Here's a great Pinterest from Plano Public Library in Texas of all the book-to-film adaptations this year and the ones to look forward to next year! Have a wonderful holiday and New Year from the Goodwin Library!
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Book Group, Tuesdays with Tea - 12/17 meeting 6PM
http://www.looksandbooks.com/2013/07/22/love-dishonor-marry-die-cherish-perish/
The Goodwin Library's book group Tuesdays with Tea is meeting December 17th at 6:00 PM. This month we are reading Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish by David Rakoff. It's a short book this month and there are still copies available for checkout, so there is still time to read it before the meeting. Bring your thoughts and questions to share over a warm cup of tea!
Friday, November 29, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
December Book Club Meeting - Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish - 12/17 6PM
The December Book Club meeting will be held Tuesday, December 17th at 6 PM. Everyone is busy this time of year, so our selection is a very brief read, just 70 or so pages. Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish is a brilliant work written in verse and the last novel from the late David Rakoff. It should spark some interesting discussions and the meeting should be a nice break from the holiday business.
Through his books and his radio essays for NPR's This American Life, David Rakoff has built a deserved reputation as one of the finest and funniest essayists of our time. Written with humor, sympathy, and tenderness, this intricately woven novel proves him to be the master of an altogether different art form.
LOVE, DISHONOR, MARRY, DIE, CHERISH, PERISH leaps cities and decades as Rakoff sings the song of an America whose freedoms can be intoxicating, or brutal.
The characters' lives are linked to each other by acts of generosity or cruelty. A daughter of Irish slaughterhouse workers in early-twentieth-century Chicago faces a desperate choice; a hobo offers an unexpected refuge on the rails during the Great Depression; a vivacious aunt provides her clever nephew a path out of the crushed dream of postwar Southern California; an office girl endures the casually vicious sexism of 1950s Manhattan; the young man from Southern California revels in the electrifying sexual and artistic openness of 1960s San Francisco, then later tends to dying friends and lovers as the AIDS pandemic devastates the community he cherishes; a love triangle reveals the empty materialism of the Reagan years; a marriage crumbles under the distinction between self-actualization and humanity; as the new century opens, a man who has lost his way finds a measure of peace in a photograph he discovers in an old box—an image of pure and simple joy that unites the themes of this brilliantly conceived work.
Rakoff's insistence on beauty and the necessity of kindness in a selfish world raises the novel far above mere satire. A critic once called Rakoff "magnificent," a word that perfectly describes this wonderful novel in verse.
LOVE, DISHONOR, MARRY, DIE, CHERISH, PERISH leaps cities and decades as Rakoff sings the song of an America whose freedoms can be intoxicating, or brutal.
The characters' lives are linked to each other by acts of generosity or cruelty. A daughter of Irish slaughterhouse workers in early-twentieth-century Chicago faces a desperate choice; a hobo offers an unexpected refuge on the rails during the Great Depression; a vivacious aunt provides her clever nephew a path out of the crushed dream of postwar Southern California; an office girl endures the casually vicious sexism of 1950s Manhattan; the young man from Southern California revels in the electrifying sexual and artistic openness of 1960s San Francisco, then later tends to dying friends and lovers as the AIDS pandemic devastates the community he cherishes; a love triangle reveals the empty materialism of the Reagan years; a marriage crumbles under the distinction between self-actualization and humanity; as the new century opens, a man who has lost his way finds a measure of peace in a photograph he discovers in an old box—an image of pure and simple joy that unites the themes of this brilliantly conceived work.
Rakoff's insistence on beauty and the necessity of kindness in a selfish world raises the novel far above mere satire. A critic once called Rakoff "magnificent," a word that perfectly describes this wonderful novel in verse.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Carson McCullers: In Her Own Words
Tomorrow the Book Club is meeting at 6 PM on our new night to discuss Carson McCuller's classic debut novel "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter". Check out this article to here some more about McCuller's life and thoughts from her unfinished autobiography.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Films that Were Better Than the Book
Is the movie ever better than the book it was based on. This list complies ten films that it thinks surpassed the source material. What do you think?
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Thursday, October 17, 2013
November Book Club Meeting - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - 11/19 6 PM
The Book Club will be holding their November meeting Tuesday, November 19th at 6 PM. Because of the library's new hours, all Book Club meetings will now be held on Tuesday nights. Remember, the library's new hours go into effect on November 4th. Copies of Carson McCullers' classic are available now at the library!
