Book Club. All Are Welcome. Reading for End of May: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

[tankel]

So this is a book club. I've never been part of a book club before so any suggestions are more than welcome. And welcome to you, btw Everyone can join as our little group is excited to meet new friends

We will have about a month to read each selection and then we can talk about it here. We can also use this space to discuss other books (and other media) that we enjoy.

The host of the month will pick the book and lead the discussions with questions (or however). If you are interested in being a host please say so.

First, I think we should all say a little something about ourselves. What sort of literature we like . . . anything really.

 

[tankel]

First off, I'm Tankel. I have an (almost) 4 month old daughter that I call Bunny. I am an avid reader, although since Bunny came along, my reading time has been shortened. I'm excited about this club because I hope it will get me reading again.

Confession: I actually listen to audiobooks rather than read them. I work very long hours and it is easier for me to put on a book on the morning or at night when I'm doing housework.

I listen to all kinds of books--although I like fantasy and sic-fi the most. I've also done long stints of reading nothing but non-fiction, period novels, mystery thrillers, and a what I'm gonna call chick books.

My first love was JRR Tolkien and I have read his books probably 20 plus times; but I found the movies to be ridiculous.

Books I don't like:
1. books by John Green. I've (accidentally) read 2 and found them
2. Gore / horror
3. self-help type books.

I find it hard to stop reading books--even ones that I dislike.

Oh and a nice random fact about myself is that I won the elementary and middle school book-a-thon for reading 350 books in 3rd grade. I got this huge trophy. So I guess that means that I'm an expert (J/K ).

 

[tankel]

I choose this book because it's on the current best seller so I figure it's a safe bet for a first read. I know nothing about it but the little blurb which reads:

Spoiler

When Margaret's fiancé, John, is hospitalized for depression in 1960s London, she faces a choice: carry on with their plans despite what she now knows of his condition, or back away from the suffering it may bring her. She decides to marry him. Imagine Me Gone is the unforgettable story of what unfolds from this act of love and faith. At the heart of it is their eldest son, Michael, a brilliant, anxious music fanatic who makes sense of the world through parody. Over the span of decades, his younger siblings - the savvy and responsible Celia and the ambitious and tightly controlled Alec - struggle along with their mother to care for Michael's increasingly troubled and precarious existence.
Told in alternating points of view by all five members of the family, this searing, gut-wrenching, yet frequently hilarious novel brings alive with remarkable depth and poignancy the love of a mother for her children, the often inescapable devotion siblings feel toward one another, and the legacy of a father's pain in the life of a family.
With his striking emotional precision and lively, inventive language, Adam Haslett has given us something rare: a novel with the power to change how we see the most important people in our lives.

Hope it's good FX

 

[writingislove]

Hi! I'm here! I love the blurb for the first book. I'll write my info later after E goes to bed. So glad you started this up!

 

[malia]

Oh I love this idea!!!

I'm 26, Scottish, expecting baby #1.
I'm an English teacher, so obviously a huge book lover. I don't tend to read many modern novels, so this would be great for me. I'm trying to make my way through all the classics. I particularly love the Victorian and gothic. I am the worlds biggest Harry Potter fan. Ever.

 

[lemon_tree]

Love this, Tank! I'll write a proper intro as soon as I'm back on my laptop. Thanks so much for setting this up.

 

[writingislove]

Okay, here goes.

I'm writingislove (WIL) and my baby E is just over three months old. I also used to be an avid reader, but being a new mommy definitely leaves less time for books. I get most of my reading done while I'm nursing.

I've always been a big book nerd. When I was really little I used to ask my parents when I'd be able to read, and they kept saying "When you're five" because that's when I'd be starting kindergarten and learning how to read. I woke up on my 5th birthday and opened one of my books, and when I couldn't read it I burst into tears. I'm also a writer, so I've written two of my own books and I'm working on my third. I think I'm meant to live inside of a library...

I like a lot of different genres, so I'm kind of easy to please. Mostly I'm picky about length because I don't have the attention span for long books. (Exceptions: the later Harry Potter books that got to be a zillion pages long, and The Stand by Stephen King.)

I'm so glad tank started this book club. I used to go to a book club where I live, but they meet on Monday nights and it goes pretty late, which just doesn't work with a new baby when we have to be up early for work/day care the next day. This will be fun!

 

[Whimsical88]

im here too
i really hope one month is enough for a book. sometimes im just too busy for even a coffee.
a little about me.
I am 27yrs, from South Africa, started chatting on forums to help my own sanity.currently ntnp. had a really hard time after my mc and feel i finally am taking baby steps to moving on.
i have read every book by Lesley Pearse. like Jodi Picoult too. loved the Lord of the Rings....hmm not a vampire, sci fi, or horror person....
never a self help book and anything like that too.

so heres to a successful book club

 

[tankel]

Yay!

I here you on the month thing. We can all try our best and evaluate after the month is over. I'm not a true stickler, but I do think it's important to have some kind of timeframe goal or I'll never read it.

 

[writingislove]

I've got my copy on reserve at the library, should have it within a week!

