Discussion date: April 14, 2008

What we thought:

Most of us liked Fair and Tender Ladies, but probably wouldn't have picked it as a favorite. Although we enjoyed Ivy's letters describing what someone called the "soap opera" life in Appalachia, we found it hard to keep all the characters and relations straight. Some people said they got bogged down and weren't able to finish the book, which they felt was a bit overlong. Others really didn't like the dialect of the writing in the early letters.

Reader's guide