Potential Books for Book Club 2015

Every year I like to share with you the books we are voting on for the next year's book club schedule. It's fun to see what you all have to say about them!

Here are the possibles for this next year, listed in their respective categories.

October Book

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Dracula by Bram Stoker

Classics

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Animal Farm by George Orwell
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

YA/MG

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor

Utah Author

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Elevated by Elana Johnson

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

Literary Fiction

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Non Fiction

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Graphic/Play

Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand

Smile by  Raina Telgemeier

Are there some on this list that you think we simply can't pass up? If so, here's hoping it gets voted in! We are trying to narrow this down to about 12, so only a few will get eliminated. It's always fun to see what pulls out ahead!

Getting to Know You: Favorite Animals

Another installment of Getting to Know You is going on now over at Jenni Elyse's! Make a post and link up! This week we're sharing our favorite animals. I have lots I love, but narrowed it down to the few in this collage. 

Ah, they're all so cute!! And majestic. Animals are amazing. Which ones would you include on your list?

Historical vs. Contemporary

Okay guys! Here's another genre question for you!

We all know a historical novel is one that takes place in the past.  Usually, but not always, a novel based around either a true event, or some big event in history.  And if not that, then you usually learn about customs or practices from the past.

A contemporary novel is one that takes place in the present, obviously! The current day. Now times, dealing with nowadays issues.

But when does one become the other? How far back does "present" day go? And how far close to now does historical come?

I think we can agree that 20s and 30s would be historical. World War II times and the 40s obviously are. How about the 50s and 60s? Yes?

So... what about the 70s? Vietnam war? Watergate? Historical? Probably.

And the 80s? Historical or contemporary? The 90s? Historical or contemporary?

See? Starting to get a little fuzzy, ain't it?

Think of books set in those times periods. How do you think of them? Present day or historical past times? What's the "newest" setting you think of as historical and the "oldest" you think of as contemporary?

Let me know what you think!

Book Review Discussion: Ignite by Sara B. Larson

Book: Ignite by Sara B. Larson
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating:★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
For: Fun and Support Local Authors
From: Bought at the launch party

Short Synopsis: When we left Alexa at the end of the first book, Defy, she had just helped Prince Damian overthrow his tyrant of a father. She had also just told him (Damian) that she didn't love him. Which, of course, was a complete lie. So this book starts out with her trying to live that lie and simply be his guard and nothing more. He has since become king and everyone thinks all is well. That is, until a strange visitor shows up on their doorstep, a beautiful lady that seems to want the king in more ways than one. Alexa freaks out and knows something is up, though she's not sure the king has the same feelings. Meanwhile, the king's little brother is kidnapped and of course, the two events are connected. Now Alexa must save the brother and in so doing, she just might have to fess up to her true feelings for the king.

My Response: It was a little slow to start given the catching up that was necessary in order to reestablish the reader to this world and the political happenings therein. Once that was accomplished, it started to pick up and I pretty much flew through it. I enjoyed the intensity between Alexa and Damian. I enjoyed the sword fighting and the edge-of-your seat moments throughout. I enjoyed the magic. I enjoyed everything!

Bottom Line: Fun characters, fun world and lots to.... you guessed....enjoy!

Let's Talk About: Don't you worry about middle books in a trilogy? Don't you love it when the second book holds up to the first one just fine? Yeah, me too.

Other Reviews:

This series is one of my all time favorite high fantasy series and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a beautifully written story full of imagination and romance. From Dark Faerie Tales

It’s filled with love, romance and heartbreak but also our heroes have to face impossible and cleverly constructed dangers that altogether create an outstandingly brilliant follow-up to Defy! From Bewitched Book Worms

Ignite did not suffer from “second-book syndrome” in the least bit. It was a strong book that added a lot to Alexa’s story. From Jenni Elyse

I have all the feels and I think Ignite broke me. It was just so perfect and everything that a book 2 in a trilogy should be. From The Book Cellar

Random Junk Again

Hey everyone! I have a few things I want pass on to you today.

First of all, I was going to do a nice post about all the author events of the past week. But I didn't take any pictures at one, and the other, we ended up not going to, so instead I'll just share pictures of the one I would like to mention: Ransom Riggs! Add him to the list of very nice looking authors. Handsome Ransom. Sheesh. I had to say it. I was sad his wife (Tahereh Mafi) ended up not being with him after all. But maybe next time. He did sign her book for me though:

Ransom signs for Tahereh

What a cool looking title page!

 

Tall!

Gazing at Kami.

Feeling silly as usual!
But look at his shoes! :)
(Picture courtesy of Kami!)

For more and thorough recaps of this event, check out the posts over at Kami's Library Thoughts and Jenni Elyse's blogs! Now I just need to read the second book.

