Hello Book Friends. Sorry for the lack of updates yesterday, but I was at home with a bad back and sitting at the computer just wasn’t going to happen.  I guess this is why it’s a good idea to have a few saved posts so you can just hit publish when you’re unable to take the time to post?

Anyway, while this back thing is no fun, the great thing about a sick day is it gives you the perfect chance to catch up on your reading! I took the opportunity to finish Rise of the Evening Star (Fablehaven book 2). And it was fantastic! This series just keeps getting better, and there’s nothing like a good fantasy novel to help you forget your troubles and pass an unpleasant day.

What about you? What kind of books do you like to read when you’re under the weather? What other ways do you like to pass the time when you’re stuck at home sick?

Our With a Good Book Club selection for November is Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. This is one of the lighter fantasy novels that we’ve picked for our book club, but we thought it was fun! Hopefully you enjoyed it as well and have some points to discuss with us.

Once again we were lucky to have questions already prepared for us and provided in the book, but we never just go with the flow, so we’ve made a few edits and additions to help keep things chatty!  As always, you’re not limited to the questions listed below — please feel free to interject with your own thoughts and questions! Bring up anything you wish to discuss about the novel.

1. Kendra was generally a rule keeper, Seth a rule breaker. How did their attitudes evolve over the course of the book? What are advantages to both attitudes? Disadvantages?
2. Many of the problems in Fablehaven arose as a result of decisions the characters made, often with good intentions. Sometimes, what we don’t know can hurt us. How was that true for Kendra and Seth? Are there similar examples in the world around you?
3. It can be a challenge to find the courage to do what we fear the most. What enabled Kendra to do something that terrified her? What circumstances do you find most intimidating? How do you find the strength to make it through difficult situations?
4. Circumstances arose where many of the characters in Fablehaven had to risk their lives. Do you think you would risk your life for anything? If so, what?
5. Many of the creatures in Fablehaven have roots in various mythologies, particularly Greek. Can you identify which creatures come from which mythologies?
6. Several of the creatures of Fablehaven personified specific attributes. What did the fairies seem to personify? The satyrs? The cliff troll? What are the strengths and weaknesses of those characteristics?
7. Lena spent part of her life as a naiad, in an unchanging state. What aspects of mortality did she like? What did she dislike? How do you think she felt about being returned to the water? Was it fair for the fairies to do that?
8. Fablehaven existed to help protect and conserve vanishing magical species. Why would that be worthwhile? Why do you suppose Grandpa Sorenson even wanted to protect the dangerous creatures? What non-magical plants or animals in our world are in danger of extinction? What are we doing to protect them?
9. There is a promise at the front of the book that none who enter Fablehaven will leave unchanged. How did their experiences at Fablehaven change Seth and Kendra? What do you take from the book?
10. Did you enjoy Fablehaven? Will you be reading the next book in the series?

To further immerse yourself in the world of Fablehaven visit Fablehaven.com.

And don’t forget to check our upcoming Book Club Selections for December and January!

ETA: Just wanted to point out that we’ve now added the ability to subscribe to comments in specific posts. We thought it’d be helpful to keep the conversation flowing, especially for our book club discussions, if you knew when others have added their responses. To be notified of new comments, check the “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” checkbox at the bottom of the comment form when leaving your comments!

We kind of skipped our official post announcing Fablehaven as the November Book Club selection, but hopefully we’ve been talking about it enough that everyone is aware that it is indeed our November book!  The discussion post will go up next week. It’s a fun and easy read, so you still have time to check it out.

In an effort to make it even easier for folks to join us in the Book Club discussions, I thought perhaps we’d share the next few months selections so that everyone can be prepared.  I know sometimes there’s a waiting list at the library, and some of us take longer than others to finish a book, so hopefully by listing the titles a few months in advance like this we can ensure everyone has an opportunity to get their hands on the books and get them read.

I’d also like to try something new with the Book Club in January, and I believe having plenty of advance notice will help make this work! Instead of selecting just one book for the January Book Club Discussion, I’d like to try and discuss a whole series of books!! Now, don’t panic… this is actually a fairly short and easy to read series, which I finished in a little over a week. But, I haven’t’ been able to stop thinking about Uglies since I read it, and I feel that there’s a lot more to discuss when you can take the whole series as a whole into consideration.

So without any further rambling, here are the WAGB Book Club selections for the next three months:

November: Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

For all the details on Fablehaven, check out our post here.

___________________

December: Grace: A Novel by Richard Paul Evans

I’ve read 2 of Evans’ previous Christmas novels and was completely smitten by them, so when I saw Grace: A Novel on the sale shelf at my local Chapters, I snagged it immediately.  After how much I enjoyed the other 2 novels, I thought this would make an excellent December Book Club choice.  (Check your local bookstore to see if they have it on sale!) Here’s a bit about the book:

She was my first kiss. My first love. She was a little match girl who could see the future in the flame of a candle. She was a runaway who taught me more about life than anyone has before or since. And when she was gone my innocence left with her.

