reading rainbow
welcome to the poshdeluxe book club
so yesterday’s post (and the subsequent comments) got me really excited about summer reading.
like, REEELAAAY.
in fact, i got SO excited that i have decided to start a book club!!!!!
it’s called the poshdeluxe book club!!
cos it’s on this blog!!
here is the logo, because it can’t be official unless there is a logo:
look how fun that is!! a book is like a spaceship!! there is so much to explore!!
ok, before you tell me that you don’t possibly have time to join a book club, HOLD UP.
this is not that kind of book club. i’m not interested in forcing people to read the same book at the same pace and then meet to have annoying discussions where one person hogs the floor and everyone else wonders why there aren’t better refreshments.
this is more like an independent kind of book club. it’s, like, DIY (<– that makes it sound cool, doesn’t it?).
all you have to do is recommend a book. leave a comment with a brief description of the book and why you recommend it… and that’s it!
well, that’s not *really* it. i’m hoping that, after leaving yr own rec, you’ll read someone else’s comment and think, “wow, i have never heard of this book, but it sounds AMAZING. i am SO GLAD that i’m in the poshdeluxe book club!” and then you will go to the library or a bookstore and read it and then you will post about it the next time i do a book club entry.
here is why i think this will be fun:
1) the variety of interests and perspectives represented by the commenters on this blog should translate into quite a spectrum of books, esp. books that many of us haven’t heard about or thought to read.
2) reading a person’s review of the book you recommended will both feel satisfying (cos they trusted yr judgment enough to read the book! go you!) and enriching, cos they might have a different take on the book that you never considered. oh and if they hate it, you can’t take it personally. ok? ok.
3) discussing the books with each other will help everyone get to know each other! we’ll be book pals!! yay for friendship!!
so, who wants to join? membership is free!! there are no annual dues, and you don’t have to attend any meetings or mingle with people who are annoying.
i’ll get it started with my own rec:
king dork by frank portman
so, this book has been out for a while, and i think i wrote a review of it (but i can’t find it on this blog?). but i’m still going to recommend it to you, cos it is THAT GOOD.
i know i talk a lot about young adult books, and many of you may not be convinced that they are actual Literature. well, read this book and be AMAZED. the story centers on a teenager named tom henderson who is totally unpopular, wildly smart and obsessed with girls and bands… *his* band, in particular, which really only consists of himself, his one friend and lots of potential band names. one day, he finds a copy of his father’s “catcher in the rye,” a book he really really hates. but, since his father was a detective who died under mysterious circumstances, tom decides to comb through the book for clues– clues about his dad, his death, anything.
it’s hard to describe this book, actually, because it’s a weird mix of mystery and social satire and hilarity. the way tom plays his AP teachers and dreams about girls and hates on the jocks… i have *never* read a YA book with such a realistic male voice. i honestly felt like i was inside of a high school boy, which is uh really gross. but awesome.
anyway, if you’re interested in checking out some YA that is realistic, clever and well-written (did i mention hilarious? i did? ok good cos it’s HILARIOUS), read this book. i give it four out of four pants!
ok, new book club members. now it’s yr turn!
LINKS
have you guys seen the guy who lives in a nest on a skyscraper? need i say more?
the betsey johnson resort collection is out, and yeah. WANT. as usual.
i totally love the regina spektor song for “prince caspian.” it’s disney, so i feel kinda wrong, but i can’t help it.
matt sent me this TASTY BUSINESS review of uchi, cos i can go there and he can’t. MUHAHAHA.
if you like the book cover i used in my “logo,” you can see more of them here.
Discussion
15 comments for “welcome to the poshdeluxe book club”
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Where is Liz Vance when you need someone to translate Dutch and figure out why someone is living in a bird’s nest?
I am totally in!
I’ll make sure to recommend some awesome romance novels and leave the higher literary works to you Rice people.
So,
I fell into your blog and now can’t escape . . . while ripping a Nicholas Sparks novel on CD from the local library.
