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Late November Books

Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert



Beauty: A retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley

November Drabble Prompts

drabble prompts for the month of November:

refurbishment
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken in ye olden unhealthy words)
space
flowers
cold
winter
thankful
coffee
raven
ink
rose

National Novel Writing Month

November is National Novel Writing Month so get your writing cap on and get working on that short story, novel, poem, children's story!

(Apryl creeps off to kick the forgotten fairy tale that is half written and hidden under the metaphorical sofa of procrastination)

A Halloween Meme

The wind blows bitter through the last of the autumn leaves, time to huddle by the fire a spell, clutching a cup of steaming tea (coffee or cider you choose your poison) soon all manner of ghosts and goblins will be ranging the streets in search of sickeningly sweet treats. Time for a Halloween Meme (the questions of which I compiled from a few different meme floating about the tinterwebs)....


What is your favorite work of horror fiction?

What is your favorite work of science fiction/fantasy?

Who is your favorite monster?

What horror movie gives you the most chills?

What character from any horror film would you most like to play?

Freddy or Jason?

What is your favorite Halloween treat?

Ghosts or goblins?

Friendly-faced jack o’lantern or scary one?

What is your scariest encounter with the paranormal?

Do you believe in ghosts?

Would you rather be a zombie, alien, or psycho?

Favorite Halloween costume?

Best thing about Halloween?

Person in your family who most likes Halloween (not counting yourself)?

Are you superstitious? If so, name at least one superstition of yours.

October drabble prompts

The drabble prompts for October are anything to do with Halloween:

Skulls
monsters
vampires
zombies
scary movies (and crappy ones too)
candy addiction
witchcraft
aliens
ghosts
werewolves
pumpkins
psycho axe murdering fiends
grime and gore

all the fun stuff!

Banned Books Week

This week is Banned Books Week, a time to celebrate the freedom to read. There shouldn't be a need to have a Banned Books Week but unfortunately there are thousands of books that have been burned, banned and continue to get challenged by individuals, groups and governments that find them offensive.

The books we read expand our minds, and make us the people we are. Books have always been an important part of my life, I can still remember my dad reading me stories when I was small, some of the books have been challenged. Every Christmas and Birthday I would be more excited about the books I received than the toys and clothes I got. One Christmas my dad gave me a copy of A light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein, I sat in a nest of torn wrapping paper and read my brand new book of poetry from cover to cover.

Literary exploration is so important, I read a book a night to my son, stories and poetry, including some of the very same books that my father gave me, books that have been Challenged, and Banned. I fear for the future, if these books that shaped me became banned and children and young adults the world over could not read them.

Books that have been Banned or Challenged at some point are not all masterful works of literature, but that is the magic of books and the stories they tell of history and unknown worlds to explore. I have read quite a few books on the Banned list, and not all of them I loved but they did make me think and I was glad to have read them.

The following list of some of the Banned Books I have read:

• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
  
• The Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder (I have read the series more times than I can count, and hope to read Farm Boy to H when I can get a copy of it)
• The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also by Roald Dahl
• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
• The Call of the Wild, Jack London
• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
• A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein(II read this every week to my son)
  
• Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings by Shel Silverstein (pure magic)
  
• The Giving Tree, yet again by Shel Silverstein (it still makes me cry)
  
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding (yes its disturbing but it was one of the few required reading books that I absorbed)
  
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (I read but didn't really appreciate and to this day I still don't like Steinbeck's writing but it is important to have the book available to read)
  
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger ( I was forced to read it in school because it was a Banned and Challenged book, and despite it's being a Literary Classic I never loved Holden)
  
• Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• Forever by Judy Blume

currently I'm reading 1984 by George Orwell for my Book Group, I have a huge stack of books to read though but I plan on getting a more Banned Books on the Book Group Reading list.

