Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Book Club Report: About a Boy


This month for  book club we read and discussed About a Boy by Nick Hornby. You can find my review here. The book club pretty much felt the same way about the book as I did. Here are a few random thoughts:

  • Did Will redeem himself in the end or not? We were mixed on this. 
  • Speaking of endings, which did you like better the book or the movie? Everyone seemed torn on this and liked them both. But the movie ending is especially sweet.
  • Most of us really liked Will despite his obnoxious ways, mostly because we couldn't get Hugh Grant out of our heads, and how can you not like him? We did have one person say she did NOT like him and felt he was just as bad as any bad villain.
  • Some of us actually felt sorry for Will though. 
  • We loved the idea that Marcus has that everyone needs backup people in their lives. In fact, I think we all felt this was main theme and idea of the book, that we need to surround ourselves with people. This, we all thought, is an awesome thing to take home after reading the book and we really enjoyed it for that reason.
  • We discussed a lot more, but I must have been quite into it because I didn't take many notes to remind myself what everyone said!

Other random books we discussed at book club:

Sam and Tessa both read and enjoyed Precious Bane from our last meeting. Sam is also reading The Miserables (total American pronunciation of course!).... as he called it.... non-abridged.. with his daughter. Liking it so far! Tessa is reading Beyond Consequences, Logic and Control, a pretty fascinating parenting book.

Jenny read a lot this past month, but only three she felt were worth mentioning: Stolen, Bad Kitty and The Color of Evil.

Jessica A got a jump on book club and read Ender's Game. It was for her other book club. This one will be reading it in August. She also listened to The Book Thief on audio and said, and I quote, "it was freaking delightful!" And... AND... she decided to fess up and admitted to reading  Fifty Shades of Grey! Whoa... we wanted to know ALL about it! :)

Julie read The Night Circus and agreed, it was good and beautiful and hard to describe. Having said that, she  wouldn't go so far as to say it was on the the best books she's ever read.

Jessica N read..... wait for it... About a Boy! We cheered because she hasn't been feeling well and to get the book club book read was awesome!

Suey read Ready Player One, which launched us into a spirited 80s discussion wherein we all learned... again... just how old Suey really is! 

Up next: A sort of informal Jane Austen month where we all hope to read something of hers we haven't read before... or... simply... read something of hers. :) Then in August, when we officially meet again, we'll also be discussing Ender's Game. 

P.S. I just thought you might be interested... the kid that plays Marcus in the movie? Here's what he looks like now:




10 comments:

  1. I'm not sure if Will redeemed himself either. I can't decide how I feel about him. I didn't like him at the beginning of the book. And, I have mixed feelings about him at the end.

    I liked Marcus a lot and I like his backup people idea too.

    I'm really interested to see the movie now. I haven't seen it before and I'm interested to see the ending since I know that's what's different about the two.

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  2. Sounds like you had a great book club meeting!

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  3. HOLY CRAP! Whew! *fans self* he looks so different. I meant to look him up after watching the movie again but never did. Sheesh! Now I need to scroll back up and check him out again...does that make me pervy? ;)

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    1. I just realized he's Hank McCoy in X-Men: First Class! And, he was born in 1989 which makes him almost 23 since his birthday is in December. So, no, not pervy at all. ;)

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    2. Jenny: I know right? Whew!
      Jenni: Which... alas... makes him still younger than my very own son!

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  4. Thanks, as always, for the recap, Suey. I love having the record.

    Also, whoa. Love the older Marcus.

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  5. I loved this movie but have never picked up the book. Sounds like a great book club selection; I'll have to rectify that not having read the book thing. Marcus all grown up is sure a lot cuter than Marcus younger - thought it was very awkward looking then (although they were trying very hard to make him look that way, too).

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