Finally, our next meeting time has been decided.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Saturday May 22, 2010
2:00 pm
Big Borders
Also, after this meeting, I will be bowing down and handing over the book club to Laura Mayron. She's enthusiastic and loves reading more than I do. She's very eager to start and I'm almost convinced to just give it to her now.
Well, both Laura and I will be there, hope to see all of you.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
STOP!
Please stop reading that book! I thought I would never have to do this, but I'm changing our book. Please stop reading Snow and pick up Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.
This bring me to an interesting topic on how books pick their readers, which I may elaborate at our meeting. I was really excited to read this book, it sounded great. But as started it, I just couldn't get into it. I found the aspect of the suicide girls interesting, but the political views it was influenced by is not my forte.
So, I move on Middlesex. I apologize if this inconveniences anyone.
If you want, if you're really enjoying Snow, then you can continue with it and we can compare and contrast it to Middlesex. That should be interesting. Let me know.
I still haven't picked a date. I gotta look at that school calendar, make sure everyone can come.
Hope you enjoy the new book.
This bring me to an interesting topic on how books pick their readers, which I may elaborate at our meeting. I was really excited to read this book, it sounded great. But as started it, I just couldn't get into it. I found the aspect of the suicide girls interesting, but the political views it was influenced by is not my forte.
So, I move on Middlesex. I apologize if this inconveniences anyone.
If you want, if you're really enjoying Snow, then you can continue with it and we can compare and contrast it to Middlesex. That should be interesting. Let me know.
I still haven't picked a date. I gotta look at that school calendar, make sure everyone can come.
Hope you enjoy the new book.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Ahh!!
Ok, I've been slacking. I admit it. Calm down.
So to make up for it, I'm going to make this very long.
Water For Elephants was an amazing book, one of the best I've chosen for us to read. And again, I'm sorry most of you didn't get the chance to share the reading experience with me. My promotional skills have weakened significantly. But to those of you who read it, thank you and I hoped you liked it as much as I did. And to Emily Davis, thank you for joining me at Borders that Saturday. I do believe we had a nice discussion, just the two of us.
So, as for the next novel. Once again, I am embarking on another busy time in my laugh. However, this time, I'm not going to let it get in the way of this book club. So! You guys are gonna help me! Ready? We are reading Snow by Orhan Pamuk. It is one the more difficult books I've ever chosen to read. It's more on the political side of things, kind of Marxist. But I'm intrigued by it at the same time. It should be interesting. And knowing you guys are behind me on this will only keep me more motivated to read it! Yay!
Ok, well happy reading.
I'll try to keep in better touch.
Sararose
DATE UNKNOWN
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
Big Borders
2:00 pm
So to make up for it, I'm going to make this very long.
Water For Elephants was an amazing book, one of the best I've chosen for us to read. And again, I'm sorry most of you didn't get the chance to share the reading experience with me. My promotional skills have weakened significantly. But to those of you who read it, thank you and I hoped you liked it as much as I did. And to Emily Davis, thank you for joining me at Borders that Saturday. I do believe we had a nice discussion, just the two of us.
So, as for the next novel. Once again, I am embarking on another busy time in my laugh. However, this time, I'm not going to let it get in the way of this book club. So! You guys are gonna help me! Ready? We are reading Snow by Orhan Pamuk. It is one the more difficult books I've ever chosen to read. It's more on the political side of things, kind of Marxist. But I'm intrigued by it at the same time. It should be interesting. And knowing you guys are behind me on this will only keep me more motivated to read it! Yay!
Ok, well happy reading.
I'll try to keep in better touch.
Sararose
DATE UNKNOWN
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
Big Borders
2:00 pm
Friday, February 5, 2010
New Meeting!!!
Ah, the long, nerve-wracking wait for our new novel has ended.
Drum roll please!
BBRRRUUMMMMMMMM!
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen!
Thanks to everyone who voted and sent in recommendations!
