The Next Best Book Club discussion

Thanks for the comments. Katherine it is!! Happy 4th!

Whenever I can't decide which book to read, I always open the front page and read the first paragraph of each one and pick whichever one has the most interesting paragraph at the moment.

I love that. Great idea!

1 - The Return, Victoria Hislop
2 - Garden Spells, Sarah Adisson Allen
3 - North Lights, Nora Roberts
4 - This year it will be different, Maeve Binchy
5 - Silver Bay, Jojo Moyers

F1Wild wrote: "One of my all-time favorites as well as the fantastic movie. Speaking of TKaM, I'm hoping to read Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird by [..."

I hope you haven't forgotten about posting this! Let me know how [book:Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird|7078095] is if you manage to read it. I saw it at Borders and wasn't sure whether it'd be worth the purchase. To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite book ever, I just wasn't sure what the celebration would have to offer.

Is Harper Lee still alive. I don't recall seeing an obituary?

Yup. She's in her 80's now, very much alive. I'm going to cry the day I hear she's no longer with us.

It seems that established authors either kill themselves when they're young or live to be pretty old. Of course that's not always the case, it's just something I've been noticing in the past few years, when reading their obituaries.

I have always wondered why she did not publish another novel. Of course she gives no interviews.

Here is a quote she wrote about the 35th anniversry.

She wrote, "Please spare 'Mockingbird' an Introduction. As a reader I loathe Introductions. To novels I associate Introductions with long-gone authors and works that are brought back into print after decades of interment...'Mockingbird'...has never been out of print and I am still alive...It still says what it has to say; it has managed to survive the years without preamble."

I wonder what she would say about 50 years.

Michelle wrote: "I hope you haven't forgotten about posting this! Let me know how Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird is if you manage to read it..."

I haven't read it yet...well, I did read the Kindle sample.

F1Wild wrote: "I haven't read it yet...well, I did read the Kindle sample."

Ah okay. Well, if you ever do, let me know? :)

Carol (Kitty) wrote: "I have always wondered why she did not publish another novel. Of course she gives no interviews."

I feel like Harper Lee was always person first, author second. She said all that she had to say in To Kill a Mockingbird, and wasn't the type of person to just write something that didn't mean something to her because of the success of her first novel. Part of me really laments the lack of other Harper Lee novels, and the other half is kind of glad she left it there... that she gave us one precious gem. I honestly feel that if she felt she had any else to say in the past 50 years, she would have written it. But because she hasn't, I'm happy to have what she's given us, and that's all. Some authors just write to write, while those like Harper Lee write to really say something. One of the many reasons I love her so much!

Oh she wrote one article each for Vogue and McCalls magazines. I I think I read she also wrote some poetry, but never in an actual book.

After I finish Cassidy, I am going to start reading the books that are on my bookshelves that I have yet to read. That is a lot of books. I think the next book I read will be Briget Jones' Diary. I have been wanting to read that forever, and it sounds like an easy read. That is what I need right now.

I can feel a nonfiction mood coming on so my next read will be one of the following:

No Way Down: Life and Death on K2
Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and His Scandalous Duchess
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades

Just started reading Velva Jean Learns to Drive . The first chapter has already got me hooked!

I can't wait to read Tipping the Velvet. I put it on hold at the college library so it will be waiting for me when I get back. I'll be back in 5 more days!!

Emily, Tipping the Velvet was the first book by Waters I read and I loved it. I also read Affinity but didn't really care for it much at all. I want to read more by her though. She's a great writer.

El wrote: "Emily, Tipping the Velvet was the first book by Waters I read and I loved it. I also read Affinity but didn't really care for it much at all. I want to read more by her though. She's a great writer. "

Oh good! I really hope I like it. I'm looking for a good, well written book that is more exciting and fun than the boring depressing stuff that I've been reading recently. When I saw that it was about lesbians in Victorian England, I knew I just had to read it. Here's to hoping that it's as good as it sounds.

Just hit the library up yesterday and picked up three random books.

An Artist of the Floating World
The Island at the End of the World
The Wild Things

I finished reading An Artist of the Floating World and it was okay. I just expected more from it I guess. I'm planning on reading The Island one next; I was originally going to read The Wild Things but I found out that it's based off the screenplay from Where the Wild Things Are and I didn't really enjoy the film too much to read it...

I also picked up some random books at the library. currently reading and and cant wait to read I also found but it has to go back so may re order that.

I'm in the middle of reading the first book of a trilogy, so next after Mistborn will be The Well of Ascension. I guess since I have been focusing my energies on Mistborn, technically I'll also be working on The Sweet Far Thing as well, so I can finish off the Gemma Doyle trilogy. Then I think my most likely suspect is In a Sunburned Country.

is the next book I plan to read. Almost done with the second book in the trilogy.

After I finsih my current books, one day in september and magic kingdom for sale: sold, I am planning to start the huge India After Gandhiand the last of the wonderful trilogy Inkdeath. Only after having read the third book my boyfriend allows me to rewatch the movie!!!

Caity wrote: "I'm in the middle of reading the first book of a trilogy, so next after Mistborn will be The Well of Ascension. I guess since I have been focusing my energies on Mistborn, technically I'll also be working on The Sweet Far Thing as well, so I can finish off the Gemma Doyle trilogy. Then I think my most likely suspect is In a Sunburned Country. "

In a Sunburned Country is probably my favorite Bill Bryson book, and possibly one of my favorite books ever.

