And our next book is....

Actually, this month, we have two.

At the request of our youngest member, we will be reading Kill me if you Can by James Patterson and Marshall Karp. Matthew Bannon, a poor art student living in New York City, finds a duffel bag filled with diamonds during a chaotic attack at Grand Central Station. Plans for a worry-free life with his stunning girlfriend Katherine fill his thoughts--until he realizes that he is being hunted, and that whoever is after him won't stop until they have reclaimed the diamonds and exacted their revenge.
In addition to Kill Me, we will also be reading Divergent, the first in a new trilogy by Veronica Roth. In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.Both books promise exciting plots and have gotten very good ratings on Goodreads. Our next meeting will be on Saturday, May 18th at the Ladysmith branch from 1-3PM.

The Casual Vacancy

The general consensus of last Saturday's meeting was that The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling was only "okay". While Heidi felt that the book got more easy to understand as the story went on, the whole group agreed that the story got off to a very slow start. There were simply too many characters to keep track of, the British slang got confusing, and some of the adult themes seemed just a bit too - well - adult.

We felt that Rowling was trying far too hard to sound like an adult writer, to break away from the sort of young adult, fantasy, family-friendly writing that she had done with the Harry Potter series. Her depictions of sex, violence, drug use, and language seemed mostly unnecessary; like Kyra said, "It's like someone trying to sound smart by using a bunch of big words they just looked up." And actually, it seemed as though Rowling had done a bit of that, too.

Overall, the book was probably a solid C-. It had a story that eventually got resolved and a few interesting moments and characters, but the ins and outs of English small-town politics were little more than a complicated distraction around Rowling's (somewhat poorly organized) depictions of suburban duplicity. What she managed to capture in the very first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (the two-faced nature of a nosey neighbor, trying to hide their dirty laundry) took Rowling an entire novel to accomplish this go-round, and it was still only so-so.

However, those of us who have read the Harry Potter series all agreed that nothing could ever really make us think less of good ol' Jo. We'll just have to remember her for the good times.

Passing the Torch

Hey y'all!

Most of the members already know me, but for those who don't - I'm Jessica and I am now the library liaison for the Book Club. Megan recently got a promotion, which is good news for her, but sad news for all of us who love her, as it means all of her time will be occupied at the Bowling Green branch from now on. Hopefully, she will still have the time to attend our meetings as a member and maybe enjoy it even more, now that the responsibilities have been passed to another.

And on that note, I'll give you a little bit about myself: I'm a student at the University of Mary Washington, slated to graduate this May. I'll earn my BA in English and am planning to go on to graduate school to become a fully-fledged librarian. I plan to be at Caroline Library, Inc. for a very long time. I like fantasy novels (Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings), science fiction, Doctor Who, and most sub-genres of Young Adult fiction. I love travel and crafts and sweet tea and, of course, books.

I hope that the book club can continue to be as awesome as Megan always made it, but we've got such a good group of readers that I have very few reservations about how things will progress.

Our Next Book is...

Next month, we'll be reading The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling.  Her first book for adults, this is a very different story than Rowling's previous books- the eternally popular Harry Potter series.  Instead of magic, The Casual Vacancy is more about real life in a small English town.  We'll be meeting to discuss the book on Saturday, April 13th from 1-3pm at the Ladysmith Branch Meeting Room.  I'll be posting the review and discussion questions online the same day.  Hope you all enjoy this book and happy reading!

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.