Book Pick for January 2017

Since December is such a busy month, our next book club meeting will be on Tuesday January 17.
Sarah G. picked the book for us. We will be reading The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.
Here's some information about the book:  

In this Newbery Medal-winning novel, Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place—he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their ghostly teachings—such as the ability to Fade so mere mortals cannot see him.

Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead? And then there are being such as ghouls that aren't really one thing or the other.

The Graveyard Book won the Newbery Medal and the Carnegie Medal and is a Hugo Award Winner for Best Novel.

Hope to see you at our next book club meeting.

Our Book Pick for November

Sarah has picked our next book club book,  Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.  The book has been made into a movie and is currently playing at local theaters.  We will meet at 7pm at Debby's house on Tuesday November 15 to discuss the book.  We are always looking for new readers to join our book club.  Here is a synopsis of the book and some reviews.

A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

“A tense, moving, and wondrously strange first novel. The photographs and text work together brilliantly to create an unforgettable story.”—John Green, New York Times best-selling author of The Fault in Our Stars

“With its X-Men: First Class-meets-time-travel story line, David Lynchian imagery, and rich, eerie detail, it’s no wonder Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children has been snapped up by Twentieth Century Fox. B+”—Entertainment Weekly

“‘Peculiar’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. Riggs’ chilling, wondrous novel is already headed to the movies.”—People

“You’ll love it if you want a good thriller for the summer. It’s a mystery, and you’ll race to solve it before Jacob figures it out for himself.”—Seventeen

October Book Pick

Chelsea has selected our book this month, The Mourning Dove, A Story of Love by Larry Barkdull. It is a quick read - only 84 pages.   

Reviews:

From Amazon:

Nine-year-old Hannibal Huish is orphaned and lives with his recently widowed grandfather, Pop, who teaches Hannibal about love and the "right" things to do in life. David Hunter reads in a quiet, even voice the didactic stories and parables that represent Pop's method of teaching Hannibal. The grandson and a neighbor boy are sometimes mischievous; they're mostly children who are exploring the world and learning about right and wrong. Hunter conveys Pop's love and firm hand with a slightly stricter voice in contrast to the voice of the youthful Hannibal. The moralistic concepts are lightly veiled Christian concepts of honesty, respect and love.

 From Google:

The year is 1959, in Boise, Idaho. Nine-year-old Hannibal has lost his parents and moves in with his recently widowed grandfather, Pop. Hannibal grows up under the loving guidance of Pop, who subtly imparts life's important lessons: the responsibility that comes with love, the nature of charity respect for all living things, and the dangers in telling a lie. Pop is a humble man whose loving example extends far beyond his small circle. While he has attained no social recognition or position, the ripple effect of his example reaches generations into the future. With simple storytelling and honest sentiment, The Mourning Dove answers the question, "What is the worth of one person?"

Come join us! Book club is a great place to have an intellectual discussion, chat with great friends, and enjoy a delicious treat.  Spread the word too! If you have a friend who loves to read, invite them to join us.  Bring suggestions for future books to read.  What is your favorite book? What is a book you recently read?

Book Pick for September

Debby picked our new book for September:

Daughter of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, Katherine has been fated her whole life to marry Prince Arthur of England. When they meet and are married, the match becomes as passionate as it is politically expedient. The young lovers revel in each other’s company and plan the England they will make together. But tragically, aged only fifteen, Arthur falls ill and extracts from his sixteen-year-old bride a deathbed promise to marry his brother, Henry; become Queen; and fulfill their dreams and her destiny.

Widowed and alone in the avaricious world of the Tudor court, Katherine has to sidestep her father-in-law’s desire for her and convince him, and an incredulous Europe, that her marriage to Arthur was never consummated, that there is no obstacle to marriage with Henry. For seven years, she endures the treachery of spies, the humiliation of poverty, and intense loneliness and despair while she waits for the inevitable moment when she will step into the role she has prepared for all her life. Then, like her warrior mother, Katherine must take to the battlefield and save England when its old enemies the Scots come over the border and there is no one to stand against them but the new Queen.

This book is a historical fiction selection.  It is available at the public library or on Amazon. Looking forward to a great book discussion on Tuesday September 20 at 7pm at Debby's house.  Happy Reading!

Summer Reading

Our new book pick is What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

I am looking forward to reading this since it was already in my summer reading stack. 

Here is a book blurb from Amazon.com:

Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child. So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over—she’s getting divorced, she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over…

Because it is summer and vacation time is here, we are going to have our next book club meeting on Tuesday August 9, at 7:00 pm at Debby's house.  This will give us time to read the book.  Alecia has read it and said she read it in three days.  So go to the library or pick up a copy of the book.  

If you are looking for some more summer reading check out another book club blog from another ward in our stake: Bound By Books Cecilia's daughter Tina is a member of this book club. 

Goodreads is another place to get ideas for reading.  You can see what your friends are reading and read and write reviews of books. 

