Over the course of the 12 months of BD365, 6 book clubs will be held. The books are described below. To see the calendar of events for Book Clubs, click directly on the word EVENTS in the menu above (not on one of the sub-menus that pops up under it).
Book Club #1: Animal Farm (George Orwell)
George Orwell's timeless and timely allegorical novel—a scathing satire on a downtrodden society’s blind march towards totalitarianism.
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned—a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible. When Animal Farm was first published, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today it is devastatingly clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked, under whatever banner, the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell’s masterpiece have a meaning and message still ferociously fresh. Start Date: October 3rd. Midpoint: November 1st (End of chapter 5). Finish Date: November 30th. Face-to-Face Discussion: 6:30pm Friday, November 30th, location: The Whiskey House (Ankeny). RSVP: via text, Facebook, or e-mail by noon on November 30. |
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(But consider shopping at a local book store if possible!) |
Book Club #2: Vellum (Hal Duncan)
An extraordinary, incendiary debut from a rare new talent, Vellum showcases a complex and sophisticated level of writing coupled with a fecund imagination that defies description.
It’s 2017 and angels and demons walk the earth. Once they were human; now they are unkin, transformed by the ancient machine-code language of reality itself. They seek The Book of All Hours, the mythical tome within which the blueprint for all reality is transcribed, which has been lost somewhere in the Vellum–the vast realm of eternity upon which our world is a mere scratch. The Vellum, where the unkin are gathering for war. The Vellum, where a fallen angel and a renegade devil are about to settle an age-old feud. The Vellum, where the past, present, and future will collide with ancient worlds and myths. And the Vellum will burn. . . . Start Date: December 3rd. Midpoint: January 1st (End of Book 1). Finish Date: January 31st. Face-to-Face Discussion: The evening of Friday, February 1st, location TBD |
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(But consider shopping at a local book store if possible!) |
Book Club #3 Ink (Hal Duncan)
With his stunning debut novel, Vellum, Hal Duncan shattered the boundaries between genres. Fantasy, or science fiction, Vellum shocked with the boldness of its ideas, seduced with the sensual beauty of its prose, and astonished with its imaginative sweep. Now Duncan returns with another epic tour de force that surpasses all expectations.
Once, in the depths of prehistory, they were human. But in a moment of brutal transfiguration, they became unkin, beings who possessed the power to alter reality by accessing the Vellum: a realm of eternity containing every possibility, every paradox, every heaven . . . and every hell. The Vellum became a battleground where forces of order and chaos fought across time and space. The ultimate weapon in that bloody war spanning through history and myth, dreams and memory, was The Book of All Hours, a legendary tome within which the blueprint for all reality is inscribed, a volume long lost amid the infinite folds of the Vellum. Until, in 2017, it was found by Reynard Carter, a young man with the blood of unkin in his veins. Until Phreedom Messenger and her brother, Thomas, were swept up in an archetypal dance of death and rebirth. Until a hermit named Seamus Finnan found the courage to re-forge his broken soul, and a self-proclaimed angel called Metatron unleashed a plague of AI bitmites. Now, in the aftermath of the apocalypse, several survivors search desperately for the remnants of themselves scattered across the Vellum like torn pages, determined to use the blood of the unkin to rewrite The Book of All Hours, and to forge a new destiny for themselves and all humanity. Reality will never be the same. Start Date: February 3rd. Midpoint: March 1st (End of Volume 3). Finish Date: March 31st. Face-to-Face Discussion: The evening of Friday, April 5th, location TBD |
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(But consider shopping at a local book store if possible!) |
Book Club #4: Hero (Perry Moore)
The last thing in the world Thom Creed wants is to add to his father's pain, so he keeps secrets. Like that he has special powers. And that he's been asked to join the League ? the very organization of superheroes that spurned his dad. But the most painful secret of all is one Thom can barely face himself: he's gay.
But becoming a member of the League opens up a new world to Thom. There, he connects with a misfit group of aspiring heroes, including Scarlett, who can control fire but not her anger; Typhoid Larry, who can make anyone sick with his touch; and Ruth, a wise old broad who can see the future. Like Thom, these heroes have things to hide; but they will have to learn to trust one another when they uncover a deadly conspiracy within the League. To survive, Thom will face challenges he never imagined. To find happiness, he'll have to come to terms with his father's past and discover the kind of hero he really wants to be. Start Date: April 3rd. Midpoint: May 1st (End of Chapter 17). Finish Date: May 31st. Face-to-Face Discussion: The evening of Friday, May 31st, location TBD |
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(But consider shopping at a local book store if possible!) |
Book Club #5: Spiralchain: Gatemaker (Jeremiah L. Schwennen)
(Pardon the self-promotion. It IS my birthday, after all.)
Everyone feels, at one time or another, like they just don’t belong—sometimes they’re right. Adam Childers is a seventeen year-old closeted gay high school student in middle America with an eccentric girlfriend and no one in whom he can confide. When Jara, a mysterious little girl from another world, reveals to Adam that he was born a Gatemaker, one of very few in all creation able to open doorways from one world to another, everything changes. Jara’s world suffers at the hands of a mighty warlord, and when she makes her way to Adam’s world she sees in him potential that he could never see in himself. Together, Jara, Adam, and Adam's friends must travel to the medieval world of Onus and confront both terrible danger and their own fears if they are to set Jara's world free and discover, once and for all, where it is they truly belong. Start Date: June 3rd. Midpoint: July 1st (End of Chapter 18). Finish Date: July 31st. Face-to-Face Discussion: The evening of Friday, August 2nd, location TBD |
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(But consider shopping at a local book store if possible!) |
Book Club #6: 1984 (George Orwell)
Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever...
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” Winston Smith toes the Party line, rewriting history to satisfy the demands of the Ministry of Truth. With each lie he writes, Winston grows to hate the Party that seeks power for its own sake and persecutes those who dare to commit thoughtcrimes. But as he starts to think for himself, Winston can’t escape the fact that Big Brother is always watching... A startling and haunting vision of the world, 1984 is so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the influence of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions—a legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time. Start Date: August 3rd. Midpoint: September 1st (End of Part 2, Section V). Finish Date: September 30th. Face-to-Face Discussion: The evening of Tuesday, October 1st, location TBD |
Click for Amazon
(But consider shopping at a local book store if possible!) |