APRIL Book Club: selection by Berit

Matched trilogy by Allyson Braithwaite Condie

Ally Condie received a degree from Brigham Young University and worked as a high school English teacher. She is currently a full-time author. Her books include Freshman for President, Being Sixteen, and the Matched Trilogy. (Bowker Author Biography)

Matched

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

This book, Matched, is the first in a trilogy. The books are:
1. Matched
2. Crossed
3. Reached

Mce has not read this yet. I am now 5th on the reserve list and there are 4 copies owned by the Mesa Library. I do have the second and third books being held, but am not going to read them until I have the first one read. Berit LOVES these books, hope you all enjoy them.

New Author and New Book

Some time ago, some one mentioned that there was a new book or two out, that was as good as or better than, the Harry Potter books and maybe they mentioned the Twilight Books. Anyway, after letting this percolate in my brain for a while, because the Harry Potter books are exceptionally well written and the Twilight books have a good story, I have not compared and contrasted them. The Potter books are written for everyone and the Twilight books are seeking a core audience.

ANYWAY, I looked up the author, Suzanne Collins and noticed that she had written other books before her new, hot books (The Hunger Games, etc.) I did reserve her young adult books, but was #138 on the list, so decided to look up other books that she had written. Before, she had been a childrens author.

The childrens books are the Overlander series. There are 5 books. Gregor the Overlander is Book #1. Gregor is our star in the books and his family are a great supporting cast. I did not know they were a series to begin with and started with Book #3. After figuring out that I was in the middle of a series, stopped reading and started reserving the books.

They are GOOD !!

So now, you have more books to put on your list to read. And when one of the talented young daughters helped me look up a picture to include with this blog, we noticed a movie poster. So you better hurry and read them before a movie comes out. We all like movies better, when we have read the book first!

New Book mce Read

A few years ago I read the book, The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown. I had previously read his other books, including Angels and Demons. I was not shocked by the Da Vinci Code book. I found it very interesting. It talked of things that I believed in. I even almost, liked the movie, bad hair and all. I enjoyed the sights and museums of Europe.



But then, a new book by Dan Brown was coming out !! Another fact about mce !! I read the New York Times on Sunday from the internet. I love the Book section and always reserve the best sellers at the Mesa Library. Much cheaper and easier than buying all those books. And if I LOVE it, I can put in on the books to buy list. Very few books make the "To Buy" list. Anyhow, I reserved the new book coming out from Dan Brown, called The Lost Symbol, many months ago and was second on the reserved list. And they had 15 copies, so I was one of the first to get the book. And now for my review:

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

This book breaks some of my good book rules from an author that I have already read. It copies from their other books. It assumes we all have zero knowledge of certain events. The author gives the reader no credit for thoughts. And worse of all, it makes light of certain truths that I believe in. And it was boring. And I felt obligated to read it. And when you have read it, then we can discuss my problems with it. And I have already been asked to clarify. I do believe much of what is in the book, I just don't think it is a very well written or thought out book. And it has already sold over 2 million copies and that is not counting the discount stores, like Wal-Mart and Target. Unbelieveable. So another book does not make the beloved best book list. Just the I read it list.

BOOKCASES

Bookcase in Living Room, the music area

Another habit that was established early on, in our family, was having your own bookcase. I can not remember when I did not have my own bookcase, I always had one growing up, to keep all my very own books in. With my children, that is what they received as their going to kindergarten gift. So they could keep all their own personal books together and start their own library collection. This year we have two new kindergarten boys in the family, BenJoe and Thaddeus. Some of the grandchildren have their own bookcases now.

BenJoe, the Arizona Kindergarten boy, when he was very young!

Thaddeus, the Virginia Kindergarten boy, when he was even younger !!

In my bedroom right now, there are four bookcases. My husband has a small one next to his chair, but the rest are for mce. I walked around my home and counted bookcases. Since I am becoming an empty nester and only have one or two children still at home, the bookcases are dwindling. The older children have taken them when they have moved on and out. But, back to mce, in my home right now, there are 11 bookcases downstairs and 4 upstairs. I have been going through the books and deciding if they are books that I love or not, if they should be kept or not. So far, most have been keepers, but I am working on it. Many, many books. And the more you sort, the bigger the pile of must re-reads. It is hard to say good-bye to a book. They are good friends.

A bookcase in the library. Mainly how-to books and old favorites.

Another bookcase in the library room.

These are some Memory Books.

The white sets, closest to the wall, on the top three shelves,

are the three youngest children's sets of eight.

