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October 30, 2015
~Thank Yous and Themes~
October 06, 2015
~ Book of the Month ~
Hey Bookenders'!
Votes are in and the book of the month is.......................
Votes are in and the book of the month is.......................
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
We'll be reading Gone Girl for this month, then we will be watching the movie at the end of the month as well. The meeting is divided into two parts; first part being book discussion and the second part is the movie viewing. If you can't make both try to make it to whichever meets your convenience. The whole meeting will take place at the same location. Meeting information is below; happy reading and can't wait to discuss this book!
- October Meeting -
When: Tuesday, October 27th, 2015
At: 5:00 pm - 5:30 pm (Book Discussion) & 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm (Movie Screening)
Where: Media Commons Room # 1 - Robrats Library
Thurga Ganeshamoorthy
Director of Bookends
University of Toronto St. George
October 04, 2015
~October Nominations~
Hello Bookenders'!!!
Here are the book nominations for the month; below you will find the link to vote for the book you would like to read. Voting ends Monday and then you will find out which book we will be reading and which movie we will be watching as well. The date of the meeting will be announced then too. Happy Voting and can't wait to see which book is chosen for this month!
Nominated Books
1. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
2. Dune by Frank Herbert
3. The Double by José Saramago
5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Here are the book nominations for the month; below you will find the link to vote for the book you would like to read. Voting ends Monday and then you will find out which book we will be reading and which movie we will be watching as well. The date of the meeting will be announced then too. Happy Voting and can't wait to see which book is chosen for this month!
Nominated Books
1. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
"In an alternative future Japan, junior high students are forced to fight to the death! L to R (Western Style). Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan--where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller--Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, now available for the first time in the English language. A group of high school students are taken to small isolated island and forced to fight each other until only one remains alive! If they break the rules a special collar blows their heads off. Koushun Takami's brutal, high-octane thriller is told in breathless. blow-by-blow fashion. Battle Royale is a contemporary Japanese pulp classic now available for the first time in English."
2. Dune by Frank Herbert
"Here is the novel that will be forever considered a triumph of the imagination. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family--and would bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream. A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what it undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction".
3. The Double by José Saramago
"Tertuliano Máximo Afonso is a divorced, depressed history teacher. To lift his spirits, a colleague suggests he rent a certain video. Tertuliano watches the film, unimpressed. But during the night, when he is awakened by noises in his apartment, he goes into the living room to find that the VCR is replaying the video. He watches in astonishment as a man who looks exactly like him-or, more specifically, exactly like he did five years before, mustachioed and fuller in the face-appears on the screen. He sleeps badly.
Against his better judgment, Tertuliano decides to pursue his double. As he roots out the man's identity, what begins as a whimsical story becomes a "wonderfully twisted meditation on identity and individuality" (The Boston Globe). Saramago displays his remarkable talent in this haunting tale of appearance versus reality."
4. Gone Girl by Gillian FlynnAgainst his better judgment, Tertuliano decides to pursue his double. As he roots out the man's identity, what begins as a whimsical story becomes a "wonderfully twisted meditation on identity and individuality" (The Boston Globe). Saramago displays his remarkable talent in this haunting tale of appearance versus reality."
"On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?"
5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
"Few creatures of horror have seized readers' imaginations and held them for so long as the anguished monster of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The story of Victor Frankenstein's terrible creation and the havoc it caused has enthralled generations of readers and inspired countless writers of horror and suspense. Considering the novel's enduring success, it is remarkable that it began merely as a whim of Lord Byron's."
"We will each write a story," Byron announced to his next-door neighbors, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her lover Percy Bysshe Shelley. The friends were summering on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland in 1816, Shelley still unknown as a poet and Byron writing the third canto of Childe Harold. When continued rains kept them confined indoors, all agreed to Byron's proposal.
The illustrious poets failed to complete their ghost stories, but Mary Shelley rose supremely to the challenge. With Frankenstein, she succeeded admirably in the task she set for herself: to create a story that, in her own words, "would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror — one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart."
The illustrious poets failed to complete their ghost stories, but Mary Shelley rose supremely to the challenge. With Frankenstein, she succeeded admirably in the task she set for herself: to create a story that, in her own words, "would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror — one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart."
September 27, 2015
~First Meeting of the Year; Bookends 2015-2016~
Hellooooo fellow Bookenders!!
Date: Tuesday, September 29th, 2015
Director of Bookends
Welcome to the new year, hope everyone's first month of school is going smoothly.
Just wanted to give a Warm Welcome to both old returning members and new members this year.
Get ready for a new year full of new adventures and great reads!
