Dis Book Club?!

[DVC~OKW~96]

I'm going to have to bow out of this round of reading. I'm jammed at work and home right now and won't have time to finish what I must before Christmas if I try to read something additional.

Keep me in the "club" though, please? I'll join with the next round! :yes:

(And of course I'll be reading the threads)!

 

[minicoopercraig]

Not a problem DVC, with the holidays, that's why I picked a lighter book, I think, too for this month. I'll keep you on the list for next month.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Thanks! If by some miracle I get a chance to read the book, I'll pipe up!

 

[lisaviolet]

That is so interesting, Lisa. I just ordered that book for my daughter's christmas gift. It had really good reviews -- I'll definitely be checking out your thread.

Do come by!!! Just finished Water For Elephants. Really enjoyed it.

______________________________________________________________

I guess by the lack of response that there already is a DIS book club you guys are up for starting another one...this new one. Come by at any time! The more the merrier for any of our choices. Have fun everyone. Enjoy,

Lisa

 

[minicoopercraig]

Just a quick note to ask how everyone is doing with the book. To see if anyone finished it, if anyone remembered to read it, or if anyone didn't even know there was a book. LOL. Let me know. BUT no discussing YET! LOL.

 

[hematite153]

Just a quick note to ask how everyone is doing with the book. To see if anyone finished it, if anyone remembered to read it, or if anyone didn't even know there was a book. LOL. Let me know. BUT no discussing YET! LOL.

Well, I read the book about a year ago. I keep meaning to go find it on the bookshelf and read it again...but haven't gotten there yet.

I will though--I promise.

 

[TuckandStuiesMom]

I haven't bought it yet Seems like every time I go to the Borders site, I end up buying something for somebody else. Just an expensive time of the year, I guess and I feel a little guilty to be buying for myself... I think I might take Thursday off and if I do, I'll ask the library ladies if they can get me a copy on inter-library loan. (I usually take my Mom to the library on Saturdays but the ladies are SO busy those days, I wouldn't want to bother them)

 

[Pakey]

I finished the book this past weekend. I hope everyone gets going on it as I'm looking forward to the discussion.

 

[rosiep]

I just got the audiobook from the library..it's read by a luscious sounding Brit and so far it's intriguing.
Can't wait to listen some more.

 

[minicoopercraig]

Glad to hear there are some who have already read it. I just hope everyone gets it. We'll see...

 

[reid_man]

i have a suggestion for our next book...... annie on my mind by nancy garden,

 

[reid_man]

Plot summary
Liza Winthrop first meets Annie Kenyon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a rainy day. The two become fast friends, although they come from different backgrounds. Liza is the student body president at her private school, Foster Academy, where she is studying hard to get into MIT and become an architect. She lives with her parents and younger brother in the upscale neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights where most of the residents are professionals. Annie goes to a public school and lives with her parents — a bookkeeper and a cabdriver — and grandmother in a more disreputable part of Brooklyn. Annie is uncertain if she wants to go to college, and is equally uncertain if she can afford it. She aims to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where she will continue to develop her singing talent.

While they have different histories and goals in life, the two girls do share a close friendship that quickly grows into love. Liza's school is struggling to remain open and she finds herself having to defend a student who planned a poorly conceived fund-raiser: ear piercing in the school basement. This results in a three-day school suspension for Liza and helps to bring Liza and Annie closer together as they both deal with the struggles encountered by many high school students.

The suspension and the partly concominant Thanksgiving break give the girls time to become closer and lead to their first kiss. Annie admits she is gay. Liza soon realizes that although she has always considered herself different, she has not realized her sexual orientation until she falls in love with Annie.

When two of Liza's teachers go on vacation during spring break, she is offered the job of taking care of their home and feeding the cats. The two girls use this opportunity to further explore their relationship, but in an unexpected turn of events, one of the Foster Academy administrators discovers what the two girls had been doing. This results in Liza having to come out to her family. The school principal convenes a meeting of the school's board of trustees in an attempt to expel Liza. She argues that her personal actions are irrelevant to her school life and is therefore allowed to continue at Foster and keep her position as the student president although the two teachers (who are also lesbian) end up being fired. The tension over this trial ultimately results in the ending of Annie and Liza's relationship as school ends and they go their separate ways to colleges on different sides of the country. However, eventually, reevaluation of their relationship and Liza's final self-acceptance of herself as a lesbian allow the two girls to reunite.

