I Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan

by Nancy Reagan | Biographies & Memoirs |
ISBN: 0375505547 Global Overview for this book
Registered by raralovestoread of Ponchatoula, Louisiana USA on 6/23/2004
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10 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by raralovestoread from Ponchatoula, Louisiana USA on Wednesday, June 23, 2004
In this heartfelt book, Nancy Reagan shares letters from her husband and her reflections on them and on the life that she and Ronald Reagan shared. The book also contains many photographs of the couple. This book is part of my permanent collection, but I have decided to send it on a bookring in memory of President Reagan. I hope this book will touch the hearts of others as it has touched mine.

Journal Entry 2 by raralovestoread from Ponchatoula, Louisiana USA on Monday, June 28, 2004
Let the bookring begin! This morning I mailed this book to jenvince in California.

Journal Entry 3 by jenvince from Scottsdale, Arizona USA on Sunday, July 4, 2004
Received yesterday. I have a ring to finish ahead of this, then will dive in and move it on to the next person.

Journal Entry 4 by jenvince from Scottsdale, Arizona USA on Thursday, July 8, 2004
I started and finished this last night. It's a quick read - though several letters and parts I found myself reading over and over.

Can I just say THANK YOU for sharing this book!!!!!!!! This is one I never would have picked up on my own but, oh my gosh, I am so glad that I had an opportunity to read it. All I can say is AMAZING. The words that Reagan put on paper - oh my gosh!!!! I actually had tears running down my face, some of them were so sweet and loving and incredible. What a gift - to be able to express your feelings so well to the one you love. I was blown away by how creative he was in writing his feelings and love down. I was truly just blown away. Absolutely amazing.

It was also fun reading about places they lived and went, as it was all near where I am now. Reagan had a ranch in Northridge, that is actually where I grew up and my parents still live. Nancy had an apartment on Hilgard in Westwood, which is the street I drove every day for 3 1/2 years when I worked at UCLA. They got married at the Little Brown Church - that is 5 minutes from where I live now, every time I drive by it now, I'll be like, "that's where they got married!". It was fun to read all those references. :)

I'll be passing it on today to the next person. Can't wait to see what other people's reactions are.

Journal Entry 5 by beckerbuns from Los Gatos, California USA on Saturday, July 10, 2004
Looking forward to reading this one and passing it on in the bookring! Thanks Robin!

Journal Entry 6 by beckerbuns from Los Gatos, California USA on Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Finished this one today. I really like it. I'll be mailing it to the next person tomorrow.

Journal Entry 7 by silverstarry from Berkeley, California USA on Saturday, July 17, 2004
Just received from beckerbuns - can't wait to read it!

Journal Entry 8 by silverstarry from Berkeley, California USA on Friday, July 30, 2004
Thank you so much to raralovestoread for making this a bookring! This book gave an interesting look inside Ronald and Nancy Reagan's loving relationship. In a world where celebrities like Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez get engaged or married seemingly every other week, it was so nice to see a marriage that endured over fifty years. Like Nancy, I am a pack rat and I have saved every card, letter, and note that my significant other has given me in the past ten years, so I understand her need to preserve her husband's words. His letters to her were so beautiful and heartfelt, and although she claimed not to have his gift for words, it is obvious that she loved him just as much as he loved her.

Journal Entry 9 by silverstarry from Berkeley, California USA on Saturday, July 31, 2004
Mailed to Secretariat.

Journal Entry 10 by Secretariat from Carlsbad, California USA on Wednesday, August 4, 2004
This memoir had a feeling of intimacy which few others have left me with. By reading Nancy's view of her husband and then reading his loving words to her I got a real sense of their incredible relationship. Thoughout the book, however, I thought that as one of their children I might have felt like an outsider. These two people thought of each other first and everyone else afterwards. As an adult I would have come to peace with it and probably envied it, but as a child (and especially as a teen) I would have resented it.

I also got a sense that Ronnie Reagan was exactly what he appeared to be--a terribly decent and caring man. How very tragic that he was stricken with Alzeimer's disease. A man that good should have been able to enjoy his grandchildren and great grandchildren and teach them to be the kind of man he was. A great loss to us all.

I do think there is a danger in reading this book for women though--that they will have unrealistic expectations that their significant other should be as romantic as Ronnie was. I'm afraid there are few like him today.

