Midnight Book Club: Gone Girl

It should come as no surprise that I'm in a book club.  I have a small book addiction. I started my book club on Meet Up back on Feb 19, 2010- almost three years ago!  The Hubs and I had moved to a new town about 6 months prior and other than family, I was lonely.  I had started my book blog, and decided that I would join a book club!  I found out about Meet Up, and realized that I just needed to start my own book club. It's been great, and I've really made a wonderful group of friends through it, but because it costs money to run a group (but not to be a member of a group) we've decided to just switch to Goodreads and continue meeting once a month (twice now that we're adding a dinner and movie get together).  Why continue paying to use a public forum when we already have an awesome book club?  

This will be a monthly feature in which I discuss my book club selections, and since it'll be posted after we meet, there will be spoilers!  DO NOT read further unless you want to be spoiled on plot.  

Our book for January was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Group Take:  Out of 7 of us, we all agreed that the book was total FUBAR!  In fact, if our book club had a word for the book, it would start with F and end with K.  No points if you guessed ForK.  Then ending had most of us upset, and I may have the lone dissenter.  Sandra brought a print out of Gillian Flynn's explanation of the ending- the author likes ambiguous endings. I also read the same interview, and Flynn knows exactly where Amy and Nick are 5, 10 and 15 years down the road, so I'm hoping for a sequel a decade down the line!  We all liked the book, even if we hated both the characters (Nick was weak and an idiot, and Amy was a crazy bitch) and weren't thrilled with the ending.  Most of the gals were quite happy that Amy got duped by rednecks in the Ozarks- I personally hope that Amy tracks them down someday because if anyone knows how to serve a cold dish of revenge it is Amazing Amy.  Lots of jokes flew since one of our members is named Amy, and this made for one of our best book club discussions ever!  The biggest problem we all had was how easy Amy set Desi up, considering he actually wasn't spending all his time with her and we felt that could be weakness in her armor.  All seven of us read the book, which is a minor miracle, and we were all eager to discuss it.  Amy, crazy as she may have been, was impressive, as was Nick's monumental idiocy in all his screw ups!

My Take: This was a re-read for me, and it was even better the second time around!  The first time I read it, I kind of suspected the major twist, but I also was convinced that Nick's dad might have accidentally killed Amy, so it was fun to bring up various theories we'd all had at one point.  I listened to the audio, as had a few others, and we all agreed that it's a great audio listen- well recommended.  The scope of the twists and turns of this book continues to amaze me and I really, really need to make time for Flynn's other books.  I also hope that her next book lives up to some of Gone Girl's fame, which may be hard.  But I don't need it to have a 'gotcha' moment like GG, so I'm not as hard to please as I suspect some readers may be (you know, the ones who only buy books on the top ten list and like their authors to crank out the same story with new character names every few months).  

Verdict:  Gone Girl is the perfect book for book clubs, and it was likened to another favorite read of ours, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.  That's another jaw dropper (actually, it's a bigger jaw dropper) and a book that we discussed just as much as Gone Girl.  

Up next in February: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling!

Am I the only one who thinks the cover looks like some 1970's porn movie cover?

Sundays In Bed With... And Then I Found You

 Welcome to my Sundays In Bed With... Meme! The meme that dares to ask, what book has been in your bed this morning?  Come share what book you've spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

This morning I'm reading:

 Sorry, Riley! I forgot the flash was on!  Let's try again,

 Emmy with And Then I Found You by Patti Callahan Henry

Last night we had book club and we discussed Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and basically we were all:

 And we had an awesome discussion, with lots of f-bombs flying, because that is what reading this book does to you.  For reals. 

Also, I'm down with gifs now, so expect more.  I think the right gif makes everything better.  

  What are you reading (or wish you had time to read) this morning? Are you reading the book you thought you'd be reading, or has today found you with a surprise? Link up below!

Sundays In Bed With... The End of Your Life Book Club

Welcome to my Sundays In Bed With... Meme! The meme that dares to ask, what book has been in your bed this morning?  Come share what book you've spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

Sorry this is going up so late, but yesterday was busy!  My family got together to hang out, drink and play cornhole... because basically we are suburban rednecks.  Also, my brother Patrick is going to Afghanistan for a year later this month.  He's been trying to get a civilian job over there for awhile now, and when it finally comes through it seems to move pretty fast.  I am assuming that this is to avoid people really stopping and thinking, Wow, is it really worth all this money to go out to the Middle East for a year?  A lot of people that I have told about my brother's future job plans have asked if he's taking his family with him. The answer is NO, he is not taking his beautiful wife and or his three gorgeous daughters to live for a year in the desert inside of a military base. 

And then the Hubs surprised me with an overnight date here in town.  My mom lives with us now, which works out really well, but still my mom lives with us now.  It was very romantic and fun, but next time he needs to give me warning, because I didn't even have a hair brush or deodorant.  I personally like to keep my b.o. a Secret (spring breeze) and I like to brush my hair before going out to breakfast... maybe that's just me?  The hotel was nice, only they had the kind of toilets designed to use less water, and you have to hold down the button in order to S L O W L Y flush it, and it was exhausting.  Flushing should not require that much effort!  The best part of our hotel?  It was connected to a River City Diner, which we love, and we got discounts for eating there.   Actually the best part of the hotel is that my mom wasn't there, but the Hubs was. Thank you, babe! ;)

Back to the actual meme though!  This morning (afternoon), I'm in bed with: 

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe.  I'm reading this as part of an online book club, and it's amazing.  I had to take a break earlier this month because one of my Alzheimer's patients took a turn for the worse, but she's doing a little better now.  I will still probably weep like a baby though.  I met the author at BEA at the Bloggers Breakfast and he spoke with so much love about his mom, and she was an amazing woman.  It's an amazing book.  It's the kind of book that I'll probably be giving out as a Christmas present to my mom and sister in laws. 


