For February!

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for coming to the meeting yesterday! For anyone that missed it, we made haiku poems and talked about the short stories. I think "To Build a Fire" was just marginally the favorite story.

We also picked the novel for next time which will be Tuesdays with Morrie. You can buy a digital copy or order a soft cover from Amazon. It's a TRUE story about the relationship between the author, Mitch Albom, and a former professor he had while attending university. And the next meeting will be February 20th at 6:15 pm!

Here's a little blurb about the book from Wikipedia.org:

Albom's breakthrough book came about after a friend of his viewed Morrie Schwartz's interview with Ted Koppel on ABC News Nightline in 1995, in which Schwartz, a sociology professor, spoke about living and dying with a terminal disease, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease). Albom, who had been close with Schwartz during his college years at Brandeis, felt guilty about not keeping in touch so he reconnected with his former professor, visiting him in suburban Boston and eventually coming every Tuesday for discussions about life and death. Albom, seeking a way to pay for Schwartz's medical bills, sought out a publisher for a book about their visits. Although rejected by numerous publishing houses, the idea was accepted by Doubleday shortly before Schwartz's death, and Albom was able to fulfill his wish to pay off Schwartz's bills.^[11]

The book, Tuesdays with Morrie, was published in 1997, a small volume that chronicled Albom's time spent with his professor. The initial printing was 20,000 copies. Word of mouth grew the book sales slowly and a brief appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" nudged the book onto the New York Times bestseller's list in October 1997. It steadily climbed, reaching the No. 1 position six months later. It remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 205 weeks. One of the top selling memoirs of all time,^[12] Tuesdays With Morrie has sold over 14 million copies and has been translated into 41 languages

Short Novels!

Hi Everyone!

I hope you had a great Christmas vacation! And I hope you have started reading the two short stories we agreed to read at the December meeting.

And as I said in the meeting in December, we'll be reading a short novel for the February meeting. Since we will have to decide on the novel in the January meeting (on the 23rd), please have a look at these links! And even leave a comment with your top choices. (I change the comment settings, so comments should appear immediately.) OR, if you don't like these options, please feel free to suggest a different story. I linked the Amazon UK page for all of these, but some of them are available free online as well.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Nonfiction. A journalistic account of a young american man that walked into the Alaskan wilderness and was never seen alive again. There's a movie adaption to watch, and the book references Jack London's Call of the Wild.

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Nonfiction. The personal account of the relationship between a university student and his dying professor. A very heartfelt book that talks about bigger life themes.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
An American classic read by almost all students in the United States, tells the story of two friends and their struggle to survive in early 20th century America.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Another American classic, tells the story of a mysterious man living in New York city and his struggle to recapture the past. There's an older movie with Robert Redford, and a new one being released in May!

Animal Farm by George Orwell
A distopia fantasy about a group of animals that take control of a farm. Largely a metaphor about governments, rebellions, structures of society etc etc.

Please have a look at the books online and let me know what you think!