Book Club Update

Remember my 2 book clubs? They are still very much going on. Have I posted about them recently? Absolutely not. Why? Because I'm plum lazy, that's why. I wrote a post last fall about my struggles with keeping up with reading the titles picked for these clubs and I want to say it's gotten better.  Ahem. It hasn't. But darnit I do try and I am honest when I know I just won't like something. Like Cloud Atlas. No thank you. 

Luckily my ladies in both clubs really understand and are truly laid back. Gotta love that.

The Ladies Book Club continues to meet every month at someone's house and we dish about life and enjoy loads of treats that are really not good for us. Our picks are varied and sometimes on the lighter side, like in next month's case; Let's pretend this never happened by Jenny Lawson. HILARIOUS!!!

Books, Bottle or Bars book club is every other month and our list is picked and settled at the beginning of the year. Last month was Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I cracked it open, attempted the audio and promptly ignored it after that. Our next choice is Looking for Alaska by John Green. I can do that one.

My update is simply to assure you all that the book clubs are still in existence and I will try to post something more often than not but it may  not be every month.

I did get the opportunity to go to a Reader's Advisory Round Table/MLA Book Club with a library co-worker called Tomes on Tap.  We read Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver and I chose to listen to it.  It was pretty good. Next up is Keeping Hope Alive by Dr. Hawa Abdi. Being the new addition, I got to pick! No pressure. Guess that means I'm in  a third book club somewhat officially.

I can do this.

Sure I can.

That's it for now.

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

My Book Club Update

Oh, my dear sweet neglected book clubs, how I feel I've failed you. For those of you new to my blog, or just simply forgotten, I am a part of two book clubs. My Ladies Book Club is a group of my friends that I have known for many years and have been a part of previous book clubs as well. This one is a bit more laid back and we meet every month, usually at someone's house. We have loads of treats and drink really good wine. I originally started out posting very extensive posts about our meet ups; what we ate, what everyone thought, etc. That was going well until this summer. Basically our lives caught up with us. My posts fell by the way side a bit, as did my attendance. More about that later.

My second book club started last year with a former Borders co-worker and her circle of friends and colleagues. I now call these ladies friends and have really grown to love this group. This is a bit more organized. We meet every other month and had our list of books set for the year. Our official second year will begin in January. I posted about my struggles with this club earlier this summer when I was having a hard time getting in to the books picked. I left off stating that I had better get my butt into gear for September with Freedom by Jonathen Franzen. Well, it didn't happen. I was unable to attend and I didn't read it. I am not going to pressure myself with our last book for this year, Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, though it seems like something I would really like. And it's short. I'm looking forward to finding out what our next year's books will be. We have broken them up into categories; Classics, Fiction, Mysteries, Young Adult and Memoir, in hopes to get more variety. We had so many hard, intense novels this past year. Yowza!

As for my first book club, our titles were good reads but didn't bring on much discussion. Over the summer we read Night Road by Kristin Hannah, Is everyone hanging out without me? by Mindy Kaling, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout and The Girl who fell from the sky by Heidi Durrow. I missed two of those meet ups due to scheduling mishaps at work. Next month we are discussing Bossypants by Tina Fey. Atleast I have that one down! And Christmas time we will meet up again and eat lots of treats and maybe read and discuss a Christmas themed book.

Overall, I am grateful for my book clubs in my life. I know my readers have enjoyed being a part of that experience and for that, I feel bad for not keeping up with the posting. I am going to try to do my best next year. But after discussing it during our nights, it's hard to rush back to the computer to sum it all up again. 

I will keep a sidebar of the books we plan to read on my blog but I may or may not link an extensive post about each book.

Honestly, sometimes I just enjoy the damn wine. :)

Happy reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

B.Y.O.B Book Club Update

I have been an absolute lazybones when it comes to posting about my book clubs. Oh yes, indeed I am MONTHS behind. But I have been reading...well, kind of. B.Y.O.B Book Club is my every other month book group. (Books, Bottle or Bars, if you must know!)

We compiled an organized list for the whole year and everyone could read at their own schedule. It has worked out quite nicely, except for the whole posting about it after the fact.

