Persuasion / Jane Austen / 290 pages

Bonus categories: Audiobook, Stories with a TV/movie adaptation

This was a re-read for me--one of my favorite novels by Jane Austen. I listened to two different versions, one from Dreamscape Media on Hoopla and one from Blackstone Publishing on Overdrive and preferred the latter, narrated by Nadia May, though both were well-done.

The premise of the story is this: Eight years before the novel begins, Anne Elliot is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that she is too young and inexperienced for such a match. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. When Wentworth returns from sea eight years later as a rich and successful captain, he and Anne are thrown into company again by mutual friends who know nothing of the previous events. Anne has the pain of witnessing Captain Wentworth wooing other women while she herself is being pursued by interested men, and the story sifts through various changes until the quick and dizzying conclusion!

Jane Austen has always been one of my favorite authors because of her ironic observations on social custom, love, and marriage. In Persuasion even more than her other novels, we see the differences of rank and situation found in Regency English society and what all those differences entail. There are also many observations on life and society in the English countryside versus Bath, and I would recommend this to anyone with a love for classic British literature or a curiosity about life among the gentility of early 19th-century England.

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of THE PRINCESS BRIDE / Cary Elwes / 272 pages / 6 discs

  I had the joy of introducing my husband to THE PRINCESS BRIDE and then we both had the pleasure of showing the movie to our kids. It is one of our favorites and will quote pages of dialogue at each other. This book or CD is a great companion piece for the whole family. The CD has several of the actors telling their personal stories or reactions to what Elwes is describing at that particular time. It is truly a must read/have for movie fans.
  With the movie celebrating its 25th anniversary, the cast gathered for a showing in New York. Elwes was struck by how the actors were reminiscing about favorite lines, fan requests or impact on their professional lives. He decided to put down on paper what this movie meant not only to him personally but the everyone involved. So we have the beginning of the whole affair from the advent of the script(s) to the reception world wide upon release. I didn't realize it but this was the first major film for Robin Wright. Cary Elwes had been in movies but not as the leading man carrying the whole film. I had a smile on my face the entire time I listened to this. What a great trip down memory lane that I will come back to again and again.

6 Degrees of Reading: Young Frankenstein: A Mel Brooks Book: The Story of Making the Film by Mel Brooks, In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem and Fun in the Sandbox by Carol Burnett, My Mother was Nuts by Penny Marshall.

Star Wars: The Princess, The Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy / Alexandra Bracken / 317 pgs

A great retelling of "Star Wars: A New Hope" adapted for children.  It was even more exciting to listen to the audio recording as there were added sounds for the special effects.  Alexandra Bracken stayed very close to the source material, but gives insight into what the characters are thinking, which cannot be conveyed on screen.

Highly recommended to get your kiddo ready for the next Star Wars movie.  Or, if they are already a fan of Star Wars this easy read would be a great way to introduce them to novels.

Star Trek Countdown / JJ Abrams / 104 pages

This was a great graphic novel representation of the prequel of the Star Trek movie that was released in 2009. It gives a lot of background information so that the movie makes more sense. Great book, interesting, and well-designed.

The Lucky One/Nicholas Sparks/326 pgs

While in Iraq, U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman buried in the dirt. Unable to locate the owner of the picture he decides to keep it and he experiences a sudden streak of luck - winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat. Only his best friend, Victor, has an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph  - it is his  lucky charm.

Once home, he can't get the woman in the photograph out of his mind and he sets out on a walking journey across the country to find her. Once he finds her in North Carolina and gets a job working at the kennel owned by her family, he is attracted to her and decides to keep the photo and his luck a secret.

I decided to read this after hearing about the movie - it is a good love story

The Killing Game/Iris Johansen/355 pgs

This is the second title in the Eve Duncan series and I liked this one more than the first. Eve is still obsessed with finding Bonnie's body but in this one it is getting better. Eve is still living on an island with Logan but Joe has called - there has been some bodies discovered and one is a young girl. But there is a complication - the skull has been stolen and the murderer is now calling Eve and telling her that it is Bonnie and he killed her. The murderer wants Eve to play his twisted little game and now save the life of another girl.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - 294 Pages

Book Discussion title at Kathryn Linnemann

This is another book that I consider 'book club gold'. There was so much to discuss in this book - many of us had not heard of the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup in France during World War II. Without giving too much away, the book switches back in forth in time from Nazi-occupied France to 2002 (60th anniversary of this incident). Old family secrets and modern domestic issues blend together in a suspenseful, well-told story. If you enjoy World War II fiction, historical fiction, or just an all-around great book, you'll love Sarah's Key.

Our discussion covered everything from the Holocaust to reincarnation. Now how's that for variety?

Happy Reading!

A motion picture based on Sarah's Key was released in 2010, see Internet Movie Database at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1668200/

Discussion questions available from Reading Group Guides at: http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_S/sarahs_key1.asp#discuss

Melanie - KL Book Club

Soul Surfer/Bethany Hamilton/288 pgs

I had watched the movie first and then decided to read the book. It is a good book but can tend to get a little preachy, if you are not a believer. That didn't bother me though. The book doesn't really go into the aftermath on the shark attack - as to how her life changed. Mainly about her surfing, faith and family. Pretty quick read and this updated version has information on the making of the movie.

