Hey
It’s July 16th and that means it’s party time! We are celebrating our 4th Birthday here at the (Empire of the Cat) Book Addicts Book Group all this month!!!
Here’s what we have in store this month.
Post-a-thon
Please visit the site and join in the post-a-thon and help us get to our target of 200,000 posts by the end of July! There’s a party going on in the thread with plenty of virtual entertainment, food and drink. Click here to join in the post-a-thon and help us meet our goal.
Summer Romance Writing Contest
The Quarterly writing contest for June was postponed to July to coincide with the Birthday Celebrations. The theme of the contest is Hot Summer Romance and we are giving you a full month to write your entry so you can write before you go on vacation or when you come back from vacation or even during your vacation when you might be having some RL summer romance of your own! Please visit the Birthday Celebrations – Summer Romance Writing Contest for more details.
Arty Contest
To celebrate our 4th Birthday (I just can’t say that enough can I? lol) we are having an Art contest with a difference and a little more of a challenge than usual. There are three parts to it and you may enter any of them or all three. If you are entering more than one part you can design matching/themed banner, wallpaper, bookmarks or make each one completely unrelated.
The winning banner will feature as our site header for August, and the winning Wallpaper will also feature on the site and be available for download on the main site. The winning Bookmark will be printed off in a limited print run and distributed. Click here to read the contest details. Please pay special attention to the size requirements as they are very important to the finished products.
Favourite Books July 2008-June 2009
Believe it or not, we have discussed 41 books with the Book Group since July 2008!!! Consequently a poll is in order to vote for our favourite books and discussions. Remember your favourite discussions might not necessarily be about your favourite books; some of your least favourite books can generate some of your best and most memorable discussions! Please visit the Birthday Celebrations board and vote for your favourites this month!
General Stuff
In addition to all our specials this month, you can of course visit the site and talk about all your favourite books, authors, movies, TV shows, anything else specific or just hang out and shoot the breeze with a bunch of fun Book Addicts. BTW True Blood Season Two has started so why not visit our True Blood thread and chat about the show or catch up on the episodes so far!
And just in case you’ve forgotten, here’s an update on our current and forthcoming Book Groups!
Current Book Groups
July
The following books are the ones that got the most votes in the polls at the end of last year. A nice selection of non-fiction as a break from all that fiction we read so much of. There are movie versions of both In Cold Blood and Girl Interrupted which can be discussed in conjunction with the books, and we might have something special lined up for the Professor and the Madmen book discussion too!
| The Bloody Chamber – Angela Carter | |
| Hosted by: Ellie Start Date: just started Sign-up here | |
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From familiar fairy tales and legends – Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Puss in Boots, Beauty and the Beast, vampires and werewolves – Angela Carter has created an absorbing collection of dark, sensual, fantastic stories. They include “The Company of Wolves”, on which the prize-winning film of the same name was based. Carter relates traditional fairy tales through her own unique perspective. The mind of the modern feminist unravels the mysteries of the subconscious and its related symbolism. Book Discussion Here |
| In Cold Blood – Truman Capote | |
| Hosted by: Janien Start Date: 17th July 2009 Sign-up here | |
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Controversial and compelling, In Cold Blood reconstructs the murder in 1959 of a Kansas farmer, his wife and both their children. Truman Capote’s comprehensive study of the killings and subsequent investigation explores the circumstances surrounding this terrible crime and the effect it had on those involved. At the centre of his study are the amoral young killers Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock, who, vividly drawn by Capote, are shown to be reprehensible yet entirely and frighteningly human. The book that made Capote’s name, In Cold Blood is a seminal work of modern prose, a remarkable synthesis of journalistic skill and powerfully evocative narrative. Click here to join the discussion after xx July 2009 |
| Girl Interrupted – | |
| Hosted by:Ginger and Thea Start Date: July 2009 Sign-up here | |
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In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she’d never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to Mc Lean Hospital to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous clientele – Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor and Ray Charles. A clear-sighted, unflinching work that provokes questions about our definitions of sane and insane, Kaysen’s extraordinary memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers. Click here to join the discussion after xx July 2009 |
| Simon Winchester – The Professor and the Madman | |
| Hosted by: ??? Start Date: ??? July 2009 Signup here | |
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The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary — and literary history. The compilation of the OED began in 1857, it was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane. About the Author Simon Winchester’s many books include The Professor and the Madman, The Map That Changed the World, Krakatoa, and A Crack in the Edge of the World. Each of these has been a New York Times bestseller and has appeared on numerous best and notable lists. Mr. Winchester was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by HM The Queen in 2006. He lives in western Massachusetts. Click here to join the discussion after xx July 2009 |
And finally we come to August and the children’s/young adult fiction month. The following three books received the most votes in this category.
| The Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan | |
| Hosted by: Nabs Start Date: xxx 2009 Signup here | |
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Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood. I never asked to be the son of a Greek God. I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher. That’s when things started really going wrong. Now I spend my time fighting with swords, battling monsters with my friends, and generally trying to stay alive. This is the one where Zeus, God of the Sky, thinks I’ve stolen his lightning bolt – and making Zeus angry is a very bad idea. Can Percy find the lightning bolt before a fully-fledged war of the Gods erupts? Click here to join the discussion after xx August 2009 |
| The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky | |
| Hosted by: Forgotten Start Date: xxx 2009 Signup here | |
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Charlie is a freshman. And while he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But Charlie can’t stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up. Click here to join the discussion after xx August 2009 |
| The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame | |
| Hosted by: SG Start Date: xxx 2009 Signup here | |
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One of the most celebrated works of classic literature for children, THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS follows Mole, Rat, Toad and Badger from one adventure to the next – in gipsy caravans, stolen sports cars, to prison and back to the Wild Wood. A story of animal cunning and human camaraderie, this remains a timeless tale nearly 100 years after its publication. Click here to join the discussion after xx August 2009 |
Well that’s about all for this month. Hope you can join us to celebrate our 4th Birthday. If you haven’t been around for a while then we would love to see you again and if you can’t make it this month then maybe we’ll see you next month!
Bye for now!
Book Addicts Book Group Staff
