Book Club - October

There's still one more day to vote, but I'm just going to call a winner here.

Newes from the Dead.

How does October 21st sound for everyone? That's a Tuesday. That gives us some time to get a new book choice for November.

Comment and let me know.

from miri

http://www.halfpricebooks.com/vote2008.html

can you guess who I voted for?

**I had to add this, mostly because one of his dislikes is "pants"**
The Grinch
Home: Just north of Whoville
Education: Home-schooled
Occupation: Thief
Likes: Dogs, Ideas, Stealing
Dislikes: Everyone, Pants
Marital Status: Single and proud of it!
Advisor: Max
Possible Running Mate: Little Cindy Lou Who

Background:
Despite his criminal record of breaking and entering charges, the Grinch is a changed man since his heart grew 3 times after learning that Christmas doesn't come from a store.

Platform:
- In favor of alternative sources of energy
- Supports legislation to regulate and reduce carbon emissions
- In favor of more economic stimulus checks
- Opposes excess Federal holidays
- Member of the SPCA and supporter of animal rights
- Opposes wearing pants because of child labor in China

Literary Background:
The Grinch is a popular character created by Dr. Seuss. He first appeared in the 1957 children's book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. This was followed in 1966 by a popular television special, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's MGM Animation/Visual Arts studio, and directed by Chuck Jones. In 1977, Seuss responded to the fan request for more Grinch tales by writing "Halloween Is Grinch Night", a Halloween special that aired on CBS. Like its predecessor, the sequel was recognized at the Emmy awards. In 1982, ABC aired "The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat", which was also produced by Dr. Seuss, under his real name, Ted Geisel. This third special garnered two Emmy awards.

New post - now with more polling!!

For those who may use Google Reader only - check out the new poll!

Here is the list of books I came up with for October. The poll gives you a chance the first time around to help choose the book. I tried to stay with an October-y type of book and I linked to all of the books as listed at B&N or Borders. You can check each of them out to get a better idea of what you might want to read.

I found most of these through reviews (and with a little help from Megan). I wanted something thrilling/interesting/different/maybe a little creepy for this time of year. I rarely read such things, but it's fun every once in a while. I tried to get a nice array of books. Please comment and please vote!

The one with the most votes will be what we read so vote well and vote often!!

Newes from the Dead
**review from Young Adult blog** (the review makes it sound interesting - plus it's YA so I was hoping it would be a little lighter fare)

Sherlock Holmes (well, just because)

To Kill a Mockingbird (mostly I have been wanting to re-read this)

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (I think some of this is based on truth which makes it interesting to me)


The Brief History of the Dead (also, just because)

one more day

one more day to vote on your availability!!

think of it this way, all these polls will get us very ready for November.

Inaugural Post

Aaaaaand smash the wine bottle on the hull of this post, this ship is off to the sea of blogdom! Hi. My name is Mike Shorten, married to a Mrs Michael Nathan Shorten (aka Miri Shorten ha ha sorry sweetie) and I am the newest member of this blog. And enough about me, onto the books.
I have read several books lately and thought I would put them on here.

1-A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'engel
2-A Wind In The Door by " " " "
3-A Swiftly Tilting Planet by " " " " " " " " "
4-The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (Not Yet Finished or NYF)
5-Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (NYF)
6-World War Z by Max Brooks
7-The Hot Zone by Richard Preston (NYF)
8-In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

I bid you a good day sir or madam

New poll up now - book poll coming soon!

I'm going to compile a short list of options for an inaugural book club "meeting" for OCTOBER. It will be season/holiday appropriate. There will be a poll open for TWO (2) days!! I'm making it short so we can all go about obtaining the book and start our reading. I will announce the "meeting" date once we get past choosing a book to read.

I suggest the following rules and guidelines:

1. The person who chooses the book (or in this case, organizes the voting of choosing the book) will be the host.

2. The host is in charge of the following things:
a. choosing the book
b. choosing the date of the discussion/meeting
c. getting the discussion going with the first post on the chosen date - this means you should choose a date where you can post in the morning (or late the evening before) so as to give everyone time to get in comments and/or follow-up posts.

3. The discussion on the book will stay "open" and going for 24 hours. This should account for our different schedules and time zones.

4. The discussion will be in the form of comments responding to the original post and/or follow up posts. I will make sure to invite everyone participating to the blog so you have permission to post.

5. This pretty much goes without saying since we all basically read the same books, but I feel the need to include a rule of giving a general "rating" of the book you choose and perhaps a link or summary of the description of the book so people can decide whether or not they want to participate that month. This could just be a link to the book on the B&N website - but it's nice to know a little about what we will be reading.

Okay. That's what I've thought of. Thoughts, input, changes? Anything to add? Look for that poll sometime next week!! :)