A Cross-Country Book Club

The Book Thief and Kindred

2009-09-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

I just finished both of these books recently. I thought The Book Thief was really interesting. I loved the formatting of the book, which was really different. I also thought the overall story about a non-Jewish German girl in WWII was different and invoked a new sympathy for Germans. So yes, I liked it.

Next was Kindred for book club. Not one i would normally choose, nor would I choose it again. It is a Time-traveler-esque book where a black woman from the 70's keeps traveling back to the antebellum South to save her white, slave-owning ancestor. She often gets stuck there for months at a time while only seeming to be gone for a few hours at home. It is a good premise for a story as well as a movie, but I just didn't really like it. I don't know why. I think I like more thought-provoking books and ones that aren't purely for entertainment. So, it was a really fast read, but just not my favorite.

Right now I am starting on The Great Brain (a children's novel) and then I going to do My Antonia next...tentatively.

Alyson's

2009-08-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

My ward just had our monthly book club meeting this week. This week we discussed the Giver and How Green Was My Valley (which is one of my all time favorite books). It was time to vote on books, so I thought I would just post what was chosen and anyone can feel free to read along, although I am up for reading others along with them, since most of these aren't really intellectual or more advanced reading material. Okay, so the list is:

September: Kindred by, Octavia Butler

The Great Brain by, John Dennis Fitzgerald

October: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by, Alexander McCall

The Alchemist by, Paulo Coelho

November: The 5000 Year Leap by, Cleon Skousen (his granddaughter is our club chairman)

Wild at Heart by, John Elderedge

So, feel free to read along and post your comments. I am actually really interested in reading the 5000 Year Leap, which is about the founding fathers, the constitution, and its lost meaning today. I am always interested in this kind of stuff because I think it is fascinating that someone can project the meaning of what people wrote hundreds of years ago onto this document. I am also curious to see if I agree, although I normally keep an open mind about interpretation and what their vision was for it. So, there ya go! And LauriAnn, I have already reserved a bunch of the books you posted about earlier. I would never have just picked up Polio on my own, so I am glad you recommended it.

Top 5

2009-08-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

For Christmas this last year Joe got me Nancy Pearl's Book Lust Journal. From January 1, I have diligently recorded every book that I have read so far. My goal for this year is to read at least 50 books, and I reached the halfway point last night. I thought I would resurrect Alyson and my book blog with my 5 favorites of the year thus far.

1. The first book I read this year was Doris Kearns Goodwin's Wait Till Next Year, a memoir of her younger years and her passion for the Brooklyn Dodgers. This was a fun and easy read. I loved the description of her childhood in the fifties, and the changes she saw in Brooklyn as she got older. She also used baseball to build a relationship with her father, as she sat by the radio recording every play of the Dodger's game of the day for her dad while he was at work. Later she found out that the newspaper always reprinted the stats from the game, so her scrupulous note-taking was unnecessary, but taught her the love of the game.

2. Next on my list is Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage. This book was a little bit slower to plow through, but well worth it. Ambrose gives a great account of Meriweather Lewis' contributions to the Corps of Discovery's journey through the Louisiana purchase and beyond. After every chapter I would close my eyes and try to envision exactly what Lewis and Clark saw. Endless landscapes mostly untouched, tribes of Native Americans encountering white people for the first time, and animals and trees previously undiscovered.

3. Sorry everyone, but more history is in store. A friend recommended David Oshinsky's Polio: An American Story to me and I loved it. This book gives a detailed description of the rise of the Polio threat in the U.S. and the push to discover a vaccine. I never understood the politics involved in science and medical research, but I have a better idea now. This book was fascinating and even somewhat suspenseful.

4. I did read some fiction this year, and my absolute favorite was Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose. This is a story of a woman during the late 19th century who has a promising career as an artist on the East coast who marries a mining engineer that moves her out West. The endure hardships as he loses jobs and is forced to relocate to various remote locations (even to the Boise valley, I of course loved that). The story is told by her grandson, an aging historian who envisions her life through the letters she wrote to her best friend she left behind. The story is bittersweet, sometimes it actually hurt to read it, and yet it was so good. I definitely am planning on reading more by Stegner, I loved his prose.

5. Finally, last night I finished Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle; a non-fiction memoir of her families efforts to eat locally for one year. At the beginning her story she and her family move from Arizona to a farm in Virginia. There they decide to eat produce and meat that they either raise themselves or that can be purchased from other local farmers. Kinglsolver also delves into many interesting aspects of the project. I really became interested in the Ark of Taste project she talks about with heirloom species of seeds and animals. I also just liked following her family through the various seasons when different plants begin to ripen as others die. She definitely gained a greater appreciation of these yearly time changes and the greater impact they had on her life. Now I want to make my own cheese, eat more heirloom vegetables, and have Joe bake us some bread (her husband had the task of the daily bread baking, which sounds fair enough to me). Even if I cannot have my own garden yet, or devote my life to entirely local and seasonal food, I felt like there were some things I could take away from this book now.

