You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

1. What is your name? (First, Last, Middle, Nickname – you only need to pick one if you prefer. Feel free to list them all.) Karen Patricia
2. What is your favourite sport? Football (America)
3. What colour are your eyes? Blue
4. Have you ever had a broken bone? Never
5. What is your favourite movie? StarWars
6. What is your favourite book? A Prayer for Owen Meany; Pride & Prejudice; Life of Pi; Emma of New Moon; Way of Kings; The Ocean at the End of the Lane; Life After Life
7. Pick a number between 1 and 10. Three
8. What is your favourite holiday? Christmas
9. What is your relationship status? Married
10. Are you right or left handed? Right
11. What is your birthday month? June
12. Do you have a pet? What is it? Don’t have a pet? Adopt a pet that someone in your immediate circle has (mother, brother, sister, friend, etc.): Kasha – neighbours’ dog
13. What is your favourite type of food? (Chinese, Italian, Mexican, etc) Indian
14. What is something you use daily? (brush, computer, car, get creative) Coffee Maker
15. What is your shoe size? (No halves; roll up to next number) 8
16. What is your favourite Ice cream flavour? Caramel
17. What is your country of birth? Canada
18. What is your favourite season? Fall
19. What is your current desk top picture? Water Lilies
20. What is your preferred mode of transport? Car: Road Trips
21. How many candles were on your last birthday cake? 45
22. Have you been in an accident? Very minor
23. Do you prefer a shower or bath? Shower
24. Name a place you’d like to visit. Hawaii; Costa Rica; Fiji; New York City
25. What is your favourite genre? Historical Fiction
26. Do you prefer a car or truck? Car
27. Do you have a tattoo? Nope
28. Do you prefer Classic or Contemporary? Contemporary
29. What is your favourite flower? Lilac
30. Have you been to Europe? Where? (If you live in Europe, specify country other than your own.) Yes: Italy, Greece, Turkey
31. If you could meet anyone famous, infamous, notorious, who would it be? Cleopatra
32. What is the feature on you are most often complimented? smile
33. Would you rather encounter a ghost, an alien, or neither? ghost
34. What is your favourite animal (other than domestic pets)? Deer
35. What type of holiday do you prefer? (Beach, Mountain, Camping, exotic, etc) Beach
36. If you had to lose one of the 5 senses, which would you prefer it to be? Smell
37. Who is your favourite author? Kate Atkinson, Jane Austin, Barbara Kingsolver, Brandon Sanderson; Maeve Binchey;
38. Do you prefer tea, coffee, or water? Coffee
39. What is your birthstone using the US 2016 listing: Pearl, Alexandrite, Moonstone (https://www.americangemsociety.org/en...)
40. What is your favourite fruit? Cherries
41. Issue you are passionate about (abortion, euthanasia, animal rights… etc) Education
42. Would you rather explore in space or undersea? Space
43. To what time period would you like to time travel? 1800s/Victorian Era
44. Do you prefer shoes or barefeet? Barefeet
45. Do you prefer green or black olives? Neither? Green
46. What is your Zodiac sign? Gemini
47. What is your height in inches? 66
48. Who is someone you miss? My friend Shelley
49. What is your hobby? Yoga
50. What language would you like to learn to speak? Spanish

A few people are going for the 1800's. Why did you choose that time period?

Coffee Maker - good answer. ^_^.
You have a lot more book choices than for toothpaste, which was my crazy answer.

You will certainly have to get creative to find something to associate with toothpaste Cheri. Although I thought of Zadie Smith's White Teeth as I was typing. I only wish I had picked something different than coffee since there is another coffee related question.

I enjoy most historical fiction but I have read a lot of Wartime books and Tudor England in the last few years so I thought it would be nice to veer from that a bit.

Thanks, Karen! I will check out your book suggestion. The only thing I came up with is a Flouride controversy book.

Book 1/12 Between Sundays by Karen Kingsbury
Question 2: What is your favourite sport?
Answer: American Football

This book was related to football as two of the main characters were professional football players (fictional quarterbacks for the San Francisco 49s) and one of the story lines revolved around the team's quest to win the Super Bowl. A forward was written by the real quarterback Alex Smith who assisted the author in writing the football aspects of the book realistically. Although the story and characters were fictional, the books attempt to bring awareness to the challenges faced by foster children and problems with the foster care system have a real connection to Alex Smith who also attempts to tackle this issue in the off season.

Even though this book was overtly religious and Chrisitian (which I am not), I could identify with overall theme: that both in football and religion, it is how you live your life between Sundays (or other days of worship for non-Christians) that is more important than the performance of playing the game or going to church. The story line and characters were sweet and engaging even if simplistic.

I have never read any of Karen Kingsbury's books before - I came across this football themed book when I was looking for a book by an author with the name "Karen" . I would read another book by Kingsbury again, if I stumbled across one at a later time, but I am not likely to search our or buy any books by this author.

