Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Miscellaneous => Chatterbox => The AC Book Club => Topic started by: mare on June 01, 2009, 10:41:41 PM
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OKay guys, it's time to go get this book. how about we start talking about it next Monday.
It's a great book, one of the best i've read in a long time. :)
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Who is the author?
I've started 3 LAME books lately, I am considering chucking all of them and starting fresh, seems like a good time for me to join in! Plus, I have been a fan of all of your recommendation s so far, Mare!
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oops, sorry about that. I had mentioned it in the Happy Potter thread.
His name is Khaled Hosseini and this is a link to a summary about the book. He also wrote the Kite Runner, but in my opinion this one was way better.
http://www.khaledhosseini.com/hosseini-books-splendidsuns.html
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My sister gave me Kite Runner to read a while back and it has just been sitting on my bookshelf, collecting dust! I am going to give Splendid Suns a shot, but I will warn you, its not the usual type of thing I read...so we will see how this goes :)
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^ Same for me. In fact, I wasn't ever planning on reading it at all. I'm so glad I did though because the guy is an incredible writer. I can't believe how quickly I got through it. lol
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Hopefully I will feel the same way...I reserved it at the library and will pick it up this afternoon. I also have a couple of other books one of my coworkers recommended that I am getting too.
Have you read any Janet Evanovich? I love the Stephanie Plum novels and a new one comes out at the end of the month.
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I have never read anything by her but have always wanted to try. I'm reading The Book Theif right now which is AMAZING! and then I have another Jody Picoult book to get through. Maybe i'll try her next.
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Beware...her stuff is addictive! I have read a couple of her little shorter novels she wrote too. The Stephanie Plum novels are especially addictive...I think I read all 14 of them in less than 2 months? I was averaging a book every day or 2. The main character, Stephanie, is kind of like an anywoman who gets in these crazy situations...t o give you an idea of what I mean, she falls into being a bounty hunter after failing as a lingerie buyer for the equivelent of Sears. So the novels are about her "adventures" as a bounty hunter who doesn't know what she is doing. She is very quirky and Janet Evanovich is very creative and every novel has a few mainstay characters that appear in each book, but then each one introducing some new ones that are equally as unique. She is great at creating colorful characters. I think you will really like those books...they are some of my favorites!
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Thanks Darby, i'll try the Stephanie Plum series by her then. :)
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Hopefully I will feel the same way...I reserved it at the library and will pick it up this afternoon. I also have a couple of other books one of my coworkers recommended that I am getting too.
Have you read any Janet Evanovich? I love the Stephanie Plum novels and a new one comes out at the end of the month.
I love what I've read of the Stephanie Plum series. Damn, now I feel so behind. I just bought books number 1-5 and I'm barely on number 3. I love it though. The only reason I got addicted is because I'm in a book club, and they sent me book #14 on accident, so I read it and kept it. lol!!
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OKay guys, it's time to go get this book. how about we start talking about it next Monday.
It's a great book, one of the best i've read in a long time. :)
As soon as I saw that title, I was like, I've read that before. Started going crazy looking through my bookshelf and yes I have it and read it. Although at times I found myself lost with this book, I really enjoyed it. So I'm excited I finally have a book you guys are reading. :)
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Excellent. I really hope more people try this one. It's a great book. I'd hate for people to lose out on it.
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My copy is ready...pickin g it up tomorrow. Although I must tell you, I have stumbled upon a new series by Lisa Kleypas that is HIGHLY addictive so it might be tough to tear me away!
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Aww, Is anyone going to read this?
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Sorry, taking a break this month to hopefully finish reading The Stand.
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Like I said, I'm picking it up and giving it a shot...I have just been distracted by some trashier fare :)
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LOL
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I just finished "Sugar Daddy" by Lisa Kleypas...not total trash, but it definitely has a bit in there! Ha!
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With a name like Sugar Daddy, one might figure as much. lol
I'm reading another Jody Picoult book lmao
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Which one?