It's taking me about 3 weeks to read a book these days so a month should be perfect for me. It's funny how I used to get through several books a month and now it's like....ain't nobody got time for that.

 

[BookGeek]

Hello everyone! I'm really really REALLY excited for this book club! I love to read, and growing up introverted before I developed social skills meant that books were my best friends.

A little about myself. I am 29 years old, and DH and I have been TTC for 17 cycles now. We have a pudgy and fluffy orange cat. I love to travel, and books are still my safe place to retreat to.

My favorite books are Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, the Harry Potter books (out and proud Hufflepuff here!), the Anne of Green Gables series, and The Fault in Our Stars. Each of them have some personal connection to my life, and I know them all so well that I can pull them off the shelf , open to any page, and read from there.

I generally gravitate towards books with sci-fi and fantasy themes, but I also love historical fiction, comic books, and even the occasional romance novel. Julia Quinn is my favorite romance author, and I will read anything she writes. I have read mysteries and horror are the recommendation of others and I have generally enjoyed them, but for whatever reason I rarely pick them up on my own.

Imagine Me Gone sounds really interesting, and I'm looking forward to reading it! When can we start?

 

[tankel]

Lol we should start now!

 

[lemon_tree]

Hi there, I’m Lemon! :wave:

I’m 32 and I’ve been TTC for about 2 years now with no luck. Let’s hope that changes this year!

I love reading, but haven’t made much time for it lately, I’m sad to say. Tank, thanks so much for starting this up.

When I was a kid, it was a different story, and I read all. the. time. I used to devour my mom’s old Nancy Drew books, and deeply loved other books like Charlotte’s Web, Trumpet of the Swan, the Witches, A Wrinkle in Time, The Giver, Catcher in the Rye, and Lord of the Flies. There are even more other books that I can barely remember apart from some vague notion of the plot and a nostalgia for how they made me feel.

I love fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, drama, humor, horror - everything, really.

I don’t fully know why I don’t like some books. I don’t always need to like or really relate to the main character, but I guess I need to be able to understand them to some degree and not think the main character is the worst ever. Books I hated include Prep and the Dive from Clausen’s Pier. Ugh Prep was the worst. Like Tank, I struggle to put down books even if I hate them, which results in me Hate Reading them when I should just pick up something new.


I am in love with the Harry Potter books and always will be, and am currently about 100 pages away from the end of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. I don't want it to end! Some of my more recently read faves include Water for Elephants and the Book Thief (which I listened to on tape, Tank! )


Fun fact about me: I was on the spelling team in 8th grade and the word that got me out of the oral round of the competition was onomatopoeia. I will never forget how to spell that.

 

[lemon_tree]

P.S. Just reserved the book at the library. Hoping to get it by the weekend!

 

[BookGeek]

Lol we should start now!

Woo-hoo! Let's do this!

Books I hated include Prep and the Dive from Clausen’s Pier. Ugh Prep was the worst.

Lemon, is that to one with the girl that got a scholarship to a fancy prep school and harbored an obsessive crush for a boy, then randomly decided to keep her relationship with him a secret once it finally happened, and she spent the ENTIRE book griping about how embarrassed she was of her family? Because if it was, I agree with you. That book was awful. I also hate read it just to get to the end. I was hoping for some redeeming moment, and it never came.

Oh! Fun little fact about me I forgot to add to my earlier post. My dream job is for some eccentric but kindly millionaire to pay me to live in a lighthouse, drink tea, and read books to recommend to them. Hey, we can all dream, right?

 

[lemon_tree]

BookGeek, YES that was it - what was her deal?!?! Ugh that book was PAINFUL. I'm still mad.

 

[BookGeek]

BookGeek, YES that was it - what was her deal?!?! Ugh that book was PAINFUL. I'm still mad.

I have no idea! She was never content with what she had, she was both insecure and snobbish, she was flat out rude(!), and she spent the whole book feeling sorry for herself. And the whole narrative was just so slow and meandered along with a vague idea of plot. Ugh. I read it a year ago, and I'm with you. It still upsets me to think about!

 

[tankel]

Stay away from Prep. Got it

Wow there are a lot of Harry Potter fans. I like them but IDK if I would say I was in love. I did like A Casual Vacancy though.

Bookgeek (can I call you BG for short?) I think its really great how you list The Fault in Our Stars as one of your favs because I read that one and Looking for Alaska and that is precisely why I do not like John Green. I love that we have some different tastes. It is going to make for a more interesting discussion later I think.

A lot of you like what I call the school reading list books, and those are always good. I suppose there is a reason why they are chosen for English classes. Are any of you fans of Vonnegut?

 

[writingislove]

I was NOT a fan of Looking for Alaska. Oof. Haven't read The Fault in Our Stars, probably because I didn't like Looking for Alaska.

 

[tankel]

Looking for Alaska tricked me because the cover looked so cool. I really didn't read the blurb or who wrote it. I think it was on sale or something and I thought it was really about Alaska the state. I was few chapters in and I thought, oh gosh, this is a lot like The Fault in Our Stars. And that is how I accidentally read 2 John Green books.