Book Club Discussion--Of Sorts?

I saw on another group where they were discussing one book--kind of like a book club. Would any one be interested in that? For example each month a new YA book or YA appropriate book is dicussed. If anyone has any interest in that I would love to facilitate it and would take suggestions here for books to read.

I love that idea!

I'm in.

I'm all for it! What do you want to read?

I was thinking about starting with I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak for two reasons.

1. The high school book club I mediate is doing that one this month (that means I would be completely prepared and ready to discuss on both fronts)

2. It is a wonderful book for discussion and if you haven't read it you should!!

What do you think?

I think I can handle one more YA book per month. I'm in.

Sounds great, especially since I just read it!

I just joined today. I purchased the book a month or so ago so I have it and I'm ready to start reading a new book anyway! When do you think we'll gather to discuss?

I checked online and it is in at my library. I'll run over and take it out on Tuesday.

Sure, that book sounds good. It doesn't seem like something I would pick up on my own, which should make it even more interesting. This calls for a trip to the bookstore....

I think it should be at least a couple of weeks until the discussion, if this is going to be a once-a-month thing.

All right I am the Messenger or The Messenger, depending upon what Continent you are on, it is.

I will continue to check here for more suggestions and start a new topic with the discussion.

We definately will start the next book on December 1 and I will take suggestions for that HERE until October 31st. I will make an announcement on November 1st regarding the next book.

Hmm... another book that I've been hearing a lot about lately is Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, maybe we could read that in a future month? I even considered buying it when I went to get I am the Messenger, but I've really been trying hard to buy only books that I'll actually get around to reading in the very near future :)

I loved Peeps and Uglies has been recommended to me many times so I would have no problems doing Uglies for December.

Uglies would be a fantastic choice. It is a wonderful book. THe sequels Pretties and Specials are equally as good. I'm sure Uglies would generate a good discussion. My middle schoolers LOVE the trilogy.

The choice has been made. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is the next discussion book for this group. The book will be discussed in the month of December. I will post a new topic at the end of November to get things started.

I will also be taking suggestions for the January book here, so suggest away.

Very cool :-) I'm off to request Uglies from the library now!

Oh, good! I bought the book last week in anticipation, and I think it will be a really interesting discussion. I had to go out and buy Pretties today :)

Just put in a request for it. It sounds very interesting; I'm looking forward to reading it.

I'm going to see if I can find The Messenger in the next few days.

A suggestion for the group owner is to modify the description to say we run a 'book of the month' discussion and that to find out more see this thread (with 'this thread' made into a link for http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=2612 ?). That way new members can quickly find out more and leave suggestions.

Great idea!! Thanks for thinking of that! I will definitely adjust it and link it.

I like the additon to the group description!

I can't believe this page isn't full of suggestions for January's book... just reading the message board here, I'm always finding way too many books that I want to read.

The one that got my attention most recently is Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan, since j-brary said a coworker was shocked that she hadn't read it.

Before that I was looking at City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, since it was mentioned four times, usually with high praise, on the apocalyptic lit thread. It's also the most similarly-tagged book to Uglies (excluding Pretties and Specials), so it might make for an interesting comparison.

Someone also mentioned Terrier by Tamora Pierce, but really I have no reason for suggesting it except that I'm already planning to read it over the Christmas break, since I love most of Tamora Pierce's other Tortall books :)

There was a book suggested on another book discussion group called The China Garden by Liz Berry that I thought looked really good, but I don't think that it will be the pick for that group. So, I'll suggest it here.

I loved Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, and I don't feel like it's as well-known as it should be. It's a fast-paced coming-of-age story in a futuristic wired Africa, with lots of reflection about the place of nature in technological societies.

City of Ember is a fantastic book. I didn't like the other 2 books in that series though.

If you're looking for a GREAT book to read- try Twilight by Stephanie Meyer- you will not be able to put it down!

So what's the choice for next month?

Good question!! I haven't decided. Crazy busy with the book clubs at school and forgot that I needed to decide on that here. Sorry!! Will get back to you in a couple of days!

Here are some ideas...

