"Holidays on Ice" by David Sedaris

This month we are doing something a little different for book club. We are reading "Holidays on Ice" by David Sedaris. "Holidays on Ice" is a collection of short stories about the holidays; so we will not be casting this selection. Instead we will be reading and belly laughing and maybe even choking over the words of the always hysterical and sometimes raunchy Sedaris. What about a follow up with a girl's night to "Santaland Diaries" at Horizon Theatre???

Belles, can't wait to read your comments, to see where you laughed and where you scoffed. This one should cause a stir...

"London is the Best City in America" by Laura Dave

Leila is hosting book club this month and picked "London is the Best City in America" by Laura Dave. This is Dave's debut novel and I have a 2 hour flight to finish this bad boy before book club on Thursday. Rumor has it that Reece Witherspoon has picked up the movie rights. Who will nail the cast, The Belles or Reece?

The Cast:
Emmy - Drew Barrymore
Josh - Ryan Reynolds or for Celeste HARRY CONNICK JR.
Meryl - Reece Witherspoon (only because she owns the movie rights)
Elizabeth - Virginia Madson
Grace - Lilly from Hannah Montana????
Matt - Josh Radnor (Ted - how i met your mother)
Berringer - Eric Christian Olsen

Looking forward to everyone's thoughts.

"Life with My Sister Madonna" Christopher Ciccone

September's pick is "Life with My Sister Madonna" by Madonna's brother Christopher Ciccone. Michelle's pick is a change of pace for our group, but a good one since we are engrossed in pop culture. We will not be casting this book, as it is a biography. I mean, I haven't started it and I can go ahead and cast it...

The Cast:
Madonna - Madonna
Christopher - Christopher
and so forth and so on....

Regardless, we are excited to delve into the Ciccone family. I am sure there will be some interesting discussions to share. We will keep you posted...

"Borrowed" and "Blue" by Emily Giffin

QUICK BELLES - Katie M. found out that Hilary Swank bought the movie rights for Something Borrowed and Something Blue. We need to get our cast together so we can compare to what Swank puts together. And unless she gains 40 pounds or loses her poise, then she can't be Rachel or Darcy...

Katie and I were talking and thought we would add some options for us to ponder.
The Cast -
Rachel - Rachel McAdams
Darcy - Jessica Beil
Dex - Jasion Lewis only because he is younger than Patrick Dempsey
Marcus - Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Denny from Grey's)
Ethan - Adrian Grenier
Hillary - Janeane Garafalo
Claire - Emily Blount (probably too obvious)
Geoffrey - Pierce Brosnan

"Love the One You're With" by Emily Giffin

Kelly G. continued the trend of Emily Giffin novels in August. We were still capivated by Giffin's writing style and honesty. We all fell in love with Andy and because of all of the conversations that stirred around the book, we never made it to the casting segment.


We will gather our thoughts over the next couple of weeks on the blog and we will finalize and publish shortly.


The Cast
Ellen - Jennifer Gardner
Andy - Jude Law
Leo - Bradley Cooper (we are struggling with who is Dex and who is Leo)
Margot- Reece Witherspoon
Ellen's Sister - Marisa Tomei
Andy's Mom - Kelly Bishop (gilmore girls mom/grandmother)

Belles, what do you think????

"Baby Proof" Emily Giffin

July 2008 Selection - Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
Well, Shannon O. we have to thank you for this amazing discovery. Emily Giffin is our new hero. She could be one of the Belles is she so chooses; her smarts and wit match ours 100%. We salute you Ms. Giffin.
The Belles started with Baby Proof. Now that we are circling back through all of EG's novels, we realize this is the one we identify with the least. While still very entertaining, Borrowed, Blue, and Love really pulled at our heartstrings. Cyberspace, we say read them all; it's worth it.

Our Cast
Claudia – Isla Fisher
Ben – Josh Lucas
Maura – Kate Walsh
Scott – Simon Baker
Daphne – Amy Adams
Tony – Jerry O’Connell
Tucker – Judy Greer
Jess – Ashley Scott
Michael – Henry Simmons
Richard – Peter Gallagher – yes, we understand that Ed Harris was the obvious choice, but he has definitely aged (and not in the good way)
Annie –Emily Blunt
Ray – Jason Bateman
The Mom – Marilu Henner

If you don't know who some of these actors are, imdb.com will become your new best friend.

The Belles had a hard time with Jess, and at one point we had Katherine Heigl in the running, but because we felt strongly about the cast of the three sisters, we had to find a B / C actress to play Jess and not over shadow our leading trio. Sorry Katherine, we are sure you have enough on your plate anyway.

A History of The Southern (and Northern) Belles Book Club

To start this blog, we wanted to take a minute to tell cyberspace who we are and where we came from. It must have been 2002 or 2003 with Asheley P. had the idea to start a book club. She invited all of her friends and her husband's female colleagues (i think mainly to eye the competition, but that's just my two cents...) to gather at her apartment and asked them if they liked to read. It started with a good 20 of us. We picked our first book, "The Pact" by Jodi Picoult, and we were reading...

Now lets fast forward to 2008, only 3 of the original members remain and we have transformed into a group of the wittiest and smartest women this side of the Mississippi! We are a Harvard Grad, an ex-Falcon's Cheerleader who can cook, a dancer (not of the pole variety), a English PhD, a high powered head hunter, 2 market researchers, 2 bankers, a stay at home mom whose skills in the boardroom are still as polished as her kitchen floors, an educator of educators, and more. Basically we are a high powered team of crazy fun bitches! We bring it all to book club and sort it out. We are not a group for the weak or the easily offended.

We love all types of books from autobiographies to chick lit. The bottom line is we like to read. But what we like more than reading is picking the movie cast for the book. Not only do we like selecting the cast, we are freaking good at it. Take for example In Her Shoes. Do you remember "Sidney" (Laura Leighton) from Melrose Place???? Wouldn't she have been a much better "Maggie" than Cameron Diaz. Yep, and how about the cast of The Other Boleyn Girl... Natalie Portman is not "Anne", Catherine Zeta Jones is. When you bring this many pop culture fanatics together you are bound to get it right over Hollywood. They could learn a thing or two from us.

So, we welcome you to read our blog, comment on our casts, and make your own suggestions if you would like. But beware, we may jump down your throat like a "spider monkey on caffeine" if we do not agree with your opinion...