Beckee's thoughts on the last few books...

I am so glad Laura posted so I was reminded to post!

First I want to note that although I have been derelict in my posting, I have not been derelict in my reading of the books. I read the book every month. As many of you have pointed out, I have to read and finish every book you recommend after making you all suffer through Tess...So, I do.

A few things about the last few months books:

Guernsey: I purposely did not post about this one when I had finished as it was months before we were scheduled to read it, then I never posted about it because I wanted to give you all a chance to read it. So, did anyone read it? If not, stop reading this section about Guernsey until you have read it.

I LOVED this book. When I got it for my other boo club, I had no clue what to expect and I frankly dreaded reading it. It took me about 10 pages to be completely enthralled and I finished it in about a day and a half. I obsessively read the stories of WWII and the people that lived through the insanity of it all, yet I never knew anything about the German occupation of these islands. Intriguing.

Also, the characters felt so real to me. I found myself wondering over and over whether this was based on real people, even though I knew the characters were fictional. However, the real historical setting combined with the masterful characters built by the authors really made it come alive to me.

Now, I do have to say that I found the plot of the main character a bit predictable and typical, but I still loved every minute! I was practically cheering when that other beau of hers was finally gone, and she realized where and who she should be with.

Interesting book-kept me wanting more. Loved this one!

P&P&Z: Some of you might remember that one of my goals/resolutions for the New Year of 2009 (last year) was to read through all the Jane Austen books in 2009. I went in ready to go-I even convinced Wes he had to buy me all the books. I wanted to be in the Jane Austen book club too! I picked up Pride & Prejudice first as I had sort-of skimmed through it once for a class in high school. It should be an easy one to start with. I expected to be swept away in the romance many of my friends find in the Austen books...I was not. In fact I only made it a couple chapters in.

When this book came up for book club, I thought the campyness (did I make that word up?) of the zombie addition would more than make up for my lack of interest in or love for the Jane Austen books. I was wrong. For me, I found the idea interesting and funny, but it felt like an already miserable book for me to read was made more miserable by adding more strange aspects to it. So, I read it cover to cover, but felt a bit like I was reading Tess again but with the occasionally campy joke mixed in. Not my favorite.

Bran Hambric: I really wanted to like this book. Especially after seeing the cute picture of the author with my adorable little sister. I really wish I had read this book without knowing that the author claimed he had never read the Harry Potter books at all, because every time I got to a similarity between this book & Harry Potter (which was often), I thought "That LIAR." It was infuriating for me!

That being said, it was an interesting book, not the best writing, but good ideas that were written well enough. I liked the idea of the long lost parent NOT being a good guy after all-can he still be a good guy in spite of his criminal mom? I sure hope so, and in spite of thinking this book was only ok, I will read the rest of the series to follow this Bran Hambric and see where he goes from here. Didn't this book feel like just a set up for more to come?! Yeah, I thought so too!

Nightfall: Admittedly, after a couple of months in a row with books I did not love, I was a bit nervous to read this really old science-y book. But as I said before, I read them all-cover to cover! So, I picked it up determined to read in spite of my hesitance...

Let me just tell you a little story before I continue...When I was in my last semester of college before my student teaching, I needed one science credit still to graduate, so I picked the only one I could take that looked interesting-It was a Physics class called something like "Finding ET." And can I tell you that it was the BEST class I took in all of college (including my amazing musical theatre class). I loved, LOVED it! One of the things that made me love it so much is that I had this physics professor that took his science and looked at it a different way. The first assignment in that class was to read the book Contact, and every other assignment in there stemmed from something from that book. It was awesome!

As I real Nightfall, I kept saying to Wes, "My Physics professor could use this book for another awesome Physics class!" Why not read this and discuss how a world with 6 suns could be. Discuss what nightfall really would do there. Discuss and figure out using Physics principles what in this book could and could not be...That Asimov is a smarty and he explains away how some of this could be. At least to the untrained eye on Beckee Johnson. I told my more trained husband that he must read this book and discuss with me what could and could not be-he will now be my Physics professor!

One thing about the book I did not buy was the psychological impact of the 12 hours of darkness. The fires and the complete insanity and breakdown of society...I thought maybe it would burn on the part of the world where the 6 suns would all be together, but not that the fires would be crazy-man made...very odd...

I agree with Laura that I was unsure about the Apostles of the Flame or about how they were going to save them...kinda weird, but interesting. Also agree that I was laughing about their theories on the wild crazy stars...a dozen or so, HAH! Funny!

Great read-well worth reading and discussing...any one else have thoughts on that one?

This month's book is "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents" by Terry Pratchett and I have to admit, I have already finished it! Cannot wait to hear your thoughts on it. It took me a few chapters to get really into it, then I did not put it down until I was finished. Isn't there more Maurice books out there? I will have to read them-what a funny little cat (boy would he be mad if he read that!)!