Feature Friday (long post)

Hello Ladies!

2.5 hours from a sunny weekend. What are you all up to? What are you reading? I finished Edgar Sawtelle last night. I must confess to some "skimming" of the last 100 pages. It was a long one. Looking forward to your reviews.

I guess we should start thinking about a June meeting. Where did the month go...seriously. Candice, still up for hosting?

So for Feature Friday I had a hard time coming up with a new book! How odd. I skimmed the New York Times Best Seller List and didn't come up with much. Not interested in Hard Cover...though our Chuck Palahniuk's Pygmy sits at #3.

The Paperback Fiction List is as follows:

1. VISION IN WHITE, by Nora Roberts (not a huge fan)
2. THE SHACK, by William P. Young (read it)
3. THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, by Mary Ann Shaffer (read it)
4. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (Jane Austen bores me to death...but what is this about "Zombies"??)
5. CITY OF THIEVES, by David Benioff (a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men - I think I've had my fill of coming of age from Edgar Sawtelle. Not knocking Edgar...but I need something else right now)

PAPERBACK NONFICTION
Top 5 at a Glance
1. THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Reading in a couple months)
2. AUDITION, by Barbara Walters (WHO CARES!?)
3. LONE SURVIVOR, by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson (Navy Seal Afghanistan story - note to self BD might enjoy this)
4. IN DEFENSE OF FOOD, by Michael Pollan (Pollan proposes a new answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." -- Oh so this book is Rocket Science. No thanks.)
5. EAT, PRAY, LOVE, by Elizabeth Gilbert (Read it)

So I turned to the Globe and Mail Best Seller List to see what us Canucks are reading...
Paperback Fiction
1 Angels and Demons, Dan Brown (read it -- going to see the Big Screen adaptation tonight)
2 The Book Of Negroes, Lawrence Hill (Candice highly recommends!!! On my list)
3 Sail, James Patterson and Howard Roughan (some mass market paperback high suspense and drama...could be a pretty good beach read)
4 Phantom Prey, John Sandford (sounds like a horror movie, in print)
5 The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (read it)

Paperback Non Fiction
1 Three Cups Of Tea, Greg Mortenson (reading in a couple months)
2 Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
3 Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama (Obama? Really? Canadians are reading 'Bama stories but not Americans?)
4 Audition: A Memoir, Barbara Walters (REALLY? People care?)
5 The Audacity Of Hope, Barack Obama (We LOVE Obama I guess)

So I found my Feature. Infidel by Ayann Hirsi Ali. It had caught my attention during a peek through Coles last week. Not surprisingly, it's one of Heather's Picks. Should I invite Heather to join our club? I think she'd get along great.

In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West...to read more click here

Happy Long Weekend

Hey Ladies,
Fun book club at the Diner last week! We missed Jasmine...I think the consensus on A Wolf at the Table was that there was a direct relationship between liking the book and beleiving the author. Those that were genuinely afraid for that little boy liked it, and those that thought it was a "tall tale" didn't think it was so great. Definitley an interesting read by a new and different author and for that, I liked it a lot!

Two books were recommended to me by an avid reader friend (who's top 10 list is very similar to mine), they are The Power of One and Tandia. The Power of One is not a self-help like it sounds. Here is the review from Chapters...

"This powerful book will inspire hope and lift the soul. The Power of One from author Bryce Courtenay follows a boy named Peekay as he copes with the harsh realities of racism, war and lies in South Africa. Born to an Englishwoman, nurtured by a black woman and tormented persistently throughout his youth, he vows to survive and become the welterweight champion of the world. However, his journey is filled with modern prejudice and tribal superstitions. He learns of the power of words and communication and its ability to transform lives and communities. As he learns to sustain himself through the mystical and spiritual world he appreciates, he manages to see through the cruelty of the world."

Followed by Tandia...
"When Tandia was a teenager, the South African police raped her. Half Indian and half African, she grew up to hate white men, using her mind and beauty as weapons for terrorism. The tables turn when she meets Peekay, a white man with a past as strange as her own. In a land that forbids mixed relationships, their love results in explosive consequences. Bryce Courtenay’s Tandia is the sequel to the international best-seller The Power of One."

So my reading list is currently like this...
Finish Edgar Sawtelle
Finish Twilight
The Power of One
Tandia
The Virgin's Lover
The Disappeared

All before Bright Shiny Morning!? Hmmm, better get power reading this weekend!!!
Get out and enjoy the sunshine!!

Have save travels out East Shorts!