Kimber’s Comments (group member since Feb 25, 2014)

Kimber’s comments from the CKBC group.

We'll be discussing June's book, Origin, here.

Here's the blurb:

Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home―and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia's origin―a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.

Origin is a beautifully told, shocking new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever, no matter the cost.

Jump in at any time.

I'm actually sad the month is ending just because I won't be able to make fun of what a fragile baby this dude is anymore. If his book was half as funny as his message about how dumb we all are was, I would've rated it higher.

(I'll try to avoid major plot spoilers right now, but I'll discuss it again later in the month when more people have read it.)

I didn't enjoy this, and I almost don't even want to talk about it. It's the second worst read of the year for me, and that's only because I read One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, in which the author describes her mother's vagina as her "tearing ring of fire" on the first page. It's hard to top that, but this almost did.

Anyway. The loss of the Internet and society's reaction to it told as a mystery with a hard-boiled-style detective: terrific concept! And maybe I expected too much because that had so much potential, but the execution was just really disappointing for me.

My excitement fizzled out entirely by page 50, and it took me much longer to read than it should have. It does have, like Caroline mentioned, some (mostly forgivable) pacing issues. Certain parts, such as the unreliable narrator aspect, felt like they were being spoon-fed to me in a way that was almost condescending. More than anything, though, I felt like the snarky pop culture references and social commentary, while often funny, overshadowed the plot most of the time. And speaking of plot--without getting too specific--it wasn't the book I was expecting. And that didn't necessarily have to be a bad thing but was when combined with everything else. I'd heard it was ultimately a love story before reading, but I didn't expect that angle to be as contrived as it was. This turned out to just be one big joke at the Internet's expense being explained to me, with a Hallmark card where the last chapter should be. If David Wong's John Dies at the End was a novel; this is a Cracked article with a plot.

Meh.

We'll be discussing April's pick,Notes from the Internet Apocalypse, here.

Here's the blurb:

When the Internet suddenly stops working, society reels from the loss of flowing data, instant messages, and streaming entertainment. Addicts wander the streets, talking to themselves in 140 characters or forcing cats to perform tricks for their amusement, while the truly desperate pin their requests for casual encounters on public bulletin boards. The economy tumbles further and the government passes the draconian NET Recovery Act.

For Gladstone, the Net's disappearance comes particularly hard following the loss of his wife, leaving his flask of Jamesons and grandfather’s fedora as the only comforts in his Brooklyn apartment. But there are rumors that someone in New York is still online. Someone set apart from this new world where Facebook flirters "poke" each other in real life and members of Anonymous trade memes at secret parties. Where a former librarian can sell information as a human search engine, and the perverted fulfill their secret fetishes at the blossoming Rule 34 club. With the help of his friends, a blogger and a webcam girl both now out of work, Gladstone sets off to find the Internet. But is he the right man to save humanity from this Apocalypse?

Feel free to jump into the discussion anytime. :)

Caroline wrote: "Would we consider doing a nominations period for books to read? Some of the other book clubs here do that and it might help with book accessibility. We could run the nominations for the first two w..."

I'm going to start doing the polls a month further in advance--May's poll will be open for the next 10 days and then I'll put up June's for the rest of the month and continue from there. But I don't think a nomination period is necessary because the polls always give the option for folks to write-in their own choices anyway.

Sully wrote: "so far every book we've chosen to read, i've been number #90 or so in line for it at the library. this is hurting my soul"

Damn, I'm sorry. I didn't even think about the fact that, because these are coming off my to-read list, I'm getting them more quickly at my library than others might be able to.

I'm going to run the what-to-read-next poll for a shorter amount of time this month, so that May's pick is announced sooner. And try to find stuff on my to-read list that aren't new releases. Hopefully that'll help.

We'll be discussing April's pick, The Weight of Blood, here until the first week of May. I'm really excited about this one!

Here's the blurb:

The Dane family's roots tangle deep in the Ozark Mountain town of Henbane, but that doesn't keep sixteen-year-old Lucy Dane from being treated like an outsider. Folks still whisper about her mother, a bewitching young stranger who inspired local myths when she vanished years ago. When one of Lucy's few friends, slow-minded Cheri, is found murdered, Lucy feels haunted by the two lost girls-the mother she never knew and the friend she couldn't protect. Everything changes when Lucy stumbles across Cheri's necklace in an abandoned trailer and finds herself drawn into a search for answers. What Lucy discovers makes it impossible to ignore the suspicion cast on her own kin. More alarming, she suspects Cheri's death could be linked to her mother's disappearance, and the connection between the two puts Lucy at risk of losing everything. In a place where the bonds of blood weigh heavy, Lucy must decide where her allegiances lie.

Feel free to jump into the discussion anytime. :)

Caroline wrote: "How have people already read it then? Is it out just not as an ebook? "

An extended free preview was released in January, and it seems many people were sent ARCs for review.

Caroline wrote: "What happened to "The Girl with All the Gifts"? It was in the lead and even though I didn't vote for it I was really excited to read it..."

I had my info wrong! :\ I'd read that it was being released at the end of this month, but it turns out it actually doesn't come out until July 10th. So, it's not possible to read it for April, but it'll be on the poll for July for sure.

Kayzee wrote: "How long will the poll be opened?"

Until 12AM on April 1st.

THIS IS FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE READ THE BOOK.

I finished this a while ago, and needed some distance before talking about it because I almost felt like I'd been infected with the brightness. I felt a lot of dread while reading this; it probably didn't help I read the first descent into the tower in the dark, in the middle of a really bad hail storm. It kinda laid eggs in my brain. But, yeah, dread. And I totally agree with Caroline about the tower being reminiscent of House of Leaves--or The Ruins. It freaked me out.

I like the story, though. And I actually loved the writing, but I think it helped that I knew it was the biologist's journal going in. I liked the way her writing style changed as her perception of the mission and the journal's purpose changed. And I felt like, the way it was written, Area X and the isolation of it were characters in their own right, which was really interesting (and, as a writer, damned impressive). It made it more real for me, and I enjoyed the suspense of it for that reason--it felt almost cinematic.

But, at the same time, I felt like all that combined with how cryptic the story is worked against it. The lighthouse keeper and his photo and the last encounter with the the crawler were both distracting for me. I felt the writing was trying too hard in relation to the importance of those elements to us as readers. And I share the frustration lots of y'all had: I feel like I read a third of a book. I still have a ton of questions and very little idea what the hell is going on. It's unsettling, which I guess is the point (but makes it no less annoying). The format is disappointing, but the prose is good enough I'll read the rest of the series...

The poll for April is up. I picked from my to-read list again, but write-ins are enabled and suggestions are encouraged. :D

Justin wrote: "Random fact: where I live was colder than Mars when I woke up. "

HI! Do you live on Hoth?

We'll be discussing March's pick, Annihilation, here until the first week of April. Feel free to jump in anytime. :)

Franca wrote: "I'm kinda curious what everyone here does outside of reading. Not meaning to be nosy, if anyone cares to share just go ahead :)"

I'm a social media coordinator and part-time fitness instructor / personal trainer (would love to go back to doing that full-time, though). I also volunteer as the rescue coordinator at an animal shelter.

Nathan wrote: "Hey sweeties! I'm Nathan (nathanielstuart). My favourite fiction book has to be Stranger in a Strange Land and my favourite non-fiction is a wash between Fingerprints of the Gods and The Ego Tunnel..."

My dogg! :D And I still have to read The Ego Tunnel. I'm moving it to the top of my list right now.

Lianna wrote: "...Random fact: I may have recently purchased a cat kigurumi for the sole purpose of being able to curl up like a cat with a good book."

This may be the best fact about a person I've ever heard. Also the cutest. xD

Hi! This feels awkward. How about this: introduce yourself (blog URL optional but encouraged), tell your favorite book and/or what you're currently reading, and give a random fact about yourself. I'll start.

I'm Kimber, obv. My favorite book is Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. I'm about to start The Book of Jonah: A Novel by Joshua Max Feldman. And, um, even though I've created my dream reading nook, I almost always just read in bed after turning myself into a blanket burrito.