We have officially begun our Book Club of 2012. If you are interested in joining us in person, drop me an email and I will fill you in on more details. Otherwise, if you want to participate online, all you have to do is grab the book and join the discussion at the end of every other month.
As I mentioned in my previous blog post about the book club, we have decided to pick one book and have two months to read it before the online/in person discussion.
Therefore, there will be 6 books to read in 2012 and all of them are from a different genre. We worked hard at trying to find authors and books that were out of our norm to some degree...or, at least out of the norm of most readers...especially if you are used to reading one genre or the same authors over and over. Hopefully this will expand your reading repertoire and expose you to some new favorites. Like the books or dislike the books...it is all fine. That is the point to a book club. Not every book is going to be a winner but hopefully we will have meaningful discussions and garner a new insight or two.
If you have read any of the books and would still like to participate, that's great too! If you only want to read a few but not all...you decide. Hopefully you will embrace the challenge of reading (maybe) outside your comfort zone and for ones who enjoy the genres we picked maybe you will discover a new author.
Book One
January/February
Genre: Mainstream Fiction
"Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford
290 pages
3.90 rating on GoodReads
Meeting date: Thursday, March 1 at 7pm
Book Two
March/April
Genre: Historical Fiction
"The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara
360 pages
4.14 rating on GoodReads
Meeting date: Thursday, May 3 at 7pm
Book Three
May/June
Genre: Western
"Year of the Horse" by Justin Allen
320 pages
3.43 rating on GoodReads
Meeting date: Thursday, June 28 at 7pm
Book Four
July/August
Genre: Humor
"Lamb: The Gospel According To Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" by Christopher Moore
444 pages
4.26 rating on GoodReads
Meeting date: Thursday, August 30 at 7pm
Book Five
September/October
Genre: Thriller
"Before I go to Sleep" by S.J. Watson
358 pages
3.81 rating on GoodReads
Meeting date: Thursday, November 1 at 7pm
Book Six
November/December
Genre: Chick Lit
"Between Friends" by Debbie Macomber
416 pages
3.99 rating on GoodReads
Meeting date: Thursday, January 3, 2013 at 7pm
There you have it. The complete list. I will make a list and post them on the left side of my blog for easy viewing.
You may notice that the meetings aren't always during that second month but in some instances, close. The reason behind the dates is we tried to be careful to realize holidays, busy times, etc. So, hopefully those dates will work and in some cases give you an extra few days.
We also tried hard to match the books and the months with care keeping in mind the busier months and the length of the book. For instance, the humor book we felt didn't quite seem right to put that in the months where we are in the middle of lent and celebrating Easter...so, instead we put that big book (it is the biggest book but felt it would be an easy read due to the humor aspect) right in the middle of summer when days are long and carefree. We put the thriller appropriately during the early fall when Halloween just calls out to read something with some blood pumping possibilities. We felt the chick lit category fit easily into the "winter holidays" months because it would be a feel good, light-ish read during a normally busy time. We started with the mainstream because that seems to be the most popular genre. And, hopefully after reading a mainstream jumping into a historical fiction (if you aren't used to reading those) will be a little easier. Lastly, the western we wedged in May and June which may be a busy time if you have kids in school (May) but also coincides with the beginning of summer vacation and five weeks without school...plus, the western book is one of the smaller books with only a tad over 300 pages.
I will be back to discuss the books the day AFTER the book club meetings...so, please feel free to jump in at any time and offer up your thoughts, good or bad, about the book.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the list as well...
In the meantime, HAPPY READING!
p.s. the books can all be found (at the time of this posting) at Hastings bookstores. Most, I'm sure, can be obtained through the library as most of them are not new books so checking them out of the library should not be a problem. I found a couple at Costco and of course there are so many other options. We will also have at least one copy of every book so if you can't find it anywhere...just send me an email...and you can borrow our copy.
I am very excited about this book club. I love it that we created it with all the elements we want. I am looking forward to exploring the different selections choosen. Woohoo... let the reading begin!
Posted by: corinna | Friday, January 20, 2012 at 04:51 PM