Question Authority and Read Banned Books!

a few links:
the ILA: Books Challenged and Banned in 2008 2009 a pdf
The American Library Association has a list of Banned and Challenged books
the School Collection list of Challenged Children's Books
Amazon list of recently Banned and Challenged Books
Amazon list of 100 Banned and Challenged Books

drabble prompts

this week's drabble prompts are :

hospital

plums

six word stories

What is it? a site with little stories in six short words. Something fun to make you think, laugh, dream, and inspire you to write a few Six Word Stories of your own.

http://www.sixwordstories.net/

drabble prompt: addiction

ad·dic·tion

(ə-dĭk'shən) n. Compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance: a drug used in the treatment of heroin addiction. An instance of this: a person with multiple chemical addictions. The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or or involved in something. An instance of this: had an addiction for fast cars.

100 things

Marina at book group mentioned reading a blog that was doing a 100 Things Challenge, and thought it would be interesting to do a write up about what 100 things you can't live without. If 100 is too much that write a list of ten, 20, or 50 items that you don't think you could live without.


Dave Bruno's 100 things challenge

Time Magazine recently ran an article about Dave Bruno's how to live with just 100 things challenge.

*starts writing a list * laptop, coffee, chocolate, supernatural, pen,coffee, journal, chocolate... hmmm what?

September Books

Mort by Terry Pratchett

Amazon Review:

" 'Pratchett is a comic genius' - Daily Express 'Pratchett's humour takes logic past the point of absurdity and round again, but it is his unexpected insights into human morality that make the Discworld series stand out' - Times Educational Supplement 'Cracking dialogue, compelling illogic and unchained whimsy... Pratchett has a subject and a style that is very much his own' - The Sunday Times 'He is screamingly funny. He is wise. He has style' - Sunday Telegraph"

Burble at the back of the book:
Although the scythe isn't pre-eminent among the weapons of war, anyone who has been on the wrong end of, say, a peasants' revolt will know that in skilled hands it is fearsome. For Mort however, it is about to become one of the tools of his trade. From henceforth, Death is no longer going to be the end, merely the means to an end. He has received an offer he can't refuse. As Death's apprentice he'll have free board, use of the company horse and being dead isn't compulsory. It's the dream job until he discovers that it can be a killer on his love life...


Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

Burble at the back of the book:
Tom and Hester have been thrown together. Truly-thrown out of a city on wheels that's left them stranded and starving in the middle of nowhere while it hares off after its prey. Hester is desperate for revenge, and Tom is only desperate to get back on board his beloved London. This is a stunning literary debut from Philip Reeve. A novel that defies easy categorisation, it is a gripping adventure story set in an inspired fantasy world, where moving cities trawl the globe. Peopled with convincing and utterly likeable characters, this story is a magical and unique read.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
these are the books for September through there are several others books being passed around at this time, including the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris and several other novels that escape me at the time of writing this blog post. I shall endeavour to collate a list of secondary novels and series that everyone else is happily reading through, and please comment on what you are reading now and what you're thoughts are on it.

the weeks drabble prompts (25th of August)

this weeks drabble prompts are:

harp: play that funky music harp boy.. what?

music: yes we have had this prompt before but its a good one to go back to. Pop your headphones on and play a favourite or random track and let the music inspire your writing and write down whatever pops into your head.

chocolate: nothing says calorific like chocolate...so if you need inspiration and an excuse for eating more chocolate than is healthy.

drabble prompt: quote

Write a drabble scene using a quote, any quote famous or not (from tv, cinema, books whatever inspires you)it can be a dialogue scene using the quote or a descriptive narrative inspired by the quote and don't forget to tell us who said it.

"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards. " -Robert A. Heinlein

Flash Fiction

Flash fiction is short fiction. There is no widely accepted definition of the length of a flash fiction piece. Some have described flash fiction from as little as 300, as long as 1000 words.

more information for flash fiction can be found on the flash fiction wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_fiction

assignment: write a flash fiction story of 500-1000 words in length.

your theme or inspiration for the assignment is: elements (earth, air, fire, water, ether)

Drabble prompt: Dungeon

Dungeon: The word dungeon is based on Old French donjon, which is derived from Latin dom(i)niōn- "property" (and ultimately dominus "lord"). However, in French the term donjon refers to a "keep" (a type of tower), and the term oubliette or cachot (a type of prison) is a more appropriate translation of English "dungeon".

