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Go Back   SnitchSeeker.com > Forums > Floo Network (Extra Fun) > The Book Seekers (Book Club) > Book of the Moment


Book of the Moment Join us to read and discuss the current and past books of the moment!

View Poll Results: Vote for your pick for the March/April BOTM!
"Cilka's Journey" by Heather Morris 0 0%
"Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Abid Khorram 1 16.67%
"Ella Minnow Pea" by Mark Dunn 2 33.33%
"Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier 3 50.00%
"The Weight of Our Sky" by Hanna Alkaf 0 0%
Voters: 6. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 05-12-2019, 11:33 PM
natekka natekka is offline
 
Default Book of the Moment

Every two months, a thread will be opened for the Book of the Moment. Everyone will have a month to read the book (or longer if necessary) and the discussion will begin the following month. Members can nominate books for future BotMs and will also have a chance to vote on which books gets chosen. We will be reading books from a variety of genres – hopefully, this means that there will be something for everyone!

Announcements will be posted in this thread to let you know when voting is open and which books have been chosen. If you don't want to miss anything, make sure you subscribe to this thread!

How can I get involved with Book of the Moment?
  • You can nominate up to three books for Book of the Moment.
    • Nominations are always open.
    • If a book you nominated is chosen, you can then nominate another.
    • If your books aren't chosen, they will remain as options for future months.
  • Nominations are listed here. Please read through the existing nominations and past BotMs, so the same book isn't nominated twice.
  • Nominations should be sent via PM to Bazinga, Felixir AND Lissy Longbottom (yes, all three!) with the title ‘Book of the Month Nomination(s)’. You MUST include the title, author, genre and age rating of the books in order for your nominations to be considered, as well as any sensitive topics you books include.
    • Ratings up to Sa16+ are allowed. Check here for more information on our Rating System and Sensitive Topics.
  • You – yes, you! – will have a say in choosing every BotM! Stay tuned to find out how.
If you have any questions, send a PM to Bazinga, Felixir or Lissy Longbottom.
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Old 08-19-2020, 01:47 PM   #26 (permalink)
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Voting for Book of the Month (September 2020) is now OPEN!



Genre: Assorted

Quote:
Your options are:

Circe by Madeline Miller (Sa16+)
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (Sa13+)
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (Sa16+)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (Sa9+)


SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!!
Circe: violence, rape (mentioned), swearing.
Northern Lights: war, kidnapping.
On the Come Up: racism, violence, poverty, drugs, swearing.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: war, animal cruelty.


Vote for the book you want us to read and discuss in September using the poll in this thread! The result will be posted on August 26th. Don't forget that you can still send in book nominations for future BotMs.

If you have any questions, PM natekka, Harron Peasley or Stormdancer.
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Old 10-03-2020, 10:19 AM   #27 (permalink)
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Our October Book of the Month is...

Circe by Madeline Miller.



Perhaps there are books that you would love for us to read and discuss together in this book club. Why not submit a book or two (or three) to be considered for future BotMs? And finally, if you haven't already, sign up for The Book Seekers' Reading Challenge 2020 and give yourself an extra reading challenge this year!

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Old 11-03-2020, 09:46 PM   #28 (permalink)
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Hogwarts RPG Name:
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November 2020

As the year draws to a close, we have decided not to have a Book of the Month for this month. Instead, we'd love you to turn your attention to your Reading Challenge! Whether you've got one book to go or seven, we wanted to give you the opportunity to catch up and see how many you can finish before the New Year is upon us!

If you've finished, why not take a look at one of our previous BotM's that you may not have had a chance to get to? We'd love to hear your thoughts in all of those discussions, too!

And, as always, we would absolutely LOVE your recommendations for future books.

If you have any questions, PM natekka, Harron Peasley or Stormdancer.
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Old 12-07-2020, 12:48 AM   #29 (permalink)
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Announcement

Hello, Book Seekers!

As you may have noticed, we have made some changes around here...

Book of the Month is no more! We decided that reading and discussing a book every month was too much for all of us to keep up and actively engage with. Time really does fly, after all. So, instead, we’re introducing Book of the Moment, which even has its own nifty sub-forum where you can find all our past Book of the Month discussions. For the most part, things will run the same as before. The main differences are that, instead of reading and discussing a book every month, we’ll be spreading the fun over two months (one month for reading and a month for discussing), and we will be opening voting further in advance to give everyone more time to acquire the books.

Voting for the first two or three books of the year will be opening on December 17th, which means that right now is the perfect time for you to submit your nominations for Book of the Moment. All previous nominations for Book of the Month are included. If you don’t nominate books now, you won’t have the opportunity for your nominations to be selected until April at the earliest. You can find instructions for nominating books here. Be aware, though, that we will only be including nominations in the upcoming vote that a mod or admin has read. This is to ensure that the books are appropriate for us to read.

