New Year...New Books

So for Christmas I of course got books. My favorite is the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe. Yep I am a freak and enjoy the macabre.
I am nearly half way through with our book for January and I have laughed out loud several times!
I did finish The Hunger Games trilogy. Ended better than I thought it was going to for a while there.
Here's hoping you have a great new year with great books to read!

January's Book

Our book for January was chosen by Jenny Hahn and is...A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Moreland, Indiana by: Havel Kimmel. Jenny has described this book as quite upbeat and a great diversion from some of the recent books that we have read.
Here is a brief description:
If you look at an atlas of the United States, one published around, say , 1940, there is, in the state of Indiana, north of New Castle and east of the Epileptic Village, a small town called Mooreland. In 1940 the population of Mooreland was about three hundred people; in 1950 the population was three hundred, and in 1960, 1970, and 1980, and so on. The book that follows is about a child from Mooreland, Indiana, written by one of the three hundred. It's a memoir, and a sigh of gratitude, a way of returning. I no longer live there; I can't speak for the town or its people as they are now. Someone has taken my place. Whoever she is, her stories are her own (taken in part from the prologue).

We will be meeting January 20th and our hostess will be Piper Prach- if that's still ok with you Piper. Hope to see you all there!

The Hunger Games (a review)

Thanks to all of those who were able to come to book club last night. We were so honored to be able to meet at Rebekah Anderson's home- thanks for hosting. We also had the opportunity to welcome Tamera Lyman to our discussion and we hope that she will return again.
So on to the book. What a compelling read. So compelling in fact that we discussed finishing the trilogy and discussing all of the books. (feedback?) FYI the next books are Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

It was so hard to discuss the book without delving into the other two as well. Ms. Collins has just done such a great job of hooking you into her world that you can't not read the other two.

Some conclusions that we reached:
* We love Katniss Everdeen, even more we love that Suzanne Collins made us love her.
* Good authors make it hard to put a book down.
* Reading books like this as an adult is certainly different than as a teenager. Was ignorance bliss?
* Imagine if The Hunger Games would have been released as a weekly series like The Count of Monte Cristo. How unbearable would that have been?
* Many stories have been written with similar themes (ie. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson; The Most Dangerous Game by: Richard Connell; The Village movie by M. Night Shamalan; even Soylent Green movie by: Richard Fleischer)
* Even if you don't normally enjoy sci-fi or psychological thrillers this series is something that you should at least consider reading.
* Taylor Lautner (aka Jacob from Twilight) could possibly be a good Gale for the up coming movie.

Personally, I have enjoyed the series and hope to finish before Christmas so that I can actually focus on something else...like our next book. ;)

Please feel free to leave your questions and comments. I love learning from you all. Some questions that I have are:
* Is it scary that we have the ability to imagine such terrible circumstances?
* How possible is this? I mean isn't it sad that when catastrophe occurs that mankind seems to degenerate in the name of security
For other thought provoking questions go HERE

Hunger Games

Ok ladies book club is upon us. This Thursday we will be discussing The Hunger Games and anything else that may come up.

Suzanne Collins certainly has me hooked and I have already pushed forward to reading Catching Fire with Mockingjay not too far behind. I hope to have them all finished by the end of the year (fingers crossed).

So ladies I hope to see as many of you as possible at book club this week. If I don't hear back from Rebeckah Anderson by tomorrow I will host at my house.

December's Book

With the holidays and utter chaos ensuing Amy Stewart chose a book that most have read and many have wanted to. Iwas one of the ones who had not yet read the book and this gave me just the right excuse to finally do it.
I hope that you all are able to come on Dec. 16th at 8 pm for our discussion of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins!

November's Discussion

First, I'd like to thank everyone who came last night and to Aimee who chose such an interesting read. To all those who were unable to attend we missed you terribly and we hope that you enjoyed the book.
Although, the book received mixed reviews- mainly because Bertrand was such a boor- it was clear that this book was a compelling read for everyone. Sarah's Key is not something that one can just casually and mindlessly read. This book sucks you in and will not let you put it down until the end.
Tatiana de Rosnay's use of alternating time periods is what, I believe, made such an awful story a little easier to understand. Her character Julia Jarmond is contemporary and we learn right along with her about the life of Sarah Starzynski and the awful events of July 16, 1942 known as the Vel d'Hiv. Discovering how little was known about the Rafle (roundup)especially in France was very eye opening.
This book made me think about what I don't know about in my nation's history. A lot I am sure but because of where I come from (religiously and geographically)I think I may know more than others. For instance outside my religious community I am pretty certain that most Americans have no idea that there was ever an extermination order out against Mormons.
So it goes I guess but I am grateful that I can learn about these events in a way that allows me to have other's to discuss it with.
Finally, I think that more important than the tragedy that occurred at the center of the story is the idea of how damaging family secrets can be. Neither the Tezac family nor Sarah's family benefit from the secrets they all kept. In the end the pain saturated everyone and the secret coming out was the only cathartic event that could allow understanding to occur.

FYI a movie was just released in France in October called Elle s'appelait Sarah (Her name was Sarah)

Ladies thanks so much for a great chat and can't wait to see you next month for Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Very different story! Also let me know if you'd like to do a book exchange for a holiday type spin? I was considering just limiting it to $5 or less or just a Goodwill book or one you want to relinquish. Let me know.

Book Schedule

Date, Book, Hostess

11/18 Sarah's Key by: Tatiana de Rosnay (Aimee Worland) Tara Schmidt

12/16 Hunger Games by:Suzanne Collins (Amy Stewart) Rebekah Anderson

1/20 Enchantment by:Orson Scott Card (Ashley Glissmeyer) Piper Prach

2/17 (Rebekah Anderson) Riley Walker

3/17 The Ladies Auxilliary by:Tova Mirvis (Kris Tolman) Kris Tolman

4/21 Still Alice by: Lisa Genova (Cindy Putnam) Amy Stewart

Welcome to Books, BOOKS & More BOOKS

So in case we don't get enough of talking about books at book club here we can post comments about the books that we read each month. Hope that you all enjoy.
I will be keeping the list of books that we have read and the books we will read on here as well. Hopefully we can all contribute and if anyone moves away we can still keep up on the best books.