This place is slowly turning into a blog about reading books and creating an intentional home. I’m not complaining. To that end, I have a few book updates I thought would be best grouped together in one post.
- I picked the winners of the signed copies of Shadow of Night.
- Our book pick for this month is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I know we discussed this a few months ago, but I didn’t think a reminder would hurt. Since this is August, the month of vacations and back-to-school, I thought it would be a safe bet to pick something many have already read. It’s our sciencey-biography read, in keeping with our goal to read something different every month. I’ll be honest–this is the one I’m scared to start reading. I never finish biographies/journalism type books. They all start strong, but somewhere around the middle of each book I get bored. We are discussing this book MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd.
- Not a week goes by where someone isn’t recommending to me one book or another and, frankly, I love it. Keep the recommendations coming, please.
- Have you been back to thepinterest book club board lately? The books there will have you beating down the doors to� your library or bookstore, and I say that honestly because I’m not the one doing most of the pinning. I am responsible for less than 1% of the pins on that board. Yesterday I searched online for more books to pin and stumbled across some book lists. I compared them to our book club board and cackled maniacally. We crushed them. Like dominated their puny little lists into submission with a wide and varied selection of awesome. If you would like to contribute to that board, please let me know. I’m looking for people familiar with young adult literature and classical literature, but passionate readers of any genre are welcome to join. Please leave a link to your pinterest profile in the comments. I’ll need it to invite you.
- Speaking of Young Adult literature, if you have something you would like to recommend for September, I’m all ears. We were originally going to alternate months, but I am so unfamiliar and so skittish of young adult books that I let that part of the book club slip. Mea culpa.
- I really liked having our books picked out three months in advance. I can only handle so many first world problems in my life, and picking the books out in advance gave me more time to contemplate my navel. So far we have read Contemporary Fiction; Young Adult; Cookbook; Fantasy; Memoir/Humor; Historical Fiction/Paranormal; Biography/Science. We’re missing a mystery, some classical literature (classical as in widely acknowledged as great, not classical as in ancient society–though that’s fine, too), and…what else? October is going to be my 31 Days of William Morris month again, and I thought it might be motivating to read something about consumerism, decluttering, and simple living.
- One last one: if you are a fan of Shadow of Night and are as intrigued as I am with the Elizabethan history behind the book, you’ll really enjoy this pinterest board devoted to the history and imagery in the book. Fascinating stuff.
I really should read this one–it’s been on my list for, roughly, forever.
And that Pinterest board! I’m a little scared to delve too deeply–I can see it now: start one morning, all innocent-like–following a link here or there, reading all the intriguing bits, doing a bit of research on the side–next thing I know, it’s September and I missed yet another book discussion . . .
That pinterest board is straight-up dangerous. I love it.
I LOVED The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and I can’t wait to read it again and discuss. It’s so interesting and compelling that I don’t think you’ll have a problem finishing it! For “classical” literature I recommend Marguerite Duras’ The Lover. Maybe it’s not a classic yet but it’s such a good book, and I think it would foster an interesting discussion!
I read that book as a teenager and remember nothing about it. That sounds like a good recommendation, thanks! I even have my copy sitting somewhere in my childhood room.
When we were in the Mekong Delta in January, I dragged my husband onto a local bus to Sa Dec, so I could see where Marguerite Duras lived when she was a teenager. It was wonderful to add sights, sounds, and smells to my impressions of the book!
Rebecca by Daphne De Mauier is a GREAT classic–especially if there are people who think they don’t or won’t like “classic” novels. It’s the book that convinced me I liked classic novels. It’s reads at a quick pace, it has a bit of intrigue, and Mrs. Danvers is a classic English novel character. (Someone pinned Rachel, also by De Mauier, on the pinterest board, but I know nothing about that one).
I believe I read Rachel as a child. Native American woman with blue eyes?
Rebecca is my mom’s absolute all-time favorite book and I still have yet to read it. It’s always sounded a bit like Jane Eyre when she’s tried to convince me :)
Oooh I like this idea too! Loved Rebecca and haven’t read it for a few years so I’d love to discover it again, post-college!
I listened to a wonderful podcast on the this. I think it was from ‘Stuff you missed in history class’. It sounds like it would an interesting read. I just started your ‘Witches’ book the whole time before thinking, ‘what am I doing, my brain is going to atrophy’ but I was hooked within the first page. Witches and vampires, oh, my!
