OPTION #1

Previously posted Wednesday, January 20th.

Meet Isabel "Izzy" Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors -- but the upshot is she's good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family's firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people's privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman.
Part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry, Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who's become addicted to "recreational surveillance"); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed "Lost Weekends"). But when Izzy's parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy's new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there's a hitch: she must take one last job before they'll let her go -- a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life.

For more information, search this title at Amazon.com.

Thanks Kris, for the recommendation!

Confused????

Ok, here's the gist.
I sent out an email to notify you guys that I was posting these OPTIONS for our next novel. I know I called it a "challenge", well that was really just me trying to get your attention.
Yay! It worked! :)


So here's what I'm going to do. I will post each OPTION as individual entries. Read them, tell me what you think of each book. And from your opinions I will choose our next book and meeting date...hopefully.

Sound good? Hope so, cause that's what I'm doing!



Enjoy,
Sararose

Readers!!! Please pay attention!!

Ah, now that you're all here.

I have received a few short lists of books you are all interested in. Thank you to those who love me and make my life easier! :)

I have looked over every book and now I am stumped as to which to pick.

So, over the next few days, I will be posting reviews and summaries of these books. All of them sound wonderful to me and which ever we pick I know will be great!

So, to start it all off, here's the first option!

Meet Isabel "Izzy" Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors -- but the upshot is she's good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family's firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people's privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman.
Part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry, Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who's become addicted to "recreational surveillance"); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed "Lost Weekends"). But when Izzy's parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy's new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there's a hitch: she must take one last job before they'll let her go -- a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life.

For more information, go to Amazon.com

Thank you, Kris, for this suggestion!

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT ON YOUR OPINION OF THIS NOVEL.

more will be coming. check back everyday^.^ if you're loyal

Help!!!

When's the next meeting? What's the next book?
You know, Sararose, you're supposed to know this.
Yes, but I want a happy book this time and I can't find one!!
You do have a tendency to choose depressing books!
I know! I need help! Will you help me look for a happy book to read?
Sure. I think I may know a couple.
Yay! You're amazing! Thank you so much! Just email OR COMMENT with recommendations.
Sure sure. No problem!

So, this is a shout out for people to let me know of some good, uplifting novels. I've received a few titles I need to look up, but I'm looking for more options for future meetings! Help me out people! This will also help me figure out what you guys like to read!
It would be great to get some comments going on this thing, and feel free to email, its up there.

As for the next meeting, well, I need a book. I shooting for late February. Send in those book reccs!

Thanks guys!
Sararose

Fin

Ah, finally finished that book. I was so worried I wasn't going to finish it! I put post-it notes half way through each part of the book, with designated days. I was a day behind. But I read all day, and now I'm finished!

When I started the book, I didn't think it was all that sad. Liesel is a happy girl, living in a depressing era, but her story wasn't sad. Not until the end that is. When I closed the back cover, I immediately ran downstairs to hug my mother. Hugs cure everything! :)

Well, I hope people enjoyed this book. Bad choice for the holiday season, I know. But it was a good book, nonetheless. It's been a while since I've felt this empty after finishing a book? Does anyone else get that feeling after they complete a novel they've been reading for a while? Kind of empty and sad? I use to all the time. After I would finish a book, I would have to take maybe a 3 day break before I picked up another one. Quite an interesting habit it was....

Anyway, the meeting is still planned for this Saturday, January 9th at 2:00 pm, I may have to move it to 3:00 pm, but I'll let you all know.

Until then,
Happy reading.

Sararose

January 9th Meeting

Saturday, January 9th (date subject to change)

Big Borders

2:00 pm

We will be reading The Book Theif by Markus Zusak.

What inspired this novel was a story the author heard from his parents about bombings in Munich. One day, when his mother was six years old, she heard a noise on the street and started running with the other kids. She thought it was cattle, but was severely mistaken: it was people running from the destruction of bombs. There was this old man you couldn’t keep up, hobbling down the street. A teenage boy got bread from his house and gave it to the old man. The old man then fell to his knees, grabbed the boy by the ankles and kissed his feet. A soldier then came along and took the bread away. He whipped the old man for taking it and beat the boy for giving it. (amazon.com)

Liesel Meminger is only nine years old when she is taken to live with the Hubermanns, a foster family, on Himmel Street in Molching, Germany, in the late 1930s. She arrives with few possessions, but among them is The Grave Digger’s Handbook, a book that she stole from her brother’s burial place. During the years that Liesel lives with the Hubermanns, Hitler becomes more powerful, life on Himmel Street becomes more fearful, and Liesel becomes a fullfledged book thief. She rescues books from Nazi book-burnings and steals from the library of the mayor. Liesel is illiterate when she steals her first book, but Hans Hubermann uses her prized books to teach her to read. This is a story of courage, friendship, love, survival, death, and grief. This is Liesel’s life on Himmel Street, told from Death’s point of view. (http://www.randomhouse.com/features/markuszusak/bookclubcontent.html)

Society Meeting

I'm sorry I'm posting this a week after the event, but it's crap week, what can I do?
Anyway...
Good outcome last weekend. Two Maui High students, Tori and Sara thank you for coming...Sara you really should finish the book...and two Seabury Hall Teachers, Mr. Ryan Walsh and Ms. Emily Davis, thank you both for coming. Mr. Walsh, you should finish the book, too.

