January Book

It looks like In the Woods is our new book. Happy Holidays! See you January 19th.

So far it looks like we are tied three to three. I don't mind breaking the tie but I want everyone to get a chance to post so we will leave it for a couple more days. We have decided on January 19th for the next time to meet though. Elaine, I am up for any day of the week. Have a great Christmas!

Day change?

Hey guys, I hate to do this . . .
But I was wondering if there are any possible alternative days of the week that we could meet. I'm most likely going to join the Birmingham Concert Chorale in January, and they rehearse on Monday nights. If everyone would be able to change to either Tuesday or Thursday nights, that'd be cool. But if not everyone can do it, I can probably make it work for most months. Just let me know!

January Book Choices

The Shack
"Mack" Philips took his three children on a family camping trip while his wife visited her sister. Just as they were about to leave the campsite, the two older kids decided to take a last canoe ride before heading home. As their canoe overturned, and Mack went to help them, his back was turned and the unspeakable happened. Mack's youngest daughter,Missy, was abducted by a known child predator. After a massive search, evidence of Missy showed up at an abandoned cabin. Although they never found her body, everyone knew the worst had happened. For the next four years "a great sadness" fell over Mack and his family, until a note from God showed up in his mailbox. What happens next will move you to a greater understanding of God's unfailing love for us all.

Pictures of Hollis Woods

Hollis Woods was an infant when she was abandoned and for 12 years she has been transferred from one foster home to another. To the social agency, she is a “mountain of trouble” because she skips school and runs away, even from the Regans, a family willing to give her a real home. When she is placed with Josie, an elderly artist who is becoming very forgetful, Hollis begins to feel needed and doesn’t ever want to leave this eccentric old woman who knows a lot about friendship and love. Fearful that the social agency will take her from Josie, Hollis plans a winter escape. This time she takes Josie with her and returns to Branches, the summer home that belongs to the Regans. All along, Hollis longs for her life with the Regans, and records every special moment with them in a gallery of pictures.

In the Woods
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children, gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled shoes, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.
Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox – his partner and closest friend – find themselves investigating a case with chilling links to that long-ago disappearance. Now, with only snippets of buried memories to guide him, Rob has the chance to unravel both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

So, I have to work the last Monday of January so I was wondering if we could either do it a week early on January 19th or the week after on February 2nd. Let me know what you guys think. I am really excited and I had a great time tonight at the Christmas Party. Happy Holidays!!!

Christmas Book Swap

Yeah it is finally Christmas book swap time! So, tonight around 7:30 or 8:00. I live in Crestwood (5501 6th court south). I think it should be great. Lot's of good food and good books. You can't ask for much more than that. Please don't hesitate to call if you can't find my house or need some directions. I strongly recommend not using mapquest because it hasn't given reliable directions to my hosue lately.
Have a fantastic Monday at work and school! See everyone tonight!

Chill Out with Alaska

Monday night! It's book club at mine/Jamie's house! (1054 Lakeview Crescent). Let's kick things off at 7pm. I'll provide some coffee and dessert (baked alaska, anyone?). You come ready to provide your part of what I hope will be a lively conversation.

Fun fact about the book: According to a very entertaining website called Safe Libraries, there were 281 curse words (although they count pee as a curse word) and state there are 1.3 bad words on every page in this book.

What was the consensus on the book swap?

An Executive Decision

Gosh, I'm sorry to have caused such a complicated month for the book club. Yes, I suppose it would do us some good to come up with some ground rules about finishing/abandoning books. But, until we have a chance to do so, I'm going to go ahead and say (unless there is major dissent) that we should stick to the original choice, with all its beer and body parts...since some have already read/acquired the book/spent their book budgets. How does that sound to you fine folks?

Hey Folks

My sincerest apologies for recommending such an inappropriate read. Apparently, the good-reads go ahead from a close friend, is not reason enough to believe that a book is actually worth reading. Again, so sorry....

So, if it's not too much trouble, take a gander back at the other two choices and add to it this one: French Milk. It's a graphic novel (I know, a little untradish... but looks cute. Check it out here). Let's vote anew and keep the discussion date Monday 12/8 at my house.

Ahem...