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Clay by David Almond
Looking for Alaska
The House of the Scorpion
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

I'll take any that you have. I would like to have a variety of titles in a variety of genres. Otherwise anything that is written for YAs or would be of interest to YAs (Alex Award winners and others) is appropriate. I will make a decision on Friday for the January discussion. Keep your suggestions coming though because we will definately need more!
Happy reading!

How about Octavian Nothing by MT Anderson? It just won the NBA, and I've been dying to read it.

Wow, there have been a lot of suggestions now! It will be tough choosing one out of the more than 10 that have been mentioned here. Here's what I think of the suggestions:

I think it should probably be something that's available in paperback because those are generally easier to get a hold of. So that eliminates Terrier, Zahrah the Windseeker, and Clay.

The China Garden also seems hard to get (not available in the large chain bookstores in Toronto, anyway), but it also looks like a really good book so I wouldn't mind having to order it. It seems like one of the most different from the books we've read so far - some of its most prominent tags are fantasy and romance.

City of Ember is probably too similar to Uglies, and also I hadn't realized how short it is. It almost seems more like a children's book even though it's tagged young adult twice as much as children's.

The Glass Castle is also very different from what we've read in that's it's non-fiction, so that might be an interesting change.

Twilight is a completely different genre too, and I'd love to read it, but there's already a long discussion about it in this group so we probably don't need another.

As for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, I'd personally rather not read books that are so incredibly popular. I already know plenty of people who I can discuss that book with, so it doesn't seem necessary to read it for a book club. Maybe other people would prefer to read really popular books, though.

I think The House of the Scorpion looks really interesting, even though it looks sort of similar in genre to Uglies.

Speak doesn't seem particularly appealing to me, but that's just a personal thing. Tags like "peer pressure", "coming of age", "rape", "realistic fiction", etc. just aren't what I generally like. Particularly "realistic fiction". But it does have a pretty high rating.

Looking for Alaska also has a high rating, but I don't know whether I'd pick it up otherwise. It's those tags like "death", "suicide", "friendship", "realistic fiction".

Boy Meets Boy has a pretty high rating and is supposed to be funny, so it seems more appealing than some others.

So my personal top-five picks are:

1. The China Garden
2. a three-way tie between Boy Meets Boy, The House of the Scorpion, and The Glass Castle
5. Looking for Alaska

I agree with a lot of what Zoe said... The China Garden and The House of the Scorpion look like they appeal the most to me, although Boy Meets Boy seems like one that would most appeal to me outside of the genres I would normally read. Twilight, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and Terrier I personally would not want to discuss as I have already read them, but they are all good books that seem like they would be worth discussing.

Just wanted to point out that something seems to have gone wrong with the last few Boy Meets Boy touchstones though (including mine) which directed me to Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello To Courtship, and I couldn't figure out why anyone would really want to read that for a YA book discussion, touchstones earlier on the page finally brought me to the right book though :).

Edited to add touchstones, although some apparently aren't to the right books, how can this be fixed...?

touchstones appear to the right of your editing box. Boy Meets Boy

for Boy meets Boy the default option is annoyingly Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello To Courtship but if you click on Others on the right hand side various options appear and you can select the one you want.

Be aware that when you edit a message you will have to reset the touchstones as they revert to the default.

I think towards the end of my long post I was just getting tired and didn't check the touchstones :). But I don't want to go back now and have to recheck all of them. Simon has now provided the correct touchstone, and it's also correct in one of my earlier posts, so I'll leave it at that.

K, thanks for the explanation, I won't bother to fix my touchstones for that last one, since there are sort of a lot and the correct ones are present in others posts, but it's good to know for future messages :)

I have to say I am leaning towards The Glass Castle, Boy Meets Boy or Looking for Alaska. The China Garden and The House of the Scorpion seem a little too much like Uglies to read next (sci-fi & fantasy...), but definately for future discussions. The House of the Scorpion is probably one of my all time favorites. I am kind of interested in doing The Glass Castle because it isn't something I would normally pick up and it is non-fiction and it is about time I read something non-fiction. Also, it won the Alex Award last year and it would be nice to do it in January when they are announcing the new Alex Award winners. Keep posting and I will keep thinking!

Happy reading!