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Are you fond of taking surveys? If so, help out the wife of one of my coworkers by letting her know your feelings on YA dsytopian novels! She's doing her big paper on this subject. Here's the link to the survey:  http://goo.gl/forms/KmjQ6oL5ec I knew you'd all have tons to say, so I thought I'd share and let you help out a student! :)

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So, guess what? BLOGGIESTA IS COMING! Again! Sheesh, that rolls around fast. The crazy thing about this event is that it's going to be ONE WEEK LONG!! You asked for it, you got it! But that also means that we need some totally awesome challenges. And we have only few so far, so I need more! I need you all! Let me know if you have a fabulous idea for a challenge. If you've been thinking about doing one, but have been too shy.. this is your chance. Now! Let me know! Anyway, mark your calendars: March 23 to 29. Plan to work on your blogs all week long. It'll be a blast.



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If I was participating in Top Ten Tuesday over at The Broke and the Bookish today I'd be posting some favorite books of the past three years. And if I were to make that list it would probably include:

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
All the Laini Taylor books in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series
All the Veronica Rossi books in the Under the Never Sky series
Pivot Point and Split Second by Kasie West
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
All the Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry

Yeah, it would probably at least include those.

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Letter month is over! I didn't do great, but I didn't do terrible either. I sent a letter to everyone on my list! I meet a few new people. I wanted to try a fan letter again, but couldn't figure that out. I think I ended up sending maybe 20 or so pieces of mail. I'll keep going even if it's not February you know. Just in case you wondered. :)

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Okay, well. I have no idea what else I meant to spew out today. I guess I'll leave it at that. Have a wonderful day.

Book Review Discussion: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Book: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
Genre: YA Dstyopian
Rating:★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
For: Fun
From: Bought it 

Short Synopsis: This is the third of a crazy exciting series, so beware spoilers for the first two. So Juliette wakes up from the shooting incident that ended book two. And Warner is taking care of her. Yeah. And then he tells her how the compound she's been staying at has all been destroyed, with everyone it. Juliette freaks out, but of course, it turns out to not be quite as bad as she thinks. Which means, of course, that she has to deal with the Warner/Adam issues. Yeah. Awkward!! And once she deals with that, she has to figure out how to take down the corrupt government once and for all.

My Response: Well. This is one of those series that I felt just got better and better as it went along. The first book was okay, but as Juliette grew. . . and as we got to know  Warner, the books got better. And I know some people are sick to death of the love triangle thing, but I must say, I was very much into this one! And I think I said this before for my review of the second book, Warner is one of the best and most fascinating characters ever. Not to mention hot and steamy. I sort of want to go back and read all three books again now that I know what I know.

Bottom Line: Great ending to a fun series. I hope, in fact, we might even get more someday.

Let's Talk About: Are you REALLY sick of love triangles? I mean, really? Or, are you okay with them if they are done well and involve interesting characters? I, for one, am okay.

Other Reviews:

Well done. Well done on her writing style, on her character development, on her plot twists, on her world building, and the pacing and for finishing a series of Novels that has the ability to take my breath away and scream and cry and get excited and shocked. From Page Girl's Page

Normally love triangles REALLY annoy me. And I guess in a way there was that kinda love triangle thing happening in the Shatter Me series, except it was done right. It was done the way it always should have been done. At some points in this book, the things I was reading in this book hit me so hard that I was actually feeling heartache. From Book Nerd Reviews

Warner. I don't even know what to say but I'll try to be coherent! Warner is one of my favourite YA characters of all time. No doubt. From City of Books

On a final note, Tahereh Mafi is very good at hot scenes, let me tell you. From YA Book Queens

My Writing Week: Sharing Sentences

It's been a pretty fabulous writing week. I've managed to tie some new chapters into the previous chapters I already had. And here's hoping they mesh somewhat smoothly. I need to read them altogether all at once to see if I can agree to that.

And I revised the crazy crap that I threw up during Nano13 when these words first came out of my head. Not sure if it's much better. Not sure if it makes sense. Not sure if any of it's staying. But I revised.

Now, if only I could think up an ending!

Current word count for this project which still has no title: 75,160

Some sentences I wrote this week:

He held me tight to him and leaned down, whispering in my ear, “It’s time to change the course of history. You will not be with him, you will be with me.”

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“I know, funny how the genes shake down, isn’t it?” He smiled. “I’m the fair one. The fairest of them all.”

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“You’re kidding me, right? You kidnap me and you want a hug for it? Dream on.”

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“I know! Do you by chance have some other Indian chant-spell-thing up your sleeve that will work here?”

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I wanted to move. I wanted to scream. But nothing worked. Except my eyes. They opened wide with fear and helplessness.

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Well, that was interesting, trying to find a sentence or two worthy of sharing! And now let's see if I'm brave enough to actually hit the publish button here. Anyone want to share a sentence that they've written this week? 

Wish me luck on an ending idea! Like I told my writing buddies... I'm totally pondering a sunset. :)