Hello Ladies-

I am not sure if anyone has begun to embark on our latest adventure known as Alaska. If not, I'd just like to throw something out there. Little did Cory know, but it's sorta...so far...a kinda sleezy book. By sleezy I mean that I'm not sure there will be much for us to discuss other than beers and boobs. Seriosly. Turns out Alaska's some skank and Pudge just wants to get in her pants. Sorry to be so frank, but...uh, I'm just being honest. Anyhow, I've let Cory know (on more than one occasion) that this book is a bit on the sketchy side and she has okayed us to choose another book. I confess that I'm a more conservative reader, so if some of you have gotten started and find it to be a page turner, please, SHUT ME UP! ...if not, Cory will post another option and we can all vote again and begin reading something a little more...uhh, clean? Anyhow, please post ASAP so we can get the ball rolling if we switch. Thanks ladies!

Next up

Looks like it'll be Looking for Alaska. (Hadn't heard from Mamie or Sarah, but I think we've reached a winner, regardless). There you have it folks. Let's do 12/8 for the discussion at my house!

For further listening...(not to distract from voting on Cory's books)

I'm a nerd.

Next point: I've discovered a really great podcast by American Public Media called Speaking of Faith, and two great features relate nicely to our recent books and discussions. If you like to listen to stuff like this, you should check them out.

Being Autistic and Being Human 

and 

Ethics and the Will of God: The Life and Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

It's My Turn Now!

After much deliberation...typing, deleting and several rounds of editing, I've selected the following three choices for our next book club discussion. When you make your choice, please also decide which date suits you better for the meeting (Monday 12/1 or 12/8). Thank you and may you have a prosperous and successful day!

All Over but the Shoutin’
By Rick Bragg

A word from me: Every since I moved to Alabama, writers and readers alike have been Bragging to me about this homegrown author. I'd like to see what all the fuss is about.

A word from goodreads.com : One reason Rick Bragg won a Pulitzer Prize for his feature articles at the New York Times is that he never forgets his roots. When he writes about death and violence in urban slums, Bragg draws on firsthand knowledge of how poverty deforms lives and on his personal belief in the dignity of poor people. His memoir of a hardscrabble Southern youth pays moving tribute to his indomitable mother and struggles to forgive his drunken father. All Over but the Shoutin' is beautifully achieved on both these counts--and many more.

Looking for Alaska

By John Green

A word from me: I love a good boarding school story... A Little Princess, Dead Poet's Society, and for Kara... Harry Potter, et al.

A word from goodreads.com: Miles Pudge Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the Great Perhaps even more (Franois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . . After. Nothing is ever the same.

Tender at the Bone

By Ruth Reichl (a NYTimes restaraunt reviewer)

A word from me: Recomended by a friend and member of Birmingham's foodie book club. For anyone who links tastes and smell (sorry James) to memories.

A note from goodreads.com: Her stories shine with the voices and recipes of those she has encountered on the way, such as her Aunt Birdie's maid and companion, Alice, who first taught Reichl both the power of cooking and how to make perfect apple dumplings; the family's mysterious patrician housekeeper, Mrs. Peavey, who always remembered to make extra pastry for the beef Wellington; Serafina, the college roommate with whom Reichl explored a time of protest and political and personal discovery; and, finally, cookbook author Marion Cunningham, who, after tales of her midlife struggles and transformation, gave Reichl the strength to overcome her own anxieties.
Reichl's wry and gentle humor pervades the book, and makes readers feel as if they're right at the table, laughing at one great story after another (and delighting in a gourmet meal at the same time, of course). Reichl's narrative of a life lived and remembered through the palate will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.

October Book Club Tonight!

MMM.... I love October. This is going to be great! I'm looking forward to meeting tonight to talk about our lovely book and enjoy Fall inspired delights. I tried to email everyone with directions and details. If you didnt get it, comment to let me know, and I'll send it along!

October Book Club Tonight!

Audio Teaser

Do any of y'all do audio books? I'm thinking about trying it out with this one, though...I don't know. I love to feel a book, and read it my way. Thoughts?

Here's an audio teaser of our book.

Third times a charm

Sorry if I've dropped the ball on this one. But I offically dub The Book Thief our third book (yay!). I'll host the par-tay, but I'll check with Melissa to see if Monday the 27th is a good day to have it at her house so Erin can join us. Do you guys think 2.5 weeks is long enough to read the book, or should we postpone? I'm excited! (and I hope I can find a copy with the pretty cover!)

