Help!

I want to come up with some book ideas for the December book...I'd like it to have something to do with the holidays...if we get two good ideas we'll do them for November and December. So, drop your ballots in the comment section - and hurry, the end of the month is Friday so we need to have the November book in place by then.

I also want to get the list of books at least through March up soon- so post your suggestions for them too.


So, a comment would look like this:

Nov, Dec: Skipping Christmas
New Year: Moby Dick

Thanks!!

Followers

Hey - Blogger added this new thing a month or so ago - and it allows you to follow a blog. It makes it easy to see when the site has been updated, and it also lets me know that I am not the only Unseen Reader out there.

So what do I want? I want you to follow the blog (see the box on the right)...come on, what are you waiting for?!?

My Sister's Keeper Discussion

Here are some questions to spur discussion. I got these from HERE and AND HERE. There were more questions at these links too - if you're looking for more.

Reread the prologue to My Sister's Keeper. Who is speaking? Is that who you thought was speaking the first time you read it?

What is your opinion of Sara? With her life focused on saving Kate, she sometimes neglects her other children. Jesse is rapidly becoming a juvenile delinquent, and Anna is invisible -- a fact that the little girl knows only too well. What does this say about Sara's role as a mother? What would you have done in her shoes? Has she unwittingly forgotten Jesse and Anna, or do you think she has consciously chosen to neglect them -- either as an attempt to save a little energy for herself, or as some kind of punishment? Does Sara resent her other children for being healthy? Did you find yourself criticizing Sara, empathizing with her, or both?

Why does Jesse burn things? Is Jesse the opposite of his firefighter father or are they similar? In what ways?

During a conversation about Kate, Zanne tells Sara, "No one has to be a martyr 24/7." When she mistakenly hears the word "mother" not "martyr" and is corrected by Zanne, Sara smiles and asks, "Is there a difference?" In what ways does this moment provide insight into Sara's state of mind? Do you think it strange that she sees no difference between motherhood and martyrhood?

The epilogue talks about how the family moved on. How did they grieve? How did they survive? In what ways did Anna give life back to all of them, not just Kate?

Near the end of the novel, Anna describes "Ifspeak" -- the language that all children know, but abandon as they grow older -- remarking that "Kids think with their brains cracked wide open; becoming an adult, I've decided, is only a slow sewing shut." Do you believe this to be true? What might children teach the adults in this novel? Which adults need lessons most?

At one point, Campbell thinks to himself: "There are two reasons not to tell the truth -- because lying will get you what you want, and because lying will keep someone from getting hurt." With this kind of thinking, Campbell gives himself an amazingly wide berth; he effectively frees himself from speaking any semblance of the truth as long as the lie will somehow benefit himself or anyone else. Did it concern you that a lawyer would express an opinion like this? Do you think, by the end of the story, that Campbell still thinks this moral flexibility is okay? In what ways might this kind of thinking actually wind up hurting Campbell?

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! :)