January Book of the Month: Wrapped Up in Lies

The January book of the month pick was easy!  Our very own Pleasant Hill Book Club member, Jess Erin, published her first book in December.  Wrapped Up in Lies by Jess Erin, which promises to be the first in a series.

Description: Emma Fortune, a modern 1920’s woman, never expected when she decided to travel to Petra, Transjordania, to find lost treasure; that she would spend so much of her time precariously perched atop an ornery camel. Especially one that can actually aim when he spits! She also didn’t bargain on then being whisked away by the Egyptian Museum’s Department of Antiquities to become a key player in an elaborate marketing ploy to lure wealthy tourists to Egypt’s ancient sites. Emma is often in de-NILE-l as she combats ancient mummy curses, annoyingly flirtatious coworkers, and too many hairy situations to count! She isn’t on this journey alone, though sometimes she wishes she were- enter Dash Darling, Egyptologist, who is eager to get his hands on a chest… any kind of chest; Amira, Emma’s elegant right-hand lady; Ali, a recent college art grad; Alistair, a BBC journalist, and Khalid, Emma’s mysterious Transjordanian guide. This team knows that they have to succeed or else risk being “wrapped up in lies” of their own making!

Stay tuned for a PHBC exclusive interview with the author!  For now, check out this video interview with the author and keep track of her on Facebook.

December Book of the Month:The Stupidest Angel, A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, Version 2.0 by Christopher Moore

After nearly 8 years, we have never had a unanimous vote on a book pick.  Until now.  Bryan S. embraced last year's challenge to select only holiday-themed books for the December pick (which how Candy Cane Murder came into our lives),   All three book options were great, but as soon as we saw a Christopher Moore book in the line-up, a collective gasp of approval circled the table. Lamb was a favorite many years ago; we still talk about it.  So with another Moore book on the list, Skipping Christmas and The Christmas Carol did not stand a chance.

From Goodreads:

"'Twas the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas, and all through the tiny community of Pine Cove, California, people are busy buying, wrapping, packing, and generally getting into the holiday spirit.

But not everybody is feeling the joy. Little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a holiday miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed; no, his dog hasn't run away from home. But Josh is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven-year-old has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead.

But hold on! There's an angel waiting in the wings. (Wings, get it?) It's none other than the Archangel Raziel come to Earth seeking a small child with a wish that needs granting. Unfortunately, our angel's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch, and before you can say "Kris Kringle," he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos, culminating in the most hilarious and horrifying holiday party the town has ever seen.

Move over, Charles Dickens -- it's Christopher Moore time."

Stupidest Angel is the third book in the Pine Cove Series by Christopher Moore.  The first is Practical Demonkeeping and the second is Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove.

The (Other) Book Thief

Right in our own backyard, a Bay Area book thief has been cleverly at work since the late 1990s, using stolen credit card information to trick rare book dealers out of their precious first editions.

The story, researched and told by Criminal podcast's Phoebe Judge is not your ordinary tale of a thief. Featuring local Bay Area bookstores and a clever use of the internet in its early days.

Check it out: Criminal Episode 22: Ex Libris

In the Heart of the Sea

This was a book club book from a while back. An amazing story, can't wait to see the film!

Disrupting Book Selection

After 8 years together, it’s time for a change.  We have had our fair share of changes over the years: meeting locations moved from Borders (RIP), to Peet’s coffee (1 month), 5 Guys (1 month), Pete’s Brass Rail and Car Wash (4 months), Shadazee (RIP), and for the past 3 years, Slow Hand BBQ (fantastic beer selection!).  We've had members join for a few months and members stay for years.

Now its time for a functional revamp.  8 years with the same method of monthly book selections and it has served us well; one member each month brings a list of 3 book options for the following month, we all cast our vote.  Easy and straightforward. 

Yet over the years, we have had our complaints with the system.  The most common being that as the Club grew in size, each person’s chance to contribute a book selection decreased.  With 10 members, each person generally gets one selection month each year.  We sometimes discuss adding new members, but the book selection problem has been one of our barriers.

Then one day, Bryan had an epiphany: let’s change the system.

Proposed at the October 2015 meeting, the members in attendance welcomed the idea and added their own twists. 

