The book was published in 2009 in hardcover and trade paperback and should be widely available in bookshops and libraries.  A new paperback edition is due on April 1st, 2010.

Buy from Amazon US

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (hosted by Bluzkat)

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games.” The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat’s sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

and

The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland (hosted by Ysoeye)

From the author of Company of Liars, hailed as “a jewel of a medieval mystery” and “an atmospheric tale of treachery and magic,” comes a magnificent new novel of an embattled village and a group of courageous women who are set on a collision course—in an unforgettable storm of secrets, lust, and rage.

England, 1321. The tiny village of Ulewic teeters between survival and destruction, faith and doubt, God and demons. For shadowing the villagers’ lives are men cloaked in masks and secrecy, ruling with violence, intimidation, and terrifying fiery rites: the Owl Masters.   But another force is touching Ulewic—a newly formed community built and served only by women. Called a beguinage, it is a safe harbor of service and faith in defiance of the all-powerful Church.

Behind the walls of this sanctuary, women have gathered from all walks of life: a skilled physician, a towering former prostitute, a cook, a local convert. But life in Ulewic is growing more dangerous with each passing day. The women are the subject of rumors, envy, scorn, and fury…until the daughter of Ulewic’s most powerful man is cast out of her home and accepted into the beguinage—and battle lines are drawn.  Into this drama are swept innocents and conspirators: a parish priest trying to save himself from his own sins…a village teenager, pregnant and terrified…a woman once on the verge of sainthood, now cast out of the Church.…With Ulewic ravaged by flood and disease, and with villagers driven by fear, a secret inside the beguinage will draw the desperate and the depraved—until masks are dropped, faith is tested…and every lie is exposed.

The Paranormal Social Club will be discussing Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison
In New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison’s most complex and nuanced adventure yet, bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan fights a deadly battle—mind, body, and soul

Black Magic Sanction
Rachel Morgan has fought and hunted vampires, werewolves, banshees, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter—and lived to tell the tale. But she’s never faced off against her own kind . . . until now. Denounced and shunned for dealing with demons and black magic, her best hope is life imprisonment—at worst, a forced lobotomy and genetic slavery. Only her enemies are strong enough to help her win her freedom, but trust comes hard when it hinges on the unscrupulous tycoon Trent Kalamack, the demon Algaliarept, and an ex-boyfriend turned thief.

It takes a witch to catch a witch, but survival bears a heavy price.

Please join us to discuss any or all of these books in March.

The books for April have already been decided.  We will be discussing To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson and the PSC book will be Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs. Don’t forget the new Black Dagger Brotherhood book – Lover Mine – and the new Sookie Stackhouse book - Dead in the Family – will both be out in May and will feature in our May discussions!

Martine McCutcheon was this week’s guest and she talked about her own book what was wrote by her own hand innit.  Meh.  Sorry but I have no interest in celebrity books.  Why not have Liz Jensen actually interviewed on the show instead of on pre-recorded VT?  I’m not against the magazine-y format per se but I’m pretty sure Richard and Judy spent more time talking about the Book Club book of the week in their allotted 12 mins.  And as for paying some guy to travel up and down the Midlands to establish what people in that part of the country call bread, well it’s bread.  Waste of time and money and not actually very interesting.

I’m tired of authors made famous by the Richard and Judy Book Club coming on this show and telling viewers how “the book club” changed their lives.  Hello that was the Richard and Judy Effect, and nothing at all to do with this book club.  It’s grossly misleading.

Gok Wan was missing again.  We need more Gok and less Laila (sp?)

Voting is underway for the March Book Group books, so please visit the forum and cast your vote for the books you want to read and discuss with the group next month.

Books nominated:

The Enchantress of Florence – Salman Rushdie
The Owl Killers – Karen Maitland
The Hunger Games
Vagabond – Bernard Cornwell
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
The Help – Kathryn Stocket
Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger
Neil Gaiman – Fragile Things short stories
Anthony Kiedis – Scar Tissue
The Chocolate War – Robert Cormier
I am the Cheese – Robert Cormier

Please visit the forum to cast your vote.

A reminder that in April one of the books already confirmed is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

We will be discussing the second book in the Millennium trilogy – The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson, which in my opinion is even better than the first one! And then in the second half of the month we will be discussing Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult with the group.