With the publication of her first novel, THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, Carson McCullers, all of twenty-three, became a literary sensation. With its profound sense of moral isolation and its compassionate glimpses into its characters' inner lives, the novel is considered McCullers' finest work, an enduring masterpiece first published by Houghton Mifflin in 1940. At its center is the deaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for various types of misfits in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearns for escape from small town life. When Singer's mute companion goes insane, Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly, the book's heroine (and loosely based on McCullers), finds solace in her music. Wonderfully attuned to the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition, and with a deft sense for racial tensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting, unforgettable story that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the mistreated -- and, through Mick Kelly, gives voice to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty.
Richard Wright praised Carson McCullers for her ability "to rise above the pressures of her environment and embrace white and black humanity in one sweep of apprehension and tenderness." She writes "with a sweep and certainty that are overwhelming," said the NEW YORK TIMES. McCullers became an overnight literary sensation, but her novel has endured, just as timely and powerful today as when it was first published. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER is Carson McCullers at her most compassionate, endearing best.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Thursday, September 26, 2013
The Goodwin Library Hours are Changing in November
To provide more consistent, convenient hours for the Farmington community, the Goodwin Library will be changing its hours starting November 4th. This will allow the library to be open more hours, including some morning hours. Starting November 4th, the new library hours will be:
Monday 10-5
Tuesday 2-8
Wednesday 10-5
Thursday 2-8
Friday 10-5
Saturday 10-2
Because of the new hours, the meeting days will be changing for the Goodwin Library Programs. In October, the Book Club will meet as scheduled on Wednesday, October 16th. Once the new hours go into effect in November, the Book Club will move to the third Tuesday of the month at the same time, 6:00 PM. The November Book Club meeting will be Tuesday, November 19th.
I'm looking forward to our discussion of the Alchemist next month! Come pick up a copy at the library if you haven't had a chance yet.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
October Book Club Meeting - The Alchemist - 10/28 6 PM
For our October Book Club meeting, we will be reading Paulo Coelho’s wonderful “The Alchemist”. The meeting will be Wednesday, October 16th, at 6 PM. Copies are available at the desk for Goodwin Library card holders and anyone is willing to attend the meeting regardless of whether they are a Farmington resident or not.
“My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky.” Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams.”
The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert to a fateful encounter with the alchemist.
The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories have done, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, above all, following our dreams.
Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. With over a million and a half copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has already established itself as a modern classic, universally admired. Paulo Coelho’s charming fable, now available in English for the first time, will enchant and inspire an even wider audience of readers for generations to come.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Saturday, August 17, 2013
September Book Club Meeting
Next Wednesday we will be meeting at 6 PM to discuss John Green's "The Fault in Our Stars". It's a wonderful book and it sounds like many of you are enjoying it. For our September meeting, we will be celebrating Banned Book Week and reading the frequently banned and challenged "The Catcher in the Rye". Whether you are revisiting the novel or being introduced to it for the first time, J.D.Salinger's classic should give us plenty to talk about.
Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins,
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."
His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.
The September meeting will be held Wednesday, September 18th at 6 PM.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Thursday, July 25, 2013
John Green on the Success of The Fault in Our Stars
John Green discusses the widespread popularity of his novel "The Fault in Our Stars" (the August Book Club book). Why do you think the book has resonated with such a large, diverse audience?
Friday, July 19, 2013
Thursday, July 18, 2013
2013 Book Club Schedule
We had a great discussion last night about Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and it was nice to see familiar and new faces. We were able to talk about some of the books we'd like to read in upcoming months. I have put together a tentative schedule taking into account all of the suggestions made. Some of the titles could change if they prove harder to get, especially the last two novels since they are very recent releases. All synopsis are from Amazon.com.
August 21
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
TIME Magazine’s #1 Fiction Book of 2012!
“The Fault in Our Stars is a love story, one of the most genuine and moving ones in recent American fiction, but it’s also an existential tragedy of tremendous intelligence and courage and sadness.” —Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine
Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.
“The Fault in Our Stars is a love story, one of the most genuine and moving ones in recent American fiction, but it’s also an existential tragedy of tremendous intelligence and courage and sadness.” —Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought
her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter
inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters
suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be
completely rewritten.
Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.
September 18
The Catcher in the Rye
JD Salinger
Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye,
Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent."
Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life,
just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy
even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins,
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing
you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood
was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all
that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if
you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the
second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told
anything pretty personal about them."
His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from
teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the
essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.
October 16
The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho
"My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky." Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams."
The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert to a fateful encounter with the alchemist.
The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories have done, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, above all, following our dreams.
Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. With over a million and a half copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has already established itself as a modern classic, universally admired. Paulo Coelho's charming fable, now available in English for the first time, will enchant and inspire an even wider audience of readers for generations to come.
November 19
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers
With the publication of her first novel, THE HEART IS A
LONELY HUNTER, Carson McCullers, all of twenty-three, became a literary
sensation. With its profound sense of moral isolation and its compassionate
glimpses into its characters' inner lives, the novel is considered McCullers'
finest work, an enduring masterpiece first published by Houghton Mifflin in
1940. At its center is the deaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for
various types of misfits in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearns
for escape from small town life. When Singer's mute companion goes insane,
Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly, the book's heroine (and
loosely based on McCullers), finds solace in her music. Wonderfully attuned to
the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition, and with a deft
sense for racial tensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting,
unforgettable story that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the
mistreated -- and, through Mick Kelly, gives voice to the quiet, intensely
personal search for beauty.
Richard Wright praised Carson McCullers for her
ability "to rise above the pressures of her environment and embrace white
and black humanity in one sweep of apprehension and tenderness." She
writes "with a sweep and certainty that are overwhelming," said the
NEW YORK TIMES. McCullers became an overnight literary sensation, but her novel
has endured, just as timely and powerful today as when it was first published.
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER is Carson McCullers at her most compassionate,
endearing best.
December 17
Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish: A Novel
David Rakoff
From the incomparable David Rakoff, a poignant, beautiful, witty, and wise novel in verse whose scope spans the twentieth century
LOVE, DISHONOR, MARRY, DIE; CHERISH, PERISH leaps cities and decades as Rakoff sings the song of an America whose freedoms can be intoxicating, or brutal.
The characters' lives are linked to each other by acts of generosity or cruelty. A daughter of Irish slaughterhouse workers in early-twentieth-century Chicago faces a desperate choice; a hobo offers an unexpected refuge on the rails during the Great Depression; a vivacious aunt provides her clever nephew a path out of the crushed dream of postwar Southern California; an office girl endures the casually vicious sexism of 1950s Manhattan; the young man from Southern California revels in the electrifying sexual and artistic openness of 1960s San Francisco, then later tends to dying friends and lovers as the AIDS pandemic devastates the community he cherishes; a love triangle reveals the empty materialism of the Reagan years; a marriage crumbles under the distinction between self-actualization and humanity; as the new century opens, a man who has lost his way finds a measure of peace in a photograph he discovers in an old box—an image of pure and simple joy that unites the themes of this brilliantly conceived work.
Rakoff's insistence on beauty and the necessity of kindness in a selfish world raises the novel far above mere satire. A critic once called Rakoff "magnificent," a word that perfectly describes this wonderful novel in verse.
Through his books and his radio essays for NPR's This
American Life, David Rakoff has built a deserved reputation as one of the
finest and funniest essayists of our time. Written with humor, sympathy, and
tenderness, this intricately woven novel proves him to be the master of an
altogether different art form.
LOVE, DISHONOR, MARRY, DIE; CHERISH, PERISH leaps cities and decades as Rakoff sings the song of an America whose freedoms can be intoxicating, or brutal.
The characters' lives are linked to each other by acts of generosity or cruelty. A daughter of Irish slaughterhouse workers in early-twentieth-century Chicago faces a desperate choice; a hobo offers an unexpected refuge on the rails during the Great Depression; a vivacious aunt provides her clever nephew a path out of the crushed dream of postwar Southern California; an office girl endures the casually vicious sexism of 1950s Manhattan; the young man from Southern California revels in the electrifying sexual and artistic openness of 1960s San Francisco, then later tends to dying friends and lovers as the AIDS pandemic devastates the community he cherishes; a love triangle reveals the empty materialism of the Reagan years; a marriage crumbles under the distinction between self-actualization and humanity; as the new century opens, a man who has lost his way finds a measure of peace in a photograph he discovers in an old box—an image of pure and simple joy that unites the themes of this brilliantly conceived work.
Rakoff's insistence on beauty and the necessity of kindness in a selfish world raises the novel far above mere satire. A critic once called Rakoff "magnificent," a word that perfectly describes this wonderful novel in verse.