So, beginning January 6, 2015, the Pleasant Hill Book Club will be selecting the monthly book according to the following rules*

• Any member is welcome to bring one book choice for the month;
• 2 Members vote on the book choices that have been brought; if there are more than 3 books to choose from, there will be an elimination round where members vote for their top 2 choices, and from those votes, the 3 books with the most votes advance to the final round;
• Once a member’s book is selected for the month, they cannot bring another option for the next 6 months (in order to give others’ an opportunity to be selected).
• 4 If no member brings a book choice for the month, the Club has to read the “Consolation Book” to be mutually selected in January by the Members, but will be selected with the intention of being a deterrent against slacking on book choices (e.g., the Daniel X sequel or the Other Coming Clean).

*These rules may be changed at any time upon majority nod by the members of the PHBC

December 2015: Never Let Me Go by Kauro Ishiguro

As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life, and for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special--and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together.  (from Goodreads)

Member Choice: Bryan

The Martian

How to Read a Classic Novel

via http://www.mcsweeneys.net

How to Read a Classic Book.

BY MARA BECKMAN

1. Pick up a copy of a famous book, like Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger.
2. Read the first sentence: “Though brilliantly sunny, Saturday morning was overcoat weather again, not just topcoat weather, as it had been all week and as everyone hoped it would stay for the big weekend – the weekend of the Yale game.”
3. Stop before the second sentence and put the book facedown.
4. Remember the time when you interned at a publishing house and your boss went to Yale.
5. Think back specifically about the time he claimed he could smell different types of lettuce, although he was particularly skilled in distinguishing between arugula and iceberg, and told you so while you were eating a salad. An arugula salad, as he correctly guessed.
6. Open your laptop or pick up your phone and search via Firefox whether or not people actually can smell lettuce.
7. Understand that it’s difficult finding a general consensus of opinion among online commentators about this – most people think lettuce only smells when it’s gone bad. So in some ways, yes, you can smell lettuce, but it’s not a skill or gift one can really boast about.
8. Draft an email to your former boss who attended Yale. True, you haven’t interned in over one year, but he will most likely remember you. Plus, you are looking for a job.
9. Find an article about how to prevent lettuce from becoming bitter and attach it to the email with a subject line like, “Lettuce!” and then in the body of the email say something like, “Can you still smell lettuce? Hope all is well at the publishing house! I am looking for a job, so if you hear of anything…”
10. Don’t forget that the subtext of this email is, “You’re a damn dirty liar about smelling lettuce and I would never want to work for you,” but try not to let that anger appear on the surface.
11. But you are angry. You had a terrible boss. He typed like he wanted to break the keyboard and that was really grating. Everything about him makes you hate Yale.
12. With Firefox still open, look up Yale’s acceptance rate to determine his worth.
13. Nod bitterly because Yale is famously exclusive.
14. Weigh your options. You recently graduated and finally can admit you’ve always wanted to pursue a master’s degree in English. Imagine having the time to just read all day. Your other option is to find work.
15. Look up Yale’s application deadline and feel surprised when you realize you still have time. You’re doing this. You’re applying to Yale. But you need letters of recommendation.
16. Yes, it would be best to get a letter from someone who graduated from Yale.
17. Draft another email to your former boss, even though you just sent one a moment ago, saying you’ve decided to apply to Yale. Can you get a letter of recommendation?
18. It doesn’t matter that he went to Yale for something outside of the English Department, it just matters that he went to Yale.
19. Begin drafting emails to other undergraduate professors who found you tolerable and intelligent enough.
20. Start putting together your application materials. Think about Rory Gilmore. You are like Rory Gilmore. Sometimes people even tell you that you sound like her, but never do they say you look like her.
21. With Firefox still open, sign into Netflix and watch an episode of Gilmore Girls.
22. You start an episode when Rory’s still at Chilton, but stop it halfway and realize you should watch an episode from her time at Yale.
23. Take a nap.
24. Pick up Franny and Zooey tomorrow.

January Book of the Month: Hemingway's Chair

Martin Sproale is an assistant postmaster obsessed with Ernest Hemingway. Martin lives in a small English village, where he studies his hero and putters about harmlessly--until an ambitious outsider, Nick Marshall, is appointed postmaster instead of Martin. Slick and self-assured, Nick steals Martin's girlfriend and decides to modernize the friendly local office by firing dedicated but elderly employees and privatizing the business. Suddenly, gentle Martin is faced with a choice: meekly accept defeat as he always has, or fight for what he believes in, as his hero, Hemingway, would.

Filled with Michael Palin's trademark wit and good humor, this novel is for anyone who has ever dreamed of triumphing over the technocrats and backstabbers of the world. Hilarious, touching, and ultimately inspirational, Hemingway's Chair will make readers stand up and cheer.