Book Club: Round 3!

First of all, Erin and Laura, we are so sorry and shaken by what you've had to go through this week. We LOVE you so so so so so so so much, and we are SO thankful that you are SAFE! And you know that we all want to help in any way that we can. Erin we are praying for your recovery...that the fevers would go away, that the blood would get to your ankle and revive it, and that your back would heal quickly! That God would hold your hand through the pain and trials, and that it would be a sweet season of closeness to him, a refreshing of your Spirit. We'll miss you two so much tonight!

I think that it's my turn next month, so here are my nominees for our next book!

1.) Atonement, by Ian McEwan

There's a good chance that some of you have already read this or seen the movie, but I haven't and I've heard its really really good. I'm intrigued. Here is the Good Reads synopsis...

Ian McEwan’s symphonic novel of love and war, childhood and class, guilt and forgiveness provides all the satisfaction of a brilliant narrative and the provocation we have come to expect from this master of English prose. On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment’s flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia’s childhood friend. But Briony’s incomplete grasp of adult motives–together with her precocious literary gifts–brings about a crime that will change all their lives. As it follows that crime’s repercussions through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century, Atonement engages the reader on every conceivable level, with an ease and authority that mark it as a genuine masterpiece

2.) The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusac

This is a book that I stumbled across on Good Reads. I haven't heard much about it in the real world, but it got phenomenal reviews there, and the story sounds great. I've always been drawn to stories about WWII.

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still. By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found. But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jewish fist-fighter in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down. In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

3.) Jayber Crow, by Wendell Berry

I've been wanting to read Wendell Berry for a while now. He is famous for his deep love of "place," and for his ability to describe what gives a place it's identity and character. He is a huge proponent for local economy and culture, getting back to the heart of small towns and cities, etc., which I think is more and more relevant for our times. Anyway, he has several novels, but Jayber Crow is one that has been recommended to me by Berry enthusiasts.

The questions who and what and how and why are no doubt useful and occasionally even noble in their place. But for Wendell Berry, whose spare and elegant prose has long testified to the rural American values of thrift and frugality, four interrogatives must seem a waste, when one will do. Where is the ultimate qualifier, the sine qua non, for both the author and his characters. Place shapes them and defines them; the winding Kentucky River and the gentle curves of the Kentucky hills find an echo in their lilting speech and brusque affections.

Jayber Crow is another story of the Port William membership, the community whose life--and lives--Berry has unfurled over the course of a half dozen novels. Jayber himself is an orphan, lately returned to the town. And his status as barber and bachelor places him simultaneously at its center and on its margins. A born observer, he hears much, watches carefully, and spends 50 years learning its citizens by heart.

They were rememberers, carrying in their living thoughts all the history that such places as Port William ever have. I listened to them with all my ears, and have tried to remember what they said, though from remembering what I remember I know that much is lost. Things went to the grave with them that will never be known again.

Jayber tells the town's stories tenderly. Gently elegiac, the novel charts the tension between an urge to isolation and an impulse to connectivity, writ both small and large. As the 20th century moves inexorably forward, swallowing in great mechanized gulps rural towns governed by agricultural rhythms, Port William turns in upon itself. And as Jayber admits quietly, "Once a fabric is torn, it is apt to keep tearing. It was coming apart. The old integrity had been broken." Integrity, both whole and shattered, is key to the stories of Burley Coulter, Cecelia Overhold, Troy Chatham, and above all, Athey Keith and his daughter Mattie, to whom Jayber pledges his undying and unrequited love.

Berry's prose, so carefully tuned that you never know it is there, carries us into the very heart of the land itself; his exquisitely constructed sentences suggesting the cyclic rhythms of his agrarian world. Jayber Crow resonates with variations played on themes of change, looping transitions from war into peace, winter into spring, browning flood destruction into greening fields, absence into presence, lost into found.

Meeting #2, Sept 29th

Hey you all! This coming Monday we are meeting for Book Club! Hurray! Plan on meeting at my apartment at 7:15 to hang out a bit/get food before we settle down and get started. I live in Samford's marriage apartments. For those who have not been there- pass both of Samford's entrances on the right and then take the next right onto Odum Lane. At the dumpster, take a left. My apartment building is the one facing the road and my apartment is the far, bottom right (if facing the building) apartment, #76. For those people who know Samford well, it might be better for you all to park in over-flow and walk to my apartment. Finding a place to park has been difficult to come by lately. My number is 423-313-6846. Oh yeah, can everyone make it on Monday? Looking forward to it!

