Let's add some more...

Leave a comment with another book to add to our list. I'll put them all in a hat and draw them out to decide the order.

September 2008: My Sister's Keeper

The book for September is My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult.

I have read this book before and LOVE it. It tugs at your heartstrings, gets you to question things and makes you think. The way it is written also is interesting. Each chapter is written from a different person's point of view. The language is different, the emotions, it is amazing what Ms. Picoult captured.


Here is a summary:

Anna was genetically engineered to be a perfect match for her cancer-ridden older sister. Since birth, the 13-year-old has donated platelets, blood, her umbilical cord, and bone marrow as part of her family's struggle to lengthen Kate's life. Anna is now being considered as a kidney donor in a last-ditch attempt to save her 16-year-old sister. As this compelling story opens, Anna has hired a lawyer to represent her in a medical emancipation suit to allow her to have control over her own body. Picoult skillfully relates the ensuing drama from the points of view of the parents; Anna; Cambell, the self-absorbed lawyer; Julia, the court-appointed guardian ad litem; and Jesse, the troubled oldest child in the family. Everyone's quandary is explicated and each of the characters is fully developed. There seems to be no easy answer, and readers are likely to be sympathetic to all sides of the case. This is a real page-turner and frighteningly thought-provoking. The story shows evidence of thorough research and the unexpected twist at the end will surprise almost everyone.

Here is the book on Amazon for $10, and here is the book on ebay, some are as little as $0.99.

We'll get together starting September 22nd to discuss.

Also - Watch out mid month for another poll, we need to add some more books to our list.

Pilot's Wife Discussion

Here are some comments to spur discussion, but if you have any other comments/questions please voice them! (Questions are from here if you want to read some more)

The complex relationship between secrecy and intimacy is an important theme of The Pilot's Wife. Consider the secrets kept by the following characters: Kathryn, Jack, Mattie, Robert, Muire. In each case, what motivates the deceiver? Who is protected and who is harmed by the secret? Can deception ever be an expression of love? Examine the conversation between Kathryn and Mattie on pages 118-119, especially Mattie's question: "But how do you ever know that you know a person?" Is there a more satisfactory answer to this question than the one Kathryn offers?

What devices does Shreve use to make her novel such a compelling read? Consider the flashbacks, the action, the style of language and word choice, and character painting.

Do you think The Pilot's Wife would make a good film? If so, why? Who would you cast as the major characters in the film version? Why?

August 2008: The Pilot's Wife

The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve is our book for August.




Here is the snippet from Amazon.com:

News of Jack Lyons's fatal crash sends his wife into shock and emotional numbness:
Kathryn wished she could manage a coma. Instead, it seemed that quite the opposite had happened:

She felt herself to be inside of a private weather system, one in which she was continuously tossed and buffeted by bits of news and information, sometimes chilled by thoughts of what lay immediately ahead, thawed by the kindness of others ... frequently drenched by memories that seemed to have no regard for circumstance or place, and then subjected to the nearly intolerable heat of reporters, photographers and curious on-lookers. It was a weather system with no logic, she had decided, no pattern, no progression, no form.

The situation becomes even more dire when the plane's black box is recovered, pinning responsibility for the crash on Jack. In an attempt to clear his name, Kathryn searches for any and all clues to the hours before the flight. Yet each discovery forces her to realize that she didn't know her husband of 16 years at all. Shreve's complex and highly convincing treatment of Kathryn's dilemma, coupled with intriguing minor characters and an expertly paced plot, makes The Pilot's Wife really take off.

Here is where you can buy the book on Amazon.
And here is where you can get the book on ebay.


Read the book and then come back here the week of August 25th to discuss!

See you then!

List

We got a few books for the list, thank you to the two of you who voted...not the turn-out I was hoping for, but ah well.
I put the three books mentioned (see comment below on the fourth book) in a bowl and pulled them out in random order. So here we are:

August: The Pilot's Wife
September: My Sister's Keeper
October: Lust for Life

Someone nominated Breaking Dawn, but I don't know if you need to read the other books first (Twilight, etc) and since the comment was anonymous I couldn't ask them. So if that comment was yours, could you please let us know? Or if you didn't leave the comment but just know the answer, could you let us know as well?

