Remember last year when one of my Resolutions was to restart my book club? Well, I didn’t do that last year. But, I figured the same resolution list could carry me over into this year and I am happy to say that I can finally check this one off the list. Last week, my book club kicked back off! We had our initial planning meeting and came up with the reading list for the next 7 months. I’m happy to share it here in case you want to follow along. I’ll be writing reviews for each book after the meeting where we discuss them.

June’s book:

“Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life” by Neil Strauss

With the same sharp eye, quick wit and narrative drive that made”The Game” a bestseller, Neil Strauss takes us on a white-knuckle journey through America’s heart of darkness as he scrambles to escape the system. As the economic downturn, continuing climate change and the prevailing terrorist threat prove that the dangers facing our world loom larger than ever, Strauss decides he’s had enough. Soon he is investigating ways of getting second citizenship on the island of St. Kitts, protecting his assets offshore,and making friends with an elite group of billionaires who are thinking exactly the same thing. Strauss’ thirst for survival becomes more extreme as he prepares for The End Of The World As We Know It. He trains with guns, learn American Indian tracking skills, hides caches of supplies and acquires a special forces motorcycle to help him ‘bug out’. When The Shit Hits The Fan, this book might just save your life.

 

July’s book:
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neil Hurston

One of the most important works of twentieth-century American Literature, Zora Neale Hurston’s beloved 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. Told in the captivating voice of a woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, it is the story of fair-skinned, fiercely independent Janie Crawford, and her evolving self hood through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trials, and purpose. A true literary wonder, Hurston’s masterwork remains as relevant and affecting today as when it was first published — perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American Literature.

 

August’s book:

“Kushiel’s Dart” by Jacqueline Carey

The land of Terre d’Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good…and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt. Phèdre is a young woman trained equally in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber, but, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Almost as talented a spy as she is courtesan, Phèdre stumbles upon a plot that threatens the very foundations of her homeland. Treachery sets her on her path; love and honor goad her further. And in the doing, it will take her to the edge of despair…and beyond. Hateful friend, loving enemy, beloved assassin; they can all wear the same glittering mask in this world, and Phèdre will get but one chance to save all that she holds dear. Set in a world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess, this is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel’s Dart-a massive tale about the violent death of an old age, and the birth of a new.

 

The rest of the books chosen are the following and their months will be selected later on:

“The Wind-up Bird Chronicles” by Haruki Murakami

“Drift” by Rachel Maddow

“The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell

“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

I can’t wait to get to it!