Here are Cari's choices for May's reading. Please use the poll on the right to make your selection. I'll leave it open for 2 weeks to give us a chance to make our opinions known. They both sound really good:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
One review from Amazon.com:
From Bookmarks Magazine“Traditional without seeming stale, and romantic without being naïve” (San Francisco Chronicle), this epistolary novel, based on Mary Ann Shaffer’s painstaking, lifelong research, is a homage to booklovers and a nostalgic portrayal of an era. As her quirky, loveable characters cite the works of Shakespeare, Austen, and the Brontës, Shaffer subtly weaves those writers’ themes into her own narrative. However, it is the tragic stories of life under Nazi occupation that animate the novel and give it its urgency; furthermore, the novel explores the darker side of human nature without becoming maudlin. The Rocky Mountain News criticized the novel’s lighthearted tone and characterizations, but most critics agreed that, with its humor and optimism, Guernsey “affirms the power of books to nourish people during hard times” (Washington Post).Copyright 2008 Bookmarks Publishing LLC --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Banker To The Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
Also from Amazon.com:
From Library JournalBangladesh, a country the size of Florida with a population of over 120 million people, is the home of Grameen Bank, the inspiration of economist Yunus, Bangladesh-born and U.S.-trained. Instead of spending his life as a university economics professor, Yunus decided in the mid-1970s to develop a micro-lending program to help the poorest people of his country. Yunus based the program on his strong belief that the very poor do not need complicated training programs to improve their economic lot. They need money, in the form of loans. This program has empowered thousands of peopleAmany of them womenAand surprised experts in economic development who never believed that the very poor would find the initiative and ability to repay even the smallest ($25-$500) loans. Grameen ("of the village") Bank has developed into an internationally acclaimed and replicated method for assisting the impoverished in Malaysia, the Philippines, Nepal, and even the United States. Definitely recommended for larger public and academic libraries.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
MEETING TONIGHT
Book Club tonight at my house. Call for directions or meet us here at 8:00! Bring a friend! :)
Deborah
Deborah
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Erin's Choices
Here are Erin's Book Choices for April. I'm trying something new and using Blogger's poll gadget, so look on the sidebar to vote! (Why weren't we doing this before????)
YA Books with lots of Discussion Potential
YA Books with lots of Discussion Potential
The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman
Honor and her parents have been reassigned to live on Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea. Life is peaceful there—the color of the sky is regulated by Earth Mother, a corporation that controls New Weather, and it almost never rains. Everyone fits into their rightful and predictable place. . . .
Except Honor. She doesn’t fit in, but then she meets Helix, a boy with a big heart and a keen sense for the world around them. Slowly, Honor and Helix begin to uncover a terrible truth about life on the Island: Sooner or later, those who are unpredictable disappear . . . and they don’t ever come back.
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them
Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until theireighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers?
This fascinating novel represents a stunning new direction for acclaimed author Mary Pearson. Set in a near future America, it takes readers on an unforgettable journey through questions of bio-medical ethics and the nature of humanity. Mary Pearson's vividly drawn characters and masterful writing soar to a new level of sophistication.
NEW DAY
So, we're going to try meeting on the SECOND FRIDAY of the month. Let's try it and see how it goes.
If you're hosting (or attending) and you want to change which Friday (say, move it to the 3rd Friday) go ahead and email or post here and see if everyone is down with that. Sound good? Great.
If you're hosting (or attending) and you want to change which Friday (say, move it to the 3rd Friday) go ahead and email or post here and see if everyone is down with that. Sound good? Great.
Friday, January 9, 2009
MOVIE CHANGE
As of right now, only two people were going to see the movie, so we're putting it off till next week. So, if you were going to see it tonight and didn't tell me, better call me pretty soon, and we'll still go.
Otherwise, please leave a comment or email me if you are planning to come next Friday (16th) at 8:15 at Snowden Square, with yummy treats and discussion beforehand at 7:00. Thanks.
Otherwise, please leave a comment or email me if you are planning to come next Friday (16th) at 8:15 at Snowden Square, with yummy treats and discussion beforehand at 7:00. Thanks.
Movie
In case anyone reads this instead of their email, we're going to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at 8:15 at Snowden Square. Come to my house at 7:00 if you want to talk about the book first and drive together.
Monday, December 8, 2008
February Book Choices
Ok, so since February is all about romance, I thought I'd do the following theme:
Classic Romance Novels (that I have not read by three of my favorite authors)
A Laodicean by Thomas Hardy.
Hardy is my favorite author, but I never have read this one. The following little review seems sort of dry, but I guarantee you, no Hardy novel is dry. Romantic desire is at the heart of each of his stories, while interwoven with a different social/economical dilemma in each.
Using the restoration of a castle as a framework, classic novelist Thomas Hardy considers the ancient analogy between architecture and philosophy. "Laodicean" is a term for early Christians lukewarm in their beliefs. Hardy's character, passionate architect George Somerset finds himself captivated by "Laodicean" Paula Power, whose views on conventions of any kind are lukewarm at best.
The Professor by Charlotte Bronte.
This book is said to be her most autobiographical. While the main character is actually a man, it describes Charlotte's obsession with her own professor, which resonates in each of her novels.