I'd be happy with The Glass Castle. It will be good to do some non-fiction reading, since I already have plenty of YA fiction that I'm planning to read in the next month.

It's funny, though, about The China Garden, that you think it's similar to Uglies while I think it's one of the most different. I consider fantasy and science fiction different genres, at least in this case. The China Garden is set in the modern day with supernatural elements, while Uglies is in the future with technological elements. I think Looking for Alaska is much closer in genre to I Am the Messenger than The China Garden is to Uglies.

Some touchstones are taking forever to load, so I'm giving up on them.

I thought about the similarities of I Am the Messenger and Looking for Alaska as well after I posted. I do tend to do lump sci-fi and fantasy together sometimes, not the best idea, sorry.

I probably won't read The Glass Castle, because I'm really not a fan of non-fiction. However, I am so glad that this book was brought up. I've been trying to find a non-fiction book like this for my friend for Christmas. She loved A Child Called It and all the others and she didn't know what to read next. Reading is a totally new experience to her because she never used to read recreationally and I'm trying to encourage her. This sounds like it will be perfect for her! Thanks!!

Since I brought up The China Garden it goes without saying that I would like to read it :-) But I wouldn't mind re-reading Boy Meets Boy and I've heard so much about Looking for Alaska that I guess I should probably give it a shot.

In deciding between Boy Meets Boy and Looking for Alaska the choice is going to be if we want something light or heavy! Looking for Alaska is definately heavy!

Well, my vote goes for light! When I want heavy reading I turn to adult non-fiction, not YA novels.

I'm not sure whether you want suggestions of fantasy books for next month or are going a different route for book selections, but a couple of fantasy books that I think would be good to do are Sorcery and Cecelia and Sabriel. I haven't read the first one but liked other books by Patricia C. Wrede (like Dealing with Dragons, which might also be a good choice). I read Sabriel a long time ago and don't really remember anything about it except that I enjoyed it.

There are several fantasy titles I've recently enjoyed. I loved Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor and Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton. Also for a lighter, funnier fantasy read, I loved Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.

I'm in for Sabriel and The Lightning Thief.
I'm still waiting on I Am the Messenger since it's been out of print here. And I definitely put all of your suggestion on my list.

Some fantasy suggestions for February...
Please pick your favorite, put the title in the post alone. That will help with the tally--thanks!!

The China Garden
Sorcery and Cecelia
Sabriel
The Lightning Thief
Dealing with Dragons
Looking Glass Wars
Endymion Spring
Inkheart and/or Inkspell
Airborn

I will announce the winner on January 1, 2007! Happy New Year!

Would you be willing to let everyone have two or three votes? There are so many choices and so little time that there might not be a clear winner otherwise. Plus it's just hard to choose :)

Sorcery and Cecelia

The China Garden. I ordered it from amazon on the off chance it wound up being our book of the month. But if not, I'm sure I'll still have fun reading it on my own :-)

Okay, I probably totally missed something, but what is the pick for January? :-S

The book for January is Boy Meets Boy.

Zoe--
Feel free to vote more than once, just put each title in a seperate post. It will just make my life easier when counting :)

Also, don't vote for more than three titles. Thanks for the question!

b

Inkheart

Airborn

China Garden

Inkheart

The votes are in Sorcery and Cecelia it is. It was the front runner with three votes. The standings are as follows...

1. Sorcery and Cecelia--3
2. China Garden--2
2. Inkheart--2
3. Airborn--1

Keep your suggestions coming for March!

For March, I'd love to discuss So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld. It's so different from the Uglies, and I think it'd be interesting to discuss. Besides that, it's a brilliant book.

If not that, 24 Girls in 7 Days by Alex Bradley. :)

Is there any particular genre for March?

We could do one of the books that came second in this vote, either next time or in April if you don't want to have two fantasy books in a row.

One of my favorite YA books is I Am the Cheese. I would love to see what others have to say about this one.

I really enjoyed So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld and I loved Peeps as well. Another favorite of mine is King Dork by Frank Portman.

