreet,
Nice to see your lovely Dutch posts again. So you are a blogger too? Man am I ever behind the times. I just do not comprehend how you all find the time. Or do I just make everything difficult?

Gerry
9/20/07 8:25 PM
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Hi Bonnie and All Book Buddies,

I'm glad you set this up. I am fed up with Oprah as well and have moved the Classics Club book discussions to Yahoo groups.

I can't beleive Harpo deleted all of our book clubs without prior notice and there will be no way to retreive our old messages. That's unaceptable in my book!

Just a heads up that I won't be able to participate much for awhile due to family problems/ obligations, but I do want to be a member and see my old book buddies.

It was a sheer delight to meet Gerry, as well.

Teddy
9/21/07 12:24 AM
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Thank you so much, Bonnie for inviting me here. I sure have missed you & everyone else. I recently tried to get into the Essencia site at Oprah's, but it said I had to sign in once again, or something to that effect. I didn't have time... Anyway, life gets in the way of the fun stuff, so I am slowly getting back to my reading & sketching again.

I purchased the Sony aReader at a great price. It's a portable, digital book. I also got with the purchase, 100 free classic books, so I read 1 book about 700 pages in 1 week. LOL!! I never read that fast before! Someone mentioned Balzac. I also downloaded his books. You can also see pictures & listen to music. The costs of the books are less money & you get the books right away from the Connect Bookstore. However, I did buy 1 book, The 3-Apple-A-Day Plan by Tammi ...? Anyway, it's a great book. I finally weighted myself, & lost 2 pounds. You can order from Amazon. Also, I've been doing interval training. Sprint for 1 minute & walk slowy for 1 minute. Warm up for 2 minutes, then alternate fast, slow, 5-6 times. Warm down 1 minute. This is just wonderful that we can FINALLY post links. I hated not to be able to post this on the Oprah's site.

While I was away, I was sending watch design ideas to 1 of the watch company's owners. He liked my ideas & designs. I've been too chicken to send my other designs to another owner.

I hope everyone is doing well.

I love the image of the sailboat, water & land as I used to go sailing & it reminds me of our Island party getaway, which was a blast!!

Toby
9/21/07 12:58 AM
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Greetings from India!!

Hi everyone! Good to see you all. I am not sure I know how to post yet, I will only see once this is published.

I would love to read with you all again. I have been reading on my own and not discussing it, which I REALLY want to start.

I look forward to chatting with you all again.

Simrit
9/21/07 7:10 AM
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Oh my, where did my post [it was a COMMENT] on here go? I don't think I deleted it. Oh well, ya'll seem to have gotten it at some point.

I've been off the Oprah boards for a few days (my birthday, my brother-in-law's birthday, and not being able to get on a couple of nights) and when I got back on the PM function was gone. When/if it comes back up, I'll send the members of those 3 groups a PM.

Hehe, I just read your other post to me. I don't mind giving my email out on here if I need to because I can leave it up for a day or two then delete the post. I also thought I saw your email posted over in the Oprah boards somewhere so I could just email you mine. Let me know if you need it. I do have a blogger account under neco.

Anne

PS Oh wow, so many post from people I remember on the old boards!

PPS Gerry, I am reading the Harry Potter books too. And I'm on the 2nd book as well. Coincidence? lol We'll have to trade notes on what we think.

9/24/07 2:47 AM
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I am quite pleased that Bonnie has set this up. It was good to read the introductions to help refresh my memory of who each person is.

I don't read as much as some of you, but I love to read and the online clubs have been a terrific way for me to broaden my types of reads.

I live in Topeka, Kansas. I am 59 years old and the mother of 3 adult children. My oldest son died unexpectedly August 4 at the age of 29. It has been difficult to cope with our loss. I am thankful that I also have two other adult children ages 24 and 27.

At first I had problems concentrating enough to read, but I am now ready and looking forward to reading along with the Book Buddies. I haven't posted my reads and at a later date this is something I might do. I look forward to finding out what our selections are.

I appreciated the information posted about the Sony EReader. I enjoy books on CD and am considering trying to use an MP3 player for books. Does anyone listen to books that way?

Shirley
9/24/07 5:55 AM
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My friend Emily is very busy, but I'll let this link be a sort of introduction until she gets on here and posts something about herself ... just so you know there is a real person behind that name Emily in the list of participants.
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Hi Bonnie,
I would love to join your book reading group! However, I am currently finishing up our report for national accreditation. It must be in by October 18, so as you can imagine, if it's not a picture book, I'm not reading it right now. Once my report is in, I'll be back. There is so much I want to read!
Regards,

Tricia
9/27/07 4:59 PM

Greetings from Korea

I am excited to see everyone together again. I may not be able to read along with all the choices because you cant always get a good selection here and the online book stores take weeks and sometimes months to get here. Well just wanted to say hi to everyone.

Marylyn

hi gang

it's me again, even more techno saavy than i was an hour ago. nice to see you all here. let's read some good books. im so ready for that.
cindy

Hi

Hi, All!

