6/5/14

This months pick is Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. Enjoy and let us discuss!

Round 2!

If you are anything like me, you will go to [said] website and look up the synopsis no matter what I write. So, I just copied and pasted them to save time.

• Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz.

“The dead don't talk. I don't know why.” But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn. Maybe he has a gift, maybe it’s a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd’s otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo's sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. But this time it's different. A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd’s deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15. Today is August 14. In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe. As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels through the shifting prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming cataclysm with the aid of his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock 'n' Roll. His account of two shattering days when past and present, fate and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst nightmares—and a testament by which to live: sanely if not safely, with courage, humor, and a full heart that even in the darkness must persevere.

• Uganda Be Kidding Me by Chelsea Handler. 

Wherever Chelsea Handler travels, one thing is certain: she always ends up in the land of the ridiculous. Now, in this uproarious collection, she sneaks her sharp wit through airport security and delivers her most absurd and hilarious stories ever. On safari in Africa, it's anyone's guess as to what's more dangerous: the wildlife or Chelsea. But whether she's fumbling the seduction of a guide by not knowing where tigers live (Asia, duh) or wearing a bathrobe into the bush because her clothes stopped fitting seven margaritas ago, she's always game for the next misadventure. The situation gets down and dirty as she defiles a kayak in the Bahamas, and outright sweaty as she escapes from a German hospital on crutches. When things get truly scary, like finding herself stuck next to a passenger with bad breath, she knows she can rely on her family to make matters even worse. Thank goodness she has the devoted Chunk by her side-except for the time she loses him in Telluride. Complete with answers to the most frequently asked traveler's questions, hot travel trips, and travel etiquette, none of which should be believed, UGANDA BE KIDDING ME has Chelsea taking on the world, one laugh-out-loud incident at a time.

• Enclave by Ann Aguirre. 

WELCOME TO THE APOCALYPSE In Deuce's world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed 'brat' has trained into one of three groups-Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember. As a Huntress, her purpose is clear--to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She's worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing's going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce's troubles are just beginning. Down below, deviation from the rules is punished swiftly and harshly, and Fade doesn't like following orders. At first she thinks he's crazy, but as death stalks their sanctuary, and it becomes clear the elders don't always know best, Deuce wonders if Fade might be telling the truth. Her partner confuses her; she's never known a boy like him before, as prone to touching her gently as using his knives with feral grace. As Deuce's perception shifts, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival. The mindless Freaks, once considered a threat only due to their sheer numbers, show signs of cunning and strategy... but the elders refuse to heed any warnings. Despite imminent disaster, the enclave puts their faith in strictures and sacrifice instead. No matter how she tries, Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she's ever known.

• A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer. 

This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games--games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an “it." Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive--dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son.

5/12/14

Hello Explorers!

For this month we have chosen "The Heretic's Daughter" by Kathleen Kent!

Please use this post's comment section for your discussion, but if you get a wild hair and have a specific topic you want to discuss feel free to make use of your author abilities and publish a separate post!

Enjoy!

(I apologize for the delay on this post, that won't normally be the case, my computer's operating system stopped responding so we had to figure that out in time for me to finish finals, so...here we are.)

First Pick 4/29/14

Hello again!

So I am going to be Picker for this first round just to put everyone at ease, then we can take volunteers for the next round when everyone finishes.

Here are my suggestions:

1. Independent People by Halldór Laxness: Full disclosure, Eric and I have already read this book, but it was in 2010 while I was in Iceland...cause it's an Icelandic novel, in English. I have been thinking about it a lot lately and would really like to read it again if only just to discuss it, when I read it the first time it was for a book quiz in my Icelandic Culture class. It is a very good story, one about a sheep farmer's struggle in the early 20th Century to maintain his independence, and more generally what independence means as well as what a person is willing to give up in order to achieve independence. It's a very important book for Icelandic culture because it is among the books Laxness was praised for when he won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and it demonstrates rural farm life as being more than this idyllic rolling-hills-and-cottages painting that many modern Icelanders (and outsiders) have. It's just really good, I promise it's not as boring as it sounds.

