*NikkiBell*
Livin’ that DVC & AP life!
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2005
- Messages
- 13,552
Hi Everyone,
Although we are still discussing The Help, it is time to start making decisions about our next novel for The DIS Book Club. Please take a moment and look at the descriptions of the below novels and use the survey to select the one you'd be most interested in reading. If you have any questions, please let me know.
UPDATE: The survey has been closed! Thank you everyone for your input! I will reveal the results this weekend. In the meantime, feel free to join us for the ending discussion on The Help!
Wild Ride by Jennifer Cruise & Bob Mayer
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Ride-Jen..._1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272668624&sr=1-1#noop
The New York Times bestselling duo of Crusie and Mayer team up again with a hilarious paranormal novel that shows why the wildest ride at the Dreamland Amusement Park isnt the roller coaster
Mary Alice Brannigan doesnt believe in the supernatural. Nor does she expect to find that Dreamland, the decaying amusement park shes been hired to restore, is a prison for the five Untouchables, the most powerful demons in the history of the world. Plus, theres a guy shes falling hard for, and theres something about him thats not quite right.
But rocky romances and demented demons arent the only problems in Dreamland: Mabs also coping with a crooked politician, a supernatural raven, a secret government agency, an inexperienced sorceress, an unsettling inheritance, and some mind-boggling revelations from her past. As her personal demons wreck her newfound relationship and real demons wreck the park, Mab faces down immortal evil and discovers what everybody whos ever been to an amusement park knows: The end of the ride is always the wildest.
Invisible Boy by Cornelia Read
http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Boy...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272668689&sr=1-1
Ex-debutante Madeline Dare is a fallen WASP with a stinging wit. The one-time newspaper reporter seems to find murder and mayhem wherever she goes. In this lively third offering (after The Crazy School, 2008), the mordant Dare discovers, in a New York cemetery housing her ancestors, the remains of what was clearly an abused boy. What cruel soul could have beaten three-year-old Teddy Underhill to death? High on the suspect list are the boys deadbeat mother, Angela, and her equally unsavory boyfriend, Albert, who claims the child wandered off while he was taking a nap. Madeline finds herself immersed in the case, while her husband, Dean, spends his days working for Christoph, a neo-Nazi businessman. (Christophs wife, Astrid, gives Madeline a copy of Mein Kampf as a gift.) Along the way, Madeline gets chummy with a homicide cop named Skwarecki, who shares her endearingly cynical outlook on life. As in previous entries, Shamus Awardwinner Read offers a steady dose of suspense and plenty of clever commentary on the caprices of the upper crust. --Allison Block
House Rules by Jodi Picoult
http://www.amazon.com/House-Rules-N...1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272668866&sr=1-1-spell
The astonishing new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult about a family torn apart by an accusation of murder.
They tell me I'm lucky to have a son who's so verbal, who is blisteringly intelligent, who can take apart the broken microwave and have it working again an hour later. They think there is no greater hell than having a son who is locked in his own world, unaware that there's a wider one to explore. But try having a son who is locked in his own world, and still wants to make a connection. A son who tries to be like everyone else, but truly doesn't know how.
Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject--in his case, forensic analysis. He's always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do...and he's usually right. But then his town is rocked by a terrible murder and, for a change, the police come to Jacob with questions. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger's--not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, flat affect--can look a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel. Suddenly, Jacob and his family, who only want to fit in, feel the spotlight shining directly on them. For his mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication of why nothing is normal because of Jacob. And over this small family the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?
Emotionally powerful from beginning to end, House Rules looks at what it means to be different in our society, how autism affects a family, and how our legal system works well for people who communicate a certain way--and fails those who don't.
The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald
http://www.amazon.com/Irresistible-...WVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1272678882&sr=1-1
To the ranks of iconic mid-century modern men Gump and Garp, add The Irresistible Henry House. As imagined by Lisa Grunwald, inspired by the peculiar beginnings of a real baby, Henry's life unspools with more realism and intention than Gump's, with less a sense of dread than Garp's. But Henry and his story have the same almost-magic magnetism. Henry arrives in the world as a "practice baby," passed between a dozen young women at the Practice House of Wilton College's Home Economics program in a decidedly pre-Spock era that discouraged mothers from holding babies "too much." From the beginning, Henry inspires in women the desire for his exclusive attention--but none want them more than Martha Gaines, the program director, who has spent her career overseeing the proper raising of a string of "house" orphans who were eventually adopted out.