I wrote a review and post about our January pick, The Maze Runner by James Dashner but have not written since. I blame Blindess by Jose Saramago, our March pick. Holy crap on a cracker. I did NOT get in to this book. In fact, I maybe got 20 pages TOPS. So, I decided to watch the movie instead.

BAAAAAAAD idea. Horrible. The movie was devastating, depressing and just plain yucky! I took a 30 minute shower after that one. If you don't know the book or the movie, here are the details.

Blindness is the story of an unexplained mass epidemic of blindness afflicting nearly everyone in an unnamed city, and the social breakdown that swiftly follows. The novel follows the misfortunes of a handful of characters who are among the first to be stricken and centers on "the doctor's wife," her husband, several of his patients, and assorted others, thrown together by chance. This group bands together in a family-like unit to survive by their wits and by the unexplained good fortune that the doctor’s wife has escaped the blindness. The sudden onset and unexplained origin and nature of the blindness cause widespread panic, and the social order rapidly unravels as the government attempts to contain the apparent contagion and keep order via increasingly repressive and inept measures

Yes, not a light, festive, romp to discuss. Most of the folks read it and had a powerful discussion, though most of us were left a bit chilled. I didn't feel the need to rush to my computer to write about it so...I didn't.

Oh well, I'll make up for it for our May pick right? Delirium by Lauren Oliver! Right?!!! Awesome book. I loved it! Most of the gals loved it. I thought I would have soooo much to say. But no, we talked about it for oh, about, five minutes before diving into Fifty Shades of Grey, which most everyone was reading at that time. That's okay. No worries. I wrote a review about Delirium before. I'll get over it and make up for it in July!

(head plant into desk) No, I will NOT make up for it in July. Because we read The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udal, wonderfully written and powerful but...did I finish it. No. Will I? Probably not. It just didn't fit my mood. And that just plain sucks on my end. But once again, the gals brought yummy food and lively discussion. Always a good time with or without my two cents on the book pick.

On to September. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. Seriously, if I don't atleast get half way, I'm going to pull my hair out. I can do it.

I love my gals. I love this group. I've made it to each get together. I'm a better book club attendee than this.

I gotta bring it.

Wish me luck.

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

B.Y.O.B Book club Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Publisher: Delacorte

Format: Audio

Purchase: Indie Bound

Challenge: 2012 Audio Book Challenge

This was the second audio book I listened to in its completion. It was a hard transition from my first choice but as I got going, I found it to be quite fun to listen to. My B.Y.O.B Book club chose this as our first young adult book to read. I was planning on reading it but I thought I would give the ol' audio a try.

A brief description from Indie Bound:

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess.

If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

My friend Laura wrote her review from the book club since I made the silly mistake of overbooking myself and missed the meet up. Check out Myriad Musings for her take. My opinion will be a bit different since I was the only one who listened to it.

It was an intriguing story and I was eagerly anticipating what was going to happen. Would they get out of the maze? Who was really controlling it all? Why did Thomas seem to feel like he had been there before?

I was easily intrigued and looked forward to getting back to the story after each pause. Once again, I listened to it in my car so it took me a good two weeks to finish. My only real issue with it all was the language in which the characters created. Having been confined to this world surrounded by a maze with no recollection of a life before, they essentially created their own swear words. They would call each other "Shank!" and "Greenie". It was a tad bit annoying at first and it took me a few discs to get used to. Also, there were several different characters and one narrator. He did a good job making each individual character stand out, however, some of the voices were a bit over the top. It got a bit jumbled at times. If I had read it, I don't know if I would have had the same irritation with it. Usually if there are parts that I find a bit tedious in reading, I would skim. You can't really skim with the audio version.

Most of my fellow book club friends continued on with the series; Scorch Trials and Death Cure. I had the best of intentions to do so but ended up choosing other things to read and listen to. I can't say that I won't in the future but not at this time.

Overall, they all seemed to enjoy it.

Rating: Recommend

This would not be my favorite young adult read, but I did enjoy it. It was fast paced once it got going and kept my interest. It was different enough and the world of the maze was interesting. This would be more suited to a younger reader, perhaps a fan of Maximum Ride series by James Patterson or The Last Apprentice series by James Delaney.

Next Book Up:

Blindness by Jose Saramago (March)

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child