The Next Best Book Club discussion

Ken - I have Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, and you make me want to dig it out soon. Possibly after I finish Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Jeane. it was a Quick Read and I wasn't keen on it hun.

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.

Married Lovers ~ Jackie Collins

Anya Anastaskia was an exquisite child. From the moment she was born in a small village outside the city of Grozny, in the Republic of Chechnya, people commented on her fair looks. Her mother - a former Russian ballerina - was not surprised, for she had fallen in love and left Moscow to spend her life with Vlad Anastaskia - a farmer - and the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. Anya was born 1 August 1985, a home birth with no complications. Not only was she beautiful, she was also a sunny-dispositioned and extraordinarily sweet child. The Anastaskia family lived in a peaceful life, that is until the Chechen-Russian war, which started in 1994 when Anya was just nine years old. At first it seemed as if the fighting between the Chechens and the Russians would not afffect the Anastakias family. But that was not to be; Anya's father was called to the city to fight and never returned.

Fiona wrote: "One Day in September by [a:Simon Reeve|16805|Simon Reeve|http://www.goodreads.com/images/noph..."

wanna read it wanna read it!!!!! ....but have other books I wanna read too.......

Fiona wrote: "One Day in September by Simon Reeve: The Crown Conspiracy (10/08) | Avempartha (04/09)

"Fiona wrote: "It was shortly after 4 a.m on the morning of 5 September 1972 when a small gang of shadowy figures arrived on the outskirts of the Olympic Village in Munich and made their way silently to the 2-metre perimeter fence supposed to offer protection to the thousands of athletes sleeping within.

Nice begining!! - Thanks for making the TBR pile even more crushing!!

-- Wife of GR author Michael J. Sullivan: The Crown Conspiracy (10/08) | Avempartha (04/09)

Right before my twelefth birthday, my dad, Jules, and I moved into a two-room apartment in a building that we called the Ostrich Hotel. It was the first time I could remember taking a taxicab anywhere. It let us off in the alley behind the building, where all the walls had pretty graffiti painted on them. There was a cartoon cow with a sad look on its face and a girl with an oxygen mask holding a tiny baby in her arms.

Lullabies for Little Criminals - Heather O'Neill

Once upon a time - for that is how all stories should begin - there was a boy who lost his mother.

The Book of Lost Things: A Novel by John Connolly

The Family Bones ~ Kimberley Raiser

The well on the back of the property always scared me as a child. It was so deep, and so completely absent of any light. The neighbourhood kids used to tell me horrible stories about the old man who used to live there before my grandparents did. How he used to drown cats deep in the well and how their bones would rise during a full moon to look for the old man that drowned them. Of course, like al urban legends, he mysteriously disappeared, and was never seen again. Now the cats' bones would search for a victim to justify their untimely deaths.

Rain fell that night, a fine, whispering rain. Many years later, Meggie had only to close her eyes and she could still hear it, like tiny fingers tapping on the windowpane. A dog barked somewhere in the darkness, and however often she tossed and turned Meggie couldn't get to sleep.

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

I might as well say, right from the jump: it wasn't my usual kind of job.

I like to work alone, in my own clean, silent, well-lit laboratory, where the climate is controlled and everything I need is right at hand. It's true that I have developed a reputation as someone who can work effectively out of the lab, when I have to, when the museums don't want to pay the travel insurance on a piece, or when private collectors don't want anyone to know exactly what it is that they own. It's also true that I've flown halfway around the world, to do an interesting job. But never to a place like this: the boardroom of a bank in the middle of a city where they just stopped shooting at each other five minutes ago.

People of the Book: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks

"There! Can you see it? The lighthouse!"

Bethesda gripped my arm and pointed to a sparkle of light on the dark horizon. It was the hour before dawn. The deck of the ship rocked gently beneath our feet. I squinted and followed her gaze.

The Judgment of Caesar, by Steven Saylor

JG wrote: "Many years later, Meggie had only to close her eyes and she could still hear it, like tiny fingers tapping on the windowpane."

ooooo what a great line!

Skin & Bone ~ Kathryn Fox

Kate Farrer struggled to open the car door. The muscles in her chest had tightened like a vice. If only she could get more air. Her cramped fingers clawed at the contents of the glove-box, spilling a map and interstate guidebook onto the floor.

Lori wrote: "Fiona, how can you possibly be reading all of those all at the same time?????? I wouldnt be able to function."

Just to let you know, I gave up on 1 cos I changed my mind. Other 2 Lost Souls (2nd in the series) & Hollywood Wives are what I had started. Also Dissolution will be read after my current reading for someone else lol.

Hope that helps hun xx

Is this thread all in italics for anyone else?

Yes it seems to be to me when I look at it, but normal when I edit my post.