Northern Lights/Nora Roberts/562 pgs

Nate Burke is an ex-Baltimore cop who has moved to Lunacy, Alaska, to become their police chief after his partner is killed and he is injured. He is feeling guilty about what happened and is looking for a change. Once there he meets Meg Galloway, a bush pilot who doesn't need anyone. When a body is found on No Name Mountain, things change for both of them. Good story - made into a movie - will have to check that out too.

Midnight Bayou/Nora Roberts/352 pgs

This is another one of the books that were made into movies that I had watched during the Nora Roberts marathon. The story takes place in New Orleans in a haunted mansion. Declan Fitzgerald gives up his law career and buys the mansion to restore and live in. As soon as he moves in, he is hearing a baby cry and seeing visions of things which happened in the past. He also meets a girl, Angelina, from the bayou who just happens to be related to one of the ghosts. The story takes place in both the past - 1900 (the background regarding what happened in the mansion) and in current time - what is happening with Declan and Angelina.

P.S. I Love You/Cecelia Ahern/375 pgs

I had watched the movie when it came out and decided I wanted to see how it compared with the book. The book takes place in Ireland and the storyline is basically the same - Holly's husband Gerry dies young from a brain tumor and leaves her 10 envelopes to open - one each month for the rest of the year. Gerry had always joked that he would leave her a list of things that she would need to do if he died because he didn't believe that she would be able to manage without him. In the envelopes, there are things she must do that month and they are all signed P.S. I Love You. Another difference is her family is her support system not her friends but I totally enjoyed the book.

A Good Year/Peter Mayle/287 pgs

Max Skinner works in the London's financial district and he likes his job but hates his boss. When his boss steals a very good client from him, he quits his job and is wondering what he is going to do now. He happens to receive a letter from a french lawyer who informs him that he is now the owner of his uncle's vineyard in France, so he decides to go check it now. He ends up meeting a couple of women - one good one not so good and solving a mystery regarding the vineyard. The audio version was very enjoyable especially if you would not know how to pronounce the French - like me. I enjoyed the book and will now have to find the DVD of the movie - starring Russell Crowe!

The Help/Kathryn Stockett/451 pgs

I had tried to read this book but was not able to get into it. So I decided to see if I could have a better chance listening to it. I am glad I did. This is a excellent story and the audio version is much easier to get into. The story takes place into Jackson Mississippi in the early sixties - a time of turmoil in that area. Skeeter has just returned from college - Old Miss - and wants to be a writer. She has gotten a job writing a column for the local paper on house cleaning - something she knows nothing about. So she asks her best friend's maid, a black woman, for help and they end up deciding to work on a book regarding how it is to be a black maid working in a white household in Jackson Mississippi in secret. I am looking forward to the movie when it comes out

Montana Sky/Nora Roberts/440 pgs

Three sisters meet for the first time at their father's funeral. They are told that to inherit the ranch in Montana worth over 20 million dollars they must live there together for 1 year. They decide to do so and have to deal with romance and murder. I had decided to read this after watching the movie during a Nora Roberts movie marathon.

Something Borrowed/Emily Giffin/322 pgs

Emily, who has always been the "Good Girl", has a little too much to drink on the evening before her 30th birthday. She ends up in bed with her best friend, Rachel's fiance. She is determined to make sure it doesn't happen again, but finds out that life doesn't always happen the way you want it to. She find herself in love with Dex and is not sure how to handle it. The story is enjoyable and I will now have to see the movie of the same title.

Miracles Happen: the Brooke Ellison story/Brooke and Jean Ellison/261 pgs

This is the story of Brooke Ellison who is struck by a car on the first day of 7th grade and paralyzed from the neck down. With the help of her mom, Jean, she graduates from Harvard 10 years later. The book is about what they both went thru to get to that point. This book was made into a A&E movie that as directed by Christopher Reeve.

I Beat the Odds/Oher, Michael/250 pgs

I had really enjoyed the movie "The Blind Side" so I decided to read this book to see how true it had been and I was interested in the rest of his story. I was not disappointed. The movie had made some changes to the story but the basics were there. The book starts with Michael's childhood (before the movie) and goes through after his being drafted. This story is about a boy who knew what he wanted from his life but wasn't sure how to do it and the people he meets and who help him out along the way. It is more than just the story of the Touhys and Michael because there were others who helped him out. It is also a story about his paying it forward - he is wanting to help other kids living in the same conditions that he grew up in and he gives ideas on how make it out of the ghetto.

I Am Number Four/Pittacus Lore/440 pgs.

This is a YA science fiction book about aliens sent to Earth, after escaping the planet, Lorien, which was being destroyed by the Mogadorians. The aliens, who look like humans, are on Earth to develop their powers (Legacies) in order to overcome the Mogadorians who have come to Earth to destroy them. The fate of Lorien and Earth depends on these aliens, who are known by their numbers. This volume is about Number 4, also known as John Smith, a fifteen year-old boy currently living in Paradise, Ohio. The story is told through the voice of John,who is very believable as a typical fifteen year-old-boy, albeit an alien. Very entertaining and suspenseful--I look forward to the next volume!