Follow-up to "Quiet" and January's Book Choice

We had a great discussion last night about "Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking."  If you weren't able to read the book, Susan Cain did a Ted-cast that's worth the 19 minutes.

Also, if you would like to take the introvert/extrovert quiz, the link is here.  Where do you fall on the scale?

There will be no bookclub in December but in January we will be reading "An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny" by Laura Schroff.  

 

We will also be choosing the next quarter of books so if you would like to host or review, please contact Devony.

Happy Reading!

Audiobooks

Some people ask me how I read so many books.  I have never considered myself an avid reader but I do average finishing 1-2 books/week and usually have three books going at one time so not too crazy and I'm not ignoring my kids all the time but I'll let you in on my secret--multi-tasking, that wonderful invention made by women :)  Over half the books I "read" I listen to while running/exercising, cleaning the house, or in the car driving the kids around.  I have learned that I can only listen to certain kind of books and save the thick nonfiction or heavier content ones for the old-fashioned paper and spine type.  For the car, I do books on CD (you can do mp3 too, just easier with the CD for me) and they have to be relatively short, easy to follow since I listen in 10-20 minute increments, and appropriate for little ears to hear as they actually like to listen in. 

Going on a road trip? Get a book to listen to as a family.  We have listened to Harry Potter and many other great books together in the car.  Where do you get these audiobooks?  I don't think I've purchased a single one as the Arapahoe County library system has a great variety but check your local library for selection.  A lot of audiobook websites have also sprung up that might be worth looking at like audiobooks.com or audible.com.  How do you get ideas for books? Check out Goodreads to connect with your reader friends and see what others have to say.  The rating system is pretty accurate and very helpful.

Our next book for bookclub is Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley and both Aurora and Arapahoe library systems have audiobook options but you may have to get on a waiting list but check it out.  My husband and I listened to some of the other books in the series during roadtrips and they were a pleasant way to pass through boring Wyoming.

Happy reading or listening, whatever your preference!

(posted by Alicia)

Summer/Fall Books

We're back with a new list of great books chosen and recommended for August through November of this year.  The official list:

August 21: Host - Rebecca Forsgren

Reviewer: Kim Gomez

Book: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Genre: Historical Fiction

 

 September 18: Host & Reviewer - Emily Weight

Book: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Genre: Mystery

 

 

October 16: Host - none yet

Reviewer - Emily McAllister

Book: Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance

 

 

November 27: Host - Jessica Price

Reviewer - Alicia Carlsen

Book: Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Genre: Nonfiction

 

Other Recommended Books:

 

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

The Return of Cassandra Todd by Darrel Nelson

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

 

Happy Reading!

 

Spring Books

Last month we chose the next three books that we'll be reading.  I'm posting those books as well as the other books that were recommended just in case you want to check them out!  Here they are!

April 17, 2013 8 pm
Host: Lindsay Lewis
Book: Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck
Reviewer: Devony Wilson

May 15, 2013 8pm
Host: Connie Barton
Book: Psion Beta by Jacob Gowans
Reviewer: Jessica Price

June 19, 2013 8pm
Host: Monkia Moss
Book: The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Reviewer: Lindsay Lewis









Also included in the voting selections were:

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

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

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Matched by Allie Condie

Night Ride Home by Vicki Covington

The Selection by Kiera Cass

She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell

These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prime, 1881-1901 by Nancy Turner

First Quarter 2013

Welcome to 2013 at Book Club!  We're excited about the new changes we're making, and I'm going to try to keep this blog up to date with our upcoming meetings, so check back often!  In December we met to vote on the books for January, February, and March 2013.  Here's the lineup:

January 16, 2013
Host: Brooke Favero
Reviewer: Alicia Carlsen
Book: Still Alice by Lisa Genova

February 20, 2013
Host: Kristie Chadwick
Reviewer: Lara Olsen
Book: The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

March 20, 2013
Host:
Reviewer: Kristie Chadwick
Book: The End of Your Life Bookclub by Will Schwalbe

April 17, 2013
Host:
Reviewer: Stacey Fiala
Book:

May 15, 2013
Host:
Reviewer: Jessica Price
Book:

June 19, 2013
Host:
Reviewer: Devony Wilson
Book:

First Quarter Choices

I've had a request to post the books that were not chosen to be reviewed so that those of you with lots of time on your hands can read them if you so desire!  Here they are:

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
One of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the YearIn this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.

With stunning historical detail, Wilkerson tells this story through the lives of three unique individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, who in 1937 left sharecropping and prejudice in Mississippi for Chicago, where she achieved quiet blue-collar success and, in old age, voted for Barack Obama when he ran for an Illinois Senate seat; sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, where he endangered his job fighting for civil rights, saw his family fall, and finally found peace in God; and Robert Foster, who left Louisiana in 1953 to pursue a medical career, the personal physician to Ray Charles as part of a glitteringly successful medical career, which allowed him to purchase a grand home where he often threw exuberant parties.

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell

On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less then twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive.


T...moreOn a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less then twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive.

This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing, and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of his teammates, who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left-blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown over a cliff, but still armed and still breathing. Over the next four days, badly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers.

 

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers: The Story of Success

In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that...morIn this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.

 

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver (The Giver, #1)

Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There...moJonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

 

 

 

 

 

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

Seabiscuit: An American Legend

Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed Seabiscuit’s fortunes:

Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon.

 

The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley

The Shadowy Horses

THE INVINCIBLE NINTH ROMAN LEGION MARCHES FROM YORK TO FIGHT THE NORTHERN TRIBES. AND THEN VANISHES FROM THE PAGES OF HISTORY.

Archaeologist Verity Grey has been drawn to the dark legends of the Scottish Borderlands in search of the truth buried in a rocky field by the sea.

Her eccentric boss has spent his whole life searching for the resting place of the lost Ninth Roman Le...moreTHE INVINCIBLE NINTH ROMAN LEGION MARCHES FROM YORK TO FIGHT THE NORTHERN TRIBES. AND THEN VANISHES FROM THE PAGES OF HISTORY.

Archaeologist Verity Grey has been drawn to the dark legends of the Scottish Borderlands in search of the truth buried in a rocky field by the sea.  Her eccentric boss has spent his whole life searching for the resting place of the lost Ninth Roman Legion and is convinced he's finally found it—not because of any scientific evidence, but because a local boy has "seen" a Roman soldier walking in the fields, a ghostly sentinel who guards the bodies of his long-dead comrades.  Here on the windswept shores, Verity may find the answer to one of the great unsolved mysteries of our time. Or she may uncover secrets someone buried for a reason.

 

The Language of Flowers byVanessa Diffenbaugh

The Language of Flowers

A mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle f...moreA mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.

Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But a mysterious vendor at the flower market has her questioning what’s been missing in her life, and when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.