If you have any questions, PM natekka, Harron Peasley or Lissy Longbottom.

We hope you're all as excited as we are for another year of reading and discussing books together!
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Old 12-16-2020, 05:10 PM   #30 (permalink)
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Hogwarts RPG Name:
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Hogwarts RPG Name:
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International Cooperation

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Voting for our January-February BotM and March-April BotM is now OPEN!


The two books with the most votes will be selected as our first two Books of the Moment. Below you will find instructions on how to vote and all the nominations you can choose from. We have included the descriptions from Goodreads as well as any content warnings that we're aware of. If you have any questions, feel free to PM one of the book club mods.

Instructions:
  • You can vote for a maximum of three books from the list of nominations.
  • You ARE allowed to vote for books that you nominated.
  • The order you list the books in won't be taken into account.
  • PM the title(s) of the chosen book(s) to Harron Peasley, Lissy Longbottom and/or natekka.
  • Voting closes on December 31st.

Nominations

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she'll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?

One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru's doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don't believe her claim that the museum's Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again.

But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it's up to Aru to save them.

The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Instances of death and violence.

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Cilka Klein is 18 years old when Auschwitz-Birkenau is liberated by Soviet soldiers. But Cilka is one of the many women who is sentenced to a labor camp on charges of having helped the Nazis--with no consideration of the circumstances Cilka and women like her found themselves in as they struggled to survive. Once at the Vorkuta gulag in Sibera, where she is to serve her 15-year sentence, Cilka uses her wits, charm, and beauty to survive.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death, violence. It's about the Holocaust and things that happened after and has very explicit details about things that happened.

Cursed by Thomas Wheeler and Frank Miller
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Whosoever wields the Sword of Power shall be the one true King.

But what if the Sword has chosen a Queen?

Nimue grew up an outcast. Her connection to dark magic made her something to be feared in her Druid village, and that made her desperate to leave…

That is, until her entire village is slaughtered by Red Paladins, and Nimue’s fate is forever altered. Charged by her dying mother to reunite an ancient sword with a legendary sorcerer, Nimue is now her people’s only hope. Her mission leaves little room for revenge, but the growing power within her can think of little else.

Nimue teams up with a charming mercenary named Arthur and refugee Fey Folk from across England. She wields a sword meant for the one true king, battling paladins and the armies of a corrupt king. She struggles to unite her people, avenge her family, and discover the truth about her destiny.

But perhaps the one thing that can change Destiny itself is found at the edge of a blade.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Descriptions of death, violence, blood and gore.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Abid Khorram
Genre: Contemporary | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran.

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it's pretty overwhelming—especially when he's also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.

Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what's going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understands that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.

Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. When it's time to go home to America, he'll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Descriptions of bullying and depression; references to violence.

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Genre: Fiction | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island's Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl's fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.

*pangram: a sentence or phrase that includes all the letters of the alphabet

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

The Gender Game by Bella Forrest
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A toxic river divides nineteen-year-old Violet Bates's world by gender.

Women rule the East. Men rule the West.

Welcome to the lands of Matrus and Patrus.

Ever since the disappearance of her beloved younger brother, Violet's life has been consumed by an anger she struggles to control. Already a prisoner to her own nation, now she has been sentenced to death for her crimes.

But one decision could save her life.

To enter the kingdom of Patrus, where men rule and women submit.

Everything about the patriarchy is dangerous for a rebellious girl like Violet. She cannot break the rules if she wishes to stay alive.

But abiding by rules has never been Violet's strong suit.

When she's thrust into more danger than she could have ever predicted, Violet is forced to sacrifice many things in the forbidden kingdom ... including forbidden love.

In a world divided by gender, only the strongest survive...

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Mentions of blood and gore.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox—the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio G. Iturbe
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this is the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust.

Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the camp. When Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious volumes the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the librarian of Auschwitz.

Out of one of the darkest chapters of human history comes this extraordinary story of courage and hope.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
It's about the Holocaust and has very explicit details about things that happened there.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Narnia...the land beyond the wardrobe door, a secret place frozen in eternal winter, a magical country waiting to be set free.

Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first her brothers and sister don't believe her when she tells of her visit to the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund, then Peter and Susan step through the wardrobe themselves. In Narnia they find a country buried under the evil enchantment of the White Witch. When they meet the Lion Aslan, they realize they've been called to a great adventure and bravely join the battle to free Narnia from the Witch's sinister spell.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Genre: Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death (natural causes) and mention of attempted suicide.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Genre: Classics | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence, but not overt.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Murder/death and suicide.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. By all rights their paths should never cross, but Achilles takes the shamed prince as his friend, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles' mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But then word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus journeys with Achilles to Troy, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence/gore, mention of rape (but no actual rape scenes).

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Set in the days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time—from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains—this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence. Death, as it's about a pandemic. Blood, potentially.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.

Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death, violence. It's about the Holocaust and has very explicit details about things that happened there. Mentions of sexual assult/rape.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Genre: Non-Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naïve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death (natural causes), cancer, descriptions of medical procedures.



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Old 01-01-2021, 05:52 PM   #31 (permalink)
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Join Date: Feb 2011
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Posts: 16,721

Hogwarts RPG Name:
Jade Archer de Leon
Slytherin
First Year

Hogwarts RPG Name:
Olive Gracae-Ryans
Hufflepuff
Fifth Year

Ministry RPG Name:
Clara Rider (née Wilde)
International Cooperation

Ministry RPG Name:
Riley Archer de Leon
Mysteries
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Our January-February Book of the Moment is...

A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman



Get your hands on a copy of the book and read with us in January, ready to discuss it in February! The discussion for A Man Called Ove is open now.

For our March-April Book of the Moment, there was a five-way TIE, so we've added a poll to this thread with the narrowed down options. You have until January 8th to vote for which book you want to read and discuss in March-April.

Thank you and Happy New Year!

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Old 02-03-2021, 04:23 PM   #32 (permalink)
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Hogwarts RPG Name:
Jade Archer de Leon
Slytherin
First Year

Hogwarts RPG Name:
Olive Gracae-Ryans
Hufflepuff
Fifth Year

Ministry RPG Name:
Clara Rider (née Wilde)
International Cooperation

Ministry RPG Name:
Riley Archer de Leon
Mysteries
Default
Little Fox | ½ of Lauralie | Ravenclaw with a Hufflepuff heart and a Gryffindor soul | #HouseNATARIANA


Our March/April Book of the Moment is...

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak



We ended up with a tie between The Book Thief and Paul Kalanithi's When Breath Becomes Air, so we used a random number generator to select a book for us. Get your hands on a copy of the The Book Thief now, ready to start reading with us in March! The discussion will take place in April.

The thread for our current BotM, which is A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman, is still open and we're about to dive into the book discussion.
__________________
Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You?

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Old 03-27-2021, 09:05 AM   #33 (permalink)
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Join Date: Feb 2011
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Hogwarts RPG Name:
Jade Archer de Leon
Slytherin
First Year

Hogwarts RPG Name:
Olive Gracae-Ryans
Hufflepuff
Fifth Year

Ministry RPG Name:
Clara Rider (née Wilde)
International Cooperation

Ministry RPG Name:
Riley Archer de Leon
Mysteries
Default
Little Fox | ½ of Lauralie | Ravenclaw with a Hufflepuff heart and a Gryffindor soul | #HouseNATARIANA


Voting for our May/June BotM and July/August BotM is now OPEN!

The two books with the most votes will be selected as our next two Books of the Moment. You can cast your vote using the poll in this thread. Below you will find our rules for voting and all the nominations you can choose from. We have included the descriptions from Goodreads as well as any content warnings that we're aware of. If you have any questions, feel free to PM one of the book club mods.

Rules:
  • You can vote for a maximum of three books from the list of nominations.
  • You ARE allowed to vote for books that you nominated.
  • Voting closes on April 15th.

Nominations

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she'll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?

One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru's doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don't believe her claim that the museum's Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again.

But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it's up to Aru to save them.

The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Cilka Klein is 18 years old when Auschwitz-Birkenau is liberated by Soviet soldiers. But Cilka is one of the many women who is sentenced to a labor camp on charges of having helped the Nazis--with no consideration of the circumstances Cilka and women like her found themselves in as they struggled to survive. Once at the Vorkuta gulag in Sibera, where she is to serve her 15-year sentence, Cilka uses her wits, charm, and beauty to survive.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death, violence. It's about the Holocaust and things that happened after and has very explicit details about things that happened.

Cursed by Thomas Wheeler and Frank Miller
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Whosoever wields the Sword of Power shall be the one true King.

But what if the Sword has chosen a Queen?

Nimue grew up an outcast. Her connection to dark magic made her something to be feared in her Druid village, and that made her desperate to leave…

That is, until her entire village is slaughtered by Red Paladins, and Nimue’s fate is forever altered. Charged by her dying mother to reunite an ancient sword with a legendary sorcerer, Nimue is now her people’s only hope. Her mission leaves little room for revenge, but the growing power within her can think of little else.

Nimue teams up with a charming mercenary named Arthur and refugee Fey Folk from across England. She wields a sword meant for the one true king, battling paladins and the armies of a corrupt king. She struggles to unite her people, avenge her family, and discover the truth about her destiny.

But perhaps the one thing that can change Destiny itself is found at the edge of a blade.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Descriptions of death, violence, blood and gore.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Abid Khorram
Genre: Contemporary | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran.

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it's pretty overwhelming—especially when he's also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.

Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what's going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understands that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.

Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. When it's time to go home to America, he'll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Descriptions of bullying and depression; references to violence.

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Genre: Fiction | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island's Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl's fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.