What are you reading (or wish you had time to read) this morning?  Link up below! 

Water For Elephants

My book club meets this Saturday to discuss Water For Elephants (which for some reason I always want to call Like Water For Elephants...), so instead of posting a comprehensive review I thought I'd share:

Things That I Have Learned Reading Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

 

1. Circus people are cranky!

2. Breasts can move in ways I thought only possible in Japanese Anime movies.

3. That "Stars and Stripes Forever" is also considered a Disaster March.

4. That everyone needs a little privacy, especially short men with 8-pagers.

5. Old people lie.  About carrying water for elephants.  And probably other things too. Or maybe not, maybe they think it really happened.  Like how you can just buy some mickey mouse ears off the internet and over time convince your kid that they've gone to Disney World while in reality you spent the vacation money on box wine and lottery tickets.

6. That red-lighting has nothing to do with the red light district.

7. That maybe my dog Emmy isn't really that dumb, maybe she just speaks Polish.

8. You are never too old to run away and join the circus.

9. Retirement homes serve crappy food- although I actually already knew that.

10. It's best to just go ahead and wear a name tag, preferably large print, when visiting your loved ones in a retirement home.  That way if they forget your name they can still pretend they know it and maintain a little dignity.

11. And while Water For Elephants is the holy grail to most NaNoWriMo authors, nowhere in the book, afterward, questions, etc does Sara Gruen acknowledge this.  A little disappointing, Ms. Gruen, a little disappointing.  Although I am in awe of your research skills and dedication.

Water For Elephants gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

Joining Book Swim and Starting Book Blog

I've read a lot of books. A lot. Sometimes more than once, and in several cases upwards of 20 times. There are some books I re-read every year, and then there are some that I've been reading off and on for a few years now... and still haven't finished them (yes, I'm talking about you Lisey's Story and Under a Velvet Cloak).

I read pretty much every genre, but I have my favorites. Horror/thriller, chick lit, YA, and just regular popular fiction. Occasionally I'm brave enough to read a manga, or romance novel. I enjoy science fiction now and then. Rare is the time I read non-fiction, but it happens. I used to love true crime, but grew out of my morbid phase, but I'm still loyal to my girl Ann Rule. She had me at The Stranger Beside Me.

I love books, I love buying them, displaying them, sharing them, talking about them... I love their smell... most of the time. My friend Courtney and I started a book club, and our friend Mandy dutifully reads along our monthly selections. We even have a website since I moved from Oklahoma back to Virginia, so we can discuss the books online. Sadly, we haven't had any other regular members, except my friend Michelle who was an early member but soon ditched us.

Moving to Virginia and going from full time manager to extreme part time employee meant less money for books. So I got a library card. But alas, the curse of Not Being Able To Return Books And Or Movies On Time, Not Even Remotely On Time had followed me. I am bad at returning things on time. Even when I've finished all the books I checked out, and even with online renewal. So, whilst I save up for the Kindle of my dreams- thus being to somewhat hide my book buying binges from hubby, I came across Book Swim.

Yes, Book Swim costs a monthly fee, and I don't recommend it if you are one of those millions and millions of folks that can return books on time, or have less of the debilitating curse that was bestowed upon myself. And to be honest, the book selection is still in the growing process, but I already have about 100 books in my rental pool. It's just like NetFlix or Blockbuster Online. There's different pricing fees, return shipping is free and you also get the added bonus of buying the book if you want to keep it.

The down sides so far are that shipping does take a looooooong time, both sending and returning. And I'm too cheap to pay the extra $6.95 for faster shipping. At the moment I get 3 books for $19.99, but I'll probably move up to 5 books for, I think, $24.95. I easily spent more than that a month on books prior to this, and it keeps my already overburdened book shelves safe (they're color coded, because I have enough books to make that look cool).


All this means is more books for me!! Although I still have a pile of books that I have previously bought and not read or remain unfinished. This blog gives me an excuse to get thru those, even more so than my book club does since I don't always get to pick the book we read.

This blog will be my journey through books... and possible cooking and baking- other areas of which I'm trying to improve. So perhaps I'll do a tie-in with the 3... Not sure yet.

Reading is the ultimate escape. In the first grade the school wanted to hold me back because I hadn't learned to read. My parents were shocked, there had been no bad reports no warnings. Both my parents were big readers. My dad yelled a lot, and the decision to move me on to second grade was resolved in his favor (God bless his Irish temper). That summer my dad took me to George Mason University to have me tested to see if there was a reason for my lack of reading skills. My IQ was above average, and it was determined that I had dyslexia. All summer I went to a reading tutor, shout out to Mrs. A, and by the start of the new school year i was several grades ahead in reading ability and comprehension than my classmates.

Years later I realized how lucky I was to get diagnosed at such a young age, at a time (early 80's) when dyslexia was not as well known as it is now. Wow, this is starting to get deep, and I want it to be fun, so on with the book blogging!