And the winner is...

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time! We are looking at Monday, Sept 29th at 7:30 for our next meeting (that way Jamie should be off her shift by then). Ill send more details as the date draws closer.

A little pre-game inspiration.

I found these discussion questions on Khalid Hosseini's website. I'm not sure how we'll approach discussing the book tonight, but these might jog some good thoughts.

1. The phrase “a thousand splendid suns,” from the poem by Saib-e-Tabrizi, is quoted twice in the novel – once as Laila’s family prepares to leave Kabul, and again when she decides to return there from Pakistan. It is also echoed in one of the final lines: “Miriam is in Laila’s own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.” Discuss the thematic significance of this phrase.

2. Mariam’s mother tells her: “Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have.” Discuss how this sentiment informs Mariam’s life and how it relates to the larger themes of the novel.

3. By the time Laila is rescued from the rubble of her home by Rasheed and Mariam, Mariam’s marriage has become a miserable existence of neglect and abuse. Yet when she realizes that Rasheed intends to marry Laila, she reacts with outrage. Given that Laila’s presence actually tempers Rasheed’s abuse, why is Mariam so hostile toward her?

4. Laila’s friendship with Mariam begins when she defends Mariam from a beating by Rasheed. Why does Laila take this action, despite the contempt Mariam has consistently shown her?

5. Growing up, Laila feels that her mother’s love is reserved for her two brothers. “People,” she decides, “shouldn’t be allowed to have new children if they’d already given away all their love to their old ones.” How does this sentiment inform Laila’s reaction to becoming pregnant with Rasheed’s child? What lessons from her childhood does Laila apply in raising her own children?

6. At several points in the story, Mariam and Laila pass themselves off as mother and daughter. What is the symbolic importance of this subterfuge? In what ways is Mariam’s and Laila’s relationship with each other informed by their relationships with their own mothers?

7. One of the Taliban judges at Mariam’s trial tells her, “God has made us different, you women and us men. Our brains are different. You are not able to think like we can. Western doctors and their science have proven this.” What is the irony in this statement? How is irony employed throughout the novel?

8. Laila’s father tells her, “You’re a very, very bright girl. Truly you are. You can be anything that you want.” Discuss Laila’s relationship with her father. What aspects of his character does she inherit? In what ways is she different?

9. Mariam refuses to see visitors while she is imprisoned, and she calls no witnesses at her trial. Why does she make these decisions?

10. The driver who takes Babi, Laila, and Tariq to the giant stone Buddhas above the Bamiyan Valley describes the crumbling fortress of Shahr-e-Zohak as “the story of our country, one invader after another… we’re like those walls up there. Battered, and nothing pretty to look at, but still standing.” Discuss the metaphorical import of this passage as it relates to Miriam and Laila. In what ways does their story reflect the larger story of Afghanistan’s troubled history?

11. Among other things, the Taliban forbid “writing books, watching films, and painting pictures.” Yet despite this edict, the film Titanic becomes a sensation on the black market. Why would people risk the Taliban’s violent reprisals for a taste of popcorn entertainment? What do the Taliban’s restrictions on such material say about the power of artistic expression and the threat it poses to repressive political regimes?

12. While the first three parts of the novel are written in the past tense, the final part is written in present tense. What do you think was the author’s intent in making this shift? How does it change the effect of this final section?

Book ideas

When the time comes for you to post book suggestions, and you need some ideas, this is a GREAT resource. Real Simple magazine polled its readers and asked them to send in their book club's "Best Reads." Each book is described by the readers and told as to why it was their book club's favorite book!





http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/content/0,21770,1832815,00.html?xid=bestbooks

First Meeting's Today!

and i'm so excited! i decided that we'll meet at 7 for wine and dessert (so eat dinner before!). laura and i live in 2077G vestavia park apartments. take 31 past the rave and publix (they'll be on your right) and turn left at the first turn past the light at sol azteca and roly poly. the turn isn't at a light, so you'll have to look out for it. (if you get to diplomat deli or 65, you've gone too far.) after turning left (there will be a sign for vestavia part apts), drive to the bottom of the hill where it dead ends and turn right. our building is the first one on the right. you'll have to walk up 2 flights of stairs and 2077G is on the right! i hope you all are as excited as i am to talk about this book...i LOVED it! see you soon and call me (243-6473) if you have any questions or get lost!
e

Book #2!