We'll be starting the year off with a Meet and Greet Meeting, the first meeting of the year. Where questions will be answered, fellow Bookenders will be meet and great conversations are bound to happen! Can't wait to meet all of you. Below is more information on where and when the meeting will take place. All you need to bring to the meeting is yourselves, friends are welcome of course and your smiles. See you all there!
First meeting:
Date: Tuesday, September 29th, 2015
Time: 5-7 pm
Location: Hart House (7 Hart House Circle Toronto, ON M5S 3H3 Canada)
in the Board Room (on the second floor to the left)
Hope To See You There!
- Thurga
Director of Bookends
University of Toronto St. George
March 25, 2015
~March Meeting + Movie Viewing!~
Hope everything's going great, below you will find information on when our next meeting is; during this time we will discuss the book for a small portion and then we will be viewing the movie! Hope to see all of you there!
Date: Tuesday March 31st, 2015
Time: 5:30 - 8:30 [ we will discuss the book from 5:30-6:00 and watch the movie in the remaining time, so drop by when ever you can make it, and you don't have to stay for the whole portion or you don't have to be there for the very beginning too]
Location: Media Commons, Room - The Videoconference Room
Address: 130 St George St, 3rd Floor
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 1A5
Hope to see you there!
Happy Reading,
Thurga
March 11, 2015
~ The book of March ~
Votes are in and the book we will be reading / the movie we will be watching is..........................
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion and directed by Jonathan Levine
We will be reading Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion and then watching the movie as well based on the book. Our meeting will be happening at the end of this month and the viewing of the movie will be happening the same day. More details regarding meeting details will be emailed out soon. As for now Happy Reading and can't wait to talk about the book/movie with all of you.
-Thurga
March 05, 2015
~ The Theme for March + Book Nominations ~
Hello Bookenders!
The end is soon approaching and we have reached our final month of Bookends. The theme for the month has been chosen and it will be.................. A Book and Movie Combo! Below are some book nominations that came in as well. Don't forget to follow the links below for voting and for our future meeting session.
1.) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers.
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.
The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature.
2.) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Sting Larson
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared off the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family. There was no corpse, no witnesses, no evidence. But her uncle, Henrik, is convinced that she was murdered by someone from her own deeply dysfunctional family. Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist is hired to investigate, but he quickly finds himself in over his head. He hires a competent assistant: the gifted and conscience-free computer specialist Lisbeth Salander, and the two unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.
3.) Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson
Christine wakes up every morning in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar man. And every morning that man must explain that he is Ben, he is her husband; she is forty-seven years old; and a terrible accident two decades earlier decimated her ability to form new memories. But it's the phone call from a neurologist named Dr. Nash that directs her to her hidden journal. For the past few weeks, Christine has been recording her activities and rereading past entries, learning the facts of her life as retold by the husband upon whom she is completely dependent. As the entries accumulate, Christine finds herself asking more and more questions-about what she missed and what Ben might not be telling her...
4.) The Maze Runner by James Dashner
If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.
Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.
Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.
Everything is going to change.
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.
Remember. Survive. Run.
5.) Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams.
After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.
Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead, and the blurry line in between.
6.) Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
The end is soon approaching and we have reached our final month of Bookends. The theme for the month has been chosen and it will be.................. A Book and Movie Combo! Below are some book nominations that came in as well. Don't forget to follow the links below for voting and for our future meeting session.
1.) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers.
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.
The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature.
2.) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Sting Larson
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared off the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family. There was no corpse, no witnesses, no evidence. But her uncle, Henrik, is convinced that she was murdered by someone from her own deeply dysfunctional family. Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist is hired to investigate, but he quickly finds himself in over his head. He hires a competent assistant: the gifted and conscience-free computer specialist Lisbeth Salander, and the two unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.
3.) Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson
Christine wakes up every morning in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar man. And every morning that man must explain that he is Ben, he is her husband; she is forty-seven years old; and a terrible accident two decades earlier decimated her ability to form new memories. But it's the phone call from a neurologist named Dr. Nash that directs her to her hidden journal. For the past few weeks, Christine has been recording her activities and rereading past entries, learning the facts of her life as retold by the husband upon whom she is completely dependent. As the entries accumulate, Christine finds herself asking more and more questions-about what she missed and what Ben might not be telling her...
4.) The Maze Runner by James Dashner
If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.
Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.
Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.
Everything is going to change.
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.
Remember. Survive. Run.
5.) Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams.
After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.
Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead, and the blurry line in between.
6.) Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
The smash-hit debut novel for every woman who has ever had a complicated love-hate friendship.
Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiancé, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.
Happy Reading
- Thurga
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