Update: New System for the Book Chats

I've decided to implement a new system for the Book Chats!

 

Previously, the book chats were held monthly and there was only one book choice a month. Although the first book chat was great, it seems that this may not be the best system.

 

So now, what I'm going to do, is offer up more book choices for the book chats, which can take place *anytime* as long as a minimum of five people sign up for them. And I'm going to limit each chat to 10 participants, because too many people would make the discussions difficult to follow too.

 

This means that sometimes you might have to wait a little longer for a particular book chat, because the fifth person might not sign up until much later.

 

But because you have many more book choices, you could sign up for more chats, and they will be spaced out pretty nicely for you, and the time for the book chats would be set according to the convenience of the participants of the particular book chats too!

 

I will also keep the book choices perpetually open for book chats, so if there are more than 10 participants, we can split up into two different chat sessions, or if you've missed the first chat for the book, you can sign up for the next chat with new participants.

 

With this new system, you'd also be welcome to sign up for a book chat that you've participated in before. Perhaps you're re-reading the book, or you've gotten new insights, or you want to see what the other participants think.

 

I'm also going to abolish the nomination system, but you're more than welcome to send in book suggestions to me. Please do, in fact! Feel free to contact me at my email: bettysbooks@gmail.com for anything you need.

 

Thank you! And thanks for the support!

Book Chats Offered

These are the books currently offered for book chats. I'll add more books as we progress, so please check back often. You are welcome to email me at bettysbooks@gmail.com to suggest books you want to see offered.

 

 

1.	Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen Here is the summary of the first book chat. Sign up here for the next book chat.
2.	Emma by Jane Austen Sign up here for the book chat.
3.	Life of Pi by Yann Martel Sign up here for the book chat.
4.	The Reader by Bernhard Schlink Sign up here for the book chat.
5.	Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult Sign up here for the book chat.
6.	Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro Sign up here for the book chat.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Synopsis:

All children should believe they are special. But the students of Hailsham, an elite school in the English countryside, are so special that visitors shun them, and only by rumor and the occasional fleeting remark by a teacher do they discover their unconventional origins and strange destiny.

 

Kazuo Ishiguro's sixth novel, Never Let Me Go, is a masterpiece of indirection. Like the students of Hailsham, readers are "told but not told" what is going on and should be allowed to discover the secrets of Hailsham and the truth about these children on their own

 

The book chat is limited to the first ten readers who sign up. It will be scheduled when at least five readers have signed up for the chat, and we will do our best to schedule it according to the convenience of the participants.

 

Please remember that this is an international book chat so it's not easy to find a time when it will be convenient for everyone, but I believe we will be able to cooperate and arrange a time that will be suitable to 10 participants' convenience.

If you're interested in participating in this book chat, please sign up with Mister Linky below, and leave your email address in the comments. I will email the chat room link and passwords to all participants the day before the chat.

 

If you are afraid of spam, you can either write your email in this form: bettysbooks AT gmail DOT com, or you can email me privately at bettysbooks@gmail.com with "Book Chat: Never Let Me Go" in the subject.

 

(Haloscan has been taken over by JS-Kit and they don't allow me to get your emails from the site anymore, so sorry for the inconvenience.)

Please remember to let me have your email address one way or another, or you will not be able to receive the chat room link and password!!

 

For more about how it works, please click here.

For rules and guidelines, click here.

 

For more book chats, click here.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Synopsis:

On Peter Houghton's first day of kindergarten, he watched helplessly as an older boy ripped his lunch box out of his hands and threw it out the window. From that day on, his life was a series of humiliations, from having his pants pulled down in the cafeteria, to being called a freak at every turn. But can endless bullying justify murder?

 

As Picoult attempts to answer this question, she shows us all sides of the equation, from the ruthless jock who loses his ability to speak after being shot in the head, to the mother who both blames and pities herself for producing what most would call a monster. Surrounding Peter's story is that of Josie Cormier, a former friend whose acceptance into the popular crowd hangs on a string that makes it impossible for her to reconcile her beliefs with her actions.

 

The book chat is limited to the first ten readers who sign up. It will be scheduled when at least five readers have signed up for the chat, and we will do our best to schedule it according to the convenience of the participants.

 

Please remember that this is an international book chat so it's not easy to find a time when it will be convenient for everyone, but I believe we will be able to cooperate and arrange a time that will be suitable to 10 participants' convenience.

If you're interested in participating in this book chat, please sign up with Mister Linky below, and leave your email address in the comments. I will email the chat room link and passwords to all participants the day before the chat.