NUMBERS!

2009-02-17T17:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, we have lost our cell phone. I know, big shocker there, huh?! So, we need EVERY single person's phone number, even if you think we already have it. We don't. Promise you. Leave your number in the comments. THanks guys. And thanks to Amber and Randy who lent us their old pink phone since we can't afford a new one. I am going to LOVE seeing Nate using it in public!

New Year: New Books

2009-01-22T16:56:00.001-08:00

Alyson and I have finally figured out which books we want to start for the new year. The first one we will be reading is The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman. This is a true story about a husband and wife who end up hiding Jews in the Warsaw Zoo from the Nazis during WWII. It sounds pretty fascinating. (Sorry the picture is so small). As with last time, we already selected two other books so that you can reserve them at the library or save on shipping. We have chosen Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, but more about those after we finish The Zookeeper's Wife!

Wild Swans

2008-12-07T12:38:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys-

We should all be reading Wild Swans by now. Sorry it has taken so long for me to get through 3 Cups! If you want to know how we felt about it, read our comments in the previous post. Just let it be said, it should be read by everyone and if you have a heart, it will inspire you to find ways we can all serve and help others, no matter our means or experience. So, I am really excited to read this book because I have heard it is amazing. I am about 50 pages into it so far and am already loving it. The culture and times are fascinating and I love the fact that it is a true story. I can tell I am already going to love these women. So, good luck. Report back soon!

Slacking....

2008-10-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone, I have been slow in getting around to this post. Our next book is going to be Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Here is a blurb about it from Amazon: "Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coauthor Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls."

Must Read

2008-10-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

I also totally loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It is so well written, and the characters are fascinating! If you haven't read this book. Totally read it. It was fascinating, fun, and easy to read. Good work Alyson on finding this one!

Intuitive Eating

2008-10-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

I borrowed this book from my sister Emily who loved it (she is a dietetics major in her last year at BYU) and I am really glad I did. Basically this book is the anti-diet. I have always been against dieting because it rarely leads to permanent results, it seems unhealthy, and kind of unnatural. Intuitive Eating points out that even people who don't think that they are on a diet, may still be susceptible to a diet like mentality (turns out I fell into that category). This book goes through the negative effects of dieting and tells you exactly why any kind of diet really never works. And then it gives you permission to eat whatever you want...no, really. As you learn to eat like an intuitive eater, you learn to eat when you are hungry (this abolishes binge eating which is a major pitfall of any diet) prevents you from lowering your metabolism, and burning muscle tissue. It goes through the step-by-step process of becoming an intuitive eater, which for people who are overweight leads to weight loss. I am trying it right now, and surprisingly just knowing that I can eat whatever I want and whenever I want has lead to less eating. I feel better about how I look, and I feel better physically. I no longer wonder if I should eat certain things and feel guilty about minor indulgences. If you have ever dieted, this is a must read! I thought it promoted a great long-term lifestyle change that anyone can make and maintain!

LOVED it!

2008-09-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

Everyone's tastes are different, so I won't be offended if someone didn't like it, but I LOVED the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. It was fabulous. The characters are so great. So quirky. And the protagonist, Juliet, is so witty and just makes you wish she was one of your best friends. I absolutely loved the format. Made for really fast reading. The historical content was fascinating, too. I liked the sympathetic Nazi point of view. I think remembering that a lot of them were conscripted and not volunteers is important when remembering the war. Anyways, let me know what you thought. And if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it!

September/October's Pick

2008-09-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

Alyson and I have settled on the next three books for the book blog so that if you buy them online you save on shipping or need extra time to get them from the library this should give you a month or two to reserve a copy.

Our first book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Ann Barrows. Here is a synopsis from Amazon: "The letters comprising this small charming novel begin in 1946, when single, 30-something author Juliet Ashton (nom de plume Izzy Bickerstaff) writes to her publisher to say she is tired of covering the sunny side of war and its aftermath. When Guernsey farmer Dawsey Adams finds Juliet's name in a used book and invites articulate—and not-so-articulate—neighbors to write Juliet with their stories, the book's epistolary circle widens, putting Juliet back in the path of war stories." It got a lot of great reviews and it sounds fun, so get reading!

The other two books are Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin and Wild Swans by Jung Chang. More about these books as we get to them.

The Remains of the Day

2008-08-25T17:44:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else finished it? I finished it and then watched the movie. I don't want to say too much about it because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. So, let me know in the comments who has or hasn't read it and what you thought.

