December 2012 Meeting

Hi guys!

I hope everyone's exams are going well. Now that we're into December and exams will be over before you know it, we would like to plan this month's meeting and/or movie night!

But in order to plan that, we need to know how many people can make it this month!

Please take the time to vote in the poll below. If you don't see a date you like, feel free to comment with your preferred date/time below!

December 2012 Meeting
	Dec 21, 2012
	Dec 22, 2012
	Dec 23, 2012
	Other (please specify in comment below)
pollcode.com free polls

http://poll.pollcode.com/b43dmy

Thanks!

Books of November & December!

It's a double whammy!

Because of upcoming exams, we've decided to announce books of November and December at once, so you guys can read through these books when you get the time, and don't have to worry about picking a new book for December, when all you really want to do is eat chocolate and memorize those enzyme names :P

November: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

I chose this book for November because it is an extremely easy and fun read, which makes it a great distraction from all the school work that will no doubt pile up for you guys around this time. The book is well written and if you haven't already seen/read any of Kaling's work, this is a great introduction!

About the book:

Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?” 
 
Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly!

 

December: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

This is a book we've heard a lot about this year as the film adaptation was released just recently, so when one of our group members submitted this as a nomination, I was delighted at the opportunity to read this novel. I've watched the movie and it was great, so I'm looking forward to digging into this book over Chrismas break!

About the book:

A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation—the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.

In his captivating third novel, David Mitchell erases the boundaries of language, genre and time to offer a meditation on humanity’s dangerous will to power, and where it may lead us.

 

I hope you guys enjoy these books. Our next meeting will be December after exams, and we will be discussing the Kaling book. Cloud Atlas will be discussed in our January meeting.

Good luck!

-Aditi.

November meeting and nominations!

Hi guys!

It's mid-November already! The leaves have almost all fallen off, the weather is getting cold, and Bookends is ready for another meeting ;)

This month, due to previous commitments on my part, I will not be able to host an in person meeting. However, I WILL be hosting an online meeting - chatroom discussion for those of you who would like to discuss our October novel "John Dies At The End". If you are unable to make it to our online meeting, we will also create a forum thread for you to contribute your thoughts to.

Also, we are looking for nominations for our November book. The theme is: Holidays! I know it's not Christmas yet, but this way, we can read ahead and watch a Holiday-themed movie at our December meeting. Preferrably, we are looking for books that have been turned into movies or classics. Something like A Christmas Carol, though more modern books are of course also welcome. 

Please submit your nominations by commenting on this posting or emailing us at bookends06@gmail.com.

And now, please vote for the time you would like our online meeting to be!

November Online Meeting

Looking forward to chatting with you!

-Aditi.

Book of October 2012

It's that time! You guys have voted, and the book of October is...

David Wong's "John Dies At The End"!

The book is supposed to mix humour with horror/some gore, so I hope you guys enjoy it.

Happy reading!

-Aditi

Vote for Book of October 2012!

Hi guys, it's that time again!

Thanks to everyone who sent in nominations for this month. Here are the candidates for "Book of October" for the theme Halloween:

1. "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
   

   A classic, Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.

   Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

   The aristocratic vampire that haunts the Transylvanian countryside has captivated readers' imaginations since it was first published in 1897 ... Dracula depicts an embattled man's struggle to recover his "deepest sense of himself as a man", making it the "ultimate terror myth".
   

2. "Let The Right One In" by John Ajvide Lindqvist

   It is autumn 1981 when the inconceivable comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last—revenge for the bullying he endures at school, day after day.

   But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door—a girl who has never seen a Rubik’s Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night....

3. "John Dies At The End" by David Wong
   

   STOP. You should not have touched this flyer with your bare hands. NO, don't put it down. It's too late. They're watching you. My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye. The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me.

   The important thing is this: The drug is called Soy Sauce and it gives users a window into another dimension. John and I never had the chance to say no. You still do. I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind: None of this was my fault.

4. "World War Z" by Max Brooks

   The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

Vote for your choice book here:

Voting is open till Wednesday, Oct 17th! Hurry and get your votes in!

- Aditi

Meeting: October 12, 2012!

When: Friday, October 12, 2012

Where: Sammy's Student Exchange (Hart House, lower level)

Time: 6:00 pm

How long? 30 - 40 mins

Which book will we be discussing? "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradburry.

 

We would like to thank everyone for voting.

We are bummed that not everyone can make it to our first meeting, but most of you have voted to have Friday, Oct 12 as your preferred meeting time. We are very excited to see those of you who can make it there. 

Also, those of you who can't make it, don't fret! We will be opening up discussion boards or at least a discussion space for you so you can introduce yourself, and discuss our monthly book.

More information coming soon!

-Aditi

October Nominations

It's a brand new month, which means, it's time for a new Book of the Month!

October's theme is Halloween. Your book can be a comedy or a down right bone-chilling murder myster, but it must have an element of Halloween in it - be it monsters or ghosts or just (some mild) gore.

Submit your nominations by posting a comment below. One nomination per person, as always.

We look forward to reading your noms!

-Aditi

Pick a meeting time for October!

Hello Bookenders!

So, it's October, and time has come for our first meeting! We are hoping to have the first meeting on this Friday, Oct 12, at the following times: 6pm or 6:30pm or 7pm.

Please take a moment to vote for your preferred time or fill in an alternative time/date that you would prefer.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

-Aditi.

Book of September 2012

The results are in!

We posted a poll over the weekend for you to vote for your Book of September, and the majority of you picked...

Weekend Meetings

So, earlier this month, we sent out an email asking your opinion on whether you would like weekend meetings this month. The count was close, but it seems the majority of your prefer weekend meetings!

So, this year, we will have mostly weekend meetings. For those of you who chose the "no" option, don't worry, we will try our hardest to have at least some meetings on weekdays.

As always, meetings will be once a month during the 2012-2013 school year, starting next month.

Next up: Book of September results. We will have those up on September 26 (this Wednesday) so you can start reading as soon as possible! :)

-Aditi.

We're Back! & September Nominations

It's a brand new school year, and we're happy to announce that the Bookends are back in business! You got an email last week about about changes coming up this year, and this is one of them! We have changed the location of our blog. This is Bookends' new home. We also have a twitter @bookendsUofT and a Facebook here. So, if you haven't already Followed us and Liked us, do it now!

We have a meeting coming up in October, where we will discuss our Book of September. But before we can do that, we have to choose a Book of September. Look below for our nominations:

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone's first week of classes went smoothly. Now that you all have your schedules down pat, we figured this was the best time to resume club activities again. As you've probably noticed, this year, we're starting a little late. We took time off in the Fall semester, but we're back now, with a brand new book and some exciting new changes!

Firstly: for this month, we've gone ahead and chosen a book. The book of January 2012 will be "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. We've read part of the book and it is high recommended. It is part romance, part adventure, part dystopia, and a generally awesome coming of the age story that I hope provides inspiration for you in this new year.

Secondly: there will be no meeting this month. Meetings will resume next month to discuss The Hunger Games, and also to nominate and select the book of February.

Forthcoming will be changes to our website and a more active twitter account. Look out for our emails in the next few weeks for links to our new website and twitter.

Until then,

Happy reading!

-The Bookenders