XOXO
Tricia
silver_linings_playbook_1.pdf |
Like I Said Lady |
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Congratulations guys! We did it! That is two books read for this year! I know some of you are moving a little slow with your reading, and I want you to understand, so am I. I am actually one book behind in my 25 book challenge, according to my challenge widget. My friend Ashleigh is chomping right away at her books. She has read seven of her 20 book goal, and I have only read five. I think she is going to read more than me this year! lol Anyway, instead of doing a normal Q&A, I just have one question...Are you excited about The One? My response: YES! I cannot wait. On another note, I am excited to move forward with the book club. I like all genres, but I love to read books that have either recently been turned into movies, or will soon be a movie (hence Divergent). I decided that for our April 2014 read we are going to be reading... Silver Linings Playbook!! Ta-dah!! Some of you may have already read it, and or seen the movie, but I have done neither so this will be fun! So for our first reading assignment. I need everyone to read to A Hive Full of Green Bees by Friday, April 25. Just like always, I will have questions and answers ready. I hope you all enjoy this read. I think it should be really fun! XOXO Tricia
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Hello my pretties!! I hope you all have finished Divergent, and enjoyed it! I thought it was a really good, easy read. Just as a reminder, the movie Divergent is set to release on March 21, 2014, so I expect everyone to go see it! I won’t be able to see it that weekend because I will be in Reno (more to come on that later) but I hope to see it when I get back! Maybe with my sister??? As we finish the first book of the year, I have some questions for all of you to answer. **Where do you see this book club going this year? Did you benefit from the book club last year? What would you be interested in reading this year? **All of these questions are things that you definitely need to ask yourselves, and answer for me! If you want your answers to be private from everyone else, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I definitely want this book club to be beneficial and fun for all of you, so be sure to shoot me your answers! On another note, now that we have finished out first book club read, we are on to our already decided second, The Elite. I started reading it last night, so if you haven’t started yet, do not worry! You still have plenty of time to catch up! I would like to have Chapters 1 through 10 read by Friday, March 14, 2014. This gives you two weeks! I doubt we will need that much time, but if we do or have stragglers then we are prepared! This will also give everyone all of Spring Break (if you go to NCSU) to get caught up! I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to hearing your responses! Questions:
My Answers:
What are your thoughts? XOXO Tricia
Hello Everyone! Can you believe it is actually 2014!!! I can't! I know I said I wouldn't post anything until after the New Year, but it is the New Year, and I cannot wait any longer!! First things first. The GoodReads 2014 Reading Challenge has officially started! I have pledged to read 25 books this year, which is actually five more that 2013, and I encourage all of you to make a pledge. You will be surprised how easy it is! It is also a very achievable goal which will help boost your confidence overall!! If this is something you are interested in, I encourage all of you to check out my GoodReads page! Now it's time to see the choices for our first Book Club read of 2014! The Bell Jar The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under -- maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic. Divergent In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her. The Little Bride When 16-year-old Minna Losk journeys from Odessa to America as a mail-order bride, she dreams of a young, wealthy husband, a handsome townhouse, and freedom from physical labor and pogroms. But her husband Max turns out to be twice her age, rigidly Orthodox, and living in a one-room sod hut in South Dakota with his two teenage sons. The country is desolate, the work treacherous. Most troubling, Minna finds herself increasingly attracted to her older stepson. As a brutal winter closes in, the family's limits are tested, and Minna, drawing on strengths she barely knows she has, is forced to confront her despair, as well as her desire. Someday, Someday, Maybe Franny Banks is a struggling actress in New York City, with just six months left of the three year deadline she gave herself to succeed. But so far, all she has to show for her efforts is a single line in an ad for ugly Christmas sweaters and a degrading waitressing job. She lives in Brooklyn with two roommates-Jane, her best friend from college, and Dan, a sci-fi writer, who is very definitely not boyfriend material-and is struggling with her feelings for a suspiciously charming guy in her acting class, all while trying to find a hair-product cocktail that actually works. Meanwhile, she dreams of doing "important" work, but only ever seems to get auditions for dishwashing liquid and peanut butter commercials. It's hard to tell if she'll run out of time or money first, but either way, failure would mean facing the fact that she has absolutely no skills to make it in the real world. Her father wants her to come home and teach, her agent won't call her back, and her classmate Penelope, who seems supportive, might just turn out to be her toughest competition yet. The Elite Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea. America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide. Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending. Be sure to vote and check back soon for the result!