Then we have the Memory Books. I have dedicated two full size bookcases to them, and another to the books that accompany them, the life stories, biographies, young woman path, scout paths and on and on and on. When the older children are settled and stable, they have taken their beginning set of eight. But the master sets just keep growing. These books will never be sorted out. They are all keepers. I am just trying to re-work my system for the 283rd time, to be more viable for the long haul. I have written another how-to, involving the grands and how to track without going crazy. We shall see! The dear husband and children have been so supportive through the years, it is quite the family project. But it all starts with a BOOKCASE

DANGEROUS BOYS versus DARING GIRLS

Several years ago, while I was searching for a special book for my sons birthday, I came across, “The Dangerous Book for Boys” by Conn Iggulden and Hall Iggulden. It was the version published in England. An instant classic. It was published in America within a few months. And then a copycat version, that was authorized by the Iggulden’s came out, “The Daring Book for Girls” by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz. Not excellent but good, still a solid book. One of the best things about the books, was that the boy book was RED and the girl book was BLUE !! I always like it when colors are mixed up and not just the classic. Fits in perfectly with our family.

These are amazing books. From the contents page of the Boys Book, I am going to list just a few items. Astronomy, Navajo Code Talkers Dictionary, Understanding Grammar, Making a Bow and Arrow, Timers and Tripwires, Fishing, Rules of Rugby Union and Rugby League (??!!), The Golden Age of Piracy, Skipping Stones, The Ten Commandments, Making a Go-Cart. And it just goes on and on and on. It is the everything you need to know book.

Before the first chapter of the books, there is a list called “Essential Gear.” The difference in the two lists are slight, but very telling in the way boys and girls are viewed. Boys get a shooter (large marble) and fish hooks. Girls get a deck of cards and a good book. So, boys are action and girls are not. This list has been discussed ad nauseum, with some of my children and our least favorite is on the girls list, the end, patience. Like they ran out of things for girls and had to put patience on. But when you look, the boys list has 11 things and the girls 12. It would have been easy to just leave it off.

Essential Gear for Boys:
1. Swiss Army Knife
2. Compass
3. Handkerchief
4. Box of Matches
5. A Shooter
6. Needle and Thread
7. Pencil and Paper
8. Small Flashlight
9. Magnifying Glass
10. Band-Aids
11. Fish Hooks

Essential Gear for Girls:
1. Swiss Army Knife
2. Bandana
3. Rope and Twine
4. Journal and Pencil, with a Back-up Pen
5. Hair Band
6. Bungee Cord
7. Flashlight
8. Compass
9. Safety Pins
10. Duct Tape
11. Deck of cards and A Good Book
12. Patience

A few years ago, we gave our 4 big boys a nice pocket knife along with the Boy Book for Christmas. The girls settled for a box of safety pins (among other things?!?)and the Girl Book. We are working on having the whole entire essential gear list. It was very interesting.

My problem with the differences in the two books, can be summed up by their back covers:

The Dangerous Book for Boys says, “Recapture Sunday afternoons and long summer days. The perfect book for every boy from eight to eighty.”

The Daring Book for Girls says, “For every girl with an independent spirit and a nose for trouble, here is the no-boys-allowed guide to adventure.” That says it all. I combined the 2 lists to make one master list for everybody, so we have our own list.

ELLSWORTH Combined List of Essential Gear for EVERYONE
1. Swiss Army Knife
2. Compass
3. Handkerchief / Bandana
4. Box of Matches
5. A Shooter
6. Needle and Thread
7. Pencil and Paper / Journal and Pencil, with a Back-up Pen
8. Small Flashlight
9. Magnifying Glass
10. Band-Aids and Bag Balm
11. Fish Hooks
12. Rope and Twine / Bungee Cord / Hair Band
13. Safety Pins
14. DUCT TAPE
15. Deck of cards and A Good Book
16. Patience and A Sense of Humor

The dear husband’s absolute favorite on the list is DUCT TAPE !! Because if they don’t find you handsome, you should be handy, I guess, if you have to. And Duct Tape makes everything work, because we are all in this together !!

So, if you could only purchase one book, make sure that you get the “Dangerous Book for Boys.” It is the best! The basic knowledge, skill and survival book for everyone.

BOOKS and READING

I love books. I love to read. I read an article about reading and have been thinking and contemplating it all week. Why do some people like to read and others not? When do you know that you are a reader? What do you like to read? What are your favorite books?

My first memories of reading are of my parents reading stories to me. We read Myths, Fables and Mother Goose. Lots of poetry. When I was in 1st grade, I had a bad teacher, a very BAD teacher. She was a first year teacher and had some emotional problems. In fact, her way of disciplining our class was to tie us to our chairs with crepe paper! This was long ago and I still wonder why we all just sat there. Anyway, I didn’t learn to read at school. My mother and father taught me. My family read scriptures every morning at 7:00 am, before my father left for work. I could read along with the family at a very young age. My parents were always reading something. My family read the newspaper and discussed what was going on in the world.

Reading was almost a vice for mce, when I was young. Sometimes, my mother thought that I read way too much. Many of my memories are tied up in the books that I was reading. I also would get books as birthday and Christmas gifts. I still have many of them.

