Upper School Book Club

Join the Upper School Book Club at Jittery Joe's in Watkinsville on Friday, Feb. 8 at 7:00 p.m. for a discussion of The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier.

The Virgin Blue is Chevalier's first novel, written before the popular and critically-acclaimed Girl with a Pearl Earring, but not published in the U.S. until 2003. In it you will meet Ella Turner and Isabelle du Moulin--two women born centuries apart, yet bound by a fateful family legacy. When Ella and her husband move to a small town in France, Ella hopes to brush up on her French, qualify to practice as a midwife, and start a family of her own. Village life turns out to be less idyllic than she expected, however, and a peculiar dream of the color blue propels her on a quest to uncover her family's French ancestry. As the novel unfolds--alternating between Ella's story and that of Isabelle du Moulin four hundred years earlier--a common thread emerges that unexpectedly links the two women. Part detective story, part historical fiction, The Virgin Blue is a novel of passion and intrigue that compels readers to the very last page.

Posted by Dr. Mandyck at 11:51 AM | Permalink

Join the Upper School Book Club at Jittery Joe's in Watkinsville on Friday, Dec. 7 at 7:00 p.m. for a discussion of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. If you haven't read the Outlander books, you are in for a treat; there is really nothing else like them in literature. See below for a synopsis.

After serving as a nurse in WWII, Claire Randall is on a second honeymoon with her husband in the British Isles. Out walking one day, Claire comes upon an ancient stone circle, and when she touches a boulder, she is hurled back in time--to the mid 1700s--and into the midst of the MacKenzie clan. Not understanding the forces that brought her there, she becomes ensnared in life-threatening situations with a Scots warrior named James Fraser. But it isn't all spies and drudgery that she must endure. For amid her new surroundings and the terrors she faces, she is lured into love and passion like she's never known before.

Posted by Dr. Mandyck at 9:02 AM | Permalink

The Upper School Book Club seeks readers to participate in a student-run group. The US Book Club will meet every other month at an off-campus location to be determined (last year, the book club met at a coffee shop in Watkinsville). Our first book will be The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Dr. Mandyck will serve as advisor, but this is a student club--you will choose the books, you will lead the discussions, you will have fun! For more information or to sign up, contact Dr. Mandyck in the MS/US Media Center.

Posted by Dr. Mandyck at 12:25 PM | Permalink