Book Selections

Yahoo! We were finally able to meet and have now selected the titles until June!!

December 19th-"The View From Mount Joy" NOT Pleasant as I may have led you to believe earlier...I should know better than to try and rely on my memory.

January 16th-"Devil in the White City"

February 20th-"Pirate's Daughter"

March 13th or 27th-"Three Cups of Tea"

April 17th-"Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society"

May 15th-"The Glass Castle"

June - Loving Frank



We have lots of great reading in store!

The Big Read

The Book Club is finally back! I hope you are enjoying the Big Read selection of "My Antonia" by Willa Cather. I was certainly glad to have the warm fall sun shining on my shooulders while reading about the cold Nebraska winter. The way that Willa Cather describes the landscape and the characters gives me such a clear picture of the setting and who they are. Make sure to check out some of the other resources available from the public library listed on their website at http://www.bigreadwichita.org/

Watermark books is also hosting a group discussion of the book on Wednesday, October 28th at 7:00 just in case you can't wait for our discussion later in November. Look for more information soon about our field trip to the Art Museum to view the Prairie Landscape exhibit. Although it isn't quite a prairie I am enjoying the view from my deck while enjoying the fall sunshine and reading "My Antonia." Like the Big Read buttons I've seen around town have ask, "What page are you on?"

Will I Finish???

Yikes, book club is only days away and I haven't even started If You Could See Me Now. I'm hoping that it is a quick read and now that I am finished with the endless wallpaper stripping, bathroom painting project I think it is time to sit and read for awhile. (The triple digit temps are also pretty good motivation!)


I did finish Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich. A quick, light read for sure. While I do enjoy reading about bounty hunter Stephanie Plum I just wonder how much longer she (Evanovich) can keep it up. The stories are getting a bit tired and in case you were wondering after my last post...nope, no stunning ending! At least for once there was not really any grave bodily injury or damage to Stephanie.

A Good Ending?

I just finished Bille Letts' latest novel, Made in the USA. Although more serious and darker than her previous novels, it was still filled with her trademark humor and character development. She does such a wonderful job of creating characters that you care about them, feel you know them and wonder what happens to them after the book ends. Ms. Letts even confessed that these characters stay with her after she is done writing also and that she has been tempted at various times to write sequels to her previous books. I'm not sure if I feel this is a good idea or not. What if she gets it wrong...or at least doesn't end things the way I think they should end?



And speaking of ending, it seems that many authors have a difficult time ending things! I don't mind if everything isn't neatly tied up at the end, as a matter of fact sometimes that is the problem with the ending. I even enjoy a good twist at the end, even when I didn't see it coming as long as it makes sense with the rest of the story. The last book club book (The Art of Mending) had a very abrupt anticlimactic ending that didn't seem to go with the build up during the entire rest of the story. Then there is my other recent read, The Blood of Flowers (LOVED the book) that was wonderful up until the end. It almost seemed like an "and they lived happily ever after" ending which would seem to be the last thing you would expect. I got the same feeling from the end of Made in the USA. Then there are the authors that seem to hit their page limit and just suddenly wrap up the whole story in just a final page or two.



Of course now I am wondering how I am going to end this post so I guess I can see the problem!
Ending can be hard in novels and in life and beginnings aren't always a piece of cake either!
(Ending with cake seems like a good thing!)

Billie Letts

I have been a fan of Billie Letts since Where the Heart Is first came out. (In fact I even picked it for the book club long before Oprah picked it for hers but I don't think my choosing it is what made it a bestseller!) So I was excited to have the chance to hear her speak last night, even though I still don't understand her fascination with WalMart, which shows up once again in this latest novel. This small framed, very thin older woman stepped up to the microphone and had the crowd enthralled! What a wonderful storyteller with a great mix of humor and serious passion for writing and for children. Her newest book, Made In The USA, combines these two as she looks at the way that children are becoming disposable in our society. Although I haven't read the book yet I bet that she manages to have strongly developed characters and is able to combine humor along with a serious message. By the way, she has apologized for the language that some of her characters use. She assured us that those were her character's words, not her own and even though she did her best to control them it didn't always work!

Tallgrass

Seeing the pictures that were taken at the actual camp that Tallgrass was based on added to the wonderful discussion of the book and about the things that happened during WWII. Sometimes it seems that we do not learn from history and are doomed to continue to make many of the same mistakes. This book had it all...a coming of age story, some history and some suspense. The characters were very well developed and Rennie Stroud shines!

Our next book "If You Could See Me Now" by Cecilia Ahern is getting rave reviews by advanced readers! The reviews also came with the warning that if you decide to listen to the audio you might need to develop an ear for the Irish!

"The Blood of Flowers" is getting rave reviews from me! This novel by Iranian born Anita Amirrezvani is set in 17th century Persia and is a fasinating story that is being compared to former book club selection "The Kite Runner" although it seems more similiar to "A Thousand Spendid Suns" since the woman are the focus of the story. If you get finished with this month's book club selection early you might want to give this novel a try!

Too much time on the computer means...

not very much time reading! I am having so much fun messying around on the computer and feeling pretty behind the learning curve. Nothing can make a person feel dumb quicker than trying to do something with technology, or is it just me? I have found a new site called Good Reads and I even managed to use a "widget" to link it to my blog. Believe me I was pretty shocked when it actually worked. Now I just have to figure out how to add more books to my virtual shelf. Hey, give it a try and you can be my "Good Reads" friend! Now to try and figure out how to download books from the library to my ipod...where is a teenager when you need one?

Back to blogging!

