You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

If those two chosen group reads are not to your liking, feel free to read another book that fits the moon theme.

To clarify, books could be set in the moon, a moon play an important part in the story, is the author's surname, is in the book or series title, or perhaps there is a moon on the front cover. Lot's of options with this one.

Please discuss your book in this thread.

In order to receive a badge you must:
1. have completed the book before or during January 2017
2. discussed it in this thread. Discussion must be more than "I read the book and I liked it". Discussion requires something more substantial and analytical of what you read, for example, thoughts, opinions, impact it had on you, what was your favourite part, was it what you expected it to be like etc. You may also like to review the book and post a link to the review in this thread.
3. Report that you have read AND discussed the book in the reporting thread (including a brief summary of what you thought of the book).

General Rules:
1. Please mark your spoilers with the spoiler tags along with mentioning what stage of the book you are at so other's don't get a nasty shock.

I've selected Flame Moon to read for the group reads.

I read Moon Called a year ago. I will need to read it again when I'm ready to continue the series, but I have other series I want to tackle first.

I'm not interested all that much in children's literature so will pass on the other selection.

I acquired Flame Moon as a freebie Kindle ebook back in July 2013, so it's time to get it off my tbr.

I think I will be reading . I already own it. Is there a page minimum on the group read books? I think this one is 182 pages.

No there is no page limit Cherie.

I plan to read Paris to the Moon in addition to listening to The Girl Who Drank the Moon.

I'm planning on readin Swimming in the Moon.

I have finished Paris to the Moon. This is a non-fiction book about the five years (beginning 1995) that the writer (a journalist), his wife and preschool son lived in Paris. I enjoyed reading about the cultural differences between New York and Paris, especially the various explanations regarding why Parisians react the way they typically do. I also enjoyed reading about the expat life. All was told with a wry sense of humour. The memoir started out strong, but I found the latter half of the book somewhat wordy and repetitive. The material has now become dated, and I found myself wondering how the experience might be different today.

I started my book, Flame Moon. I'm not sure how "discussable" it is. So far, the MC is suffering from amnesia after an undisclosed incident. She's been rescued and taken to a farm house in the area where she's received some medical attention to her head wound. Something is off with her situation. Things aren't as they seem apparently.

I can't imagine what it would be like to awaken and not be able to remember even your name. There have been occasions when I've waken and not been able to figure out what day it was. That was disconcerting enough, but I still had the sense of knowing who I was and where I was. I think I would be highly agitated. The MC doesn't seem to be overly concerned.

I shall keep reading to see where it goes. From the shelves, I think it's paranormal romance. This was a freebie, so I don't have a lot of high hopes for it. At least it's an easy read.

I think I'm about 50% in. I'm not enjoying it particularly. It's paranormal romance with a bit of a different spin than the usual vampire fare. It's (view spoiler)[mythical gods living in the modern world. (hide spoiler)] Yawn.

That's too bad, Janice. At least it was free and it's fairly short. Hopefully, it's one of those where the second half is much better than the first.

Thanks Kristie. I suspect the 2nd half devolves into more of the romance than anything else. It's rather hard to discuss as it is. Maybe I could comment on the lack luster foreplay.... "I want you." "I want you." "I want you." "I want you."

Ugh... how romantic... I'm turned on already. ;)

He's such a sweet talker. Hehehehe!

They've left the bedroom for the time being to engage in a bit of murder and mayhem. It was a bit better but there are still some plot flaws. (view spoiler)[ You go from a character who is the caring sweet motherly type to one who has killed babies because they were half-breeds (half human, half god). Talk about split personality. (hide spoiler)]

I finished Flame Moon. Overall, I gave it 3 stars and that was likely generous. This is a remaking of the Greek gods in a modern day setting, Maybe if I knew my Greek mythology a little better, I might have enjoyed the book more. Or, maybe I would have hated it more.