The hero of Charlotte Bronte's first novel escapes a dreary clerkship in industrial Yorkshire by taking a job as a teacher in Belgium. There, however, his entanglement with the sensuous but manipulative Zoraide Reuter, complicates his affections for a penniless girl who is both teacher and pupil in Reuter's school.
Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton.
Ummm . . . so this one does not sound strictly "romantic" but I couldn't resist given the title. I cannot imagine the romance takes too far of a back seat, given Wharton's history. Here is a little review (the shortest I could find!):
Wharton is as stunningly effective as in "A House of Mirth", here conveying the frustration of a circle of people interdependent upon one another, destined to follow society's rules no matter what the cost. Each character desperately clutches at a "twilight sleep"; the mode of coping each engages to distance reality. Masquerading as habit or whim, the painted veil of illusion overlays each mode of addictive escape. Nona, the beautiful, well-bred New Yorker struggles with an imperatrix sister-in-law Lita, whose values (and their consequences) threaten the entire social order Nona's family fabric is woven of. The Marchesa dispenses her social value as Pauline erases her son's debts. Lita's tabloid exposure and screen career must be suppressed. The men escape into work while the women flail at vanity of excess. The whistle of tragedy sounds in the distance as Nona falls into love with a married man, her brother Jim hopelessly esconced in a bad marriage with a woman he idolises, while her father works himself into an eagerly embraced oblivion, while Jim's father openly drinks to forget the societal oasis he knew before his divorce. Nona's mother compulsively schedules all their lives to death, while pursuing the escapist mysticism of faith healing and the blind support of the latest guru. As the Jazz Age brings down the curtain on the theatre of old New York and its values, Art and Cinema loom. While the family coalesces at their country estate to save Jim and Lita's marriage, each battle with their chosen talisman against life and its evils. Much more is at stake and much more is lost. This startlingly psychological novel will fascinate any student of life. The sacrifice of a fragment to obtain the societal whole inevitably comes, more starkly portrayed here than anywhere, the novel having served as forceful denouement. In the tolling bells of Whartons' worlds, the death of illusion sounds the deepest peal.
There you have it. Here is a poll:
Classic Romance Novels (that I have not read by three of my favorite authors)
A Laodicean by Thomas Hardy.
Hardy is my favorite author, but I never have read this one. The following little review seems sort of dry, but I guarantee you, no Hardy novel is dry. Romantic desire is at the heart of each of his stories, while interwoven with a different social/economical dilemma in each.
Using the restoration of a castle as a framework, classic novelist Thomas Hardy considers the ancient analogy between architecture and philosophy. "Laodicean" is a term for early Christians lukewarm in their beliefs. Hardy's character, passionate architect George Somerset finds himself captivated by "Laodicean" Paula Power, whose views on conventions of any kind are lukewarm at best.
The Professor by Charlotte Bronte.
This book is said to be her most autobiographical. While the main character is actually a man, it describes Charlotte's obsession with her own professor, which resonates in each of her novels.
The hero of Charlotte Bronte's first novel escapes a dreary clerkship in industrial Yorkshire by taking a job as a teacher in Belgium. There, however, his entanglement with the sensuous but manipulative Zoraide Reuter, complicates his affections for a penniless girl who is both teacher and pupil in Reuter's school.
Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton.
Ummm . . . so this one does not sound strictly "romantic" but I couldn't resist given the title. I cannot imagine the romance takes too far of a back seat, given Wharton's history. Here is a little review (the shortest I could find!):
Wharton is as stunningly effective as in "A House of Mirth", here conveying the frustration of a circle of people interdependent upon one another, destined to follow society's rules no matter what the cost. Each character desperately clutches at a "twilight sleep"; the mode of coping each engages to distance reality. Masquerading as habit or whim, the painted veil of illusion overlays each mode of addictive escape. Nona, the beautiful, well-bred New Yorker struggles with an imperatrix sister-in-law Lita, whose values (and their consequences) threaten the entire social order Nona's family fabric is woven of. The Marchesa dispenses her social value as Pauline erases her son's debts. Lita's tabloid exposure and screen career must be suppressed. The men escape into work while the women flail at vanity of excess. The whistle of tragedy sounds in the distance as Nona falls into love with a married man, her brother Jim hopelessly esconced in a bad marriage with a woman he idolises, while her father works himself into an eagerly embraced oblivion, while Jim's father openly drinks to forget the societal oasis he knew before his divorce. Nona's mother compulsively schedules all their lives to death, while pursuing the escapist mysticism of faith healing and the blind support of the latest guru. As the Jazz Age brings down the curtain on the theatre of old New York and its values, Art and Cinema loom. While the family coalesces at their country estate to save Jim and Lita's marriage, each battle with their chosen talisman against life and its evils. Much more is at stake and much more is lost. This startlingly psychological novel will fascinate any student of life. The sacrifice of a fragment to obtain the societal whole inevitably comes, more starkly portrayed here than anywhere, the novel having served as forceful denouement. In the tolling bells of Whartons' worlds, the death of illusion sounds the deepest peal.
There you have it. Here is a poll:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