We discussed what it was like to read a book comprised of letter, and what kind of effect the make on the reader. We decided it seemed more personal, almost like we weren't supposed to be reading them. We talked about Sidney and Sophie's friendship with Juliet. But the one person who really monopolized our conversation was Dawsey. He was our favorite character by far, I know I could identify with him the most. And we all agreed that in the beginning of the novel we thought him to be about 60 years old, kind of like the responsible Grandfather of the community. We felt that his life changed the most by being a member in the Society, because he was initially so shy and the more familiar he became with Juliet and the others the more he reached out.
Also, along with Dawsey, we felt Kit was the most memorable. I chipped in with my opinion that I think Kit and Juliet's relationship started from an unknown bond between Juliet and Elizabeth, and that Kit was drawn to that. Someone also said that they thought Juliet was ready to love someone, just not a man. Which makes a lot of sense....until the end :)
Now Stephen expressed how he was worried about Kit not having a permanent home. But, I believe it was Ms. Davis, she chimed in and said that Kit was so adaptable that she didn't need a permanent home as long as she was in Guernsey.
We then discussed how the book was so refreshing to read because it had no real genre and didn't really fit into any of the new fads of reading choices (ie vampires...) I think it's kind of Modern Historical Fiction book with traditional themes, such as a female in a powerful position and career.
We then wondered what would happen if there was a sequel. We came up with the same decision as our Tortilla Curtain sequel discussion (see previous entries): that it would ruin the magic and wonder of the book and maybe just an epilogue would suffice.
We then digressed to the Kindle...Who out there likes it? Thinks it's great? None of us here do. We feel it's taking away from the activity of reading and being able to hold the pages and words in your hand vs. having the material of several novels in your palm. It isn't the same and we don't appreciate it! Hmph! Well, that is except for College text books...

Sara and Tori recommend Winky by Cliff Chase.

More about the next novel later.

DATE CHANGED!

The meeting planned for Saturday, December 5th has been changed to this Sunday, December 6th due to a scheduling error. I hope to not have to do this again, however I do expect to hold more meeting on Sunday, if it cannot be avoided. The meeting time is still the same: 2:00 pm

The novel is still the same: The Guernsey and Literary Potato Peel Pie Society
I hope you are all enjoying it! I did. It's a great story with an intriguing plot and very friendly characters. I wish they were my friends.

Sorry of any inconvenience.
Hope to see you all there!
~Sararose

Encouragement

I would like to quote Guernsey:
"At the start...the purpose of the speakers was to goad the listeners into wanting to read the book themselves. Once two members had read the book, they could argue, which was our great delight. We read books, talked books, argued over books" (51).

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a book club, started as a cover-up story, but became permanent when members started to enjoy their time together and socializing in what was such a devastating time. Although we are not currently in a restricting era like they were, I do hope that those you come to these meeting enjoy their time and hopefully will start reading the books I choose, or recommending books for us to read. Right now, every meeting I am encouraging those people to read these books, because they are good, but I hope that in the future they pick one up to read. Even if it is not the selected one for the month, it could be completely different, or from the previous meeting, but the point is to come together and discuss what kinds of things we like to read. The books I choose are simply to encourage.

Another quote that I enjoy the most is:
"That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive - all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment" (10).

I truly believe in this quote. It's what make up my bookshelf. It's what I'm here to do for you guys. I select a novel, if you enjoy it you'll move into that genre and/or follow the rest of my suggestions. This is truly what reading and book clubs are: picking and choosing.

Well, that's enough of my wisdom for the...however long....
I think this is the longest post I've ever done....pat on the back for Sararose. I hope I didn't bore you or lecture you too much.

Hope to see you in December. (It's really not that far off.)

December 5th Meeting!

Saturday, December 5th

2:00 pm

Big Borders

We will be talking about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

From Publishers Weekly:
The letters comprising this small charming novel begin in 1946, when single, 30-something author Juliet Ashton writes to her publisher to say she is tired of covering the sunny side of war and its aftermath. When Guernsey farmer, Dawsey Adams, finds Juliet's name in a used book and invites articulate—and not-so-articulate—neighbors to write Juliet with their stories, the book's epistolary circle widens, putting Juliet back in the path of war stories. The occasionally contrived letters jump from incident to incident—including the formation of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society while Guernsey was under German occupation—and person to person in a manner that feels disjointed. But Juliet's quips are so clever, the Guernsey inhabitants so enchanting and the small acts of heroism so vivid and moving that one forgives the authors for not being able to settle on a single person or plot. Juliet finds in the letters not just inspiration for her next work, but also for her life—as will readers. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

I'm about half way through this book and I completely agree with the review above! It's very intriguing but at times hard to figure out which letter is from whom; thankfully that information is provided at the beginning of each letter. Yes, the book is written in letter format, which makes for an easy read- so no one should be complaining!!

I would also like to take this time to thank a few people for showing up to the last meeting in October, where I encouraged them to read Howl's Moving Castle (see previous entries for more information on this novel.) So, Thank You to Jeremy Morton, his sister Danielle and their father, Sue Pircsh, Stephen Holding, and Sara Riley. It was nice having fellow students as well as adults show up. Thank you so much and I hope to you see you all there again! (I'm sorry if I've spelt your names wrong).