Book 2/12 Faithful by Alice Hoffman
Question 3: What colour are your eyes?
Answer: Blue

I am grateful that my lovely sister gave me this beautiful blue covered book as a Christmas gift. I am sure that I could have found a more beautiful (inside and outside) blue-covered book if I had gone out searching for one. I have long been a fan of Alice Hoffman - both her stories and her writing style - and this book didn't disappoint. Although there was less magic and more realism in this book than other Alice Hoffman books that I have read but the magical spirit was the same. It was a moving, bitter-sweet story that I enjoyed from the beginning to the end.

Book 3/12 Flight Patterns by Karen White

Question 1: What is your name?
Answer: Karen Patricia

For Question 12 but not read yet:
A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

Question 12: Do you have a pet?
Answer: Kasha (neighbour and dearest family friends' sweetie-pie dog)

Thank you to fabulous Carla for happening to mention this story at January Book Club.

It looks like you're having a good run at finding books for your tasks. The connections are very clear.

Karen wrote: "Book 4/12 A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

Question 12: Do you have a pet?
Answer: Kasha (neighbour and dearest family friends' sweetie-pie ..."

You are very welcome! Let me know what you thought of it.

Book 4/12

Question 49: What is your hobby?
Answer: Yoga

I read Enlightenment for Idiots by Anne Cushman.
In this light-hearted novel, the main character is training to become a yoga teacher and striving to be a writer. She is currently working for a publisher where she writes "guide" books on various topics. The opportunity arises for her to travel to idiot to search for Enlightenment so she can write a book about it.. I fully expected this to be a light and easy but forgettable read. My first two expectations were fulfilled but it was not quite forgettable - almost entirely because of the wonderful secondary character, Devas Das, that Amanda meets at the beginning of her journey in India.

Book 5/12
Question 33: Would you rather encounter a ghost, an alien, or neither? ghost
Answer: Ghost

I listened to the audio book version of . I really enjoyed listening to this book (although it took me a bit to get used to the narrator's voice). It had an engaging story-line, fun characters, and a great Charleston setting. I liked it so much I down-loaded the third book in the series to read: The Strangers on Montagu Street which, incidentally, would also have fit the criteria for this question as it appears ghosts are a common element to all the books in this series. I am starting to become attached to these characters and will definitely search out book 2 and 4 - hopefully I can find the audio version.

Audible has both books 2 and 4. I don't know if you have a membership, or are relying on your library.

I see you read another Karen White novel for your #1 task. Is she one of your favourite authors?

Only thing missing from your report is how many books your read so far in the challenge. Would this be 6? Halfway?

Janice wrote: "Audible has both books 2 and 4. I don't know if you have a membership, or are relying on your library.

I see you read another Karen White novel for your #1 task. Is she one of your favourite auth..."

The Karen White Novel that I posted above was my first novel by her. I did really enjoy it. I also read The Sound of Glass.(not as good as Flight Patterns) and I have the audio version of The Memory of Water out from my library to listen to next. So... I guess I am on a bit of a kick which often happens when I discover a new author. However, I wouldn't say that she is quite a favourite author - I do find her books very readable: the story lines draw me and I love her settings of Old Houses in various Southern locations but I am not wowed by the books or by her writing like Kate Atkinson for example.

Janice wrote: "Audible has both books 2 and 4. I don't know if you have a membership, or are relying on your library.

Thanks Janice, Although I tend to buy most of my paper reading, I have been relying on my library for the audio books. However, I am invested enough in the stories and characters I may have to look to purchasing these later.

Also, I have edited my posts to include the book 4/12 etc.. and, in the case of A Dog's Purpose, I removed the count for now as I didn't end up getting to it yet.

Book 6/12
Question 9: What is your relationship status?
Answer: Married

For this task I read Mrs. Hemingway which was a fictionalized account of the beginning and end of Ernest Hemingway's marriages to each of his four wives told from the wives' perspective. I really enjoyed this book - almost as much as
The Paris Wife which I read last March prior to a visit to Ernest Hemingway's home in Key West.

I should add that my own marriage is much less dramatic than any of Hemingways and I fully expect to be the only Mrs. for my husband. ;)

I don't know much about Hemingway. Did he have those 4 wives all at the same time or separately?

Sarah wrote: "I don't know much about Hemingway. Did he have those 4 wives all at the same time or separately?"

One at a time Sarah - although he started an affair with each subsequent wife before his previous marriage was over.

http://www.hemingwayhome.com/wives/
http://www.picador.com/blog/february-...

Ah i see. Thanks for the info.

No sister wives for Hemmingway.

Book 7/12
Question 24: Name a place you’d like to visit.
Answer: Hawaii

I read Diamond Head for this question. This book is set primarily in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii - present day 1964 but the story is told from multiple female perspectives and goes back in forth in time to as far back as 1900 in China. I stumbled across this book by chance while visiting my library.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit but wavered between giving it three or four stars. I think that the ideas in the novel were impressive than the plot. The part that will stick with me the most was the weaving into the story-lines of imagery related to a Chinese myth/legend/belief (?) about an invisible read thread that binds together soul mates from birth - even if they never meet and how circumstances can tangle and knot this string. There was also a really interesting exploration about the difference between a person's fate and destiny which was described by one character with a nice metaphor near the end of the book.