Drabble prompt: wolf

this weeks drabble writing prompt is wolf, be it a werewolf, a wolf cub, or a guy named Wulf. Remember a drabble is exactly 100 words in length but if you feel inspired to write 500 we'll still read it!

10 books meme

Name ten books that have stuck with you, and have helped to shape your world.Don't take too long to think about it , simply list the first Ten books that you can think of in ten minutes or less. Books you have read that will always stick with you. tag 10 friends if you wish to share the meme.

Three-Minute Fiction

The idea is simple: Write a short story that can be read in three minutes or less — that's usually about 500-600 words in length. I borrowed the idea from this article about a contest in the states for writing three minute fiction, which I think is a brilliant idea for writing a short story meant to be read aloud.

To create a larger world than the confines of a 100 word drabble. A world that pairs the written word with the art of story telling.

Drabble Prompt: Bud

Yes, its that time of week again, drabble time! ahem......
This weeks drabble prompt is Bud, yep that's right Bud! any connotation you like, have fun with it!

drabble prompt: Day and Night

or night and day if you prefer... you can choose to write about either night or day, both together, in the vein of LadyHawk.

Drabble Prompt: The Old Gods

This weeks drabble prompt is the Old Gods, what are they doing now? is Hermes a city bike messenger? is Dionysus a club owner? is Dian Cécht a doctor at a fertility clinic? ...etc

have fun creating your 100 word drabbles.

Write or Die

Write or Die: Dr. Wicked's Writing Lab

"Write or Die is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you're fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences. "

*I haven't tried Write or Die but I have looked at it with interest. I found the link via a twitter post and saved it for a quiet day. I may give it a shot on Tuesday when I can concentrate on writing while the house is empty. ~ Apryl

http://lab.drwicked.com/writeordie.html

drabble prompt: rock

this weeks drabble prompt is rock, you can interpret that any way you wish, from a pet rock to thrumming rock music.

have fun creating a world in 100 words.

Character Map

the following questions are for a Character Map Exercise to help you build a solid character.

Character’s name and age; other personal details
What does he/she most love?
What does he/she most hate?
What he/she eat for breakfast?
How did he/she last vote in the last election, if at all?
Where did he/she go to school?
Does he/she have any noticeable traits which affect everyday life; short-sightedness, a limp, colour-blindness, can’t tell left from right?
Does he/she drive? If so what? If not, why not?

How would this person be most likely to react to/ interact with:
Margaret Thatcher
the Dalai Lama
an estate agent
someone spitting in the street
Modern art
A pornographic film
East Enders
A friend getting so drunk they couldn’t walk
A screaming baby
Market researcher in the street

Where does this person buy clothes? Are clothes important to him/her?
What music is currently on this person’s CD/ipod ?
Is this person allergic to anything?
Do they have any medical history we need to know about?
What are his/her greatest talents, and greatest weaknesses?
Would you trust this person with a secret? Why/ why not?
Could this person ever be unfaithful in a long-term relationship?
What sort of books, magazines or newspapers does this person read?
What is his/her biggest fear?
What is his/her biggest secret?
Write down five words that describe this person.


Here is an excellent list of 100 character Development Questions

Elf Sorrow Review

This was quite a hard book to get into at first. There are quite a lot of different characters to remember and two different storylines which was not immediatly apparent. I fell i would have made it easier if I had first read the trilogy 'Chronicles of the Raven' as this book deos refer back a few times and I think reading them would have given a good insight into this book. On th eplus side the raven re easy to like as characters and your find yourself wanting them to survive and reading more of their adventures. - Sharon Book Club Member

TIME magazine all time 100 novels

the complete list of TIME magazines top 100 novels 1923 to present.

http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html

the Modern Library 100 best novels

more lists I know but the Modern Library 100 best Novels has a lost from the lobrary board and from readers, so intresting things there.

drabble prompt: cable

drabble prompt for the week of tuesday the 19th is cable, so get your thinking caps on and get writing.

