THE ROAD

Hi gang! Remember that we are posting thoughts for every 50 pages that we read. Be sure to post what pages you are writing on so there are no spoilers. Enjoy!!

Virtual Book Swap

We'll be holding a book swap on Tuesday, February 9th, but for those like me who can think of a bunch of books they'd like to recommend, let's use this thread to discuss/share some of our favorites. Feel free to post excerpts, or you can cheat like me and just copy and paste the synopsis from the Chapters website. Either way...

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger.

The Road

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don''t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food--and each other.The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other''s world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Narrated by a fifteen-year-old autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together an old-fashioned mystery, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a fascinating excursion into a mind incapable of processing emotions.

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. At fifteen, Christopher's carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbour's dog Wellington impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing.

Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer, and turns to his favourite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents' marriage. As Christopher tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, the narrative draws readers into the workings of Christopher's mind.

And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon's choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotions. The effect is dazzling, making for one of the freshest debut in years: a comedy, a tearjerker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies...

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.

$17.95 at Chapters, Coles and HMV. According to Ms Rockett, it's 25% off at HMV so try there first. Not sure about Costco... if anyone knows, post it here.

Have the book read for the November 9th meeting!

Recommendations

Very enjoyable meeting today. If it's any indication of the caliber of meetings to come, I think we are going to have a great year in the book club.

So, with "Catching Fire" behind us, and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" looming in the not-too-distant future, we are looking for thriller/horror recommendations to fill the space between.

Please post your recommendations here. (To post a recommendation, click on the comments link below). Hopefully, it doesn't still say O Comments. If it does, be the first to respond. Remember the immortal words of Ms. Rockett - "Blogs are cool!" For those who could not attend the meeting, she said this today with a Steve Urkel snort while pushing back her glasses...

The triangle...

Although I chose to avoid the whole Team Edward vs Team Jacob debate (opting for Team Vomit), I want to start another thread to see what the group thinks - Peeta or Gale? Does Katniss deserve Peeta? Will she end up with Gale, or will she end up with no one, or even dead?

Sorry RL, but I thought a 'lovey dovey' focussed question might get this crowd talking.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Talk soon.

Dave "Go Team Haymitch!" Lynch