(Drum roll....)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

Mark Haddon's bitterly funny debut novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a murder mystery of sorts--one told by an autistic fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone, mathematically gifted and socially hopeless, who comes across his neighbor's poodle, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork. Christopher resolves to discover just who has murdered Wellington. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is original, clever, and genuinely moving. (from Amazon.com)
As far as I gather, this book is a funny and easy read. A friend recommended it to me this summer.

THE ROAD
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation. (from back cover of book)
Just a heads up, I heard this book is dark but at the same time very poetic. This is the same dude who wrote No Country for Old Men. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2006.

HOME

Hundreds of thousands were enthralled by the luminous voice of John Ames in Gilead, Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel. Home is an entirely independent, deeply affecting novel that takes place concurrently in the same locale, this time in the household of Reverend Robert Boughton, Ames’s closest friend.

Glory Boughton, aged thirty-eight, has returned to Gilead to care for her dying father. Soon her brother, Jack—the prodigal son of the family, gone for twenty years—comes home too, looking for refuge and trying to make peace with a past littered with tormenting trouble and pain.

Jack is one of the great characters in recent literature. A bad boy from childhood, an alcoholic who cannot hold a job, he is perpetually at odds with his surroundings and with his traditionalist father, though he remains Boughton’s most beloved child. Brilliant, lovable, and wayward, Jack forges an intense bond with Glory and engages painfully with Ames, his godfather and namesake.

Home is a moving and healing book about families, family secrets, and the passing of the generations, about love and death and faith. It is Robinson’s greatest work, an unforgettable embodiment of the deepest and most universal emotions. (from Amazon.com)

As you probably figured out, this book is by the same author as Gilead. It has the same characters as Gilead but you won’t (I think) have to read Gilead beforehand to know what’s going on. I don’t know much more about it because it does not come out till September 2nd. I liked Gilead- personally, it was kinda slow at first but I eventually got into it because the characters were developed so well. Word on the street is that Will Weir was sent an early copy of the book and he wrote a review of it for Trinity Forum…so maybe ask him how he liked it if interested?

Let the voting begin!

Next contestant...

Kara, I believe you're up next for the book choices. I guess we oughta get a jump on the next one, so that when we meet next Monday, we'll know what's on the docket for next time. What'd you think?

Also, on a side note, I heard you were a master harmonica-nist? Is this true? If so, I need to request a private conference with you.

On the side........

If you have the chance, watch the movie Charlie Wilson's War after reading the first half of the book. It's great insight as to the part the U.S. played into the Afgan-Soviet war that takes place in the book.

Synopsis:

Charlie Wilson's War is a 2007 biographical drama film based on the true story of Democratic Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson, who conspired with "bare knuckle attitude" CIA operative Gust Avrakotos to launch an operation that helped the Afghan mujahideen resist and ultimately defeat the Soviet Union's military occupation of the nation.

First Meeting!

when: 25 august 2008 (time?  maybe around 6:30-7?  you tell me!)

where: erin and laura's new apartment... 2somthing g vestavia park apts on 31 across from sol las teca and right before diplomat deli

what to bring: yourself and "A Thousand Splendid Suns"...i'll let you guys know if i think of anything else!

yay!  i'm so excited.  

Book Coupon!

Click below for a link to a 15% off Barnes and Noble Coupon that expires 8/17!

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/email/nonav.asp?PID=23898

First Book!

Well, It looks like everyone we know how to get in contact with has voted now...and A Thousand Splendid Suns it is!

Here are our options for how to meet:

1. We could meet every 3 weeks and vote for books when we are all together (as opposed to using the blogs). In this case we'd meet to pick the next book on Aug 11 and then meet to discuss A Thousand Splendid Suns on Sept 1.
   
2. We could always vote for books on the blog, and as Kara suggested, meet to discuss the books the last Monday of every month (Aug 25 being the first).
   

I think there are pros and cons to both, so keeping with the polling fashion of this blog...which do you prefer?

