Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Calendar Girl: In Which A Lady Of Rylstone Reveals All

Even now I chuckle thinking about eleven women over the age of 45 posing nude for a calendar; including one group shot for December. As a lady of only 27 years of age I cannot even imagine being in a nude calendar. And here these ladies put together the idea and launched it internationally with the hope of raising money to help fund research regarding leukemia. Thus begins the story, Calendar Girl: In Which A Lady Of Rylstone Reveals All.

Little did they know just what a sensation they would become. These women were part of a group called the WI which stands for a Women's Institute and there are many chapters of this group. This calendar includes ladies from the Rylstone Women's Institute in North Yorkshire, UK.

In 1999, one of the ladies husbands became ill with leukemia. He would say that if the ladies planted Sunflowers, he'd make sure he'd get better so he could see them. Unfortunately, Annie lost her husband after which she and her friends pulled together in a fundraising effort and their idea was a nude calendar. The calendar is displays each woman posing behind a different task that the Women's Institute teaches their members, such as making bread rolls, knitting, planting flowers, and playing the piano.

The book is told by Annie's closest friend, Chris, who posed behind an apple press in her month of the calendar. Chris receives a lot of flack through the book and at one point even separates from her husband after he distances himself and grows bitter over the calendar which has taken over their lives.

There were ups and downs to this ordeal and sadly enough their lives would never be the same. Friendships were broken after the calendar became such a sensation it was offered movie deals. Half of the group wanted one director while the other half wanted a different director. The arguments became a feud and the ladies drifted apart. The strain never repaired and it saddened Annie because she know it was not how her late husband would have wanted things to go.

Without getting into too much detail, I very much enjoyed the story, I just feel it drug on a big from time to time. And it seemed the same things kept being rehashed for pages upon pages. I feel it seemed that way because it probably felt that way for the writer, but as a reader I think some of it could have been condensed.

On another note, there is a lot of business and professional lessons to be learned from this book. So if you're an entreprenauer I would reccomend it purely for that purpose and luckily you'll be entertained along the way.

Buy the book, Calendar Girl: In Which A Lady Of Rylstone Reveals All.

Labels:

  • Written by:
    • | 7:41 AM | 0 comment(s)!