Unable to let Henry go, Martha raises him as her own. Burdened by her need and bewildered by his own inability to reciprocate affection, Henry retreats into a silence that buys him banishment to a school for troubled teens in Connecticut, far from Martha's grasp. In these mute years, Henry hones his aptitude for drawing and experiences the benefits of knowing instinctively how to please women (sometimes including Mary Jane, his real childhood sweetheart). His skills open doors for him at Disney Studios to draw Poppins penguins, and in London for Yellow Submarine. The multidimensional generations of women in his life make a fascinating microcosm of the cultural revolution that redefined the expectations of all American women in the latter half of the 20th century. But it's Henry's struggle to define the desires of his own heart that propels this story, culminating in a scene as transcendent as Carver's Cathedral. --Mari Malcolm
The Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/14..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0DGZF285EE1X5EN4RDS4
The rest of your life starts with one step. Noreen Kelly learns this the hard way when she takes a buyout offer at her small shoe company and wakes up the day afterjobless, dumped by her slick co-worker, and wondering who she is and what she wants. She becomes tentative friends with Tess and Rosie, and together the women form a walking club, each step bringing them closer together and closer to the life solutions they all seek. Cook creates likable female characters with realistic flaws. The plots are marked with Gilmore Girlstype dialogue and settings, utterly charming from beginning to end. Theres plenty of laughs, anger, sorrow, and rage to keep the story moving along at a breezy pace; and all the subplots involving the multigenerational characters and their kooky suburban antics are tied up nicely. Theres a little more edge here than in a typical gentle novel, but more softness than in an edgy hen-lit novel. Miss Julia would be proud to be friends with these women. --Stover Kaite Mediatore
Which book are you most interested in for Round 3? Click here for the official survey!!
Although we are still discussing The Help, it is time to start making decisions about our next novel for The DIS Book Club. Please take a moment and look at the descriptions of the below novels and use the survey to select the one you'd be most interested in reading. If you have any questions, please let me know.
UPDATE: The survey has been closed! Thank you everyone for your input! I will reveal the results this weekend. In the meantime, feel free to join us for the ending discussion on The Help!
Wild Ride by Jennifer Cruise & Bob Mayer
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Ride-Jen..._1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272668624&sr=1-1#noop
The New York Times bestselling duo of Crusie and Mayer team up again with a hilarious paranormal novel that shows why the wildest ride at the Dreamland Amusement Park isnt the roller coaster
Mary Alice Brannigan doesnt believe in the supernatural. Nor does she expect to find that Dreamland, the decaying amusement park shes been hired to restore, is a prison for the five Untouchables, the most powerful demons in the history of the world. Plus, theres a guy shes falling hard for, and theres something about him thats not quite right.
But rocky romances and demented demons arent the only problems in Dreamland: Mabs also coping with a crooked politician, a supernatural raven, a secret government agency, an inexperienced sorceress, an unsettling inheritance, and some mind-boggling revelations from her past. As her personal demons wreck her newfound relationship and real demons wreck the park, Mab faces down immortal evil and discovers what everybody whos ever been to an amusement park knows: The end of the ride is always the wildest.
