BIC book club!

[prettyinpa]

Some of us here have expressed an interest in a book club, myself, @mermadelove, @LCResz, @ZombieMetroAnt, @Mcakes. If you'd be interested in joining, reply below. My initial thought was to mail the books around but if it means that some people can't participate, then I'm all for dropping that requirement. I'd love this to be a place where we nominate our favorite book and others can read it and comment. Something fun for the new year!  ETA: the booklist:

1. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (16)
1. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (16)
3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (13)
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (11)
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (11)
4. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (11)
7. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (10)
7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (10)
7. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (10) Discussion begins 8-13.
7. The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck (10) Discussion begin 9-2.
11. The Fault in our Stars by John Green (9) Time to discuss 9-26
11. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (9) Now discussing below.
11. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (9)
11. What Happened by Hilary Clinton (9) Now discussing below.
11. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett (9) Start reading now.
11. The Woman on the Orient Express by Lindsay Ashford (9)
11. milk and honey by Rupi Kaur (9)
18. A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (8)
18. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (8)
18. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (8)
18. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (8)
18. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence (8)
18. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (8)
18. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (8)
18. The Paper Magician by Charlie Holmberg (8)
18. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (8)
18. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (8)
18. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (8)
18. The White Queen by Phillipa Gregory (8)

Participants in spoiler

Spoiler

Participants:

PrettyinPA

AlexaSteph

Beadshopgirl

LCResz

Kim888

SoBeautiful

Fatimamummy

ZombieMetroAnt

PalomaFoster

k617

bakeamuffin
Susubee
Skcfan
Lazybeautybeast
SpaceLlama
greeneyedgirl107

Mermadelove
Mcakes
Aaliaa
Serenely
Myinsidevoice
MissPuff
juliehnguyen
lmi82
Knowledgebeauty
Titian06
quspork
darlyndar
KellW
misscg
EuniceO
Elles117
ClassicallyFab
ShiraBT
melanito
Heylady14
ChicagoEngineer
Imightneedthis
PrettyPaint
rachface2921

[RachFace2921]

I also was pretty unenthused with this one early on and threw in the towel.  I plan to resurface later in the book club queue.

[mermadelove]

After all but devouring Little Fires, I just could not get past even the first chapter of this book. It felt dated because of when it was written rather than when it was set, if that makes any sense…

[PrettyPaint]

Hmmm...I don’t know. I had a hard time adequately suspending disbelief, perhaps due to the lack of character development, so some portions of the book and particularly the ending stood out as rather implausible to me. I also didn’t care for the racial generalizations. I haven’t read much from the mystery genre, but I can see how perhaps the ending was novel for its time. I had read nothing from Agatha Christie before, though, so I did find it interesting in this respect.

[Titian06]

I found the book much easier to read than the first book.  That one took me weeks to read.  I read this one in two days.  It was a little confusing at the beginning.  It probably helped to be familiar with the Lindbergh kidnapping to understand the Armstrong case.  I felt who did it was pretty obvious.  The constant harping on the 12 stabbings, both right and left handed, some deeper and some more scratch like, and a couple were fatal and the rest were after death, along with there being 12 very different types of individuals on the train.  You had to have figured out that all 12 were involved.  The why was the hard part.  This gets me every time I read this book!  I can never remember how they are all involved.  I am never happy with Poirot for letting them off.  But if you think about it, how is he going to prove his theory?  For the most part all he has is circumstantial evidence. 

@greeneyedgirl107 asked if anyone would read any more Agatha Christie books.  I've read almost all of her books and would like to read the ones I missed.  I have about 10 of her books, including the next one we'll be reading, Death on the Nile.  (I saw the movie in 1978.  I saw Murder on the Orient Express in 1974.)

[greeneyedgirl107]

@Titian06 Which Agatha Christie books do you recommend?  I always thought Murder on the Orient Express was regarded as her best work, simply b/c it's the one I've always heard the most about.  Thus, that dampened my enthusiasm for her other books.  But I'm always open to suggestions.

Have you read any Georgette Heyer?  I've only read one of her books, Arabella, which I'm told is atypical for her sort of writing.  For some reason I consider Heyer and Christie to be similar, but IDK if this is true.  My library has a lot of Heyer, and I never know which mystery to read.

