Your Favorite Book Book Club

When I left Salt Lake I left behind a book club that I loved. To sort of get that going again, but without the hassle of recruiting members and picking a book and then feeling guilty for not reading the book, I decided to have a "book club" where everyone would bring their favorite book. I also wanted a chance to have people over to my loft.

Last night my friends descended and we all shared our books. Some people didn't have their actual favorite (many of my friends are students at KU so they don't have all their belongings with them), but brought a book that they liked anyway. Here's what everyone brought:

• Me: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (I shared a lengthy introduction on why I loved this novel and Jane and Mr. Rochester, relating how I bought it in highschool but didn't really read it until I lived in New York.)
• Andrew: Locked On by Tom Clancy (follows the story of Jack Ryan's son, Jack Ryan, Jr.)
• Janae: A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park (a true story)
• Aaron: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (a classic, but no one else had read it)
• Will, brought a bag of books to share, a few of them: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, The Natural by Bernard Malamud, A Separate Peace by John Knowles (this is the one he decided to share an excerpt from)
• Paige: Elephants on Acid & Other Bizarre Experiements by Alex Boese
• Tomas: Times Alone: Selected Poems of Antonio Machado (he read a poem to us in English and Spanish)
• Steven: Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (the book is crazy but a fun read)
• Emma: Silas Marner by George Eliot (I've never heard of this book) and, for fun Flirting 101 which we all had fun with
• Sherri:  The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (she's visited the home of Ma and Pa in South Dakota and shared pictures)
• Jessica: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (the most political book of the night, although we steered clear of political discussion)
• Kate: Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (she read it aloud to us librarian-style; it was a perfect book to end on

 

 

Also, upon first seeing Biscuit everyone exclaimed how large she is! Yeah, she's fat and I love her.

Book Club: The Sleeping Beauty

Last night I had two book clubs! The first was with my former co-workers at Myriad that we've been doing since we all read The Hunger Games. We meet at Red Robin after work and talk about the book while we eat fries and hamburgers. The book this month was The Princess Bride, and since everyone loved it we didn't have a whole lot to talk about it. But really, who doesn't love the classic tale of true love, intrigue, sword fighting and fire swamps?!

The second was my monthly book club started by my friend Pam. It was my turn to host, which is always fun. We were short three of our members this time, so it was a small, intimate gathering of just three. Our book this month was The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey. This book took a good 100+ pages to get interesting, and even then it wasn't entirely engaging to me. More than once I wondered if the trials to gain the princess was really what the whole book was going to be about. There were story parts that got stranded and were never returned to, which was kind of annoying. Also, there was a lot of describing going on, and I felt it needed to be edited a lot. That being said, we had a lot to discuss and the night was wonderful.

No picture taken. Oops.

Book Club: Kill Me Softly

This month for Book Club we read Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross. I struggled getting into this book, but once things started getting revealed I was interested enough to keep reading. The story is essentially a retelling of the fairy tale Bluebeard, which I had not heard of, with lots of others mixed in, including Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast. The book takes on the thought that fairy tales are essentially curses, where one is bound to follow through on it whether they want to or not. The idea of free will in spite of circumstances out of your control was an interesting point of conversation. Overall, no one loved it or hated it.

(We missed Pammy! I left early to watch the BYU/Utah game! Cat took a photo but I don't think I'll ever see it!)

Book Club: Wild Orchid

This month the book I didn't read for Book Club was Wild Orchid, a retelling of Mulan which is Cat's favorite "fairy-tale". Cat didn't read the book either. Since I didn't read the book, I instead had fun with Pam's nieces, Bella and Evie, who are visiting and just moved back from Okinawa. It was a fun night with fun people!

 

This pic was taken with my iPod so it's kinda crappy.

Book Club: A Breath of Eyre

This month's Book Club was a retelling of Jane Eyre (which is essentially a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, which is Jenel's favorite fairy tale). It was also Jenel's birthday month and her time to host! I must disclose that I LOVE Jane Eyre; I first read it when I had been in New York not for very long and I fell in love with Jane and Mr. Rochester. So many parts of the book I underlined. I love Jane and her strong character and her good nature. I love that she does the right things even though it's hard. And I love Mr. Rochester. I know a lot of girls swoon for Mr. Darcy, and he is pretty swoon-able, but for me Mr. Rochester takes the cake.

We had a great discussion about the book and all the things we liked and didn't like. I must say that I really love having two writers in the group because they see so many things that I would never pick up on. The book is a cute read, but I would recommend the original Jane Eyre any day of the week and twice on Sundays over this book.

Book Club: Into the Wild

Since Book Club this month coincided with my birthday month, I got to pick the book. My favorite fairy tale, or at least version of the fairly tale (because I don't think Rapunzel is my all-time favorite fairy tale), is Disney's Tangled so we picked the book Into the Wild by Sara Beth Durst (not to be confused with the Jon Krakauer book and movie. When we discovered the main character's name was Julie, we had to pick it.

Once again we had a good discussion about the book, that ranged from liking aspects of it to critiquing other parts of it. It would be an excellent book for younger girls, such as my niece Ivy and Pam's own niece Carlye. We also talked about a whole lot of other things not related to the book at all. Great night with great people. Sadly, no picture was taken.

Book Club: Entwined

This month's book club was Entwined by Heather Dixon. It is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale (which is Pam's favorite fairy tale). We all enjoyed it and had a great discussion about it, especially the confused identities, family vs. romantic love, and the act of dancing as a way to tell if someone would be a good partner. We also learned that Pam would make an incredible audio-reader.

Book Club: Snow White and Rose Red

My friend Pam started a Book Club. Our first book was "Snow White and Rose Red" by Patricia Wrede. It's a retelling of the Grimm fairly tale of Snow White set in Elizabethan England. I enjoyed the book and its use of dialogue and the fun tale. Two of our book club members are writers so it's fun having their viewpoints in our discussion!

Our next book is "Entwined" by Heather Dixon.