In the Paranormal Social Club, we have the fourth Demonica Book – Ecstasy Unveiled by Larissa Ione, and the first book in the Vampire Files series – Bloodlist by PN Elrod.

We will also be nominating and voting for the books we want to discuss next month. One book that is already confirmed for April is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. We will be voting on the second book for April in the next few weeks.

We are working approximately a month to two months ahead, suggestions can be made throughout the year and we are looking for volunteer hosts only as far as a few weeks ahead.  We are currently working on the groups for February as per the above post, and looking for suggestions for March and that’s it.  Amazing huh?

So far so good and people seem to like this though for my well ordered and categorised, everything planned in advance brain, I am freaking out a little, even though it was my idea.  Perhaps I have a split personality, something to mull over.  Meanwhile it does feel more interactive and people are getting more involved.  I think it gives the whole group a feeling of immediacy as people are suggesting and voting for books that they want to read next week rather than in six months time.

Fingers crossed for the rest of the year!

There really is no other option to preserve sanity than curling up in bed with a good book, so that’s what most of us have been doing.

This month we kicked off the 2010 Book Group with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, who by the way is a tragic loss to the world of crime fiction.  The group was competently and entertainingly hosted by bluzkat, and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves – thanks bluzkat!

The current read for the remainder of January is Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier, and hosted by the lovely Ginger, who is taking us on a wild journey through the Cornish landscape with Mary Yellen.  We’ve only just started discussing this book so there is still plenty of time to join us.

Coming up in February we will have another two books to discuss.  The polls are still open for another week if you want to vote for your favourite.  The books that are in the running are:

Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantell (Historical Fiction, Henry VIII)

Scar Tissue – Anthony Kiedis (biography of Red Hot Chilli Peppers frontman)

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee (Modern Classic)

The Girl Who Played With Fire – Stieg Larsson (Crime fiction)

19 Minutes – Jodi Picoult (Modern Fiction)

The Enchantress of Florence – Salman Rushdie (Modern Fiction)

Vagabond (Grail Quest #1) – Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction)

Existing members can join the Book Group via their profiles.  If you are not yet a forum member you can register by clicking on the forum link at the top of the page.

Our Paranormal Social Club picks for January are Beneath the Skin by Adrian Phoenix (Maker’s Song #3) and Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick as previously advised.  We have been a bit slow in kicking off these groups due to some problems getting hold of the Adrian Phoenix book in the UK.  The book was showing the same publication date for both US and UK but despite that, there have been some delays which have meant that instead of the group starting on 4th of January we have decided to wait until everyone has had a chance to read the book!

The PSC book for February is still being decided, so if you have any suggestions as to what urban fantasy or paranormal romance we should read, then please post your suggestions in the thread.

Buy the books and support the site:

One more thing… I nearly forgot to mention that the replacement for the Richard and Judy Book Club (UK) launched last Sunday evening at 7.30pm on More 4 and is repeated on Monday lunchtimes on Channel 4.  It’s run by the same people as the defunct R & J book club and the same people are selecting the books, so if popularity is based on the book selection alone and not the popularly of the presenters then it shouldn’t matter who’s spearheading it and it should be successful.  However I have a sneaking suspicion the popularity of the books was generated mainly by the influence that Richard and Judy held over the British public so I don’t have high hopes for this new TV Book Club.  Don’t get me wrong, I hope it does succeed because I’m all for generating interest in reading books and overall getting more people to put down the playstation and pick up an actual book and read something that isn’t a few lines of text on a website, but judging by the first show, I don’t think it’s a go-er in it’s current format.

The main problem is the presenters – who are they and why are they telling us what to read, and more importantly why should we care?  Jo Brand has done a lot of promotion for literacy and encouraging children especially to read, but the others?  Dave Spikey was introduced as the comedy element or there for comedy value but Jo Brand is also a comedian.  Perhaps they forgot.  Gok Wan was one of the most interesting and vocal of the presenters and is obviously under contract to Channel 4, and I like him a lot but I want to know why he was chosen, same as with the others.  Do they read a lot?  Did they really read the actual books?  Nathaniel Parker I absolutely love and TV will not be the same without Inspector Lynley – which is incidentally based on a series of books by Elizabeth George – but again, why him and also he was a little bit quiet, or more talked over by Gok et al.  By far the most interesting person to speak on the show was Chris Evans (who I don’t even like) who was there to promote his new biography It’s not what you think.  Quite honestly after listening to him talking about it I am actually considering reading it!  Well done Chris!

