May, June, and July books

In May the teen group discussed "I Robot" by Issac Asimov. It was nothing like the movie with Will Smith. Stephen says that the movie actually is based on the book "Caves of Steel," which is also by Asimov. We didn't meet in June because Stephen had to finish "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain for the last unit of his American Literature book. This Thursday, July 20th, we will meet to discuss "A Midsummer's Night Dream" by Shakespeare. It should be Stephen, Christopher, Jonathan, Jeremy, and Jessica. (Jessica is here for the next 3 weeks.) That night the library Great Books group is discussing the same play. I told Stephen I would like him to go with me to that meeting too.

I have also read "Garlic and Saphires." (Can't remembr the author's name.) It was pretty good. I gave it to Katherine to read on the plane on her trip back to California. I read "The Devil Wears Prada" by Lauren Weisberger. I read half of "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" by Gregory Maguire. I am having trouble finishing that one. And I am reading "Vanishing Acts" by Jodi Picoult. That is very good. It is the first book I have read by that author. I recommended another of her books, "My Sister's Keeper," to the Library Popular Fiction Book Group, but that won't be for a few months.

The Hobbit

The last teen book club meeting was for "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkein. It was only Cynthia, Christopher, Stephen, and I. But it was a good discussion. I told Cynthia I like having Christopher in the discussion group because he is never shy about expressing his opinion. The next book is "I Robot" by Issac Asimov. We thought it would be good to read and discuss a book of short stories.

Screwtape Letters

We had our discussion for Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. It was a really good book and a really good discussion. I think Stephen and Christopher got the most out of the book. Jeremy really had a hard time understanding it and Jonathan didn't read it at all. The next book is The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein. We will have one more boy at the next meeting. His name is Christopher and he is in 8th grade.

Alice in Wonderland

Last month the teen group discussed "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carol. Jeremy thought it was a really wierd book. Christopher thought there was no point to the book. Stephen thought it was wierd but fun to read. We had a really good discussion. Stephen read "Jaberwocky" out loud, even though it is in "Looking Glass" not in "Wonderland."

Talk Pretty

Last night was the Popular Fiction Reading Group at the library. The book we discussed was "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris. It was really funny. It was a collection of short stories about the author's life. It was a difficult book to discuss in a reading group. I guess because there was really no beginning, middle, and end.