Currently Reading: The Hunger Games

It's a 'YA' kind of year, as Page Turners this month is currently reading the Young Adult hit, The Hunger Games. Meeting is on Thursday 2 August.

Currently reading: War by Sebastian Junger

Book Description (from HarperCollins Canada)

They were collectively known as “The Rock.” For one year, in 2007–2008, Sebastian Junger accompanied 30 men—a single platoon—from the storied 2nd battalion of the U.S. Army as they fought their way through a remote valley in eastern Afghanistan.Over the course of five trips, Junger was in more firefights than he could count, as men he knew were killed or wounded and he himself was almost killed. His relationship with these soldiers grew so close that they considered him part of the platoon, and he enjoyed an access and a candidness that few, if any, journalists ever attain.
      War is a narrative about combat: the fear of dying, the trauma of killing and the love between platoon-mates who would rather perish than let each other down. Gripping, honest and intense, War explores the neurological, psychological and social elements of combat, as well as the incredible bonds that form between these small groups of men. This is not a book about Afghanistan or the “War on Terror”; it is a book about all men, in all wars. Junger set out to answer what he thought of as the “hand-grenade question”: why would a man throw himself on a hand grenade to save other men he has known for probably only a few months? The answer is elusive but profound, going to the heart of what it means not just to be a soldier, but to be human.

May - For whom the bell tolls

We're currently reading this Hemingway classic...

April: The Disappeared

This is what we're currently reading...

From the Amazon review:
After more than 30 years Anne Greves feels compelled to break her silence about her first lover, and a treacherous pursuit across Cambodia's killing fields... There are wounds that love cannot heal, and some mysteries too dangerous to know. Haunting, vivid, elegiac, The Disappeared is a tour de force; at once a battle cry and a piercing lamentation, for truth, for love.

Meeting and discussion will be on Thursday 5 April .

Welcome to 2012

The blog is back!
UPDATED: 26 January.
Here are the first few books we're reading this year.

March

From the Amazon review

Atlantic is a biography of a tremendous space that has been central to the ambitions of explorers, scientists, and warriors, and continues profoundly to affect our character, attitudes, and dreams. Simon Winchester makes the Atlantic come vividly alive. Spanning the ocean’s story from its geological origins to the age of exploration—covering the Vikings, the Irish, the Basques, John Cabot, and Christopher Columbus in the north, and the Portuguese and the Spanish in the south—and from World War II battles to today’s struggles with pollution and overfishing, his narrative is epic, intimate, and awe inspiring. More than a mere history, this is an unforgettable journey of unprecedented scope by one of the most gifted writers in the English language.

April

From the Amazon review
After more than 30 years Anne Greves feels compelled to break her silence about her first lover, and a treacherous pursuit across Cambodia's killing fields... There are wounds that love cannot heal, and some mysteries too dangerous to know. Haunting, vivid, elegiac, The Disappeared is a tour de force; at once a battle cry and a piercing lamentation, for truth, for love.

May

From the Amazon review
In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight," For Whom the Bell Tolls. The story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain, it tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal.

June --> War, by Sebastian Junger


July

From the Amazon review
When Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of Green Gables, Prince Edward Island, send for a boy orphan to help them out at the farm, they are in no way prepared for the error that will change their lives. The mistake takes the shape of Anne Shirley, a redheaded 11-year-old girl who can talk anyone under the table. Fortunately, her sunny nature and quirky imagination quickly win over her reluctant foster parents. Lucy Maud Montgomery's series of books about Anne have remained classics since the early 20th century. Her portrayal of this feminine yet independent spirit has given generations of girls a strong female role model, while offering a taste of another, milder time in history.

Currently reading . . .

May's book is The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, Simone's choice.

The Chrysalids is a post-nuclear apocalypse story of genetic mutation in a devastated world and explores the lengths the intolerant will go to keep themselves pure.

My version is the orange penguin (187p). I selected the cover above out of many for the blog, because I think it's really pretty!

Currently Reading . . .

We are now reading Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, selected by Erin.

Wikipedia describes it as 'a factual adventure novel'.
Fantastic Fiction says: Life of Pi is a tale of disaster at sea. Both a boys' own adventure (for grown-ups) and a meditation on faith and the value of religious metaphor, it was one of the most extraordinary and original novels of 2002.

Hmmm. Get reading folks, because this one looks to be interesting!!

NOTE: Meeting is Wednesday 31 March, owing to Easter.

Currently Reading . . .

A talented midwife is arrested for murder when she saves a baby by performing a Caesarean section once she believes the mother has died--only to have her assistant insist later that the woman was still very much alive. Told in the mesmerizing voice of the midwife's daughter, Midwives depicts the aftermath of the tragedy. (1997, 312 pages)

First book for the year is Emma's choice - MIDWIVES by Chris Bohjalian - although how she's going to find time to read with all this Trailwalking going on . . .

For those who are interested, there's a new blogger function that allows pages to be added to the blog, so I've added a more detailed reading list, which you can access via the link on the RHS side bar. I will update this as books are decided.

Currently reading . . .

Last book for this year is a classic -- Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck. It's very very short, and widely available. Meeting will be on Thursday 3 December.

Currently Reading . . .

This book is bound to split us right down the middle, between those who can't bear to see a classic tampered with, and those who appreciate the genius/humour/effort(?). . . . Or maybe some will just not like it?

Whichever camp you think you'll be in, don't forget to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies this month!

Currently reading . . .

Currently we're reading Necropolis, by Anthony Horowitz, book four of the series, The Power of Five. Meeting this Thursday. See you then!

Currently Reading . . .

The book for September is POSSESSION, by A.S.Byatt. Winner of 1990 Man Booker Prize.

If you haven't already started, get reading now, because it's >500 pages long!!

Currently Reading . . .

For August we're reading children's books to children on Sunday 2 August. I tried to think of what my favourite picture book was as a child, but (unsurprisingly) can't remember back that far! So I've settled for a classic here.

Please everyone post a kids' book they remember or love from now or yesteryear.

PS. The book following is Possession by AS Byatt. Would recommend people start reading this now!

Currently reading . . .

On that clear and stormless night following the days of plague and famine, a hundred thousand hungry creatures came out from their retreats to hunt for food. For eighteen hundred miles east and west and a thousand miles north and south, slim gaunt-bellied creatures hunted under the moon and the stars. Something told Kazan and Gray Wolf that this hunt was on, and never for an instant did they cease their vigilance. At last they lay down at the edge of the spruce thicket, and waited. Gray Wolf muzzled Kazan gently with her blind face.

currently reading . . .

Meeting in 2 weeks!

May book (were reading)

Nobody has blogged about this - how sad. I'm afraid I didn't manage to read it, but I believe people found it good . . .

Currently reading

Currently reading . . .

Currently reading . . .

This month we're reading The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins. And doesn't it pack a punch‽ I imagine this book would be very confronting for many people. But more on that after the 6 Nov discussion . . .

As for a post on Parentonomics, our October book -- I haven't forgotten. Will post on this soon.

Currently Reading

'Parentonomics' by Joshua Gans is going to be the book for October. I promise to get some topics for discussion from the author before he flits off to the US.


In the mean time, you can read all about the book on www.parentonomics.com and see the video of Principles of Economics using examples from the book at www.mbs.edu/go/episode/economic-lessons-from-parenting


As this book is currently only published in Australia I shall investigate the best way for our overseas members to get a copy.


I can't remember who agreed to lead the discussion... anyone put up their hand?