A Girl Named Zippy ~ Haven Kimmel

"If you look at an atlas of the United States, one published around, say, 1940, there is, in the state of Indiana, north of New Castle and east of the Epileptic Village, a small town called Mooreland. In 1940 the population of Mooreland was about three hundred people; in 1950 the population was three hundred, and in 1960, and 1970, and 1980, and so on. One must assume that the number three hundred, while sacred, did not represent the same persons decade after decade. A mysterious and powerful mathematical principle was at work, one by which I and my family were eventually governed. Old people died and new people were added, and thus what was shifting remained constant."

That's actually from the prologue, but I think it counts. Pretty quick, fun read so far.

Fiona, I just about died when I saw your Baby-Sitters Club post! I loved those books, and I still go back and read them again and get all nostalgic :)
Stephanie, the Poisonwood Bible sounds really intriguing. I'm definitely adding that to the TBR list.

Three children lay on the rocks at the water's edge. A dark-haired little girl. Two boys, slightly older. This image is caught forever in my memory, like some fragile creature preserved in amber. Myself, my brothers. I remember the way the water rippled as I trailed my fingers across the shining surface.

The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Book 1: Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
*sigh* I love this book. I'm re-reading it before school starts up again b/c I won't have the time then.

What Is the What by Dave Eggers --

I have no reason not to open the door so I answer the door. I have no tiny round window to inspect visitors so I open the door and before me is a tall, sturdily built African-American woman, a few years older than me, wearing a red nylon sweatsuit. She speaks to me loudly: "You have a phone, sir?"

Katie, I love the Sevenwaters books!

JG:Katie, I love the Sevenwaters books!

I know; aren't they amazing? I love meeting people that have read them because sometimes it feels like they are not that well known. Have you read her new addition to the series "Heir to Sevenwaters"? It's wonderful!

I've been going back and re-reading some other favorites too, thought I'd post another opening:

The city was silently bloating in the hot sun, rotting like the thousands of bodies that lay where they had fallen in street battles. An oppressive, hot wind blew from the southeast, carrying with it the putrefying stench of decay. And outside the city walls, Death itself waited in the persons of Titus, son of Vespasian, and sixty thousand legionnaires who were anxious to gut the city of God.

A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers

I just added Heir to Sevenwaters to my tbr list.

Now on this thread have the italics gone and everything is underlined? Or is it just me?

Nope, not just you. Everything is underlined for me now too. It's definitely worth the read!!

Just started the last book in His Dark Materials:

In a valley shaded with rhododendrons, close to the snow line, where a stream milky with meltwater splashed and where doves and linnets flew among the immense pines, lay a cave, half-hidden by the crag above and the stiff heavy leaves that clustered below.

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

SUN STREAKED PEARLY PINK ACROSS THE SKY, splashed onto blu, blue water that rolled against white sand as Gage Turner walked the beach. He carried his shoes-the tattered laces of the acicent Nikes tied to hang on his shoulder. The hems of his jeans were frayed, and the jeans themselves had long since faded to white at the stress points. The tropical breeze tugged at hair that hadn't seen a barber in more than three months.

The Pagan Stone - Nora Robberts [image error]

Not just you--I asked about it in #191. I actually posted it in the bugs folder in the feedback group. It's bothering me! :-)

Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America. I noticed that you were looking for something; more than looking, in fact you seemed to be on a mission, and since I am both a native of this city and a speaker of your language, I thought I might offer you my services.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid

So not the most exciting first paragraph, but I just started this one and I'm thinking it's going to be very good.

Yay! The weird formatting is mostly gone!

"Four pounds," demanded the fourteen-foot-high statue of Hercules.

For such a big man, Hercules had a surprisingly high-pitched voice. It took me a moment to realize that it wasn't actually a piece of classical statuary demanding the contents of my wallet, but a very human-size woman seated at a small desk at its base. When you're confronted by a twice-larger-than-life statue of Hercules, wielding a club and wearing little more than a strategically draped serpent, you tend not to notice much else.

The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig

I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time. It was the early summer of 1945, and we walked through the streets of a Barcelona trapped beneath ashen skies as dawn poured over Rambla de Santa Monica in a wreath of liquid copper.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

1st line of the introduction:

"I heard the killers call my name."

1st line of chapter 1:

"I was born in paradise."

"Don't do it. Please. I know this book looks delicious, with its light-weight pages sliced thin as prosciutto and swiss, stacked in a way that would make Dagwood salivate. The scent of freshly baked words wafting up with every turn of the page. Mmmm, page. But don't do it. Not yet. Don't eat this book."

Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America by Morgan Spurlock

The Loop by Nicholas Evans

The scent of slaughter, some believe, can linger in a place for years. They say it lodges in the soil and is slowly sucked through coiling roots so that in time all that grows there, from the smallest lichen to the tallest tree, bears testimony

JG wrote: "I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time. It was the early summer of 1945, and we walked through the streets of a Barcelona trapped beneath ..."

JG, the first time I picked up the book that part made me feel like fainting.... that was like...staring, not being on this planet...that was like...oh my god!!!!!!!

