Saturday, July 12, 2014

Lets Get Ready to Ruuuuuummmmmmmbbbbbbllllllllllllleeeeeeeee!!!! I mean discuss.

Monday is coming soon and we get to talk about The Fault in Our Stars by John Green .
I hope you are ready.  I am putting some of the questions below that we will go over on Monday.

Hazel says "cancer books suck", was this a cancer book?

Did you have trouble at times reading it, was it tough to finish?

Did the end surprise you?

Would a book that didn't give you the ending by cutting off suddenly bother you?  Do you want to know what happened next?
(by the way some people have written epilogues and even alternate endings and sequels here.

Were these believable teenagers?  Were they more/ less mature than an average teenager?  Could their experiences have changed this?

How difficult do you think it is to write a book from a teen aged girl's perspective when you are a middle aged man?

In a Washington Post article it states:
"John Green’s novel “The Fault in Our Stars” might be a tale of two teenagers with terminal cancer, but it also — maybe surprisingly — has some pretty funny lines. This is intentional: After all, humor is a very powerful way to get through horribly stressful situations."
Do you think this is true?  Do you think this book would have been better or worse without the humor?  Was it disrespectful or irreverent to joke in light of a serious situation?

Would it surprise you to know that John Green was a student chaplain at a children's hospital and he was preparing to be an Espiscopal Priest?

Some additional stuff here:
The philosopher that most impacted John Green in writing this book:  Vi Hart  Really he said she gave him the vocabulary in this QA session.
The book was dedicated to Esther Earl, a fan, who died of thyroid cancer at 16.
John Green asks what is the best way to honor the dead in this youtube video:  Babies and Catacombs: VIENNA (Thoughts from Places)

There are so many other questions that may come up in addition to these and maybe even instead of these.
I can't wait it will be good to see you all again.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

The Fault in Our Stars

This book was really a good read.  Sad at many places it is a great way to see what it might be like to be a person dealing with cancer in the first person or vicariously as a parent or friend.  The thoughtfulness of the writing along with the interspersed humor that allows you to digest it was extremely well written.  I will warn you that there is some language and sexual situations in the book, but are not out of what might be expected in the circumstances.  The book will give you something to think about when dealing with those who are dealing with a terminal diagnosis or dealing with the uncertainty after escaping death.  While the book is a Young Adult book, it is very readable and quite intelligent, even using large words for the teenagers.  There are many interesting lines throughout the book that I will dedicate a post to at a later time.
I got a chance to see this movie with my daughter just last night as well.  She did ask to leave in the middle because she knew it would be sad, but we toughed it out together.  She and I both cried like when we read the book.  I was silent, she ....  well a little less than silent, but she wasn't out of place.  While the movie is close to the book it leaves some interesting pieces out such as the defining of the title scene by not even mentioning Julius.  I think if you read the book ahead of the movie there are scenes that will make much more sense to you than those who have not read the book.
This is a great book to read and I hope we stimulate a lot of discussion.  I do think that the discussion may be emotional at time so I hope we are all up for it.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Next Book

So this is a first.  I have the next book even prior to our meeting.

Unconditional?: The Call of Jesus to Radical Forgiveness by Brian Zahnd

You might have heard Pastor Danny mention this book during his sermons.  I think this would be a great one to discuss and I think the small groups might be reading this as well.

Book Club Postponed for a week

For the sake of safety we have moved the Book Club from tonight to next Monday the 24th.  Have a great St. Patrick's Day and see you next Monday.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Meeting Tomorrow Night

Don't forget to come by Covenant tomorrow night.  We will be discussing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  I am now adding that book to the one's we have read.

This will be very interesting.  Maybe we can get someone to "Potter"......

I know some of you know what that means.

Some links pror to meeting

I wanted to share  a couple of links with you.

http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/02/roosevelt-rules-for-reading/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+68131+(Farnam+Street)&utm_content=Netvibes

These are he Teddy Roosevelt rules for reading.  Great advice and good find by our wonderful Pastor Mike.


Here is a list of book that BBC came up with.  They say that you likely have only read six of them.  How many have you read?

http://www.listchallenges.com/kaunismina-bbc-6-books-challenge?ref=share



Monday, February 17, 2014

Pottermore

This is a site that JK Rowling put together to further experience the Harry Potter story.
http://www.pottermore.com

If you like the books you may find being a Hogwarts student very interesting.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

I'm Back

It has been a long time since I have posted.  I have actually been feeling under the weather for some time now and didn't get to the doctor until this week.  The diagnosis was sinus infection and a regimen of antibiotics.  I likely should have asked in December, but I didn't.  Either way I have some catching up to do.

First we met in January and discussed Peter Pan, my reading caused me to select the next book, but more on that later.  Some had gone above and beyond in the discussion reading much deeper into the works of Barrie and adding detail to Peter and Wendy that one couldn't get just by reading he one book.  The collection of Barrie's surrounding Peter Pan can be found here Adventures of Peter Pan.  In addition through a little digging in Wikipedia, watching a movie with my wife and general meandering I found much interesting about Barrie and a tie back to another famous children's author.

Wikipedia has information on Barrie here (J. M. Barrie in wikipedia) and you can find out about the children he took care of and the one that Peter was patterned after, how the statue of Peter Pan appeared in Kensington Gardens, and why Barrie didn't really like it.

For the tie to another children's author you would need to dig a little bit but here is the author that was published by one of Barrie's step sons (Peter) (Peter publishes someone now famous).  In addition you could find out more about her in the movie (Saving Mr. Banks).

Because the book was considerably more violent and dark then I had expected I thought it might be interesting to read something contemporary in the same type of genre.  I chose Harry Potter and picked the first book (Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone).  I hope everyone will enjoy the book and bring some interesting insights in March.

I will be updating the book list, you can find it here.  Please let me know if I missed one or if you have a suggestion for the next book, and especially if you would like to host a book club.