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Not Your Parent’s Book Club June Picks

June 24th meeting

Darius – Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer – not recommended, Slow and boring.
I don’t think I need to put a summary of the books here, but if you want one come find me. – Ami

Matthew – Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemmony Snicket – recommended
A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of children’s novels (or novellas) by Lemony Snicket which follows the turbulent lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire after their parents’ death in an arsonous house fire. The children are placed in the custody of their distant cousin Count Olaf, who begins to abuse them and openly plots to embezzle their inheritance. After the Baudelaires are removed from his care by their parents’ estate executor, Arthur Poe, Olaf begins to doggedly hunt the children down, bringing about the serial slaughter and holocaust of a multitude of characters.

Ian – Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan – recommended
After learning that he is the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea, twelve-year-old Percy is sent to a summer camp for demigods like himself, and joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.

June 10th meeting

Lilly – Fellowship of the Rings: Being the First Part of the Lord of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien – Recommended
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from hiim, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit. In a sleep village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins is faced with an immense task, as the elderly Bibo entrusts the ring to his care. Frodo must make a periolous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

Justin -A patriot’s history of the United States : from Columbus’s Great Discovery to the war on terror by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen – Recommended
For the past three decades, many history professors have allowed their biases to distort the way America’s past is taught. These intellectuals have searched for instances of racism, sexism, and bigotry in our history while downplaying the greatness of America’s patriots and the achievements of “dead white men.” As a result, more emphasis is placed on Harriet Tubman than on George Washington; more about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II than about D-Day or Iwo Jima; more on the dangers we faced from Joseph McCarthy than those we faced from Josef Stalin.A Patriot’s History of the United States corrects those doctrinaire biases. In this groundbreaking book, America’s discovery, founding, and development are reexamined with an appreciation for the elements of public virtue, personal liberty, and private property that make this nation uniquely successful. This book offers a long-overdue acknowledgment of America’s true and proud history.

Malika – Hatchet by Gary Paulsen – Recommended
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the Canadian wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents’ divorce.

Brandi – Dating Games by R. M. Johnson – Recommended 15 +
Though both gorgeous, the two Rodgers sisters couldn’t be more different. Hennesey, a brilliant straight-A student, is soon off to college on a full scholarship. She’s in a strong relationship with Rafe, a recently released convict who’s trying to turn his life around after being unjustly jailed. He took a drug rap for his old friend Smoke, who has since become the most ruthless drug dealer in Chicago. Rafe wants nothing more to do with his old friends — especially when he falls for Hennesey.On the other hand, Alizé is perfectly comfortable relying on her undeniable sex appeal to get what she wants. When Livvy, the girls’ mother, announces that they have to move out of her apartment because she is getting a smaller place to save up money and go back to school, Alizé panics as she is in desperate need of some money of her own. She and her girlfriends come up with an outrageous plan to score some fast cash — persuading the men with fat pockets they meet at clubs to take the girls to a hotel and then drugging them and making off with their wallets and jewelry. Unfortunately for Alizé, one of their first victims is none other than Smoke, Rafe’s old buddy. Once robbed, he’s bent on revenge — and the violent chain of events that follow will change the Rodgers family forever.

Not Your Parent’s Book Club May Picks

Sean – Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien – recommended

Depiction the men of Alpha Company. They battle the enemy or maybe more the idea of the enemy, and occasionally each other. In their relationships we see their isolation and loneliness, their rage and fear. They miss their families, their girlfriends and buddies; they miss the lives they left back home. Yet they find sympathy and kindness for strangers (the old man who leads them unscathed through the mine field, the girl who grieves while she dances), and love for each other, because in Vietnam they are the only family they have.

Justin – Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card – recommended

Aliens have attacked earth twice and almost destroyed the human species. To make sure humans win the next encounter, the world government has taken to breeding military geniuses, and then training them to the arts of war… The early training, not surprisingly, takes the form of “games” … Ender Wiggin is a genius among geniuses; he wins all the games .. He is smart enough to know that time is running out. But is he smart enough to save the planet?

Malika – Pinball by Betsy Byars – recommended

You can’t always decide where life will take you–especially when you’re a kid. Carlie knows she’s got no say in what happens to her. Stuck in a foster home with two other kids, Harvey and Thomas J, she’s just a pinball being bounced from bumper to bumper. As soon as you get settled, somebody puts another coin in the machine and off you go again. But against her will and her better judgment, Carlie and the boys become friends. And all three of them start to see that they can take control of their own Iives.