Some of my teacher friends and I have shared pictures of our summer reading stacks.  

Alison's stack of books

Denise's stack

Denise already finished this one. 

Leslie's stack.

Stephanie's stack of summer fun. 

This is my stack.  

What are you reading?

The Happiness Project

The Happiness Project is our book for the month.  

Here are some other titles by the author, Gretchen Rubin. 

She has some fun quotes in the book. 

Hope to see you at our book discussion on Tuesday June 28, at 7pm at Debby's house.  

June Book Pick

Alecia has picked The Happiness Project by Gretchen Ruben, for our June book discussion.  

The book is available from the public library. It is also available for purchase in hard cover, paperback, and Kindle ($2.99)

Award-winning author Gretchen Rubin is back with a bang, with The Happiness Project. The author of the bestselling 40 Ways to Look at Winston Churchill has produced a work that is “a cross between the Dalai Lama’s The Art of Happiness and Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love.” (Sonya Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want) In the vein of Julie and Julia, The Happiness Project describes one person’s year-long attempt to discover what leads to true contentment. Drawing at once on cutting-edge science, classical philosophy, and real-world applicability, Rubin has written an engaging, eminently relatable chronicle of transformation. 

Book Pick for May

Our book pick for our May discussion is The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart.  Here is a synopsis of the book: 

Impetuous and attractive, Nicola Ferris has just arrived in Crete for a holiday when she sees an egret fly out of a lemon grove. On impulse, she follows the bird’s path into the White Mountains. There she discovers a young Englishman who, hiding out in the hills and less than pleased to have been discovered, sends Nicola packing with the order to keep out of his affairs. This, of course, Nicola is unable to do, and before long events lead to a stunning climax among the fishing boats of Agios Georgios Bay.

            In this bestselling novel, first published in 1963 and made into a successful movie starring Hayley Mills the following year, Mary Stewart, in her magical way, evokes Crete as she has Delphi, Provence, Northumberland, and the Hebrides in her other books. With her keen delineation of character, she once again casts a spell of suspense and romance.

Debby picked the book and is looking forward to a great discussion.  The story takes place in Crete, Greece where Debby and Gary lived when they were first married.  They have even been in the windmills that are part of the story.  

Debby will be making a Greek treat for us to share at our book discussion.  Hope to see you at the Mitchell home on Tuesday May 17 at 7pm.  

Book Pick for April

Our new book pick is My Antonia by Willa Cather.  Jennifer picked this classic and will lead the discussion on April 19 at Debby's home.

Here is a blurb about the book:
My Ántonia evokes the Nebraska prairie life of Willa Cather's childhood, and commemorates the spirit and courage of immigrant pioneers in America. One of Cather's earliest novels, written in 1918, it is the story of Ántonia Shimerda, who arrives on the Nebraska frontier as part of a family of Bohemian emigrants. Her story is told through the eyes of Jim Burden, a neighbor who will befriend Ántonia, teach her English, and follow the remarkable story of her life.
Working in the fields of waving grass and tall corn that dot the Great Plains, Ántonia forges the durable spirit that will carry her through the challenges she faces when she moves to the city. But only when she returns to the prairie does she recover her strength and regain a sense of purpose in life. In the quiet, probing depth of Willa Cather's art, Ántonia's story becomes a mobbing elegy to those whose persistence and strength helped build the American frontier.


Check out this classic at the library, purchase a copy at Amazon for $4.05, or download to your Kindle or Kindle app - it is a free download. Hope to see you in April for our book discussion.

Counting by 7s

Here is our new read.  We will meet on March 15 at Debby's house at 7:00pm to discuss 

Counting by 7s 

written by Holly Goldberg Sloan. 

In the tradition of Out of My Mind, Wonder, and Mockingbird, this is an intensely moving middle grade novel about being an outsider, coping with loss, and discovering the true meaning of family.
Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life . . . until now.
 
Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.

Hope to see you there!

Book for February

Chelsea Dorn picked our new book for February.  It is Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen.  Here is a blurb about the book.  

The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, but not much has changed by the seventh. She says: “My Bryce. Still walking around with my first kiss.” He says: “It’s been six years of strategic avoidance and social discomfort.” But in the eighth grade everything gets turned upside down. And just as he’s thinking there’s more to her than meets the eye, she’ s thinking that he’s not quite all he seemed.

This is a classic romantic comedy of errors told in alternating chapters by two fresh, funny voices. Wendelin Van Draanen is at her best here with a knockout cast of quirky characters and a hilarious series of misunderstandings and missed opportunities. But underlying the humor are two teens in transition. They are each learning to look beyond the surface of people, both figuring out who they are, who they want to be, and who they want to be with.

Chelsea has a copy of the book and I just started reading my copy of the book.  I will be able to finish it during our blizzard weekend.  We will meet the third Tuesday in February to discuss the book.  Hope to see you there.