I came to California in the mid-70s so had no opportunity to vote for Ronnie, but he's always had a soft place in my heart because he insisted that California college tuitions be set so that every Californian could get a college education. Both Larry and I benefitted from his foresight. Although the price of education in this state has risen steadily since he left office it is still much cheaper than most. I often think of the millions of students who had opportunities for education that would otherwise have been denied them.

Thank you to raraloves to read for sharing this lovely book. Sent on 8/14 to Antof9.

Journal Entry 11 by Antof9 from Lakewood, Colorado USA on Saturday, August 21, 2004
Arrived in today's mail. Thank you SO much for sharing this book, raralovestoread! The cover charms me -- I just love the black and white picture of them.

I have 1 other ring book to finish before reading this, but I'll try to hurry :)

Journal Entry 12 by Antof9 from Lakewood, Colorado USA on Thursday, August 26, 2004

Journal Entry 13 by Antof9 from Lakewood, Colorado USA on Sunday, September 12, 2004
What a wonderful book! Thank you so much for being willing to share this, raralovestoread! I would PC it if it were mine :) I'm happy to remember President Reagan, in this the year of his death, by reading this book. I'm sorry that I kept it so long, but it's a great book to read in small bites. And it was so easy to get choked up too, that I interspersed several other books with reading this one. Thanks to all for being gracious and not pushing me to get it going!

When my husband and I were first dating and he lived in Chicago and I in Denver, we didn't have email. And very few people had mobile phones; those who did did not have "unlimited nights and weekends". The first month he was in school, my phone bill was over $400.00! That was more than my rent ($395)! Between phone calls and snail mail (called "mail" then), we were forced to develop good communication skills without body language, touch, etc. Although our letters were nowhere near the quantity or as romantic as those in this book, I think having lived at least part of my life in a time before email helped me to appreciate this book more.

So many parts of this book are memorable and quotable, but here's something that particularly stood out to me. Not a quote from one of his letters, but an offhand comment Nancy makes, explaining how they spent Christmas during their White House years: " . . .and, though we always celebrated Christmas in Washington so that our Secret Service agents wouldn't have to leave their families, . . ." This caught me. I'm pretty sure that's not "standard operating procedure" for most presidents (past, current, and future). But I think it's indicative of the type of man Reagan was, and how he cared about people. Of course I realize he wasn't perfect, but this is something I truly admire about him.

Another page I marked was also about relationships and taking care of people. It's probably not the most "en vogue" thinking in 2004, but it resonated with me. . . as a wife, as a voter, as someone with an opinion on the value a marriage can have, and as someone with an opinion on the activity of the wife of a president:

"At the top of my list of duties as first lady, though, was taking care of Ronnie. I still considered that to be my most important job, as it had always been. For that matter, I do believe that taking care of the president is the most important thing a first lady can do -- the essential thing, in fact that she must do - because she is the person in the White House who knows him best. There are other people around who are supposed to take care of everything else -- his scheduling, his briefings, his cabinet, his relations with the press. But the first lady is the only one who can really take care of the president's personal needs. She's the only one who really knows what's needed -- at least, I think she should be."

Thank you so much for sharing this book with us, rara! I hope it continues on its journey and back safely to you :)

Off to Bunnybee tomorrow (did you know this is the first ring she ever joined?), barring a too-busy day keeping me from the post office.


Journal Entry 14 by Antof9 from Lakewood, Colorado USA on Monday, September 13, 2004

Journal Entry 15 by Antof9 from Lakewood, Colorado USA on Wednesday, September 15, 2004
One more journal entry from me before it gets to its next destination :)

I found a paperback copy of this that I couldn't pass up because I liked it so much. Check out the different cover on mine when you get this one!

Journal Entry 16 by Bunnybee from Amarillo, Texas USA on Saturday, September 18, 2004
Just received it this afternoon from Antof9! And thank you Ant- for the extra goodies!!! I have perma-grin. :-D

I have one bookring book ahead of this one- but will get to it as soon as I can. I loved watching Ronald and Nancy Reagan together, I know I will love reading this book.

