Tomorrow

Seriously. How awful am I at blogging? Goodness. We are having book club tomorrow night. The book is Now and Forever by Ray Bradbury. It contains 2 novellas. Jenny Tyler chose the book, but I believe we are meeting at Kacey's house @ 7:00. We will try to make a plan for next year as well. (At least I am assuming this is the case.)

2 weeks

In 2 weeks we will be discussing Sarah Plain and Tall and Skylark by Patricia MacLachlan. I will be hosting here at my home. If you really like the books and feel that they were not long enough you could read the sequels, Caleb's Story, More Perfect than the Moon and Grandfather's Dance in that order. They are good reads as well. If you still need to read the books I have copies but I will need them that night to discuss. Happy reading!

13 Reasons Why...

In honor of our latest read I will be summarizing our discussions with...

13 Reasons Why... We Did Not Like This Book.

Okay, that is just a little too harsh. I think overall most agreed it was a very good discussion book and a topic that should be addressed, along with being a well-written, interesting book. But it was definitely a downer... and unlike most of our recent downers, one some of us had trouble finding common ground with.

So lets just stick with 13 discussion topics.

1 - Was any of the tape recipient's role more important than any other? Overall we felt like all of the negative things that happened to Hannah built upon each other. Some of them were more serious than others, but they were all significant in her downfall. It also seems like any one of the people involved could have, with different actions on their part, done a lot to help Hannah out of her downward spiral.

2 - Are the tapes more powerful than a suicide note? We had an interesting discussion on the power of hearing someone speak beyond the grave. Even in more positive notes, like a video left after the passing of a grandparent, it is an extremely powerful way to get a message across. We also talked about how most high school age students have had little to no experience with death. To not only hear about the death of a fellow student but to then hear her voice again as she describes your past actions would be very powerful.

3 - Where were Hannah's parents through all of this? Almost everyone noticed at some point that she doesn't really talk about her parents. But someone brought up that Hannah is talking about all of these events after they happened and concentrating on sending a message to the 12 recipients more than giving a full account of everything going on in her life. Her parents involvement, whether it was absent or negative, did not seem important to Hannah.

4 - What do we think about Mr. Porter (the counselor)? Again someone (why can't I remember who said what at book club last night?) brought up that near the beginning of the book, they made it clear that Mr. Porter was not a trained counselor but just an English teacher filling in for the time being. While it was obvious that he missed some very major signs that should have been followed up, I think we felt more sympathy for the man than anything. It was clear that Hannah was just looking for the final excuse to do something she was planning on doing anyway. Now to have that one moment come back to him in those tapes and receive what she considers one of the main reasons she decided to end her life would be an incredibly hard thing to deal with.

5 - What did we think about the main character (Clay?) Linda and other agreed that we were glad the main character did not have a significantly negative role in Hannah's life. It was much easier to listen to his thoughts and narration than it would have been to listen to someone who had been cruel to Hannah. We were also very glad that at the end of the book, he did not take his experience for granted but instead reached out to someone sharing some of the same signs of depression that Hannah had shown.

6 - Were Hannah's experiences unusual? Whether it was ourselves or through the people around us, most of us felt Hannah's experiences were pretty typical of high school. There were some experiences that were definitely more extreme during the end after she had, in essence, given up, but the rumors, teasing, cruel behavior from jealous peers, etc. were not unique experiences. One thing we spoke at length about is how things affect different people. While some people will hear something and will instantly find offense or dwell over it, others will let it go right over their heads and not think about it again. Many people who go through similar experiences can still find happiness and joy in life. Especially with the support and knowledge of the gospel, we all felt like many can overcome those situations and still be able to recognize the blessings in their lives. But those more prone to depression or those who are easily offended can be very affected by those kind of situations, as Hannah obviously was.

7 - Which then led to our next discussion, how do we treat people? It is true that little things can make big differences in other's lives, but many of us felt that, though we would not intentionally offend, a sane person cannot spend their day wondering how every word they say affected every person they spoke to. Especially when words were not shared with malicious intent, it can be exhausting to worry about every spoken word.

8 - Why we had trouble relating to the book? As a group of grown women very much out of high school (thank goodness!) we have gotten past the time of life when everything was about "me". It was difficult for some to get back in that mindset to relate to Hannah's experiences.

9 - Someone mentioned the pioneers and said "theirs was the physical challenge, ours is the mental and emotional", or something to that effect. We spoke briefly about times in history when people went through truly terrible ordeals that make high school look like heaven when people wouldn't have even considered taking their own life. The two things we thought contributed to our more modern views on suicide are 1) a lack of faith in God, and a decrease of the belief that those who committed suicide went to hell 2) a lack of work or other laborious tasks, instead lots and lots of easy free time.

10 - After reading an article about the author, he mentioned that some critics thought the book would glorify suicide. But instead, most of his fan mail was from teenagers who found that in the end of the book, after reading all of the things that happened in Hannah's life, they still wanted her to be alive. They found reasons for her to live that she didn't see. And they also saw that even though she got her message across to all of those people, how sad it is that she doesn't get to experience any of the change in these people's lives because she is gone.

11 - This book seems to be best suited for adults with teenagers so they can be aware of signs and they can be more willing to discuss and talk to their children about things going on in their life. It is also a good book for teens, if nothing else for them to get a glimpse into how their behavior and actions could be affecting others.

12 - We also got to look into the life of Mickey, who was not only a beautiful woman but who also shared those fantastic genes with her family and has a beautiful progeny! Happy birthday!