Book Club Member Choice: Dan

Olympian Louis Zamperini dies at 97

ESPN.com: Olympics

Thursday, July 3, 2014

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ESPN.com news services

LOS ANGELES -- Louis Zamperini, an Olympic distance runner and World War II veteran who survived 47 days on a raft in the Pacific after his bomber crashed, then endured two years in Japanese prison camps, has died. He was 97.

Zamperini's death was confirmed by Universal Pictures studio spokesman Michael Moses. A family statement released early Thursday said Zamperini had been suffering from pneumonia.

	War hero and Olympian Louis Zamperini, 97, ran the final lap of the 5,000-meter race in 56 seconds at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

"After a 40-day long battle for his life, he peacefully passed away in the presence of his entire family, leaving behind a legacy that has touched so many lives," the family statement said. "His indomitable courage and fighting spirit were never more apparent than in these last days."

Zamperini is the subject of Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling book "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption," which is being made into a movie directed by Angelina Jolie and is scheduled for a December release by Universal.
"It is a loss impossible to describe," Jolie said in a statement. "We are all so grateful for how enriched our lives are for having known him. We will miss him terribly."
A high school and University of Southern California track star, Zamperini competed in the 5,000-meter run at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He finished eighth but gained notoriety by running the final lap in 56 seconds.

Zamperini enlisted in the Army before Pearl Harbor and was a bombardier on a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber in World War II. He and his crew were searching for a downed B-24 when their plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean, killing eight of the 11 men.
He and one of the other surviving crew members drifted for 47 days on a raft in shark-infested waters before being captured by Japanese forces. He spent more than two years as a prisoner of war, surviving torture.

	The best-selling book "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" is based on Louis Zamperini's life and will be released as a movie in December.

In May, Zamperini was named grand marshal of the 2015 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, which next New Year's Day will feature the theme "Inspiring Stories."

In accepting the honor, Zamperini, wearing a USC cap, recalled that Hillenbrand, in researching the book, asked to interview his friends from college and the Army.

"And now after the book was finished all of my college buddies are dead, all of my war buddies are dead. It's sad to realize that you've lost all your friends," he said. "But I think I made up for it. I made a new friend -- Angelina Jolie. And the gal really loves me, she hugs me and kisses me, so I can't complain."

He was a guest of Jolie last year when she was presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Zamperini was born Jan. 26, 1917, in the western New York city of Olean. A group in Olean is raising funds to place a granite marker in Zamperini's honor in War Veterans Park in August.

He was just 2 years old when his parents moved the family to Southern California, where he lived for the rest of his life. Zamperini Field, a city-owned public airport in Torrance, is named in his honor. A stadium at Torrance High School and the entrance plaza at USC's track and field stadium both bear his name.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Man Booker Challenge

The Man Booker challenge is on.

Goal: Read all of the winners of the Man Booker Prize (formerly the Booker prize)
Deadline: whenever you finish.  Could be months for some, years for other.  This is a marathon
Rules: make your own

Why the Man Booker Prize? 

No fancy reason.  I met with someone for work who was reading the 2013 winner, and we engaged in a discussion about his wife's tradition of buying the winner every year when it is announced and immediately reading it.  It sounded right up my alley.  But first, I had to find out what this Man Booker prize was all about.

Upon researching the prize, I learned some information that made it attractive:

1. The award began in 1969, therefore the number of books on the list is a manageable 35.
2. The criteria: Best Work of Fiction for that year for books written in English by citizens of the Commonwealth of Nations.  Pretty straightforward rules.
3. No U.S. authors on the list (until now) which forces me to diversify my exposure.
4. I had not read a single winner on the list, which made starting it a fresh adventure.

My personal rules:

1. Book must be in paper form (sorry, Kindle)
2. I must have purchased the book from an independent bookstore or used in person (sorry, Amazon!)
3. If I read two books in a row that I hate, I am allowed to abandon my goal of reading the entire list.    

Interested in participating?  Join our Man Booker Group on Goodreads.

2013 Books of the Year!

Winner for Best Book of the year...





This is Bryan M.'s 3rd Book of the Year win (Cat's Cradle and Me Talk Pretty One Day)

The winner for Worst Book of the Year goes to...

This is Erica S.'s 2nd Worst Book of the Year win (People of the Book)

February Book of the Month: Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne

via goodreads.com

In 1863 Jules Verne, famed author of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days, wrote a novel that his literary agent deemed too farfetched to be published. More than one hundred years later, his great-grandson found the handwritten, never-before published manuscript in a safe. That manuscript was Paris in the Twentieth Century, an astonishingly prophetic view into the future by one of the most renowned science fiction writers of our time . . .