As for the date of our long awaited meeting? I'm thinking in about 6 weeks? So that makes it Saturday March 13 at 2:00 pm.
Get your books and start reading! I can't wait! I've heard so much about this book! It's gonna be great!
~Sararose
Drum roll please!
BBRRRUUMMMMMMMM!
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen!
Thanks to everyone who voted and sent in recommendations!
As for the date of our long awaited meeting? I'm thinking in about 6 weeks? So that makes it Saturday March 13 at 2:00 pm.
Get your books and start reading! I can't wait! I've heard so much about this book! It's gonna be great!
~Sararose
Friday, January 22, 2010
OPTION #5
Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison.
Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.
Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.
For more information search this title at Amazon.com
Thanks Ryan Walsh for the recommendation!
OPTION #4
Settle down to enjoy a rousing good ghost story with Diane Setterfield's debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale. Setterfield has rejuvenated the genre with this closely plotted, clever foray into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies, and half-truths. She never cheats by pulling a rabbit out of a hat; this atmospheric story hangs together perfectly.
There are two heroines here: Vida Winter, a famous author, whose life story is coming to an end, and Margaret Lea, a young, unworldly, bookish girl who is a bookseller in her father's shop. Vida has been confounding her biographers and fans for years by giving everybody a different version of her life, each time swearing it's the truth. Because of a biography that Margaret has written about brothers, Vida chooses Margaret to tell her story, all of it, for the first time. At their initial meeting, the conversation begins:
"You have given nineteen different versions of your life story to journalists in the last two years alone."
She [Vida] shrugged. "It's my profession. I'm a storyteller."
"I am a biographer, I work with facts."
The game is afoot and Margaret must spend some time sorting out whether or not Vida is actually ready to tell the whole truth. There is more here of Margaret discovering than of Vida cooperating wholeheartedly, but that is part of Vida's plan. The transformative power of truth informs the lives of both women by story's end, and The Thirteenth Tale is finally and convincingly told
There are two heroines here: Vida Winter, a famous author, whose life story is coming to an end, and Margaret Lea, a young, unworldly, bookish girl who is a bookseller in her father's shop. Vida has been confounding her biographers and fans for years by giving everybody a different version of her life, each time swearing it's the truth. Because of a biography that Margaret has written about brothers, Vida chooses Margaret to tell her story, all of it, for the first time. At their initial meeting, the conversation begins:
"You have given nineteen different versions of your life story to journalists in the last two years alone."
She [Vida] shrugged. "It's my profession. I'm a storyteller."
"I am a biographer, I work with facts."
The game is afoot and Margaret must spend some time sorting out whether or not Vida is actually ready to tell the whole truth. There is more here of Margaret discovering than of Vida cooperating wholeheartedly, but that is part of Vida's plan. The transformative power of truth informs the lives of both women by story's end, and The Thirteenth Tale is finally and convincingly told
For more information search this title at Amazon.com
Thanks Laura for the recommendation!
OPTION #3
The story follows 100 years in the life of Macondo, a village founded by José Arcadio Buendía and occupied by descendants all sporting variations on their progenitor's name: his sons, José Arcadio and Aureliano, and grandsons, Aureliano José, Aureliano Segundo, and José Arcadio Segundo. Then there are the women--the two Úrsulas, a handful of Remedios, Fernanda, and Pilar--who struggle to remain grounded even as their menfolk build castles in the air. If it is possible for a novel to be highly comic and deeply tragic at the same time, then One Hundred Years of Solitude does the trick. Civil war rages throughout, hearts break, dreams shatter, and lives are lost, yet the effect is literary pentimento, with sorrow's outlines bleeding through the vibrant colors of García Márquez's magical realism. Consider, for example, the ghost of Prudencio Aguilar, whom José Arcadio Buendía has killed in a fight. So lonely is the man's shade that it haunts Buendía's house, searching anxiously for water with which to clean its wound. Buendía's wife, Úrsula, is so moved that "the next time she saw the dead man uncovering the pots on the stove she understood what he was looking for, and from then on she placed water jugs all about the house."