13 - Fantastic hostesses, Linda and Michelle and fantastic treats.

Thanks everyone for participating! Isn't book club the best?!!!

Next month... Sarah Plain and Tall and its sequal Skylark. Plus come prepared to discuss your favorite childrens book. Bring a copy if you can!

Tonight

It  may be too late but... Book Club tonight at Michelle Hastings house @ 7:00. We will be discussing 13 Reasons Why and having a little party for Micky. Have fun! Happy reading!

August

Jeannie did a fabulous job in July. We had fun watching clips about Lucy Maude Montgomery and some of Anne of Green Gables. The "raspberry cordial" was divine. 


Next month Lynda is in charge. We are reading 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Apparently it is quite popular and there is a waiting list at the library for it. Jeannie currently has the copy I loaned out, so hound her to pass it along. Luckily 1/3 of the group has read it already. Happy reading! See you August 24th.

Book Battle Winner Pick

Many of you know how excited I have been about judging this book battle. I even read 3 of the 4 possible books for my section and still plan on reading the other one. I got a lot of great book ideas from the 24 books chosen for the 2011 Best Overlooked Book Battle. (overlooked in young adult literature.) You can make your own predictions or just get some book ideas like I did. Here is the starting bracket:

 I was so pleased with the books that were chosen. Here is my take on the two:

 Intrinsical 

by, Lani Woodland

YA, 2010

Intrinsical by Lani Woodland - This book is about a girl named Yara Silva. She is attending a private school and discovering her abilities as a Waker, a person that can see and interact with ghosts.

I was hooked from the start. It kept me intrigued and made me read it in 24 hours. It was a nice paced, intense read that was not as heavy and depressing as I thought it would be. It had a nice blend of creepy, humor and romance.

A's Take - Intrinsical avoids the whole, end of the world scenario, in fact most of the action is contained in one private school campus. The more I got into it, the more I was intrigued. Despite my best efforts, dang it, I cared about the characters. I wanted them to work it all out. I admit that I found some of the romantic notes rather cheesy, but it didn't pull me out of the book. Though I anticipated some of the reveals, the pacing was tight and I was pulled along by the roller coaster ride the protagonist was forced to endure.

Grade - A

A's Grade - A

Worthy of being overlooked? No. However, the book is super hard to obtain. It was not in my library system, which includes 12+ branches. I could not find it at Borders or Barnes and Noble. It was on Amazon, but that meant waiting for it to ship. We opted for the Kindle route since it was quick and we wanted to get our review in. In that regard it needs to be more accessible. The editor/agent needs to do better in promoting it. I really wish I had a hard copy to pass around. I think if you could see this book on the shelf and not have to really want to read it and know about it before it would be a best seller. 

Versus

The Grimm Legacy

by, Polly Shulman

YA, 2010

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman - As I have stated already, I was glad this one made it past the first bracket. The concept is very original. Friend deprived and neglected at home, Elizabeth Rew gets a job at a library in New York. This is not a regular library for books. One can check out items like a hot chocolate service, fondue pot, a chess set, home decor, etc. The part that intrigues her the most is the Grimm Collection. The items in there inspired many fairy tales and actually still work. 12 pair of worn out dancing shoes, check. Glass slippers, check. But what can she do when things start disappearing?

I enjoyed the book. But, I did not feel the need to keep reading and neglect all else. When I can't put it down, that is when I know I love it. The concept was fun, but it made me feel lost at times when I didn't know the fairy tales to which she referred. The characters were likeable but kind of bland and predictable. The book went up and down when it came to interesting. However, the last 100 pages of the book were pretty intense and kept me reading. There were some fun twists and turns in the plot. It was enjoyable and lighthearted despite action. A definite read again book for me.

A says - The Grimm Legacy has a great concept, but doesn't really execute it well. For the level of potential, I didn't feel like they had nearly the spectacular toy scenes that they could have. The characters seemed to be a bit unrelatable to me as well. I honestly just didn't care about them as much as I would have liked. They weren't as vibrant and alive as I want my characters to be. Having said that, I did like that this wasn't an apocalyptic, end of the world kind of threat. It could have easily gone there and it was nice to see that there can be real threats to people that don't include the destruction of all of humanity.

Grade -  B

A's Grade - B-

Worthy of being overlooked? No. It is an original take on the fairy tale retellings so prevalent on the market right now. I had so much fun reading it and even had a few laugh out loud moments. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that likes fairy tales or fantasy literature.

And the Winner is...

Intrinsical

Final Thoughts:

Me - I went in without any preference. In fact, if I am honest, I wanted The Grimm Legacy to win for the sake of the next round judges. ;) But, Lani Woodland told a good story.

A says - Going into this thing, I honestly wanted the Grimm Legacy to win. The idea of being able to use artifacts from the Grimm fairy tales was really appealing to me. I admit I knew pretty much nothing about Intrinsical and the fact that it was priced at $20 in print was a pretty big turn off for me.

But I couldn't hold to that after reading the books.

I won't say that Intrinsical completely TKOed The Grimm Legacy, I have to say it was a pretty decisive victory. I loved the idea of The Grimm Legacy, but Intrinsical was definitely the better of the two books. Now, if only the publisher could see fit to lower the price, I think they'd have a very successful book on the market.

Book Club in 2 days

We have book club at Xela's house in 2 days, Wednesday June 22nd @ 7:00. Find a copy of Mother Had a Secret by Tiffany Fletcher and join us. Or just join us anyway. We are going to Skype with the author!