Journal Entry 17 by Bunnybee from Amarillo, Texas USA on Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Oh, what an endearing book full of letters!!!!! I'm with Antof9- if it were my book, it would be PC, too. The letters are so touching, so full of life and love. They are amazing. And it's not just the letters- but also knowing that he took the time to write them even though he was as busy as he was. And that he kept it up for years even while he was President of the U.S.- the love letters never stopped, and he never let ANYTHING in his careers become a higher priority than Nancy.

After watching (and crying through) all of Reagan's memorials and his funeral earlier this year... and seeing how Nancy just couldn't leave Ronald's casket at the end... all these letters make it apparent just HOW HARD that must have been for her. She has never had to leave him knowing that she wouldn't see him again soon, and it was all so permanent now. I'm saying another prayer for peace for Nancy Reagan today, and hope she is doing well without a partner who so clearly loved and cherished her. Every man and woman would be SO blessed to have a love like theirs. That is so rare. And Reagan himself- he was an amazing man, to have such a soft side despite being President. You could tell that he never let the position change him and he stayed the loving man he was, who could be silly and be dependent and kept an open heart. Reagan was the first president I ever voted for once I was old enough to vote.

Thank you again, raralovestoread- for sharing such an amazing book with us! I will get this out in the mail today to Rrrcaron in Hew Hampshire.

Journal Entry 18 by Rrrcaron from Lancaster, New Hampshire USA on Friday, October 8, 2004
Received this in the mail yesterday. I hope to be starting it soon. I have some other rings to finish first.
Ruth

Journal Entry 19 by Rrrcaron from Lancaster, New Hampshire USA on Wednesday, December 8, 2004
Sending this book off to yllus(Sullynation) today. Unfortunately, I didn't get to it, but I'll read it later on. I didn't want to hold it up any longer.
Ruth

Journal Entry 20 by yllus on Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Received today, and it's the perfect kind of night to settle in for this kind of read. Looking forward to it.

Journal Entry 21 by yllus on Monday, December 20, 2004
What a beautiful book. Such an intimate look inside a life filled with love. I am grateful that Nancy chose to share these memories with the world.

I've PMd Iois, but she has asked to be removed from the ring.

I've PMd the next person, pending address, will then mail out.

Thanks for sharing this book!

Released on Thursday, January 06, 2005 at about 12:00:00 PM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at Controlled Release in Controlled Release, Controlled Release Controlled Releases.

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to Ilios today.

Journal Entry 23 by Ilios from Tampa, Florida USA on Tuesday, January 11, 2005
After many adventures, this book got here. Thanks to raralovestoread for sharing and to yllus for not giving up on me! ;o) I have quite a few rings in front of this one, but I'll try to be as quick as I can.

Journal Entry 24 by Ilios from Tampa, Florida USA on Friday, June 10, 2005
I just finished this book and I am still all choked up because of it, so I might not be terribly eloquent...

It is very rare for a book to capture real life so candidly, but this book did it. As other BXers put it, in a time in which marriages are disposables and a man and a woman being devoted to each other for life is considered old fashioned, it is refreshing to read about such a famous couple so in love.

It made me think about my grandparents marriage, which ended 3 months ago with the passing of my grandfather. Going through the suffering of my grandfather's death and seeing my grandmother so alone and bereft made me feel very close to Mrs. Reagan. Someone mentioned the image of her not being able to let go of the casket during the funeral, and I remember that I cried when I saw that. I had my husband tape the funeral service but I haven't had the courage to watch the tape yet.

This book also made me think about my own marriage a lot because the feelings reflected in the book are very similar to what my husband and I feel for each other. Until now, I thought we were just a couple of weirdos who had a terrible time when separated, but now I see we are not alone, and that made me smile! :o) My husband and I have been together for 9 years (if we count dating, living together and then marrying) and I see it is possible to continue madly in love for 50 years. The only difference is I am the writer in the family, but my husband always find a original way to show his love each and every day.

This book brought tears to my eyes, but it is also full of hope. Thank you so much for sharing this, raralovestoread!

Journal Entry 25 by Ilios at post office in Mail, Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Friday, June 10, 2005

Released 18 yrs ago (6/13/2005 UTC) at post office in Mail, Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

this book is going back home! Thank you so much for the opportunity to read it!

Journal Entry 26 by raralovestoread from Ponchatoula, Louisiana USA on Monday, June 20, 2005
This book has arrived back home. I'm glad that everyone enjoyed it. Thanks for your participation in my bookring.

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