Meredith's Book Club - 2017 Wrap up post

Meredith’s book club is my “regular” book club. It’s what most people think about when they think of books clubs. A group of people who know each other in various ways get together. Pairs of us are friends in different settings, outside of book club and we all basically like each other so we might talk about doing non-book related things together too, sometimes. Sometimes we actually do it. Each person hosts at their house and picks the book for that time. Sometimes, everyone reads the book, most of the time at least two people don’t read it.

 

We’ve got six members now, having lost one person this year to whatever else she would prefer to be doing. It happens. She was one of the women who almost always read the book, though. But she also came out of her face with some annoying ass shit, so pros and cons. Bye.

For 2016, I did two posts: one for books I read and one for books I didn’t read [linked]. This time I’m just going to put them all in this one post. Because lazy. 

Book Review: All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

[I have no idea why this post thinks it's new. I wrote it back in 2016]

The authors of this book were at Book Riot Live last year participating in a panel about writing with a co-author, or something like that. Jason Reynolds was already one of my Secret Author Boyfriends ever since he was at the Rochester Teen Book Festival last year, but shhhh, as the name suggests, it's a secret.

If you get the chance to see either of these men on tour, do it. If they are together, it's worth camping out to get in. Top quotes from this Book Riot Live panel:

Mini-Reviews: Behind Closed Doors and The Girl on the Train (Book Club Picks)

Already The Girl on the Train and Behind Closed Doors are mingling in my mind and they are not even that similar. It would be hard for me to really talk about them without giving away the stories as they are both psych-thrillers and I have a big-ass mouth with loose boundaries.

I’ll just say that they are probably both good for Book Club options because there are characters with questionable behaviors which always spark those "Bad things for the right reasons and good things for the wrong reasons" discussions. It always ends with everyone feeling a little superior. Neither are good options if one of your book club goals is to read about a non- white person. Or to like men. Either way, add wine.

Broadway to Books - Kinky Boots

SO glad to be finally doing this post. It was super hard! But I really wanted to do one of these posts for ... ::drum roll::

January Wrap Up - Three Excellent YAs

I’m exhausted right now. But, I have to wait for my daughter to get out of rehearsal, anyway so I might as well tell you why by Book January sucked so hard.

First off, I have only completed 6 books this month, three since the outbox post a couple of weeks ago. This isn’t really a low number and I would never think this isn’t “Enough” books. It’s just well below by average for the last couple of years. However, I’m trying to take it easy on myself and switch my way of thinking about THE NUMBER. My goal is to read fewer books more mindfully this year. My guess is that the goal will wax and wane like so many others.

All three of these books earn a We Need Diverse Books badge!! Whoot whoot! Here's what I've read:

Must Reads 2016

Last year, in an attempt to avoid having to pick my favorite books from the year for one of the "Best of" things, I created the Must Read shelf. Basically, I don't want to have to pick! Thusly and therefore, throughout the year, I have added books as I read them that I think are really worth reading or recommending for some reason. (Ignore the fact that I came up with categories and best of books for a series of twitter posts. No one asked you to point out my inconsistencies and no one likes a smarty pants.)

For 2015, there were enough books across both YA and non-YA categories for two separate posts. This year, though, most of the books I thought were Must Reads were YA and there were only about 20 in total. I actually may have read mostly YA this year, to be honest. But let's not quibble over facts! What did I say about being a smarty pants!? 

Because I tend to do reviews as often as possible for books that I really like, many of these have full reviews floating around this blog somewhere. Even for those without full review posts, I probably did a related outbox post so feel free to look around if you want to see what I had to say about these gems.

 Without further ado, here are the 2016 Must Reads!!

Book Review: The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

This is the second book by Tom Perotta that I have read. I don’t remember anything about The Abstinence teacher except being vaguely bored. I gave it 3 of 5 stars. But I do remember liking the writing style, so when The Leftovers came up as available on Overdrive, I figured it was worth a shot.

Apparently there are sex-specific versions of the cover. I have the sense that you could read either one and be ok.

 

Here’s a bit of the Goodreads (go to the GR page):

What if — whoosh, right now, with no explanation — a number of us simply vanished? Would some of us collapse? Would others of us go on, one foot in front of the other, as we did before the world turned upside down? That's what the bewildered citizens of Mapleton, who lost many of their neighbors, friends and lovers in the event known as the Sudden Departure, have to figure out. Because nothing has been the same since it happened — not marriages, not friendships, not even the relationships between parents and children.

With heart, intelligence and a rare ability to illuminate the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta has written a startling, thought-provoking novel about love, connection and loss.

My two cents:

Meredith's Book Club 2016 - Stuff I Didn't Read

I posted yesterday about the three book club books that I actually read this year. It's pretty ridiculous... but I've read a total of 142 book this year, so it's not like I'm not reading! I've just been reading the wrong stuff. 

These are the three I didn’t read:

Her by Christa Parravani: I had no intention of reading that book based on the description, and then I couldn’t make it to the meeting, anyway, so WHEW!

Bookof Joe by Jonathan Tropper: I really enjoyed Tropper’s This is Where I Leave You even though I have no memory of what it was about. Book of Joe sounds like all those 80s/90s movies where someone leaves home as a big shot and then has to come home with their tail between their legs (think Hope Floats) and discovers what home and family are really about that I loved at one time. It’s still on my TBR list. 

A Tyranny of Petticoats: I have really high hopes for this book, which is why I picked it. Unfortunately, I don’t have the attention span for short stories. Or stories about seals, which was the second story in the book. I like many of the authors who have contributed to this anthology and I hope to ready the stories over time.