*pangram: a sentence or phrase that includes all the letters of the alphabet

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

The Gender Game by Bella Forrest
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A toxic river divides nineteen-year-old Violet Bates's world by gender.

Women rule the East. Men rule the West.

Welcome to the lands of Matrus and Patrus.

Ever since the disappearance of her beloved younger brother, Violet's life has been consumed by an anger she struggles to control. Already a prisoner to her own nation, now she has been sentenced to death for her crimes.

But one decision could save her life.

To enter the kingdom of Patrus, where men rule and women submit.

Everything about the patriarchy is dangerous for a rebellious girl like Violet. She cannot break the rules if she wishes to stay alive.

But abiding by rules has never been Violet's strong suit.

When she's thrust into more danger than she could have ever predicted, Violet is forced to sacrifice many things in the forbidden kingdom ... including forbidden love.

In a world divided by gender, only the strongest survive...

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Mentions of blood and gore.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox—the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio G. Iturbe
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this is the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust.

Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the camp. When Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious volumes the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the librarian of Auschwitz.

Out of one of the darkest chapters of human history comes this extraordinary story of courage and hope.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
It's about the Holocaust and has very explicit details about things that happened there.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Narnia...the land beyond the wardrobe door, a secret place frozen in eternal winter, a magical country waiting to be set free.

Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first her brothers and sister don't believe her when she tells of her visit to the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund, then Peter and Susan step through the wardrobe themselves. In Narnia they find a country buried under the evil enchantment of the White Witch. When they meet the Lion Aslan, they realize they've been called to a great adventure and bravely join the battle to free Narnia from the Witch's sinister spell.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Choose: A quick death… or slow poison...

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear...

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Rape in the past, attempted rape, mentioning of sexual assault, captivity, torture, violence, kidnapping, thoughts of suicide, and the misgendering of a trans character.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Genre: Classics | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence, but not overt.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Murder/death and suicide.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. By all rights their paths should never cross, but Achilles takes the shamed prince as his friend, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles' mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But then word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus journeys with Achilles to Troy, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence/gore, mention of rape (but no actual rape scenes).

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Set in the days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time—from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains—this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence. Death, as it's about a pandemic. Blood, potentially.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.

Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death, violence. It's about the Holocaust and has very explicit details about things that happened there. Mentions of sexual assult/rape.

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A music-loving teen with OCD does everything she can to find her way back to her mother during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this heart-pounding literary debut.

Melati Ahmad looks like your typical moviegoing, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.

But there are things that Melati can't protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 1969, racial tensions in her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over. The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames.

With a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
As written by the author herself: "it's contents include graphic violence, an on-page death, racism, OCD, and anxiety triggers."

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Genre: Non-Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naïve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death (natural causes), cancer, descriptions of medical procedures.


__________________
Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You?

You are Honey!

Last edited by natekka; 04-01-2021 at 09:40 AM.
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Old 04-17-2021, 01:56 PM   #34 (permalink)
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Wales
Posts: 16,721

Hogwarts RPG Name:
Jade Archer de Leon
Slytherin
First Year

Hogwarts RPG Name:
Olive Gracae-Ryans
Hufflepuff
Fifth Year

Ministry RPG Name:
Clara Rider (née Wilde)
International Cooperation

Ministry RPG Name:
Riley Archer de Leon
Mysteries
Default
Little Fox | ½ of Lauralie | Ravenclaw with a Hufflepuff heart and a Gryffindor soul | #HouseNATARIANA


ROUND 2!

Voting for our May/June BotM and July/August BotM is now OPEN!

We had a six-way tie in the last vote so we need to do a second round of voting. The two books with the most votes will be selected as our next two Books of the Moment. You can cast your vote using the poll in this thread. Below you will find our rules for voting and all the nominations you can choose from. We have included the descriptions from Goodreads as well as any content warnings that we're aware of. If you have any questions, feel free to PM one of the book club mods.

Rules:
  • You can vote for a maximum of TWO books from the list of nominations.
  • You ARE allowed to vote for books that you nominated.
  • Voting closes on April 24th.

Nominations

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she'll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?

One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru's doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don't believe her claim that the museum's Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again.

But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it's up to Aru to save them.

The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

The Gender Game by Bella Forrest
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A toxic river divides nineteen-year-old Violet Bates's world by gender.

Women rule the East. Men rule the West.

Welcome to the lands of Matrus and Patrus.

Ever since the disappearance of her beloved younger brother, Violet's life has been consumed by an anger she struggles to control. Already a prisoner to her own nation, now she has been sentenced to death for her crimes.

But one decision could save her life.

To enter the kingdom of Patrus, where men rule and women submit.

Everything about the patriarchy is dangerous for a rebellious girl like Violet. She cannot break the rules if she wishes to stay alive.

But abiding by rules has never been Violet's strong suit.

