New Book List

The new book list is now available below. Join us and read the books that interest you, and write a review when you are finished. Skip the books you don't want to read, or don't have time for. Never feel guilty for your lack of participation. This is the point of this club, and those are the rules.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman - "In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen ­year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, this will change the way you look at life, love, and family. Now a major motion picture starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time."

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - "Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.
As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love—and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
The Goldfinch is a mesmerizing, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate."

 

Paper Towns by John Green - "When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night—dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q. Printz Medalist John Green returns with the trademark brilliant wit and heart-stopping emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers."

That is all for now. If you write a review, please email it to thelazmombookclub@gmail.com with a photo and it may be published on the blog.

**All photos and descriptions taken from www.bn.com where all of these books can be purchased.

Gone Girl Review - by Jessica

This review is full of spoilers! You have been warned.

Gone Girl is the second book I have read by Gillian Flynn.

I was expecting a dark book with a twist and I got what I wanted. The dark female lead is something I appreciate from Flynn, because she does it so well. Her leading ladies are always smart, but disturbed. Their horrifying deeds garner a certain respect, because of their craftiness and genius.

The story is told from two perspectives, which isn’t unheard of but in this case it is so revealing and it is also where we get the twist. Flynn likes to play with the reader and she is great at getting our support to flip flop from character to character as she reveals a little bit at a time over the course of the book.

We think Nick is guilty, then see that it is Amy. We support Nick even though he is a cheater. We don’t know if there is a baby or not, so we don’t want Amy to die, but we are happy when she is mugged. Of course she has someone to help her (Desi Collings), and he is such a creep that we almost root for Amy again, but then the way she handles him makes us feel bad for him and hate her again. We hate the cops, then like the cops because they are so wrong and then they get it, but can’t do anything about it all.

This book is like a roller coaster.

The ending threw me for a loop. When I first finished the book I was pissed at how Flynn ended it. I wanted justice. I wanted an arrest or a death. Some type of revenge to wrap it all up.

After settling down I came to love the ending for a few reasons.

1)      Nick was not smart enough to entrap Amy and get her arrested. My want of justice wasn’t going to change that.

2)      Nick was not the kind of person who would kill and Flynn stayed true to that character.

3)      There was a baby that Nick felt responsible for protecting. He needed to stay and make sure nothing happened to that baby. Amy was totally the kind of person who would throw herself down the stairs and kill the baby and blame it on Nick.

I did see the movie and I think they did an excellent job of translating the book to screen. There are always details that are lost in translation, but I didn’t miss anything.

I would like to read Dark Places and let Gillian Flynn mess with my mind and emotions some more. I enjoy her writing because she has a knack at combining darkness and refreshing originality that makes me feel equally pissed and satisfied.

This is embarrassing

I told someone about this book club today and now I wish I hadn't. I am so behind. I vow to have a new list of books by the end of this week. I also vow to finish the two reviews that I have banked in my drafts folder. "The Silver Linings Playbook" and "Gone Girl" reviews coming soon!