GUESS WHAT

WE'VE DECIDED ON A NEW BOOK, BITCHES. IT'S 'BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM', BY KATE ATKINSON. THE NEXT MEETING WILL POSSIBLY BE ON THE TWENTY THIRD OF SEPTEMBER, SO GET READING OR ELSE. LOTS OF LOVE FROM JESSIE AND ROMANA.

Interesting links!

Here are some links! Click on them! Expand your mind!

The Book Thief website

The Book Thief Reader's Guide, from Markus Zusak's website.

The New York Times book review, which isn't exactly gushing.

Next Meeting

So the next meeting is scheduled for the 3rd of June, which is NEXT WEDNESDAY. So, er, get reading. Here's the letter I wrote, which is also avaliable from the library. I think.

Okay, so now that we’ve tackled Austen and have debated what makes a book a classic, we thought we’d move on to the power of words and the effect books have on us. So, our next book for book club is Markus Zusak’s amazing The Book Thief. It follows the life of Liesel, a young girl living in Nazi Germany. She steals books, which keep her going through some extremely tough times. It’s told from the perspective of a very unusual narrator, death himself. Now, this book is deep, but we know you can handle it. You just read Pride and Prejudice.

Similar books you could read:
The Book Thief is quite unique, so it is hard to find books to go with it. However, there are many, many books that are either set in Nazi Germany or deal with the effects of Nazism and the holocaust, and other authors have also tried to tell these stories from different perspectives. John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is the tale of Bruno, whose family moves to a place called ‘out-with’ because of his father’s new job. Narrated in the devastatingly simple language of a child, this book is heart-rendingy tragic. But very, very good. Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer, is narrated, in amusingly bad English, by a young Ukrainian who acts as a translator for an American travelling in Ukraine. The American is in search of the woman who saved his Jewish grandfather’s life when their village was invaded by the Nazis. These books, and The Book Thief, all describe the impact of Nazism from unique perspectives. How do these perspectives affect you as a reader? Do they bring something new to your interpretation of the story?

Alternatively, you could look at different interpretations of death, and read The Lovely Bones, a book narrated by a dead girl.


Have fun!

Update.

This month's book is the Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Jessie has a letter, which i'm sure she's going to post very soon, but in the meantime, watch this video, and get reading (it's a very long book).

I can post this, right?

Click to make it larger

The Internet is for Books

So dudes, a Book Club Blog. Pretty cool, aye?

Now, let me tell you about something awesome. Because Pride and Prejudice has no copyright, it can be reproduced for free by anyone, in any form. This really amazing organisation called Project Gutenberg has utilised this, and made it available over the internet for anyone who should be so interested.

The P & P page is here.


Of course, now you have to read it. Unless, of course, you've always been dying to read War & Peace.

Bookclub Meeting - Wednesday 25th March

For the first book club meeting, we decided it would be good to start by thinking about what makes a book good.  For that reason, we thought we’d start with an old favourite, Jane Austen’s amazing Pride & Prejudice. I know, awesome! Pride & Prejudice has been one of English’s most well-loved and well-known pieces of literature for almost 200 years.  Why? What makes it so special? What makes a book a classic?  These are questions you could ponder as you read.  But don’t worry – nobody’s gonna ask you to write any essays.  Book club is for fun! Pride & Prejudice is a book all girls should read, and I’m sure many of you have all ready. If not, please don’t be intimidated.  Although it be slow moving and the language is a bit old fashioned, stick with it and you most certainly be rewarded.

Once you’ve finished the book, you might want to read a few others for slightly different perspectives.  Here are a few suggestions:

• Jane Austen’s other books – Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, Lady Susan, Emma, Northanger Abbey.
• Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding – for a modern day (and hilarious) adaptation
• Jane Erye by Charlotte Bronte or Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – published less than 25 years later, a huge contrast in styles.
• The Jane Austen Book Club – Karen Joy Fowler

Or you could watch these:

• The 2005 movie version directed by Joe Wright and starring Keira Knightly and Matthew Macfayden (but only after you’ve actually read it!!)
• The 1996 BBC version starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle – far better, but much longer, it’s six 45 minute episodes.
• The BBC has also done several adaptations most of Austen’s other books, if you don’t has time to read them (though you should at some point), and most are available at the public library in the young adults’ classic novels dvd section.
• Becoming Jane, a 2007 movie about the life of Jane Austen starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy(!) – though don’t believe a word of it.

Happy reading!

 Jessie and Romana