Sommières Book and Serie Club

Hello, book club members! December there is no meeting, however you are all invited to join the Café et Conversation group at their annual Christmas party. It will be the 13th of December at Lucy's home in Sommières. Directions and a map are below. ------------------------- Our January meeting will be held at Noël's home (if memory serves ... I will verify this and email you the final location if I'm wrong.) Directions will be following via email. The book is The Host by Stephenie Meyers . It's science fiction and available in both English and French. As mentioned in the last meeting, I recommend you read a little bit about the book's premise before you actually read the book. It will make the beginning of it a little easier to follow. I'm going to include that info below for you in this Description . It doesn't give the whole plot away, just familiarizes you with the concept. Description The earth has been invaded by a species that takes ov

Our October meeting was a bit of a bust. Only 3 members came to Isabelle's, but like I've always said, you only need two readers to have a book club, right? :)  Sorry for the last-minute date change. I'm sure that had a deleterious effect. Our November meeting is the 16th. Since we have just 3 weeks to read this time, I selected the shortest book that many of us expressed interest in reading. This was a suggestion from Annette a couple months ago, and it has 239 pages. All the others we've voted on, that have been popular, were more than 400 pages long. During our November meeting, we will decide what book to read for January. December there is no meeting, but all are welcome to the Café et Conversation holiday party. 'THE READER" by Bernhard Schlink   Description: For 15-year-old Michael Berg, a chance meeting with an older woman leads to far more than he ever imagined. The woman in question is Hanna, and before long they embark on a passionate, clan

8 voters expressed their wishes for our October book (not everyone participated, obviously, but enough did) and the following book had the most 1st choice votes by a pretty clear margin: A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby LINK ON AMAZON: http://amzn.to/1ynVQFY  We need a host for our October meeting, so if you are interested in hosting, please email me. Here are the stats that came out of our voting process: TOTAL VOTES A Long Way Down = 8 The Book Thief = 7 (should be 6, we had a double voter) The Host = 5 The Girl on Paper = 3 Return to Killybegs = 1 Here's the raw data if anyone's interested (someone didn't follow the instructions and voted twice for the same book, but oh well): Timestamp Please select your FIRST CHOICE Please select your SECOND CHOICE Please select your THIRD CHOICE 9/22/2014 8:15:06 The Book Thief The Book Thief A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby 9/22/2014 8:39:45 A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby The Girl on Paper by Guillaume Musso The Hos

Hello, everyone! We have to choose a book for October 20th, so here are the options. Please click on this link below and it will bring you to a poll so you can vote for your first, second, and third choices. Descriptions of each book are below the link here on this page. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1eFquNCwypoLQQPhyKrgjbSv3mPrgN77Uji318BGxMVw/viewform?usp=send_form BOOKS: A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby (available as a movie) For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple: he has, in his own words, 'pissed his life away'. And on New Year's Eve he's going to end it all . . . but not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin's private party. They've stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons. Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind you. A few heated words and some slices if

Thanks to Susan for hosting our August club meeting. The vineyards and the weather were lovely! And we welcomed new member, Lucy. The book for September was suggested by Susan. It's called Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. [Note: this book does not appear to be available in French.] DESCRIPTION: In 1914 Vera Brittain was 20, and as war was declared she was preparing to study at Oxford. Four years later her life - and the life of her whole generation - had changed in a way that would have been unimaginable in the tranquil pre-war era. TESTAMENT OF YOUTH, one of the most famous autobiographies of the First World War, is Brittain's account of how she survived those agonising years; how she lost the man she loved; how she nursed the wounded and how she emerged into an altered world. A passionate record of a lost generation, it made Vera Brittain one of the best-loved writers of her time, and has lost none of its power to shock, move and enthral readers since

Here's the book that got the most votes. It was a close call! WHY WE TOOK THE CAR DESCRIPTION : Mike doesn't get why people think he's boring. Sure, he doesn't have many friends. (OK, zero friends.) And everyone laughs at him when he reads his essays out loud in class. And he's never invited to parties. But one day Tschick, the odd new boy at school, shows up at Mike's house out of the blue. He dares him to go on a road trip with him. No parents, no map, no destination. Will they get hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere? Probably. Will they meet crazy people and get into serious trouble? Definitely. But will they ever be called boring again? Not a chance.

