Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James

Some love it, some are not too sure what all the excitement E L James has brought out in the Fifty Shades Trilogy.  Fifty Shades of Grey is our February 2013 read.  Our February discussion of Fifty Shades of Grey also brought out communication via email.  Received this before the book club meeting: 

"I thought it was a relationship book not an S & M book. It amazes me that the series is on the best seller lists. Why do people want to read about the subjugation of one person to another without resolve? I found the book to be poorly written with little or no character or plot development. There are too many unanswered questions left hanging. What motivated these two main characters? Why did he not want to be "touched" and why was she so easily drawn into this arrangement? These are major questions. I found the book to be a series of trysts but leading nowhere. The writing reminded me of MAD LIBS; fill in the verb, adjective, adverb. The sentence structure the same over and over; ending sentences with a description word rather than altering the phrase and clauses. Also word choice for her was dull. How many times can she fall off the precipice or say "oh, my?" 

Since I had not finished the book, I chose to not attend.  I received this information from a fellow Book Club member:  "A few of us seemed to think that Ana had a lot of control. I didn’t see it that way. In the discussion, someone said that at one point he hit her with a belt – enough to draw blood and she didn’t like it."  

I hope that any of my fellow Book Club members would feel comfortable to say what they felt in the comments.   I was able to complete the book, because I wanted to see if Christian Grey truly found a relationship or if Ana.  It was not a book I really would recommend because I found it disturbing that a woman would even consider such a proposition from anyone.  

World Book Night Deadline Friday, January 25

"World Book Night is an annual celebration dedicated to spreading the love of reading, person to person.  Each year on April 23, tens of thousands of people go out into their communities and give half a million free World Book Night paperbacks to light and non-readers.  In 2012, World Book Night was celebrated in the U.S., the UK, Ireland, and Germany."

World Book Night Web Site (click here) stated this in their first paragraph about what they are about.  You have an opportunity to join in this amazing evening, April 23, by sharing in passing out books, free books, to a community you think would love to read.

Check out the web site to see how to sign up.  The deadline was January 23, now extended to January 25 (I believe because they didn't have their web site up for a few days).  Choose what books you may want to give away, share with them who you would give them to (no book club or family/friends) and why you would want to do this.  Easy Peasy.

I have submitted my request and will see if it is granted.  Please share if you have entered your request.  There will be publicity when this happens so watch for it in local papers.  Good luck and enjoy! 
 

Rez Life by David Treuer

Rez Life by David Treuer was our January 2013 Park Grove Library Book Club selection.  Those of us that were there had a lively discussion about our views we have seen in our life regarding Native Americans.  We shared that some of us had been to Indian Reservations in Northern Minnesota when they were younger and what they had seen, and another member who had been to several pow-wows.  Someone had family in Washington State that were Native American and their experiences with that.  Another member found out she has some Native American history and is exploring that. At Book Club, someone said Rez Life was "hard to read, and parts I didn't want to put down."  Someone said it was "hard to follow, jumps around different time periods." Although we felt there was a lot of material and it was hard to read, we felt that it was interesting.  Someone, who wasn't there, said "hope we're not quizzed on this," because of all the information that is in the book.  She told me she loved the book, and all the stories that were written in the book!

One member of Book Club wrote:  "I now feel I have an understanding of so many loose ends about our native population and the problems. The USA policy as dealing with Indians is appalling. Over and over again the US tried to exterminate, assimilate or make them go away. Imagine if the Indians were able to make money for themselves with their natural resources of land, oil and gas, minerals, timber, etc before the government took that away from most of the tribes. Imagine if there were never Indian schools designed to break up families and culture. Imagine if the Indians had not been cheated into moving into big cities for jobs that never materialized. Luckily some of the tribes are making money and using it wisely with gaming. I will look at their casinos with news eyes after this book."

These Are A Few of Our Favorite Things

Our December Book Club had us meeting at Gingers for our Holiday Party, sharing appetizers and treats, beverages and storytelling.  We talked about the beginning of the book club, in July 2007, and that some are still members of that start, which will be starting it's 6th year next summer.  On this blog, we are fortunate, that we can look back to see what was read.  Some members mentioned they liked some books, and a comment was heard, "Didn't we read that in book club?"  There continues to be new members joining our group, bringing new thoughts, new shared likes and stretching our ability to open our mind to new books to read, some we thought we would never enjoy.  We may not like a book, we don't always agree, but we agree to common civility of our discussion, and to our pleasure, humor and laughter!

Thank you to Diane, I am copying the list that she sent out with the list of everyone's favorites that they have read recently. 

Char
The Paris Wife, Paula McLain 

The Murderer’s Daughter, Randy Susan Meyers              

Barb 
View from Delphi, Jonathon O’Dell

One Thousand White Women, Jim Fergus

Sarah’s Key, Tatiana de Rosnay                 

Monica
Trickster’s Point, William Kent Krueger  

Pat
Holiday Inn, Kevin Kling

In the Shadow of the Angel, Kathryn Blair

The Tomten, Astrid Lindgren

Ginger
The  Cape Ann, Faith Sullivan

Iron Lake, William Kent Krueger

Ellen Foster:  A Cure For Dreams

Diane
Secret Keepers, Kate Morton

The Roundhouse, Louise Erdich

Botany of Desire, Michael Pollen

Cora
Pearl of China, Anchee Min

Annette
Life of Pi, Yann Martell

Sue
Pot Luck Club series, Linda Evans Shepherd

The Hotflash Club series, Nancy Thayer

Isil
50 Shades of Grey series, E.L. James

Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz

Istanbul: Snow, Orhan Pamuk

Mary
Running the Rift, Naomi Benaron

Light mystery series, Louise Penny

Natalie
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith

Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck

Book Club members -- please share any other comments or thought you have about some of your favorite books you have recently read or any other suggestions for books you think others might enjoy!  These listed were members that were at the December book club.  We missed many others that weren't able to attend that evening, so hope they will share their thoughts with us.