Next Pick: Delirium

 

January's book is Delirium by Lauren Oliver. I hope you are reading along with us. If you have a Kindle, it's only $2.99. We'll be meeting to discuss it on January 21st.

Stargirl: Video Discussion

This time we did a lot of our discussion before turning the camera on, but we did catch a little bit on camera. Here are our recorded discussions:

October's Pick

Want to know what we'll be reading next? Watch Bess's video announcement to find out.

Okay, fine. I'll just tell you in case you're too lazy to watch a 1-minute Youtube video. It's called Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. Our next meeting is scheduled for October 15th, so go grab your books and get started.  I should also tell you about our exciting news. Joshua Mohr, author of Termite Parade, found our blog and Tweeted us! It pretty much made our nerdy little days. We're Facebook friends with him now...  He's got another book coming out next month that we're likely to add to our list, so check that out too.

And finally, the bookworms have a Facebook page now, so things are getting legit.  "Like" us or "fan" us or whatever. Happy reading.

Next Pick: Before I Fall

Our next book is Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall, due August 13th.  Read along with us! We'd love to have you.

Here's a brief synopsis from Amazon:

In this Groundhog Day meets Mean Girls teen hybrid, Sam Kingston is pretty, popular, and has a seemingly perfect boyfriend. But after a late-night party everything goes terribly wrong, and the life that she lived is gone forever. Or is it?
At the start of Before I Fall, Sam is self-consumed and oblivious about the impact of her actions on others. But as she repeatedly experiences slightly altered versions of the hours leading up to her death—and her relationships with friends, family, and formerly overlooked classmates bloom, end, or shift—it’s impossible not to feel for the girl whose life ends too soon. Oliver’s adept teen dialogue and lively prose make for a fast, page-turning story in which the reader is every bit as emotionally invested as Sam. --Jessica Schein

A Must-Read for the Bookworms!

Although we are all in our early thirties, the bookworms are mad about YA lit. I think it all started with The Hunger Games and progressed from there. When we met to discuss of book list, though, we neglected a big, new YA book called Divergent. I think we would all really get into it because we love reading dystopian novels (Is that weird?).

Here is a snipet from the description:
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

I've heard it referred to as solace for those mourning the end of the Hunger Games, and you can read more about it on Good Reads.

So, what do you think, should we add it to our book list? Have you read it?

The Debate Over YA Fiction

If you are an enthusiast of young adult literature, you may enjoy this NPR article by Linda Holmes. It's pretty interesting, and she makes some good points. Salient Quotes:
"If we're speaking thematically, The Hunger Games has nothing on Lord Of The Flies."
And:
"I also took an entire class in high school were we read books about killing your family, double suicide, drowning, being murdered in your bed ... it was called 'Shakespeare,' I believe."