Invisible Boy by Cornelia Read
http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Boy...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272668689&sr=1-1
Ex-debutante Madeline Dare is a fallen WASP with a stinging wit. The one-time newspaper reporter seems to find murder and mayhem wherever she goes. In this lively third offering (after The Crazy School, 2008), the mordant Dare discovers, in a New York cemetery housing her ancestors, the remains of what was clearly an abused boy. What cruel soul could have beaten three-year-old Teddy Underhill to death? High on the suspect list are the boys deadbeat mother, Angela, and her equally unsavory boyfriend, Albert, who claims the child wandered off while he was taking a nap. Madeline finds herself immersed in the case, while her husband, Dean, spends his days working for Christoph, a neo-Nazi businessman. (Christophs wife, Astrid, gives Madeline a copy of Mein Kampf as a gift.) Along the way, Madeline gets chummy with a homicide cop named Skwarecki, who shares her endearingly cynical outlook on life. As in previous entries, Shamus Awardwinner Read offers a steady dose of suspense and plenty of clever commentary on the caprices of the upper crust. --Allison Block
House Rules by Jodi Picoult
http://www.amazon.com/House-Rules-N...1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272668866&sr=1-1-spell
The astonishing new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult about a family torn apart by an accusation of murder.
They tell me I'm lucky to have a son who's so verbal, who is blisteringly intelligent, who can take apart the broken microwave and have it working again an hour later. They think there is no greater hell than having a son who is locked in his own world, unaware that there's a wider one to explore. But try having a son who is locked in his own world, and still wants to make a connection. A son who tries to be like everyone else, but truly doesn't know how.
Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject--in his case, forensic analysis. He's always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do...and he's usually right. But then his town is rocked by a terrible murder and, for a change, the police come to Jacob with questions. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger's--not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, flat affect--can look a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel. Suddenly, Jacob and his family, who only want to fit in, feel the spotlight shining directly on them. For his mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication of why nothing is normal because of Jacob. And over this small family the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?
Emotionally powerful from beginning to end, House Rules looks at what it means to be different in our society, how autism affects a family, and how our legal system works well for people who communicate a certain way--and fails those who don't.
The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald
http://www.amazon.com/Irresistible-...WVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1272678882&sr=1-1
To the ranks of iconic mid-century modern men Gump and Garp, add The Irresistible Henry House. As imagined by Lisa Grunwald, inspired by the peculiar beginnings of a real baby, Henry's life unspools with more realism and intention than Gump's, with less a sense of dread than Garp's. But Henry and his story have the same almost-magic magnetism. Henry arrives in the world as a "practice baby," passed between a dozen young women at the Practice House of Wilton College's Home Economics program in a decidedly pre-Spock era that discouraged mothers from holding babies "too much." From the beginning, Henry inspires in women the desire for his exclusive attention--but none want them more than Martha Gaines, the program director, who has spent her career overseeing the proper raising of a string of "house" orphans who were eventually adopted out.
Unable to let Henry go, Martha raises him as her own. Burdened by her need and bewildered by his own inability to reciprocate affection, Henry retreats into a silence that buys him banishment to a school for troubled teens in Connecticut, far from Martha's grasp. In these mute years, Henry hones his aptitude for drawing and experiences the benefits of knowing instinctively how to please women (sometimes including Mary Jane, his real childhood sweetheart). His skills open doors for him at Disney Studios to draw Poppins penguins, and in London for Yellow Submarine. The multidimensional generations of women in his life make a fascinating microcosm of the cultural revolution that redefined the expectations of all American women in the latter half of the 20th century. But it's Henry's struggle to define the desires of his own heart that propels this story, culminating in a scene as transcendent as Carver's Cathedral. --Mari Malcolm
The Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/14..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0DGZF285EE1X5EN4RDS4
The rest of your life starts with one step. Noreen Kelly learns this the hard way when she takes a buyout offer at her small shoe company and wakes up the day afterjobless, dumped by her slick co-worker, and wondering who she is and what she wants. She becomes tentative friends with Tess and Rosie, and together the women form a walking club, each step bringing them closer together and closer to the life solutions they all seek. Cook creates likable female characters with realistic flaws. The plots are marked with Gilmore Girlstype dialogue and settings, utterly charming from beginning to end. Theres plenty of laughs, anger, sorrow, and rage to keep the story moving along at a breezy pace; and all the subplots involving the multigenerational characters and their kooky suburban antics are tied up nicely. Theres a little more edge here than in a typical gentle novel, but more softness than in an edgy hen-lit novel. Miss Julia would be proud to be friends with these women. --Stover Kaite Mediatore
Which book are you most interested in for Round 3? Click here for the official survey!!
Maybe a future choice?
