The Next Best Book Club discussion

My niec actually has this as a tag on her blog. Here is what you do. Pick up any book close to you. Weather you are reading it of not and turn to page "56" go to the 5th sentance and write that sentnce, continue for a few sentances. I hope this will be fun! I have a hard time picking new books to read and the back of a book dose not always give the best insight. So crack open those books and lets see what is out there!! :)


"A Woman Worth Ten Copers"

It Oppressed Yim like the echoes of a thunderclap and felt as equally real. The day dragged on, and by afternoon, even Honus seemed fatigued. Yim trudged in sensless exhaustion.

"We must rest", said Honus at last. Luvein is a wearisome place.

Yim slumped by the roadside without removing the pack.

Dead Until Dark

"You were married?"

"Yes, I became a vampire when I was thirty. I had a wife and five living children. My sister, Sarah, lived with us. She never wed. Her young man was killed in the war."

"The Civil War."

Donna, I believe you are to place the title at the begining of your post and just go to page 56 and type it out. Just to give everyone a glimpse of that book.

Gail, Have you ever heard of the "Page 99 Test"?
Some people will use that as a means to determine if they will purchase a novel or not! I tend to prefer reading the first few pages myself.

Sorry to sidebar there.....
Carry on!

Scot On The Rocks: How I Survived My Ex-Boyfriend's Wedding With My Dignity Ever-So Slightly Intact

I was one of the elite four hundred some odd people walking those halls.

With a twenty-four-hour command center including a word-processing center, mailroom, cafeteria and supply room (not supply closet, mind you, an actual room dedicated solely to the mission of ordering and giving associated whatever supplies their hearts desired), the twelfth floor should have it's own postal code.

It even has a cash machine.

Their is a staff of eight whose sole responsibility is to send and receive faxes(all of which makes it even more shocking when your faxes are actually not sent or lost entirely).

(I don't think I would pick up the book based on these sentences but I'm glad I did - it's really good so far...lol)

But I think page 99 is more indicative... nevermind... I loved this book.

“I once went to Dieppe with you father,” Mother said. “On a day return. I never dreamt we’d send Uncle Harry there.”
The gulls screamed with laughter and derision at the whole absurd performance. Beatrice removed the top of the urn and peered in at him. She showed me a pile of grayish powder.
“I don’t want to see,” warned Mother. "It’s not right somehow. Like seeing him without any clothes on…”

Thanks Lori. I edited my response.

Does it mean you are starting it Fiona? But don't start like that, you loose the story and jsut get some lines without context!

Yepee Fiona! I remember that part in Divide!
And don't be so biased against it right from start please!

Lori, I have not heard of the Page 99 test. I guess that would work as well. But this way I don't have to wonder for hours in a book store ....not a bad thing in general but when you still come away with nothing it is a pain!

These are fun to read so far!

"Miracle at St. Anna"

"When word of Tranqueville's death reached Italy, the duches was distraubht. She had had no idea of the dire poverty the artist had been living in, and insisted that had she known she would have sent for him immediately and given him a place at her side as a royal artist in her court."

I read italy, i read Italy..okay Jeane, read the rest too..... Emilee, also the rest sounds interesting.

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Had He just slepped me a key? I was a good kite figher. Actually, a very good one. A few times, I'd even come close to winning the winter tournament-once, I'd made it to the final three. But coming close wastn't the same as winning, was it? Baba hadn't come close. He had won because winners won and everyone else just went home. Baba was use to winning, winning at everything he set his mind to. Didn't he have a right to expect the same from his son? And just imagine. If I did win...

These are great! Lets remember to put either the title of the book with the review or if you are smart (not me) put the cover of the book up too. :)

The Strings of the Lute

After they left, she asked me if Royce was my boyfriend. I could hardly keep from laughing. I didn't feel like explaining to her that Royce is gay, so I just said no. I thought she'd drop it, but she kept asking if I was seeing anyone at all. I had an awful feeling she was going to set me up with someone, maybe her creepy son that lives with her husband. So, I told her about you," Lorraine finished.

LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel

"This Son is a god who died in three hours, with moans, gasps and laments. What kind of a god is that? What is there to inspire in this Son?

Love, said Father Martin."

"Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K Jerome


At lunch they had a very bad time of it. People wanted them to sit on the grass, and the grass was dusty; and the tree-trunks, against which they were invited to lean, did not appear to have been brushed for weeks; so they spread their handkerchiefs on the ground and sat on those, bolt upright. Somebody, in walking about with a plate of beef-steak pie, tripped up over a root, and sent the pie flying. None of it went over them, fortunately, but the accident suggested a fresh danger to them, and agitated them; and, whenever anybody moved about, after that, with anything in his hand that could fall and make a mess, they watched that person with growing anxiety until he sat down again.

