February Book Club - Picture of Dorian Gray

While we should all be used to the month of February having the least amount of days in it, February book club was upon us before we knew it (along with about 16" of snow!).


This month we read the classic novel Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.  And while we new it was considered "scandalous" for its time, I don't know that any of us were prepared to find it relative to today's world or, more importantly, to enjoy it as much as we did.


Now, that's not to say that this book was splendid or captivating the entire way through.  We all admitted that there were some parts not to our liking.  One member (Rachel) had a great point that there were parts where it was like we were eavesdropping on a conversation that went on and on and on about nothing but nonsense.  So true!  But the overall story definitely made up for it in the end.


Let me first explain the history of this book.  It is known for aiding in the conviction of Oscar Wilde in 1895 for homosexual offenses.  He received two years in prison as a result.  TWO YEARS for writing this book and having an unapproved lifestyle.  And now it is considered a classic that should and must, in the literary world, be read by all.  It is amazing what 100 years can do...


On the flip side, it has been over 100 years, and we are still obsessed with beauty and trying to stay young forever.  There are more ways now (injections, diets, creams and lotions, and who all knows what else) to try and stay young than there are people to try them.  And why?  Well, the obvious answer is who likes wrinkles? Certainly not me, but seriously.  Have we all gone too far?  This was the case for Dorian Gray. It became his obsession.  As it has for so many in today's world.  And anyone or everyone dealing with this issue should really read this book.  And when you get to the very, very end of this book, if that doesn't make you stop and think twice, then read it again!


It would not be a book club without much laughter and lot's of discussion, and this month was no exception.  In fact, we even had a prop...  One of our members (Renee) had actually been to Oscar Wilde's tomb in Paris (see below).  How great was that to have her explain her experience!  People are to leave roses and/or to kiss the tomb for good luck and for love.  Yes, I have already tried to express that right on over here...no luck.  Those Parisians are pretty fond of their history!!

There are really two great things about this book - how relative it still is over a 100 years later and the vast array of poignant quotes that are still popular today.  In fact, there are too many quotes to list, but I've pointed out some of our favorites.


Quotes from the book:


"...beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins." said Lord Henry - This sparked quite the conversation at dinner.  I mean, who defines beauty?  And this suggests that one cannot be both smart and beautiful.  Really???  With six wonderfully smart (they are in book club after all) and beautiful women discussing this topic, we were the life of the restaurant, no doubt!


"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." - said Lord Henry


"She behaves as if she was beautiful. Most American women do. It is the secret of their charm."


"Punctuality is the thief of time."


"Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing."


"Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed." - said Lord Henry


"It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But it is better to be good than to be ugly." - said Lord Henry.  And this would be the premise of the book and why Dorian Gray is willing to give up his soul to remain youthful and beautiful.


"To be in love is to surpass one's self." - it is this quote that gives the reader hope.


Favorite quote from the meeting:


"We're going to Urban Dictionary the s*!% out of this book" - said by our Renee.  God love you girl.  So funny.  One member was discussing how she kept translating the verbiage into our modern day lingo.  We, of course, began immediately translating quotes.  I'd list them out, but I don't think I can repeat all of it and be considered PG-13 still!  We were clearly revved up by this point.


In closing, another great classic read and marked off our list.  Someone (Renee) pointed out that reading classics aren't as hard as to read as we might think.  It is so much easier to discover the themes, purpose, symbolism, and moral lesson than in new books.  Why is that I ask?  Have we lost the need or desire to have a purpose behind the book?  I don't think so.  Maybe we just cannot see what is right in front of us and writing in our own words must be so obvious that we miss it.  More reasons to continue to pick up those classic novels.


Oh, and where did we meet this time?  We ate at a great new restaurant in Downtown Rogers - The Rail.  Pizza was delicious as were the breadsticks.  We'd all recommend checking it out!


218 S 1st St


Rogers, AR

January Book Club

Just last week, we had our very first book club meeting for the year, and what a great start to 2011.  Not only did we double our size at our very first meeting in 2011, but we have trippled our membership base!  Thank you ladies for bringing along your friends and welcome new members!


My favorite part about our book club is that the group continues to be diverse bringing a fantastic mix of opinions and knowledge to each meeting.  Well, we all do have one thing in common...our passion for reading.  Actually, there are two things as I cannot leave out our love for wine!