The nest books on my list after Persuasion, which I'm currently reading, are Worlds of Exile and Illusion: Three Complete Novels of the Hainish Series in One Volume, which is currently on its way to my house via paperbackswap, and Mockingjay, which is one of the September group reads for the College Students group. I'm going to borrow it from a friend. I'll also be reading whatever book we pick for our group read in the women authors category, which is currently looking like it's going to be Their Eyes Were Watching God.

I had to change my reading plans up a bit. I have started Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour, which is currently going painfully slow. It's interesting, but it is so far away from what I normally read that I can barely handle it. It reads like a textbook. I want to start something else, but I know that if I do I won't go back to it, so I am determined to make it through.

After that I will have The Art of Devotion, The Wake of Forgiveness, The Sweet Far Thing, and The Well of Ascension to read. by the time I get through all of these, it'll be September AT LEAST and I'll be starting on my books for various reading challenges (I've never participated in a reading challenge!).

My next book will be by Brian Herbert, which will complete the first prequel series to Dune.

Ok here is my new list. I know I won't read them in order but I will read these 5 none-the-less!

1.This World We Live In
2.The Forgotten Garden CR
3. The Art of Devotion
4. The Wake of Forgiveness
5. The Alienist CR

CR = Currently Reading

Antoine I could barely get through Dune so sequels were out of the question. LOL

Donna wrote: "Ok here is my new list. I know I won't read them in order but I will read these 5 none-the-less!

1.This World We Live In
2.The Forgotten Garden
3. [book:The Art o..."
The Forgotten Garden is my absolute favorite book! I hope you enjoy it!

I've got lots on my list,but one I will definitely read ASAP is A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron. I read the Kindle sample and if it had been the full book I would have stayed with it until completely finished.

Emma wrote: "Donna wrote: "Ok here is my new list. I know I won't read them in order but I will read these 5 none-the-less!

1.This World We Live In
2.The Forgotten Garden
3. [..."


I am a few pages in but got caught up in
[book:The Art of Devotion|7143322] so it is on temporary hold but I did like the few pages I've read...

Carol (Kitty) wrote: "Antoine I could barely get through Dune so sequels were out of the question. LOL"

They are an acquired taste. I have a love for episodic fiction, like the Foundation Series.

I remember really liking Dune. I read them in my early twenties. I especially liked the first one and the one with the girl who rode the worm, oh and the one about the twins, which since I read them all right after the other I have trouble distinguishing into specific books. :P I love how much detail he put into the religious and desert cultures. I haven't read any of the newer ones that were wrote by his son (I think) so I'm not sure how well they compare.

The new ones that have been the most revelatory so far are The Butlerian Jihad and House Harkonnen. HH lays out the whole Bene Gesserit breeding scheme, and will give you an entirely different perspective on the Baron and Muad'dib. After Jihad, you will understand why there is a 10,000 year ban on thinking machines.

Interesting. I'll have to give them a chance. Are the details based upon Frank Herberts materials left behind?

Madeline wrote: "Interesting. I'll have to give them a chance. Are the details based upon Frank Herberts materials left behind?"

Apparently he left behind boxes of unfinished manuscripts and notes. You might the genealogy of Dune interesting. Family feud at it's best!

That sounds exactly like something I would like. Genealogy is the heart of the kind of complexity I like in my sagas!

I brought Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell with me so I hope to read it after I finish with Drood =)

I have Death Takes Passage up next in my list after that it is deciding between Outlander or James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing

I'm a little over halfway through .

Next on the list is:

"Plum Lovin"
"Good Things I Wish You"
"Jane Eyre"
and
"The Forgotten Garden"

I am working on and . Next in line for October are:

1. 2. 3. 4.

I hope to get to the stories by Angela Carter in time for Halloween, as it seems like a good time for them.

I am falling behind but after The Forgotten Garden I am off to read more books for my thesis and then hopefully I can read The Little Bee before my next work book club meeting!

I think I'll be reading Nicholls's One Day next; should be a lighter read after reading Follett's World Without End xD

The next book on my list is

I'm really obsessive this year about what I'm reading as I'm going through some lists so I already know the next 5 books.

1. Great Dream of Heaven: Stories by Sam Shepard
2. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
3. Rolling Thunder Logbook by Sam Shepard
4. Cujo by Stephen King
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Susanna wrote: "I'm really obsessive this year about what I'm reading as I'm going through some lists so I already know the next 5 books."

LOL, me too Susanna. I keep my 'to-read' shelf pretty up to date and I try to read books in a series somewhat close together as you can see.

My next five books are:

1) The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker
2) The Spine of the World by R.A. Salvatore
3) The Ghost Road by Pat Barker
4) Sea of Swords by R.A. Salvatore
5) Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo

I haven't been here in forever! Sorry, but I promise to be better in 2011.
I'm about to start Protect And Defend

Danielle wrote: "LOL, me too Susanna. I keep my 'to-read' shelf pretty up to date and I try to read books in a series somewhat close together as you can see."

I so fail at reading series. I've been re-reading Potter since last summer. Oh well, I'm hoping to finish the series before the last movie comes out. Maybe, perhaps, I'll succeed, LOL.

5) Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo

Glad you mentioned this book! I haven't read it but I now remembered to mark it as 'to-read'. I've heard good things about it, please let me know what you think when you get around to it? :)

I am currently finishing up and . Then onto , , and .

Jumping back in! After The next 2 on my list are: The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom and then Saving Ceecee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Susanna wrote: "Danielle wrote: "LOL, me too Susanna. I keep my 'to-read' shelf pretty up to date and I try to read books in a series somewhat close together as you can see."

I so fail at reading series. I've bee..."

For sure! I've had a fellow English major of mine who just finished up their degree in Toronto who has been nagging at me to read this book! I'm excited to read it as it does sound really good.