6 posts tagged “book club”

The Shack (Special Hardcover Edition)

William P. Young

Based on my two-star rating of The Shack at the Goodreads site, you can probably surmise that I didn't love this book. I didn't hate it, which is why it got two stars instead of one, but I certainly didn't love it.

First, I don't really dig books with overt religious overtones. Wrap Jesus or the church up in a fantasy-fueled metaphor and I'm all yours (e.g. Chronicles of Narnia, His Dark Materials), but put Jesus in a plaid shirt working in his woodshop and you're probably going to lose me.

Second, the book is just not that well-written. Almost everything Mack says is said "sarcastically".

Use a thesaurus! [NB: acerb, acerbic, acid, acrimonious, arrogant, austere, backhanded, biting, bitter, brusque, captious, carping, caustic, chaffing, contemptuous, contumelious, corrosive, cussed, cutting, cynical, derisive, disillusioned, disparaging, disrespectful, evil, hostile, irascible, ironical, mean, mordant, needling, offensive, ornery, salty, sardonic, satirical, saucy, scorching, scornful, scurrilous, severe, sharp, smart-alecky, snarling, sneering, taunting, trenchant, twitting, weisenheiming...]

Or better yet, trust your reader to figure out some of the emotions going through your character's head without spoon-feeding every nuance. The dialog is unnatural and the plot is utterly predictable. I won't add any spoilers, but there were several times that I knew what was going to happen well in advance of the main character.

And third, the author seemed overly obsessed with the planned film version of the book. Which makes me wonder if that's why the novel left a little to be desired - everyone was already jumping ahead to the screenplay?

Really, it would seem I didn't like this book at all. It's certainly not one I would have chosen on my own, but then that's why I like being part of a book club. It gets me to read things I would never have picked up on my own and sometimes I think I'm better for it. I'm just not sure that's true this time around.

2009 in Books

This is probably the last book I'll finish in 2009, which means I've read 30 books this year. Yay, me!!!

This little project of keeping track of my reading was inspired by Kelly (thanks, Kel!) and my own dismal showing of only three books read in 2008 (actually, I'm not even sure if it was three - maybe just two).

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for averaging over two books a month in 2009. This year, I also joined a book club and renewed my life-long love affair with my local public library - which has helped to instill a love of reading in my young son and saved me quite a few bucks at the bookstore. So all-in-all, a pretty good year for reading on my part.  

Next year can only be better!   

I really liked this book.

Having spent some time in the Muslim world, many things mentioned - such as the bazaar, hamman and henna - were familiar to me. And I got so involved in the story of the young female protagonist that I finished the book in just one day, staying up late into the night to find out how the tale ended.

If you like historical fiction, this novel set in 17th century Iran is a nice change of pace from the usual tales of wealthy or royal Europeans.

This was the November selection for my monthly book club and I'm really looking forward to discussing it with others.

This thriller is a bit unbelievable, but a fun read none the less. I felt like the editing left a little to be desired. There were several typos and I prefer a cleaner, tighter narrative style - this book had lots and lots and lots of recaps and reiterations. But all in all, it was a solid international, political thriller. Very much in the same vein as some of Dan Brown's work with secret groups and conspiracy theories galore.

It was the September selection for my new book club. It turns out it was recommended to one of the group members by her dentist. Which makes sense. In a way.

I went to my first book club meeting today and I enjoyed it. One of the reasons I like book clubs is because it gets you to read books you ordinarily wouldn't - like this one.

The October selection is Amy Tan's Saving Fish from Drowning. I love Amy Tan, so I'm really looking forward to it.

This is the 2009 selection for One Maryland One Book. It is also the September selection for the book club I'm joining. I haven't actually been to a meeting yet, so I'm not sure if I'm going to like it. But they meet at my local library (which is within walking distances), so I thought I would give it a shot.

I enjoyed the book, which is set in 1850 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I always enjoy reading books with local settings. It's one of the reasons I love Anne Tyler so much (plus, she's just fabulous).

The book's main character is a young runaway slave who has dreams of the future after a head injury. I think McBride does a good job of seeing our present through the filter of 19th century slavery. I wouldn't say it's a happy ending, but McBride does a good job of weaving a dozen characters together in an artful conclusion.

I'm looking forward to discussing the book with others and getting their take on it.

The Vox Amazon search function isn't working, so no cover shot. Lame.