When I first began reading, only the Scriptures and Newberry winners for me. Then I found the wonderful detective series of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. They kept me busy for part of elementary school. I also enjoyed biographies, and read many. Transitioning from elementary school to junior high was finishing the “Little House on the Prairie” series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder (for a while!), and starting the “Anne of Green Gables” series by L.M. Montgomery.

While in junior high I read some romance novels. I was still into series at that point and the city librarian had me read the Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. That was an interesting family. The all time greatest romance, to me, was “Gone With the Wind.” I read it the first time in 7th grade. I used to go to school early and would spend my time in the library. The school librarian and I became good friends, she decided that I should read GWTW. I enjoyed it, but it was better when I was older.

During high school I started reading sagas. The longer the better. James Michener was one of my favorites then. I read “The Source” first and then just plowed through all his many other books. This is when I started reading all the books that one author wrote.

When I attended college, I lived in an old house on University Avenue in Provo, Utah. When all my roommates went home one Thanksgiving, I stayed in Provo. Someone had left a book, and I read “The Exorcist” by William Peter Blatty. That was the most scared I have ever been. My room was on the top floor and had one small old window covered with ivy. And it was windy and the ivy kept hitting the window and I got more and more scared. I was all alone and decided that I was not a scary book kind of person. So I have tried to never read another scary or horror book, and have no plans to.

Then I specialized in reading about certain subjects. I was fascinated by Russia after reading “Nicholas and Alexandra” by Robert K. Massie and read many more books on that subject. My father told stories about World War II and so I read lots about that, for several years. I studied Hebrew while at BYU, so read books about the Jewish culture and life. And then when I had children there were other avenues to explore. After they grew out of the Caldecott and Newberry books, they all seemed to have amazingly different interest.

The 1st daughter just loved to read. She has enjoyed fantasy books for years. Terry Brooks, C.S. Lewis, Orson Scott Card. And then she moved onto the English novels by Jane Austen and branched off from there. She does hold dear the “Anne of Green Gables” books.

The favorite son used to just read anything. He would read the encyclopedia for hours. He loved reading about LDS history and was getting the FARMS newsletters when a teen-ager. He also enjoyed the books of Stephen King (which are the only books that my children read, that I did not read with them! No horror stories for mce!) He is into Almanacs and news magazines. But his all time favorite is “The Lord of the Rings” books by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The 2nd daughter was into crime, horror, adventures, lawyer tales and etc. She read everything by Grisham, Crichton, Orson Scott Card and Robin Cook. She just loved getting into a great story. And of course had to keep up with the current craze of boy wizards, vampires and werewolves.

The 3rd daughter loved books in series. She liked keeping the same characters and them having new adventures. She loved funny and romantic books. But her specialty was cook books. She liked to read cook books! That was interesting.

The 4th daughter liked smaller, more intimate books. “The Five People You Meet In Heaven”, “For One More Day” and “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom were just her style. She loved the “Harry Potter” books by J.K. Rowling but then found the “Twilight” books by Stephenie Meyers. Lately, she has been a serious Orson Scott Card fan.

The 5th daughter only wants me to discuss her youthful favorites. They were the “Ramona” books by Beverly Cleary and all the newer series, Artemis Fowl, Lemony Snicket and etc. She ended up entranced with Sharon Creech, Jerry Spinelli and Richard Peck. But she has become a young adult and thinks all her information is very private, so mce is not share what she reads or does not?!? but will allow mce to divulge that she reads the newspaper every day and the labels of everything she eats for the nutrious and delicious values of food.

And finally me, mce. I have skipped by my dear husband, that is a post for another day. And so here you have it. My top ten list of my favorite fiction books and authors that I own and have read more than once….. And subject to change at any time….Because the more I write the more I remember….. The list gets longer and longer…..

1. “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand
2. “Breathing Lessons” by Anne Tyler and all her other books!
3. The Asian Series by James Clavell
4. “The Chosen” by Chaim Potok
5. “The Martian Chronicles” by Ray Bradbury
6. “Foucault’s Pendulum” by Umberto Eco
7. “To The Hilt” by Dick Francis and all his other books
8. “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe
9. “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas
10. “The Giant Joshua” by Maurine Whipple
11. “Added Upon” by Nephi Anderson
12. “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier
13. “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle

I was fortunate to grow up in a reading family. Until the day he died, my father was reading books (with large print and sometimes a magnifying glass.) My mother continues to study literature with a small group. My sisters all belong to book groups. My children all read and I hope that the tradition continues with the Grands.

So now I am putting the books I have read on a list and starting the count. And I am an amazing list maker, and the list is already 7 pages long. Because the article that I read this week, suggested that you read 1,000 books before you die. And I think I have already gone way over that, so now have decided on the mce goal of 10,000 books while you live !!!