FAVORITE QUOTE of the Meeting:  "It's not shallow it's eclectic" (CC)

For January, we decided to start the year off with everyone getting to select their own book for the month to read.  And speaking of diversity, we had everything covered in this group - Young Adult, Bestselling Fiction, Comedy, Romance, Christian Fiction, and Biographies.

Here is a list of what everyone read and what they thought about the book.  If there isn't at least one book on here that you can relate to or find to enjoy, then you might be (dare I say) on the wrong blog.  As I said, I think we have every potential subject covered.  Or at least the important ones.  Great job ladies!

• Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family                                 by Condoleezza Rice  - "Literally gave me chills!"
• Someday by Karen Kingsbury - "Cried all the way through this one!"
• Jane by April Lindner - Remake of Jane Eyre for the teen audience.
• Matched by Ally Condie - Follows the Young Adult "formula" (I am hooked & bought it myself to read)
• The Strain by Guillermo del Toro
• Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks - "Suspenseful"
• Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin - "All time FAVORITE author."  Good read.
• The Reef by Nora Roberts
• The Bride Quartet Series by Nora Roberts
• The Confession by John Grisham - "Last third of the book kept me on edge."
• Straight Talk, No Chaser by Steve Harvey - A great follow up to the first book.
• Room by Emma Donghue - "Not worth all of the hype."
• Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler - "Funny"  It is Chelsea after all!
• Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia de Rossi - "Graphic, detailed, and eye-opening"
• Helen of Pasedena by Lian Dolan - A thumbs down...
• Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick - "Really good.  A smutty Little House on the Prairie."
• Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother's Compulsive Hoarding by Jessie Sholl
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - Did not find this as good as the first two.

Year in books: 10 books we loved reading by USA TODAY

USA Today published their top 10 books from 2010 they'd recommend.
Click HERE for the link to the USA Today article.

FICTION

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

The most buzzed-about book of the year — a sprawling, addictive yarn about the way we live now — lived up to the hype.

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes

This startlingly vivid account of U.S. Marines fighting in Vietnam makes a reader feel as if he's experiencing boots on the ground.

So Much for That by Lionel Shriver

This delicious black comedy about cancer and health-insurance woes (tough sell!) nabbed a well-deserved National Book Award fiction nomination.

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

A sweeping and fascinating epic that follows five families at the outbreak of World War I, the first installment of a planned trilogy.

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

A delightfully smart debut novel, filled with humor and heartbreak, about the likable misfits who work at a struggling newspaper.

NON-FICTION

Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon

Anne Frank's struggle to endure under the Nazis is brought to harrowing, powerful life through the graphic-novel format.

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

An epic job of reporting tells the history, in novelistic detail, of the great migration of blacks from the South and how it changed the entire nation.

Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell

A moving yet unsentimental memoir of Caldwell's friendship with writer Caroline Knapp, who was dying of cancer.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Oprah Winfrey (who has bought the rights) is among the fans of this moving true story about a black woman whose cells were used extensively in research after her death — without her family's knowledge.

Just Kids by Patti Smith

In this lovely memoir (winner of the National Book Award for non-fiction), rocker Patti Smith celebrates the time when she and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe were young, art-obsessed bohemians.

Use What You Have To Get What You Want

by Jack Nadel

http://ideasthatmeanbusiness.com/about/

With so many people these days starting over in the work force or looking to change their career, this book is a great read to kick start you on your new path.  

Jack Nadel is a decorated U.S. Army air Corps navigator that started his career as an American entrepreneur in 1946 with a high school education and no money.  He is now 87 and has 65 years of success.   He shares his rules for success in his book Use What You Have To Get What You Want sharing 100 specific lessons and ideas that mean business.  Jack Nadel has created thousands of jobs and products as he built Jack Nadel International into a powerhouse global leader in promotional products.

My favorite part about what this book has to share is their profound statement that "you do not need to learn anything new, but you must learn to use what you have."  Therefore, we all should be able to not only learn something new but to be able to apply it to our current situation or plans.

The Test - Can you find a book for everyone in your family?

The answer:  YES!


So, for Christmas, I did a test to see if I could find a book for everyone in my family.  Sure, I could find a book, but could I find one that they actually wanted, one that they would actually open up???


So I went on my mission.  For the women in my family, I had the opposite problem.  Narrowing down which book I wanted to buy.  They are avid readers like myself.