It's a stretch, but one could ferret out the themes of prejudice. The elders discounted the value of a person who was a half-breed, and would prefer immediate death to allowing them to dilute the line. There was the refusal to acknowledge that both sides display good and evil equally. I suspect the tale was told primarily as a romance with an attempt to make it a bit different from the usual fare.

I read - 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, which is based not just on our moon, but on Saturn's moon as well. A great read - though at first, with it's multiple time lines, I found it a bit confusing. I don't often enjoy some science fiction but I did like this one. Given that it was written in 1968, there were some prophetic ideas - for example, people use a 'newspad' which seemed quite similar to our 'iPads' / tablets. Now I'll have to watch the movie!

What did you think to the ending Sam? I watched the move first about 15 years ago and remember being confused by the ending. So last year i thought I'd listen to the audio of this book. I liked the first half to three quarters but then the ending didn't offer me any clarity. I was still left confused. I did like his writing style though. It was my first book by him.

Reading your fomments Janice is making me cringe at your book. I think I'll leave that one. :-)

Sarah wrote: "Reading your fomments Janice is making me cringe at your book. I think I'll leave that one. :-)"

Good plan. I won't be reading the rest of the trilogy.

I wanted to read Moon Called, but somehow it didn't fit in. Instead I read 2 other books with the moon on the cover - and am now reading part 3:
, and by Shay Roberts.
It is a wonderful series about vampires, werewolves and werebears, witches and humans. Every chapter is told from one of the main characters. Probably the main-main character is Emma, a human girl with soulsight - she can see people's souls. She has visions of her former lives. So some chapters are told from the view point of Cassandra (Emma's former self from around 1800), a vampire who has an eternal bond with another vampire, called Julian. Emma tries to find out more about Cassandra and Julian. In part 2 we meet Hanna, another of Emma's former selves, from around 1500. And in part 3 we meet Larkin, Emma's future self from 2088.
In all those lives Emma recognizes Tom (Cassandra's first husband) by his soul. In Emma's life (the present day) he is called Stefan, a werewolf and one of the other narrators.
I really like all the different characters (not too many so you can't keep up with who is who) and the "Emma's" from other times. I'm really fascinated by reincarnation, so this is a really interesting series for me!
I gave part 1 and 2 5 stars each and I'll probably reward part 3 with 5 as well!
For anyone who wants to give it a try: part 1 and several short stories are free on Kobo (and maybe other retailers as well?)!

Is there much romance in this series, Elsbeth? Is there another series that it could be compared to?

There is a bit romance, but it is not the most important theme. Emma does try to find Julian, the love of her soul (a real soulmate!) and Stefan (Cassandra's former husband) still has some feelings for her. But it is more about the magic of the witches and vampires and about the reincarnations and the evil things the witch Rowan tries to do.
I'm not sure I know of a series it can be compared to. Maybe a bit with the Vampire Academy from Richelle Mead, even though there is no significant school in the story (Emma gets kicked out of college the first day she is there, because she recognizes the soul of the college professor and kicks him!).

I was wondering because some of these vampire stories get a bit campy with the romance end of it. I want something with a bit more bite to it (puns intended).

I've never read Vampire Academy nor have I watched the tv series. Maybe one day....

I just checked and Heartblaze 1: Vampire Soul is free on Kindle so I "bought" it. :)

Sarah wrote: "What did you think to the ending Sam? I watched the move first about 15 years ago and remember being confused by the ending. So last year i thought I'd listen to the audio of this book. I liked the..."

I recently saw this movie for 4th time over 35 year time span. First watch left me very confused. Finally, I do have the feeling that I mostly get it. This watch I also appreciated more than before the artificial intelligence component.

A bonus this time was that the film was accompanied by live orchestra (San Francisco Orchestra) for the musical parts. Very cool!

However, I've not once read the Arthur C. Clarke, and it's definitely calling to me. Especially with 2017 annual challenge since I need to read a book set in space.

(Note to self - Raises interesting question about annual challenge for another task to read a book set in the future. When this book was written, it was set in the future, but it's now set in the past. So could this book, or another with similar timeline, count as a book "set in the future" or not. Hmmm.)

