BBQ/Book Club Meeting

Hey, folks! The next book club meeting is Saturday, June 5th at Trev's and my house. We'll be BBQing chicken and turkey burgers and whatever else catches our fancy. If you'd like to bring a potluck-style dish to share, that would be cool. Maybe salad, veggies, fruit, stuff like that, as it will probably be friggin' hot that day.

We live at 2 Spray Court (corner of Ironwood and Spray) off of Riverside Blvd in the Pocket area (43rd Street exit off of I-5 south). E-mail me if you need further info, or you can call me at 427-1928.

We hope to see you all on the 5th!

Amy

WTH is Steampunk?

Our little group (where was everybody?) chose Boneshaker for the next book. Pete's Pizza at five o'clock on the 24th of April.

It's a steampunk/fantasy/sci-fi novel. Here is the definition from Wikipedia:
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction and speculative fiction, frequently featuring elements of fantasy, that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used — usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England — but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of "the path not taken" of such technology as dirigibles, analog computers, or digital mechanical computers (such as Charles Babbage's Analytical engine); these frequently are presented in an idealized light, or with a presumption of functionality.

time

So, we are all meeting at 5, correct? I don't want anyone sitting there wondering...

March Meeting

March 27th at Pete's. It'd probably be a good idea if a few of us brought suggestions for the next book (says the hypocrite who probably won't).

Alrighty

Ok, let's just go with Little Bee.

Who would be able to come on Wed, March 24th?

Okeydokey

Two choices:

Little Bee by Chris Cleave. Hey, it's got a pretty cover and is getting rave reviews, which we know doesn't really mean squat.
Here's the reading group guide:
Little Bee, a young Nigerian refugee, has just been released from the British immigration detention center where she has been held under horrific conditions for the past two years, after narrowly escaping a traumatic fate in her homeland of Nigeria. Alone in a foreign country, without a family member, friend, or pound to call her own, she seeks out the only English person she knows. Sarah is a posh young mother and magazine editor with whom Little Bee shares a dark and tumultuous past.

They first met on a beach in Nigeria, where Sarah was vacationing with her husband, Andrew, in an effort to save their marriage after an affair, and their brief encounter has haunted each woman for two years. Now together, they face a disturbing past and an uncertain future with the help of Sarah’s four-year-old son, Charlie, who refuses to take off his Batman costume. A sense of humor and an unflinching moral compass allow each woman, and the reader, to believe that even in the face of unspeakable odds, humanity can prevail.

The other is completely different than what we usually read, but maybe that is a good thing: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Steampunk. Seattle. Zombies. I really don't need to say more, but it is being pegged as one of the best sci-fi/fantasy novels of last year.

Which one do you guys like better?

Sweetness.

Powell’s Books polled their customers to pick the best book of the last decade. Guess what won??? Yep, The Road. It also won for the Staff Favorite category. Sweet.
Some of my other customer favorites that made the list were The Shadow of the Wind, A Fine Balance, American Gods, Oscar Wao, Outlander, Water for Elephants, and many of the Harry Potter novels. Yes, points must be deducted for including Twilight and the Kite Runner (I duck the shoes thrown at my head) but there are a lot of ideas for what to dip into next.
What were some of your favorites?