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View Poll Results: Vote for our Sweet Read for Jan.-Mar. 2015
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt 7 26.92%
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton 3 11.54%
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North 12 46.15%
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 0 0%
If I Stay by Gayle Forman 0 0%
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline 3 11.54%
The Pearl That Broke It's Shell by Nadia Hashimi 1 3.85%
Voters: 26. You may not vote on this poll

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  #1  
Old 01-08-2015, 05:50 PM
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Default Vote: Sweet Read for Jan-Mar 2015

Vote for your choice for our first Sweet Read of 2015. If we have a clear favorite, we will go with that. If is it close between a top few, we will have a run off. This poll is open through Sunday (1/11).



The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.



The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton - Set in seventeenth century Amsterdam-a city ruled by glittering wealth and oppressive religion-a masterful debut steeped in atmosphere and shimmering with mystery, in the tradition of Emma Donoghue, Sarah Waters, and Sarah Dunant.

"There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed…"

On a brisk autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt. But her new home, while splendorous, is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, always locked in his study or at his warehouse office-leaving Nella alone with his sister, the sharp-tongued and forbidding Marin.

But Nella's world changes when Johannes presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. To furnish her gift, Nella engages the services of a miniaturist-an elusive and enigmatic artist whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways . . .

Johannes' gift helps Nella to pierce the closed world of the Brandt household. But as she uncovers its unusual secrets, she begins to understand-and fear-the escalating dangers that await them all. In this repressively pious society where gold is worshipped second only to God, to be different is a threat to the moral fabric of society, and not even a man as rich as Johannes is safe. Only one person seems to see the fate that awaits them. Is the miniaturist the key to their salvation . . . or the architect of their destruction?



The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North - No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes.

Until now.
As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message."
This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.



Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune -- and remarkable power -- to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved -- that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt -- among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life -- and love -- in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?



If I Stay by Gayle Forman - Just listen, Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.

I open my eyes wide now.
I sit up as much as I can.
And I listen.

Stay, he says.


Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love—music—even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind?

Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it's the only one that matters.

If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make.



Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
- The author of Bird in Hand and The Way Life Should Be delivers her most ambitious and powerful novel to date: a captivating story of two very different women who build an unexpected friendship: a 91-year-old woman with a hidden past as an orphan-train rider and the teenage girl whose own troubled adolescence leads her to seek answers to questions no one has ever thought to ask.

Nearly eighteen, Molly Ayer knows she has one last chance. Just months from "aging out" of the child welfare system, and close to being kicked out of her foster home, a community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping her out of juvie and worse.

Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.

The closer Molly grows to Vivian, the more she discovers parallels to her own life. A Penobscot Indian, she, too, is an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. As her emotional barriers begin to crumble, Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life - answers that will ultimately free them both.



The Pearl That Broke It's Shell by Nadia Hashimi - Afghan-American Nadia Hashimi's literary debut novel, The Pearl that Broke Its Shell is a searing tale of powerlessness, fate, and the freedom to control one's own fate that combines the cultural flavor and emotional resonance of the works of Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Lisa See.

In Kabul, 2007, with a drug-addicted father and no brothers, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school, and can rarely leave the house. Their only hope lies in the ancient custom of bacha posh, which allows young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she is of marriageable age. As a son, she can attend school, go to the market, and chaperone her older sisters.

But Rahima is not the first in her family to adopt this unusual custom. A century earlier, her great-aunt, Shekiba, left orphaned by an epidemic, saved herself and built a new life the same way.

Crisscrossing in time, The Pearl the Broke Its Shell interweaves the tales of these two women separated by a century who share similar destinies. But what will happen once Rahima is of marriageable age? Will Shekiba always live as a man? And if Rahima cannot adapt to life as a bride, how will she survive?

Last edited by Misty Cato; 01-08-2015 at 06:00 PM.
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  #2  
Old 01-08-2015, 05:55 PM
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Thanks for organizing this, Misty!
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Old 01-08-2015, 05:59 PM
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Voted! Super excited! Thanks Misty - you are awesome!
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Old 01-08-2015, 06:16 PM
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You are most welcome. I'm excited too.

