January's Pick

-Anna

This month's pick was easy to choose. My bestest friend from way back when (who also has a book club in the eastern part of the country where she lives) sent me The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox as a Christmas present. Before it arrived it was also preceded by this email:

So part of your present is a book. I ordered it before I finished reading it myself because I found it totally engrossing. However, I know you aren't too much a fan of sad stories and this one is sad (says so right on the cover, but for some reason I still wasn't prepared for what happened). So, if you want to return it and get something else, go ahead. It's definitely a good book. Well
written, great for conversation. But not happy.

Sad or not, this peaked my curiosity. And I couldn't return a book, that would be unheard of. So to ensure that I would actually read it and not let it linger on my desk, I picked it for book club. Now it was mandatory reading. And well, you'll just have to find out later what I thought.

P.S. Thanks bestest friend from way back when!

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July's Book Club Pick

-Anna

As I believe has been mentioned before, choosing a book for book club can be somewhat daunting. I usually scour book blogs, reviews and friends' brains in my search for a good pick. This month's hunt took me to Oprah. (http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Summer-Reading-List-Summer-Books) I don't usually go to Oprah for book advice, but let's leave no stone unturned. I admit I was surprised that I found several books of interest on the Summer Reading List, including this month's Sage Room pick: My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira.

So if we like it - well done me for such great research. If we don't - let's blame Oprah.

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May's Pick

-Erin

In the spirit of warm days and happy thoughts that accompany the season we affectionately call summer, I'm picking a book that I hope to be the kind you pack in your suitcase for a trip to the beach. Of course, I'm not going to the beach. But the lake might be a close second.

Here is The Sage Room's pick for the month of May:

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The Ole Switcheroo

-Anna

Pay attention or things could get tricky.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand is now Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

Apparently the Major is in high demand and cannot be got from the library for ages and ages, so, well we just exchanged a Major for a Miss and we'll see what happens.

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April's Pick

-Anna

I have no idea if this book is going to be good or not.
Finger's crossed for April's Pick:
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand


please be good, please be good, please be good...............

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February's Pick

-Erin

This month's pick - A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. I've never read Hemingway before which actually kind of shocks me since I am usually drawn to tragic stories mingled with love and loyalty.



Happy reading Sage Room! Or should I say happy not happy reading.

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First Pick of 2010

-Anna

Okay, so technically it's E's turn to pick.
But she was crazy busy with her first ever photography show:

Oklahoma Magic

Which was totally AWESOME, and if you weren't there you way missed out, but of course you can always check out the pics on her blog.

But I digress.
So, since I already knew what I wanted to pick in February, we moved When You Reach Me to January and well, we will pretty much be confused for the rest of the year on whose turn it is to pick, but thus is life.

So check back soon for our reviews on When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead!

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November's New Pick

-by Lisa
So the observant ones out there may pick up on the fact that November's pick has changed. It WAS The Help by Kathryn Stockett, but we had to nix it: too many pages, too little time. In the official Sage Room Rule Book,it is stated that each month's pick must be less than 400 pages unless the other members agree to it. And since we were already low on time, we decided to put The Help on hold... But it's hard to find a good book out there with less than 400 pages! Ironically, the new pick has even more pages than the old one! But it's young adult and looks to be a quick read, so it's been approved. And November's new pick is... The Book Thief by Markus Zusak!

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October's Pick

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
Highly recommended.
Like top five for some people.
That's enough for me.
I'm intrigued.

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Slight Bend in the Rules

-Anna

The goal: to choose Catching Fire for book club.

The problem: it's the second book in a series, and I couldn't pick the 1st, Hunger Games, because I'd already read it.

The solution: begging, bribing, cajoling.

The result: a bend in the rules and Catching Fire is in!

(E, don't I still owe you a coffee?)

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August's Book Club Pick

-Anna
I recently bought a used copy of A Country Doctor by Sarah Orne Jewett. She is an author I'm aware of but don't know much about. I think I read a short story or excerpt of hers sometime in my educational past, and I seem to remember liking it, but it's vague to me. In reading the opening chapter of A Country Doctor, I was immediately captured by her descriptions and insights on human behavior. So, I'm willing to go on this life journey with Nan Prince...and see what happens.

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July's Pick

-Erin

Do any of you watch Lost? I'm a huge fan. And when they introduced time travel into the story line, I became an even HUGER fan! I think I have Michael J. Fox and the flux capacitor (which, you know, is what makes time travel possible) to thank for this obsession.

So why haven't I read The Time Traveler's Wife yet? I'm not sure. Everyone LOVES it including this girl who brought it as a prop for her high school senior photo shoot!



This book is also being adapted to the big screen starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana. I'm ready to dive in to the past and the present and the future. I'm intrigued. And a little anxious. And might have already read the first 70 or so pages online!

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June's Pick

-lisa
I watch baseball. I eat apple pie. I vote. I am proud to be an American. Just how is it, then, that I have yet to read Mark Twain? We must remedy this immediately! So this month, we are reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. God bless America.

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May's Pick

-Anna

I've read Charlotte. I've read Emily. But I've yet to read Anne. So my pick for book club is Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

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April's Pick

-Erin

I felt the pressure. The pressure that Anna and Lisa have told you about. The pressure to pick something worthwhile and enriching. Something that will provide good discussion in our monthly book club meeting. And with so many books in the world it wasn't easy to narrow it down. But I did. I pick The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Though recommended by a friend, I'm not exactly sure what prompted me to pick this book other than the more I read about it, the more intrigued I was. Someone's review described the author's writing style as similar to the Bible with no real chapter breaks or use of punctuation. And besides the author winning the Pulitzer Prize for it in 2006, it is being adapted to the big screen starring Viggo Mortensen. So who knows, maybe book club will turn into movie night sometime in November of this year!

Disaster. Desolation. The man. The boy. The Road.

Enjoy!

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March's Pick

Drumroll, please! In the month of March, Sage Room participants will be reading The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. After much deliberation and the perusal of many must-read lists, I finally gave in to the literary pressure. Apparently, this is a book that every well-read person should read and know all about. So we're going to read it and know all about it. Get excited, girls.

P.S. It has been noted that we are caught in a bit of a cycle. Lisa picks a long, difficult, assignment-type book, so Erin and Anna pick a light, fun books to give us relief, then Lisa decides we better get back to the tough stuff, and so on... When will it all end?

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February's Pick

-Anna

I think the pressure for choosing a book for book club has increased since we started blogging. I mean, come on, we have a reputation now.

I narrowed my choices down to 3, and then I just couldn't choose. I asked Erin and Lisa to help me out, but I think they felt the pressure should be mine alone (that is one thing about not picking - no pressure) so I let the library decide. I requested all three novels from the library thinking whichever one came in first would be the pick. And the winner is . . . Stormbreaker.

My counterparts are a bit miffed because I actually read the book before making the final decision. I have no defense. I can't help it; it was there - I read it. Sorry. However, I am excited about this pick, not because I think it will produce any great discussion, but because I think it is a fun read. And though I read a lot of YAL, I haven't read much in the spy genre, so it's a step out of the box for me.

The website for this series is pretty cool, www.alexrider.com, so check it out and check back later to see what we thought about the book.

Also coming soon is our reviews on The Friday Night Knitting Club.

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