Since I live in the East Bay across from San Francisco, I enjoyed your writing about your visit here. And since you are such a hard core (the only way to be) foodie – I must ask, Do you YELP?? If not, WHY NOT ??
See my Yelp website profile where I have written many reviews of places visited . . .
Anyway, congrats on your Master’s Degree . . . now, like your Dad said, find something to do with it that will support yourself !!
Since we just bumped into each other, I won’t go on about myself, (you already have quite a collection of cool friends), but I have spent over 20 years here in Silicon Valley in High Tech stuff . . .
Drop by Yelp.com and see you around !
New friend,
Philip A.
Oh, P.S. for all the other folks, here is my Yelp web address:
http://acad2kman.yelp.com
See you all around . . . hopefully on Yelp.com
I want to play! I love book clubs and am already in several.
But are we supposed to be recommending books now, or is that later? I will have to think of the Perfect One.
wait, wait, so you’re saying this book club is NOT offering refreshments?
I am totally in! But confused! B/c I thought we were supposed to start recommending books right now, in the comments. But no one did that? I don’t want to mess up on my first day in book club! But I have my recommendation all ready when the time comes.
Sarah and I are already in a book club, reading the same books at the same time and squee-mailing about them! And our refreshments are always completely boss.
With apologies to Olivia, who recommended this book to me, I’m going to recommend Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart. It’s a hilarious social satire about…well, Russian culture, the attitudes of the wealthy towards the poor, former soviet republics, American liberal arts education, and the role of globalized American oil/infrastructure/defense corporations in the political events of the third world. And the principal character is the hefty, sensitive, hip-hop loving son of a Russian mafia kingpin whose nickname is Snack Daddy.
It gets 9.5 out of 10 chic fil a chicken nuggets. (That’s right, I rate things on a nugget scale)
I’m totally recommending Absurdistan to my husband who loves all things Russian, and maybe I’ll read it when he’s done. I’ve never joined a book club, but this one sounds better than those other ones and especially Oprah’s book club (even though I have read some of her recommended books and liked them). Chick-fil-A nuggets sound really good right now too.
yes yes! start recommending books!! everyone!!
I. Am. SO. Excited. Did you know I have never been apart of a real book club??
As far as YA novels, I only read the cheesy stuff (but some of it was good for me when I was young), but unfortunately because I was not very observant when I was younger, I don’t remember the titles.
There was “The Summer I shrunk my Grandmother” (I think that’s what it was called), and the one about a homeless kid who could run really fast and untie the most difficult knots.
But I think I will wait before actually recommending anything (unless you haven’t read Tom Robbins, I just discovered him this past year [hangs head in shame]) and read some of the other recommendations first.
YAY!
Kinda trashy but really fun (and oddly thought-provoking) beach read: The Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux. I really read too much non-fiction for my own good, so when I take a break from it, I REALLY take a break.
Anyway, the book is about these three women who get together to celebrate their 40th birthdays, and they’ve all pretty much been screwed over by life. They then get a chance to change their lives, but in an unexpected way. Not to reveal too much, but The story got me to thinking about what change I would make in my own life if I could do it over again. It was compelling in a mostly fluffy but with a bit of food for thought thrown in. I think one of the things that appealed to me the most when I read it was that one of the characters is an author, and I was really intrigued by her creative/writing process and I wondered how Ms. Deveraux drew on her own life and experience for that character. I guess I’m a geeky writer-type that way.
And you definitely should check out Succubus Blues (I mentioned yesterday). I’d say it’s way too racy for YA, but then I remember some of the romance novels I read as a YA, and it’s probably not too bad.
the best book i’ve read recently that no one has heard of is Independent People by Halldor Laxness. Laxness was an Icelandic author (like, the only Icelandic author) who won the Nobel Prize in the 50’s or 60’s. the book is a family epic that takes place around WWI; the family itself, a downtrodden group of Icelandic sheep farmers. the book has long descriptions of sheep and minute descriptions of blizzards, and as boring as that sounds, it is just the opposite. i think that is a masterpiece and everyone should read it. be warned that it is long, though. 500 pages .