Book Club Spotlight -- People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

The library book club will be reading People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks sometime in the next six months. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

The “complex and moving”(The New Yorker) novel by Pulitzer Prize–winner Geraldine Brooks follows a rare manuscript through centuries of exile and warInspired by a true story, People of the Book is a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity by an acclaimed and beloved author. Called “a tour de force”by the San Francisco Chronicle, this ambitious, electrifying work traces the harrowing journey of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain. When it falls to Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, to conserve this priceless work, the series of tiny artifacts she discovers in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—only begin to unlock its deep mysteries and unexpectedly plunges Hanna into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics.

This sounds great. Have you read it? If so, what did you think?

Book Club Spotlight -- Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill

The last book being highlighted is Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill. Here is the publisher's description:

Kidnapped as a child from Africa, Aminata Diallo is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War. In Manhattan she becomes a scribe for the British, recording the names of blacks who have served the King and earned freedom in Nova Scotia. But the hardship and prejudice there prompt her to follow her heart back to Africa, then on to London, where she bears witness to the injustices of slavery and its toll on her life and a whole people. It is a story that no listener, and no reader, will ever forget.

Sounds intense. Have you read it? If so, what did you think?

Book Club Spotlight -- The Book Club by Mary Alice Munroe

Well, the title is very fitting -- isn't it? The Book Club by Mary Alice Monroe is just one of the books selected by the library book club to read over the next six months. Here is what Publisher's Weekly had to say:

Monroe's (Girl in the Mirror) new novel opens as five friends, all members of a monthly book club, face turning points in their lives. Eve's husband dies suddenly, shattering her comfortable lifestyle, while Midge's mother makes an unannounced and unwelcomed reappearance. Annie finally feels ready to have a child, only to find her health and her marriage in jeopardy. Gabriella strains to make ends meet after her husband is laid off; Doris slides into depression as she tries to deny signs of her husband's infidelity. Sometimes close to and sometimes at odds with each other, the friends struggle to face harsh realities and, in the process, gain new independence. The actual book club of the title plays an oddly small role in this celebration of friendship and growth--the books the club reads are mentioned only briefly and often seem irrelevant to the women's struggles. Still, Monroe offers up believable characters in a well-crafted story.

Have you read it? If so, what did you think?

Book Club Spotlight -- Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

The library book club will be reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

"In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel. once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades. but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol." "This simple act takes Henry back to the 1940s, when his world was a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father. who was obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Ranier Elementary. where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship - and innocent love - that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end and that their promise to each other will be kept." Forty years later, Henry Lee, certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko, searches the hotel's dark. dusty basement for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice: words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

I remember this being a popular book when it was published. Have you read it? If so, what did you think?

Book Club Spotlight -- House Rules by Jodi Picoult

This is one of the books that the library book club will be reading over the next six months. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

Jacob Hunt is a teen with Asperger's Syndrome. He is hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, though he is brillant in many ways. But he has a special focus on one subject -- forensic analysis. A police scanner in his room clues him in to crime scenes, and he is always showing up and telling the cops what to do. And he's usually right. But when Jacob's small town is rocked by a terrible murder, law enforcement comes to him. Jacob's behaviors are hallmark Asperger's, but they look a lot like guilt to the local police. Suddenly, the Hunt family, who only want to fit in, are directly in the spotlight.

This sounds like a tough subject. Have you read this? If so, what did you think?

Book Club Spotlight -- Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende

One of the books that the library book club will be reading over the next few months is Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

Born into a poor family in Spain, Ines works hard to make ends meet. It is the sixteenth century, and when her shiftless husband disappears to the New World, Ines uses the opportunity to search for him as an excuse to flee her stifling homeland and seek adventure. After her treacherous journey takes her to Peru, she learns that her husband has died in battle. Soon, she begins a fiery love affair with a man who will change the course of her life.

I have started this book and am really enjoying it. Unbelievable description of how they lived makes it hard to put down. Have you read this? If so, what did you think?

Book Club Spotlight -- Finny by Justin Kramon

One of the books the library book club will be reading over the next few months is Finny by Justin Kramon. Here is what Publisher's Weekly had to say:

In his impressive debut, Kramon takes on a number of familiar coming-of-age plots -- small town fish out of water adolescence, frustrated first love, boarding school friendships, big city escapes -- and pulls it off with flair and humor.

Sound good, right? Have you read this? If so, what did you think?

Book Club Selections

The local book club that I belong to chose these books to discuss over the next six months:

Finny by Justin Kramon

Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

The Book Club by Mary Alice Munroe

Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill

I will be highlighting each of these books in future posts. I have already started Ines of My Soul and am really enjoying it.

Have you read any of these books? If so, did you like / dislike any of them?

Book Club Spotlight -- 7/25

Our book club will be reading Look Again by Lisa Scottoline for our September meeting. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

The blockbuster New York Times bestselling author joins St. Martin's Press with a knock-out novel about a woman who comes to suspect that her adopted child is actually another couple's kidnapped child.

Sounds like an intriguing plot. Have you read this? If so, give it some love (or some dislike -- just no spoilers!) in the comments.

Book Club Spotlight

For next month's book club meeting, we chose to read the very popular The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. For anyone who hasn't read it, here is the Barnes and Noble description:

"I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers." January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb....

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends--and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society--born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island--boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

I am actually hoping to start this book while camping this weekend. Wish me luck! If you have read this book, give it some love in the comments section (or some dislike if you wish) -- but no spoilers -- I haven't read it yet!

Library Book Club Selections!

Last night at book club, we chose our selections for the next seven months. Here is the list:

June: Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

July: The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

August: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

September: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

October: The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

November: My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates

December: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Have you read any of these books? Any books I should look forward to reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? -- 1/25/10

Happy Monday! This week I am working on Consumption by Kevin Patterson. This book is for the library book club that I belong to. I just finished a chapter in which the main character gives birth and the details were so vivid I actually felt nauseous.

Last week, I finished The House on Tradd Street by Karen White. It was a nice mystery with a paranormal kick, you can read my review here -- The House on Tradd Street review.

What are you reading this week? This meme is hosted by J. Kaye's Book Blog.

Help! To Go or Not to Go?

I have a library book club meeting on Monday and am only 25 pages into a 500+ book. I could power through it over the next few days, but I just can't seem to motivate myself to read it. (Instead I am enjoying the very lovely Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger). So here's the question: Should I go to book club even though I haven't read the book (and most likely never will)?

Review -- The Welsh Girl

The Welsh Girl
by Peter Ho Davies
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007
352 pages
Library Book Club July 2009 Selection

Summary: The Welsh Girl tells the story of Esther, a seventeen year old barmaid who is living in a small town in Wales and Karsten, a German soldier who is a prisoner in the POW camp outside of town.

Review: The Welsh Girl is a well written, detailed, descriptive character driven novel. Peter Ho Davies' writing style is very visual, the descriptions of setting and people fill the reader's imagination. The characters are so well written -- every character walks, talks and breathes as if standing next to you. With all that said, this was not my kind of read. The plot meanders along and nothing really happens until the last 100 pages or so. The two main characters don't speak to each other until half way through the book. It was difficult for me to read this book, instead of enjoying the ride I was too preoccupied with where it was going and when we were going to get there. Rating: *** out of 5.