November

Sorry I haven't kept up on the blog.  BUT, I have kept the list of books we've read updated (to the right side of the blog).

From Jenn Olsen:

Hi Ladies,

I will be hosting book club for November. The book I have picked to read is Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi.

Here is a summary from the book;

"You can't touch me," I whisper.
I'm lying, is what i don't tell him.
He can touch me, is what I'll never tell him.
But things happen when people touch me.
Strange things.
Bad things.
No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon.
But Juliette had plans of her own.
After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time- and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever.

I'm planning on Thursday November 29th to have everyone over to my house.
Hope you enjoy the book!

Jenn Olsen

June

I have book club for June and wanted to let you know the book we will be reading. I chose a quick easy book for summer... We will be meeting on June 20th wed at 7pm . Hope you all enjoy this book.

Out of my Mind  by Sharon Draper.

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school-but NO ONE knows it. Most people -her teachers and doctors included-don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows...but she can't because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.

Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind-that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice...but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon M. Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Get ready to meet a girl whose voice you'll never forget.
-Sheila Jones

May Book Club

Hey everyone! I (Emily Judd) am hosting Book Club for the month of May and I have chosen the book "Unbroken: A World War 2 story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" by Laura Hillenbrand

There are a bunch of people that have it on hold at the library though, so I hope we can all get a hold of it. I am putting it on hold now, along with the audio book and stuff so I will let you know when/if I get it! I'm not sure what date I want yet so I will keep you posted on that as well!

Here is the synopsis:

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.  Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared.  It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard.  So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini.  In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails.  As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile.  But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater.  Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion.  His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit.  Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.

April Book Club

I have chosen to read the book "Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet" by Jamie Ford.  Here is a synopsis of the book:
In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.

I'm planning on hosting bookclub on April 19th at 7:00pm. Hope to see you all!
Crystal

March

I am hosting book club in March and I have chosen the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.  I love learning about other cultures and I felt like this book is especially interesting since she has chosen to raise her children in America according to the Chinese culture instead of the "Western" way.  This is not a parenting book so no need to feel like you can't read it if you don't have kids or if your kids are older/grown.  It is an extremely quick, engaging story that is amazingly honest and thought provoking (so hopefully will provide some good discussion)!

The library has plenty of copies and there is also an audiobook available at the library as well.  I am looking at hosting it on March 21st although, if we find there are too many conflicts that night, it might have to be March 15th...so get started!!!  Luckily it's short!

Here are a couple of quick previews of the book if you are interested in learning more:

By the author, Amy Chua:

"This is a story about a mother, two daughters, and two dogs.

This was supposed to be a story of how Chinese parents are better at raising kids than Western ones.

But instead, it's about a bitter clash of cultures, a fleeting taste of glory, and how I was humbled by a thirteen-year-old."

From Amazon:

"An awe-inspiring, often hilarious, and unerringly honest story of one mother's exercise in extreme parenting, revealing the rewards-and the costs-of raising her children the Chinese way.

All decent parents want to do what's best for their children. What Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother reveals is that the Chinese just have a totally different idea of how to do that. Western parents try to respect their children's individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions and providing a nurturing environment. The Chinese believe that the best way to protect your children is by preparing them for the future and arming them with skills, strong work habits, and inner confidence. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother chronicles Chua's iron-willed decision to raise her daughters, Sophia and Lulu, her way-the Chinese way-and the remarkable results her choice inspires.

Here are some things Amy Chua would never allow her daughters to do:

• have a playdate
• be in a school play
• complain about not being in a school play
• not be the #1 student in every subject except gym and drama
• play any instrument other than the piano or violin
• not play the piano or violin

The truth is Lulu and Sophia would never have had time for a playdate. They were too busy practicing their instruments (two to three hours a day and double sessions on the weekend) and perfecting their Mandarin.

Of course no one is perfect, including Chua herself.   But Chua demands as much of herself as she does of her daughters. And in her sacrifices-the exacting attention spent studying her daughters' performances, the office hours lost shuttling the girls to lessons-the depth of her love for her children becomes clear. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is an eye-opening exploration of the differences in Eastern and Western parenting- and the lessons parents and children everywhere teach one another.""

Happy Reading!!!

January

I wanted to let everyone know the book club book for January in case you wanted to put a hold on it or maybe ask Santa for it (ha ha ha!) The book I have chosen is called "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak.It looks like you can order it from amazon in paper back for abt $10 there are also SEVERAL copies at the Library. You may want to put a hold on it now though as it looks like it was checked out for the most part. The following is a summary of the book...hope you enjoy! I am actually really excited to be able to host, I haven't been able to make it to a ton of the meetings but I have read all of the books!

I am planning on hosting it Wednesday January 25th @ 7:00 p.m. at my house 3427 W. Chatel Dr.

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

November

I wanted to announce our November book and date. I have been debating over which book to use. So I decided to go a completely different route and read some short stories this month.  My thought is that small snippets of literature can fit between all the craziness of the holidays.  As an added bonus, I have linked the text of each of these short stories to this email.  This means that you don’t have to go to the library, but can link and read. Additionally, all of these short stories are all under 5 pages.

I am planning to host book club on November 30th at 7:00 pm at my house. Please come ready to share your favorite and your most brilliant insights!

Happy reading!

Emily
 (please email Emily if you need her to email you the links @ emily@andersenkraft.com)
Ray Bradbury—The Martian Chronicles—“The Silent Towns”
Ray Bradbury—“The Veldt” 
Ray Bradbury—“All Summer in a Day”
Charlotte Perkins Gillman—“The Yellow Wallpaper”
Edgar Allan Poe—“ The Fall of the House of Usher”
Gabriel Marquez Garcia—“The Most Handsomest Drowned Man in the World”
Julio Cortazar—“House Taken Over”
Kurt Vonnegut—“Harrison Burgeron”