In the spirit of new beginnings ....... drum roll, please ......... let me share with you the details about our book club:
- We will choose 4 books a year to read, one each quarter: a fiction book, a non-fiction book, a biography, and a classic. Each member of the book club can nominate a book to be read in subsequent quarters by sending me the name of the book. I will put your nomination on the blog where you can vote for your favorite by the last week of each quarter. The blog will keep the stats of the book with the highest votes to date.
- I will list the book we have chosen to read each quarter in the spot "Books Read in 2011." This way we will keep a running list of the books we have read each quarter of the year in case for some reason you miss a quarter or two.
- The only prerequisite to join the family book club is that after reading each book, you must go in and post AT LEAST ONE comment. Easy, right? That means that in addition to the fun we will have reading and sharing our opinions, which in this family is always lively entertainment, we will hone our ever increasing computer skills. For the over 50 crowd, it will be a great chance to give a son, daughter, niece, nephew or grandchild a call to catch up as they walk you through the process of posting a comment. DO not be intimidated! I repeat ..... DO NOT be intimidated by this one membership requirement. Trust me, if I can design this blog, ANYONE can certainly learn how to post a comment.
- Annette and I well understand that not everyone will be able to read along with us each quarter due to those "seasons of life" that we all find ourselves in from time to time like college, a mission, the birth of a new baby, or not knowing how to read yet ( *smile*), so feel free to read when you can and not feel guilty when you can't. We want this to be a fun, look forward to the adventure of reading and learning something new part of your life. We would like to know who will be reading with us each quarter, so if you're going to read, post a comment and let us know you are going to do so. Or send me a quick email and I will post the list in mass. And if we don't hear from you and find out that you are reading without our knowledge ........ well, at the next family get together, keep in mind that your favorite piece of See's may not be waiting for you in that beloved box, so beware!
- You do not have to buy the book we are currently reading. We are giving you three months to read each book so you can buy it, or borrow it from the library, friend or family member. If you can't obtain and read it in 3 months, then you need to put being more resourceful on your "Goals for 2011" list. *smile* Please note: do not do anything illegal to acquire the book. Although we do have a legal representative in the family, remember we are a "tough love" family as well. *wink*
- Our book choice for the first quarter of 2011 is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.
- Lastly, as a fun gift for joining, each member of the family will be receiving a book club journal in the mail to record the books you've read, the date you started or finished (or both) each book and comments as you read. Some of you, and you know who you are, read very quickly and may not remember what your excellent points were by the end of the book. This little gift will hopefully put that angst to rest and make the BC reading (Book Club, of course!) more pleasurable.
It is Annette's and my fondest desire that all of you are as excited about this family book club, as we were at Christmas when we found very old copies of our favorite childhood books at an antique store in Hurricane, Utah. Maybe we will blog about them in the next month or so, as, besides this blog being a place to make comments about your book club reading, we would LOVE you to post anything book related that you would like to say. And trust us, we know you all have a lot to say on most any subject, so let your thoughts be known!
On that note, I leave you with the following thought:
The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,
And all the sweet serenity of books.
And all the sweet serenity of books.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Happy reading!
Debbie
P.S. Check into the blog regularly in the next couple of months, because in addition to having some fun with the 'fam,' we are going to be having a contest or two ........... yes with prizes Annette.