The book is framed and narrated by Liza's thoughts as she attempts to write Annie a letter, in response to the many letters Annie has sent her. This narration comes right before the winter break of both their colleges' and Liza is unable to write or mail the letter she had been working on. Instead she calls her friend, the two quickly reconcile and decide to meet together before going home for winter break

 

[minicoopercraig]

I'll keep that in mind Reid_man, but the next book selection goes to Conckahuna. (sorry, not awake enough to remember spelling right now.) I'll let you know when it's your turn for a recommendation. Thanks for the suggestion though, I might read it before everyone else and let you know what I think.

 

[hematite153]

Hmmn...I'm noticing the date and realizing that I might not get done in time (since I'm only at about page 10).

I did read it about a year ago though, so, I can probably contribute to the conversation anyway. But, I'll have to be careful not to mix in ideas from the later books in the series. I'll try to get going on it!

ConcKahuna, could you tell us about your suggestion for the next book sometime soonish so that we can try to ask for it as a last minute gift?

Thanks!

 

[reid_man]

okey dokey. i am readingit now aand i have to give it a

 

[minicoopercraig]

Okay, sorry about the Delay all, had a dinner party to get ready for, and the time just blew right by me.
Overall, since I recommended the book, I of course loved it! I've read all the Thursday Next novels, and even the nursery crime series.
I loved the bookworms in this one, I was literally in tears when I first read them, and even going back a 3rd time to read them still had me chuckling to myself. A few of my favorite characters had to me Uncle Mycroft, Aunt Polly, Jack Sch**t (I don't think we can say his name! LOL), and Rochester.
I loved it when he told Thursday that he'd been giving tours of his house for some years now and when the Japanese Tourists just walked through the town and snapped pictures. Hilarious!
I also loved the part about the basketball stopping a time rift, or whatever they called it. I was laughing so hard at them in there and the way the brakelights slowly can on for them there, but in normal time they were normal.
Her dodo, Pickwick, was funny too with it's own personality, and sitting around Plock Plocking to the other dodo's.
Overall, I'm going to have to say that this book has become my favorite book, that is until I read another one to take it's place! LOL. Alrighty, anyone elses thoughts?!

 

[I<3EvilQueen]

Do we have a second and Third book yet?

 

[Pakey]

Okay, I'll bite!!!

First of all, this is not the type of book I would normally select to read (which is why I wanted to join your book club). When I first started it, I did not like it. After a few chapters, I started enjoying it more. By the end, I loved it.

I loved the uniqueness and creativity within the story. The bookworms were fascinating--gosh, I wish I had this type of imagination. And to name a character Jack S****T was hysterical. Because I'm so serious, I didn't even catch it the first time I read his name so when it finally "dawned" on me, I just about couldn't stand it, I was laughing so hard.

For me, I think it really helped that the story within the story was Jane Eyre, one of my favorite books of all time. I definitely believe it added to my enjoyment that I knew that book and it's characters so well. And I really liked the idea of going into a book and being able to change the story. Now I feel like I'm one of the few priviledged people who know the original Jane Eyre in addition to the book as we know it today.

Rochester was definitely my favorite character, perhaps because I already knew him so well. I think the book did a good job of incorporating these existing characters with personalities as they would have had. It made it believable.

So thanks for recommending it and for giving me a new author to enjoy in future readings.

 

[hematite153]

For me, I think it really helped that the story within the story was Jane Eyre, one of my favorite books of all time. I definitely believe it added to my enjoyment that I knew that book and it's characters so well.

Yes. While reading these books, I kept saying, "I wish I knew book X or historical event Y better!"

It took me awhile to get through the beginning of the book the first time (and apparently the second time too, since I'm not done). There's something about needing to change the way you think before it really makes sense.

But, then, once you get 'clicked-in' you wonder why all fiction isn't so inventive.

 

[rosiep]

I am not completely finished listening..but I'm mostly done. I always have this trouble when I read historical fiction: I wonder how much is true and what is fiction. So, in this case I was wishing I knew the stories of Jane Eyre better and Martin Chuzzlewick too.
But I LOVE fiction within fiction. I love alternate timelines -For instance when her father first appears and gives her a Beatles single from 1977 and she say's "didn't the Beatles break up in the '70's?"...He replies "Not always". ---Brilliant!