January 14
The Curiosity
Stephen Kiernan
The Curiosity, Stephen Kiernan’s debut novel, is a
gripping, poignant, and thoroughly original thriller that raises disturbing
questions about the very nature of life and humanity—man as a scientific
subject, as a tabloid plaything, as a living being, as a curiosity.…
Dr. Kate Philo and her scientific exploration team make a breathtaking
discovery in the Arctic: the body of a man buried deep in the ice. Remarkably,
the frozen man is brought back to the lab and successfully reanimated. As the
man begins to regain his memories, the team learns that he was—is—a judge,
Jeremiah Rice, and the last thing he remembers is falling overboard into the
Arctic Ocean in 1906.
Thrown together by circumstances beyond their control, Kate and Jeremiah grow
closer. But the clock is ticking and Jeremiah’s new life is slipping away...and
all too soon, Kate must decide how far she is willing to go to protect the man
she has come to love.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Book Club Meeting Tonight 7/17 at 6PM
Just a reminder, the book club will be meeting tonight 7/17 at 6 PM. To discuss Stephen King's thriller "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. It should be a great discussion as the book offers a lot to talk about with its unique structure and fantastic young protagonist. Please bring your thoughts and questions if you'd like to discuss them. Here are some questions and themes to get us started if you'd like to think about the discussion before we meet tonight.
- How do Trisha's age, family life, and perspective shape her story? Is she a reliable narrator?
- Is this a horror novel? A parable?
- Is Tricia hallucinating the supernatural elements of the novel? Does it really matter if she is?
- Who is the God of the Lost? Who is Tom Gordon? What is the Subaudible?
- How does religion play into the novel?
- How do Trisha's views of God differ from her father's and how do they change as the novel progresses?
- How does King play with the classic man vs. nature struggle?
- Isolation and individualism are common theme's of King's works. How do they play into this novel?
- How does the "fear of the unknown" play into the novel?
- How does the novel play with the baseball game format?
Friday, July 12, 2013
14 Books Your Book Club Needs to Read Now
(c)harpercollins.com
Does anyone want to discuss any of these? The Alchemist is a fascinating read.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
August Book Club Meeting - Wednesday, August 21st 6PM
The book club will be meeting Wednesday, July 17th at 6PM to discuss Stephen King's thriller "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon". We still have copies available at the library and it is a quick, breezy read if you'd like to come this month. We will also discuss what books we'd like to read in September and through the rest of the year at this meeting. In order to have copies available to pick up at the July meeting, the August book club book will be "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green.
TIME Magazine’s #1 Fiction Book of 2012!
“The Fault in Our Stars is a love story, one of the most genuine and moving ones in recent American fiction, but it’s also an existential tragedy of tremendous intelligence and courage and sadness.” —Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.
“The Fault in Our Stars is a love story, one of the most genuine and moving ones in recent American fiction, but it’s also an existential tragedy of tremendous intelligence and courage and sadness.” —Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.
Insightful, bold, irreverent,
and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green’s
most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the
funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
The Oldest Bookstore in the World
http://bookriot.com/2013/06/26/the-oldest-bookstore-in-the-world-the-bertrand-bookstore-in-lisbon/
The Bertrand Bookstore has been in business for 281 years!
Monday, June 24, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
The Great Gatsby
Thanks to everyone that came to the Book Club meeting last night. We had a small group, but it was a fascinating discussion on this classic. Next month we'll be discussing Stephen King's riveting thriller, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
Since it was a small group last night, I'm going to post some of the points we discussed and perhaps the conversation can continue online?
1. Is the title "The Great Gatsby" appropriate to the novel? Is Fitzgerald being sincere? Sarcastic?
2. Is this a timeless story that can be transplanted in any time, or deeply engrained in the 1920s?
3. Is Nick a reliable narrator? Has Nick changed throughout the story or does he stay static?
What does the handshake between Nick and Tom mean at the end of the novel?
4. What do the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg represent? How about the green light?
What do either of these symbols have to say about the American Dream?
5. How are the four locations (West Egg, East Egg, Valley of Ashes, NYC) different?
6. What is Daisy to Gatsby?
7. How does Fitzgerald use weather/seasons to set the tone of his scenes? How about color?
8. Are any of the characters sympathetic?
9. What is the purpose of the Owl Eyed Man?
Why did he attend the funeral?