When she's thrust into more danger than she could have ever predicted, Violet is forced to sacrifice many things in the forbidden kingdom ... including forbidden love.

In a world divided by gender, only the strongest survive...

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Mentions of blood and gore.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox—the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Choose: A quick death… or slow poison...

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear...

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Rape in the past, attempted rape, mentioning of sexual assault, captivity, torture, violence, kidnapping, thoughts of suicide, and the misgendering of a trans character.

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A music-loving teen with OCD does everything she can to find her way back to her mother during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this heart-pounding literary debut.

Melati Ahmad looks like your typical moviegoing, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.

But there are things that Melati can't protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 1969, racial tensions in her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over. The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames.

With a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
As written by the author herself: "it's contents include graphic violence, an on-page death, racism, OCD, and anxiety triggers."

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Genre: Non-Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naïve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death (natural causes), cancer, descriptions of medical procedures.


__________________
Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You?

You are Honey!
natekka is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-05-2021, 10:22 AM   #35 (permalink)
Dark Force Defense League

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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Wales
Posts: 16,721

Hogwarts RPG Name:
Jade Archer de Leon
Slytherin
First Year

Hogwarts RPG Name:
Olive Gracae-Ryans
Hufflepuff
Fifth Year

Ministry RPG Name:
Clara Rider (née Wilde)
International Cooperation

Ministry RPG Name:
Riley Archer de Leon
Mysteries
Default
Little Fox | ½ of Lauralie | Ravenclaw with a Hufflepuff heart and a Gryffindor soul | #HouseNATARIANA


Our May/June Book of the Moment is...

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi



Our July/August Book of the Moment is...

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams



Our apologises for the delay in announcing the next two Books of the Moment. We were just finalising a couple of things. As you might have noticed, there is a shiny new thread in the Book of the Moment sub-forum. That thread is for discussing your spoiler free (!!!) thoughts on our current (and past) BotMs. Moving forward, we're going to try having a spoiler-free free discussion (always in that new thread) and a spoiler-y discussion for each BotM. The discussion threads for individual BotMs will be the ones that contain spoilers. The schedule of having one month to read the book and one month to discuss the book will remain the same, it's just the threads that are different. Which thread you post in will depend on whether what you're wanting to say contain spoilers or not, but you're welcome to post in both threads at the same time.

Hopefully this isn't too confusing. If you do have any questions, feel free to PM a Book Club Mod and they will do their best to answer them. Thank you again for your patience!

Oh, and CLICK HERE for the discussion thread for When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. The official discussion will begin on June 1st. Happy reading, Book Seekers!
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Old 08-25-2021, 09:46 PM   #36 (permalink)
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Voting for our September/October BotM and November/December BotM is now OPEN!

The two books with the most votes will be selected as our next two Books of the Moment. You can cast your vote using the poll in this thread. Below you will find our rules for voting and all the nominations you can choose from. We have included the descriptions from Goodreads as well as any content warnings that we're aware of. If you have any questions, feel free to PM one of the book club mods.

Rules:
  • You can vote for a maximum of three books from the list of nominations.
  • You ARE allowed to vote for books that you nominated.
  • Voting closes on August 29th. I apologize that it's a bit last minute, this will allow us time to do a tie-breaker if necessary!

Nominations

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she'll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?

One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru's doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don't believe her claim that the museum's Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again.

But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it's up to Aru to save them.

The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Cilka Klein is 18 years old when Auschwitz-Birkenau is liberated by Soviet soldiers. But Cilka is one of the many women who is sentenced to a labor camp on charges of having helped the Nazis--with no consideration of the circumstances Cilka and women like her found themselves in as they struggled to survive. Once at the Vorkuta gulag in Sibera, where she is to serve her 15-year sentence, Cilka uses her wits, charm, and beauty to survive.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death, violence. It's about the Holocaust and things that happened after and has very explicit details about things that happened.

Cursed by Thomas Wheeler and Frank Miller
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Whosoever wields the Sword of Power shall be the one true King.

But what if the Sword has chosen a Queen?

Nimue grew up an outcast. Her connection to dark magic made her something to be feared in her Druid village, and that made her desperate to leave…

That is, until her entire village is slaughtered by Red Paladins, and Nimue’s fate is forever altered. Charged by her dying mother to reunite an ancient sword with a legendary sorcerer, Nimue is now her people’s only hope. Her mission leaves little room for revenge, but the growing power within her can think of little else.

Nimue teams up with a charming mercenary named Arthur and refugee Fey Folk from across England. She wields a sword meant for the one true king, battling paladins and the armies of a corrupt king. She struggles to unite her people, avenge her family, and discover the truth about her destiny.

But perhaps the one thing that can change Destiny itself is found at the edge of a blade.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Descriptions of death, violence, blood and gore.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Abid Khorram
Genre: Contemporary | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran.

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it's pretty overwhelming—especially when he's also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.

Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what's going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understands that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.

Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. When it's time to go home to America, he'll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Descriptions of bullying and depression; references to violence.

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Genre: Fiction | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island's Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl's fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.

*pangram: a sentence or phrase that includes all the letters of the alphabet

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

The Gender Game by Bella Forrest
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A toxic river divides nineteen-year-old Violet Bates's world by gender.

Women rule the East. Men rule the West.

Welcome to the lands of Matrus and Patrus.

Ever since the disappearance of her beloved younger brother, Violet's life has been consumed by an anger she struggles to control. Already a prisoner to her own nation, now she has been sentenced to death for her crimes.

But one decision could save her life.

To enter the kingdom of Patrus, where men rule and women submit.

Everything about the patriarchy is dangerous for a rebellious girl like Violet. She cannot break the rules if she wishes to stay alive.

But abiding by rules has never been Violet's strong suit.

When she's thrust into more danger than she could have ever predicted, Violet is forced to sacrifice many things in the forbidden kingdom ... including forbidden love.

In a world divided by gender, only the strongest survive...

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Mentions of blood and gore.

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio G. Iturbe
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this is the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust.

Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the camp. When Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious volumes the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the librarian of Auschwitz.

Out of one of the darkest chapters of human history comes this extraordinary story of courage and hope.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
It's about the Holocaust and has very explicit details about things that happened there.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Narnia...the land beyond the wardrobe door, a secret place frozen in eternal winter, a magical country waiting to be set free.

Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first her brothers and sister don't believe her when she tells of her visit to the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund, then Peter and Susan step through the wardrobe themselves. In Narnia they find a country buried under the evil enchantment of the White Witch. When they meet the Lion Aslan, they realize they've been called to a great adventure and bravely join the battle to free Narnia from the Witch's sinister spell.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Choose: A quick death… or slow poison...

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear...

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Rape in the past, attempted rape, mentioning of sexual assault, captivity, torture, violence, kidnapping, thoughts of suicide, and the misgendering of a trans character.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Genre: Classics | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence, but not overt.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Murder/death and suicide.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. By all rights their paths should never cross, but Achilles takes the shamed prince as his friend, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles' mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But then word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus journeys with Achilles to Troy, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence/gore, mention of rape (but no actual rape scenes).

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Set in the days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time—from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains—this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence. Death, as it's about a pandemic. Blood, potentially.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.

Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death, violence. It's about the Holocaust and has very explicit details about things that happened there. Mentions of sexual assult/rape.

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A music-loving teen with OCD does everything she can to find her way back to her mother during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this heart-pounding literary debut.

Melati Ahmad looks like your typical moviegoing, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.

But there are things that Melati can't protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 1969, racial tensions in her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over. The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames.

With a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
As written by the author herself: "it's contents include graphic violence, an on-page death, racism, OCD, and anxiety triggers."



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I'm still standin'________________________________________ better than I ever did

Lookin' like a true survivor_________________________________feelin' like a little kid
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Old 09-03-2021, 08:13 PM   #37 (permalink)
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Hogwarts RPG Name:
Moritz Schultz (#0f667e)
Ravenclaw
Seventh Year

Hogwarts RPG Name:
Nancy Schultz (#ac6f77)
Hufflepuff
Fourth Year

Ministry RPG Name:
Jabari Rahal (#c54031)
Mysteries

Ministry RPG Name:
Calloway Bennigan (#b8b323)
Accidents & Catastrophes
x11 x1
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curly haired prefect - "sometimes I get angry!" - 30/90 - *chicken emoji* - probably @ Disney - I speak dog


Our September/October Book of the Moment is...

Poison Study by Maria V Snyder



Our July/August Book of the Moment is...

TBD! We have ANOTHER TIE!

'Poison Study' won the majority of votes, but we still need to determine the final pick for our November/December discussion! This last poll will determine the last book for the year and will be open for a whole week this time. Make your final vote count!
__________________
I'm still standin'________________________________________ better than I ever did

Lookin' like a true survivor_________________________________feelin' like a little kid
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Old 11-27-2021, 05:40 PM   #38 (permalink)
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Join Date: Jul 2003
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Hogwarts RPG Name:
Moritz Schultz (#0f667e)
Ravenclaw
Seventh Year

Hogwarts RPG Name:
Nancy Schultz (#ac6f77)
Hufflepuff
Fourth Year

Ministry RPG Name:
Jabari Rahal (#c54031)
Mysteries

Ministry RPG Name:
Calloway Bennigan (#b8b323)
Accidents & Catastrophes
x11 x1
Default
curly haired prefect - "sometimes I get angry!" - 30/90 - *chicken emoji* - probably @ Disney - I speak dog


Can you believe it's almost 2022?? Voting for our January/February and March/April BOTM is now OPEN!

