Our book club is a monthly book club in conjunction with our online discussion forum. If interested in joining my book club, email me at cardinspired@gmail.com for more information.
Members. . . please comment on this post with your "book title", "author", and a link to a website that provides a synopsis of the book and a review if available.
It's that time again. It's book selection time. For the month of August. . .the book genre will be "Romance". Any type of romance is fine. . . it can be a Romantic Comedy, Harlequin type, Classical,or any book with romance or love story being the primary focus. A good example of a romance book is the "Notebook" or even "Romeo and Juliet".
Search the Internet for book lists or book guide specially in the genre that is chosen for the month.Here are a few book guide sites that you may want to look at. Keep in mind, there's many of them so what I list below are a few I found online to help you out:
You may also find book guides and book list at the library or at the book store.When choosing a book, choose a book that "you" want to read, not what you think others may want to read. The reason for this is well, we all don't know one another personally. Although your book may not be chosen, I want you to be excited about reading the book. If your book isn't chosen, well obviously you can read it on your own or suggest it at another time.
Please do a little bit of research before suggesting a book. Sometimes availability may be a problem. Choose a book that is widely available. For example, don't choose a book that is so old that it may no longer be in circulation!!Can't wait to see what you all come up with!!
The discussions are open to the public but non-members will be moderated. Stop by and join in the discussion if you've read the book.
The discussion format will be a in a one to two questions per day format. There will be a total of 3 days starting from June 15 to June 22.
Each member or participant, answers the question and it's recommended that members start an active discussion with other members or participants.
Each day two new questions will be posted, i.e., Day #1 Discussion, Day #2 Discusion, etc. for a series of 7 days.
Here's a few suggestions to get the discussions going:
Do you agree or disagree with the member's analysis? Elaborate further with your own views in regards to a member's post. Compare and contrast with a member's analysis of the question. Ask additional questions of the member to explain her/his answers further.
Please note. . .the discussion will be active in the "discussion section" of this forum (see side bar - click on either the "Home" or "Discussion" tabs")
You may answer one or both questions. For members or participants, please respond to any of the other members answers so we can get an active discussion going.
The discussions are open to the public but non-members will be moderated. Stop by and join in the discussion if you've read the book.
The discussion format will be a in a one to two questions per day format. There will be a total of 3 days starting from June 15 to June 22.
Each member or participant, answers the question and it's recommended that members start an active discussion with other members or participants.
Each day two new questions will be posted, i.e., Day #1 Discussion, Day #2 Discusion, etc. for a series of 7 days.
Here's a few suggestions to get the discussions going:
Do you agree or disagree with the member's analysis? Elaborate further with your own views in regards to a member's post. Compare and contrast with a member's analysis of the question. Ask additional questions of the member to explain her/his answers further.
Please note. . .the discussion will be active in the "discussion section" of this forum (see side bar - click on either the "Home" or "Discussion" tabs")
You may answer one or both questions. For members or participants, please respond to any of the other members answers so we can get an active discussion going.
Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities by Elizabeth Edwards
Memoir
Pages: 224 Published: May 8, 2009
Synopsis:
She's one of the most beloved political figures in the country, and on the surface, seems to have led a charmed life. In many ways, she has. Beautiful family. Thriving career. Supportive friendship. Loving marriage. But she's no stranger to adversity. Many know of the strength she had shown after her son, Wade, was killed in a freak car accident when he was only sixteen years old. She would exhibit this remarkable grace and courage again when the very private matter of her husband's infidelity became public fodder. And her own life has been on the line.
Days before the 2004 presidential election--when her husband John was running for vice president--she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After rounds of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation the cancer went away--only to reoccur in 2007. While on the campaign trail, Elizabeth met many others who have had to contend with serious adversity in their lives, and in "Resilience," she draws on their experiences as well as her own, crafting an unsentimental and ultimately inspirational meditation on the gifts we can find among life's biggest challenges.
This short, powerful, pocket-sized inspirational book makes an ideal gift for anyone dealing with difficulties in their life, who can find peace in knowing they are not alone, and promise that things can get better."
Below are the July's book suggestions that were chosen by club members. Each month, at least 5 members will suggest a book and all members will vote on which book to select for the month.
July's book genre is a non-fiction - autobiography or memoir. Few members have selected biographies rather than autobiographies but I will accept the biography selections.
For July's book suggestion, please review the books below.
Members, please vote on the book you would like to read for June's Book of the Month. Every member should vote including those who suggested a book.
For those who suggested a book, you may vote for you own book or vote for a book suggested by the other members.I provided a video interview by the author or a video related to the book. The ones that don't have a video, I could not find a video for the suggested book.
To vote, members please comment on this blog post and not on the forum. Voting will begin June 1st to June 4th. Voting will close at 11:00 pm PST June 4th. If there's a tie, I will make the final decision. I will post the selected book for July on June 5th.
Amanda's Selection:
Steve and Me: Life with the Crocodile Hunter by Terri Irwin
Biography
Pages: 288 Published Date: October 30, 2007
Synopsis:
Few celebrities touch as many people as Steve Irwin did. He was loved by people from all walks of life and his vast efforts at conservation continue to make a difference all over the globe. Steve and Terri's story is not just one of taking a noble cause to a new height, but is also a fairytale love affair. When Terri, an American tourist in Australia, first laid eyes on Steve, she saw a real-life action hero. She was, however, disappointed to hear that his heart belonged to another. Steve then offered to introduce her to his girlfriend, whistled and presented his best girl: a Staffordshire bull terrier called Sui. Later, Steve took Terri on a unique first date - a canoe ride through the swamps at night. She describes how Steve climbed out of the boat into the crocodile-filled water and how she knew she was with the bravest man she'd ever met.
