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

[greeneyedgirl107]

@prettyinpa SO, I "read" this book in high school.  By "read," I mean that I tried to read it, but couldn't get into it so I just followed along in class and read the Cliffs Notes.  

I think what stands out to me is the topic of "the classics."  Do we feel that this book is a classic?  Are classics over-rated?  Do we feel pressured as adults to read the classics?  What books do you truly believe are classics - and which don't you?

Another thing that stood out for me from The Great Gatsby was the background of F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Do you think it's essential to know about the author of a novel in order to further understand a novel (or at least try to!) or do you just wish to read the book and judge it as it is?

And what about the second-person narration?  Not many people tell a story in that way, and that's what has always drawn me to this book.

I'd also like to hear BICers view of the movie compared to the book.  I haven't seen the movie, so I will keep my thoughts to myself!

I'm also having problems getting onto BIC!

[Samtian]

@greeneyedgirl107 I haven't read the book, but I've seen the movie. I liked the movie. 

[heylady14]

I could very well be in the minority here, but I love Gatsby. I think it has some really cool themes about privilege and entitlement, love, and that whole ‘live fast, die young’ thing that is still pretty unique to our culture. (I’m also more than a little obsessed with the Jazz Age aesthetic and the whole Fitzgerald/Hemingway thing. If any of you are as well, consider reading ‘A Moveable Feast.’ It’s extra cool because it’s (mostly) true.) I think it’s really interesting that we had this and Agatha Christie back-to-back. Both books are classics, but because so much of our modern storytelling borrows from their framework, both seemed kind of slow and predictable in places, given I hadn’t read either in a while. Did anyone else feel that way? Any more recent pop culture stories that really stick out to you as borrowing from Gatsby? (Gossip Girl comes immediately to my mind, as does the OC before it.)

[Tamara76]

@heylady14@Kim888 I also loved Gatsby!   I opted not to read it this round because I am so far behind (just finished Orient Express), but I’ve read it several times and I love the imagery and themes throughout the book.❤️   @Titian06 @prettyinpa

[Kim888]

@heylady14 I definitely agree about the "live fast, die young" mentality shown in the book. I could see how Gossip Girl would be a modern take on that. Both spend quite a lot of time emphasizing the whole "flaunt your money" to get what you want thing and they all exhibit quite a lot of behavior that shows they believe themselves infallible. 

Maybe just because I associate Leo with both but I find quite a lot of similar themes with Gatsby and Titanic as well. Just the whole we threw so much money at this what could possibly go wrong mentality. 

[Titian06]

@prettyinpa @heylady14 - First, I need to vent...I am really, really, really getting frustrated at not being able to access BIC!  This is only the second time in 3 weeks!  The first time, I commented in the Bugs thread.

@heylady14 - I totally and completely agree!  I first read this book in high school, around 1980/1981 and absolutely loved it.  I was thrilled we were going to read it for the book club.  Almost 40 years later I still love it and for many of the reason you state.  Another reason I like the book is the use of adjectives.  They are precise, not flowery.  I agree that both books were slow and predictable, but I assumed that was because I had read them before.  I will look into "A Moveable Feast" when I skip a book club book.

[greeneyedgirl107]

@Titian06 I'm having MAJOR problems with getting on BIC, too!

[Susubee]

I *just now* got the notice from my library that I can pick up Little Fires. 😐

Luckily, I've read all but one other from the first 6. So, now maybe I can catch up. 

[prettyinpa]

So would the 16th of this month work to open discussion on The Great Gatsby?  It's a skinny book, so unless people are having trouble getting it from their libraries, it should be a fast read. When I mention the next time for open discussion, I'm not trying to cut short the current discussion, merely trying to keep people informed of when the next book should be completed.

[heylady14]

@pretryinpia-It’s a short book and a fun read. Looking forward to the discussion!

[PrettyPaint]

Works for me @prettyinpa

[greeneyedgirl107]

@prettyinpa Sounds like a good idea!

[Titian06]

@prettyinpa - This sounds reasonable to me.

[Beadshopgirl]

It’s available free on iBooks, so it’s not a problem accessing it. 

[MissPuff]

Aaaahhh, I've been a book club failure, so behind!

But I bring interesting news! Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington are teaming up to adapt "Little Fires Everywhere" as a limited series! I'm always torn on books on the silver screen, but I think this could be awesome.

http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/reese-witherspoon-kerry-washington-adapt-little-fires-everywhere-120...

[Tamara76]

I am super excited about this, too, @MissPuff!!!!💗

[PrettyPaint]

That’s exciting @MissPuff. 

[prettyinpa]

@MissPuff-  So nice that they are working to bring it to film. I always love when women produce/write movies, it's so empowering!

[MissPuff]

@prettyinpa, @mermadelove Me too! I've loved how the past couple of years women like Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington have just been like F It, we're going to start our own production companies and back our own projects rather than having Hollywood tell them they're not good enough. I've also loved Kerry Washington since "Save the Last Dance" 🙂 

[mermadelove]

@MissPuff I think the more ladies that so that in Hollywood and elsewhere, the better!!!

[mermadelove]

@prettyinpa @MissPuff  I have to say both of those ladies are awesome so it will be very interesting to see this!!!!!!! I loved the book so...!