The two books with the most votes will be selected as our next two Books of the Moment. You can cast your vote using the poll in this thread. Below you will find our rules for voting and all the nominations you can choose from. We have included the descriptions from Goodreads as well as any content warnings that we're aware of. If you have any questions, feel free to PM one of the book club mods.

Rules:
  • You can vote for a maximum of three books from the list of nominations.
  • You ARE allowed to vote for books that you nominated.
  • Voting closes on December 18th. This allows for time to figure out a tie breaker poll if necessary.

Nominations

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she'll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?

One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru's doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don't believe her claim that the museum's Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again.

But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it's up to Aru to save them.

The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Cilka Klein is 18 years old when Auschwitz-Birkenau is liberated by Soviet soldiers. But Cilka is one of the many women who is sentenced to a labor camp on charges of having helped the Nazis--with no consideration of the circumstances Cilka and women like her found themselves in as they struggled to survive. Once at the Vorkuta gulag in Sibera, where she is to serve her 15-year sentence, Cilka uses her wits, charm, and beauty to survive.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death, violence. It's about the Holocaust and things that happened after and has very explicit details about things that happened.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Abid Khorram
Genre: Contemporary | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran.

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it's pretty overwhelming—especially when he's also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.

Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what's going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understands that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.

Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. When it's time to go home to America, he'll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Descriptions of bullying and depression; references to violence.

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Genre: Fiction | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island's Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl's fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.

*pangram: a sentence or phrase that includes all the letters of the alphabet

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

The Gender Game by Bella Forrest
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A toxic river divides nineteen-year-old Violet Bates's world by gender.

Women rule the East. Men rule the West.

Welcome to the lands of Matrus and Patrus.

Ever since the disappearance of her beloved younger brother, Violet's life has been consumed by an anger she struggles to control. Already a prisoner to her own nation, now she has been sentenced to death for her crimes.

But one decision could save her life.

To enter the kingdom of Patrus, where men rule and women submit.

Everything about the patriarchy is dangerous for a rebellious girl like Violet. She cannot break the rules if she wishes to stay alive.

But abiding by rules has never been Violet's strong suit.

When she's thrust into more danger than she could have ever predicted, Violet is forced to sacrifice many things in the forbidden kingdom ... including forbidden love.

In a world divided by gender, only the strongest survive...

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Mentions of blood and gore.

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio G. Iturbe
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this is the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust.

Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the camp. When Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious volumes the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the librarian of Auschwitz.

Out of one of the darkest chapters of human history comes this extraordinary story of courage and hope.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
It's about the Holocaust and has very explicit details about things that happened there.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Narnia...the land beyond the wardrobe door, a secret place frozen in eternal winter, a magical country waiting to be set free.

Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first her brothers and sister don't believe her when she tells of her visit to the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund, then Peter and Susan step through the wardrobe themselves. In Narnia they find a country buried under the evil enchantment of the White Witch. When they meet the Lion Aslan, they realize they've been called to a great adventure and bravely join the battle to free Narnia from the Witch's sinister spell.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Genre: Classics | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence, but not overt.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Murder/death and suicide.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Genre: Fantasy | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. By all rights their paths should never cross, but Achilles takes the shamed prince as his friend, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles' mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But then word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus journeys with Achilles to Troy, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence/gore, mention of rape (but no actual rape scenes).

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Set in the days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time—from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains—this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence. Death, as it's about a pandemic. Blood, potentially.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.

Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death, violence. It's about the Holocaust and has very explicit details about things that happened there. Mentions of sexual assult/rape.

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A music-loving teen with OCD does everything she can to find her way back to her mother during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this heart-pounding literary debut.

Melati Ahmad looks like your typical moviegoing, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.

But there are things that Melati can't protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 1969, racial tensions in her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over. The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames.

With a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
As written by the author herself: "it's contents include graphic violence, an on-page death, racism, OCD, and anxiety triggers."
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Old 12-26-2021, 07:52 PM   #39 (permalink)
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Our January/February Book of the Moment is...

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris!



Our March/April Book of the Moment is...

IT'S A TIE!

We have a tie for second place! Please vote between "The Gender Game" and "The Song of Achilles" for our second BOTM! This poll will remain open for 7 days and you only get one pick so choose wisely!
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Old 01-04-2022, 07:49 PM   #40 (permalink)
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Our March/April Book of the Moment is...

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller



After that, we'll start trying out member hosted BoTM discussions! Interested? Be sure to check out the sign up thread for more information on how to sign up!
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Old 06-26-2022, 07:00 PM   #41 (permalink)
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Voting for our July and August BOTM is now OPEN!

The book with the most votes will be selected as our next Book of the Moment. You can cast your vote using the poll in this thread. Below you will find our rules for voting and all the nominations you can choose from. We have included the descriptions from Goodreads as well as any content warnings that we're aware of. If you have any questions, feel free to PM one of the book club mods.

Rules:
  • You can vote for one book from the list of nominations.
  • You ARE allowed to vote for books that you nominated.
  • Voting closes on July 1.

