Hooray for Dystopia!

As the Book Club embarks on yet another dystopian novel (Hunger Games, A Handmaids Tale, probably a couple more that I can't think of at the moment), it made me think back to a blog post I put up a little while back. It comes from goodreads.com and has some very interesting statistics about when books about dystopian societies become popular.

Enjoy.



http://pleasanthillbookclub.blogspot.com/2012/03/trends-in-dystopia.html

An Interesting Graphic From Our 2nd Favorite Book Website

Enjoy the data!

January Book of the Month: Legend by Marie Lu

via goodreads.com

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

New Years Reading Resolutions

At the end of each year, I set a reading goal for the following year.  It is, in fact, the only New Years resolution I make, believing that if I want to make a life change I should do it now; waiting for the New Year is not going to help that change stick.  (My husband is now mocking me and my continuous promise to once again give up refined sugar . . . "after the New Year.") 

My goal for 2013 was to read 52 books in the year.  I hit my goal--barely.  But in looking back at my Goodreads book montage, I noticed a lot of fluff books that I enjoyed at the time but did not stick with me.  To be sure, there is a time and a place for fluff books.  I had a new baby in January 2013 and went back to a crazy work schedule in July of 2013, so fluff was exactly what I needed this year. 

But going into 2014 I have a new goal: quality over quantity.  You know the books I am talking about.  The ones that may take a few weeks or even a month to get through.  The ones you think about when you are not reading them.  And when the book ends, you feel as if you have made a new friend.  Books like The Book Thief, Empire Falls, and A Prayer for Owen Meany come to mind.

So this year, on by Goodreads goals list, I am going to make a list of books I want to read in 2014.  I will add 12 to that number (to account for the book club picks) and that will be my numerical goal for the year.  Granted, I will still read some fluff (I still need to read Allegient, and the new Debra Geary book, of course), but my focus will be on more reputationally sound books.

And to make things interesting, I have a second goal for 2014: every other book I read has to be a paper book rather than on my beautiful, lovely new Kindle Paperwhite.  The merits of Kindle reading versus paper reading can fill a separate post, but suffice to say, there is a place for both in my life and I want to embrace that this year.  The biggest factor in my decision is my 3-year old daughter, who gets very excited when she sees me reading a "real" book and comes to join me.  A Kindle is just another device to her, but a book is a book.  Going into the early reading years with her there is no better way to set an example than through good old paper and ink.

What are your 2014 reading goals?

~WMc

Super Why! Improving Literacy or Facist Propaganda?

I've been meaning to write this post for a while. Just note, I don't mean this entirely seriously because I know this is one step shy of wrapping tinfoil around my head, but it is slightly off-putting.

On the surface Super Why! seems like a great educational kids show. It's all about reading, learning letters, sounds, even rhyming. However, while watching the show with my 5 year old son I began to realize something very disturbing about the program.

This is a clip of the song the Super Readers sing when they complete their mission. See if you can spot the problem.


The mission of these Super Readers is to "change the story" and equates the original intention of the author as a "problem." The message being sent to children is that censorship is something to be encouraged and something that should be actively pursued. That if you do not like the story, you simply change it until it conforms with your personal ideology rather than try to learn from and about the author's original intent.

I tried to overlook this and focus on the reading skills being taught, so we watched another episode. Looking at this show with a new lense, I caught something more disturbing in the opening song. Pay close attention 23 seconds in.



Tsk, tsk, tsk PBS kids.

2013 Book of the Year Awards

While the Pleasant Hill Book Club has yet to vote on its book of the year, other sites have started releasing their lists.

Check out NPR's Best Books of 2013, which includes one of our book club books from this year: How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid

Goodreads 2013 Choice Awards also includes a book club pick from this year, Inferno by Dan Brown.

And the New York Times' Best 10 Books of 2013

Many books from these lists are on my ever-growing to-read list including:

• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
• The Circle by Dave Eggers
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
• I Hate To Leave This Beautiful Place by Howard Norman

What are some of your favorites for 2013? What about must-reads for 2014?

~WMc

December Book of the Month

We are going with a holiday-themed murder mystery

Bakery owner Hannah Swensen feels a little stuffed in her elf costume-but it's too late to count calories. Lake Eden's annual Christmas gala is upon her and eager children are waiting. Wayne Bergstrom, owner of Bergstrom's Department Store, happily ho-ho-hos his way through the festivities in his Santa suit. But when a trail of candy canes leads to his corpse in a snow bank, Hannah must find Kris Kringle's killer.

Freakonomics and Twitter

I was listening to a Freakonomics podcast about Twitter last week that dealt with the Following to Followed ratio and I decided to experiment a little bit. I wanted to see if I went out and followed as many people as I could how many people would feel obligated to follow back.

At the time of the experiment @P_HillBookCub had about 30 something followers and I was following about 9 people/groups. (The 30 followers is higher than expected since I only post maybe five comments a year.)

Step one of the experiment was to click "Follow" to whoever Twitter recommended no matter what. This in itself was pretty fascinating. Watching the recommended list smoothly transition from comedians to republican and conservative figures to democrat and liberal figures to members of the World Wrestling Federation to the NBA to the NFL to Hip Hop artists to Pop.

Twenty minutes later @P_HillBookClub was following 1,200 people/groups. By the next morning about 200 of those 1200 had reciprocated.

@P_HillBookClub is now followed by 229 people. All of whom, I'm sure, spend as much time reading my Tweets as I spend reading theirs. Which is never. Which is fine since that's also about as often as I Tweet.

Try to not freak out

Books of the Month (Trying to Catch Up)

Dan Brown

With the selection of Inferno by Dan Brown as our book of the month, this is now the second time we have revisited the same author for a book choice (The Lost Symbol).

The first time we did this was with John Le Carre (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy). Hopefully, the second Dan Brown book is more enjoyable than the second Le Carre book was.

July Book of the Month: Inferno by Dan Brown

 

Via goodreads.com:
In his international blockbusters The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown masterfully fused history, art, codes, and symbols. In this riveting new thriller, Brown returns to his element and has crafted his highest-stakes novel to date.

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

Stan Lee Coming to Concord!!

Stan "the Man" Lee will be at Flying Colors comics August 7th from 12:30-3:00. Price to get a picture and autograph is $125. Order to see him based on order package is purchased for the first 100 people.


'Nuff said!!