In November, Thursday’s Mystery Book Club discussed Poisoned Tarts by G. A. McKevett. The group was surprised by this cozy mystery. They found this to be a well plotted story because they didn’t see the murderer coming. It’s good to not be able to predict the ending and still have it come together in the end.
Press Here by Herve Tullet is a Building Block nominee for 2012. Without so much as a single tab to pull or flap to lift, this might be the most interactive picture book of the year. The concept is so simple, yet creates magic power for a young child’s mind.
The first page asks you to press here and turn the page. As you press on the yellow dot in the center of the page, two dots appear on the page. The book progresses on with more dots and colors are added to the magic.
On December 7th, the Kearney Book Club will discuss The Good Father by Noah Hawley. I can’t promise a lively discussion. In fact, I expect it to be fairly somber. The subject of this very realistic novel is a parent’s worst nightmare.
Have you ever seen a book cover and know that you have to read it? Recently, a children’s book that is so visually appealing called to me, and it was love at first sight. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is my new favorite picture book. Not since the Caldecott Award winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret have I been so smitten with the visual effects of a book. I expect The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr.
Come Join Us for the Colbern Road Evening Book Club!
This month, the Colbern Road Evening Book Club is discussing Room: a Novel by Emma Donoghue. Join us Wednesday, November 28th at 7:00 p.m. to explore this original piece.
The North Independence Masterpiece Book Club has selected Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert for its next book discussion. Madame Bovary is one of the classics of French Literature. It pushed the boundaries of literature for its day and helped expand the scope of the modern novel. Flaubert's work achieved this by creating a plot and characters that took realism to the next level. Flaubert's masterpiece simultaneously attempts to downplay the European Romanticism, a cultural era that was defined by spontaneity, and appeal to emotion.
For the November meeting, the Monday Mystery Book Club read Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva. This book is #8 in the Gabriel Allon Mysteries. Gabriel is an art restorer who was taken into the Israeli secret service and trained as an assassin.
We live in a culture where mass media affects almost everything that we do. But how much are we really aware of the control that it has on our lives? As we become more and more obsessed with tweeting, email, texting and YouTube, it may be important for us to think about the possible downside of these technologies. Can we become too reliant on this constant connectedness?
God Help the Irish: The History of the Irish Brigade- A Book Review
God Help the Irish, by Phillip Thomas Tucker, is a chronicle of the storied Irish Brigade of the Union Army during the Civil War. Although the North recruited new Irish immigrants at the major entry ports and even in Ireland itself, the Irish as a group actually had a low participation in the War itself. Many saw the North as reminiscent of Protestant Britain forcing it’s will upon the smaller Catholic Ireland.
