Unbroken movie!!!

Hey all, I just saw that Angelina Jokie is directing "Unbroken" (Laura Hillenbrand) and it's set to release 12/25/14. That's a long wait but I'm so excited that they are making this great story into a movie!! 

Karyn 

December/ January

Hey all-
First of all, I hope that everyone that was able to attend the last book club enjoyed it- thanks again to Tracy for hosting!

Secondly, a reminder and a plea- for Dec/Jan, we are combining the months (so that people will actually have the time to read and attend). We are reading Running the Rift, but we need a host for our next meeting! If you're interested, feel free to comment, text me, or email me at kirstendana@gmail.com. Somebody pleasepleaseplease volunteer!

Thirdly, our pick in February is The Forgotten Garden, and it's on the longer side- if you've got downtime during the holidays (ha!), it might be a good idea to get started on this before February.

Also, you guys made it weird. Hurry up- someone email me a photo and their favorites list so I can highlight another reader. It may also be a good source of ideas for Christmas gifts for someone you know!

Lastly, let's make January book-club-outreach Month. I know that things get busy and I'm also guilty of not being there for every meeting, but it would also be nice to get some new people in on the discussions. We should all make a point of inviting someone new!

SO- have a Happy Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and get reading!

November date!

Hey all,
Our November pick, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, will be discussed at:

Tracy's house- 13628 Ascension Rd; Tigard 97224
Sunday, November 24th
7 pm

Hope everyone's enjoying the book- look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Happy reading!

November

Reminder-
November's pick is Wild by Cheryl Strayed.

Tracy has offered to host (with, I'm guessing, some encouragement from a certain neighbor of hers that is beyond enthusiastic about the book).  Look for an upcoming post about the meeting time, but get started!

I also have heard that it's an engaging read, so make sure you're referring to the year's list in case you want to get ahead.

Happy reading!

October

Hey all-
sorry this post has taken me so long to get to you- but we have a date!

Let's discuss The Night Circus next Sunday, October 27th
8 pm
at Symposium Coffee
12345 Main St
Tigard

I'm excited to discuss this with you all- again, sorry this post took a bit to get to you. Hope you're all enjoying it- see you then!

Happy Reading!

WWII Recommendations

Last weekend, we had a great discussion surrounding City of Thieves by David Benioff, and several people recommended further reading about WWII. And so, we compiled this- a list of books surrounding the theme of WWII. These are NOT books we're strictly reading for club; rather, they are recommendations from fellow readers. Enjoy! Feel free to add others in comments.

1. Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi (from Tracy)
2. The Girl in the Green Sweater: A Life in Holocaust's Shadow by Krystyna Chiger and Daniel Paisner (from Stacy)
3. The Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah (from Kiersten)
4. Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany by Robert Gellately (from Kiersten)
5. Walking Since Daybreak: A Story of Eastern Europe, WWII, and the Heart of Our Country by Modrus Elestein (from Kiersten)

And, two books that we've already read as a book club but that we highly recommend for anyone that wasn't around yet:

6. Unbroken: A WWII Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Lauren Hillenbrand (from the archives)
7. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (from the archives)

One last note- the US movie premiere date of The Book Thief has changed multiple times, but most recently I can tell it was changed BACK to Nov 15th. Sorry for correcting you Tracy- I'm not sure why the date has changed, but the Zusak said it was November, so I'm trusting him.

September

Hey all!

For our next choice, we are reading City of Thieves by David Benioff, and we will be meeting to discuss at...

Karyn's house
13026 SW Ascension Dr. Tigard

Sunday, Sept 29th
8 pm

Also, a quick word- we have had a few people express concerns about the material in this book, so please consider that when reading. I haven't begun yet, but I hear there are some graphic bits, and we wanted to relay that info to you. If this book isn't for you, that's okay.

We also have a host for next month, but none after that- please let me know if you're interested in hosting one of the upcoming gatherings! 

Happy Reading!

Reminder- August

Hey all!
Reminder- we are meeting this weekend to discuss The Glass Castle.


Saturday, August 24th at 8:15 pm
hosted by Barbara Bomar, at her house-

10605 Watkins Pl
Tigard, 97723

Please comment or text if you're going to be there- hope to see you soon!

Happy Reading!

Next meeting...

Alright, ladies- the next meeting, to discuss The Glass Castle,  is...

Saturday, July 24th at 8:15 pm
hosted by Barbara Bomar, at her house-

10605 Watkins Pl
Tigard, 97723.

We know this is a quick turnaround, but it's a relatively easy read and the next weekend is Labor Day, which Barbara (and, I'm suspecting, many of you) can't do. So, get reading!

If you will be there, or you have a copy you can share, post in the comments. Thanks!

Happy Reading!