2. The Heretics Daughter by Kathleen Kent: The author, Kent, is actually a descendant of her subject for this novel--Martha Carrier--who was the first woman to be accused, tried and hanged for witchcraft in the Salem witch trials. The novel is, I believe, told from Martha's daughter's point of view and covers their struggles within the larger insanity of the witch trials, as well as how Martha stood defiant against the charges but was still found guilty. I love historical fiction, if you couldn't already tell, and I especially love this period for just so many reasons, and on top of that all the reviews for this one are super positive on Amazon.

3. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty: I am wary of "chick lit" (and anyone with the last name Moriarty, I mean come on) but I have seen this book recommended literally everywhere. It's synopsis is given away in the name: the main character's husband has a deep, dark secret which she unexpectedly uncovers and it unexpectedly effects other people and her own life in ways she didn't expect. This normally wouldn't light my fire except that I just finished "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn--which is another I saw recommended just about everywhere--and despite having such a simple premise it turned out to be a very complex book. So, I'd be willing to give this one a shot too. And, bonus, it's only $5.99 on Kindle.

I can't come up with a fourth book without doing a ton of research, and I kind of like these picks too much to do more research...

So that's it, go to it! In the comments tell me which book(s) you're interested in reading, which you are not interested in and then we will go from there!

Inaugural Post

Hello Explorers!

So my general design for this blog is pretty free-form. Once I get all of your informations I will make you authors so you can post as needed instead of being limited to just commenting. Generally, I think we can manage at least 1-2 books a month depending on our schedules, and since we have varying schedules among us I think it's best that we communicate if we're too busy to read a certain week or can't be Picker so that we can keep the blog rolling as much as possible--I tried this before and the cannonball that killed us was because people got busy and were still reading but weren't reading "fast enough" and got nervous about posting.

We're all friends here!

And, if we breeze through 1-2 books a month, then we can do more! But I think we'll probably be around that number as we begin.

So let's begin! As we've talked about before on Facebook, we have a number of different interests in books between us which I think will actually turn into something really fun! This is a judge-free zone, and by that I mean you can dislike the book the Picker picked without hating on the Picker! We're all friends, and we're all adults of course, but I know that sometimes sarcasm doesn't read well over the internet so I don't want feelings to get hurt--someone's favorite book could be someone else's Twilight (none of us like Twilight, right? Kidding!).

Ideally, we will have an introductory post by the Picker with 2-4 books of their choice--each with a synopsis or reason why they want to read the book--where in the comments section the other participants will "vote" or "rate" the books in order of what they'd like to read the most to least. The idea behind this is to make sure we read books that no one else in the group has already read, or if they've already read see if they're willing to read again or able to participate in the discussion thread without re-reading. So for my son this would look like:

"Hop on Pop" by Dr. Seuss -- Heard this book is really good for phonics and word recognition skills! Also, who doesn't want to read a book about jumping on your dada's belly?!

"Guess How Much I Love You" by Sam McBratney -- This is your typical modern-day psychological suspense thriller. How much does Mama Bunny love her baby?! What does that mean for us as a larger social conscious? I'm looking forward to finding out the answers to these questions and more!

"The Future of the Mind" by Michio Kaku -- This one will be a doozy for sure, but I think we can handle it! Who doesn't love neuroscience?!

...

Baby Shark commented:
1. The Future of the Mind
2. Guess How Much I Love You
Already read Hop on Pop, you might as well skip it, there isn't as much as you would expect about jumping on your dad.

Polar Bear commented:
1. Guess How Much I Love You
2. Hop on Pop
3. The Future of the Mind

---And then Jarec would choose his book and they'd all read (they being his stuffed animals he bosses around) and then they would post their comments on a separate discussion post. So to summarize, we'd have an introductory post by the Picker where we vote on the book, then the Picker can announce in the comments which book they have chosen or make a separate post if they wish to add some additional background or jumpstart the conversation (for instance, if we're reading a dystopian novel and you really, really want to talk about a particular character's development, an event or literary element) and then a dedicated discussion post where we can comment and reply to each other as we read through the novel. Does that make sense? I promise it's not too complicated, and I'll get it started so you can see how it will work out!

For now, though, I will need your most-reachable email address so I can add you as authors and we'll go from there!