The Book Club discussion

Please add your posts here about books that you consider worthy of consideration by group as a reading for some month soon.

Since we have selected these, this post doesn't really belong here, but I went looking for this list this morning, and this was the first place I looked (rather than notes from our "February Book Business."), so I have duplicated it here in case others have a similar thought process! lol.

These are from JT's summary of our February meeting:


We will be reading the following books (most dates are not scheduled yet!):

the buddah in the attic by julie otsaka (MAY, 2013, read)

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (There is also a movie that goes with this that we might watch!)

Pearl of China by Anchee Min

Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

There was a short discussion about trying to have "Themed Quarters" where we read books and maybe watch movies or take field trips connected with the theme. ...we will undoubtedly have further discussions about this.

Due to everyone's schedules, there will be no f2f meeting in March.
The next meeting will be April 20, the usual third Saturday.

It was decided at the April meeting to read the following book in June, 2013:

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Since we did the One Book Philadelphia, some of you might find information about other similar programs of interest. This is about the one in South Dakota:

http://sdhumanities.org/aboutonebook.htm

Do post information about others. If there get to be many, we'll create a separate thread for them.

This is a fun post to read. Twenty-five signs when you know you are addicted to reading.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/si...

Janet wrote: "This is a fun post to read. Twenty-five signs when you know you are addicted to reading.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/si..."

Thank you, J. That is fun and I am almost certain to pass it along.

Just finished reading "The Colour of Milk" by Nell Leyshon. It is a very short book, but quite powerful. I read it in two sittings. It is historical fiction, but comments on the condition of women which is unfortunately still relevant today. I think it might be a good read for the book club.

I'm about a third of the way through "The Wind Up Bird", at first it was slow, reading, but now I'm hooked.

Janet

Janet wrote: "Just finished reading "The Colour of Milk" by Nell Leyshon. It is a very short book, but quite powerful. I read it in two sittings. It is historical fiction, but comments on the condition of women..."

Good to hear from you, Janet! Thanks for posting.

Here's a goodreads link for reviews of The Colour of Milk:

The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon.

Beware, there may be spoilers!

A list of six suggestions from D. on 7/8/13. After This is the one suggested for August in a separate email. Below are links to Goodreads information and Wiki links for the authors, where available.

The radleys
After this
A sudden country
Once we were brothers
Last orders
A long and happy life

1. The Radleys by Matt Haig

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Haig

2. After This by Alice McDermott

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Mc...

3. A Sudden Country by Karen Fisher

(Did not find a Wiki entry.)

4. Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson

(Did not find a Wiki entry.)

5. Last Orders by Graham Swift

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_S...

(D. -- I am presuming this is the book intended. There is at least one other with the same name. Let us know if it is another.)

6. A Long and Happy Life by Reynolds Price

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds... (A Southern writer.)

Here is the moderator pick selections for the 21st Century Literature Goodreads online group for August 2013. The reader nominations close today or tomorrow and the poll should be posted shortly.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

The Radleys looks kind of fun. In early August I have a week-long hour commute on 295 to and from a training class and I have some Audible credits -- I will try once more to "listen" to a book. This one sounds like it might keep me interested and 295 is sufficiently dull not to distract me :)

Received the following note on 8/2 from one of our Book Club South friends: "one of my book clubs down here has chosen this for the September read. Sounds interesting."

The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese by Michael Paterniti

http://www.amazon.com/The-Telling-Roo...

J.S. suggestion, 8/17/13:

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

http://www.amazon.com/The-Good-Lord-B...

( The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother was BC selection in July 1997, along with Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt.)

Another J.S. suggestion, 8/17/13:

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin


( Shopgirl was BC selection December 2001)

From July 20, 2013, meeting:

"Too new for now but slated for the future:

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie"

From October 19, 2013, meeting:

Something by Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro for November meeting. J & N will recommend.

From November 16, 2013, meeting:

Books to consider:

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (529 pp)

War Brides by Helen Bryan (467 pp)

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker (325pp)

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (184 pp)

Three suggestions from N. at March meeting:
.

Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Note from D with this list of 32 books:
.

1. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death by Jean-Dominique Bauby
2. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig
3. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (Timequake, 2/99)
4. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez
6. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
7. White Oleander by Janet Fitch
8. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (... The Thanksgiving Visitor, 9/99)
9. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (4/04)
10. Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
11. Ada, or Ardor by Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita, 9/99)
12. Beloved by Toni Morrison (2/92)
13. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Ten Little Indians, 3/05)
14. Push by Sapphire
15. IT by Stephen King (Dolores Claiborne, 10/96; 11/22/63, 2/13)
16. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
17. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, 12/13)
18. World War – An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
19. The Giver by Lois Lowry
20. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
21. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (1/91)
22. Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
23. Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoevsky
24. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (4/11)
25. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
26. Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker
27. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
28. The Train by Georges Simenon
29. The Artist’s Way: a Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron
30. The Beautiful and Damned by J. Scott Fitzgerald
31. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver (Poisonwood Bible, 3/01)
32. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day, 9/13)

Here’s the list -- called books that can change your life.

The ones I spotted that we have read I have marked with bold and put a date, after it. For authors, but not the book, I tried to indicate what we read and when.

I was surprised to realize that we apparently haven’t read anything by Scott Fitzgerald.