Links

The Gardian Observer: the 100 greatest noves of all time

Baen Free Library

top 100 sci fi books

top 100 fantasy books

fantasy book review top 100

library Thing- catalogue your books online

Goodreads- another online book catalogue and community (I have a account there but have only begun to catalogue my books )

Sara Douglass: Creating a Fantasy World

100 books meme

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. The list was bumbling about facebook and blogland and is apparently a bastardization of a "most popular" books list with some high brow pretentious books thrown in. I shall look up a "classic" list and a sci-fi list as well.

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an ‘x’ after those you have read ENTIRELY
2) Add a ‘+’ to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Tally your total at the bottom.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Total:

drabble prompts

this week has two drabble prompts to choose from:

jungle

or

book

so get your thinking caps on and write up a world in 100 words. You can use both words in your drabble, or write two different drabbles, or just choose the word that inspires you to write the most.

Gate Drabble

You couldn’t actually see the portal, the landscape looked the same, no matter where you were standing, if you walked north or south of the gateway, you continued on your travels unaware. If you walked into the portal on the other hand, the world changed completely, as it transported you to Whitewater in Archipelago, a city unlike no other. The talented, could learn to locate and navigate these portals. Nathaniel was one such person, tall, skinny, lank haired, shabbily clothed, as unassuming as a person could be, his only moniker a cigar permanently adhered to the right of his mouth.

drabble prompt: gate

this weeks writing drabble prompt is: Gate

so grab a notepad or open up word and write a little story in 100, 200 or 300 words.

Drabble prompt: Bottle

this week's drabble prompt is "bottle" chosen by Peter at the book group Tuesday night. Sorry its a little bit late in posting. Have fun creating a world in 100 words.

New Books! April/May

April/May

We're rattling through the books and have recieved another batch from the Library, which are ready for you to collect when you're ready!

Sandman: Endless NightsWith The Sandman: Endless Nights, bestselling author Neil Gaiman returns to the characters (and medium) that made him famous. It's a collection of seven short stories, each illustrated by some of the best artists working in contemporary comics (eg, Frank Quitely, Glenn Fabry and Milo Manara) and focusing on the Endless--the anthropomorphic manifestations of seven universal concepts: Death, Desire, Dream, Despair, Delirium, Destruction and Destiny.

Also available are a choice of 2 (!!) Dean Koontz titles: Watchers or Odd Thomas

Watchers: They escape from a secret government: two mutant creatures, both changed utterly from the animals they once were. And no one who encounters them will ever be the same again: A lonely widower; a ruthless assassin; a beautiful woman; a government agent. Drawn together in a deadly hunt, all four are inexorably propelled towards a confrontation with an evil beyond human imagining.

Odd Thomas: He's Odd. Odd Thomas, to be precise. Genius fry-cook at the Pico Mundo Grill; boyfriend to the gorgeous Stormy Llewellyn - and possibly the only person with a chance of stopping one of the worst crimes in the bloody history of murder.....

Something evil has come to the desert town that Odd and Stormy call home. It comes in the form of a mysterious man with a macabre appetite, a filing cabinet full of information on the world's worst killers, and strange, hyena-like shadows following him wherever he goes. Odd is worried. He knows things, sees things - about the living, the dead and the soon to be dead. Things that he has to act on. Now he's terrified for Stormy, himself and Pico Mundo. Because he knows that on Wednesday August 15th, a savage, blood-soaked whirlwind of wiolence and murder will devastate the town.

drabble prompt: Music

This week's drabble prompt is music, you can write about music or put on some music (anything you like, pop, rock, heavy metal, emo, goth, whatever your favourite flavour of musical poison.) and write whatever the music inspires you to write. Please tell us what you were listening to when you were writing (it doesn't count towards your 100 words) even if its the worst most embarassing music ever, we want to know.