For more information, search this title at Amazon.com
Thanks Laura for the recommendation!
OPTION #2
Customer Review:
Like all respectable vampire tales, this one spans centuries. However, that is where the similarity ends because I have never read a vampire tale quite like this. The protagonists span three generations. I can see someone turning this book into an epic movie or mini series. Each generation has one or more of its own historians. All are looking for the real Dracula (Prince Vlad Tepes) for both professional and personal reasons. The search for the truth will take them to several different countries and to journeys of self discovery that none anticipated. Readers I must warn you that if you are hoping for a romance novel, this is not it. There are several love stories woven within and through the primary story, but as compelling as they may sometimes be (I wept at page 526), they take a back seat to the search for the "Dark Prince". This is an adventure but not in the usual sense as there is really not much action (until near the end). Remember, these are historians so you can imagine their method of searching. I did not find this novel "Genuinely terrifying" as quoted from the Boston Globe but I agree it is "A thrill ride through history" as stated by the Denver Post. If you love history, traveling, and emersion into other cultures, you will love this book. It will feel as if you have been on an exotic vacation. Warning, I found the first half of the book difficult to read. Elizabeth Kostova is a stickler for details (possibly in the excess) and I found it hard to form attachments to the characters. The initial moving back and forth through different events within several generations was a bit confusing, but if you can hang in there, by the second half of the book you should have a strong bond to one or more of the protagonists and you will be thankful for the details that brought you to that realization. This is a book that should make you think, "It could happen". I can even see readers who tend to enjoy non-fiction more than fiction finding merit and a great deal of fun in following our heroes through situations that are exotic and yet, believable. What do our heroes find? I am not one to be accused of creating spoilers. My personal joy is in sharing a book with someone and then watching them discover the prize for themselves. I will tell you that what they find is quite fascinating so enjoy. Oh, and with all the historians in this story, I put this question to you. Who is THE Historian?
Like all respectable vampire tales, this one spans centuries. However, that is where the similarity ends because I have never read a vampire tale quite like this. The protagonists span three generations. I can see someone turning this book into an epic movie or mini series. Each generation has one or more of its own historians. All are looking for the real Dracula (Prince Vlad Tepes) for both professional and personal reasons. The search for the truth will take them to several different countries and to journeys of self discovery that none anticipated. Readers I must warn you that if you are hoping for a romance novel, this is not it. There are several love stories woven within and through the primary story, but as compelling as they may sometimes be (I wept at page 526), they take a back seat to the search for the "Dark Prince". This is an adventure but not in the usual sense as there is really not much action (until near the end). Remember, these are historians so you can imagine their method of searching. I did not find this novel "Genuinely terrifying" as quoted from the Boston Globe but I agree it is "A thrill ride through history" as stated by the Denver Post. If you love history, traveling, and emersion into other cultures, you will love this book. It will feel as if you have been on an exotic vacation. Warning, I found the first half of the book difficult to read. Elizabeth Kostova is a stickler for details (possibly in the excess) and I found it hard to form attachments to the characters. The initial moving back and forth through different events within several generations was a bit confusing, but if you can hang in there, by the second half of the book you should have a strong bond to one or more of the protagonists and you will be thankful for the details that brought you to that realization. This is a book that should make you think, "It could happen". I can even see readers who tend to enjoy non-fiction more than fiction finding merit and a great deal of fun in following our heroes through situations that are exotic and yet, believable. What do our heroes find? I am not one to be accused of creating spoilers. My personal joy is in sharing a book with someone and then watching them discover the prize for themselves. I will tell you that what they find is quite fascinating so enjoy. Oh, and with all the historians in this story, I put this question to you. Who is THE Historian?
For more information, search this title at Amazon.com
Thanks Laura for the recommendation!
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.
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!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
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
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
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