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Hopefully I will feel the same way...I reserved it at the library and will pick it up this afternoon. I also have a couple of other books one of my coworkers recommended that I am getting too.
Have you read any Janet Evanovich? I love the Stephanie Plum novels and a new one comes out at the end of the month.
My mom had been trying to get me to read that series for years... I finished the first Plum book recently, and it was pretty good. :)
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Aww, Is anyone going to read this?
I'm planning on it, but i've been out of town almost every weekend for... 2 months. Haha. I'm out of town again this weekend (going to see Mr. Littrell, actually. LoL), but then I'm going to have time to give this book a try!
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Ooh, are you going to the HHC golf thing this weekend? Lucky you!
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Keeping Faith. It's really interesting. It's about a little girl who claims to be able to speak to God.
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Ooh, are you going to the HHC golf thing this weekend? Lucky you!
Yes I did. :) I really hope they can make in an annual event like they want to. I got to meet Leighanne for the first time (she is the funniest/sweetest person in the world!) and I finally got a hug picture with Brian. *sigh* LoL So glad I was able to go.
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Awesome!! Glad you had a fun time! :)
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Is no one going to read this? Because if not, we'll save it for another month. This book is too good for people to blow off.
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Sorry, I'm reading this thread just because I'm like you and can't stand to leave threads unread, but no, I'm not going to get to the book this month. I'm still reading The Stand, and I've been busy with wrapping up school and this class I'm taking this week. To be honest, it didn't sound like the kind of book I'd get into just based on the synopsis, but I might be willing to give it a chance if you did save it for another month, when I wasn't already into another book.
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Instead of doing a book of the month each month over the summer, what if this book was our summer book?
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That's a good idea too.
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I was going to do July though... (Speaking of which, it's probably about time to start a poll for that, isn't it? June is going by so fast!)
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Yes, if you want to do that, it's probably a good idea. We'll save A Thousand Splendid Suns for another month which I will do. I'll put it in a poll with other books, for the record though, it's a fantastic book and I think everyone should at least try it.
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Sounds good on all fronts...not sure if I can do more than one, but Mare, if you are going to save ATSS I will be in, I actually have it on my nightstand! I'll go check out the July poll...
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i'm almost ready to buy a new book, which Stephanie Plum novel should i try first? Can you read them out of order? Does it matter?
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I'd start with One for the Money...gives you the foundation. Once you read that, you could go out of order. I read them all in order, they are addictive, easy reads. You will love Stephanie!
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Excellent! I will do that. Thanks Darby. :)
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Welcome :)
One gives you the backstory and all of the history. Janet Evanovich is really good at creating colorful characters. The stories don't build on each other, but she introduces new characters in each book that may appear in future books...that is the only reason I would suggest reading in order.
And FYI...She also has a "between the numbers" set to companion the Stephanie Plum Novels (Plum Spooky, Visions of Sugar Plums, etc) that I was not a fan of at all...
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3 pages and nothing about the book! Ha!
Now that I've read it shall we discuss?
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I would love that! lol
Which character was your favorite?
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In the first switch from Part 1 to Part 2 I was irritated that they left Mariam because I liked her so much! But then, after everything started going down with Laila I found myself really liking her toward the end of the second part. I loved seeing them together. I think Laila ended up being my favorite, Mariam was just so wounded and it sometimes got on my nerves after Laila came into her house. I was really proud of Mariam's attitude in the end and how stoic she was when facing the BS laws of the Taliban and her impending death. I liked that she was the hardcore biatch on the block in the jail lol. I loved that Laila went back and honored her memory...
I also really liked Azizza...but she wasn't a main character...
How about you?
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I felt prety much the same way. I oved how he went back and forth between Miriam and Laila and how they eventually intertwined into each other's lives. I felt the same way you did from the switch to part two. I hated how mean Miriam was to Laila especially knowing she hated her husband anyway, but in the end, I loved the relationship the two of them had and i'm glad considering how sad this book was, it had a happy ending.
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In many ways, Rasheed forced them together. I also liked how Laila bc Mariam's daughter in a sense and that she got to experience motherhood and grandmotherhoo d in a sense.