Since it was a small group last night, I'm going to post some of the points we discussed and perhaps the conversation can continue online?
1. Is the title "The Great Gatsby" appropriate to the novel? Is Fitzgerald being sincere? Sarcastic?
2. Is this a timeless story that can be transplanted in any time, or deeply engrained in the 1920s?
3. Is Nick a reliable narrator? Has Nick changed throughout the story or does he stay static?
What does the handshake between Nick and Tom mean at the end of the novel?
4. What do the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg represent? How about the green light?
What do either of these symbols have to say about the American Dream?
5. How are the four locations (West Egg, East Egg, Valley of Ashes, NYC) different?
6. What is Daisy to Gatsby?
7. How does Fitzgerald use weather/seasons to set the tone of his scenes? How about color?
8. Are any of the characters sympathetic?
9. What is the purpose of the Owl Eyed Man?
Why did he attend the funeral?
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon for July?
The Goodwin Library Book Club will be meeting June 19th to discuss F. Scott Fitzgerald's timeless classic The Great Gatsby. Copies are available at the library! At the meeting, we can discuss some of the books we'd like to read for the rest of the year. To have copies ready for the next meeting, however, I wanted to have the July book selected and then we can work from there. I was considering The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King. The novel is a short, breezy summer read that takes place in New Hampshire and offers a lot to talk about through it's unique writing structure, unreliable narrator, and exciting tale of human perseverance and survival in the New Hampshire wilderness. Here's a synopsis of the novel from Amazon.com. Please let me know what you think! The July meeting will be July 17th at 6PM.
On a six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian
Trail, nine-year-old Trisha McFarland quickly tires of the constant
bickering between her older brother, Pete, and her recently divorced
mother. But when she wanders off by herself, and then tries to catch up
by attempting a shortcut, she becomes lost in a wilderness maze full of
peril and terror. As night falls, Trisha has only her ingenuity as a
defense against the elements, and only her courage and faith to
withstand her mounting fears. For solace she tunes her Walkman to
broadcasts of Boston Red Sox baseball games and follows the gritty
performances of her hero, relief pitcher Tom Gordon. And when her
radio's reception begins to fade, Trisha imagines that Tom Gordon is
with her -- protecting her from an all-too-real enemy who has left a
trail of slaughtered animals and mangled trees in the dense, dark
woods....
USA Today A delightful read, a literary walk in the woods, and not just for baseball fans.
The Wall Street Journal Impressive...A wonderful story of courage, faith, and hope. It is eminently engaging and difficult to put down.
New York Daily News A fast, scary read...King blasts a homer...[He] expertly stirs the major ingredients of the American psyche -- our spirituality, fierce love of children, passion for baseball, and collective fear of the bad thing we know lurks on the periphery of life.
The Wall Street Journal Impressive...A wonderful story of courage, faith, and hope. It is eminently engaging and difficult to put down.
New York Daily News A fast, scary read...King blasts a homer...[He] expertly stirs the major ingredients of the American psyche -- our spirituality, fierce love of children, passion for baseball, and collective fear of the bad thing we know lurks on the periphery of life.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Book Club Meeting Tonight-Wednesday May 15th, 6PM
It is rare in life to get a second chance. We didn't get to discuss Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter as planned last month, so we will do so tonight. Several regular members have also seen the film adaptation, so we will talk about the transfer of the novel to film, as well as talking about the author, mash-ups, the novel, and this polarizing historical period.
About the book:
Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."
"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.
Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.
When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.
While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.
Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.
http://bit.ly/11h6HwK
Book Trailer
Questions from Word of the Nerd
History Questions
Did you do any fact-checking while reading this book? If so, what for and what did you find?
Did you learn anything from Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter?
For the history buffs out there, do you think this book serves as a good “hook” to history for those who might have previously been uninterested?
Literature and Character Questions
What do you think of the idea of vampirism used as a metaphor for slavery, in general?
Do you think the “Abe” in Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter rang true of the 19th century Abraham Lincoln president and orator?
What are your opinions about the Henry Sturges character and his role throughout the novel?
What are your opinions about “mashup” books such as this? Have you read them before? Will you read them again?
General Questions
Did the novel turn out the way you expected it to?
Did you like the book and will you (or have you already) recommend it to others?
What scene/section of the novel stands out most to you?
What rating would you give the novel Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter from 1 to 5 nerd stars?
Did you also see the film adaptation? Let's talk about that.
Film Trailer
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