August

Hey all!
We had a small group last night to discuss Epitaph of a Small Winner- hope everyone enjoyed it!

Next month (August) we'll be reading The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Walls.

We still don't have a host picked- anyone in the mood to volunteer? If not, we can try to book Symposium again, and everyone can bring questions- what are your thoughts? Without a host we'll need some input on what date at the end of August works the best. Let me know what you're thinking so we can plan and I'll follow up in a week or so with something more concrete. Thanks in advance for your input!

Happy Reading!

Reminder- meeting Sunday!

Hey all- just a quick reminder-
we are meeting Sunday at 8pm at Symposium in Tigard to discuss Epitaph of a Small Winner by Machado de Assis.

Please let us know in comments, email, or text if you'll be there.

Also, feel free to email me your favorites list!

Happy Reading!

Kirsten Johnson's Favs

Hey all! I'm going to kick off the "My Favs" thing- send me yours too, and I'll try to post one "profile" a week.

Seriously, send me yours. Don't make this weird.

Email me your list, and anything else at kirstendana@gmail.com

My Favs: 

Favorite Genre: Right now, I'd say YA, with a little bit of fantasy. 

Favorite Author: (Living): Neil Gaiman and John Green are tied.

                            (Dead): Ray Bradbury

My Favorite Books "In Order" (this is subject to change at any time):

     1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

     2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

     3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

     4. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

     5. The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett

     6. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

     7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

     8. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

     9. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

     10. The Help by Kathryn Stockett 

There are a million more favorites, but this is my list as of right now. Harry Potter, Divergent, and The Hunger Games aren't listed because I love the series more than one specific book in the series. 

I included the picture partially because it's funny and partially because if you look in green on my right shoulder, one of my students wrote "book buddy", which makes me smile. 

Anyways- Happy Reading!

July!

Hey all! Meeting time is set for July, so here is it goes:

Sunday, July 28th @8 pm
Symposium Coffee- 12345 Main St Tigard, 97223
hosted by Kiersten Krajcar to discuss Epitaph of a Small Winner by Machado de Assis.


Some small housekeeping things:
1. I'm trying to update our past books list- can you take a look and email me ( kirstendana@gmail.com) if you remember any of the titles not listed? This is woefully out of date.

2. If you can host a month, even if you don't have time/date/venue decided yet, could you please let me know? I'd like to update our master list.

3. We discussed the possibility of making this more interactive online, so I'm going to start a "favorite books" posting thing- I'll do posts where we write our top 10 or 5 or 3 favorite books. This can be as intricate or as simple as you'd like- please please PLEASE email me your favorites. I'll start with mine (hopefully later today) so you can either use mine as a format or do the exact opposite. Thanks!

4. If you're purchasing copies of the book, could you comment on the original posts or wherever we discuss the book? This would help connect people that are purchasing and want to lend or want to borrow. I have Epitaph and Barbara will be borrowing it before her vaca, so get in touch with her if you want to borrow after.

Thanks for being the best.

Happy reading!

The Next Year's Picks (and other recommendations) Summer 2013- Spring 2014

Okay- here it is- the next year's picks and their months, with links to the books so you can check out additional info.
A brief explanation- we tried to pick a variety if genres and space them out as best as possible. Because we tried to get a variety, some books were not picked because they overlapped with things we've already read or other choices- but take a look at the other recommendations at the bottom, because the suggestions were great!
I'll add blog posts to remind of upcoming dates- each choice is intended to meet at the end of that month. (Ex: We're meeting for The Orchardist, June's pick, on  June 30th). If you would like to volunteer to host one or more of these, please let me know! Unless I change the listing on this page, please consider the host space needed. Also- still working on the new format. As y'all continue to visit this page, it will end up on the left hand side under "most viewed posts", which should make it easily accessible.


June- The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin          (host: Stacy Leatherman)
July- Epitaph of a Small Winner by Machado de Assis           (host: Kiersten Krajcar)
August- The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Walls
September- City of Thieves by David Benioff          (host: Karyn Vorhees)
October- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern          (host: Kirsten Johnson)
November- Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
December/January- Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
February- The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
March- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
April- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
May- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foer


Other Recommendations from fellow Cuckoo's Nest-ers, in no particular order:
(I'm adding the name of the chooser if I know it so you can ask them about the book if you're interested. Comment to claim your choices if you want!)

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese     (chosen by Kirsten)
Lust for Life by Irving Stone
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts       (chosen by Tracy [I think])
Brain Surgeon: A Doctor's Inspiring Encounters with Mortality and Miracles by Keith Black, MD
Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea by Steven Callahan
66 Days Adrift: A True Story of Disaster and Survival on the Open Sea by William Butler
The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks by Susan Casey
Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse     (chosen by Kiersten)
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
Yaeger: An Autobiography by Chuck Yaeger
Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan     (chosen by Kiersten)
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse     (chosen by Kiersten)
House Rules by Jodi Picoult
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver



There you go! Comment, get reading, and enjoy! Sharing books and tips with others is part of what makes our group great- thanks for putting thoughts on the blog so we make sure everyone gets the info.  Keep saving up other ideas- if this goes well, we'll try to compile this list yearly.

