*Update: Since I didn’t quite manage to get this one read in February, but I know some others did, I’m extending it to be our March Book Club Selection. Please use this extra time to to join in!

Our selection for February, The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg is the last of  your choices from the  poll we had back in September to help us pick some great reads. We felt this one was fitting for this month, so please join us in reading and discussing The Lonely Hearts Club!

Here’s a bit about the book from Amazon:

After a devastating betrayal by the boy she thought she was destined to be with forever, Penny Bloom swears off guys and quietly starts the Lonely Hearts Club. To her surprise, many of her girlfriends are also sick of high-school guys and want to join. The club grows and becomes an influential social force as members meet every Saturday night, go to dances together, and support one another in their academic and extracurricular pursuits. But conflict arises when the school administration fears the group is getting too powerful and “making the boys feel bad,” and Penny finds herself torn between her no-boy pledge and the courteous advances of one of the nicest guys she knows.

This one really suits my mood for this month, I look forward to discussing it with you at the end of February!

Our January Book Club selection is The Duff by Kody Keplinger. This one was selected by YOU in our “Can’t Put it Down” poll and it’s getting rave reviews! I quite enjoyed the book, and am looking forward to discussing The Duff with my fellow book lovers.

There were no discussion questions available for The Duff, so I’ve had to come up with a few of my own. But I’m no expert, so please don’t limit yourself to these questions! We always want to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to bring up anything you would like to discuss about the book. Veering off topic is highly encouraged around here!

The DUFF Discussion Questions

1. Did you enjoy The Duff? What did you like about it? What didn’t you like about it?
2. Could you relate to Bianca and her friends? Did you feel they were realistic examples of teenage girls?
3. Had you ever heard the somewhat controversial term DUFF before this book? Were you offended by the term the Duff before you read the book? Has your opinion changed after reading the book?
4. At first Bianca uses sex with Wesley as a way to briefly forget her troubles. Were you surprised by her actions? Do you think using sex as a distraction is a typical behavior?
5. While we’re talking about sex… were you surprised by how much “consequence free” sex there was in this YA book?  Should sex be so prevalent in a book directed at teens?
6. Joe says to Bianca “And girls love jackasses…” Do you believe this is true? Have you ever fallen for a guy you knew was a jerk?
7. What message (if any) did you take away from The Duff?
8. On the author’s blog, she talks about her DUFF kit, which is a “comforting little collection that you can use on a relaxing night either alone or with friends”. Kody’s DUFF Kit has things like Cherry Coke, Converse sneakers, James McAvoy movies, Chocolate Swirl ice cream and a comfy t-shirt. What would your DUFF kit include?

Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

It’s a new year, and our first Book Club selection of 2011 is The Duff by Kody Keplinger.  This one was selected by YOU in our “Can’t Put it Down” poll and it’s getting rave reviews! I’m really looking forward to discussing this one with my fellow book lovers.

Here’s a bit about the book from Amazon:

Duff stands for “designated ugly fat friend.” And while 17-year-old Bianca isn’t that fat or ugly, that’s what Wesley calls her as he tries to hook up with her more desirable gal pals. But Bianca has a surprise for him when she kisses him in response. Then, as her life gets more complicated, she finds it easy to drown her own sorrows in their hot, no-strings-attached sex. There are always strings however, especially as Bianca and Wesley find they are not quite what the other expected.

After all the praise for The Duff, I look forward to an exciting discussion on this somewhat controversial topic! Check back during the last week of January for our discussion post.

In honour of the holiday season (and all the extra demands it puts on our time), we’ve decided to take the month of December off from the Book Club.

We’ll pick back up in January with The Duff by Kody Keplinger, which gives you plenty of time to request your copy! The Duff is getting high praise from book lovers everywhere, so I look forward to discussing it with you.

Our February selection will be The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg. Perfect timing, since the paperback comes out in January. This is the last of our selections chosen by YOU in the “Can’t Put it Down” poll. Look for a new batch of selections in the new year. (Yikes! Is it really already almost 2011?)

Another reason we’ve decided to take December off from the Book Club is that we wanted to be able to focus all our energies on the WAGB Advent Calendar! That’s right, check back later today for the very first 2010 WAGB Advent post!

Our November Book Club selection The Iron King by Julie Kagawa, was the 2nd book from our “Can’t Put it Down” poll held back in September. This interesting and fast-paced story

There weren’t too many discussion questions available for The Iron King, so we’ve had to come up with a few of our own.  Please don’t limit yourself to our questions though! We always want to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to bring up anything you would like to discuss about the book. Veering off topic is encouraged here!

The Iron King Discussion Questions

1. Did you enjoy The Iron King? Will you read more of the Iron Fey series?

2. The Iron King puts an interesting twist on the Faery genre by blending technology and mechanical characters into the Fey world. How did you feel about this variation?

3. Did you find Meghan to be a likeable heroine? Why or why not?

4. The Iron King features a variety of interesting supporting characters. Which was your favorite? Why?

5. Did you like the fact that Kagawa ‘borrowed’ some of her personalities from other stories, or would you have preferred an original cast?

6. What other Faery books would you recommend?

And this great question comes from Blog With Bite:

Our November WAGB Book Club selection is The Iron King by Julie Kagawa.  I’ve read this one and quite enjoyed it, so I’m looking forward to revisiting it and hearing what my fellow book lovers have to say about it! If you’d like to learn more about the book, you can check out my review here.

As you may remember, back in September we had a poll to help us pick our next Book Club selection. Because all the books in the poll were popular, we decided to use each of them as an upcoming Book Club selection! To help those of you who are looking to reserve the selections from the Library (or just organizing your TBR list), here are the selections for the next few months:

December – Stay tuned… we’ll be selecting a holiday book for December!