Steve and Terri married in June 1992 and the footage of their crocodile-trapping honeymoon became the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter. WIth the opening of the Australia Zoo, the couple brought conservation to the people and became ambassadors for the native wildlife. Together, Steve and Terri changed the perception of conservation and sparked global interest in the animals of the Australian bush. Terri's book chronicles this work with their children Bindi and Bob and is her tribute to keeping Steve's memory and mission alive.
For Kelly Corrigan, family is everything. At thirty-six, she had a marriage that worked, two funny, active kids, and a weekly newspaper column. But even as a thriving adult, Kelly still saw herself as the daughter of garrulous Irish-American charmer George Corrigan.
She was living deep within what she calls the Middle Place—"that sliver of time when parenthood and childhood overlap"—comfortably wedged between her adult duties and her parents' care. But Kelly is abruptly shoved into coming-of-age when she finds a lump in her breast—and gets the diagnosis no one wants to hear. When George, too, learns that he has late-stage cancer, it is Kelly's turn to take care of the man who had always taken care of her—and to show us a woman who finally takes the leap and grows up.
Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities by Elizabeth Edwards
Memoir
Pages: 224 Published: May 8, 2009
Synopsis:
She's one of the most beloved political figures in the country, and on the surface, seems to have led a charmed life. In many ways, she has. Beautiful family. Thriving career. Supportive friendship. Loving marriage. But she's no stranger to adversity. Many know of the strength she had shown after her son, Wade, was killed in a freak car accident when he was only sixteen years old. She would exhibit this remarkable grace and courage again when the very private matter of her husband's infidelity became public fodder. And her own life has been on the line.
Days before the 2004 presidential election--when her husband John was running for vice president--she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After rounds of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation the cancer went away--only to reoccur in 2007. While on the campaign trail, Elizabeth met many others who have had to contend with serious adversity in their lives, and in "Resilience," she draws on their experiences as well as her own, crafting an unsentimental and ultimately inspirational meditation on the gifts we can find among life's biggest challenges.
This short, powerful, pocket-sized inspirational book makes an ideal gift for anyone dealing with difficulties in their life, who can find peace in knowing they are not alone, and promise that things can get better."
Wu: The Chinese Empress Who Schemed, Seduced and Murdered Her Way to Become a Living God by Jonathan Clements
Biography
Pages: 256 pages Published date: February 1, 2007
Synopsis:
Wu was the first and only woman in Chinese history to become a reigning empress. Jonathan Clements tells the dramatic and colourful story of the seventh-century daughter of a lumber merchant who used her looks, cunning and connections to rule one of the largest empires of the world.
Before Wu was born, prophecies predicted that she would become an emperor. It was thus a source of disappointment to her family when she turned out to be a girl. But they underestimated Wu's steely determination to succeed. At the age of 13 she took the first steps on her path to power when she was selected as a concubine to the 40-year-old Supreme Emperor (Taizong).
When the emperor fell ill, the ambitious Wu committed a capital crime by seducing his heir. Her gamble paid off, and when the emperor died, his besotted heir, now the High Emperor (Gaozong), rescued Wu from life in a convent. Back in the palace, Wu wasted no time in framing and executing her opposition, the empress and the beautiful Pure Concubine. Her ruthlessness even extended to her own family. After her husband had died, she poisoned her strong-willed eldest son, tried to rule through his two more malleable brothers but eventually took the throne herself.
Coloured by intrigue, murder, incest and seduction, Wu's incredible true story is a rich and fascinating tale. Drawing on the original Chinese sources, Jonathan Clements reveals the life of this extraordinary woman who proclaimed herself a living god, founded a new dynasty and was only deposed, aged 79, after jealous courtiers had murdered her two young lovers.
A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash by Sylvia Nasar Biography
Pages: 464 Publishe date: November 27, 2001
Synopsis:
How could you, a mathematician, believe that extraterrestrials were sending you messages? the visitor from Harvard asked the West Virginian with the movie-star looks and Olympian manner.
Thus begins the true story of John Nash, the mathematical genius
who was a legend by age thirty when he slipped into madness, and who -- thanks to the selflessness fo a beautiful woman and the loyalty of the mathematics community -- emerged after decades of ghostlike exixstence to win a Nobel Prize and world acclaim, the inspiration for a major motion picutre. Sylvia Nasar's award-winning biography is a drama about the mystery of the human mind, triumph over incredivble adversity, and the healing power of love.
The astounding yet true rags-to-riches saga of a homeless father who raised and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crown prince of Wall Street
At the age of twenty, Milwaukee native Chris Gardner, just out of the Navy, arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. Considered a prodigy in scientific research, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry-level position at a prestigious firm than Gardner found himself caught in a web of incredibly challenging circumstances that left him as part of the city's working homeless and with a toddler son. Motivated by the promise he made to himself as a fatherless child to never abandon his own children, the two spent almost a year moving among shelters, "HO-tels," soup lines, and even sleeping in the public restroom of a subway station.
Never giving in to despair, Gardner made an astonishing transformation from being part of the city's invisible poor to being a powerful player in its financial district.
More than a memoir of Gardner's financial success, this is the story of a man who breaks his own family's cycle of men abandoning their children. Mythic, triumphant, and unstintingly honest, The Pursuit of Happyness conjures heroes like Horatio Alger and Antwone Fisher, and appeals to the very essence of the American Dream.
