Zen and the Art of Vampires Review and Discussion Questions

When we meet Pia Thomason in Zen and the Art of Vampires by Katie MacAlister, she's about to turn 40, alone, and taking a singles tour of Europe.  Challenged by one of her tour mates to approach two hot guys, she chickens out at the last minute and ducks into a book store.  From that moment on, her life is never the same- filled with vampires known as Dark Ones, a cult devoted to wiping out the Dark Ones, and a whole village's worth of ghosts tagging along behind her.  Zen is a fun, guilty pleasure sort of book with plenty of steamy sex scenes and hot guys.  However, anyone who expects the happily-ever-after ending will be disappointed.  Although most of MacAlister's previous books in the Dark Ones series were stand alone novels, Zen and the Art of Vampires is the first in a two-part miniseries.  Other than that, I think that it is a good novel for those who are into the paranormal romance genre.  It's not too cheesy and the heroine thinks for herself, even if her brain sometimes lands her in trouble.

The Lucky One Review and Discussion Questions

February is the month for romance and our book club pick- The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks- definitely fits that bill!  It weaves together the stories of Logan Thibault, Beth Green, and Keith Clayton.  Thibault, an Iraq war veteran, finds a picture of a girl while in Iraq and it changes his luck for the better.  He starts winning at poker and it saves his life on more than one occassion.  Once he gets back to the States, he sets out to find the girl in the photo.  She turns out to be Beth Green, a divorced elementary school teacher living in Hampton, North Carolina.  Beth's ex-husband is Keith Clayon.  Clayton is from the family that runs Hampton and is definitely sleazy.  He follows Beth around and has run off any man that dates her.  He's also not a very good father to their son, Ben.  When Thibault comes into town, he starts working at Beth's family kennel and slowly he and Beth fall in love.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower Review and Discussion Questions

It's a small review this month.  Please enjoy and feel free to add your own feelings on the book or answer any of the discussion questions in the comments section below.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is about the freshman year of a boy named Charlie.  Over the course of that year, he makes new friends, experiments with drugs, experiences literature and film, gains and loses a girlfriend, and most importantly, learns about himself.  It's a deeply touching book.  Since everyone has been a teenager, you can relate in some way to Charlie's story.

I'm also adding this article from A.V. Club about how Perks holds up with adult readers.  I think it's well written, although with a little salty language, and does a much better job with the review than I could.

The Hobbit Review and Discussion Questions

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is a magical tale, in all the best senses of that phrase.  It tells the story of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, an every-man despite the fact that he isn't a man.  He deals with his unexpected adventure the way most of us would.  He's scared, cranky, and more often than not, wishing that he had stayed at home in his nice comfy hobbit hole.  But the fact that Bilbo didn't really want to be on this trip doesn't take away from the adventure, it adds to it because it is through Bilbo that the reader feels connected to the story.  It may be hard to relate to a wizard or a dwarf, but Bilbo is familiar to us, because in some way, he is us.  Bilbo is thrown into the midst of a party of dwarves looking to reclaim their homeland from the dragon, Smaug.  Along the way, they encounter giant spiders, men who turn into bears or vis versa, elves, goblins, and a magical ring.  Bilbo grows from a frightened hobbit to the leader of these brave souls.  He grows and is never the same again.

11/22/63 Review and Discussion Questions

11/22/63 asks the question- if you could go back in time and change the past, would you?  More importantly, should you?  Spoilers about the past and future ahead.

Jake Epping is a recently divorced, high school English teacher who, according to his ex-wife, cannot cry.  One night while reading the papers of his Adult English students, he reads one that touches him and he does cry.  The story, written by the high school's janitor, Harry Dunning, describes the night that his father came home with a hammer and murdered his mother and two older brothers, put his little sister into a coma that she would never awaken from, and permanently crippled, both physically and mentally, Harry.

Two years later, Jake is taken in the backroom of his friend Al's diner.  Although he had seen Al only the day before, Jake is taken aback by the changes he sees in Al.  Al tells him the truth- in his pantry, there is a passage to 1958.  Every trip back is the first time that you go and it only takes two minutes according to 2011, no matter how long you spend in the past.  He has been going back in time to buy meat for the diner, but had become obsessed with the Kennedy assassination.  He wasn't sure that he would be able to do it, so he went back to change the life of one girl who was crippled by a stray bullet.  It was in these attempts that he discovered that the past doesn't want to be changed.  But he was convinced that if Kennedy was to live, the world would be a much better place, so he keeps working.  His last trip lasted 4 years as he tracked Lee Harvey Oswald, but he had to return to 2011 when he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.  He then recruits Jake to finish his work and stop Oswald from killing Kennedy.  Jake is skeptical, but agrees to go back on a test run first to check the butterfly effect.  Remembering Harry Dunning's story, he decides to go back and save Harry's whole family.

Millie's Fling Review and Discussion Questions

After the epic wordiness of the Song of Ice and Fire, it was great to get a break with something light, like Millie's Fling by Jill Mansell.  What follows below is a review of the book as well as some discussion questions.  Spoiler alert for anything you read below the break.

Fifty Shades of Grey Final Review

Our meeting on Saturday was a great success!  We had a blast and everyone was so creative with their food and apparel.  Thanks to everyone who came out to our meeting on Saturday, especially our three new members!

Here is our final review for Fifty Shades of Grey.  If you missed the first review, you can find it here.  As always, spoilers ahead.  Read at your own risk.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Part III and Final Review: President

Sorry for the delay.  Thanks to everyone who came out to the meeting in Ladysmith on Saturday.  We had a bloody good time!

This post contains the review for Part III of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and thoughts on the book as a whole.  If you haven't finished reading the book, read ahead at your own peril.