Hello, everyone. We have a 3 suggestions for books to read for August. July is WILD by Cheryl Strayed, already mentioned here on the site. For anyone wanting to suggest books, I refer you to the guidelines for suggestions HERE . Annette has suggested three books from German authors. The first was Swarm by Frank Schätzing; however, it has over 1,000 pages and since we've had trouble getting readers to complete 350 page books in time for the meetings, I asked her to find others that were shorter. Here are the 2 she suggested (in her words): "The first one, WHY WE TOOK THE CAR , is one of the great bestsellers for many month. I've read it and love it but I'm afraid there is no kindle version in English ." [ it actually is available in English and Kindle! ] DESCRIPTION : Mike doesn't get why people think he's boring. Sure, he doesn't have many friends. (OK, zero friends.) And everyone laughs at him when he reads his essays out loud in class. An

Hello, book clubbers. The book for our July meeting is WILD: A JOURNEY FROM LOST TO FOUND by Cheryl Strayed. I don't know the location yet. I'll send out an email when I do! Here are your links and the description: DESCRIPTIONS ENGLISH : At twenty-six, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's rapid death from cancer, her family disbanded and her marriage crumbled. With nothing to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to walk eleven-hundred miles of the west coast of America - from the Mojave Desert, through California and Oregon, and into Washington state - and to do it alone. She had no experience of long-distance hiking and the journey was nothing more than a line on a map. But it held a promise - a promise of piecing together a life that lay in ruins at her feet. Strayed's account captures the agonies - both mental and physical - of her incredible journey; how it maddened and terrif

The June meeting will be held at Leigh's house. 11 rue des Cantonnades in Junas, just behind la mairie. There is a parking lot there, but if it's full, you will find parking on the streets nearby. The house is an old barn that's been renovated and there's a temporary, very ugly fence around the patio where we'll be sitting. See you there! The book is GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn.

The book for May is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Link at Amazon: http://www.amazon.fr/The-Fault-Stars-John-Green/dp/0141345659 DESCRIPTION: "I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once." Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten. Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love. -------- We don't yet know the location for our May meeting ---------- REMINDER!! THE JUNE BOOK IS A BIG ONE!! We have chosen the book for June. It's GONE GIRL by Gilli

We changed the April meeting from the 20th to April 27th , due to the fact that April 20th is Easter Sunday. We also welcomed two new members, Sunshine and Noelle who are excited about coming to our next meeting. The April meeting will be at Susan's house in Aspères.  She lives on the Mas Montel property, just past the chicken coop/house, to the left of the Mas itself.  If you need directions, don't worry, I'll  send a map before the meeting via email, but you can find it on Google. Marielle and Noelle both say this book we'll be doing in April is a real page-turner. Details below: Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson. I tried to find it in French, but I don't know if it's available.  Please comment on this post if you find it, with a link. http://www.amazon.fr/dp/006224454X/?tag=wwwellecase0b-21 Description S. J. Watson makes his powerful debut with Before I Go to Sleep , a compelling, fast-paced psychological thriller, reminiscent of Shutter

We had a great meeting in February.  There was lots to talk about with the book Defending Jacob and of course lots of great food brought by the members to share. For March we have Dear Life by Alice Munro.  The meeting will be at Isabelle's house.  Directions will be forthcoming in an email before the meeting.  We're going to read all the short stories in the book and then we'll discuss the ones we liked best during the meeting. http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B009HSPODE/?tag=wwwellecase0b-21 For April we decided on a book presented by Marielle that she picked up in the S. Korea airport.  It's Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson.  She highly recommends it!  I tried to find it in French, but I don't know if it's available.  Please comment on this post if you find it with a link. http://www.amazon.fr/dp/006224454X/?tag=wwwellecase0b-21 Description S. J. Watson makes his powerful debut with Before I Go to Sleep , a compelling, fast-paced psychological thriller,

We had a great meeting in January.  And we were so organized, we chose our next two books! February:  Defending Jacob by William Landay.  The meeting will be at Mandy's house.  Directions will be forthcoming in an email before the meeting. http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B007G92QGO March:  Dear Life by Alice Munro.  The meeting will be at Isabelle's house.  Directions will be forthcoming in an email before the meeting. http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B009HSPODE/ This is a collection of short stories.At our February meeting, we will decide which of the short stories we will discuss during the meeting, so please get the book early and take a look at the stories within so you can help us decide which ones to focus on!

Hello club members!  The book for January will be "The Buddha In The Attic" by Julie Otsuka.  The book is very short, so should be "easy" to finish before the meeting on January 19th. "A gorgeous novel by the celebrated author of When the Emperor Was Divine that tells the story of a group of young women brought from Japan to San Francisco as “picture brides” nearly a century ago. In eight unforgettable sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces the extraordinary lives of these women, from their arduous journeys by boat, to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; from their experiences raising children who would later reject their culture and language, to the deracinating arrival of war. Once again, Julie Otsuka has written a spellbinding novel about identity and loyalty, and what it means to be an American in uncertain times." Link: http://www.amazon.fr/Buddha-Attic-Julie-Otsuka/dp/0307744426