I liked Heather's suggestion that we have our own little blog book club. So, here are the books that were voted on by the girls in my book club, in case you want to read along with us.
May "Dearest Friend" Lynn Withey
June "The Alchemist" Paolo Coelho
July "My Sister's Keeper" Jodi Picoult
August "Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China" Jung Chang
September "The Cloister Walk" Kathleen Morris
October "Tom Sawyer" Mark Twain
November "The Beggar King and the Secret to Happiness" Joel Ben Izzy
December "Crossing to Safety" Wallace Stegnar
January "The Book Thief" Marcus Zusak
February "Walk Two Moons" Sharon Creech
If there is a book that doesn't interest you, we could just make some suggestions of our own and read that one instead--for example, the book for August doesn't appeal to me personally--if everyone feels the same way, we can throw out some other titles and vote which to read on.
As far as discussion goes, I can post some of the questions that our discussion leader poses or you can post your own and we can all comment with our thoughts, insights, etc.
I can post the synopsis of these books if you're interested.
What do you think?
5 comments:
Thanks, man. This will be sweet. Maybe it will even inspire the people on the left to participate (the list of bloggers).
i'm in. as for the other's, they have to visit the site in order to be inspired so maybe it will just be us 3.
Hey - I want to play if I can get past work, the dishes, and mowing the lawn like Katie's next comment. Will you post at least a couple synopses (?) to get me started? Pretty cool idea. My ward has a book club, but I'm never interested in any of the books they choose.
Okee dokee, here are the synopses for the first 4 books on the list.
Hopefully this month's book won't be too boring, I don't want everyone to give up after only one book.
Dearest Friend – Lynn Withey
This is the life of Abigail Adams, wife of patriot John Adams, who became the most influential woman in Revolutionary America. Rich with excerpts from her personal letters, Dearest Friend captures the public and private sides of this fascinating woman, who was both an advocate of slave emancipation and a burgeoning feminist, urging her husband to "Remember the Ladies" as he framed the laws of their new country. John and Abigail Adams married for love. While John traveled in America and abroad to help forge a new nation, Abigail remained at home, raising four children, managing their estate, and writing letters to her beloved husband. Chronicling their remarkable fifty-four-year marriage, her blossoming feminism, her battles with loneliness, and her friendships with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, Dearest Friend paints a portrait of Abigail Adams as an intelligent, resourceful, and outspoken woman.
The Alchemist – Paolo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its simplicity and wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an Alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a meditation on the treasures found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is art eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.
My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult presents the story of a child whose sole reason for existence is to assure a genetic match for her terminally ill sibling. Conceived in vitro, 13-year-old Anna Fitzgerald has decided to sue her parents to stop them from using her as "spare parts" for her older sister, Kate, who suffers from leukemia. After years of having her bone marrow and blood used to keep Kate alive, Anna now refuses to donate a kidney and strives for her own personal freedom. She hires lawyer Campbell Alexander to represent her, even as her own mother, a former civil defense attorney, fights her in court. The tragic circumstances of Anna's plight are made all the more poignant because it's clear from the onset how much she loves her family. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you?
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Blending the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history, Wild Swans has become a bestselling classic in thirty languages, with more than ten million copies sold. The story of three generations in twentieth-century China, it is an engrossing record of Mao's impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love. Jung Chang describes the life of her grandmother, a warlord's concubine; her mother's struggles as a young idealistic Communist; and her parents' experience as members of the Communist elite and their ordeal during the Cultural Revolution. Chang was a Red Guard briefly at the age of fourteen, then worked as a peasant, a "barefoot doctor," a steelworker, and an electrician. As the story of each generation unfolds, Chang captures in gripping, moving -- and ultimately uplifting -- detail the cycles of violent drama visited on her own family and millions of others caught in the whirlwind of history.
I just decided today that I was going to start reading books again. So I'm in but I will have to bow out in June or July when the last Harry Potter book comes out. I've never been a member ofa book club from the looks of it you read books that are more mature and thought provoking than Harry POtter. But I am not very mature. (stil shop in the juniors section) Anyway I want to read along too.
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