I'm still trying to pick between 4 of the options.
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Old 01-08-2015, 07:09 PM
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I can't wait! I just started a "quick and easy" read so that I can be done it and start on whatever book club book we pick asap.
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Old 01-08-2015, 07:42 PM
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Thanks so much, Misty!
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Old 01-08-2015, 11:41 PM
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I'd like to read most of them.
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Old 01-09-2015, 09:09 AM
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I voted for the Harry August one but I also love the sound of the Orphan Train.
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Old 01-09-2015, 11:58 AM
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oh gosh....I can't choose!! They all sound great!
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Old 01-09-2015, 01:26 PM
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Yeah, there are several books on this list I'll probably end up reading, whether or not they get selected.
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Old 01-11-2015, 07:46 PM
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I just checked which book is in the lead and I'm getting excited to start reading!!
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Old 01-11-2015, 07:47 PM
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Yep, just a few more hours to get those votes in!
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Old 01-11-2015, 08:54 PM
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Hope it's ok that I join in? Haven't before, but I'd like to - and I'm loving the book selections!
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Old 01-11-2015, 08:57 PM
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Of course Brie! I'd love to have you participate.

Everyone is welcome.
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Old 01-12-2015, 12:51 PM
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Voting is over. Our new read ...




The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

Look for a couple of discussion threads in the forum later today.
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Old 01-12-2015, 12:55 PM
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YAY!!! Can't wait to get started!!!

Thanks again for organizing this, Misty!
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Old 01-12-2015, 01:11 PM
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Downloaded this morning...Let's do this! :P
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Old 01-12-2015, 01:24 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nikkiARNGwife View Post
Downloaded this morning...Let's do this! :P
Me too! I'm almost done my current book and then I'm going to dive into our sweet read!
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Old 01-12-2015, 02:31 PM
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I'm going to join in! Just downloaded the book, looking forward to it. I've never been in a book club of any kind before, to have conversations. Thank you for letting me play!

Now if I could just get my PHOTO to load. I've made it smaller and smaller and still no luck! I'm just not good with forum stuff......
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Old 01-12-2015, 02:54 PM
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So glad you're joining in, Lori!

Make sure you're changing your "avatar" instead of your "profile pic." I see your profile pic when I click on your name, but it's your avatar that shows up in the forums here.
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Old 01-12-2015, 03:24 PM
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didn't vote but gonna join in
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Old 01-12-2015, 04:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Libby Pritchett View Post
So glad you're joining in, Lori!

Make sure you're changing your "avatar" instead of your "profile pic." I see your profile pic when I click on your name, but it's your avatar that shows up in the forums here.

THANK YOU!!!! My avatar - who knew? Well, apparently everyone but ME! next I'll work on making an updated siggie and getting that in. wow, then I'll almost look like I actually belong! lol
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Old 01-12-2015, 07:13 PM
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I better get to work reading! I'm in the middle of different book right now.
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Old 01-12-2015, 07:34 PM
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May I ask a silly 'newbie to book club workings' question? Do we read sort of together, like a chapter every few days or something like that, to discuss, so we are all on the same page - so to speak? Or do we read along to finish, and just jump into the conversation when we can?
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Old 01-12-2015, 07:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LBickford63 View Post
May I ask a silly 'newbie to book club workings' question? Do we read sort of together, like a chapter every few days or something like that, to discuss, so we are all on the same page - so to speak? Or do we read along to finish, and just jump into the conversation when we can?
The latter, it will be super casual. Read at your own pace and jump in whenever you have something to say. I expect there will be a couple of folks who have it read by the weekend and others who won't get around to picking it up until March 😃

I'm just getting started on another book for my in-person club which looks like it will be fast read and this is next on my list. I'm looking forward to it.
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Old 01-12-2015, 08:25 PM
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Sounds good, MIsty, thank you for clarifying!
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Old 01-17-2015, 10:00 AM
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FYI - The Miniaturist is on sale for 1.99 today for Kindle (1/17)

http://www.amazon.com/Miniaturist-No...he+miniaturist
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Old 01-17-2015, 11:17 AM
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[QUOTE=nikkiARNGwife;1062725852]FYI - The Miniaturist is on sale for 1.99 today for Kindle (1/17)

THANK YOU!!! It had been on my wishlist - just picked it up!
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