From War Horse to Water for Elephants - it's book to movie month!

I haven't posted for awhile but here's an update & schedule for the rest of this Year (!):

Finished reading The Hunger Games (also due out in theatres on March 23), and Inheritance - the finale to the Eragon book written (what seems like) a hundred years ago.

Then we moved on to War Horse in preparation for its big screen debut on Christmas day (and of course, a planned book club outing that week to go see It). It's only 150 pages. Easy, but Good read. (Also a tear jerker, but there is a happy ending)

Next up, and probably the grand finale to this Year of many books, is Water for Elephants. We could only choose This because Cristina (Who doesn't want to read it) couldnt make it to the meeting tonight. So we unanimously voted without her in favor of reading it (-; Love ya Cris! This also means we'll have another movie night soon! Yay!

T-shirts with this year's long reading list will be available soon. Let me know if you're interested in one!

Happy Reading (:

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Now Recruiting (:

Hello again (: As we near our one year anniversary (!!!!), we are attempting to recruit some new members. I posted a card on the Panera bulletin board hoping to attract some new faces to our weekly meetings. If you happen to be reading this because you saw that card, then I'm sure you have some questions. Who are we? What do we read? How much do we read at a time? When do we meet? I'll attempt to answer your questions here, and you may choose to peruse our blog further or to send me an email with any specific questions/concerns.

Who are we? Usually, "we" includes 3 working women and 1 semi-retired man. We come from diverse backgrounds that range from a grandpa to a mother of two to two of us Who claim our 4-legged critters as our children. We have one major thing in
common: we are all avid readers! We enjoy trying new genres and reading various authors (as you'll see when you check out our book choices!)

What do we read? In short, anything & everything! We have read a huge variety ranging from modern trends like "The Help" to classics like "The Sun also Rises" and "A Tale of Two Cities." We've read nonfiction, thrillers, local WV authors, mysteries, historical fiction, sci-fi/fantasy and more.

How much do we read? We generally read around 150 pages per week, although that number varies depending upon the length of the book we are reading. Sometimes we read a whole book in a week while other books may take a month. We meet weekly to discuss our progress. Which leads me to:

When do we meet? Wednesdays at 5 (or so). Meetings usually last until 7. We used to meet at Panera weekly, and then began to rotate restaurants based upon our book selection. For the immediate future, we'll be meeting at Panera.

Sound interesting? Come to a meeting & try it out! We'll be reading a political satire called "Deer Hunting with Jesus" for next Wednesday's meeting. A kindle or other reading device is recommended, as our local book selection is generally lacking. We can download a new book in seconds while your trip to Morgantown takes hours out of your reading time (:

Email me at n_foley@yahoo.com with any additional questions. Hope to see you next week!

Happy Reading!

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Happy October!

We finished The Sun Also Rises for our last meeting, and I think Hemingway was redeemed slightly after everyone's first impression in The Paris Wife. Although the redeeming quality was probably the fact that he made Jake Barnes impotent - but we wont discuss that here (-;
Next meeting: no reading assignment but we Are meeting at Mountaineer Grill on Wed.
Next book: In the spirit of Halloween, we've chosen WV author Ruth Ann Musick's "The Telltale Lilac Bush & Other WV Ghost Tales." We're contemplating a meeting at the Weston Asylum for the following week's meeting. Will keep ya posted!

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The Paris Hemingway

So we think The Paris Wife & The Sun Also Rises are extremely similar. I suppose one could've guessed as much! We're only halfway through - finishing it up for Next week. Meeting @Panera, 5o'clock, Wednesday. See ya there!

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Robopocalypse & Gone for Good

OK, so I have neglected my blogging for the last couple of weeks. Oh well. Robopocalypse was OK... creepy in a futuristic sort of way. I think we all wished that it would've moved a bit faster, but Gone for Good made up for that tenfold. Harlan Coben's book was crazy fast-paced and filled with suspense. We had planned to read half for this week, but this book is sort of like that old once-you-have-one-potato-chip-you-eat-the-whole-bag idea & no one was able to put it down after just one page. The whole book was "legit" in a quasi-awesome kind of way (OK so I made that up bc Coben's overuse of the already ubiquitous "legit" drove me absolutely mad, and his insane repetition of "quasi" everything made me wonder if he in fact did anything for REAL). Rant over. If you love to have your mind twisted into a thousand directions at a zillion miles per hour, if you just love a good suspense-filled mystery, Gone for Good is highly recommended. If you don't have 3 solid evenings to devote entirely to reading, then this is not for you... you'll get frustrated at the little tickle in the corner of your brain saying "who dunnit?" and be driven to insanity. OK maybe not. It's good. It's fast. It's the little red Corvette of books, and you should read it (:

Next up: going classic again with Hemingway's (yes, that big arrogant jerk we learned all about this summer in the Paris Wife) The Sun Also Rises. It's on every top 100 list I looked up (a grand total of 2). We're reading all 251 glorious pages for next week. Meeting at Vito's (the pizza Nazi! ) in clarksburg (: See ya there!