Everyone says that! That’s the same attitude I had, but then I was hooked. Even the Mr. is reading it and enjoying it. I just saw Helena yesterday, and she said she started it with the same skepticism I had, and by page two she was hooked. We joked yesterday that you can’t describe it as a witches and vampire book off the bat to people, or they’ll get turned off before giving it a chance (as we all did). Now when people ask what she’s reading, she starts off with, “It’s a book about two Oxford professors–one a historian, the other a biochemist–who are searching for a book that may detail the origins of life. Oh, and they are a reluctant witch and vampire.” –that last part is mumbled. ;)
If you like book 1, you’ll love book 2. Lots and lots of history.
P.S. The book club link doesn’t go to a Pin board?
Oh, good grief. I fixed the link, thank you. {blush}
Thanks for introducing me to the book about Henrietta Lacks! Although I read quite a lot non-fiction, this is not a genre I would have started/encountered by my own. It’s an incredible book so far .
I’m glad you like it so far! I hope I like it, too.
and indeed, the link to the pinterest board actually leads to the Texas Caviar post. Took me a sec to figure out what opened it in the next tab :)
One of the best YA novels I’ve read in a long time is a few years old now, but I think this might fit in with your book club: A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly: http://www.amazon.com/A-Northern-Light-Jennifer-Donnelly/dp/0152053107. Another one I’ve read more recently is Impossible by Nancy Werlin: http://www.amazon.com/Impossible-Nancy-Werlin/dp/0803730020.
The first is historical fiction and the second is closer to fantasy, but both deliver mystery, romance, strong female characters, and plenty to think about.
How does one gain permission to pin books to the book club board? I started following it a week ago, but it doesn’t seem as though I can pin anything to it (unless I just don’t know how to do it?). Help!
You have to be invited. Are you on pinterest already? I’ll need a link to your boards. :)
I am — I sent you an email! ;)
My book club read this last year. I had a weekend when my husband was out of town, and blew through this in 24 hours. SO good. Have fun!
Nonfiction described as SO good? I’m optimistic, at least. Fingers crossed for me!
I want to request that thrillers be added to the list of genres we pick from, even though they terrify the bejeezus out of me. Maybe suspense would be another option. Romance is another genre I don’t see on here, even though I generally loathe them I feel I should be forced to read at least one all the way though, LOL
I LOVE the 3-month advance listing because I was able to get these put on the hold list at the library and actually get them in time to participate! Henrietta Lacks is sitting on the coffee table now. Sweetie wants to read it too, and she reads MUCH faster than I do (60 pgs/hr compared to my 20 pgs/hr) so I’m going to finish The Paris Wife first and hopefully finish Henrietta closer to discussion time so it’s all fresh in my memory.
Yes, that’s another reason why I want the books in advance. It helps for library readers. My library, for example, completely blows. They never have anything.
Thriller! Holy crap, I’m already scared. Maybe a Stephen King?
Oooh for thrillers can I suggest The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters? I would just love to discuss this book!
I want to be on the pinboard! It is an amazing go-to place for to reads for me. As for me, I do read some YA but mostly, I just love anything. And anything Russian Lit.
Oh and I’m with you on biography/journalism worries with Henrietta Lacks. I got halfway through and stalled. I’ll be excited to pick it up again.
Oh and before I forget if you are looking for a classic “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck is great. The Cain and Abel and biblical symbolism through-out it makes for a VERY fascinating discussion. I read it last year and it’s moved into my top five forever.
I’m intrigued by your passion for Russian Lit. Any recommendations? I’ve read a bit. Anton Chekhov has some of the most disturbing short stories.
Ooh. I’d be interested in reading Russian lit. I keep meaning to delve into it but get sidetracked by everything else on my To Read list.
I would suggest the TimberWolves trilogy as a great YA read. It was written and self-published by a librarian friend of mine, Tammy Blackwell. It has been popular on Amazon lists, as well.
I think I read the first two in this series! Funny, because I was just wondering the other day how it all worked out. She hadn’t written the third book in the series when I finished book 2.
Nope, this isn’t the series I read. It was another librarian, at least I think it is. The book I read was over a year ago, and this looks like book 2 was published just last December.
I have some YA recommendations! My #1 vote for YA is Veronica Roth’s Divergent. I teach eighth grade and my students recommended it to me! I was expecting it to be a Hunger Games knock-off but it was very original. It’s futuristic.
Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races is another of my favorite books from this past school year – it’s fantasy and so beautifully written it’s almost poetry, but you have to wrap your brain around carnivorous water horses and that might be hard for the readers who had trouble wrapping their brains around witches and vampires!
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is the book I recommend to any teens interested in the Holocaust – it’s fiction and gives the perspective of a young, lower middle class German child. It’s heartwrenching but such a worthwhile read.
For one of the most important realistic YA books of the past decade, I’d recommend Laurie Halse Andersen’s Speak. I think it encouraged a lot of other YA authors to delve deeper into serious issues. It’s written in a sarcastic first person present tense voice and the high school environment is very realistic with cliques, bullying and peer pressure.
Great suggestions, Heather. We actually read The Book Thief this year. It was our only YA pick! Another book I was considering was The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Heather, I think I’m in love with you LOL. I second, third, and fourth these recommendations.
The more I think about it, the more I think Divergent would be a great pick. It’s not one many of us would read, it’s a cultural phenomenon, it’s YA, and it’s easily accessible at most libraries. (Probably even mine.)
I was coming to chime in (late) to suggest Divergent. My resident YA (who reads a lot of the same “grown-up things I do) suggested it.
Thank you Kendra! I like being loved :)
“Divergent” sounds awesome — I’ll have to check that out. And I’ve never read “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (I know!) — totally want to read that one as well.
If it’s not too late to join your book club and Pinterest board, would love to! http://www.pinterest.com/cateomalley
Hi Jules – I did post this suggestion over somewhere on your blog, so please forgive the double entry.
Early Young Adult recommendation: The Dragon’s Tooth by N.D. Wilson. (His other series ‘100 Cupboards’ is better for the 10-12 range. This current series, Book 2 out in Sept., is better for the 13 & up set.)
Mystery recommendation: P.D. James – Death Comes to Pemberly. Yes, that is a Jane Austen place and P.D. James manages to set this story (complete with some of the cast of Pride & Prejudice) just right, maintaining Austen’s style of writing while not becoming Austen herself. An enjoyable read and a true twist of an ending!
Thanks, Theresa! I saw your recommendation (I think it was on the vacation post) and took note of it. I would love to read the series with the boys!
Love that mystery pick, too! I’m going to have to see if that’s been pinned yet.
I am dying to read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I’ve checked it out twice now and haven’t got to it yet. Please give me another excuse LOL.
Oooh and The Perks of Being a Wallflower!
I’ve heard nothing but good things about The Fault in our Stars. Lucky me- it just came in at the library!
I know. John Green is pretty much faultless in terms of writing YA lit. It’s tempting. On the one hand, you know it will be a great read. On the other, something like Divergent would cover our Dystopian genre, which I just remembered we haven’t read yet. Also, it’s on the verge of being the next big “it” book, and those are always fun to analyze.
Jules, I have to say I love PIBC. I look forward to the discussion each month- so long as I’ve had time to get the book from the library, which is also why I like knowing the selections a couple of months in advance.
Feel free to add me to the Pinterest board: http://pinterest.com/hopefulleigh/
Done and done!
Here’s a link to the Fresh Air interview with Skloot. http://www.npr.org/2011/03/18/134622044/tracing-the-immortal-cells-of-henrietta-lacks
Awesome! You know I’ve been wanting to listen to this for a while. Also, glad to hear your daughter was a fan of that Divergent/Insurgent whatever it’s called. I’m actually excited to read it now that you said that. :)
Can we please read Divergent? It’s so, so good. I just finished Insurgent, the second book in the trilogy and am totally hyped. It’s brilliant. Would be happy to read Divergent again for fun. :)
Divergent/Insurgent…..SO AWESOME!!!
Also, I have a YA board on my Pinterest, have you given it a checkeroo? If you are looking for more YA stuff. http://pinterest.com/juliabookbag/ya-fiction/
For YA I would recommend Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. My book club read it this summer and loved it. Did not seem like YA to us, but that is where it was filed in the library. I am also reading American Rust by Phillip Meyer ( not YA) and love it. Both of these are excellent first novels by young make writers with interesting backgrounds.
I can wander off in the middle of some nonfiction, but I read Henrietta Lacks this summer and was hooked. I think the balance of all the different sides of the story–the biographer, the relatives, the scientists, and Henrietta herself–really made this book compelling and personal.
if you are looking for a young adult book – I think Divergent is targeted to that age group and it was a terrific thiller, the first of a trilogy, very Hunger Games esque but I couldn’t put it down