My husband and I are traveling with our two teenage children to Hawaii this summer for the first time and our staying in Oahu for five days; I will enjoy seeing Diamond Head in person even more after reading this book.

I hope you enjoy your trip to Oahu. There's lots to see and do there.

Book 8/12
Question 17. What is your country of birth? – Read a book set in that country, or written by an author that was also born in that country. Answer: Canada

I read A Tale for the Time Being .
This book met the criteria on tow counts: it was written by by Ruth Ozeki who is Canadian and the book was set in Canada (and half in Japan).
I loved this book from the first page: I loved the book so much I went out and bought a copy of it before I was even finished reading my library copy; I loved the book so much I couldn't stop talking about/reading passages out loud; I loved the first Chapter so much I wish that I had written it myself; and I love that I inspired my teenage daughter to read it and she loved it too!

Book 9/12
Question Do you prefer green or black olives? Neither?
Answer: Green
I read The High Mountains of Portugal
It definitely has a green cover - even "olive" green in parts I would say. As a bonus, I also believe that olives are a product of Portugal.

I was very very wary of this book after the huge disappointment that Beatrice and Virgil was for me. I have never disliked a book so much - likely much amplified by the high expectations I had for it - Martel's first book Life of Pi was (and still is) an all time favourite of mine. Although, The H M of P is no L of P, and there were more than a few bizarre parts as well as tedious sections, there were sufficient fascinating sections to balance it out and make me willing to give Martel another shot - a surprising 4 stars.

Great that you could get your teenager to read a book you loved, Karen!

I tried for years to get my daughters to read the books that I loved, but they had completely different tastes. One of them is finally getting around to reading some of them via audio books and tells me all of the time, now, what great stories they are. My oldest daughter and I read many of the same books now, but she still has a completely different taste in books than I do. She just rolls her eyes when I want to talk about them.

Karen wrote: "Book 8/12
Question 17. What is your country of birth? – Read a book set in that country, or written by an author that was also born in that country. Answer: Canada..

Pretty glowing praise. Good thing it was already on my wishlist.

Janice wrote: "Karen wrote: "Book 8/12
Question 17. What is your country of birth? – Read a book set in that country, or written by an author that was also born in that country. Answer: Canada..

Pretty glowing ..."

I hope you enjoy it Janice. I did worry a little about setting someone's expectations too high with my exuberant praise. I don't think that this book is for everyone but I can't hesitate in recommending it. It certainly checked all the boxes all my boxes for fabulous read.

Cherie wrote: "Great that you could get your teenager to read a book you loved, Karen!

I tried for years to get my daughters to read the books that I loved, but they had completely different tastes. One of them ..."

Our tastes don't often overlap Cherie but I must admit that it is very nice when they do.

Book 10/12
Question 41. Issue you are passionate about (abortion, euthanasia, animal rights… etc) – Read a book where this issue is prominent or is represented in some way.
Answer: Education

I read Language Arts . The main character in this book is a Language Arts Teacher; school and education are important topics in this book as well as autism, cursive hand-writing, and the Art of Language and Communication among other things. A beautiful and moving novel; I am very glad that I stumbled across this readl!

Book 11/12
Question 46. What is your Zodiac sign? Read a book that represents your zodiac sign in some way. Answer: Gemini

I read My Secret Sister which tells the story of "twin" sisters separated at birth and raised without knowing about the existence of the other. This book was pretty meh for me. It was interesting in a voyearistic sort of way but the writing left me flat. I felt like I should have been much more engaged with this story than I was.

Book 12/12
Question 28. Do you prefer Classic or Contemporary?
Answer: Contemporary

For this challenge I read Pachinko . It was published in February of 2017 so it is very contemporary. I really enjoyed this novel. I found the story and characters to be very engaging. I also believe that it represents the first novel that I have read set in Korea (and Japan) and focused on Korean main characters - I learned a lot.

Part 2: Book 1/12
Question 25: My favourite Genre?
Answer: Historical Fictions

I read the The Lake House .

This book was set in three time periods: the present and two historical periods. I really enjoyed all three sections and perspectives. It is tied for my favourite Kate Morton book along with the (which was my first). Like the Lake House - I found that I could really visualize the settings in this book. I also enjoyed the fairy tales as well.

Part 2: Book 2/12 (14)
Question 30: Somewhere in Europe that I have visited/would like to visit. Answer: Greece

I read My Family and Other Animals which is set in Corfu. This was a great read for me as it was quite different - stylistically - from the books that I have been reading lately. It was a fun ride having a peak into the lives of such an eccentric family. I can see why this one is such a classic but I am not sure how I have never heard of it before. When I was looking at my library Catalogue for the next book I found that there has been a movie and a television series based on this book....

I really like The Lake House too. We have read several of Morton's books in Buddy Reads in the group.

I found the Corfu Trilogy last year when I was gophering for books set in Greece but never got a chance to read it yet. I'm glad to hear another say it was good. I think someone else in the group read them, but I can't remember who it was.