Nominations

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Cilka Klein is 18 years old when Auschwitz-Birkenau is liberated by Soviet soldiers. But Cilka is one of the many women who is sentenced to a labor camp on charges of having helped the Nazis--with no consideration of the circumstances Cilka and women like her found themselves in as they struggled to survive. Once at the Vorkuta gulag in Sibera, where she is to serve her 15-year sentence, Cilka uses her wits, charm, and beauty to survive.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death, violence. It's about the Holocaust and things that happened after and has very explicit details about things that happened.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Abid Khorram
Genre: Contemporary | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran.

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it's pretty overwhelming—especially when he's also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.

Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what's going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understands that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.

Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. When it's time to go home to America, he'll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Descriptions of bullying and depression; references to violence.

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Genre: Fiction | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island's Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl's fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.

*pangram: a sentence or phrase that includes all the letters of the alphabet

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

The Gender Game by Bella Forrest
Genre: Science Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A toxic river divides nineteen-year-old Violet Bates's world by gender.

Women rule the East. Men rule the West.

Welcome to the lands of Matrus and Patrus.

Ever since the disappearance of her beloved younger brother, Violet's life has been consumed by an anger she struggles to control. Already a prisoner to her own nation, now she has been sentenced to death for her crimes.

But one decision could save her life.

To enter the kingdom of Patrus, where men rule and women submit.

Everything about the patriarchy is dangerous for a rebellious girl like Violet. She cannot break the rules if she wishes to stay alive.

But abiding by rules has never been Violet's strong suit.

When she's thrust into more danger than she could have ever predicted, Violet is forced to sacrifice many things in the forbidden kingdom ... including forbidden love.

In a world divided by gender, only the strongest survive...

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Mentions of blood and gore.



Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Genre: Classics | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence, but not overt.


The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A music-loving teen with OCD does everything she can to find her way back to her mother during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this heart-pounding literary debut.

Melati Ahmad looks like your typical moviegoing, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.

But there are things that Melati can't protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 1969, racial tensions in her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over. The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames.

With a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
As written by the author herself: "it's contents include graphic violence, an on-page death, racism, OCD, and anxiety triggers."
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Old 02-17-2023, 05:47 PM   #42 (permalink)
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Default March/April BOTM Voting
curly haired prefect - "sometimes I get angry!" - 30/90 - *chicken emoji* - probably @ Disney - I speak dog


The time has come! Voting for our March and April BOTM is now OPEN!

The book with the most votes will be selected as our next Book of the Moment. You can cast your vote using the poll in this thread. Below you will find our rules for voting and all the nominations you can choose from. We have included the descriptions from Goodreads as well as any content warnings that we're aware of. If you have any questions, feel free to PM one of the book club mods.

Rules:
  • You can vote for one book from the list of nominations.
  • You ARE allowed to vote for books that you nominated.
  • Voting closes on February 28th.

Nominations

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Cilka Klein is 18 years old when Auschwitz-Birkenau is liberated by Soviet soldiers. But Cilka is one of the many women who is sentenced to a labor camp on charges of having helped the Nazis--with no consideration of the circumstances Cilka and women like her found themselves in as they struggled to survive. Once at the Vorkuta gulag in Sibera, where she is to serve her 15-year sentence, Cilka uses her wits, charm, and beauty to survive.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Death, violence. It's about the Holocaust and things that happened after and has very explicit details about things that happened.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Abid Khorram
Genre: Contemporary | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran.

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it's pretty overwhelming—especially when he's also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.

Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what's going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understands that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.

Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. When it's time to go home to America, he'll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Descriptions of bullying and depression; references to violence.

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Genre: Fiction | Rating: Sa9+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island's Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl's fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.

*pangram: a sentence or phrase that includes all the letters of the alphabet

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
None.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Genre: Classics | Rating: Sa13+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
Violence, but not overt.


The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
Genre: Historical Fiction | Rating: Sa16+
SPOILER!!: Description and CWs
A music-loving teen with OCD does everything she can to find her way back to her mother during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this heart-pounding literary debut.

Melati Ahmad looks like your typical moviegoing, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.

But there are things that Melati can't protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 1969, racial tensions in her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over. The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames.

With a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.

SPOILER!!: CONTENT WARNINGS!
As written by the author herself: "it's contents include graphic violence, an on-page death, racism, OCD, and anxiety triggers."
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Old 03-07-2023, 04:57 PM   #43 (permalink)
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Our March/April Book of the Moment is...

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier



Discussion has been opened here. Head on over and join us in reading this classic gothic thriller!

Remember, we are always looking for new recommendations for Book of the Moment. See the first post of this thread on how to nominate your favorite book for next month!

Additionally, we always welcome sign ups for member hosted BoTM discussions! Interested? Be sure to check out the sign up thread for more information on how to volunteer!
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