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Yup, I enjoyed that too. She was able to live through Laila and Azziza. I was glad they killed Rasheed. I was afriad he was going to end up killing one of them.
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I wasn't shocked when Mariam killed him...but I was disappointed at how resigned she was to her fate, even if she was doing it to protect Laila. I hoped she would have had a little more fight in her. But, again, very stoic in death and probably faced that stronger than she had anything else in her life.
How do you think this book would have been different if it took place in the United States or someplace where women aren't so second class compared to men?
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Honestly, I don't think it would have had the same effect. Most likely Miriam would have never stayed with Rasheed in the first place. That's probably one of the most intriguing things about this book to me because he did such a good job of showing us the country and even the best by their standards would be considered horrible by ours. It made me realize how much we take things for granted over here.
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Definitely...w e live in a much better place and time, that is for sure!
Part of me feels like where Mariam was concerned, she had such low self esteem she could have ended up in the same situation...sh e obviously had Daddy issues, and in some ways, Rasheed was a father figure...
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True. I really wish her relationship with hr father had been resolved. I was sad that they never had a confrontation on the book.
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So I finished the book last night.. literally read 200 pages till 3 am in the morning!! Very very poweful book, definitely. It's so rare that you actually become a part of the book and actually feel like you are witnessing the story with your own eyes, not only reading it, and this book did it for me.
The harsh thing about reading this book is, deep down, you KNOW that it's true. You know that there are women in Afghanistan going through the same shit still, every day.. Khaled Hosseini did a wonderful job reflecting his culture, what people go through with Taliban, without exaggerating anything. And it's definitely heat breaking when you think how women obey their faith, not like they have a choice, but still.. I loved how he reflected the first time Taliban came into the story, everyone's happy, thinking the war is over, only to deal with something much worse. Quite like how Iran was in the 70s..
My favorite character was Laila, mostly because she didn't lose the warrior in her and despite everything that happened, she held her head up high and rebelled against everything and didn't settle down for her so-called destiny. Miriam on the other hand, I guess she saw Rasheed as her atonement, for leaving her mom to see her dad, her dad not accepting to see her and her mom killing herself at the end of all these. That's why she was more submissive than Laila was, because Laila's family was taken from her because of the war and she basically HAD to marry Rasheed to save the only thing left for her from Tarik.
The way Miriam and Laila's relationship evolved in time and teamed up against Rasheed was told beautifully. I loved how Miriam was seeing her as a threat in the beginning, only to replace that feeling with motherhood after they confided in each other.. It was very emotional how she referred herself as Laila's mother and how she sacrificed everything she had to save her from the awful end.
So I'm kinda rambling right now but I loved this book, basically I didn't want it to end.. I'm still under its spell. It definitely is in my favorite book list from now on, LOL.
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I agree with everything you said. And I want this to turn into a movie. This is the kind of novwl that stuck with me long after I was done reading it. Thew characters are so strong you just can't help but think about them from time to time and wonder what's going on in their lives.
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Aw it sucks that I missed out on the discussion. I read this book months ago and loved it. I agree with you ladies this book was amazing and very emotional. I felt so bad for Miriam and Leila...and loved how they ended up caring for each other, at least Miriam got to fill that void. Great book. Do you guys know of any other books like this?
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I would highly recommend by Book Theif. It reminded me a bit if this but the writing is stellar in both circumstances. I think the author's first name is Markus by I know his last name is Zusak.
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Maybe we should read it so we can discuss on here? Seeing the thread for My Sister's Keeper and A Thousand Splendid Suns pop back up makes me want to do another! I haven't been reading lately and I would like to be reading again...
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I would love for us to discuss the Book Thief. I tried awhile ago but no one wanted to. It's really one of the best books i've ever read and it's a young adult book as well. I am usually not a fan of those.
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I'm going to go ahead and put it on hold at the library...I'm in!
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good! You won't be disappointed. Everyone I know who has read it, has loved it.