Maw Books

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I searched forever for a great book club graphic but we actually have a guy in one of my book clubs (who brings a much needed perspective to our meetings!)  and all the graphics had women.  Sigh . . .

So, I’m in THREE book clubs and I wanted to share with you what books we read and a bit about our meetings from 2009.

My Neighborhood Book Club

Our neighborhood book club has been meeting religiously for about three years.  Our members are women who live in a three or four street radius from each other and we always have between 8-10 attend.  We met every single month and rotate hosts who get control of what book we will read for that month.  We had two awesome highlights this past year that I feel so bad I never blogged about.

Donna Woolfolk Cross, author of Pope Joan, joined our book club meeting on the telephone.  It was crazy because we happened to have about half a dozen roaming preschoolers and toddlers with us that day but it was really cool to talk to her about the book and the upcoming movie.  It was our first time we had done anything like that and it was awesome!!

AND THEN! As if we couldn’t be even more of an awesome book club, Katherine Center joined our book club on video via Skype when we discussed her book Everyone is Beautiful.  We hooked up the laptop to the large screen TV and she was there in the living room!  Katherine is simply an amazing person and SO personable in real life.  Seriously, invite Katherine to your book club and you won’t regret it!

The books we discussed during 2009:

• The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (did not finish)
• The Next Thing On My List by Jill Smolinksi
• Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center
• Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
• Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
• Searching for Eternity by Elizabeth Musser (not yet reviewed)
• Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry by John J. Robinson (only 2 members read this one)

So hard to pick a favorite.  The Help and Everyone is Beautiful top the lists as favorites for the year.  The Hunger Games was a hit and everybody read my advanced copy of Catching Fire before it came out.  Seriously, it was making the rounds big time.  We had to draw names for the order that people read it.   Looking back I don’t remember anything about Searching for Eternity and want to finish Frankenstein.

Skype Book Club

Not the most elegant name for a book club (I wonder if I missed the naming?) but it’s a book club that meets via Skype with a bunch of other bloggers.  It’s been awesome and I’m kind of scared I’m going to get kicked out because I haven’t read the last three books and couldn’t find our book for January. (Please don’t kick me out!)

Skype is a great way to meet as a book club especially if you have webcams.  I’d totally recommend getting a group together or even an extended family book club.  I can’t survive without my Skype anymore.

Books we discussed:

• The Magicians by Lev Grossman
• 31 Hours by Masha Hamilton
• Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie
• Nothing but Ghosts by Beth Kephart (not yet reviewed)
• Every Last Cuckoo by Kate Maloy (not yet reviewed)
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
• The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
• Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea (not yet reviewed)

My favorite was Nothing But Ghosts.   And I’m going to be a better member in 2010!

Children’s Literature Book Club

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book club.  Last year, I discovered that there was a book club of adults who read only children’s literature who met all over the Salt Lake valley.  I couldn’t resist and basically emailed and asked if they were taking new members.  I was so nervous my first meeting because I didn’t know anybody but I’ve been going now for over a year and am pleased to say that it’s one of the greatest things I ever did.  So moral of the story: it never hurts to ask!

Each month we read books based around on a different theme and books are picture books, middle grade and young adult.  We read a TON!  I secretly love how hardcore it is.

One of the highlights of the year was having local author Ann Cannon attend our meeting when we read her books.  It was awesome!

Books we discussed in 2009:

• Books to Movies
  • The Lightning Thief, Book One of Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan
  • Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons by Jeff Kinney
  • The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
• Cybils Awards Finalists
  • Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall Thin Tale by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by John Hendrix
  • Big Bad Bunny by Franny Billingsley, illustrated by G. Brian Karas
  • Chester’s Beck by Melanie Watt
  • How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham
  • Katie Loves the Kittens by John Himmelman
  • The Sea Serpent and Me by Dashka Slater, illustrated by Catia Chien
  • A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker, Illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
  • Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein, illustrated by Ed Young
  • A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
  • Astronaut Handbook by Meghan McCarthy
  • Duel! Burr and Hamilton’s Deadly War of Words by Dennis Brindell Fradin, illustrated by Larry Day
  • Fabulous Fishes by Susan Stockdale
  • Frogs by Nic Bishop
  • Wanda Gag: The Girl Who Loved to Draw by Deborah Kogan Ray
  • Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter
  • Chiggers by Hope Larson
  • Emiko Superstar by Mariko Tamaki, Illustrated by Steve Rolston
  • Into the Volcano by Don Wood
  • Jellaby by Kean Soo
  • Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale, Illustrated by Nathan Hale
  • The Savage by David Almond, illustrated by Dave McKean
  • There’s a Wolf at the Door: Five Classic Tales Retold by Zoe B. Alley, Illustrated by R.W. Alley
• Newbery and Caldecott Awards
  • The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
  • The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
  • Savvy by Ingrid Law
  • The Surrender Tree: Poem’s of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle
  • After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson
  • The House in the Night illustrated by Beth Krommes, written by Susan Marie Swanson
    
  • A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, written and illustrated by Marla Frazee
  • How I Learned Geography, written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz
  • A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, written by Jen Bryant
• Fairy Tales
  • The Sisters Grimm, The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley
  • The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison
  • The Palace of Mirrors by Margaret Peterson Haddix
• Historical Fiction – World War II
  • Jimmy’s Stars by Mary Ann Rodman
  • On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck
  • Journey to Topaz by Yoshicko Uchida
  • Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki, Illustrated by Dom Lee
  • T4 by Ann Clare LeZotte
  • The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
• Ann Cannon Author Study
  • Charlotte’s Rose by Ann Cannon (to be reviewed)
  • A Loser’s Guide of Life and Love by Ann Cannon (to be reviewed)
  • Pirate Pete and Pirate Joe easy-to-read series
• Science Fiction
  • The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  • Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
  • Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves
  • My Teacher is an Alien by Bruce Coville (to be reviewed)
• Popular Books
  • Gallop and/or Swing by Rufus Butler Seder
    
  • Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
    
  • The Pigeon Wants a Puppy by Mo Willems
  • Goodnight Goon, A Petrifying Parody by Michael Rex
  • Wings by Aprilynne Pike
  • Gym Candy by Carl Deuker (did not finish)
  • Chess Rumble by G. Neri, Illustrated by Jesse Joshua Watson
  • Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
• Beehive Nominees
  • The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin and Rosana Faria
  • Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf
  • Frankenstein Takes the Cake by Adam Rex
  • Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman
  • Brothers & Sisters: Sibling relationships in the Animal World by Steven Jenkins & Robin Page
• Mysteries
  • When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
  • The 39 Clues, Book One: Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
  • Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman
• Free Verse Novels
  • Sold by Patricia McCormick
  • Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas
  • Where I Live by Eileen Spinelli
  • Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
• Holiday
  • A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck

So there you have it!!  I’m a bit of a book club junkie!

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