I bought A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick for my sister and Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls.  Both books came highly recommended to me by other avid readers, so I assumed I could not go wrong.  Plus, I am guessing that they will switch the books once they have read them...


But the real challenge was for the men in my family.  My brother does not read much, but he does enjoy John Grisham.  So, naturally, getting him The Confession seemed like a no-brainer.  And I was right.  He was excited to get it.  Now, for my other brother, that was a different story.  He has a lot of interests that have a ton of books about them - military, history, sports, and electric guitar.  But, he is not much of a reader.  So I solved the case when I found a great book about legendary guitar players that taught how to play their key songs.  Genius...  He not only loved it, but it was a book he would not have bought for himself.


Two men down, two to go...  My cousin also does not read (apparently, the women in my family have sucked up the reading gene).  But, he is a new, single father of a two year old.  I found a great book on parenting infants to toddlers with month by month explanations of what to expect.  An overall reference guide for him to answer the basic questions.  Unless he is a horrible liar, which I seriously doubt, he was also thankful for the book.  Whew...


Now, for the final, and maybe most difficult, man my brother-in-law.  He recently just got his paramedics license and was DONE with reading.  But, I was not about to give up or leave him out.  So I kept my eyes open as I perused the bookstore for idea's.  Thank goodness he has a sense of humor, and that Jon Stewart released Earth (The Book): A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race.

Result is that if you think hard enough of the interests of the person you are buying for, then you are most likely going to find a book for them that they could not only use but love.

Attention all eReaders...

http://books.google.com/ebooks

Google has recently joined the eReader world by launching an eReader app called Google eBooks as well as launching the new Google eBook Store!  

I haven't used it myself, nor have I spoken to anyone who has (If you have, please share your thoughts!).  But from everything that I've been reading, it is definitely worth checking out.  It seems that it will be THE thing to give Amazon a run for their money.  Which means a lot to us, the consumer, as there is little to no competition for Amazon currently.  Therefore, prices, promotions, service, and product array should only improve all around for everyone.

So what is the premise?  On Google eBooks you can download your digital book (some are free, some cost money).  All of your books are stored in a central online library that is, of course, password protected.   Similar to the Amazon Kindle, the eBooks they sell are functional on a variety of devices.  But what is unique to Google is that you can download an eBook on your home computer and start reading it, then pick up where you left off on your phone or other device.  A Web connection is not necessary to read a book.  Not only is this extremely convenient (no need to carry one device everywhere with you), but, to me, it seems to open up the world of reading.  No one can complain that they left their eReader at home...or worse, on a plane!

So far, the devices Google eBooks are compatible with are web browsers, Androids, iPhones, IPads, IPod touchs, Nook (which is huge!) and other eReader devices.  At this time, it does not support Amazon Kindle, BlackBerry (mine is too small to read on it anyway!), Kobo, or Windows Mobile 7.  But from what I've read so far, Google is in the process of expanding to these devices.  Hopefully, it is only a matter of time...

Below are some links to articles I've found.  Check it out for yourself and send me your feedback.

Google ebookstore site:  http://books.google.com/ebooks

NY Times article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/business/media/07ebookstore.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=barnesandnobleinc

betanews article:  http://www.betanews.com/article/Google-launches-eBooks-crossplatform-ebookstore-and-reader/1291654034

American Consumer News article:  http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2010/12/google-nasdaq-goog-launches-ebookstore.html

December Book Club - A Christmas Classic

This month we read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in honor of the holiday.  While we all know the general plot, most likely from years of watching the various movies on TV, no one in our group could remember actually having read the original story.  What a better time to read it than before Christmas.  And no doubt the fact that it is less than 100 pages was an added benefit (let us not forget CC's "you had me at 200 pages!").

For this meeting, I was more of a fly on the wall than a participant.  I unfortunately had lost my voice!  But it was great to listen to everyone review the book.  They unfortunately had to listen to me cough.

In usual form, we were wrong about this being a quick read.  All of us agreed that it was more difficult to read than we had anticipated.  Some of it is due to the old English that we are not used to reading or understanding (my Penguin Classics version had footnotes that were most helpful and informative), but a lot of it is that Dickens narration tends to drag on at points throughout the story.  Of course, the overall theme to be the best you can be to your friends, family, and just mankind in general is still there.  And, more importantly, it is still an applicable lesson that all of us needed reminding of.  I would definitely encourage everyone to read this story and take to heart the lesson that it gives to all that will listen.