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Sarah's Key

We all enjoyed Sarah's Key (: Had a fantastic discussion at BW3's over some Dauntless-style food. It was interesting to each of us to learn about the French role in the Holocaust - a role that none of us (not even the social studies teacher!) knew about. If you're anti-Holocaust (aren't we all!?), Sarah's Key is still a worthwhile read.
Next up: Robopocalypse. Meeting to be held next Wednesday @5 at Colacessno's in Fairmont. Plan is to read half unless it's really riveting (Haha, robots... riveting... nevermind). If you love it, read the who thing (:

Followed by: a murder mystery by Harlan Koben called Gone for Good. We're trying to think ahead a bit now so that those of you who can't keep up can skip one book & start on the next. We should all be able to meet back up to discuss Gone for Good in a few weeks!

Happy Reading!

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Divergent!

Consensus: Divergent is a quick, easy read. Rather than the original plan of reading it in 2 weeks, I think it took us all 2 days to finish! Very formulaic young adult on many levels (boy meets girl, boy flirts with girl, girl doesn't realize that boy is flirting, girl realizes she likes boy... and so on!), but the concept of five factions is new, unique, and gives you something to think about. Which faction would you choose? Or would you be divergent? I certainly recommend this book to anyone who likes dystopian societies, anyone who enjoyed The Hunger Games, or anyone looking for a quick & easy escape read. Divergent is slotted to become a trilogy with the second book coming out next year. Film rights have already been sold as well, so be on the lookout for Edward Cullen's replacement: Four. They better cast him better than they did Edward (-;

Next up: Sarah's Key. We've had multiple recommendations for this one, so I have pretty high expectations. Gerald & Lea will both be out of town next week, so there's no meeting for 2 weeks. We're planning to read the entire book by that time.

A little late, our next meeting will take place in a Dauntless location (that's a Divergent reference): Bw3's. 5pm, 2 weeks from now. Be dauntless! Be there!

Happy reading of Sarah's Key!

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3 new selections and a big day change!

Today was our first meeting in three long lonely lackluster weeks (OK, maybe it wasn't that bad!) We've all been so busy wrapping up our summers that we've neglected our book club. We met at Gourmet Cafe in Bridgeport and our normal group was joined by Becky & Sarah. We discussed "In the Garden of Beasts," which no one really liked (I shared Laura's perspective, which she emailed me after finishing the book. We all agreed with her that [what we read of] the book was long and boring, we were all surprised on some level (I think - I know I was) to see America's slow response to a genocide, and everyone thought the book was a collection of nympho tales from Martha's promiscuous lifestyle.) Anyways, no one really liked it, and 3 of us abandoned it altogether.

On to our new selections. Next up: read the first half of "Divergent" by Veronica Roth. It's slotted to become a trilogy, but so far only book 1 is out. Once we've finished that, we'll move on to "Sarah's Key," and then to "Robopocalypse". After that it's Gerald's choice since the first is young adult, the second sounds like chick lit and the third is (obviously) sci-fi... none of which are up his alley, but lucky for us, he's a team player!

The big change announcement is that we will be moving book club from Tuesday evenings to Wednesday evenings indefinitely. Some (positive!) life changes for one of our members have caused her to be unavailable throughout the week except for Wednesdays. Maybe this day will work out for some of you so you can join us!

Next week: Wednesday, 5pm, @Panera Bread. Read the first half of Divergent.
Happy Reading (:

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cancellations

Meeting cancelled last week & this week (8/9). We will reconvene next Tuesday August 16 at the Gourmet Cafe in Bridgeport. Meeting begins at 5pm.

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Next week!

Next week's meeting will be at the Gourmet Cafe in Bridgeport to discuss the first half of Beasts.  See ya there!

From Paris to Spain to Germany, oh my!

