God Bless Us, Every One!!!

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity and the time to read this book during this Christmas/Holiday season. Now I didn't reach my goal of finishing it before Christmas... Stacey you are awesome for doing so... but I still loved reading it. (It also gave me hope that someday my brain will be smart enough to understand a full Dickens novel!)

I love the simple message of this book... that we can change. That nothing is fully set in stone, not even our personalities. We can and should continually improve to be the best self that we can be that will bless ourselves and all those we come into contact with.

Now I wanted to be smart and try and think of great discussion questions... well I'm not very original, so I googled it (or I might acutally have used bing...) and this is some of what it came up with:

1. Had you read A Christmas Carol before? Did anything surprise you in the book?
2. This is a very short book, and not the only Christmas story that Dickens wrote. Why do you think that it and its message endured and became such a part of English-speaking culture?
3. Did you have a favorite part? What image or line or scene sticks with you the most, if one does?
4. How would you characterize Bob Cratchit’s attitude toward Scrooge? Scrooge’s attitude toward Cratchit? Besides literal heat, what might be the symbolism of the tiny coal fire that Cratchit has in the office?
5. How is Scrooge affected by seeing the Cratchit family?
6. What is the lesson Scrooge learns when the ghost shows him the Cratchit family after Tim’s death? Why is this lesson needed when Scrooge’s attitude has already changed so much?
7. Is Scrooge’s transformation believable?

Now I want to have an actual discussion so I'm not sure if I should answer the questions on my own or wait to see what other people think or write???

***On a side note and final note, here are some of the quotes or lines of the characters that really stuck with me:

"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you." p.23

"The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power forever." p.28

"I should have liked, I do confess, to have had the lightest license of a child and yet to have been madn enough to know its value." p.53

"...For it is always the person not in the predicament who knows what ought to have been done in it, and would unquestionably have done it too..." p.59

"It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that, while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor." p.81

"...For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas..." p.85

"Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own, to make amends in!" p.115

Alright so I actually want to see what everyone else thinks before I share my own opinion. I hope more than Stacey and myself read... but if not, I still think it will be an awesome conversation!

So start talking/typing!

A Thought

Okay, so I haven't been the best at keeping this book club going month to month. In my excuse I started a new job that is kind of stressful and taking all of my time. But I promise to do better.

Now I know December has already started, and I know it isn't my month to choose, but I am not sure if Beckah is really following much in the book club so I'm going to make a suggestion, and you can do with it what you will.

It is December and everyone is all Christmas focused, as we should be. So I thought a fun book to read this month would be "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. I have never read it and always wanted to, so that is what I will be reading in Decemeber. Please feel free to read along and we can talk about it and all the memories and thoughts we have about the book and all its film adaptations.

Let me know what you think?

PS... I going to try and finish this before Christmas so that we can talk about our Christmas and our reading!

Thought

So here's the thing. I think I suck at book clubs.

'Cause I either don't get around to reading the book everyone's reading, or I'm not in the mood for the book, or I've already read the book, or whatever. But I love books, and I really love you guys, so here's what my book club participation is gonna consist of:

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS!

Feel free to join me in this endeavor, or comment if you've read one of these books. You are also free to ignore all of these recommendations. I'm also on goodreads, and you're welcome to check out more book reviews there. Also, when it's my turn to pick a book, I'll let you guys just decide from among these posts.

So, here are a few recommendations I have from the last few months. (I was about to recommend Anna Karenina, but I'm only a third of the way through and that seems like breaking the rules. It's HECKA good though.) These are all YA reads.

Hate List by Jennifer Brown
This book is told from the point of view of a girl whose boyfriend opened fire on their high school, using a list they created together of people they hated to target victims, before turning the gun on himself. She never had any intention of harm, but she now finds herself in the difficult position of being both a victim and an accomplice.

Purity by Jackson Pearce
I worried that this was going to be one of those cheesy "Christian questioning her desires for chastity" books, but it totally wasn't. Through a series of circumstances, 16-year-old Shelby decides to try to lose her virginity in the next 5 weeks before the "Princess Ball," where she's supposed to make a vow of chastity. She feels restricted by the idea, so she figures that if she has sex BEFORE the ball, she won't have any purity to pledge and the vow is void. But things are more complicated than she thought, and she has a series of misadventures, including buying condoms from a pharmacist who looks like her grandfather and trying to seduce a guy who looks like Jesus. A beautiful coming of age story about identity, love, selflessness, and what it truly means to keep a promise.

Carpe Diem by Autumn Cornwell
I was so enchanted by this book that I immediately ordered it on Amazon after reading the library's copy.  I almost always judge books by their covers, and this one lived up to its fantastic cover design. I love this book so much I'm going to buy it. A great story about letting go and living in the moment, told by a narrator I recognized as, well, a lot of myself. The author herself has lived a life of travel and adventure, and reports that at least half of the things that happen to Vassar in the book happened to her at one point or another (including being held hostage in the jungle of Laos). The truth is always stranger than fiction, they say, but this fiction is delightful enough for me.

Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green
If you can find this book on tape (or cd...or...mp3 file--man I gotta get with the times), LISTEN to it. The actor who reads it is phenomenal. John Green is a master, and all of his books are wonderful. In this one, the themes of identity and truth and fear are true to life and confusing and beautiful. **NOTE: Homosexuality is a major theme in this book, and while none of it is explicit, it IS talked about. There's also a lot of language in this book. If you're uncomfortable with either of those things, you may want to skip it.**

Happy reading!  

Finally my turn! (November)

Hello fellow bookclubbers! My name is Esther, and it is my turn to suggest a book.
This summer I got a kindle for my birthday, and as a result I've been reading much more than I used to. I have read some great books, but I've narrowed it down to 3 to choose from. If there isn't a clear winner in a few days then I will pick my favourite.

The first book that I present to you is "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. I picked this up in holiday this summer and I really resented having to put it down! This is Amazon's summary;
"

Enter a vanished and unjust world: Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Where black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver...

There's Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child and nursing the hurt caused by her own son's tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is nearly as sassy as her tongue; and white Miss Skeeter, home from College, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared.

Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. No one would believe they'd be friends; fewer still would tolerate it. But as each woman finds the courage to cross boundaries, they come to depend and rely upon one another. Each is in a search of a truth. And together they have an extraordinary story to tell..."

This isn't a topic that I ever thought would appeal to me, but it was told so well that I got sucked in. I loved all the characters and really wanted to know what would happen. It was one of those books that I never wanted to end. It was also a real eye opener, I couldn't believe that it was set in the 60s! The only downside to this book is that it is quite long, but if you can find the time, you wont be sorry. Oh, and I have seen the film since then, and as usual the book is much better. The film was good, but there is only so much that you can fit in, and anything cut out of the book would be a shame.


This summer I especially made an effort to read some of the classics, in an atempt to feel intelligent, and to be better at quizes! So, when my husband downloaded "Around the world in 80 days" by Jules Verne, I thought that I would give it a go. I was very pleasantly surprised. Again, I really liked the characters, and the book wasn't full of boring descriptions like I feared.I especially enjoyed the chapter in Utah :) The best thing about this book though was the ending. Ever though the story is really old, I hardly knew anything about it, and was still surprised at the end! So if you want a classic read, with a really cool story, this is the one!


The third choice is also along the classic lines. The summer I finished reading all of Jane Austin's novels for the first time, and I was in mourning that I would never read one of them for the first time again. I decided to branch out and read "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte. I found it to be a lot more sombre than Austin's work, but still very well written and I was invested in the characters. I think that this is a book that should definitely be read in a person's life time. I also think that it is one of the most romantic stories ever, and I love how doing the right thing and being brave really pays off  in the end. It would have been so easy for Jane to take the easy way out, and , well, I don't want to spoil it if you haven't read it already! I will just say that it was a very satisfying read.


So, it's up to you, although ..I strongly recommend all 3!

Thoughts on One Second After

Melissa posted this on the comments and I thought it might be better seen here:

Ok all, what did you think about it? Did you find yourself looking at your own food storage differently? Do you think you know your neighbors well enough that you'd protect eachother or be everyman for himself? Did you lose any sleep over this book? Which character did you relate to the most? Why? What was the most jaw dropping moment in the book to you? ( we'll start there)

Hello book clubies.

I'm not much of a reader, that's point one. The truth Is I read slow, it's a curse some of us live with, we re-read sentences and paragraphs because it either didn't go in or it just didn't make sense. My theory based on my extensive research, namely me, is that I felt pressure at school to be reading 'big books'. The kid with the most pages, smallest print, least pictures was the cleverest. All sat at a desk reading our chosen book from the school library and proving that I was a 'big book' reader when in reality a picture book would have been what I would have chosen and my English reading lessons consisted of me day dream whilst staring at the book and occasionally turning a page.

Point two I love reading but don't get round to it too often. I don't like too much description, or swearing or sex. Books should come with ratings, the amount I have half read due the above is just as long as my read list.

Point 3, I've not read next months book so I apologise if it has any things from point two. I have However read the first few pages and it amused me. Big tick in my estimation.

Point 4, it's British.

Point 5' I'm british.

Point 6 I present you with "things can only get better: eighteen miserable years in the life of a labour supporter" by John o'Farell

I will post a pic when my laptop charger arrives in the mean time blogger on an iPad sucks.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Things-Can-Only-Get-Better/dp/0552998036/ref=cm_lmf_tit_3

September Book

My very good friend Melissa has the book choice for this month and she facebooked me to tell me our book would be:

One Second After by William R. Forstchen.

I honestly don't know anything about the book or author, but I'm excited because it sounds all suspenseful and page turner-y.

So hurry and finish Peter Pan if you haven't. And Kathleeny, I know you are busy housing and developing your first born, but please don't forget us lowly book club peeps! (I mean that in an only slightly sarcastic way... I blame all the caffeine going through my system at the moment.)

Alright readers.... READ!