THE STAND by Stephen King

"I had birth control pills," she said. "They did'nt work."
"Then I can't put any blame, unless it's on both on you," he said, looking at her closely. "And I can't do that Frannie. I can't lay blame. 64 has a way of forgetting what 21 was like. So we won't talk about blame."

Do you think King has heard of this test???

"It is the same with people. The best judges never miss the mark. And from the very first."

"What has this to do with me?" I was anxious to get on with the lessons and impress him with the many facts I had memorized for his benefit since last time.

"Everything. First, you must develop this uncanny skill yourself, just as you developed your skill at riding or music. There is no greater gift a king can have. And, second, you must play to that gift in others."

"How?" How could I change a stranger's impression of me? I who could not even change my own father's?

The Book of Negroes by Lawerance Hill

"On the ship and in all the years that have followed. I have thought of how much my parents planted in my mind in the short time we had together. They made sure that I learned how to cultivate a millet field. As a young child. I was just as quick and capable as an adult when it came time to seed."

The War of the Worlds. H.G. Wells

"Then suddenly the tress in the pine wood ahead of me were parted, as brittle reeds are parted by a man thrusting though them; they were snapped off and driven headlong, and a second huge tripod appeared, rushing, as it seemed, headlong towards me. And I was galloping hard to meet it! At the sight of the second monster my nerve went altogether."

The Gargoyleby

"How sad, they must have thought, that I looked forward to visits from a madwoman. But this did not deter me, and I even asked Beth to find out the woman's name. She refused to do any such thing, so I asked Connie. She also said it was against hospital policy to divulge the specifics of another patient."

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

"I left wide margins. In the left-hand one I noted any mannerisms expressions and gestures that seemed to add something to her meaning. The right-hand margin I left blank. Later, rereading, it was here that I would enter my own thoughts, comments, questions.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

The ground grew dim and the trees black. Weena's fears and her fatigue grew upon her. I took her in my arms and talked to her and caressed her. Then as the darkness grew deeper, she put her arms round my neck, and closing her eyes, tightly pressed her face against my shoulder.

The House on Mango Street

Because I am the oldest, my father has told me first, and now it is my turn to tell the others. I will have to explain why we can't play. I will have to tell them to be quiet today.

Lullabies for Little Criminals - Heather O'Neill

Everywhere that should have hurt just ended up feeling heavier. I was so distracted by Jules being arrested that I didn't feel anything. There wasn't much that pain on th outside could do to me at that point.

"I don't see you that much anymore," said David, "that's all. I miss having you around."

His father smiled at him, then cuffed him gently on the ear. "I know," he said. "But we all have to make sacrifices, and there are men and women out there who are making much greater sacrifices than we are.

"They hit the rapids ten minutes later.

Tally had lived her whole life within sight of the river. Slow-moving and dignified, it defined the city, marking the boundary between worlds. But she'd never realized that a few kilometers upstream from the dam, the stately band of silver became a snarling monster."

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The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig

"We will be married as soon as I can procure a special license."

"No!" Mrs. Alsworthy's alarmed cry shook the chandelier. "But the lobster patties! Think of the lobster patties! You cannot possibly have a wedding without lobster patties!"

The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts

"So it kills Uncle Harry," Fox propoased, "then for fun, it comes back as Uncle Harry to terrorize and kill the rest of the family."
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A MERCY by Toni Morrison

Some people do evil purposefully, said Lina. Others can't help the evil they make.

Mistress looked up. What are you saying?

Your son, John Jacob. He died after Sorrow came.

Stay, Lina. Don't feed old misery. My baby died of fever.

But Patrician sickened too and did not --

I said stay. That he died in my arms is enough without adding savage nonsense.

Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman? by Eleanor Updale
He hadn't mentioned the dark, either. It was obvious, of course, now that Scarper was down the hole, but all the illustrations displayed at the Scientific Society had been in bright watercolours, and he hadn't thought to bring a light with him. Above all, Bazalgette hadn't mentioned the smell. It was a savage, suffocating stench that had Scarper fighting back his vomit. He had assumed that the acrid urine-scented air of the prison would have inured him against such a shock to his senses.

The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland

"Although he only smiled, I could tell I had pleased him. I had meant the women more than the paintings. Who were they? Was I looking at a history of his---should I call them associations? The women looked back at me holding secrets I doubted I would ever know. For the time being at least, Pietro's mystery made him alluring."

Capt. Hook The Adventures of a Notorious Youth by JV Hart

James lifted himself up like a cobra before a Hindu snake charmer, his head weaving from side to side, all his senses returned and ready. Then, knowing that the unexpected is a powerful weapon, James slithered to Arthur Darling and smiled treacherously. In his fingers he held a freshly plucked four leaf clover, which he offered in the spirit of good form to Darling. "For luck," he said, still smiling.

"I'll speak to Neri, but I don't think he'll give it back to me. Perhaps he doesn't even have it anymore. Anyhow, what do you want the book for? Don't tell me it's to read it."

"No. I know it by heart."

"Are you a collector?"