 

If you are afraid of spam, you can either write your email in this form: bettysbooks AT gmail DOT com, or you can email me privately at bettysbooks@gmail.com with "Book Chat: Nineteen Minutes" in the subject.

 

(Haloscan has been taken over by JS-Kit and they don't allow me to get your emails from the site anymore, so sorry for the inconvenience.)

Please remember to let me have your email address one way or another, or you will not be able to receive the chat room link and password!!

 

For more about how it works, please click here.

For rules and guidelines, click here.

 

For more book chats, click here.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

 

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

Synopsis:

Michael Berg is 15 when he begins a long, obsessive affair with Hanna, an enigmatic older woman. He never learns very much about her, and when she disappears one day, he expects never to see her again. But, to his horror, he does. Hanna is a defendant in a trial related to Germany's Nazi past, and it soon becomes clear that she is guilty of an unspeakable crime.

 

As Michael follows the trial, he struggles with an overwhelming question: What should his generation do with its knowledge of the Holocaust? "We should not believe we can comprehend the incomprehensible, we may not compare the incomparable.... Should we only fall silent in revulsion, shame, and guilt? To what purpose?

 

The book chat is limited to the first ten readers who sign up. It will be scheduled when at least five readers have signed up for the chat, and we will do our best to schedule it according to the convenience of the participants.

 

Please remember that this is an international book chat so it's not easy to find a time when it will be convenient for everyone, but I believe we will be able to cooperate and arrange a time that will be suitable to 10 participants' convenience.

If you're interested in participating in this book chat, please sign up with Mister Linky below, and leave your email address in the comments. I will email the chat room link and passwords to all participants the day before the chat.

 

If you are afraid of spam, you can either write your email in this form: bettysbooks AT gmail DOT com, or you can email me privately at bettysbooks@gmail.com with "Book Chat: The Reader" in the subject.

 

(Haloscan has been taken over by JS-Kit and they don't allow me to get your emails from the site anymore, so sorry for the inconvenience.)

Please remember to let me have your email address one way or another, or you will not be able to receive the chat room link and password!!

 

For more about how it works, please click here.

For rules and guidelines, click here.

 

For more book chats, click here.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

 

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

 

Synopsis:

 

Yann Martel's imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas."

 

Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker ("His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth").

 

In rich, hallucinatory passages, Pi recounts the harrowing journey as the days blur together, elegantly cataloging the endless passage of time and his struggles to survive: "It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion."

 

The book chat is limited to the first ten readers who sign up. It will be scheduled when at least five readers have signed up for the chat, and we will do our best to schedule it according to the convenience of the participants.

 

Please remember that this is an international book chat so it's not easy to find a time when it will be convenient for everyone, but I believe we will be able to cooperate and arrange a time that will be suitable to 10 participants' convenience.

If you're interested in participating in this book chat, please sign up with Mister Linky below, and leave your email address in the comments. I will email the chat room link and passwords to all participants the day before the chat.

 

If you are afraid of spam, you can either write your email in this form: bettysbooks AT gmail DOT com, or you can email me privately at bettysbooks@gmail.com with "Book Chat: Life of Pi" in the subject.

 

(Haloscan has been taken over by JS-Kit and they don't allow me to get your emails from the site anymore, so sorry for the inconvenience.)

Please remember to let me have your email address one way or another, or you will not be able to receive the chat room link and password!!

 

For more about how it works, please click here.

For rules and guidelines, click here.

 

For more book chats, click here.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

 

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Synopsis:

When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a
passing train, he enters a world of freaks, drifters, and misfits, a second-rate
circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night
stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his
degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there
that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is
married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets
Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.

Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful
sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that
overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can
afford.

 

 

The book chat is limited to the first ten readers who sign up. It will be scheduled when at least five readers have signed up for the chat, and we will do our best to schedule it according to the convenience of the participants.

 

Please remember that this is an international book chat so it's not easy to find a time when it will be convenient for everyone, but I believe we will be able to cooperate and arrange a time that will be suitable to 10 participants' convenience.

If you're interested in participating in this book chat, please sign up with Mister Linky below, and leave your email address in the comments. I will email the chat room link and passwords to all participants the day before the chat.

 

If you are afraid of spam, you can either write your email in this form: bettysbooks AT gmail DOT com, or you can email me privately at bettysbooks@gmail.com with "Book Chat: Water for Elephants" in the subject.

 

(Haloscan has been taken over by JS-Kit and they don't allow me to get your emails from the site anymore, so sorry for the inconvenience.)

Please remember to let me have your email address one way or another, or you will not be able to receive the chat room link and password!!

 

For more about how it works, please click here.

For rules and guidelines, click here.

 

For more book chats, click here.