Announcement

2008-08-18T07:24:00.001-07:00

Just curious if anyone else heard that the Twilight movie has now been bumped up to November 21st?!!! I am so excited. And yes, I am a nerd and I openly admit it!

How is The Remains of the Day for everyone? Anyone finished yet? I am a little over halfway, should finish in the next couple of days. I had to do Breaking Dawn first and then get resituated at home after a couple of weeks of traveling. So that is my story. Anyone else?

Breaking Dawn

2008-08-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

I hereby give all the Twilight fans permission to take a break from Remains of the Day to finish up the vampire series. I am considering going to the midnight release just because the whole experience more exciting. Let us know how you like it!

New Book for July/August

2008-07-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

Our next book is going to be Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. It should be easier to track down than the last one. Here is a synopsis from Amazon: "The novel's narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a career that spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him -- oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer. Still, there are even larger matters at stake in this heartbreaking, pitch-perfect novel -- namely, Stevens' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence." I have seen the movie and I really liked it. Enjoy!

Did Anyone Read?

2008-07-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I was out of town when the book was due. Sorry about that. Just wondering if anyone read or has any comments about the book. I know it was hard to find. No library or bookstore around carried it, so I had to order it from Amazon. I need to be totally honest. I did not get all the way through the book. I had a hard time getting into it. It wasn't that it was bad, because I thought it was interesting. But interesting can sometimes be difficult. I am planning on finishing it, but I am not done. I am, though, amazed with the author and her family's attitude about her sister's death and the process of dying. I was still left curious about each church I had read so far. I wanted more of a description of it and if she tried or felt anything different throughout the week because of it. Maybe she does get more descriptive later and I could just be saying this because I didn't finish. Any comments?? And LauriAnn, it is your turn to pick the book.

How's it Coming?

2008-07-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone is enjoying the book. July 15th is coming quick!! If you haven't started, you still have time. DO IT!

Social Epidemics

2008-07-02T13:45:00.001-07:00

On a recent road trip my husband and I listened to Malcom Gladwell's The Tipping Point. This was a truly fascinating look at the concept of "word of mouth" and the anatomy of a successful trend from the reemergence of Hush Puppies on the runway in the 90's to the sudden drop in crime in NYC. One learns about the different kinds of people that push a social trend to a "tipping point," such as "connectors" who have a loyal following of acquaintances, to "mavens" who spot the best deals and discover a trend before it is even popular, and "salespeople" who lend credibility and convince us that we should really wear those unattractive shoes that everyone else is wearing. One even learns how to engineer a tipping point. Definitely worth reading!

I just Can't Get Enough

2008-06-30T04:43:00.000-07:00

I start reading one book and then I find another one I want to start reading immediately and then another. It is a constant problem! As of right now, I am reading Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour. Not my normal type of writer, but this is not his normal type of book. Believe it or not, it is NOT a western! It is set in the 1100's. So far, so good. But I am only in 60 pages. I have heard great things though.
I am also reading the book club book. It is fascinating so far. Memoirs are always so different because they are so personal and the style can be so varying. I am excited to finish it.
And I am reading Standing for Something by President Hinckley. We have had it for a while and I am embarressed to say I haven't read it yet. So, I thought I would. I love President Hinckley, so it is fun to "hear" his voice and words again. He is such a smart man.

Favorite Books

2008-06-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Richard Llewellyn's How Green Was My Valley, and I thought I would mention it because it is actually one of Alyson's favorites (You should always read your friends favorite books). I really enjoyed the book, which is basically the coming-of-age story of Welsh-born Huw Morgan. At first, I struggled to get into it because there was no central conflict that had me wondering how the book would end. However, I came to appreciate looking at a life in Wales and the life of the coal miners there through the eyes of a young boy who grows up in this environment. The hardships that his family dealt with, the poverty that they took in stride, and the joy that they discovered in the simple aspects of their existence really impressed me. Definitely a good read that exposes you to a different culture and way of life. Good pick Alyson!

It's Here!

2008-06-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

Our first book is finally decided. We will be reading A Month Of Sundays by Julie Mars: about a woman who loses her sister to cancer and tries to find faith by going to a different church every Sunday for 31 weeks. It sounds really interesting. So, good luck. Get to it. And we will be discussing it on the 15th of July. However, we will be leaving other posts about recommended books, other books we are reading, etc. So feel free to do the same!

Disclaimer: We have not read these books before and therefore cannot be held responsible for the content. We try to pick ones we think sound appropriate, but you never know. So, if something is uncomfortable or offensive, skip over it!

Let's Get Started

2008-06-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

Anyone have any suggestions for how often we will read, what books to read, or anything else? Let us know!