Other books I'd like to do at some point in the future are The Giver and An Abundance of Katherines (when it comes out in paperback). I keep reading discussions about The Giver recently, and I loved it when I read it a long time ago. I don't know whether it's considered too similar to Uglies, but if other books by Westerfeld are already being suggested, then it can't hurt to mention it :)

And for those Westerfeld fans, it's not too late to join in the Uglies discussion even though it was officially last month!

edited for clarity: I'm suggesting The Giver for the coming month, but not An Abundance of Katherines.

I read Sorcery and Cecelia when I was a ya! It'll be fun to revisit.

I would second An Abundance of Katherines for the future, and also suggest Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, both of which folks have been talking about but I haven't read.

I've been reading Saving Francesca, which is out in paperback and might be a good pick.

Or The Lottery by Beth Goobie.

I guess I'm thinking high-school themed realist novels. Other genre suggestions?

I would encourage anyone and everyone to continue to discuss past books of the month. The beauty of these groups is that discussions are always around (unless deleted of course). The monthly discussion are just a focus for us to look at one book (for now anyways).

Thanks for your suggestions keep them coming!! I think March should be wide open to anything.

I am so excited to see people suggesting An Abundance of Katherines I loved this book and look forward to its paperback availablity so we can discuss it here. Also, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.

I love seeing everyone's suggestions! Thank you for allowing more than one vote, SheReads - I think I'll definitely need it this month!

I'm glad March will be open to all genres. It's surprisingly difficult to think of genres. But maybe for a future month we could have a "Shapeshifters/Vampires/Ghosts" book. There's also mystery, chick lit, historical fiction, and ones we've already done/are about about to do like science fiction and fantasy.

Do you think there's any particular amount of time we should wait between books by the same author?

I think I would like to do a mystery at some point also, just because that's virtually the only genre I don't read already on my own. For some reason, they never appealed to me like the other genres did, maybe because you get so caught up in mysteries that you have to finish them to find out what happens even if you dislike them... But I think it would be good to be compelled to read one, so I could actually think about it and try out a different genre from my normal...

My suggestion for ChickLit would be Reality Chick by Lauren Barnholdt. I believe it is about a College Freshman who becomes part of a reality television show. As far as I know it is catagorized as young adult. I bought this book months ago but just haven't gotten around to reading it. I'd love to have an excuse.

For YA historical fiction there was a book called Stepping on Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn which was suggested to me a few months ago on LT which I thought looked interesting, even though I don't read a lot of historical fiction.

I've never read any Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books. Maybe we could do one of those for a mystery?

I just wanted to say "thank you" to whoever brought up The Glass Castle. I bought this book for my friend for Christmas and she finsished it and told me she loved it. She also asked if I had other suggestions for books like this she might read. I pulled a couple off of Amazon that I think she might like, but if anyone here had a suggestion it would be most appreciated :-) You can just put a note on my profile if you want.

I will be taking suggestions for March's book of the month until the end of this week. Then we will be voting!

I just heard about a book called Under the Baseball Moon by John H. Ritter which sounds really good. Can I suggest this one as well?

So when does the voting start?

Sorry for the delay!
Please vote for your favorite two for the March discussion. You may vote until 1/31/2007. Please only include the name of the titles in your post (it makes it easier for me to tally. Thank you!!

1. So Yesterday
2. 24 Girls in 7 Days
3. I am the Cheese
4. King Dork
5. Peeps
6. The Giver
7. Saving Francesca
8. Reality Chick
9. Stepping on Cracks
10. The Glass Castle
11. Under the Baseball Moon

Again, I am sorry about the delay. Happy reading! (I am not sure if all the touchstones work--Sorry)

King Dork
So Yesterday

The Giver
The Glass Castle

24 girls in 7 days
Reality Chick

PS sorry to hear that your sick.

I'm going to save my second vote for now... it's a tie between about three books!

The Giver

I Am the Cheese - one of my favorites, not typical YA literature

Reality Chick

and

Under the Baseball Moon

(might as well vote for my own suggestions LOL)

King Dork
The Giver

And the winner is...

The Giver--4
King Dork--2
Reality Chick--2
So Yesterday--1
24 Girls in 7 Days--1
I am the Cheese--1
The Glass Castle--1 (2 if I had voted, but it didn't really matter, so I didn't)
Under the Baseball Moon--1

Discussion of The Giver will begin on March 1st with a new post.

