As big as Texas: one club reaches out to others to form statewide conference.When Tannie tannie Noun S African a title of respect used to refer to an elderly woman [Afrikaans, literally: aunt] McGregor left a book club in Houston, Texas “Houston” redirects here. For other uses, see Houston (disambiguation). Houston (pronounced /'hjuːstən/) is the largest city in the state of Texas and the , she longed for a new reading family. After months of watching her read in solitude, her husband encouraged her to form a group. Soon she was telling family and friends about her idea for a Christian-based book club. Three years ago, she started the club and named it Cover2Cover. Since the 20 members (plus one online member) came together, their bond has grown closer with each monthly meeting. The group encourages members to examine all genres but is particular about the rifles that grace its reading list. "I wanted to make sure that we put God first in everything that we did, but I didn't want to just read Christian books," says McGregor. "It's not what we read, it's what we won't read," she explains. "We read Christian and quite a bit of inspirational literature, but we generally won't select gratuitous Bestowed or granted without consideration or exchange for something of value. The term gratuitous is applied to deeds, bailments, and other contractual agreements. , sexually explicit material Sexually explicit material (video, photography, creative writing) presents sexual content without deliberately obscuring or censoring it. The term sexually explicit media is often used as euphemism for pornography. ." Author Linda Hudson-Smith attended a meeting to discuss her novel Ladies in Waiting (BET, 2002) and share book industry information. She made a profound impact on the group. "She was the first author to visit with us," says McGregor. "I realized that the book club was about more than reading, it was about educating the book-club community." An Idea That Grew Inspired to share this experience with other clubs, McGregor thought "it would be fun to have one big book-club meeting with other groups from around the city and to discuss one book in a larger setting." Houston was a big place after all. When McGregor attended book signings, members of different dubs were in the audience, but at first the groups never got together. Eventually, they did. And before long, her idea grew "from inviting one book and author to several books and several authors; and then it grew from Houston book dubs to clubs throughout the state of Texas." The result was the Texas Size Book Club meeting. Held for the first time in 2005, as a two-day conference, the gathering allowed attendees to don Western gear, meet their favorite authors and share information. Shirley Parson PARSON, eccl. law. One who has full possession of all the rights of a parochial church. 2. He is so called because by his person the church, which is an invisible body, is represented: in England he is himself a body corporate it order to protect and defend the of Texas City described the inaugural conference as "awesome." "As a sixth grade reading teacher who lives fifty minutes from Houston, it was worth the drive and effort to attend the conference," she adds. "I look forward to attending year after year." Lolita Allen, president of Divas Read 2, a seasonal book club that supports youth reading programs for boys and girls boys and girls mercurialisannua. in Dallas, agrees. "This conference will bring together more book clubs in the Texas area. The Divas were very excited about attending." Spreading the Word Texas romance author Francis Ray, whose latest book is Dreaming of You (St. Martin's St. Martin's or St. Martins may refer to:
Winfred Barnes Jr., a retention and student affairs Student affairs staff are responsible for academic advising and support services delivery at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. The chief student affairs officer at a college or university often reports directly to the chief executive of the institution. specialist at San Jacinto College San Jacinto College is a community college system in the Greater Houston area in the U.S. state of Texas. Its administration office is located in Pasadena. History North in Houston, attended as a volunteer that year. He was "drawn to the various discussions on books that made for an evening of hot conversation.... It was interesting because many of the books seemed to be bashing bash v. bashed, bash·ing, bash·es v.tr. 1. To strike with a heavy, crushing blow: The thug bashed the hood of the car with a sledgehammer. 2. men, but after examining the story line, I realized that it's just a slice of life." Barnes also noticed that few men were at the conference. He has since been talking it up to several male friends. McGregor is thankful for his support and is hoping for higher attendance this year. She says the first year's lower-than-expected attendance might have been due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. . When the conference returns to Houston this October for four days of meetings and discussions, she hopes to attract a large number of returning and first-time attendees. "Book clubs, large or small, can actively participate in this conference because each book is presented by a different dub as if the meeting was held in their own meeting venue," says McGregor. "Book dubs are able to present their dub procedures because they come up with the questions, the format and anything else unique to their book dub. We want everyone to come on out and share with Cover2Cover Book Club, where everything is Texas size--even our book dub meeting." THE CONFERENCE: Texas Size Book Club Conference DATE: October 19-22, 2006 LOCATION: The Houston Hobby Airport Marriott, 9100 Gulf Freeway, Houston, Texas 77017 CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS: Book Club Awards Gala: Saturday, October 21 "So You Want to Be a Writer" Workshop" Saturday, October 21 COST: Full conference fee: $200 Friday only: $100; Saturday only: $125 Late registration (after August 31, 2006): $250 CONTACTS: Tannie McGregor: 281-835-5504; or Gayla Clark: 713-249-6293 WEB SITE: www.cover2coverbookclub.com Pat Houser is a contributing editor A contributing editor is a magazine job title that varies in responsibilities. Most often, a contributing editor is a freelancer who has proven ability and readership draw. at BIBR BIBR Bay Islands Beach Resort (Roatan, Honduras) BIBR Backward Indicator Bit Received . |
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