Lava Drabble

I've picked up Flame's post from the comments section and popped it on here for you all to see as I think its great!

Painted wings and giant’s rings glimmered gently in the firelight. A single wet tear glistened as it rolled down the emerald green scales on the dragon’s sharp cheekbones.As the last of the screams faded into the silence of the night, and the lava ran down the grooves of the cave floor into the sea, the dragon sat and gently wept.One burst of excitement in the wrong place was all that it had taken to turn their rock fortress into molten lava, killing his lifelong friend and condemning the dragon to a life of painful solitude for ever more.

Fish Drabble

The water pressure altered, Kenny, as he was affectionately known by his owner, slipped sideways out of the way of the bigger something, he would have said Fish, but he was one and he knew this wasn’t a species member. The bigger something had fur, Kenny didn’t know what fur was, he was only a goldfish, but he did know danger when it presented its face, in this case a pink nose pressed against the glass, two yellow eyes glaring, sensing prey. The pressure changed again, Kenny hunkered to the bottom of the bowl, perhaps the gravel would provide cover?

Drabble prompt

This weeks drabble prompt is Lava, just in case anyone is wishing to join in!
Last weeks which due to excessive illness I didn't manage to post, was Fish!

April's Books

We have delivery of the next two books from the library!

As per the previous post we have Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay available or

Elf Sorrow, by James Barclay

We hope to see you at book club tonight, to obtain your copy!

drabble prompt: Broken

First of all to answer the question of "what's a drabble?" I shall borrow from that oracle of all knowledge useful and not...Wikipedia

"Drabble: A drabble is an extremely short work of fiction exactly one hundred words in length, although the term is often used to indicate a short story of fewer than 1000 words. The purpose of the drabble is brevity and to test the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in an extremely confined space."

the prompt for those of you wishing to work on writing skills as well as joining the book group, is to write a 100 word drabble using the prompt "Broken". Its not as easy as it looks but I do find that they are quite fun to work on, they get your brain working, thinking, and being creative. A small baby step before writing that novel, magazine article, or fairy tale. A few of my drabbles can be found here ( http://www.daemara.blogspot.com/ my rather dustily abandoned writing blog, just scroll down past the unfinished fairy tale) . You put your whole heart into writing, and by my sharing of my little drabbles I'm putting my heart on the line for this group and hope that you will be brave enough to put yours.

please post a copy of your drabble in the comments so we can all share.

The Next Book?

The following books are a few of the choices for the next book(s). Most people haveby now read The Graveyard Book, or are nearing the end of it so the following books have been selected off a list that is still being compiled, as we are awaiting to see which books the Librarian can get hold of for us. Let us know if these seem of interest, and if you have any suggestions for books you have read that might intrest the rest of the group. Or what book are you waiting to get in your hot little hands?


Darkly Dreaming Dexter- Jeff Lindsay


Meet Dexter Morgan, the chief protagonist of Darkly Dreaming Dexter. He's a highly respected lab technician specialising in blood spatter for the Miami Dade Police Department. He's a handsome, though reluctant, ladies' man. He's polite, says all the right things, and rarely draws attention to himself. He's also a sociopathic serial killer whose "Dark Passenger" drives him to commit the occasional dismemberment. Mind you, Dexter's the good guy in this story. from amazon.com

Graceling- Kristin Cashore

If you had the power to kill with your bare hands, what would you do with it?

Graceling takes readers inside the world of Katsa, a warrior-girl in her late teens with one blue eye and one green eye. This gives her haunting beauty, but also marks her as a Graceling. Gracelings are beings with special talents—swimming, storytelling, dancing. Katsa's Grace is considered more useful: her ability to fight (and kill, if she wanted to) is unequaled in the seven kingdoms. Forced to act as a henchman for a manipulative king, Katsa channels her guilt by forming a secret council of like-minded citizens who carry out secret missions to promote justice over cruelty and abuses of power. --- taken from amazon.com

Watchmen- Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons

"A work of ruthless psychological realism, it's a landmark in the graphic novel medium. It would be a masterpiece in any."
-TIME, TIME MAGAZINE's 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.