Ami – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance – Now With Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

A mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton–and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy.

Not Your Parent’s Book Club April Picks

Ty – Copper Sun by Sharon Draper – recommended 16+

When pale strangers enter fifteen-year-old Amari’s village, her entire tribe welcomes them; for in her remote part of Africa, visitors are always a cause for celebration. But these strangers are here to capture the strongest, healthiest villagers and to murder the rest. They are slave traders. Beaten, branded, and dragged onto a slave ship, Amari is forced to witness horrors worse than any nightmare and endure humiliations she had never thought possible.

Olivia – Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher – Recommended 13+

When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah’s voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

Brandi – The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer – Recommended

In futuristic Satellite City, fourteen-year-old Cosmo Hill escapes from an abusive orphanage and teams up with three other people who share his unusual ability to see supernatural creatures, and together they determine the nature and purpose of the swarming blue Parasites that are invisible to most humans.

Justin - Ranger’s Apprentice Series by John Flanagan – recommended

When fifteen-year-old Will is rejected by battleschool, he becomes the reluctant apprentice to the mysterious Ranger Halt, and winds up protecting the kingdom from danger.

Lilly – DemonKeeper by Royce Buckingham – recommended

When Nat, the weirdest boy in Seattle, leaves for a date with the plainest girl in town, chaos breaks out in the houseful of demons of which he is the sole guardian.

Malika -A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer – recommended 16+

This is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played torturous, unpredictable games – games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother’s games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an “it.”

Sean – Johnny Got His Gun – By Dalton Trumbo -  recommended

After a shell leaves his body mangled on the final day of World War I, young Joe Bonham lies trapped in a hospital bed. He is a fully conscious quadruple amputee who cannot speak, hear or see. He is left to wander within his own mind and goes between his harsh reality and memories of a happier life long gone. Delve into the mind of a man lost somewhere on the edges of sanity and insanity, life and death.

Not Your Parent’s Book Club March Picks

Justin – Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz  – Recommended

A 14-year-old orphan, Alex Rider, learns that his uncle has died. Unbeknownst to Alex, his uncle was a spy, who had been training him for a career with MI6. Alex soon finds himself recruited by MI6 and taking part in all sorts of James Bond like adventures.

Angelo – We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Pact Helped us Succeed by The Three Doctors & Sharon Draper – Recommended
Sampson, George, and Rameck could easily have followed their childhood friends into drug dealing, gangs, and prison. They came from the tough neighborhoods of Newark, New Jersey, where survival, not schoolwork, was the priority. When the three boys met in high school, they recognized in each other the desire and ability to “beat the street.” They made a friendship pact, deciding together to take on the biggest challenges of their lives: going to college, then medical school.

Brandon – Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck – Recommended
Steinbeck tells the tragic story of George Milton, an intelligent and cynical man, and Lennie Small, an ironically-named man of large stature and immense strength but limited mental abilities. The two are displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California. They hope to one day attain their shared dream of settling down on their own piece of land. The dream crashes when Lennie accidentally kills the young and attractive wife of Curley, the ranch owner’s son, while trying to stroke her hair.

Asya – The Cay by Theodore Taylor – Recommended
The Cay is the story of Phillip, a boy living on the island of Curacao off the island of Venezuela during World War II. As he and his mother are trying to escape the war and head back to their home in Virginia. The ship they are riding on sinks. Phillip survives the boat accident only to be trapped on an island with a black man and a cat. The accident leaves Phillip blind. Not only does he have to learn adjust to his blindness, but he must learn to survive on the barren island in the Caribbean Sea. Phillip is also faced with other challenges including a hurricane.

Twa’Nesha – Broken China by Lori Aurelia Williams – Recommended
China Cup Cameron might miss school or fall asleep in class sometimes, but she’s trying hard to be a good mother to Amina, her two-year-old daughter. When tragedy befalls the small family, China must quit school and work full-time to make ends meet. But the only place in town that’s willing to hire a fourteen-year-old high school dropout is Obsidian Queens, a strip club, and China is forced to make some difficult and potentially self-destructive decisions.

Olivia – Daughters of the Sea: Hannah by Kathryn Lasky -
Not Recommended
In 1899, a fifteen-year-old orphan named Hannah obtains employment as a servant in the home of one of Boston’s wealthiest families, where she meets a noted portrait painter who seems to know things about her that even she is not aware of, and when she accompanies the family to their summer home in Maine, she feels an undeniable pull to the sea.