Happy Reading!

The Orchardist- June

Hey all! Updates-
Yes, I know the blog is a little lame. I'm working on fixing the font, but I wanted a format I could manipulate more easily than the other one so we could (hopefully) keep the year-long-list and the book club by-laws in an easy to find place without scrolling through a million things. Expect changes this week. Also, expect the year-long-list this week.

We have a meeting time! I hope you're all doing well with The Orchardist! Word on the street is that it's now easy to come by, so buy or borrow. I bought mine today and if you're okay with notes in the margins, you're welcome to it when I'm done. B&N has it marked off 20% if you don't want to wait for Amazon to ship it.
As a change of venue, Stacy is our hostess and has booked us the back meeting room at Symposium coffee house in Tigard at 8pm. Yay! The room is free, but if you have the means, it's probably a good idea to buy coffee to support something local.

Symposium
12345 sw Main St
Tigard 97223
8 pm
Sunday, June 30th

See you all then- happy reading!

Gatsby Film Anyone???

Hi ladies, Karyn here - I know some of you have seen The Great Gatsby, but I'd love to go see it with some book club buddies.  I'll be available Friday, Saturday (June 7&8) if anyone wants to meet up with me on those days, please text me!  805-340-6232 
Thanks!   

June

Okay, fastest blog post ever because I'm on my way to the middle school overnight field trip (blechhhh) but I wanted to get this info out before the big weekend-

June's pick is The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

We will meet sometime at the end of June. We have picks figured out for the next yearish, thanks to everyone contributing and Stacy helping me go through them all, and you'll get a long and lovely post with the next year's list and other recommendations, but for now, get started on The Orchardist!  This one takes a little bit of time, so make sure you get it and get started.

Anyone willing to host for June, perhaps one of the people that chose the book? Leave a comment or shoot me a text and I'll get the word out.

Happy Reading!

Clarification/Reminder/Announcement...?

Hey there!
Seems I wasn't super clear and forgot to update (I know, I forgot to update- shocking!), but for those of you that didn't hear through the grapevine, we're meeting this upcoming Sunday, 5/5, at Karyn's house at 7pm.

We'll be discussing Gatsby and hopefully getting a date on the calendar for seeing the movie after it opens.

Hope to see y'all there!

Happy Reading!

Movies

Two quick movie announcements-

FIRST of all, please join other nesters to watch Dead by Sunset at Stephanie Balavac's house next Sunday, Apr 28th, from 7-10 pm. Snacks at 6:30- movie starts at 7 sharp. :) Please let Karyn or Stephanie know if you'll be able to make it!

Secondly, The Great Gatsby comes out in theatres on May 10th. What days work best for y'all? Post or lemme know so we can pick a time that works for the most people.

Happy Reading!

Book Club By-Laws

Book Club By-Laws

a.k.a. Words to Read By

In case you weren't around when these were established, or you've forgotten them, or you think OTHERS have forgotten them, here are the newly updated and expanded-upon rules and regulations for book selection and reading. Let me know if I've missed any.


1. Nothing over 1,000 pages. Consider length in general- if it's on the longer side but it's still an engulfing read, 700 pages might not be terrible, especially since we're establishing the books well in advance. If it's a dry biography, or even a fabulous book by a Russian author that has like 250 pages on Russian farming (I'm lookin' at you, Anna Karenina), 400 pages might be way too long. Use your judgement- but DEFINITELY don't EVER exceed 1k. Do I love Stephen King's Under the Dome? Heck yes. Will I choose it even though it's 1,096 pages and that's sort of barely over? Heck no. Sorry, Stephen.

2. No books that can be bought in a grocery store checkout line. Quality, people. No Twilight, no romance novels, and for heaven's sake, NO FIFTY SHADES OF ANYTHING. We want to become collectively smarter through this.

3. No books that require prior knowledge. Got a great book that's in the middle of the series? No thanks. Recommend the series all you want, but please don't pick it for club. Great book on something subject specific (medicine, science, history, etc) that you need to have a degree to understand? Sorry, it's not the right fit for group. This doesn't mean the book's not great, it means that it's not accessible for most people.

4. No Christian books. Sorry. I love Jesus, and so do many (most/all) of the people currently attending, but this will alienate visitors. This HAS to be a safe place to invite all kinds of people. Books about missionaries or with religious themes are fine, but please stay away from "Christian fiction".

