Sing You Home: BBTO Book Club Week 1

I’m having a hard time sleeping this week. I’m totally engrossed in SING YOU HOME by Jodie Picoult that I don’t want to go to bed. I’m really enjoying it and I’m excited to hear what you think. 

There are so many interesting things going on in the book – I really had no idea when I bought it. There’s marital problems, divorce, infertility, custody over unborn babies and religious intolerance just to touch on a few… 

We will have lots to talk about!

Who is in for the first ever BBTO online Book Club?

So far we’ve got: 

Rochelle in Toronto

Stacey in Florida 

Liisa in Ottawa

Heather in Ottawa (are you in?)

Lesley (me)

Below are a few questions to begin the conversation this week. I’ve borrowed them from Jodie Picoult’s website which you can visit to find out lots of interesting things about the author and how this book came to be. 

Questions for BBTO Book Club Week 1:

1. “The music we choose is a clear reflection of who we really are”. (p. 135) What songs would be on a mix tape that describes you?

2. Every life has a soundtrack. Name a song that brings back a memory of a time or place. Does it matter how much time has passed?

3. “There was no room in my marriage for me anymore, except as genetic material.” (p. 51) Why does Max give up on his relationship with Zoe? Is his weak, or callous – or in any way justified? How has his experience of infertility and IVF affected him? How do Max and Zoe differ in their handling of disappointment and grief? Do you think they would have stayed together if they hadn’t lost their baby?

4. The author skillfully presents the struggle couples with fertility issues have with IVF. Any insights to share?

Either post your answers in the comments section for all or email them to me HERE.

And for those in Toronto I am hoping we can meet up in April to talk about this book, future picks and swap some really good books. Let me know if you're in!

Author Jodie Picoult

First BBTO Sunday Book Club Pick: Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

I had a lovely brunch this morning with two of my oldest friends from Ottawa, Lisa K (and her beautiful kids and husband) and Liisa V (aka LK and LV). 

AS, LV, JL (who also loves to read) and LK

Both LK and LV are great readers and LK is a member of a book club at her office. While we were discussing, LV who blogs at Fit for a kid suggested that I start a BBTO book club here.

Of course I loved the idea and I'm really excited to start sharing and hearing from readers here.  After we've all read the first book then we can meet in person, do a book swap and talk about future picks for the BBTO book club.  

Here's how it will work:
1. On Sundays I will post three questions to get the conversation started.
2. I will collect your comments and create a post to summarize what everyone thinks. I will post on Wednesdays.
3. After we finish the book we can meet up and discuss ideas for the next BBTO book club pick and everyone can bring a few books to swap with the group.

My first pick for the inaugural BBTO book club is SING YOU HOME by Jodi Picoult. I'll be posting a few BBTO book club questions on the first three chapters next Sunday.

I will alert everyone on Facebook and Twitter when I post the book club comments. My Facebook profile is Lesley Slack and Twitter is @LesleySlack.

Please join me and feel free to add your suggestions and comments too!

LOVING my new Kindle e-reader

My husband bought me my first ever Kindle e-reader for my birthday. I've wanted one for a while and have been dropping some (not so) subtle hints. 

One of the things that I love about my husband (besides the fact that he gets me nice gifts) is that he appreciates my love of books and doesn't make me feel bad about buying so many of them. Now that I have a bookstore at my fingertips this might change because buying me an e-reader is like giving a child 24-7 access to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

I am very thankful to Amazon for creating the "wish list" function. Otherwise I probably would have done a lot of damage.

In one hour I downloaded the following books:

1. Sing You Home by Jodie Picoult

2. The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich

3. Love You More: A Novel by Lisa Gardner

4. Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner

Yes, Lisa Gardner is one of my favourites. When I worked in publishing my mass market paperback mystery/crime addiction felt like a bit of a dirty secret, but now I see that there is nothing wrong with enjoying a suspenseful, easy to read thriller. And I read a lot of them.

One of the other great things about the Kindle is that it came loaded with the Oxford Dictionary of English.

Because it is my birthday, I'm also going to share this photo of a beautiful and delicious Edible Arrangement that I received from one of the sweetest girls I know.

And a couple of pics from my birthday dinner....

 Handsome Aussie husband

Younger (just by a bit) brother, Andrew