Thanks, Bonnie, for bringing us all together!! It will be so much fun to read with you all, can't wait to get started. My internet reading groups have migrated to yahoo groups since the Oprah days, and I do belong to 3 groups that are really fun. All 3 groups are slowly reading the complete works of their authors, and the members are diverse and funny and quite reasonable human beings, LOL! The authors are Shakespeare, Balzac, and Trollope, so if any of you are interested in these authors, let me know, would love you have you join any of these groups, always room for one more.

I've been reading some history and always some classics too, and spending time playing bluegrass in my husband's bluesgrass band - I play the standup bass, it's great fun. We play as the opening band every Friday night in a local amateur venue in an old converted furniture store, LOL! The rest of my time has been spent getting healthier - I've been on the South Beach diet online for 2.5 years and have been exercising about 12 hours a week, doing the elliptical and weight training. It seems as certified by my endocrinologist I am officially a VERY slow metabolism (as if I didn't know that already) and I have had to cut down to one small meal and less than 1,000 calories a day plus all this exercise to keep losing. But I'm proud to say that over this time I've lost 83 pounds and still going. I still have some to lose, but honestly don't know how much more I will be able to lose with my slow metabolism. I really can't eat less or exercise more, so we will just have to see how it goes. I'm an air fern!! But I feel good and have recently finally gotten out of plus sizes, yea!!

Can't wait to see what we decide to read, what fun!! And to see what you all have been up to lately!! I'm going to post this unchecked, because when I previewed my first post somehow I lost it!!

Reunion

Hi ladies!!!
First I want a big big applause for Bonnie, for rallying us to join here. I cancelled my Oprah membership a month ago, and I hate to gloat, but.......I do! LOL! It's such a shame she is pushing old members out like this; but hey..who needs Oprah? We can do this too you know!
I don't read much these days, one book at a time, and that one book may take weeks. I joined this group for old times' sake. It's nice to meet the Book Buddies and Islanders again. And even if I don't read much, I can still connect with y'all. And that's my main goal right now.
For those who never heard of me: I am Dutch, in my early 50s, married with two grownup kids. And an empty nester who still doesnt' have enough time to do everything she loves to do. That could be Reading, Quilting, Crochet, Take long walks, Eat, Sleep, Caring for 3 cats and 3 chickens (of the egg-laying variety, we will never eat THEM!), stare out the window to watch the rain, watch soccer with hubby..

My daughter visited Dublin a month ago, and she also went to the Dracula museum. She read Bram Stoker's original, and told me this would really be up my alley. I'm in chapter 3, and it's SO gothic, it's great! Not a bedtime story, but really really good suspense. What kind of books will we read? Classics? Modern? American? Asian? African? European? Or maybe a theme? Like 'strong women', 'fantasy', 'gothic', 'young adults'.
Sorry for running too fast, again! I am working on that you know!

Hi Guys!

Hey everyone! Since I started blogging in December, I sort of pulled away from the Oprah site. I mean, I still read a lot of the posts, but it was a lot harder for me to keep up, especially with the reading. This blogging thing can be REALLY addictive!! But I can't seem to navigate the new site at all!! So, I'm in!

If you don't know me....or remember me....I'm Stephanie. (I'm sure you are all saying....hmmmm, that name sounds familiar!) Still in Peoria, with the hubby, 3 kiddies (who are now 11, 7 and 5!) and the pups. I still read in my free time, which seems to running a little low these days. Chad just started jr. high and has tons of homework. Plus he practices football 4 days a week. Ana just started soccer, so she has practice. Then there are the games! Plus work and housework. So, yeah...I read when I can!

I hope everyone joins up. This will be easier for me! And I miss you all!

Techno Savvy Me

Since I sort of know what I am doing, I thought I would be the first to pull out a chair and introduce myself. You have a wonderful intro, Bonnie. I have always wanted to live by the water, which is rather funny because I live in Nova Scotia, Canada, and it is not like you are ever really far from the water. I am an ocean person, I love wooden sailing ships and stories of lighthouses lighting peoples path home in stormy weather. Essencia Island reminds me of this island that is in the town that I grew up in. For reasons I have never been able to understand there is a house boat landed on an island there, and when I was a child I used to make up stories about why it was there. Then, I moved away, and when I went home one spring, my precious boat had been destroyed. I was very sad. (The sort of ironic thing is that there is now one of those "touristy" viewers where you can see things up close if you pay a little bit of money, and now the boat is an eye sore.)

Anyways, my computer name is some variation of Kailana. My real name is Kelly. Either name is fine. I have not visited Essencia Island or any of the other variations in quite some time, but I do hope to participate in this one. I just graduated from university in May and my current career plan is to go overseas to teach English for a year starting in January. I love to travel and I have pesky loans to pay off, so this seems to be a logical idea. I will have a computer and I am looking into books, so I will still contribute!

I feel that if we are going to get to know one another, I should talk about books. That is my favourite subject afterall. My reading is rather diverse. I read mostly fantasy and historical fiction. There are a few genres that I am not super fond of but I will make attempts at once in a while. Currently I am trying to read the books nominated for the Giller Award, which is an award in Canada, I was aiming to read all 15, but I can only easily get ten of them. It really bothers me when books are nominated for awards and you can not even buy them! I am immensely patriotic, even if people believe that we are not as patriotic as other countries, I am! I am very proud to be a Canadian, and I try to support it by reading Canadian authors.

Anything I should say? Well, if there is, just ask in the comments.