January – The Duff by Kody Keplinger (Put it on your holiday wish list!)

February – The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg (Perfect timing, the paperback comes out in January!)

You don’t have to have read the book this month to join in the discussion, as long as you’ve read it at some point!  Check back during the last week of November for The Iron King discussion post.

This month our Book Club selection was chosen by… YOU! We held a poll in September giving you some choices for our next Book Club selection, and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was our winner for October. I may well have been the last person to read this fantastic tale, but that works out well for the Book Club because so many of you will be able to join in our discussion!

Because The Hunger Games was such a popular choice, I was able to find discussion questions in a variety of places on the web.  Below are a selection of discussion points found on About Bestsellers and Scholastic, as well as a few I’ve come up with myself. Don’t limit yourself to the question below though! We always want to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to bring up anything you would like to discuss about the book.  Veering off topic is encouraged here!

**PLEASE remember that this discussion covers ONLY the first book in the Hunger Games trilogy; so try to refrain from spoiling anyone by discussing the other books in your comments. (If you must talk about one of the other books, please put it in a separate comment and clearly label it with a SPOILER warning.)

The Hunger Games Discussion Questions

1. Who was your favorite character in The Hunger Games? Why?

2. What did you feel was the most emotional moment in book?  Which part was the hardest to read?

3. Why do you think fire is an appropriate symbol for Katniss?

4. How does Katniss’ early encounter with Peeta affect their relationship after they are chosen as tributes?

5. Did your perception of Peeta change over the course of The Hunger Games? How and why?

6. How does the fact that the tributes are always on camera affect their behavior from the time they are chosen? Does it make it easier or harder for them to accept their fate?

7. Why does Katniss ignore Haymitch’s advice to head directly away from the Cornucopia? Did she do the right thing to fight for equipment?

8. Why does Peeta join with the Career Tributes in the beginning of the Games? What does he hope to gain? Why do they accept him when they start hunting as a group?

9. What did you think of the fact that they changed the rules partway through the games to allow two winners from the same district?

10. Do you think the glamorization of the Games and the treatments of its stars before they are sent off to die is a reflection of anything in our modern society?

11. Reality TV has been a part of the entertainment world since the early days of television (with shows such as Candid Camera and the Miss America Pageant), but in the 21st century there has been a tremendous growth of competitive shows and survival shows. Discuss this phenomenon with respect to The Hunger Games. What other aspects of our popular culture do you see reflected in this story?

12. What other books do you feel are comparable to The Hunger Games?  (Because who doesn’t want more great reads like this?!)

Now that we’ve finally made it through September and all the craziness that comes along with it, it’s time to get back to the Book Club! As you may remember, we had a little poll to help us pick our October Book Club selection, and we’re now ready to let you know which book won!

So, without further delay (because it is already the 5th!) our October WAGB Book Club pick will be The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins! (I know many of you have already read this wildly popular book, but we really hope you will come and join for the discussion even if you read it some time ago!)

The Hunger Games easily won our poll with 7 votes, but the other books on the list were also popular, so we’ve decided to give them all a chance and will be using each of the books in our poll for our upcoming Book Club selections!

Here’s the list for the next few months:

October – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

November – The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

December – Stay tuned… we’ll be selecting a holiday book for December!

January – The Duff by Kody Keplinger (Put it on your holiday wish list!)

February – The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg (Perfect timing – the paperback comes out in January!)

As you may have noticed, we’re taking a little break from the WAGB book club this month. September’s always such a busy month, between back to school and new fall TV (which both Rae and I have a healthy love for), so we thought we’d take a little break and come back with some fresh selections in October.

Because we like to hear your thoughts and want our book club to reflect our reader’s tastes, we’re letting YOU decide on our October book club selection!

Please let us know which of the “Can’t put it down books” you’d like to read and discuss next month by voting in our poll. And if you have other books that you think would make good book club selections, be sure to let us know in the comments below because we’ll be making choices for future months as well.

Our August Book Club selections is Sunday’s at Tiffany’s by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet. I’ve been a fan of James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series for some time now, but this was the first of his adult books that I’ve read. I quite enjoyed it and look forward to testing out some of his others soon!

I was lucky enough to find discussion questions in a few places on the web this month. Below are a selection of discussion points  that I found on LitLovers.com and Readinggroupguides.com. I’ve done some editing on the questions I found, and of course we always want to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to bring up anything you would like to discuss about the book.

1. Did you enjoy Sundays at Tiffany’s? Why or why not?
2. Sundays at Tiffany’s merges the natural and supernatural worlds. Many individuals and cultures believe those two worlds are actually more closely integrated than everyday reality and science suggests. Where do you fall in this? Guardian angels…yes or no?
3. Sundays at Tiffany’s features three main characters, and almost no supporting characters.  Do you feel this hurt or helped the story? Do you feel the main characters were fully developed, emotionally complex individuals?
4. Michael says that the role of an imaginary friend is to make children feel less alone and to help them find their place in the world. Do you think imaginary friends help children deal with their issues or keep them from dealing with life head-on? Did you ever have an imaginary friend?
5. Jane’s special emergency feel-good food is Oreos. Do you have a favorite comfort food? Do you indulge or avoid your favorite temptations?
6. Michael explains to Jane that when children turn nine years old, their imaginary friends must leave them, and that she will forget him. Why do you think Jane never forgot Michael?  Was Michael destined to meet Jane again or was he really back in New York to help her mother?
7. Michael gives up his immortality to be with Jane. Was he aware of making the choice? Do you think he became mortal as soon as saw Jane or was it when he agreed to grow old with her? Or at another time? Why do you think his ‘powers’ faded slowly rather than disappearing all at once?

Please share your thoughts in the comments below!