XOXO Tricia Hello Everyone! I hope your 2013 has been as amazingly interesting as mine! This will be our last read for the year as a book club, which is hard to believe. Thanksgiving is next week, and Christmas is literally just around the corner! As far as reading goes, I am on track for my 2013 Goodreads Reading Challenge having read 18 of my 20 book goal. I challenge all of you to participate in the 2014 Reading Challenge! As for our reading potentials, I always feel bad about saying it, but I totally judge books by their covers! Seriously! If a book does not have an interesting cover, then I do not want to read the book! I know, I know. As far as judging goes, I suck! lol But seriously. This time, I have picked book suggestions based on Goodreads average ratings. All of the books that I am suggesting are rated above a 4 out of 5. Please pick your favorite suggestions between today and Friday. The winner will be announced sometime over the weekend, along with the Q&A dates. So here are our choices! Still AliceAlice Howland—Harvard professor, gifted researcher, and lecturer, wife, and mother of three grown children—sets out for a run and soon realizes she has no idea how to find her way home. She has taken the route for years, but nothing looks familiar. She is utterly lost. Medical consults reveal early-onset Alzheimer's. Alice slowly but inevitably loses memory and connection with reality, as told from her perspective. She gradually loses the ability to follow a conversational thread, the story line of a book, or to recall information she heard just moments before. Genova's debut shows the disease progression through the reactions of others, as Alice does, so readers feel what she feels: a slowly building terror. The SelectionFor thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks. Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself—and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined. The Lost Wife In pre-war Prague, the dreams of two young lovers are shattered when they are separated by the Nazi invasion. Then, decades later, thousands of miles away in New York, there's an inescapable glance of recognition between two strangers... Providence is giving Lenka and Josef one more chance. From the glamorous ease of life in Prague before the Occupation, to the horrors of Nazi Europe, The Lost Wife explores the power of first love, the resilience of the human spirit- and the strength of memory. Tell the Wolves I'm Home1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life—someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart. At Finn’s funeral, June notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd. A few days later, she receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn’s apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realizes she’s not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he just might be the one she needs the most. Orphan TrainNearly eighteen, Molly Ayer knows she has one last chance. Just months from "aging out" of the child welfare system, and close to being kicked out of her foster home, a community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping her out of juvie and worse. Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance. The closer Molly grows to Vivian, the more she discovers parallels to her own life. A Penobscot Indian, she, too, is an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. As her emotional barriers begin to crumble, Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life - answers that will ultimately free them both. The Fault in Our StarsDespite 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. What are you excited about reading?
XOXO - Tricia Happy Halloween Everyone! So our newest book club read is Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
This is a little book (less that 30 pages I think) so I have posted it on this website, and I would like to have everyone read it and watch Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow by next Friday, October 18th. Hope you all enjoy it!
XOXO Tricia Hello All, If you are having some trouble thinking of books to read, here is a list of books that I would like to read. Please write your suggestions below! XOXO - Tricia
We did it! We are done! Hopefully all of you really enjoyed The Host! Here are the final Q&A questions. Remember, the Book Club survey goes live tomorrow, Friday, June 21. Please fill it out, even if you have not finished The Host. There will also be a section for you to fill out about what books you want to read next. Your suggestions will be combined with mine and voting will take place Monday, June 24 through Friday, June 28. The next book club read will start on Monday, July 1. Hope you all are having a great summer!!! XOXO - Tricia *** Warning ***
***Spoiler's Ahead*** Be sure to vote before 11:59 p.m. on Friday, April 26, 2013. The winner will be announced on Monday, April 29th! Get ready for our May 2013 book club read!
XO - Tricia |