Lilly – Incarceron by Catherine Fisher – Recommended
Incarceron is a prison so vast that it contains not only cells, but also metal forests, dilapidated cities, and vast wilderness. Finn, a seventeen-year-old prisoner, has no memory of his childhood and is sure that he came from Outside Incarceron. Very few prisoners believe that there is an Outside, however, which makes escape seems impossible. And then Finn finds a crystal key that allows him to communicate with a girl named Claudia. She claims to live Outside she is the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, and doomed to an arranged marriage. Finn is determined to escape the prison and Claudia believes she can help him. But they don’t realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye, and escape will take their greatest courage and cost more than they know. Because Incarceron is alive.

Mikale – Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott – Recommended
Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared. Once upon a time, my name was not Alice. Once upon a time, I didn’t know how lucky I was. When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends: her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over. Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her. This is Alice’s story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget

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The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Read by Jonah Jones-Hayes

This book is amazing!  The art work is very good and props to Franz Kafka who created to original text.  Kudos to Peter Kuper who adapted the text into a graphic novel.  A good read!  The book is about a man who wakes up as a bug.  A HUGE bug.  He sits there and reflects on his life and in the end… well read the book and find out!

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Allen read the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

Hi My Name Is Allen Gill

The Twlight Saga

Though this was an epic saga unmatched by my opinion by todays love story, this story was awesome in so many ways and they cover so many bases. The detail in each book is so mindblowing it’s as if you were their yourself, you witness the rise and fall of antagonist and the constant struggle between our protagonist. Wether it was because bella being human or because jacob or rosalie never left her side unless it was nesscessary. For twlight we see a love blossuming into something more beautiful, and we can foreshadow many outcomes but only one that she wants. For new moon we see dangerous events take place and a young Girl struggle to fight for her love, for whom is tainted with the guilt of feeling like a monster.
Eclipse we see a battle rise from a mate’s lost partner, and jacob and edwards mutual respect for one another grow still revials but somewhat rough friends. But in the end Breaking Dawn the final book is a must read no words can honestly give that book enough justice so i recommend just read it.

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Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Read by Mikale

Clay Jenson was excited when he saw a package waiting for him on his doorstep.  He figured it was probably a gift from his grand parents, or maybe even a secret admirer.  (Which would explain why there wasn’t a return address.) So it was natural that he was surprised when he opened the box to find cassette tapes peeking up at him.  Unsurely, Clay went to his dad’s old tape player in the garage.  He popped in the first tape (marked with blue nail polish) and heard none other than his crush Hannah Baker.  Cool, right?  There’s just one little problem.

Hannah Baker committed suicide a couple of days ago.

As Clay listens on, he finds that Hannah has sent these tapes to him for a reason.  He, along with twelve other people, was one fo the reasons Hannah Killed herself.  With a map left by Hannah before her death, Clay follows Hannah to marked checkpoints as he listens to the secrets of the peers he thought he knew and tries to figure out what secrets of his earned hima side of one of Hanna Bakers 13 Reasons Why.

Mikale does not have a Feed

Feed by M.T. Anderson

read by Mikale

“The feed. The feed. Everything revolves around the feed.  A transmitter installed in you’re brain, the feed tells you where the best parties are at on the moon, great tourist attractions on the moons of Jupiter, what hairsyles are so last minue ago and what clothes are “meg brag”, where the best sales are.  On the feed, you can chat with your friends.  The feed tells you what you want when you don’t know what it is.  The feed is everything.  That’s what Titus thinks until he meets Violet, someone who’s different.  Her world doesn’t revolve around the next minute’s hairstyles, she uses words like “picayune” and cares that trees are being cut down to make air factories.  She cares about ancient Mayan temples.  She cares that the government tries to keep the people from knowing that it’s not a democracy.  She tries to resist the feed.  She’s different than the others.  That’s what pulls her closer to Titus, and what slowly pushes him away from his friends.

After a hacking incident, things go wrong with Violet’s feed, fatal errors that could kill her.  Read what happens as Titus tries to figure out where he stands in the commercial world he lives in, where people who resist the feed get hurt.”

Jonah:

I read this book and it’s absolutely amazing.  I’ve read lots of super hero books, but this is on a totally different level.  It’s exciting, has action from the very beginning of the book and I’ve never seen comic book art look this.  The pictures look like paintings.  If there are any more, I would love to read them.