Happy reading!!

Also, new suggestions for an April theme or books. I was thinking non-fiction/biography might be fun. I even have some ideas...The Glass Castle, Jesusland, Come Back to Afghanistan. What do you think?

Sure, non-fiction might be interesting for a change. I'm not sure what exactly constitutes YA non-fiction, though. Also, demonlover said earlier that she doesn't like non-fiction. But maybe we could bribe her to read it by offering to read The Shadow Within in a future month :D.

I'm pretty sure that if we do go with non-fiction we'll end up choosing The Glass Castle. But just to see what else there was, I googled young adult non-fiction and found a list of non-fiction books that had been on one of YALSA's booklists (though from a couple of years ago). From that list, the ones that look most interesting to me are:

Nickel and Dimed, which I had planned to read eventually anyway
The Radioactive Boy Scout
The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College

I have some great nonfiction (YA) ideas:

Dear Miss Breed by Joanne Oppenheim
Tells the story of one librarian who made a difference during World War II by speaking out about the injustice of the Japanese-American internment camps. While on various commitees--including the Newbery--she still found time to correspond with the children from her San Diego neighborhood that had been taken away. She sent them books and everything! Anyway, just a great, great read.

As far as authors go, I absolutely love James Cross Giblin, Russell Freedman, Jennifer Armstrong, Jim Murphy, etc.

Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler's Shadow by Susan Bartoletti is great.

Good Brother, Bad Brother by James Cross Giblin is great.

The Diary of Ma Yan is great too.

The Voice That Challenged A Nation by Russell Freedman is incredible.

The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon reads like fiction, but is a memoir.

The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler by James Cross Giblin is one of my all-time favorite books. Truly one I couldn't put down. I had so many post-it notes stuck to it, I was teased tremendously. :)

How about a non-fiction graphic novel, like Maus I: My Father Bleeds History or Persepolis?

(edited for touchstones, argh)

>85 _Zoe_: As totally cool as that would be you don't have to bribe me LOL I really should give consideration to expanding my horizons. If you guys/gals pick a non-fiction I promise I'll at least try to read it :-)

Hehe I was already planning to suggest The Shadow Within at some point anyway, because it would be interesting to discuss a book when the author's a member of the discussion group (though also sort of frightening--I know I've been critical of all the books we've read so far, even the ones I really liked, and it might feel a bit strange knowing that the author was reading it). I've just been trying to suggest more readily-available books to begin with.

Becbart, I think non-fiction graphic novels are definitely worth considering. I've never actually read a graphic novel, and when I first saw your post my immediate reaction was "No, I want to read a real book!". Which clearly means it's time to expand my horizons :)

blbooks, do you know which of the books you listed are available in paperback?

The Burn Journals (according to Amazon) is available in paperback.

Diary of Ma Yan is also listed as paperback, but for some reason is only showing up as only used copies available...hmm???

I didn't realize that some of these--even the ones published in 2002--hadn't been released as paperbacks. Especially since they won awards.

But perhaps The Girl With The White Flag by Tomika Higa would be a good one to read. It is available as paperback.

Or In My Hands by Irene Gut Opdyke and Jennifer Armstrong is another great one I love that is available in paperback.

Or The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender. (Paperback as well).

Or I Have Lived A Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson. (Again, paperback)

Shipwreck at the bottom of the world by Jennifer Armstrong. (Paperback)

>89 _Zoe_: I don't think you can write without acknowledging you're going to get criticized from time to time. If it happens, I'll keep a box of kleenex next to my computer LOL

Are there any good YA non-fiction happy stories as opposed to war related ones? Just curious....

My favorite in the last year is Come back to Afghanistan, while it is war related I don't feel that it is sad or depressing I feel like it looks forward to Afghanistan's potential and how the author can be a part of that. Another one I don't think is in paperback. I think we might be able to skip that "rule" for a non-fiction, book because I bet people would be able to find some of the older books at libraries because at least at the library I work at they aren't high circulators :)

Others I had in mind...
Jesus land
Hole in my life

On the graphic novel front...should we do graphic novels in May? We can devote the month to graphic novels and pick two (sense they usually are pretty quick reads), one non-fiction and one fiction.
Just finished American Born Chinese a wonderful graphic novel that won the Printz Medal this year!

