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 :)