September's book choices

Jen J's choices for September:

1. "Imagine: How Creativity Works" by Jonah Lehrer

(From Amazon) "Did you know that the most creative companies have centralized bathrooms? That brainstorming meetings are a terrible idea? That the color blue can help you double your creative output?

From the New York Times best-selling author of How We Decide comes a sparkling and revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Shattering the myth of muses, higher powers, even creative “types,” Jonah Lehrer demonstrates that creativity is not a single gift possessed by the lucky few. It’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively."

2. "The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton

This one is rather long, but so excellent. I got the audiobook, and the reader does a great job.

(From Amazon) "Like Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved classic The Secret Garden, Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden takes root in your imagination and grows into something enchanting--from a little girl with no memories left alone on a ship to Australia, to a fog-soaked London river bend where orphans comfort themselves with stories of Jack the Ripper, to a Cornish sea heaving against wind-whipped cliffs, crowned by an airless manor house where an overgrown hedge maze ends in the walled garden of a cottage left to rot. This hidden bit of earth revives barren hearts, while the mysterious Authoress's fairy tales (every bit as magical and sinister as Grimm's) whisper truths and ignite the imaginary lives of children. As Morton draws you through a thicket of secrets that spans generations, her story could cross into fairy tale territory if her characters weren't clothed in such complex flesh, their judgment blurred by the heady stench of emotions (envy, lust, pride, love) that furtively flourished in the glasshouse of Edwardian society. While most ache for a spotless mind's eternal sunshine, the Authoress meets the past as "a cruel mistress with whom we must all learn to dance," and her stories gift children with this vital muscle memory. --Mari Malcolm"

3. "Book of a Thousand Days" by Shannon Hale

(From Amazon) "When Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven years for Saren’s refusal to marry a man she despises, the two prepare for a very long and dark imprisonment.

As food runs low and the days go from broiling hot to freezing cold, it is all Dashti can do to keep them fed and comfortable. But the arrival outside the tower of Saren’s two suitors—one welcome, and the other decidedly less so—brings both hope and great danger, and Dashti must make the desperate choices of a girl whose life is worth more than she knows.

With Shannon Hale’s lyrical language, this forgotten but classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm is reimagined and reset on the central Asian steppes; it is a completely unique retelling filled with adventure and romance, drama and disguise."

June's choices

From Ashley:

The Color Purple by Alice Walker http://www.amazon.com/Color-Purple-Alice-Walker/dp/0156031825/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326954459&sr=1-1

Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Magic-Immortals-Tamora-Pierce/dp/067988288X

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Project-Morning-Aristotle-Generally/dp/0061583251

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult http://www.amazon.com/My-Sisters-Keeper-Jodi-Picoult/dp/0743454537/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329830555&sr=8-1

Choices for April's reading

Augustine, James O'Donnell -- a biography of the great 6th century religious thinker. Before you completely discount it, I haven't read this book, but I have read another by the same author and he's fantastic and very engaging. I've been wanting to read this one for a while.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte -- a fictional biography of a mid-19th century orphan who makes her own way in the world. Gothic, romantic, mysterious...

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua -- "An awe-inspiring, often hilarious, and unerringly honest story of one mother's exercise in extreme parenting, revealing the rewards-and the costs-of raising her children the Chinese way."

Book Choices for February, March and May

Christina selected The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen by Lindsay Ashford for February.

Maggie picked My Name Is Mary Sutter, by Robin Oliviera for our March discussion.

Julia chose Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher for May's reading.

Enjoy!

Options for January AND a change in schedule

PLEASE NOTE the change in schedule for the next few months. We will be discussing Cathy's choice, Outcasts United, in November, then Carolyn's in December. Unless someone can think of a conflict, we will change December's meeting to the 13th so we're not bumping up against Christmas.