"Something like that."

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan

Oll laughed. "How could I wake you, halfway across the town?"

"I don't know." Ma bent to scrubbing again. "There must be a sound you make, your eyelids opening. It carries to my ears."

Oll watched Ma's wayward hair, her determined shoulders, her white and purple feet with the toes digging into the sand. These sights satisfied her like a solid meal in her belly. "But what about those other children, the dead ones, on the pile? Does not every mother hear that eyelid sound?"

Among my mother's books I had once discovered a volume of stories by a gentleman named Mr Poe, who lives in Her Majesty's American colonies. There was one, 'The Premature Burial', which gave me nightmares for weeks after I read it, and I remember thinking that there could be no fate more horrible than to be buried alive, and wondering what type of deranged and sickly mind could have invented such a tale. But as I lay immobilised in a jar on the wrong side of the Moon with only a ravening caterpillar for company I realised that Mr Poe was actually quite a cheery, light-hearted sort of chap, and that his story had been touchingly optimistic.
Larklight A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space by Philip Reeve

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Mr. Norrell looked as if he would prefer to remain silent, but the directness of Mr. Lascelle's question obliged him to give a reply. "No" he said at last, "I am quite certain that he existed. But I cannot consider his influence upon English magic as anything other than deplorable. His magic was of a particularly pernicious sort and nothing would please me more than that he should be forgot as completely as he deserves."

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

"Just as he finished speaking Maria came through the door carrying an armful of his washed, dried and ironed clothes. She hesitated for a moment when she saw him lying there byt then bowed her head a little and walked silently over towards the wardrobe."

"It was 1936. The Olympics. Hitler's games.

Jesse Owens had just completed the 4 x 100m relay and won his fourth gold medal. Talk that he was subhuman because he was black and Hitler's refusal to shake his hand were touted around the world. Even the most racist Germans were amazed with the efforts of Owens, and word of his feat slipped through the cracks. No one was more impressed than Rudy Steiner."

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

"He could not take it in, and his terror for the others was paramount. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a mass of people moving, flares of green light, two pairs of people on brooms soaring off into the distance, but he could not tell who they were --"

FLUKE by Christopher Moore

She walked into his cabin, hugged him, then stepped back and said, "Nate, I don't think I want to be married anymore." But what she really meant was "I'm done with penises forever, Nate, and pleasant as you are, I know that you are still attached to one."

He bowed himself out, and we stood warming our rears at the fire.

The room was dominated by a large desk covered with a clutter of papers and parchments, a cushioned chair behind it and stools in front. The great seal of the abbey lay on a block of sealing wax in a brass tray, next to a flagon of wine and some silver cups. Behind the desk, bookshelves lined the wall.

"I didn't realize abbots lived so well," Mark observed.

Dissolution by C.J. Sansom

"Brrr's recall of what had happened before seemed limited to apparent causes of what had happened next. The future reshapes the memory of the past in the way it recalibrates significance; some episodes are advanced, others lose purchase."

A Lion Among Men Volume Three in the Wicked Years by Gregory Maguire

"There is an excitement in the air anyway, as it is fall, our most luscious season. The mountains around us turn from dark velvet to an iridescent taffeta. The leaves of late September are bright green; by the first week of October they change to shimmering gemstones, garnet and topaz and all the purples in between. The mountains seem to be lit from the ground by theatrical footlights. Autumn is our grand opera. It even smells rich this time of year, a fresh mix of balsam and hickory and vanilla smoke. Friday nights are football-game nights, and Saturday nights find everyone in town over at the Carter Family Fold."

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani

JG - I'm loving the Big Stone Gap excerpt. I'm going to have to move it up on my list!

I recommend it, Jamie!

"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides

"She sees not one fire but many. There are twenty orange dots on the hill above. And they have an unnatural persistence, these fires. As soon as the fire department puts out one blaze, another erupts somewhere else. They start in hay carts and trash bins; they follow kerosene trails down the center of streets; they turn corners; they enter bashed-in doorways."

Collateral Damage by Fern Michaels

"And why would we do that" asked, Nikki said gently as she remembered one particular Halloween when she and Barbara dressed up as clown in costumes that Myra had sewn herself. They'd had so much fun that night.

"I'll be back."
"How do you know?"
His eyes left her, strayed toward the final, shivering path of light across the sea. "You know why," he whispered. "You know." His lips brushed hers, cold, yet she knew he gave her all the warmth he had. "If I could love, I would love you," he said softly. After a moment, she smiled. "Why is that strange?"
"If you could love," she said simply, feeling as if she had taken an enormous step away from herself and into the complex world, "you would not choose me to love."
The Changeling Sea by Patricia A. McKillip

"It was a wonderful moment when Rose stood there at the top of the stairs. It made me think of Beatrix in Esmond--but Beatrix didn't trip over her dress three stairs from the bottom and have to clutch at the banisters with a green-dyed hand."

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith