August & September Selection

Vicki has selected The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough for our September discussion. The genre is historical fiction/epic/saga.


About the Author from Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Colleen McCullough was born in Australia. A neurophysiologist, she established the department of neurophysiology at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, then worked as a researcher and teacher at Yale Medical School for ten years. Her writing career began with Tim, followed by The Thorn Birds, a record-breaking international best-seller. The author of nine other novels, McCullough has also written lyrics for musical theater. She lives on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific with her husband, Ric Robinson.

About the Book from Barnes and Noble

Now, 25 years after it first took the world by storm, Colleen McCullough's sweeping family saga of dreams, titanic struggles, dark passions, and forbidden love in the Australian Outback returns to enthrall a new generation. As powerful, moving, and unforgettable as when it originally appeared, it remains a monumental literary achievement—a landmark novel to be read . . . and read again!

Family secrets, forbidden love, and the struggles of working in a hard new land intertwine in Colleen McCullough's bestselling romantic family saga, now in a 25th anniversary edition. This is the story of the Cleary family, who moved to Australia in the early 1900s to work Drogheda, a vast sheep station. Employing on a large canvas that encompasses two world wars and the Great Depression, McCullough lets the main characters take turns telling the story from 1915 to 1969. But the heart of the book is the forbidden love between Meggie -- Fee and Paddy Cleary's only daughter -- and Ralph de Bricassart, the handsome parish priest. It is a love with tremendous consequences for the future. When published, this novel received rave reviews; it holds up just as well for new and returning readers. - Ginger Curwen

 The Book Snobs gathered at Vicki's house on Monday, September 30.

September 2012 Selection

The Snobs have selected Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See as our September selection. Charlene has graciously agreed to host.

From the author's website:

A language kept a secret for a thousand years forms the backdrop for an unforgettable novel of two Chinese women whose friendship and love sustains them through their lives.

This absorbing novel – with a storyline unlike anything Lisa See has written before – takes place in 19th century China when girls had their feet bound, then spent the rest of their lives in seclusion with only a single window from which to see.  Illiterate and isolated, they were not expected to think, be creative, or have emotions. But in one remote county, women developed their own secret code, nu shu – "women's writing" – the only gender-based written language to have been found in the world.  Some girls were paired as "old-sames" in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives.  They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their windows to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.

An old woman tells of her relationship with her "old-same," their arranged marriages, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood—until a terrible misunderstanding written on their secret fan threatens to tear them apart. With the detail and emotional resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan delves into one of the most mysterious and treasured relationships of all time—female friendship.

The Book Snobs Gathering

The Snobs at Charlene's home on Monday, September 24, at 6:30 p.m. We shared wine and a delicious Asian food feast.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was an excellent book for discussion. The relationship between the two main characters was a source of differences of opinions. The practice of foot binding was discussed and we looked a photos of bound feet. We also discussed the importance of honesty on the relationship and the role of women within the family and the community.

September 2011 Selection

Marta selected Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz as the September selection for the Book Snobs.

From the author's web site:

With his bestselling blend of nail-biting intensity, daring artistry, and storytelling magic, Dean Koontz returns with an emotional roller coaster of a tale filled with enough twists, turns, shocks, and surprises for ten ordinary novels. Here is the story of five days in the life of an ordinary man born to an extraordinary legacy—a story that will challenge the way you look at good and evil, life and death, and everything in between.

Jimmy Tock comes into the world on the very night his grandfather leaves it. As a violent storm rages outside the hospital, Rudy Tock spends long hours walking the corridors between the expectant fathers’ waiting room and his dying father’s bedside. It’s a strange vigil made all the stranger when, at the very height of the storm’s fury, Josef Tock suddenly sits up in bed and speaks coherently for the first and last time since his stroke.

What he says before he dies is that there will be five dark days in the life of his grandson—five dates whose terrible events Jimmy will have to prepare himself to face. The first is to occur in his twentieth year; the second in his twenty-third year; the third in his twenty-eighth; the fourth in his twenty-ninth; the fifth in his thirtieth.

Rudy is all too ready to discount his father’s last words as a dying man’s delusional rambling. But then he discovers that Josef also predicted the time of his grandson’s birth to the minute, as well as his exact height and weight, and the fact that Jimmy would be born with syndactyly—the unexplained anomaly of fused digits—on his left foot. Suddenly the old man’s predictions take on a chilling significance.

What terrifying events await Jimmy on these five dark days? What nightmares will he face? What challenges must he survive? As the novel unfolds, picking up Jimmy’s story at each of these crisis points, the path he must follow will defy every expectation. And with each crisis he faces, he will move closer to a fate he could never have imagined. For who Jimmy Tock is and what he must accomplish on the five days when his world turns is a mystery as dangerous as it is wondrous—a struggle against an evil so dark and pervasive, only the most extraordinary of human spirits can shine through.

The Book Snobs Gathering:

Marta hosted the Book Snobs Gathering at her home on Monday, September 26. She served delicious stuffed chicken breasts for dinner. The highlight of the meal was definitely the array of desserts. She  served creme puffs, cupcakes, and pan de polvo. All were homemade and delicious in keeping with the book's main character's career as a pastry chef.

We discussed what it would be like to know when something bad was about to happen in your life. We also discussed how at times the premise of this book seemed somewhat contrived and how sometimes it was the days leading up to the "bad days" that seemed worse. Everyone expressed frustration with how things just seemed to go on and on with one bad thing after another.

Everyone agreed that this book was one we would not ordinarily have read, but enjoyed mostly because it was different form our usual choices.