Related Posts:

Meredith's Book Club 2016 - The Books I Actually Read

This has been a terrible year for book club reads for me. This is the book club I am most committed to and I still only read about 3.25 of the 6 books we picked this year. The point 25 of them was for the book that I actually picked.

This has been a terrible year for book club reads for me. Of the 5 books that we picked this year, I only read three point 25 of them. The point 25 of them was for the book that I actually picked. 

It’s been a pretty busy year, theatre- wise, as I have become more active with being in shows, helping out with shows that am not in, as well as with taking dance and singing classes. But you are here for the Book Club scoop. This is a post about the 3 books I actually did read. I'll do a separate post for the books I didn't read because this is NABLOPOMO and I need all the posts I can get! It's not cheating!

Book Review: The Fisherman by Chigozie Obioma

I read this book via audiobook. Mostly because it was available for download immediately.

The Goodreads Summary (truncated):

"Told from the point of view of nine year old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers, The Fishermen is the story of an unforgettable childhood in 1990s Nigeria, in the small town of Akure. When their strict father has to travel to a distant city for work, the brothers take advantage of his extended absence to skip school and go fishing. At the ominous, forbidden nearby river, they meet a dangerous local madman who persuades the oldest of the boys that he is destined to be killed by one of his siblings. What happens next is an almost mythic event whose impact-both tragic and redemptive-will transcend the lives and imaginations of its characters and its readers. Dazzling and viscerally powerful, The Fishermen never leaves Akure but the story it tells has enormous universal appeal."

What I Thought About It:

Book Review: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

The Light Between Oceans was chosen as the June Group read for the Read All the Books Facebook group. We usually do challenges but decided to do our second group read. I think this had been on several member’s TBR list for a while so it seemed like a good pick. I read this via audiobook on Overdrive.

The Goodreads Bit:

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss.

The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel.

What I had to say about it.

Book Review: One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

I read this book because a member of my book club said that I had to. I’ve heard great things about the author but hadn’t gotten around to reading anything by her.

Here’s the Goodreads Summary:

Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages... maybe ever.

What can I add to that:

Book Review: The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson

I read this book because of the title. Yes, yes. I'm a cover-judger and a sucker for a good book book. Anyway.

Here's the modified Goodreads Summary (I edited it and changed the formatting): 

"The Bookseller follows a woman in the 1960s who must reconcile her reality with the tantalizing alternate world of her dreams. Nothing is as permanent as it appears . . . 

Denver, 1962: Kitty Miller has come to terms with her unconventional single life. She loves the bookshop she runs with her best friend, Frieda, and enjoys complete control over her day-to-day existence. She can come and go as she pleases, answering to no one. There was a man once, a doctor named Kevin, but it didn’t quite work out the way Kitty had hoped. Then the dreams begin.

Denver, 1963: Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life. They have beautiful children, an elegant home, and good friends. It's everything Kitty Miller once believed she wanted—but it only exists when she sleeps.

As the lines between her worlds begin to blur, Kitty must figure out what is real and what is imagined. And how do we know where that boundary lies in our own lives?"

What Say I:

Book Crack: Books about Books

An aside: Should "About" be capitalized in this blog post's title. I forget the rule about About... forgive me, Friends.

Books about books are my thing. Nevermind whatever I said my thing was the last time I said something was my thing. Books about books are definitely my thing more than that other thing. Invariably, every book about a book has the back and forth in time thing. I mean, there's the "now" in whatever time period that is, where someone gets a hold of a book from somewhere. And there is also the "then:" the time of the book, which is either the time the book was written or the time period that is the setting of the story told in the book. I like the back and forth thing. I also like books that alternate perspectives. Maybe I just like "jumpy"books... anyway. The last three books about books I read:

  
The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler 
I was waiting for this book to come out. I even had the date of release in my calendar, in case you were wondering exactly how big of a book nerd I can be. (HUGE, Rochester!). It's about a librarian (as many Books about books are) that receives an old book from a rare book dealer. Inside, the book has the name of the librarian's great grandmother, who drowned herself. Just like his own mother did. Duh duh duh! In the present, Simon is trying to figure out the pattern of his family and save his self- destructive sister. In the time of the book, we follow several people involved in a traveling side show carnival, though it wasn't really called that at the time. This book is beautifully written and leaves the reader thinking about the wonder of the universe and the ties that bind people together. 

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks 
I read this book via audio book after failing to get into it as a hardcover. In the now, we have a book conservationist who has been tasked with the mighty job of restoring a 500 year old Jewish Haggadah. For different elements of the book (a stain, a hair) she discovers, there is the story of how it happened in the time of the book. The descriptions are beautiful and it's interesting to hear about the creation of the book using the different methods over hundreds of years. Did you know that parchment is made out of animal flesh? You do now! I'm glad that I tried this book, again. I think it was smoother through the ears, probably because of the historical parts, which make my brain numb, sometimes due to my PHSSTD (Post High School Social Studies Traumatic Disorder).

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult 
She might get a bit of flack on my Twitter TL, but I love Jodi Picoult. I've read several of her novels and think they're each different and interesting. Granted, I have read them all with years in between them, which I think helps with any author. You don't get too keen to their patterns and idiosyncrasies. Anyway, in the now, Delilah is a weird nerd with few friends who is the first to be able to see that the characters in a middle grade adventure book might have minds of their own. It might be all a little predictable and a little convenient and "just how would that work exactly," but that is kind of part of the story. Ms. Picoult wrote this book with her daughter and it is, itself, for younger readers. It's enjoyable and super quick, despite it's 350 pages.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Inkheart, a favorite book within a book about books and book- lovers. The whole series is gold.