Friday Finds

Friday Finds via Should Be Reading.

The idea is to share, every Friday, a book or books you’ve recently discovered that sound really good!

If you have a blog, please leave a link in the comments so we can check out your finds. If you don't have a blog, tell us about your Friday Finds in a comment.

My Friday Find:

Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence--And Formed a Deep Bond in the Process by Irene Pepperberg

I first read about Alex, the amazingly intelligent gray parrot, in newspaper accounts after he died unexpectedly a year or so ago. The relationship between Alex and his researcher seemed intriguing and here's the book! I learned about the book from two sources: a NYT book review and at IndieBound listed as an indie bestseller.

Publisher comments:

On September 6, 2007, an African Grey parrot named Alex died prematurely at age thirty-one. His last words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, were "You be good. I love you."

What would normally be a quiet, very private event was, in Alex's case, headline news. Over the thirty years they had worked together, Alex and Irene had become famous—two pioneers who opened an unprecedented window into the hidden yet vast world of animal minds. (more)

Teaser Tuesdays

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share two or three “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

Give the title of the book and the page you’re getting your “teaser” from... that way people can pick up some great book recommendations.

~avoid spoilers~

Here we go:

Alone together, I enjoy our companionable silence, but it creeps me out to sit in public, propped in our chairs like a pair of mummies. At a nearby table there's always a couple in their late seventies, holding their menus with trembling, spotted hands.

When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris p. 234

"Older, wiser, smarter and meaner..." - Kirkus Reviews

Please leave a comment with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your 2 ‘teaser’ sentences in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Musing Mondays

Question*:

How do you feel about wide-spread reading phenomena - Harry Potter, for instance, or the more current Twilight Saga? Are these books so widely read for a reason, or merely fads or crazes? Do you feel compelled to read - or NOT to read - these books because everyone else is?

I tend to believe cultural phenomena lack quality and substance. I have not read any Harry Potter or the Twilight series. I once attempted to watch a Harry Potter movie but drifted off to sleep. However, I bought the Potter series for my 10 yr old (at the time) nephew at the recommendation of a school librarian -- he devoured them! I suspect I would have liked them as well when I was 8 - 9 years old.

The only book I've read that would qualify as a reading phenomenon is The Da Vinci Code. I read it purposefully to be a part of the world-wide popular culture. We actually kicked off our book club with Da Vinci Code for this reason: it was almost certain to be the book most of us had already read and for anyone who hadn't read it yet, we could get a copy to them pronto. Plus, it was an easy, quick, entertaining read.

So, I have a mixed response to reading, film and TV phenomena. I usually resist them but I can understand the rationale that it is a way to have a connection with the broader culture (community).

Your thoughts?

* [Monday Musings brought to you via Just One More Page.]

November's recap

Hi ladies. Here is a recap of the meeting on the 21st! We had a good crowd - we missed Carolyn and were happy to welcome Kimberly!

Our next meeting will be on Sunday, December 14th at 2:00 pm at Barbara's house. Please bring a wrapped gift book (under $15) for an exchange. Also, please bring something yummy to share. We will be voting on our next few books, so if you have any good ideas (2-3) for a book for us to consider, please send them to Sherry. We will be voting much the same way we did last time, but feel that each chosen book should have at least 4-1/2 votes!

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was discussed. We talked about the feeling the book left us with (uplifting, personal, incredible people); why we thought it was written (he wanted to share his personal story rather than leave a legacy, he was a communicator so needed to continue communicating); we thought about caretakers in facilities and their thoughts and concerns; we lauded the behavior and dedication of the speech therapist; and a bunch of other stuff, which my brain won't wrap around right now (comments anyone else???)

It was great to see you all. Looking forward to December!
Carol

Friday Finds

Friday Finds via Should Be Reading

The idea is to share, every Friday, books that you’ve recently discovered (never heard of before) that sound really good!

If you have a blog, please leave a link in the comments so we can check out your finds. If you don't have a blog, tell us about your Friday Finds in a comment.

My Friday Find:

Praying for Sheetrock by Melissa Gay Greene. I found this book on Entertainment Weekly's New Classics list of 100 of the best reads from 1983 to 2008. It is #44. I also found Blindness by José Saramago on this list at #12.

Publisher Comments:

In the 1970s, a corrupt old-time sheriff and his courthouse gang rules McIntosh County on the flowery coast of Georgia and preyed on the Yankee tourists passing through on their way to Florida. It appeared that the civil rights movement had entirely bypassed the county; the minority white citizenry held all political and economic power. Then the police shooting of an unarmed black man inspired Thurnell Alston, an unemployed father of four, to protest. "The man will stand up," his neighbors said of Alston. He quoted the U.S. Constitution, invited young, white legal-aid lawyers into the county, and forever changed his corner of the rural South...before tragedy in his private life swept him from the stage.

Awards include the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and a National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist.

Reviews:

"A beautifully written and absolutely authentic picture of the rural South." Kirkus Reviews

"This book needs to be read by everyone who does not know the deep South and by those who think all of our racial problems were corrected in the 1960s. Young adults of all races would find this more enlightening than many history books." John W. King, Library Journal

"By turns inspiring and sad, [the] story is told with dramatic skill by Atlanta journalist Greene." Publishers Weekly

"A monumental social history...Through a combination of oral history and interpretive narrative, Greene has created a work of great drama, a chorus of voices that is both disturbing and inspiring." The Boston Globe

Tuesday's Teaser

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share two or three “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

Give the title of the book and the page you’re getting your “teaser” from... that way people can pick up some great book recommendations.

~avoid spoilers~

Here's mine:

"Intense irritation set in almost immediately as I waited in the blazing sun in front of the hospital. The usual characters milled about: a clove-smoking teenager sat reading a hardcover book; an old man shuffled across the street taking random, huge steps. A goddamned mime, in jeans and a T-shirt with a white painted face, headed straight toward me." p. 33

Lopsided. How having breast cancer can be really distracting by Meredith Norton

"A hilarious and wickedly irreverent look at life with cancer"

Novel Adventures Book Giveaway

Now here's an adventurous book giveaway! CBS has a new web show called Novel Adventures. And you have a chance to win the entire series of books featured on this new show. Go here to see the nine great books.



Check out Bookshipper or Peeking Between the Pages or Booking Mama for the details. Good luck!

Perenial Book Club Favorites

These titles are long-time favorites of indie booksellers, book group leaders, and readers…

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp, and Camille Kingsolver

The God of Animals by Arn Kyle

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

A Thousand Splendid Suns* by Khaled Hosseini

Three Cups of Tea* by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Source: IndieBound

* Books we've already read for our book club

Tuesday's Teaser

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Here's mine:

We lost her for a few seconds while she gazed into the eyes of the doll, as little girls sometimes do. After a few more strokes [of the doll's hair], Melissa took the doll's arm between her fingers and made it wave to us.

Turning Stones - My Days and Nights with Children at Risk by Marc Parent p. 272

Fall-Winter Top Ten Picks for Reading Groups

Here are the Fall/Winter Top Ten recommended books for reading groups from indie booksellers:

1. Away by Amy Bloom

2. In the Woods* by Tana French

3. Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

4. Run by Ann Patchett

5. The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

6. The Man in The White Sharkskin Suit by Lucette Lagnado

7. What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn

8. The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson

9. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

10. The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang

* This is the only book I've read from this list.

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!


This week's teaser is:

"But I could not see the astronauts. Unless the astronauts were floating in the sky exactly above the rotting deck, I would have no hope of seeing them, because our house was surrounded by tall pine trees pressing in on all sides."

A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father by Augusten Burroughs, p. 134