Book No.6 - January 2010

'You are here for the rest of your life. Do you understand? You are not leaving Iran. You are here until you die.'

Betty Mahmoody and her husband, Dr Sayyed Bozorg Mahmoody ('Moody'), came to Iran from the USA to meet Moody's family. With them was their four-year-old daughter, Mahtob. Appalled by the squalor of their living conditions, horrified by what she saw of a country where women are merely chattels and Westerners are despised, Betty soon became desperate to return to the States. But Moody, and his often vicious family, had other plans. Mother and daughter became prisoners of an alien culture, hostages of an increasing tyrannical and violent man.

Eventually, Betty was given the name of a man who would plan their perilous route out of Iran, a journey that few women or children had ever made. Their nightmare attempt to return home began in a bewildering snowstorm...

an interactive monument

For all those Anne Frank enthusiasts here is a website you should visit. Her legacy still lives on.

http://www.annefranktree.com

feeling the pulse?

The Bestseller's List, as of this very second.

Hardcover Fiction

Top Five at a glance

1. The Help - Kathryn Stockett

2. The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

3. Noah's Compass - Anne Tyler

4. Impact - Douglas Preston

5. I, Alex Cross - James Patterson

Paperback Trade Fiction
Top Five at a glance
1. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
2. A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick
3. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson
4. Push - Sapphire
5. Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout

Paperback Mass-Market Fiction

Top Five at a glance

1. The Devil's Punchbowl - Greg Iles

2. Dear John - Nicholas Sparks

3. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

4. Plum Spooky - Janet Evanovich

5. Street Game - Christine Feehan

Paperback Non-Fiction
Top Five at a glance
1. The Blind Side - Michael Lewis
2. Three Cups Of Tea - Greg Mortenson and David Oliver
3. Eat, Pray, Love - ELizabeth Gilbert
4. Are you there, vodka? It's me, Chelsea - Chelsea Handler
5. I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell - Tucker Max

Children's Books

Top Five at a glance

1. Lego Star Wars - Simon Beechcroft

2. Waddle! - written and illustrated by Rufus Butler Seder

3. Skippyjon Jones, Lost In Spice - written and illustrated by Judy Schachner

4. Gallop! - written and illustrated by Rufus Butler Seder

5. The Lion And The Mouse - Jerry Pinkney

Graphic Books
Top Five at a glance
1. The Book Of Genesis: Illustrated - R. Crumb
2. The Stand: American Nightmares - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Mike Perkins
3. Batman: Battle For The Cowl - Tony Daniel
4. Dark Tower: Treachery - Peter David and Robin Furth
5. Wolverine: Old Man Logan - Mark Millar and Steve McNiven

Are we on the pulse? Any suggestions, opinions or reviews?

book no. 5 - january 2010

'12th June, 1942: I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.'

In Amsterdam, in the summer of 1942, the Nazis forced teenager Anne Frank and her family into hiding. For over two years, they, another family and a German dentist lived in a 'secret annexe', fearing discovery. All that time, Anne kept a diary.

An intimate record of tension and struggle, adolescence and confinement, anger and heartbreak, this is the definitive edition of the diary of Anne Frank.

book no. 4 - september 2009

an angel at my table is the second book of Janet Frame's three-volume autobiography, first published in the 1980s and described by Michael Holroyd as 'one of the greatest autobiographies written this century'. It follows her life as a student and years of incarceration in mental hospitals.

In 1984, it won the Non-fiction Prize of the New Zealand Book Awards.

Janet Frame was born in Dunedin in 1924. She was the author of eleven novels, five collections of stories, a volume of poetry and a children's book. She was a Burns Scholar and Sargeson Fellow, and won the New Zealand Scholarship in Letters and the Hubert Church Award for Prose. She was made a CBE in 1983 for services to literature, awarded and honorary doctorate of literature from Otago University in 1978, and one from Waikato University in 1992. She recieved New Zealand's highest civil honour 1990 when she was made a Member of the Order of New Zealand. Janet Frame died in January 2004.

book no.3 - august 2009

Oliver Twist was born in a workhouse and lives there until the day he pleads for more gruel. Cast out into a harsh world, Oliver is taught to survive in London by Fagin and his gang of thieves. But can wits alone overcome poverty on the dangerous city streets?

book no.2 - june 2009

Eighteen-year-old Ram has just got twelve questions correct on a TV quiz show to win a cool one billion rupees.

Q: So why is he sitting in a prison cell?

A: Because the producers have arrested him for cheating.

Q: How can a street-kid from a Mumbai slum know who Shakespeare was if he has never been to school?

Read this book and find out.

Following the order of the twelve questions on the show, Ram tells us which amazing episode in his life taught him the answer to the question. From orphanages to brothels, gangsters to beggar-masters, and into the homes of Bollywood's rich and famous, Slumdog Millionaire brims with the comedy, tragedy, joy and pathos of modern India.

book no.1 - may 2009

As a young boy growing up in pre-Soviet Afghanistan, Amir befriends his servant's son, Hassan. Occupying polar ends of Kabul's social hierarchy, the two boys nevertheless play together and defend each other against neighbourhood bullies. However, during Kabul's annual kite-fighting tournament in the winter of 1975, Amir takes advantage of Hassan's guileless devotion and commits as terrible act of betrayal against him.

THE KITE RUNNER takes listeners on a psychological and spiritual journey with Amir as he becomes a man forced to face the far-reaching, tragic consequences of his disloyalty. Set amidst a culture and a country that existed before the Soviets, before the Taliban, before al Qaeda, and before the U.S invasion, "The Kite Runner" is an enthralling and totally absorbing story about fathers and sons, sin and atonement, injustice and the human yearning for redemption.

the very first chapter

Firstly, welcome.

Welcome bookworms, academics, fashionistas, nerds, gangstas, hoodlums, family, friends, children of all ages, the meek and the mild... to The Book Club.

Established in mid 2009, The Book Club has served a purpose of literary enlightenment, damn good reads, bubbling conversation, different opinions, good company and a bottle of wine or five... ultimately, The Book Club has brought together those who have an incessant love of books and the passion to share this love and interest with a couple of good friends.

It is important, we believe, to create and nuture love of the literary kind... for as time goes by, all of history is preserved in the precious pages of these books that continue to pile up.

Lessons or leisure - whatever your interests may be, turn a fresh page and begin 2010 as a member of The Book Club.

Tweet - http://twitter.com/thebookclube09

Email - thebookclub.est09@gmail.com

Contribute or peruse - http://www.thebookclubest09.blogspot.com

All our paperback love,

Chloé, Janelle and Jake