Becky wrote: ""Don't do it. Please. I know this book looks delicious, with its light-weight pages sliced thin as prosciutto and swiss, stacked in a way that would make Dagwood salivate. The scent of freshly bake..."

Becky the title doesn't really inspire me but the part you put there did make me a little bit curious.

Atishay wrote: "The Loop by Nicholas Evans

The scent of slaughter, some believe, can linger in a place for years. They say it lodges in the soil and is slowly sucked through coiling roots so that in time all that..."

Thanks atishay!!!! Not having my book with me I can't peek in it....oh I loved those first words and all the ones coming after them!!! I mean read them...aren't they....perfect, too much, not meant for jsut a human being....I jsut can't find the words but even the first sentences of that book had me completely in their power.

Jeane,
The cover is attention-grabbing... Text just doesn't do it justice!



See?

I saw the documentary "Super Size Me", and thought it was great. Eye-opening with just the right amount of humor. The book is a follow-up of sorts to the film. More eye-opening going on, and still more humor. Which is good, because the subject matter is... not exactly pleasant.

You should read it, or at least see the movie if you haven't.

Becky wrote: "Jeane,
The cover is attention-grabbing... Text just doesn't do it justice!

[bc:Don't Eat This Book Fast Food and the Supersizing of America|100934|Don't Eat This Book Fast Food and the Supersiz..."


Becky I have seen the movie...or at least a big part of it. After a while I jsut couldn't watch anymore if I didn't wanted to vomit.

I know Fiona, the Sevenwaters series is something I re-read almost every year, I just can't help it. :)

Becky, I have to admit that first paragraph is intriguing. Unfortunately, I don't think I could ever read something of his. He came to my brother and sister's high school to give a speech and ended up cursing heavily throughout, and made fun of the mentally and physically disabled among other things. It was so strange. They actually had to cut the power and escort him from the building to get him to stop. So instead of that book I read Fast Food Nation which is in the same vein and, I think, equally as disturbing.

Yeah, I know Jeane. I loved those words the first time I read them. It kind of foretold me of what was to come. :)
I love his writing.

Atishay, just feel like taking that book from wherever I can, put myself on my bed and read till it is finsihed. And I don't care I would feel like being in a coma or wouldn't be able to come back to this world and function for the next five or ten hours.

There are some umm, colorful words in the book, but that doesn't really bother me. I've been known to use the F-word pretty frequently myself, but my daddy was a sailor so I have an excuse for my foul-mouth! ;)

I'm surprised that Spurlock would have had to be escorted out of a high-school. It always irritates me when people throw away their credibility by doing some outrageous thing like that. Even if he was just trying to get the kids' attention, getting thrown out just makes him look crazy, and that's what people will focus on rather than what he's trying to get their attention FOR. *shakes head*

OK... Moving on to: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

"It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying in the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs. Shears's house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it were running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead. There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog. The points of the fork must have gone all the way through the dog and into the ground because the fork had not fallen over. I decided that the dog was probably killed with the fork because I could not see any other wounds in the dog and I do not think you would stick a garden fork into a dog after it had died for some other reason, like cancer, for example, or a road accident. But I could not be certain about this."

Becky wrote: "OK... Moving on to: [b:The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time|1618|The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time |Mark Haddon|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I......"

I totally loved this book. I'm sure you will also.

Becky wrote: "There are some umm, colorful words in the book, but that doesn't really bother me. I've been known to use the F-word pretty frequently myself, but my daddy was a sailor so I have an excuse for my f..."

What is the name of this book?

Wendy, that was a reply to Katie (message 210) regarding Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America. :)

I'm now on to Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel By Joe Hill:

"Jude had a private collection.

He had framed sketches of the Seven Dwarfs on the wall of his studio, in between his platinum records. John Wayne Gacy had drawn them while he was in jail and sent them to him. Gacy liked golden-age Disney almost as much as he liked molesting little kids; almost as much as he liked Jude's albums."

This book is a little gritty, but it is very good so far.

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

I always knew there was a reason I hated November.

I am starting: The Runaway Jury by John Grisham.

"The face of Nicholas Easter was slightly hidden by a rack filled with slim cordless phones, and he was looking not directly at the hidden camera, but somewhere off to the left, perhaps at a customer, or perhaps at a counter where a group of kids hovered over the latest electronic games from Asia. Though taken from a distance of forty yards by a man dodging rather heavy mall foot traffic, the photo was clear and revealed a nice face, clean-shaven with strong features and boyish good looks. Easter was twenty-seven, they knew that for a fact. No eyeglasses. No nose ring or weird haircut. Nothing to indicate he was one of the usual computer nerds who worked in the store at five bucks an hour. His questionnaire said he'd been there for four months, said also that he was a part-time student, though no record of enrollment had been found at any college within three hundred miles. He was lying about this, they were certain."