Time paradox!!!

Yes, definitely time paradox, Cherie. So what do you think?

I read which has a moon on the cover. Though I like Nora Roberts, her paranormal trilogies are following a similar pattern nowadays and this was no different. Three moon goddess create three stars to celebrate the rise of new queen, but they are hidden due to the evil queen and now 6 people have to find them to destroy the evil.

But it was a well written book and I enjoyed it.

TJ - I was really being silly, although it is still an interesting phenomenon. We have lived beyond the projected time period in Clark's book. It is not something we can forget about now. That said, I would have a hard time telling you that you could not consider it as "set in the future". It was at the time that it was written. It certainly was our future, at the time that the book and then the movie was done. Did you ever "really" imagine that we would be living in the 2nd decade of the 21st century?

Oh, and I admit that I never understood the movie ending. I have watched the movie numerous times over the years. I always intended to read the book, but Clark is so dry, I never got to it.

Janice wrote: "I just checked and Heartblaze 1: Vampire Soul is free on Kindle so I "bought" it. :)"

Please let me know what you thing, Janice! I hope you like it as well as I did!

Cherie wrote: "TJ - I was really being silly, although it is still an interesting phenomenon. We have lived beyond the projected time period in Clark's book. It is not something we can forget about now. That said..."

Though it seems like a valid point, that it was set in the future when it was written, it just feels like it's not quite in the spirit of the task. I'll probably opt for a book that is set in the future we have yet to see : )

I read a book for this theme but haven't posted anything or discussed at all. The book was Pointing to the Moon: A Biographical Epistolary Novel.

It took me a while to wrap my arms around what i was reading because it's an unusual format, which is described as a "bio-novel." The book's narrative story is fictional, constructed by the author, Rochelle Lynn Holt, for the purpose of providing a dramatic framework for the authentic letters and poems of the author's spiritual "twin sister," Virginia Love Long.

I didn't realize this right away, and it took me some time to get it sorted out about what I was reading. So that was distracting actually. That said, the epistolary portions of the book were what I really liked most. The fictional story was interesting enough but rather sad, and I didn't think it felt true-to-life. So the overall effect was a strange clash between nonfiction and fiction. I wound up being glad to have read it. I seem to be the lone reader and rater of this quirky book.

Looking at the full title, I see that the desciption "A Biographical Epistolary Novel" is right there in plain view. However, when I checked this out on Kindle, all I saw was "Pointing to the Moon," so that's my defense for not realizing the unusual bio-novel format earlier.

I've been thinking about the meaning of the title, Pointing to the Moon: A Biographical Epistolary Novel. No real cohesive insight to share. Instead, just a few thoughts.

The moon for many belongs to a sort of mystical realm. What is the moon but a kind of illusion? When we "see" the moon, we are actually seeing sunlight reflected off the surface of the moon. The reflection is not actually the moon itself though.

Zen buddhism has a teaching about the teacher pointing to the moon. The student who fixes their eyes on the teacher's finger misses what the teacher is actually trying to show. So writings and teachings may been seen as so many fingers pointing to the moon. They are not the deeper meaning itself.

I think the author of this book is suggesting that her "twin's" writing was of this nature. That it draws the readers attention to something greater, something deeper. Okay, that's enough on that!

Sarah wrote: "What did you think to the ending Sam? I watched the movie first about 15 years ago and remember being confused by the ending..."

I don't think you can understand the ending without watching / reading the next in the series - 2010: Odyssey Two, which is a continuation and helps make sense of 2001. I would definitely recommend watching it, you're missing out otherwise.
Some of the threads aren't tied up until 2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: The Final Odyssey... I feel a re-read coming on ; )

Interesting Annerlee! Perhaps Ill give book 2 a go at some point then.

Sarah wrote: "Interesting Annerlee! Perhaps Ill give book 2 a go at some point then."

Definitely : )

I never knew about the other Odyssey books. Thanks!