Ok, so now you know our schedule for the next three months so you can get ahold of copies of the books and start reading!!

Testing 1, 2, 3...anyone hear me??

Ok, I am going to open up voting again...now we've had a couple months off we can try to get back on track.  Here's how you do it - for those of you who are new or who may have forgotten ;) - all you do is leave a comment with the title/author (if you know him/her) of the book you'd like to read.   You can nominate more than one this time, and we'll get a list for the next few months so you can plan ahead! :)  I will 'tally' the totals on Saturday the 26th and post the next few month's selections (that is if I get nominations...hint, hint) on Sunday or Monday. 

Ok, all you blogstalkers...VOTE!!

Let the voting begin!

Ok, last month's voting was GREAT! We had lots of great nominations for books to read. This time we're going to make it just a tad simpler - you can only nominate ONE book. So choose your favorite for right now and leave a comment!

This vote will cover June and July...I figure everyone is going to be super busy over the summer and won't have as much time to read so we'll lump June and July together to give us a bit longer to finish - so if you have a longer book, this would be a good time to nominate it!

Voting closes Friday night! :)

The Lovely Bones Discussion

Here are a couple questions I found to spur our discussion. If you haven't read the book yet - beware -there will be spoilers in the comments!!

Discuss the way in which guilt manifests itself in the various characters - Jack, Abigail, Lindsay, Mr. Harvey, Len Fenerman.

Does Buckley really see Susie, or does he make up a version of his sister as a way of understanding, and not being too emotionally damaged by, her death? How do you explain tragedy to a child? Do you think Susie's parents do a good job of helping Buckley comprehend the loss of his sister?

Can Abigail's choice to leave her family be justified?

Why does the author include details about Mr. Harvey's childhood and his memories of his mother? By giving him a human side, does Sebold get us closer to understanding his motivation? Sebold explained in an interview about the novel that murderers "are not animals but men," and that is what makes them so frightening. Do you agree?

In Susie's Heaven, she is surrounded by things that bring her peace. What would your Heaven be like? Is it surprising that in Susie's inward, personal version of the hereafter there is no God or larger being that presides?

East of Eden Discussion

Here we are at the end of another month. East of Eden was quite an undertaking and if there are any of you who have read it before (Briana, nudge - nudge) please feel free to comment too.

This reviewer says East of Eden is a bore and should never be re-red or even read. I know a lot of people associate Steinbeck with heavy reading because we were all 'forced' to read something of his in High School when we would have rather been reading Seventeen or Cosmo. I did have a hard time getting into the book...did you?


Here is one of the questions I stole from This site:

Adam Trask struggles to overcome the actions of others—his father, brother, and wife—and make his own life. What is the lesson that he learns that frees him from Kate and allows him to love his sons? He says to Cal near the end that "if you want to give me a present—give me a good life. That would be something I could value." Does Adam have a good life? What hinders him? Would you characterize his life as successful in the end?

And another:

What constitutes true wealth in the book? The Hamiltons and the Trasks are most explicitly differentiated by their relationship to money: though Sam Hamilton works hard he accumulates little, while Adam Trask moons and mourns and lives off the money acquired by his father. Think of different times that money is sought after or rejected by characters (such as Will Hamilton and Cal Trask) and the role that it plays to help and hinder them in realizing their dreams. Does the quest for money ever obscure deeper desires?

So here we are...lets get the comments rolling...If you have comments that don't relate to the questions above - that is AWESOME...please share them.

May 2008: The Lovely Bones

Thanks Janus, Briana and Kim for the votes!!  I am excited that we got so many great nominations...The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold was mentioned or nominated twice so we'll do that one.  I have added the other books nominated to the side 'On the Docket' menu...so maybe next month.  But Im SO excited that we got more votes this time. :)

HERE is where you can buy it on Amazon.   And HERE is the book on ebay.

There is a mini-review on the Amazon site and other reader comments so you can get a feel for the book. 

I am excited because we've had several good books nominated and so things should pick up over the summer...If you nominated a book and it didn't get picked nominate it again next month (and maybe get a friend to join the bookgroup and nominate it too...sneaky sneaky)