Thanks for responding, Lisap! I look forward to your PM.

I'm in - as soon as I can pick up the book Sounds great!

Okay, I got there. Page 103, right? Please lord don't let me be the only one who reads the book. I've actually been 'that' girl in a book club where I didn't know the other women very well and they all found it hilariously quaint that I came ready to talk about the book. I found it really embarrassing. I had no idea! I mean, yeah there's wine and it's a night out and it's fun to catch up and relax but surely they could spend a little time on the book too? So please let me know if you've done any reading. xo

oh don't worry - I will read it, definitely! just haven't had a chance to pick it up yet:)

hahaha... Thanks Lisa!

Thimblelina--what? Oh my goodness, I would totally be you. It's too bad we couldn't show up at the same book club--then we could just take our wine over to the side and chat about the book!

I picked mine up at Chapters this evening. I looked and looked and finally had to ask for help. They were in the back--they'd only come in today.

I'm in.

Good work Alana!

I'm there too! Oh my, I want to know what everyone thinks of the collection of lipstick blots! Made me laugh. Lots of food for thought so far. I'm also curious about the home sweatshop episode. I won't say more so I don't ruin it for others.

Yes staysfit! The collections started out so promising with the vintage dresses & the fedoras and then devolved to lipstick blots and used false eyelashes, lol. I guess if I forget to take out my bathroom trash this week, ta duh, I'm a collector! Heh...
I found that sweatshop chapter really vivid, really poignant. I was also really moved by the conversation between the two transgender people, and how it's not the surgeries that really marked their change but the earlier act of changing one's name. I had never really thought of a name as the first thing we 'wear.'

Picked it up yesterday at Chapters (25% off coupon storewide & online- excludes online books so you have to get it in person).

Started it last night - so far so good!!!

Got mine yesterday too - will be diving in soon!

I agree Thimblelina, that was very moving. I periodically work with transgender teenagers in the school system. I am often fascinated by how readily their peers accept them, but how the adults in their lives struggle.

Bumping this to see who's ready to talk about the first installment in our reading. Favorite sections? Quotes? Like I said before, I loved the section about the respondents' mothers. I'm kind of mother obsessed. My mother died at a relatively young age over a decade ago & there's so much I would like to ask & know about her now. I also loved the part where one of the women was talking about wanting a garden, and then realizing she knows nothing about them. She recognizes she's spent all her time looking at women & clothes instead. As a gardener & someone who designed gardens professionally I guess that's my excuse about my sometimes lame fashion choices: I've been looking at gardens, when I should have been looking at women! LOL Not so nice: I hated their clothing exchange transcript. It felt like a rambling & smug humble brag about their fabulous wardrobes & lifestyles. Just kind of... yuck, in a RHONY kind of way. Vapid. Staysfit & I touched on the sweatshop chapter & the transgender chapter. Very gritty and poignant.
So what did you like or dislike? Do tell! xo

May I make a request that when it comes time to actually talk about the book we can do so in a separate thread? This thread will get very difficult for some of us with slower connections to load.

Maybe start it with the title: Women in Clothes p. 1-103, Discuss! Then copy and paste the above post into it?

What do you think, Thimblelina? I want to respond but one thread is going to get too unwieldly.

Can anyone start new posts? I'll be happy too.

Sounds great Alana! If you can start it, do... I'm in a class today but will chime in tonight.

I still haven't started reading! Yikes! I need to catch up.

And, everything LisaP said about Amazon.

Evil empire.

Having said that, I have to confess that I sometimes order from them. Participating in my own destruction....

I haven't started yet either - and would like to wait for our October 1 "deadline" to begin so. Or - I can't read this thread anymore Good idea Alana to start a new thread which will contain discussion only for the actual book. With the amount i need to read professional and personally on a daily basis, I'll be reading this on the 30th

Aren't we starting to discuss pages 1-103 on October 1? Oh, I hate to be such a schoolmarm on this .... but I haven't even begun reading yet. Whining, I know, but I was planning to read two other books in the meantime. (Traveling for the next week and don't even have that book with me.)

In any event, I think Alana is right -- let's definitely have a new thread for the book convo.

If you all decide to start talking now, that's fine. (I will probably bow out, just because I am sticking with the original timing out of necessity.) Otherwise, we can wait to October 1 and do it as we had originally planned. It really doesn't matter either way to me, but if we can just start a new thread for discussion it might make it easier for everyone to tell at a glance what we are doing.

Agree - that's what I was trying to say in my usual stumbling way. I meant i would not even start the BOOK until Sept 30 - and I wasn't kidding! I have way too much to read in the interim. And - has anyone ever moderated a book discussion on-line before? How is it done so it doesn't spiral out of control ?

No problem! I missed that. We'll hold off to Oct 1 when Alana or Viva starts a new thread. Got it!! xo

So sorry for the spoilers for those who haven't read yet.

I'm downloading now. Late to the party but would love to join in.

Okay, cool, changing the title of this thread so everyone knows the plan! Or, I will when I reach my hotel .. Guess I can't do that from my phone in the cab.

I received the book just yesterday – will look for the discussion thread on Oct. 1.