While we had a serious love-hate relationship with the characters in "The Paris Wife," (mostly hate if truth be told), we all agree that we loved the book. The descriptions of the people and places the Hemingways visit are vivid but not lengthy and drawn out, and Hadley's feelings are described in a poetical voice that transfers her motives to the reader with accuracy. (And that's important, since you spend half the book think-screaming at her "what the @#$! are you thinking!?") Overall, we had our complaints about the Hemingways' personalities and lifestyle choices, but were fascinated by it all the same. "The Paris Wife" is like reality TV or the tabloids: outrageous, extravagant, disgusting at times, yet you can't turn away or stop reading. Our next classic will be a Hemingway book, probably The Sun Also Rises (which Ernest writes during TPW). I'll keep you posted as to when we will begin (:

Moving on from Paris & Spain, our next selection is a nonfiction account of Hitler Germany. The author, Erik Larson, is touted for his ability to tell a narrative nonfiction novel (so hopefully I don't get bored and abandon it! lol). We'll be reading the first 1/3 of "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson for next Tuesday. Meeting to be held @Panera at 5 on Tuesday. Hope to see you there!
Happy Reading!

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The Paris Wife moves to Spain

Today's meeting at Provence Market was lovely & the food (especially the dessert!) was exceptional. Now that we're halfway through The Paris Wife (and loving it!), we find that Hadley & Ernest are vacationing in Spain... which made us crave some good Spanish food! Next week, we'll try the new Tres Leches cake at Las Trancas (: Meet us there at 5 on Tuesday to celebrate The Paris Wife! Hope to see you there!

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The Verdict is In

Timely title with a certain famous trial coming to an end yesterday... we also passed our final judgment on "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children". The last few chapters of the book set you up completely for the (yet unannounced) book 2. While it's certainly not deep intellectual reading, there is a wonderful adventure that takes place within the pages of MPHFPC, and we agreed unanimously that we would read the second book. If you loved Harry Potter, you're sure to like Miss Peregrine and her very peculiar children.

Next up: the first half of The Paris Wife. We will meet at Provence Market in Bridgeport at 5pm next Tuesday (thought we should eat someplace French for a book set in Paris!) Please join us!

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Peculiar Pokey Dot & Hemingway

Today's meeting, to discuss the final half of "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" will be held at the Pokey Dot in Fairmont at 5.  Our next choice is "The Paris Wife" which comes highly recommended by one of our followers, Laura.  It is the story of Earnest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley.  Hope you can join us as we delve into her life :)  We'll plan to read the first half by next Tuesday.  I'll post the next meeting location once it's decided tonight.
Happy Reading!

Going Peculiar for Summer...

First off, I have a correction to my last post. Gerald knows the publisher of The Glass Madonna, who ALSO happens to be the author! We all got to meet Donna Meredith last Saturday at the Clarksburg Library, listen to her discuss the Clarksburg glass industry (i actually missed the chat), and had our books signed. We finished our discussion of the book yesterday at the Bridgeport park. As someone who didn't grow up in WV, the historical references in the book were enlightening. The fictional story takes place in Clarksburg during the Vietnam War (and before). I learned a lot about the history of the town through this book. The characters are sometimes unredeemable (that's Cristina's favorite way to analyze characters), and more often than not, I wanted to jump into the pages of the book and slap some sense into the main character. In the end, readers are left pretty satisfied with the resolution. In all, someone with an interest in Clarksburg history who can tolerate a protagonist with battered woman syndrome (without wanting to jump into the book yourself) might enjoy The Glass Madonna.

Up next, we're leaving WV authors behind and taking a look at a literary debut. Ransom Riggs is the author of "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children," the tale of a young boy who decides to investigate some of the wild stories his grandfather told him about an orphanage he lived in during WWII. It sounds a little twisted, but after so much reality lately, I think we're due for a change of pace.

Hope you can join us next Tuesday @5 for our discussion of the first half of the book (:

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Continuing Theme: WV Authors

D'J know that the Breece D'J Pancake book was a rather huge disappointment? We unanimously agreed that we fully understand why the guy committed suicide. While a skillful architect of prose, Pancake's content reflected such a dark, pessimistic (yet, admittedly, sometimes realistic) view of his world that it's a wonder he made it to age 27. Some of his stories made you literally sick to your stomach and all left us sitting in a dark cloud of despair. Would I read another Pancake book if one were available? No.

We have not given up entirely on the genre of WV authors and in fact have decided to look a little closer to home. Gerald recently spoke with an old friend who mentioned that a Clarksburg author is returning home to make a public appearance later in June. We will begin reading her book titled "The Glass Madonna" for our next meeting. James & Law is said to have paper copies available, or you can download to your kindle. We're tentatively planning to go to the lecture and Hopefully get our copies signed.