Here are Jillene's choices for January's meeting:

Sister Of My Heart -- Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni made an indelible impression on the literary world with her first novel, The Mistress of Spices, a magical tale of love and herbs. Sister of My Heart is less reliant on enchantment but no less enchanting as it tells the tale of two cousins born on the same day, their premature births brought on by a mysterious occurrence that claims the lives of both their fathers. Sudha is beautiful, Anju is not; yet the girls love each other as sisters, the bond between them so strong it seems nothing can break it. When both are pushed into arranged marriages, however, each discovers a devastating secret that changes their relationship forever. Sister of My Heart spans many years and zigzags between India and America as the cousins first grow apart and then eventually reunite. Divakaruni invests this domestic drama with poetry as she traces her heroines' lives from infancy to motherhood, but it is Sudha and Anju who give the story its backbone. Anju might speak for both when she says, "In spite of all my insecurities, in spite of the oceans that'll be between us soon and the men that are between us already, I can never stop loving Sudha. It's my habit, and it's my fate." Book lovers may well discover that reading Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is habit-forming as well. --Margaret Prior

Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card -- a sci-fi classic. Intense is the word for Ender's Game. Aliens have attacked Earth twice and almost destroyed the human species. To make sure humans win the next encounter, the world government has taken to breeding military geniuses -- and then training them in the arts of war... The early training, not surprisingly, takes the form of 'games'... Ender Wiggin is a genius among geniuses; he wins all the games... He is smart enough to know that time is running out. But is he smart enough to save the planet? (Amazon.com review)

The Chosen, Chaim Potok -- Few stories offer more warmth, wisdom, or generosity than this tale of two boys, their fathers, their friendship, and the chaotic times in which they live. Though on the surface it explores religious faith--the intellectually committed as well as the passionately observant--the struggles addressed in The Chosen are familiar to families of all faiths and in all nations. In 1940s Brooklyn, New York, an accident throws Reuven Malther and Danny Saunders together. Despite their differences (Reuven is a Modern Orthodox Jew with an intellectual, Zionist father; Danny is the brilliant son and rightful heir to a Hasidic rebbe), the young men form a deep, if unlikely, friendship. Together they negotiate adolescence, family conflicts, the crisis of faith engendered when Holocaust stories begin to emerge in the U.S., loss, love, and the journey to adulthood. The intellectual and spiritual clashes between fathers, between each son and his own father, and between the two young men, provide a unique backdrop for this exploration of fathers, sons, faith, loyalty, and, ultimately, the power of love. (Amazon.com review)

November's reading choices

Browse through Carolyn's choices for November and vote on the right:

The Man Who Never Was: World War II's Boldest Counterintelligence Operation by Ewen Montagu

Operation 'Mincemeat' involved the acquisition and dressing up of a human cadaver as a "Major William Martin, R.M." (born in Aberbargoed) and putting it into the sea near Huelva, Spain. Attached to the corpse was a brief-case containing fake letters falsely stating that the Allied attack would be against Sardinia and Greece rather than Sicily, the actual point of invasion. When the body was found, the Spanish Intelligence Service passed copies of the papers to the German Intelligence Service which passed them on to their High Command. The ruse was so successful that the Germans still believed that Sardinia and Greece were the intended objectives, weeks after the landings in Sicily had begun.

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

A comedy about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero. Benedick and Beatrice are engaged in a "merry war"; they both talk a mile a minute and proclaim their scorn for love, marriage, and each other. In contrast, Claudio and Hero are sweet young people who are rendered practically speechless by their love for one another. By means of "noting" (which sounds the same as "nothing," and which is gossip, rumour, and overhearing), Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into confessing their love for each other, and Claudio is tricked into rejecting Hero at the altar. However, Dogberry, a Constable who is a master of malapropisms, discovers the evil trickery of the villain.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

A fairy tale about the most beautiful woman in the world, Buttercup, and her love for Westley. The movie is based on this book.

October's Reading Choices

Here are Corinne's selections for October: (click on the title for more information)

Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys - (library does not own)

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner - (library has 2 copies)

Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day by Winifred Watson - (library has 3 copies)