December Book

SO. Friends. My theme is "Books Whose Story Took Place Around the Time of World War Two."

First option: The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman
I was just given this book by a friend, but no one I know has read it yet. I have LOVED everything I've read by Diane Ackerman (and I've read like five of her books).

Here's a review:

Starred Review. Ackerman (A Natural History of the Senses) tells the remarkable WWII story of Jan Zabinski, the director of the Warsaw Zoo, and his wife, Antonina, who, with courage and coolheaded ingenuity, sheltered 300 Jews as well as Polish resisters in their villa and in animal cages and sheds. Using Antonina's diaries, other contemporary sources and her own research in Poland, Ackerman takes us into the Warsaw ghetto and the 1943 Jewish uprising and also describes the Poles' revolt against the Nazi occupiers in 1944. She introduces us to such varied figures as Lutz Heck, the duplicitous head of the Berlin zoo; Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, spiritual head of the ghetto; and the leaders of Zegota, the Polish organization that rescued Jews. Ackerman reveals other rescuers, like Dr. Mada Walter, who helped many Jews pass, giving lessons on how to appear Aryan and not attract notice. Ackerman's writing is viscerally evocative, as in her description of the effects of the German bombing of the zoo area: ...the sky broke open and whistling fire hurtled down, cages exploded, moats rained upward, iron bars squealed as they wrenched apart. This suspenseful beautifully crafted story deserves a wide readership.

Second option: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
Here's a review written by a friend of mine

Third option: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Here's a review, written by a different friend of mine, I've wanted to read it for a while now, but haven't yet.

Please do read those reviews to get an idea of what the book is about - I just don't want to steal off of their blog (of course, taking a review from Amazon doesn't bother me, hee hee). Scroll down to find the poll and vote :)

December Book What should we read for our December meeting? The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne View Result free polls

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Changes in the Book Schedule

Check on the sidebar for changes in the books/hosts. I'll send out an email right now about why!

Richest Man In Babylon

"Babylon was once the richest city in the world, known for its lavish houses, palaces and huge city walls. It created fertile farmland where once there had been desert through the use of irrigation. But as George Clason notes, it was also the cradle of modern finance: money as the means of exchange, tradeable property titles, promissory notes and all forms of lending and borrowing were all highly developed. Its prosperity continued for centuries because its inhabitants were allowed to make money freely. Even slaves, if they could earn a bit on the side, could eventually buy their way to freedom.

"Babylon's success inspired Clason to write a series of fables which would demonstrate the unchanging principles of finance and wealth-building. They became very popular and were distributed by banks, insurance companies and other employers to teach the benefits of saving and hard work. "The Richest Man in Babylon" was one of these stories, and they were later collected into the inspirational classic we know today." (sited here.)

I look forward to discussing the principles taught in the "Babylonian Fables" discussed in "The Richest Man in Babylon". As you read, think about the fundamental principles being taught and what you feel would help you most. You may find that you already practice some of these principles and if that is true please come prepared to share that with us.

Until Thursday, August 7th, happy reading.

Breaking Dawn discussion anyone?

I just read Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse this summer and am interested in Breaking Dawn. I didn't join in the book group discussion of Eclipse last year because I had not read the first two books and could not read all three that quickly. So, would anyone like to get together and discuss Breaking Dawn? I would be happy to host. How many long should we wait after it comes out to get together and talk about it? Let me know.
Angela

Let's Discuss

Ok friends, we have a slight problem. This book group is AWESOME! Well . . . when people come and read the books. Now, I'm as guilty as anyone about not finishing that last book on time, but it seems to me that we've had a smaller turnout with fewer people finishing more and more over the last few months. Is this because people were just out of town? Is it because we're having trouble finishing books in just one month? Is it Thursday nights? Is it because we don't have a set format for how exactly to run the group? It's also hard to figure out who will host in the future when we have such sporadic attendance. I am wondering if changes are in order.

So, please give some input here. I'm NOT giving up on the group by any means! I just want to see what can make it work for us.

Would you like to meet every other month? How about an online forum for discussion for those who can't make the meetings? Would more reminders to get the book read be helpful? What do you think?

It's not surprising we need a little bit of an overhaul--do you know we've been going strong for 3 years?? YAY for us!

September's Book

Ok, it looks like Then We Came to the End: A Novel by Joshua Ferris won for Kathy's month. Now that I've finally decided to update things . . .

Kathy's Book Choices

Whoops. I never made a poll for Kathy's choices. So here you go. Look down a few posts to see her descriptions of these books. Thanks!

Kathy's Book Choices

What shall we read?

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi Then We Came to the End: A Novel by Joshua Ferris

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Free Web Polls

p.s. if you are wondering what happened to the cool old polls, I found out I had to pay for those after 2. So here is a new one for us to try.