Our 2016 in Review

It's that time of year to recap on all our 2016 Book Club Picks. We had such a great year and none of these books disappointed us. I have all the links below to each month. I hope your book club gets to read some of these books. I didn't realize this till I was going over everything but half of our books have been made into movies. I love seeing a book come to life on the big screen. Hopefully they decide to make some of the other books movies like The Nightingale, A Darker Shade of Magic and Illuminae. I'm crossing my fingers.

Favorite Things of 2016

Every year at our Christmas Book Club we have a white elephant gift exchange and it can get quite heated with all the stealing of gifts. But we try to do a little different items each year. This year we decided to have each member that comes to book club that night bring their favorite item(s) of 2016. We wrap them and print out a card with a description and why we picked the gift. Then we take turns picking gifts. When you pick the gift you have to guess who brought it. If you guess right you get to open the gift. If you guess wrong it goes back in the pile until it is guessed correctly.

"Still Alice" Book Club Ideas Part 2

Hopefully you have already seen Still Alice Book Club Ideas Part 1, if you haven't you need to go check out the food ideas. 

Still Alice by Lisa Genova is one of those must read books. If you are looking for a book to read in book club then look no more. You will not be disappointed. 

“You're so beautiful," said Alice. "I'm afraid of looking at you and not knowing who you are."

"I think that even if you don't know who I am someday, you'll still know that I love you."

"What if I see you, and I don't know that you're my daughter, and I don't know that you love me?"

"Then, I'll tell you that I do, and you'll believe me.”

-Still Alice

Doesn't this quote bring tears to your eyes! 

One thing that I learned from reading this book is that when we know more about something like in this case Alzheimer's Disease, we are understand more and are more empathetic for the people who are touched by this disease. It's not easy being the one going through it but it is also not easy seeing someone you love lose all their memories of their life and the people in it.

Book Review for "Still Alice" {by Lisa Genova}

(Source

TITLE OF THE BOOK: "Still Alice"

AUTHOR: Lisa Genova

PUBLISHER: Self Published and later acquired by Simon & Schuster

NUMBER OF PAGES: 292

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2007

READING LEVEL: appropriate for teens and adults

GENRE: Adult Fiction

BOOK SUMMARY: From Goodreads:

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life--and her relationship with her family and the world--forever.

Our Star Rating is...

Alice Through the Looking Glass {Book to Movie}

It's Time for the next movie of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice Through the Looking Glass

comes out May 27th 

It is rated PG so perfect for the whole family and is 113 minutes.
Most theaters are letting you buy tickets now. So hop on your nearest movie theaters website and see if you can get them yet.

(source)

"Orphan Train" Book Club Ideas Part 2

“I've come to think that's what heaven is- a place in the memory of others where our best selves live on.” 
― Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline is a book that has many themes. There is the theme of foster care, adoption, family history, unexpected relationships, inhumane acts of violence and of course the train that took children from large cities to be adopted by families in the midwest to be more like indentured servants then a part of a new family. We had so much to talk about and even some tears were shed. It was an emotional night because of the book and because of how the book touched so close to home in some cases. I think it is so interesting that the program that started the Orphan Train is still up and running in New York City. Of course they aren’t shipping children off to be used anymore. 

Quarterly Book to Movie Review: {April - June 2016}

Wow there aren't very many book to movies coming out in the next three months but they are all good ones worth going to see.

Keep reading to find out when they hit the big screen.

12 Books Coming Out SOON You Don't Want to Miss!!

A few weeks ago we shared 16 Winter novels you'll want to stay in and read. BUT now we've turned that winter corner and are seeing signs of spring all around! What better way to start your spring cleaning than to get lost in a new buzz book? 

There are spin-offs and retellings  about the Bronte sisters, Jane Eyre, and the Bennette family, not to mention new thrillers, continuation of series and break-out debut authors!

Here are 12 upcoming titles to watch for!

Favorite 2016 Reading Challenges

As a former kid who always crushed summer reading challenges, I still get excited about participating as an adult! I love having the extra motivation to get some reading in (because who doesn't love checking off a category box?), and the push to explores titles, authors, and topics that I might not otherwise pick up.

If you're game for a 2016 reading challenge, here are a few great ones to browse through and participate in!

Worthington Ave.

Our book club member Cami blogs at Worthington Ave., and came up with this fantastic reading challenge for 2016. My favorite categories are a book based on a fairy tale, a book with an ugly cover, and a book from Rory Gilmore's reading list. Find more details on the challenge HERE!

Our book club picks for 2016 are...

It's always difficult (understatement) when we choose our books to read for the next year, especially when I make sure our selection has a mix of: Fiction, Young Adult, Classics, Non Fiction and Historical Fiction. 

It's a balancing act to find books that we really want to read along with books that stretch my members outside of their usual reading comfort zones. But, I think we achieved the impossible and created a fabulous book line up for next year and I'm excited to read and discuss EVERY SINGLE one of these books!!