Our meetings are no longer taking place at Panera Bread on a regular basis. We've started flitting around town, trying out new cafes and restaurants. Be sure to check here, email or call me for the next meeting spot. Next Tuesday @5 we will be meeting at Hank's Deli beside Home Depot. If the weather is nice, we plan to carpool over to the park behind Bridgeport HS to have a picnic book club. If you haven't joined us in awhile, kick your summer off with a (hopefully) good book, great food & even better friendship! Hope to see you there!

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Long Time, No See (or Post!)

I've been slacking on the Book Club posts... but ya'll have been slacking off on coming!  lol :)  We FINALLY found an amazing book that gave us hope: good books DO exist!  We read "The French Gardener" by Santa Montefiore at the end of April.  A beautiful tale of love and gardens.  The secondary characters are just as tantalizing as the main characters (maybe more), and the story keeps you reading until way past your bedtime.  Forget Edward Cullen, ladies, we should be wearing "Team Jean-Paul" shirts from now on!  Some of the magic was lost on Cristina & Gerald, who disagreed with the main character's lack of self restraint; but the beauty of the book is in the cottage and a table set with tea for two for more than two decades.  Please, if you read nothing else this summer, pick up a copy of "The French Gardener!"  You won't be disappointed.

After that fabulous fairytale, we analyzed the genres we've covered and those we have not.  It was a group decision to pursue a classic, and we settled on Oprah's choice: "A Tale of Two Cities."  We're currently struggling through the second half (well... Gerald is... Cristina's 20% in and I'm at a meager 7% according to the Kindle), but plan to continue reading slowly throughout the summer.

We're tackling two genres in one with our next selection: "The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake" by Breece D'J Pancake himself!  We'll hit two birds with one stone: short story & West Virginia author.  Breece D'J Pancake bio from amazon.com:

Techno-thrillers rock!

So... we finished up "The Murderer's Daughters" this week. Not a horrible book if you like to evaluate the human Psyche and don't mind being irritated at the main characters' lack of feeling and emotion. I think we all agreed that, yet again, we were disappointed with the book.
And that left us with a problem. We're becoming book snobs! After tons of suggestions from many friends, we were afraid to be disappointed yet again. I brought up a book that I started last week after finishing TMD. it was dirt cheap on our kindles: a $.99 sale! The book is a techno-thriller by JA Konrath called "The List." It's about a very rich man with money to burn on a little project: cloning. Except he doesn't clone just anybody, he clones the most influential men and women from history (according to him). A small tattooed number on the bottom of each clone's foot is their only clue to their identities. The book is fast-paced, action-packed, and laugh-out-loud funny (at times). It may also make it a little difficult to fall asleep at night without double checking that the windows and doors are locked! I really like this book, and the feedback from Cris & Gerald sounds lime they're enjoying it too. You can't beat 99 cents!
Happy Reading!

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Another disappointment... and a New Hopeful

So "I Am Number 4" was a gigantic disappointment in print & on screen (according to my students' reviews of the movie).  James Frey is an egomaniac... that's all I have to say. 

Next up: "The Murderer's Daughters" by Randy Susan Meyers.  It's the tale of an alcoholic's family -- after killing his wife and injuring one daughter, he tries (and fails) to take his own life before the second daughter finds the whole mess.  The book follows the two daughters through the next thirty years of their lives as they deal with the trauma of their father's decision (and pray that he stays incarcerated!).  It's only 320 pages -- we'll plan to read half for next week.

We had a few other choices as well.  If you get a minute, check out "The French Gardener," "Saving Max" and "The List."  Comment the blog or send me an email with your recommendation & we can pick your book next!

Happy Reading!
Nikki & Cris

Unbroken & next week!

Gerald & Cris are pretty amazed by the trials and tribulations of Louie Zamperini in "Unbroken" by Lauren Hillenbrand.  I didn't finish it.  We had conversations about cruelty, survival, and the strength of the human spirit.  The fact that Louie Zamperini came away from his experiences as a WWII POW truly unbroken is a tribute to his inner strength and incredible stamina.  I doubt I'm doing it justice, as I haven't read it!

Next book is "I Am Number 4" by Pitticus Lore (the pseudonym for James Frey, author of "A Million Little Pieces," if you're an Oprah's Book Club fan...).  It's our first young adult sci-fi book.  The print version is 448 pages long -- we'll plan to read about half for next Tuesday's meeting.