*I added Watchmen as several book group members have read it, and at least 3 members (one of which is me Apryl) are in the process of reading it.

The Book Meme

I have been googling around and compiling this list of meme questions the last few days and I'm posting it now for those of you who are participating in the book group from a distance, or just addicted to memes. It's heavily sci-fi/fantasy/horror based but if you feel like taking the meme please link back to the group. I hope you have fun filling it out. ~ Apryl



Total number of books owned:

Last book bought:

Last book read:

Book that means the most to you:

Book you re-read time and time again?

Science Fiction, Fantasy, Graphic, or Horror?

Hardback or Trade Paperback or Mass Market Paperback?

Heinlein or Asimov?

Amazon or real book shop?

Borders or Waterstones?

Hitchhiker or Discworld?

Bookmark or Dogear?

Alphabetize by author, by title or random?

Keep, recycle or Sell?

Keep dust jacket or toss it?

Read with dust jacket or remove it?

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?

"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"?"

Buy or Borrow?

What makes you buy a book, reviews, recommendation or browse?

Lewis or Tolkien?

Hard SF or Space Opera?

Tidy ending or Cliffhanger?

Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading?

Standalone or Series?

Urban fantasy or high fantasy?

New or used?

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?

Favorite genre books read last year?

Favorite genre books of all time?

Favorite genre series?

Favorite genre short stories?

The Graveyard Book

The first book for Chimera Book Group is The Graveyard book by Neil Gaiman. Available at your local library, bookshop or Amazon.

The Graveyard Book is the story of Nobody "Bod" Owens a normal boy who escaped the grisly murder of his family and has gone to live in a graveyard. Bod is being raised and educated by some of the things that go bump in the night. Learning life lessons from those that lack it.

The cover art and illustrations by Chris Riddell are wonderfully macabre and inspiring. an the book itself is filled with spirits, ghosts, friendship, witches, menacing humor, and did I mention there is a murderer on the loose? Will Bod live long enough to grow into a man?


I think its the perfect choice for this budding book group and can lead us on to darker things. Come along to our next meeting (Tuesday at 7:30 at Chimera, Ripley) or pick up the book and read along with the blog, and join our Facebook page "Chimera Book Group".

First Meeting

Lat night was the very first meeting of Chimera Book and Writing Group. We sat down with coffee listening to the storm rage outside as we got down to the nitty gritty of discussing our first book choice, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, and why Heather and I started the book group in the first place.

Over more coffee and tea we talked about the books we like, what made us purchase them, or borrow them from the library and read into the small hours of the night. I brought along a hastily grabbed pile of my books to discuss content and covers. What makes you fall in love with a book? is it that dragon glimmering on the cover or daring hero/heroine? the first sentence? the book jacket? what makes the characters come to life and speak to you?

The book group is centred on our love of the dark side of things, the things that lurk in the darkest corners of our nightmares, and the hunters that seek them, dark worlds and the fantastical filled with all manner of creatures good and evil. Books off the edge of the map where "Here there be Dragons".

Chimera Book and Writing Group

Tuesday 3rd March 2009 sees the start of a new Book and Creative Writing group at Chimera.
Start time 19:30-21:30
Cost: £2.50
What to bring: Your notepad and a pen.

So what's all this about then? We figured that Ripley needs an alternative book group that deals in the likes of Horror, Manga, Comic Book, GW Novels etc, none of your Romantic Rubbish (though we might make an exception for raunchy Vampires!) so here it is. We don't discriminate on age, though we would recommend your parents don't mind you being out this late, especially on a school night.

The format of the night will be an hour on the chosen book (supplied by our local library, agreed upon by the group) followed by creative writing practise for the second hour (if your a manga or comic book artist, feel free to join us, its all part of the story telling process). So if you've been itching to sort out that novel or short story, let us help focus your mind, or be a sounding off forum.

So what are you waiting for, we'll see you at the store on Tuesday 3rd March at 19:30.