5. Consider discussion. You may have loved a book, but if there's not much to talk about, leave it. Recommend all you want, but please don't choose it for club. For example- Stacy and I both LOVED The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and would highly recommend it, but neither of us has chosen it because it wouldn't elicit much discussion. But seriously, read it! It's lovely.

6. Don't choose a book that you feel so strongly about that you will be blind/deaf to the opinions of others. Here's a quote from my 4th favorite book of all time: "Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book, and then there are books which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal." Evangelical zeal= great! You'll spark some great discussion with people that have different views/opinions. "YOUR" books= danger! Some of us are extremely passionate about books and have a few that we can't hear other opinions about. DON'T choose those books. We want to be friends at the end of this. I'm a mostly rational person, but there are some books that I feel so strongly about that I have to resist the urge to punch people when they disagree. That's insane, I know that, and so I haven't chosen those books. End of story. On that note, some advice for readers...

7. Feel free to disagree/ skip a book... but challenge yourself. We want to grow from this, and reading the exact same type of book over and over isn't the answer to that. However... I sort of strongly dislike nonfiction, but I've grown to appreciate it because I took a few chances. I'm a better, more well-rounded reader because of it. Don't dismiss something because it's "not your thing". On the other hand, I chose to skip a specific book for personal reasons, but that didn't reflect on the book itself or the person choosing it. I just wasn't emotionally strong enough at the moment to deal. I also wanted to choose a book on the US's first serial killer using the Chicago World's Fair as a hunting ground, and I know that ruffled some feathers. That's okay- not every book is for every person. Respect the choices of others.

8. Bring your own questions/points to discuss. This is a new rule- but PLEASE bring things you'd like to discuss. The discussion questions we find online are generally surface-y and meant for book clubs that are more about the wine selection than the book selection. I've got nothing against wine at book club (seriously), but we would like to be more than that. Questions from everyone will hopefully start important, intellectual discussions. Think about quotes you love, symbolism/metaphors, author's purpose, all that jazz. It's like English class, but you don't have a really hairy old man telling you what Bradbury means and you aren't doodling in your notebook- you're involved because you WANT to be, and so does everyone else. That's kind of great, right?

And now, with that, don't forget to have your 2-3 choices for next month (May's) meeting. We'll get a variety, so choose whatever you want, and please respect what we end up coming up with. If your books aren't chosen, they'll go back in for consideration next year, and it may be just so we can ensure a variety. Thanks!

Happy reading!

Future business

Hey all!
First of all, this is a quick reminder that our next meeting is TOMORROW to discuss Dead by Sunset- info is in the last post, but don't forget to be there!

Secondly, we are trying to revamp book club a bit in order to streamline to some extent. We've been discussing how to do this for some time, and here's the plan. Starting with May's book club pick, we will be pre-choosing the books for the rest of the year so everyone can get the books ahead of time, read when they can, and even pick up books when they happen to notice them cheaply priced, like at garage sales. This way, we will also ensure some variety in choices and keep the pressure off of the next host. PLEASE make a list of 2-3 books of any kind that you would like to discuss and bring it to next month's meeting so we can have some time to sort through and get the year figured out. If you can't make it to next month's meeting, please give your list to either me (Kirsten), Karyn Vorhees, Stacy Leatherman, or Mary Richardson sometime in the next month.

Lastly, we already have our choice for the April/May read- we will be reading (or rereading) The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald! It's been a while since we had a classic, and with the movie coming out, we thought it would be appropriate. The book club is tentatively set for May 5th (Sunday) at my house, but I'll confirm details in the next few days, when my husband is home from camping and I can make sure we don't have plans :).  We're also planning our first ever MOVIE NIGHT to partake in the glory that is Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, but again, details will follow. We hope you can join, and that you're as excited about the changes as we are!

If that was too text-heavy, here are the highlights:
1. Book club tomorrow (Sun, Apr 7)
2. Next pick is The Great Gatsby- meeting TBD
3. Please make a list of 2-3 book choices so we can plan the rest of the year and bring to May's meeting.
4. MOVIE NIGHT! (tbd)

Happy Reading!

APRIL!

I know we've been on a bit of a break, but here's the deal-

A little while ago, I (Kirsten) forgot to post the pick for January (I think?), but word got around about the book- so some of you started reading. We had to cancel the meeting, and then life happened... so we're picking up with that same book, and getting this thing going again.

We're reading Dead by Sunset by Ann Rule, a local true crime drama about a woman murdered on Sunset Hwy.
Meeting is at...

Stephanie Balavac's house
14086 sw Viewpoint Ct
Tigard, 97224

Sunday, 4/7
7 pm

Let us know if you'll make it, and if you can't, please check the blog on Monday the 8th to see next month's pick. If it isn't up, pester me until I do it. :)


Happy Reading!