As I begin to write, a part of me feels as if I am awakening something best left dead and buried, or at least buried. We can bury the past, but it never really dies. The experience of that winter has grown on my soul like ivy climbing the outside of a home, growing until it begins to tear and tug at the brick and mortar.

I pray I can still get the story right. My memory, like my eyesight, has waned with age. Still, there are things that become clearer to me as I grow older. This much I know: too many things were kept secret in those days. Things that never should have been hidden. And things that should have.

___________________

January: The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld

Here’s a bit about the series from Scott Westerfeld’s website:

Uglies is the first book of the trilogy. The second book is Pretties and the third is Specials. It’s about a world in which everyone has an operation when they turn sixteen, making them supermodel beautiful. Big eyes, full lips, no one fat or skinny. This seems like a good thing, but it’s not. Especially if you’re one of the uglies, a bunch of radical teens who’ve decided they want to keep their own faces. (How anti-social of them.)

Midnighters fans will know that I love a good action sequence, and this series is of full of hoverboard chases, escapes through ancient ruins, and leaps off tall buildings in bungee jackets. It’s the sort of fast-paced book I couldn’t get enough of when I was young (still can’t).

___________________

February: Most Romantic Book Competition!

Here’s where you get to help! Let us know your suggestion for the MOST romantic book, and we’ll select our February book from the options provided by you! Suggestions are open from now until the end of January. Just leave a comment below to suggest your most romantic book of all time!

Our November Book Club Selection Giveaway has closed, and we have a winner!

Sheila from BookJourney was selected as the winner of the copy of Fablehaven by Brandon Mull.

Just use the Contact Us link on the menu to send us your mailing info. and I will get that off to you ASAP.

And just for being such a wonderful participant in our November discussion, Kay from Kay’s Bookshelf will receive one of the runner up prizes of a lovely Fablehaven Bookmark. (Please send us your mailing address using the Contact Us link as well.)

Thank-you so much to both of you for helping make our discussion of The Book Thief so great. We sincerely hope you will continue to join us in our monthly Book Club discussions!

And everyone stay tuned for our next giveaway which will be announced soon!! (Here’s a little sneak peek to whet your appetite!)

Just a reminder that this is the last week-end to get entered in our Fablehaven Giveaway! For all the details see the giveaway post here.

If you’d like to be entered in our giveaway, all you have to do is join us in our October Book Club discussion of Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief.

But remember, you have to get your comments in by midnight Sunday, November 8 at the latest, as we will be doing the draw on Monday November 9 to ensure that the book will reach its recipient on time for the November discussion!

Good Monday morning fellow book lovers! Welcome to the first With A Good Book Chat! We originally started this blog as way for friends who share a love of books and reading but live far apart to be able to talk about books.  We’ve done some reviews, and discussed a few books in the Book Club, but we haven’t really just chatted about books and reading… and I think it’s time to change that!  Ideally you’ll all be chatting back to me and I won’t just be here talking about books, reading and the general life of a book lover all by myself… but I will if I have to, so you’ve been forewarned!

Now… let’s chat!

It’s a chilly Monday morning here in Ottawa, but thankfully the sun is out, making it a bit easier to drag myself out of bed and into the office.  What’s it like where you are?

Sun or no sun, I’d still much rather be at home working my way through the last 200(ish) pages of The Sorceress by Michael Scott. Unfortunately, my goal to finish reading it over the weekend was thwarted by the combination of owning a house and living with a non-reader. The lack of a new Dollhouse episode on Friday night did allow me to spend the evening reading when I’d normally be watching TV, but most of Saturday and Sunday were spent doing yard work and other outdoor winter preparations so there wasn’t much time for reading after Friday night.  How was your weekend? Did you manage to get any reading done? Did you read anything good? (or bad?) What are you reading now?

Since it doesn’t seem to be available in digital format, I’ll be stopping at Coles on my way home from work tonight to pick up my copy of our October Book Club selection, The Book Thief.  (Don’t forget… join the book club in October and be entered to win a copy of our November selection Fablehaven!)  I’ve been trying to go digital with most of my new books, but sometimes the option still isn’t available.  How will you get your copy? Have you started it yet?

And speaking of new books, I totally broke my “No new books until the TBR (To Be Read) pile is significantly reduced!” rule last week by ordering not one, but THREE new books. Seriously folks, I have a sickness. I need to be banned from my Chapters and Amazon accounts. I did manage to wait long enough so that I had enough books on my list to qualify for free shipping, but still. Anyway, I am now the proud owner of Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich, Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull, and Heat Wave by “Richard Castle”.  Now my goal is to have Fillion sign it!!

I’ve had Fearless Fifteen by Janet Evanovich for some time now, but have been waiting to read Plum Spooky before getting into it. Yes – I have an OCD need to only ever read a series in order.  As you’ll learn (if you didn’t already know), I am a continuity nut, so reading a series out of order drives me batty, but that’s a chat for another time.  Have you gotten any new books recently? What’s on your book wish list?