Bonnie says, "I watched The Jane Austen Book Club video with a couple of book club friends, and I think that novel would be a good choice. Another possibility is Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants, which lots of book clubs are reading. Here are links to the books, some of which have excerpts you can read."
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
Toby has added The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal by Lily Koppel, which sounds very interesting. My only caveat is that it will be only in hardback (for maybe a year?) after it is published on April 8. (Caveat = an explanation to prevent a misinterpretation.)
Shirley has added Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish. I have good news for you, Shirley: the paperback version is to be published on April 29, 2008. Maybe we should consider this one for May or June? Sounds perfect to me!
Bonnie has added Windfalls, a novel by Jean Hegland, who wrote Into the Forest, another great novel.
NOTE: I'm taking Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen off the list. I had forgotten we already considered this one last fall.
Alison and Neco have spoken: Don't take away suggestions just because they have been considered before. Okay, I'll put it back in the mix. Thanks for speaking up.
17 comments:
I want to read both The Jane Austin Book Club (and see the movie) and Water for Elephants, Bonnie. Good suggestions!
Okay, I'm not adding more suggestions from my to-be-read pile until someone(s) else suggest a title or two (or three). I'm not going to be a "hog" on suggesting books! LOL
** suggests ** LOL
Did someone mention that there was a way to edit comments before? Going to go check the help posts.
No, sorry, no way to edit posts ... EXCEPT by deleting the one you didn't like (you as commenter can do that) and starting over to do a corrected comment.
Best to do it the other way around ... FIRST write the corrected comment, check it against the other one, and "publish" it as a comment ... THEN go back and delete the inaccurate one.
Thanks Bonnie! I don't remember what I was reading about then. LOL But I looked in the help posts and didn't find anything.
I'm posting some info in The Camel Bookmobile. I started typing it here and thought it maybe should go there.
The Red Leather Diary
The Red Leather Diary does sound interesting. I am wondering whether we should try to keep our general goal of avoiding books that are difficult to obtain used or in paperback or are difficult for our overseas members to obtain. I especially miss some of these posters so was disappointed that they haven't been able to join in on our recent reads and discussions. Any ideas of what criteria we should have for our suggestions to enable as many to join in as possible? Should these suggestions be actual criteria or general things to consider?
Shirley, I think the best way to involve the buddies who don't live in the United States would be for them to suggest books, as Margreet did.
Although it has the disadvantage of being a fairly new book, I would like to recommend Little Heathens--Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish. The combination of memories of the Depression era combined with some recipes and home remedies appeals to me. My mother grew up on a farm in Kansas during the Depression so I have heard some first hand accounts through the years.
In reading about the Jane Austen books, I wonder if it might be better to either just have one as our option or somehow group them together so that voters who would like to read a Jane Austen book (my situation as I'd like to read one, but don't have a strong preference)have the vote count as that and then have a decision made on which Jane Austen book rather than having the Jane Austen votes divided among three books.
Thank you, Shirley. I tried to fix the Austen problem a couple of days ago, but Blogger wouldn't put that voting thingy in the sidebar. I was tring to let us vote on the three books and get them down to one (just as you suggested), and I offered one more choice -- something like "I don't want to read ANY books by Austen." I'll try to do that this morning. Maybe Blogger will let me do it this time.
Hey Bonnie! I had only meant to suggest reading one Austin but leaving the choice of which to have as a suggestion up to ya'll. If that makes any sense the way I said it.
I know a lot of book suggestions aren't getting made. But having only five to six books (assuming we get the Austin books down to one or none) seems a small pool to choose three months from. I guess I'm saying I'd like a larger pool to vote from if we are voting for three months at once.
I understand why there isn't and why you're frustrated. We have nearly thirty members on the side bar and only a few are suggesting.
I'm rambling. Have a good weekend ya'll!
Oh, and I think I'm going to put up a post with a short description of the three Austin novels we are considering as suggestions so that members don't have to google them and can vote more readily.
PS I just started using and am liking the preview function on the comments. (I know this comment will have a spelling error or something just because I said that. LOL)
for the record, i don't think we should necessarily remove something from consideration just because we considered it before (unless there was a definite feeling that 'no, we're aren't going to read that'). i'm still interested in reading Water for Elephants at some point in my life - so i'd still consider it for this group.
of the other books listed, i have Ella Minnow Pea on my to-read list, so i'd welcome the chance to "have to" read it soon.
i'd prefer to wait on The Red Leather Diary until it's not such a new release, maybe even until it's available in paperback.
i am not eager to try to read Jane Austen. while it would be good to challenge myself, i suspect that i'd more likely just not get it read. (but, of course, if it's the group's consensus choice, i'll at least give it a try.)
I agree with Alice about not removing a book from consideration just because it was suggested as a choice before.
I was able to vote yesterday on the Austen books on my computer at work. I don't know why the system often does not allow me to vote.
I agree that just because a book was not selected one time that we should be able to consider it another time. I've already read (audio) Water for Elephants though and doubt that I'd read it again. However, it would be interesting to have it discussed with this group.
Shirley
I haven't read the descriptions of the other books suggested...but if you haven't read WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, you should. Everyone I've known to read this book loves it. Just read it for yourself. I don't know how much there is to discuss. It is just great, sweet, surprising, entertainment!
And I loved INTO THE FOREST. I know WINDFALLS would hold a lot to talk about.
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