They had a taped interview with Cecelia Aherne talking about how the “book club” influenced her reading choices and how some of her favourites were from “the book club” with no reference whatsoever to it being the Richard and Judy Book Club and not this new one.  The featured book before I forget, was Sarah Waters – The Little Stranger, so we had another taped interview with her talking about the book and how there were no lesbians in this one unless you possibly count the male doctor or the house, both of which are obviously lesbians in disguise.  So bad luck anyone who was planning to play spot the lesbian because there isn’t one!  So I think that was about it.  It will be interesting to see how it develops and whether the presenters get better and get more confident in their new roles.  What?  What do you mean there were five presenters?  Really?

*pretends to check notes*

oh yeah there was some chick in a red dress who smiled a lot and laughed a few times.  Been in some crap show and some dancing show but I don’t want that crap so why bother mentioning her.  I predict now that the panel will lose a few people along the way – sooner rather than later please – and they may well be replaced by some other B list celeb but I think it would run better with less people and more actual discussion, headed up by Jo Brand and maybe Gok Wan if he has time.  I need to see more from the other three before commenting further.

Click here to buy the book and support the book group

We will be discussing The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.

In 1932, two North Carolina teenagers from opposite sides of the tracks fall in love. Spending one idyllic summer together in the small town of New Bern, Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson do not meet again for 14 years. Noah has returned from WWII to restore the house of his dreams, having inherited a large sum of money. Allie, programmed by family and the “caste system of the South” to marry an ambitious, prosperous man, has become engaged to powerful attorney Lon Hammond. When she reads a newspaper story about Noah’s restoration project, she shows up on his porch step, re-entering his life for two days. Will Allie leave Lon for Noah?

If you’re in the mood for a sentimental but charming love story, then please grab the kleenex and join us to discuss this book and the movie!

This group is hosted by Forgotten.  Please visit the forum to join in this discussion.

Click here to buy the book and support the book group

In the PSC we will be discussing On the Edge by Ilona Andrews, author of the Kate Daniels series.  This book is the first in a brand new series.

The Broken is a place where people shop at Wal-Mart and magic is nothing more than a fairy tale.

The Weird is a realm where blueblood aristocrats rule and the strength of your magic can change your destiny.

Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, the place between both worlds. A perilous existence indeed, made even more so by a flood of magic-hungry creatures bent on absolute destruction.

Click here to buy the book and support the book group

The second book we are aiming to do this month, time permitting, is Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong.

Smart, sexy, supernatural—the men and women of the Otherworld live and love, fight and die, among us. Unseen and unsuspected, this realm of witches, ghosts, and werewolves is now threatened with exposure by a brutal series of bizarre murders that has left even the supernatural world baffled—and cold with terror….

Being the world’s only female werewolf has its advantages, such as having her pick of the Otherworld’s most desirable males. And Elena Michaels couldn’t have picked a more dangerously sexy and undyingly loyal mate than Clayton Danvers. Now their bond will be put to the ultimate test as they follow a bloody trail of gruesome slayings deep into Alaska’s frozen wilderness.

And I particularly liked the following quote:

“Don’t go giving all the credit to the recent Twilight phenomenon…. Long before American author Stephenie Meyer came on the scene — four years before to be precise — Canadian fantasy novelist Kelley Armstrong began paving the way with Women of the Underworld….”
— Winnipeg Free Press

Looking ahead to January:  We will be reading and discussing Beneath the Skin by Adrian Phoenix.  This is book three in the Makers Song series so make sure you catch up with this series and we’ll see you in January!

The good news for you is that registration is currently open and free so you can join us at no cost to you, and talk about all the books you love. Wow imagine that, something for free!

To register, please click on this link

Book Addict Registration

Please ensure you fill in all the relevant details which will aid us in approving your registration.  (Spammers and time wasters are not welcome btw.)

Once your registration has been approved you are free to join in any of our book discussions, talk about all the books you love, write reviews and start your own 52 books thread, as well as suggest books for the book group next year.  We also have a bunch of off-topic discussion boards and fun writing contests and other contests.