I like the idea of doing two graphic novels in May. I've been curious about American Born Chinese, and I've also heard lots of good things about Maus.

So, can we start the voting soon? It's a short month!

Zoe--You keep me on my toes. I have been thinking I should get that going and just haven't sat down to do it. I haven't even had much of a chance to read any of the discussions going on. I am still plugging through Sorcery and Cecelia. :)

The voting will start today! Thanks for the reminder!!

Count me in for American Born Chinese!

Elsewhere or InkHeart are other ones I'm dying to read, but I'm sure I'm way behind on this and you guys have already read them. :P

Hehe I think I may enjoy thinking of possible books and watching the voting more than the actual discussions :)

Okay, I know I'm always asking about the discussions, but just one more thing: is there going to be a new thread for the discussion of The Giver, or are we just going to use the thread about that book that already exists? I personally like having the month of the discussion in the topic name, but maybe that's just me :)

I have been debating about it and you just now have tipped me over the edge. A new discussion it is!

May is supposed to be graphic novel month. I haven't had very many suggestions (unless I am missing them).

The two I have are American Born Chinese and Maus. I would also like to add Persepolis. If anyone has any suggestions post them here on or before Tuesday, March 28th. We will then start the voting on Wednesday, providing I am not too tired from WEMA (Wisconsin Educational Media Association's annual conference).

Happy reading!!

To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel is a good one.

foggidawn--Ohhh, I just heard about that one this week. Thanks for the suggestion!

Vote now!! There is a new thread with the specifics!

Hi there - I'm new to the group, and have been lurking around, but I'm excited about the book discussions. Is there going to be an April book, or are we just skipping to May with the graphic novels? I've been skimming the boards, but didn't see a mention of April's book.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is our April book. I'm still working up to reading it :-)

Oh,that looks like a good one. Thanks!!

And I am clearly blind, because now I see the link to the schedule RIGHT at the top of the group page... ;)

Zoe will be pleased to hear that I have read nearly a third of sorcery and cecelia

Hehe it's true, I am :)

But now I'm starting to feel guilty myself because I haven't even touched The Glass Castle yet....

Zoe - The Glass Castle is wonderful! It's an easy read that won't take you long.

That's good to know :). I'm going to try to read it during Easter weekend. Yay, a holiday!

Once I get my hands on a copy of The Glass Castle I intend to read it, maybe I will see if a library near me has it, so that I can read it before the end of next month and stay on track with the discussions :)

I just started The Glass Castle tonight. But it seems like it will be a quick and interesting read.

We need suggestions for June's book discussion. I think we should leave it wide open. So throw out your suggestions until the last bit of April then we will vote. If you have suggested something before this message and it hasn't been discussed yet throw it out again.

In the Sorcery and Cecelia discussion someone mentioned Bloody Jack by Louis A. Meyer, and there seemed to be a lot of interest in it, so that might be a good one to do.

(There appear to be some serious touchstone problems.... the option to change them from the default is gone.)

I am looking for suggestions for June's book discussion. As of right now the only suggestion is Bloody Jack : being an account of the curious adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy by Louis A. Meyer

We have a little over a week before we should start the voting.

Thanks for your help!

For June we could do Just Listen by Sarah Dessen.

How about As Simple As Snow, Such a Pretty Girl, Bootcamp, Tantelize. Just some titles off the top of my head.

cool dude

What about Black Book of Secrets by F.E. Higgins, Horns and Wrinkles by Joseph Helgerson or The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu?

Does the book get decided upon, and then everyone reads it and then we discuss it, or are you trying to come up with a book that everyone has already read? Just wondered.

The book gets decided upon, and then everyone reads it and then we discuss it. At least theoretically, that's how it works....

You consider The Glass Castle a YA novel? I guess if it is for 17 or older. I read it and really enjoyed it. I read an interview with the author where she talked about how many people had to convince her to write it. She thought no one would be interested in her memoir or would believe this is how she was raised.

#122 -- our criteria was, if I remember correctly, "any book that would be of interest to teens," which really leaves it wide open.

so am i

What are we reading for July or August in 2008