Hi Ladies,
Thank you so much for joining our book club! We are so looking forward to digging into some great reads, and most of all, to get everyone together for our first meeting! If you have a moment, please take a look at our Book Club Guidelines page. It will explain how we plan to keep things a little bit organized. But there is lots of room for suggestions and new ideas, so feel free to speak up! Once you are all clear on that, the fun part can start! Simply scroll below to the comments section and start suggesting books. As we mentioned, it will be very helpful to include a short description to the book or link to a book review. Amazon is great for this. Also, you are more than welcome to invite anyone you think might like to join. The more the merrier, our intention is to read some great books and get to know some awesome girls!
So without further adieu, what would you like to read this month?
13 comments:
Hi Everyone,
Maia and I are so excited to get this book club started! There is no “right or wrong” when choosing books so feel free to suggest to your heart’s content. We may all have different likes and interests when it comes to the books we read and that is why sharing through a book club is so great; as we will hopefully all get to read books from new genres that maybe we never knew we liked!
Choosing books can be incredibly difficult as there are so many great ones out there – so my tactic was to dive right in and try to not get bogged down by the hundreds of books. I choose three that grabbed my attention. Let me know your thoughts!
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, or "old same," in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she has written a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. They both endure the agony of footbinding and together reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Snow-Flower-Secret-Fan-Novel-Lisa-See/9780812982718-item.html?ikwid=snow+flower+and+the+secret+fan&ikwsec=Books
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: the love of a king When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the king's interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king, and take her fate into her own hands.
A rich and compelling tale of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe and survived by following her own heart.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/The-Other-Boleyn-Girl-Philippa-Gregory/9780743227445-item.html?ikwid=the+other+boleyn+girl&ikwsec=Books
'The Black Dahlia' by James Ellroy
The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy is an exquisitely written book of murder and obsession that takes the true details of the unsolved 1947 Elizabeth Short murder and creates a fictional story of a police detective determined to solve the case. The Black Dahlia is a page turning mystery novel, but it is also much more. Ellroy uses the story to delve into the dark recesses of the human psyche and force the reader to deal with obsession, evil, right and wrong.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/The-Black-Dahlia-James-Ellroy/9780446618120-item.html?ikwid=black+dahlia&ikwsec=Books
Hello ladies!
I'm excited about this book club! Finally I can talk to someone about a book that I've read lol.
Here are some that I would love to read along with you girls (if you haven't already read them):
The Shadow of the Wind: http://www.amazon.ca/Shadow-Wind-Trans-Lucia-Graves/dp/0143034901
The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven: http://www.amazon.ca/Boy-Who-Came-Back-Heaven/dp/1414336071/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316452042&sr=1-1
The Twentieth Wife: (part 1 of a trilogy) http://www.amazon.ca/Twentieth-Wife-Novel-Indu-Sundaresan/dp/0743428188/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316452287&sr=1-1
Looking forward to your suggestions!
Hello all! Great suggestions so far guys, it is going to be tough to choose. Here are my picks:
The Violets of March:
In her twenties, Emily Wilson was on top of the world: she had a bestselling novel, a husband plucked from the pages of GQ, and a one-way ticket to happily ever after. Ten years later, the tide has turned on Emily's good fortune. So when her great-aunt Bee invites her to spend the month of March on Bainbridge Island in Washington State, Emily accepts, longing to be healed by the sea. Researching her next book, Emily discovers a red velvet diary, dated 1943, whose contents reveal startling connections to her own life.
http://www.amazon.com/Violets-March-Novel-Sarah-Jio/dp/0452297036
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet:
A historical fiction bestselling novel by Jamie Ford about the love and friendship of a Chinese boy and a Japanese girl during the Japanese internment in World War II. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345505344?ie=UTF8&tag=ealiru-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0345505344
Shanghai Girls:
May and Pearl, two sisters living in Shanghai in the mid-1930s, are beautiful, sophisticated, and well-educated, but their family is on the verge of bankruptcy. Hoping to improve their social standing, May and Pearl’s parents arrange for their daughters to marry “Gold Mountain men” who have come from Los Angeles to find brides.
But when the sisters leave China and arrive at Angel’s Island (the Ellis Island of the West)--where they are detained, interrogated, and humiliated for months--they feel the harsh reality of leaving home. And when May discovers she’s pregnant the situation becomes even more desperate. The sisters make a pact that no one can ever know.
A novel about two sisters, two cultures, and the struggle to find a new life in America while bound to the old, Shanghai Girls is a fresh, fascinating adventure from beloved and bestselling author Lisa See.
http://www.amazon.com/Shanghai-Girls-Novel-Lisa-See/dp/1400067111
All of these are available on Kobo. If our final pick is available on Kobo and you have one, let us know. We can likely share and take turns buying books.
Oh Nicola I didn't realize we both had a book by Lisa Lee. I would love to read either. Do you know which came first?
Hey
No I have no idea which one came first. Do you think they are related?
I just read the descriptions and I don't think so, just the same author.
Hi ladies,
I've read both the Lisa See books. The other suggestions sound good too.
I am a novice reader (maybe read a book a year) so this book club is an excellent way to kick my butt into gear. My only suggestion so far is The Help by Kathryn Stockett:
Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women - mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends - view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.(less)
I'm also game for any of the others you beautiful ladies have listed. :)
Welcome Heather! Don't worry about being a novice. This is totally just for fun and not too serious at all. But hopefully we can convert you into book worms like us :)
I have already read The Help. It is really good though, you should definitely try to read it outside of the club anyway!
Just so you girls know we are just waiting on one more lovely lady to make her suggestions and then we will re post the final choices and we can all vote for this months book.
Oh, I also wanted to jump the gun and offer up my place as the location for the first meet up? I was thinking of Saturday, October 22nd as the date? No need to confirm now as we haven't even picked the book yet! But maybe just keep that in mind and let me know if anything comes up for that date. I am flexible :)
I don't have a book suggestion anymore, and I almost have my vote ready.
Hi Chery! Did you finish that book you were excited about? How was it? Let me know what its called so I can read it outside of the club!
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