(p.s. This is still a great time to include any other girls who would be interested in joining in on the fun for this first book)

Book Choices, take 1

Choice #1: 

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

"A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last 30 years-from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding-that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms.  It's a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives-the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness-are inextricable from the history playing around them" (from the back the book...)  

This book is by the author of The Kite Runner, which I read a few months ago.  While The Kite Runner was mainly about the relationship of two boys, A Thousand Splendid Suns focuses more on girl relationships and the way the political changes in Afghanistan affects them.  

Choice #2: 

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

"Rob is a pop music junkie who runs his own semi-failing record store.  His girlfriend, Laura, has just left him for the guy upstairs, and Rob is both miserable and relieved.  After all, could he have spent his life with someone who has a bad record collection? Rob seeks refuge in the company of the offbeat clerks at his store, who endlessly review their top five films (Reservoir Dogs...), top five Elvis Costello songs (Alison...), top five episodes of Cheers (the one where Woody sang his stupid song to Kelly...).  Rob tries dating a singer whose rendition of "Baby, I Love Your Way" makes him cry.  But maybe it's just that he's always wanted to sleep with someone who has a record contract.  Then he sees Laura again.  And Rob begins to think (awful as it sounds) that life as an episode of thirtysomething, with all the kids and marriages and barbecues and k.d. lang CDs that this implies, might not be so bad." (from the back of the book)

High Fidelity is a thoroughly enjoyable book.  Nick Hornby's writing is humorous, thought-provoking, memorable and, like i said, thoroughly enjoyable.  Along with being an entertaining, quick read, I think that the issues addressed in the book could provoke good discussion.

Choice #3:

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (Hardback edition)

"The result [of the author spending 10 years researching every detail of geisha culture]  is a novel with the broad social canvas (and love of coincidence) of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen's intense attention to the nuances of erotic maneuvering. Readers experience the entire life of a geisha, from her origins as an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to her triumphant auction of her mizuage (virginity) for a record price as a teenager to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of the powerful patron of her dreams. We discover that a geisha is more analogous to a Western "trophy wife" than to a prostitute--and, as in Austen, flat-out prostitution and early death is a woman's alternative to the repressive, arcane system of courtship. In simple, elegant prose, Golden puts us right in the tearoom with the geisha; we are there as she gracefully fights for her life in a social situation where careers are made or destroyed by a witticism, a too-revealing (or not revealing enough) glimpse of flesh under the kimono, or a vicious rumor spread by a rival "as cruel as a spider." (from Amazon.com)

My sister highly recommended this book, and it's been said to be "wonderful, involving, intelligent, fascinating and beautiful."  I also feel this book would provoke interesting discussion, especially considering the culture today and the prevalence of and outcry against prostitution and sex slaves (especially in Asian countries)...just a thought.

I guess you guys can just vote by leaving a comment on here!  Also, since we're choosing books on the blog, should we meet once a month, rather than every three weeks, to discuss the book? Or we can still meet every three weeks, and have 6 weeks to read and two meetings to discuss one book.  Does that make since?  Either way is fine with me.  I guess just put what you want to do in the comment with your vote!  And our first meeting can be either three or four weeks (depending on how we do it) after everyone votes and we know which book we're reading. 

Here we go...

Hey ladies! Welcome to the book club blog. Hopefully this will be a good tool to suggest and discuss our books. I'm excited! Please take ownership and do whatever you want with it. Like maybe suggest a cooler title? Anyways, from our first little gathering, here's how we'll organize things.

First of all, we'll meet every three weeks. Mondays seem to be a good night so far. One week we'll pick a book, and the next (3rd) week, we'll discuss a book. Here's where it might be hard to explain. We'll spend 6 weeks on each book, so while we're reading one, we'll be picking the next one. Does that make sense?

We'll go in order of birthdays. For each girl's "turn" she will host the meeting and sort-of lead the discussion. This is also when we'll read a book that she selects. Each of us will pick 3 books and then everyone else will vote to pick which one of those we read. Oh golly, I feel like I'm not explaining this well, but hopefully we'll figure it out.

I guess we should start on the 11th? And lets try to pick a book before then so we dont have to wait forever to start discussing.

Therefore, everyone needs to respond to this post with your birthday so we can figure out who goes first.

I know this post was all down to business, but I really am excited about how much fun this is going to be--quality time with girls, looking forward to genuinely getting to know each other better and share something we all enjoy!

Peace!