Dec: My Name is Asher Lev

"My Name is Ahser Lev", by Chaim Potok

Tomorrow is Dec. 1 - which means its time to start reading our new book, "My Name is Asher Lev," by Chaim Potok. I researched Chaim Potok my senior year of high school and read several of his books, including this one. Potok was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants from Poland. Many of his books deals with finding the balance between practicing religion while living in the secular world. Though most of us participaitng in the club are not Jewish, there are similar themes we can relate with from our own religious beliefs.

Enjoy! I am picking my copy up from the library tomorrow.

The Color of My Words discussion...

I love this book and am so glad that I was in charge of the discussion for this month. I read the book in an hour and so pleased with Lynn Joseph’s work. The book was short, but the story flowed so well. I really identified with the main character and felt all the emotions that she felt. I hope everyone else gained as much from this book as I did and enjoys talking about this one as well. So here goes:

Questions:

1.Can you relate to the characters and their predicaments? To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?
2.How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?
3.Did you feel that the book fulfilled your expectations? Were you disappointed?
4.What are some of the book's themes? How important were they?
5.Did the book end the way you expected?

Answers:

1.I relate to Ana Rosa so well, a girl feeling like she is striving to be someone and is being held back. I think everyone has felt that feeling at some point in his or her life.
2.I am so glad Melissa suggested Hispanic heritage month books, this is a sweet story and I think I will continue to look for other books by her in the future.
3.I was a little disappointed how short it was, but it was an easy read. I thought the ending was sad, but glad she chose to overcome her grief and write.
4.I think one of the themes is perseverance. The whole family has to overcome different aspects, from the drinking father, Ana Rosa’s other father, her learning to dance, the selling of the land, etc. I could go on and on, everyone dug a little deeper and ended up being better for it.
5.No, I was surprised her brother died. I didn’t see the government coming to take their land; I did think that there would be an uprising…but not his death. I am glad she decided to write his story. I was so impressed with her vision for future and her brother’s future; I hated to have it end so suddenly.

Ok, so if anyone else has any other questions or comments feel free and let the discussions begin....

November book... just finished!

Happy Thanksgiving in 2 days! I just finished our November book and wanted to encourage those of you who haven't yet to give it a shot. It is SO short and once you start it is hard to put down. There is still time before our discussion next Tuesday to get it from the library and read it over the holiday weekend.

I am looking forward to our discussion on Nov. 27!

Book/Author Picks

I have/had a time choosing an author because I get moved by each book I read. So after some careful consideration I think my choices are:

1. Wuthering Heights- I read it when I was an early teen and the romance side of the story influenced me into who I am today. The intensity of love Heathcliff had for Catherine made me think that there is love out there for everyone. It may not be perfect or sane or even beautiful, but it survives everything thrown it's way...even death. It let me know not to be discouraged as a teen about petty relationships and also just a different view on love.

2. The Stephanie Meyer series we read here on the blog is one of my newest and most instense favorites. I love the series, the love story and the style of writing are wondeful. This series will be one of my favorites forever, the love between Bella and Edward is so strong I can feel it through the pages. I was getting all tense with her and just love the whole set. I am grateful to have been introduced to them...

Happy Friday before Thanksgiving!

image from here.

November is racing past and our next book discussion will be here before you know it. Until then, I thought it would be fun to share books and authors we are thankful for. Who wrote a book that you just love, or that has changed your attitude on life? (And the Bible and Book of Mormon are pretty obvious answers, so no cop outs if you please.)

I think my answer would have to be....

I'm thankful for L.M. Montgomery's stories - specifically "The Blue Castle" and "Emily of New Moon." The first one scared me into living my life the way I want it today, before tomorrow comes. And "Emily of New Moon" was one of my favorite books growing up. The main character - Emily - loved to write and adored nature. I was always self-concious of loving to write, read and hike with my family. Emily's character helped my young self believe that I wasn't alone.

Okay - your turn. Which books or authors are you thankful for influencing your life?

Nov., Dec., Jan., books

Hi all! Sorry I've been a slacker! Here are the book choices for the next three months. We'll do another call for suggestions in January.

Kyla will be leading our discussion on Nov. 27 - if that is still okay with her.

SCHEDULE:
Nov-The Color of my Words by Lynn Joseph; discussion by Kyla on Tues 11/27

Dec-Dragonhaven by Robin Mckinley: discussion by Lisa on Thurs 12/27 *** Swap this book with Jan. ****

Jan-My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok; discussion by Melissa on Mon 1/28 *** Swap this book with Dec. ****

PS - Jessie, welcome to J'aime Lire! I just sent you the official invitation. We look forward to getting to know you more.

Just wondering . . .

if we are going to pick our newest book. I think this month has been crazy for all of us, and so I was thinking - since December isn't likely to get any less busy - if we should pick a book now to be for both months, November and December. What do you think? And I know Cat definitely has other things on her plate right now (ie. having her baby), but I was wondering who has the list of books we submitted to choose from?

PS. And I apologize for not getting to October's book. It looked so good, but October hit me like a train (a wonderful train, but still a train) and I am still recovering :).

PPS. Jessie, we would love to have you!!

Questions...

I have been such a slacker I haven't even posted my thoughts on the book yet, so I wanted to do this while I could and before anymore house stuff came up.

And I found some fun questions to answer:
1. What genre do you prefer?
2. Do you buy books, or use a library?
3. Do you read many books in a month, or just a few?
4. What is your favorite book, one that you've read several times because you love it?

My answers:
1. Mystery and tasteful romance
2. I buy more books, I love the used bookstore next to us...and I use the library for our bookclub books at first, if I really like them I'll buy them.
3. I go in spurts, I'll read 5 books a month or I'll only read one...it depends on the time
4. I love Stephanie Meyers books, I have read them a lot. I love Wuthering Heights and have reread all Tami Hoag and Patricia Cornwell

Check out Shelfari

Cat just invited me to join Shelfari and I'm getting really excited about it. Check it out here: www.shelfari.com or look on the side of Cat's blog.

And I found some fun questions to answer:
1. What genre do you prefer?
2. Do you buy books, or use a library?
3. Do you read many books in a month, or just a few?
4. What is your favorite book, one that you've read several times because you love it?

My answers:
1. Fiction (anything fiction - historical, romance, mystery, scifi, fantasy, etc..)
2. Library and borrow as much as possible
3. How many is many? I average about 3
4. There are too many books to read one more than once - although I do fall back on the Emily of New Moon series when I want to read something comforting.