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted anything on this blog. Maybe it took awhile to get over the fact that the library never called! Our last book club selection The Art of Mending sure caused lots of interesting discussion. It seemed that most of us really didn't like any of the characters very much. They did seem very realistic though. (Maybe that's why we didn't like them?) I must say that it is the darkest of the books I have read by Elizabeth Berg. The part that really bothered me was the ending, it just seemed a bit too neat and tidy after the whole lead up to that point although I'm not sure what I was expecting or what would have made it better.

My other reading disappointment was Hold Tight by Harlan Coben! I have LOVED his other books and was saving this one to read when I had some extended time because once I get started on one of his books I can't put it down. While this novel raised some interesting questions about technology and how much parents need and should monitor their children's use, I just wasn't grabbed by the story. Don't get me wrong, it was still a good read, just not the stay up late, can't put it down kind.

I think I've hit a reading slump! I hoping that Tallgrass, the next book club book will get me back on track. I am also reading The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani for the Watermark book club. I'll let you know what I think!

Waiting for the library to call!

I am now the proud owner of a "finishers" bag from the public library's adult reading program! The books I read are as follows;

T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton (Arts & Entertainment) Not my favorite of the series but I really enjoyed it, kinda like catching up with an old friend! I just wish she would write faster.

Audacity of Hope by Barak Obama (News & Current Events) I listened to this one on CD read by the man himself. I really like what he has to say about education reform and whether you agree with him or not, the guy sure is a great public speaker! (Especially when you compare his speaking style to the less than fluent current president.)

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran (Food & Family) Three sisters flee Iran and start a cafe in a small village in Ireland. This was suggested on the library website and the setting intrigued me. This was an interesting combination of Iranian food with Irish culture and made me ready to book another trip to Ireland!

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (Time & Place) Wow! My favorite and a book club selection!

Out of Range by C.J. Box (Nature) The second in the Joe Pickett series. I loved the outdoor park setting and how it is almost one of the characters in the story. Looking forward to hearing this author speak in June!

The Bleachers by John Grisham (Sports) This story about the reunion of a group of small town football players at their coach's funeral was a change from other Grisham books I have read. Not my favorite and I think there is a reason why this one wasn't made into a movie!

Now I am just waiting for the library to call to let me know which of the prizes I have won! Monthly drawing will be announced April 4th and the GRAND prizes the week of the 13th!
Keep your fingers crossed!

Time Traveler's Wife

Okay, I'll admit that I wasn't immediately captivated by this book but with a little encouragement from BW and KJ I plowed onward and now I am finding it hard to put down! I will also admit that I laughed (or some sound that resembled that) when I was reading earlier this morning, and I do mean earlier! Henry is 28 and 33 and his older self has just commanded his younger self to let him sleep or in 5 years he would be sincerely sorry. There is something so mind boggling about the whole idea and yet it is beginning to seem perfectly natural. Then comes the part that makes me laugh or maybe snort would be a more accurate description. As the younger Henry struggles to go back to sleep on the "wrong" side of the bed because his "superfluous body" is sleeping on his side, he begins to look around his apartment and decides it would qualify for "Federal Disaster Relief funds." He then engages in some thoughts of having his "extra self" pitch in by helping around the house. I'm not sure why I found this so funny. Maybe the combination of insommnia and having some very similiar thoughts earlier myself, the disaster part not the extra self part! I don't think I have a superfluous extra self around anywhere, plenty of superfluous other stuff though. Insommnia can be a terrible thing!

Our next book!

Those getting an early start on "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" are warning us that you may want to be ready to soak your feet or at least put them up before, while and after reading! You might want to check out some pictures of footbinding OR then again maybe not. Whatever the case is I don't think I will complain about my feet hurting anytime soon! Check out Lisa See's website for more information about this author and remeber she will be coming to Watermark in March.

I have almost finished my next library book entry for the Winter Reading Program at the public library. "Pomegranate Soup" is a wonderful food story that combines Iranian cooking in an Irish setting, an interesting combination! This will be entry number 3! How is everybody else doing? I'm pretty sure I'm going to win...I wish!

Finished Book Thief!

Moving and working have sure cut into my reading time but thanks to an unexpected snow day I have finished The Book Thief! I realized that I was reading slower and slower as I neared the end for two reasons. First, I really didn't want the book to end because I had become so attached to all the characters. I would be hard pressed to decide who was my favorite among the group! Secondly I was afraid to find out what was going to happen next. It is a mark of great writing that a book narrated by Death and set during such a harsh time in history could still be so positive and hopeful. It seems odd to say that I enjoyed this book and maybe it is more accurate to say that I was consumed and enthralled by this book. Can't wait to hear what everbody else thinks!

Winter Reading Program

The Winter Reading Program for adults has started at the public library. The theme this year is on The Reading Channel. Click on for more information.

Below is Sarah H's list (posted with her permission)

Here's my tentative list. I don't know if I'll get all of these done or not:

Twinkie Deconstructed - Food and Family Channel

You Can Not Be Serious by John McEnroe - Sports Channel

The Innocent Man - News and Current Events Channel

Lindbergh - Time and Place Channel

Cold Mountain - Arts and Entertainment Channel

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Arts and Entertainment Channel

The Jungle - Arts and Entertainment Channel

Howard's End - Arts and Entertainment Channel

Divine Secrets of Ya Ya Sisterhood - Arts and Entertainment Channel

Into the Wild - Arts and Entertainment


Here is my list...so far!
History – River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey (I got to hear the author of this book when she came to Watermark and she was so FACINATING! I have started the book but got pulled away by others. What a story!)

Time & Place – Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature (I loved the movie of Beatrix’s life so now I want to find out how much was true!)

Food and Family – Pomegranate Soup (An Iranian family that is transplanted to Ireland…interesting!)

Arts & Entertainment – T is For Trespass (Sue Grafton’s newest and a Christmas present!)

News & Current Events – The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (Love John Grisham and a friend has highly recommended this book.)

Join us and post your list!

Janice