This month is still Jane Austen month and it’s not too late to join in the discussions about everything Jane Austen.  Next month in the lead up to Christmas, we will only be discussing one book in the main book group – The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks - a nice romantic book for the holidays.

In our Paranormal Social Club, we will be continuing the Maria V Snyder Study and Glass series, as well as starting on Ilona Andrews – On the Edge, and if we have time, Kelley Armstrong’s Frostbitten, which was postponed from October.

We are currently in the process of deciding which books to feature in our group for 2010 but one book we can definitely confirm for January is our PSC book  – Adrian Phoenix – Beneath the Skin.  This is the eagerly anticipated third book in the Makers Song series, and we will be discussing the book with the Paranormal Social Club and Adrian will be joining us again for a Q & A.  The book is released on 29th December 2009, in both US and UK, so get your orders in now.

I heard this last night on the radio when I went food shopping.   

If I had a Borders in my local town then I would be in it every day.  Unfortunately the nearest one is over 50 miles away but when I am in Glasgow, I go there and I buy books. I love the Starbucks there, I love to sit there surrounded by books while I drink my coffee and decide what I’m going to buy.   This btw is the only Starbucks I use too.  I just don’t get up to Glasgow very often at the moment.

The Glasgow Borders is the busiest Borders in the world:

and it is always full of people!  I really hope they find a way to keep it open and running as a bookshop.  That would be one less reason for me to go to Glasgow if it closed.  They do sell other things like magazines and CDs and DVDs but they have 5 floors of books!!! If I had the money I would buy it!  Maybe the cartoon has a point though…

Cartoon from The Guardian 25 Nov 2009

When they announced the internet dating site, I had a good old laugh at that.  It smacked of desperation not ingenious marketing, and I did wonder then if there was trouble afoot.  I don’t mind the magazines and the stationery supplies, after all magazines are just a different form of reading material and well you need something to wrap up your book present in don’t you.  CDs and DVDs I never buy in Borders so for that’s a whole floor you could use for something else right there.  My other issue with my “local” is that the childrens books are on the top floor.  If you’re shopping with children who wants to drag them up several flights of stair, escalators or wait an interminably long time for the slow as death lift to arrive?  Not me.  Get rid of the CDs/DVDs, move the childrens books to the basement where the CDs/DVDs used to be, and try incorporating some kind of childrens story time on the weekends.

I know it’s difficult to compete with an international giant like Amazon but Borders UK might have had more luck if they hadn’t been ditched by the parent company and left to fend for themselves!

But perhaps people are just not buying books anymore?  There does certainly seem to be a decline in reading and with it literacy skills and maybe even intelligence?  How much do you truly learn by pressing a few buttons on a game console or getting to another level of X or Y game?  How much imagination does it take when it’s all nicely laid out on the screen in front of you?  Instant gratification is the name of the game here (no pun intended) Books do not provide that, you have to use your imagination, you have to read, you have to think for yourself.  The closest thing to instant gratification a book can provide is with audiobooks.  There you don’t even have to read the book yourself, you get to listen to someone else read it, but at least it’s still a book!  You can listen to audiobooks when you commute or at other times when you don’t need your ears and use that time to “read” all the books you don’t otherwise have time to read, and get yourself more educated, and even thinner, in the process.  (See post about Stephen Fry walking to audiobooks and losing 5 stone!)

But of course that raises another point doesn’t it.  The time it takes to read a book.  Yes like I said no instant gratification here mate.  Reading is “work” (compared to staring at a TV screen or watching a movie) but if you find the right kind of book for you, one that captures your imagination, one that you just can not put down because it is so gripping, then you will find that you will fly through it in no time at all.  The more you read the better reader you will become.  You may not become a speed reader (who would want to?) but you will get faster, you will understand more, and reading will become a necessary part of your daily life.

Get reading, join a book group – ours is very good btw – encourage your children to read and think twice before buying them “instant gratification” toys.  Save our bookshops because what’s going to be next to go, our libraries?  Will publishers stop publishing or stop paying authors?  Will authors be forced to find alternative employment?
But then if a charity bookshop selling cheap secondhand books can’t stay open…

The Ayrshire Post 25, Sep 2009

This was a great charity bookshop, lots of books, lots of cheap books, and staffed by volunteers and they still couldn’t stay open.