See ya then!  Happy reading :)

The Alchemist

We certainly reached a consensus this week: we all felt an air of disappointment wiht "The Alchemist," however we weren't able to decide why that is.  It's quite possibly that the book requires more careful consideration and processing time than we all allowed ourselves in reading (it was only 160-something pages long -- we all waited until this week to read so it would be fresh.)  It could also be that the beauty of the book was lost in translation, as it was originally written by a Brazillian in his native tongue.  It's possible too that we all got so hyped up by the rave reviews that we were simply disappointed as the book wasn't able to live up to our expectations.  We couldn't quite decide why, but "The Alchemist" just wasn't the book we had hoped for.

I think I'm going to keep mine on my nightstand to read in small segments... bits and pieces of wisdom and contemplation.  If I were a meditating woman, I would meditate over this book!  lol.

Next book choice: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand.  Gerald's sister recommended it to him, and he is in turn recommending it to us.  We're planning to read the first half for next week (or however far you manage to get... it always seems that someone is ahead and someone else behind!  No big deal!)

It has also been suggested that, after finishing a book, we each bring a brief (one paragraph more or less) book review of the reading.  If you're not much of a writer, this is not a requirement!  Just a suggestion :)

Happy Reading!

AHEB - Final Meeting (sort of)

So... after a low turnout rate for the AHEB meetings (mostly due to its lack of availability in our small town USA)... and due to the fact that two of our three regular meeting members won't be able to attend the next two meetings, we've decided to suspend the book club meetings until February 22. Yes, we'll be having book club withdrawal by then!

If you haven't been able to join us recently, (especially if it's because you can't get your hands on the book,) we've chosen a widely available, hugely successful, much-acclaimed, banned-in-Iran superstar bestseller of a book called "The Alchemist" by Brazillian author Paulo Coehlo. It's available everywhere: Borders, Target... no problems with this one! Thin little paperback, only 208 pages! I feel like a salesman...

The plan is to read the whole entire book before the February 22 meeting. We'll have a final discussion of AHEB (for those of us that haven't quite finished yet) briefly at the beginning of the meeting, then delve into Paulo Coehlo's (alleged) literary masterpiece.

In the meantime, be on the lookout for a lighthearted, laugh-out-loud-funny book for our next read... and come prepared to make suggestions to the February 22 meeting! We're looking for a good fantasy/sci-fi read too...

Hope to see everyone on the 22nd... in the meantime, Happy Reading!
-Nikki

AHEB #2

Fun meeting on Tuesday night :) Cristina, Amy, Gerald & I had a great discussion about the AHEB book and its members. We talked about characters in the book that we can relate to. It's interesting to see how the characters are so developed, but also sort of cliche. The cliche hippy in the book, Slip, can sort of be applied to Cris, but not wholly. These are the types of chats we have at our meetings!

On Oprah yesterday, they were talking about happiness. One way to increase your happines as much as doubling your salary is to join a club! I can say from experience that this club has not only given me something to look forward to on Tuesday evenings, but it truly has increased my sense of happiness. We are able to come together and discuss our perspectives - and I think each of us leaves with a sense of contributing to something real & intellectual. It's fun & thought provoking, and I thank each of you that have attended a meeting and shared in this experience. I hope you feel the same happiness that I do with our conversations!

This Tuesday, we're supposed to read up to part 4 - but feel free to read ahead & finish the book. I found that as I finished up Part 3, I really wanted to keep going. We can talk Tuesday about how far everyone got...

Happy (really!) Reading!
Nikki

AHEB meeting #1

Fun meeting! Welcome, Gerald to the book club!! Our first male perspective :)

Admittedly, no one was totally caught up with the reading for this week. For next week, we're planning to read Part 1 & Part 2 of the book. (There are 4 parts, so we figured to plan on one each week).

There are a TON of discussion questions online for this book - we'll begin to tackle those next week! Hope to see you all then!

Discussion :)

Thanks to our new friend Amy for coming to tonight's meeting! We had an excellent time discussing "The Scent of Rain & Lightning." Here are two questions from LitLovers to ponder as you finish the book:

• The book revolves around the theme of revenge. What does this novel tell us about the nature of revenge?
• The theme of forgiveness also plays a large role in the novel. How does this story reveal the challenges of forgiveness? Are the characters clearly in one camp or the other (revenge or forgiveness)? If so, how would you divide them? And which characters bridge these emotions?

We've also picked our next book! Two weeks from tonight, we'll have our first discussion of "Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons." It's available super cheap on Amazon - try buying used if you've never done so before! It has 448 pages, so we'll plan on reading the first 100 (or so - wherever that chapter ends) for the January 18 meeting.

Happy Reading! Hope to see you all in the next couple of weeks :)