[ShortErica]

@greeneyedgirl107 I will admit I am an Agatha Christie fan though I in no way think she is without flaw. I prefer Poirot over Miss Marple. I remember thinking Death on the Nile was dull but enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express. My favorite book and the one I recommend is And Then There Were None (also called Ten Little Indians) which features neither of her main mystery characters. I have read it several times but not recently. If you are willing to give it a try, I would love to know what you think.

[greeneyedgirl107]

Thanks for the info @ShortErica!  🙂  I'm always open to books recommendations!

[greeneyedgirl107]

@prettyinpa I read Murder on the Orient Express years ago, and found it to be a quick read - but more because it was short than necessarily really enjoyable.  I remember my mother criticizing Agatha Christie for not developing her characters well enough, and I did find that to be true for this book.  IDK if I would have come to that conclusion on my own, though.  Did anyone else feel this way?

Also, aside from the interesting ending, another thing sticks in my mind.  What did everyone think about Hercule Poirot's reaction to solving the mystery?  

Finally, would anyone consider reading another Agatha Christie novel?  I personally would not - but never say never!  What I find most interesting about her was her 1926 "disappearance."  Some say she was contemplating suicide, others say it was a "Gone Girl" type thing...

[fatimamummy]

It wasn’t a book for me that can capture my interest . I felt exactly what @greeneyedgirl107 has mentioned, It felt a jumble of not very well defined characters. I found the writing style to be confused between a novel and a play. How come none of the “Non murdering” people recognized the very famous actress. It felt like the detective joined the dots not because there was as actually valid evidence but only because the writer wanted him to do it (If it makes sense? ) I also find the HP’s communication style or better say choice of word a little blunt at times. In short it was kind of story which I may be fine to watch in a 2 hr or so long movie but not the one I would like to spend my reading hours on. 

Now Im a bit lost how we ended up with two of her books from the same series (Hercule Poirot) in this short list of books when there is so much to read out there. I don’t thin’ I can stir up an appetite to read “Death at Nike” anytime soon. 

[greeneyedgirl107]

@fatimamummy I haven't seen the movie, but I wonder if this will be one of the rare cases where the movie is better than the book?!

[fatimamummy]

@greeneyedgirl107 I haven’t seen the movie either but I’m curious to see how they translate this story into a motion picture.

[greeneyedgirl107]

@fatimamummy If I were to watch the movie, I think I'd gravitate toward the 1974 version.  What a cast!  Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bissest, Anthony Perkins, Sean Connery and on and on.

[Tamara76]

I will be super late with Murder on the Orient Express... Amazon sent me a counterfeit edition of the book that looks like someone printed it in their basement - lol!   Then, my reorder got lost, so I'm waiting for the replacement. I can post side by side pics of the fake book and real book once it arrives. 🙂 

In the meantime, I'm catching up on this gem...

I love Carrie Fisher's books and bought this one right after she passed away, but I was too sad to read it last year.  I finally decided to open it up and it's great - she was an amazing woman and so honest, yet hilarious!  I'm really enjoying the book so far! ❤️

[GodivaMoon]

Awwwwww loved this book. Carrie Fisher<3

[greeneyedgirl107]

@Tamara76 I haven't read that, but I really enjoyed the stage adaptation with Carrie Fisher "Wishful Drinking" and the documentary "Bright Lights."

[Tamara76]

@greeneyedgirl107 Ohhhh - I loved reading Wishful Drinking! I just adore Carrie Fisher's voice in her writing!

[quspork]

Yikes, what an adventure to get that book LOL! I might have to add the Carrie Fisher one to my Amazon list. I adored her but haven't read any of her books, so glad to hear you are enjoying this one! 

[Tamara76]

@quspork I love her writing!  This book is about her affair with Harrison Ford during the filming of the original Star Wars. Very good!💗

[mermadelove]

@Tamara76 HOW does that even HAPPEN?!??!

[Titian06]

@mermadelove, this is just speculation...@Tamara76 didn't say whether the seller was actually Amazon or another "company" (I use the term loosely).  For me personally, I usually only buy from Amazon direct.  I'll buy from others if I'm familiar with the company or have researched them just for this very reason.

[mermadelove]

@Titian06  YEah, that's why I stick with amazon sold products or at least Prime so if anything goes wrong......