ReviewMeTwice: The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls- Julie Schumacher

I always seem to like books that, while reading them, I know are going to fall onto the banned books list.  If this one isn't already on the list, you can be certain it will be.  It talks about sex and drugs and smoking and sneaking out of the house and all the fun things you're really not supposed to do as a teen but inevitably do anyway.

Adrienne is stuck home all summer, due to a bum knee, and her mother forces her into a mother-daughter book club with a group of girls that she doesn't really know.  Jill, CeeCee and Willis are all forced to come to, starting on this book club they all come to regret a little.

My favorite part of this book?  The inordinate amount of book references.  You get at least one a chapter and I just adored it.  It's what I like to call a "smart book."  You have to be well read to get a lot of the references and I love books that do that.  It could essentially be entirely different experiences based on how many books you've read.

I also liked that, by the end of the book, there are still a ton of questions.  I thought that this book was going to be really predictable, but it surprised me by... not being that way.  There were things that happened that I didn't see coming at all and other things that I expected and didn't happen.  Usually, I hate unanswered questions but this was not the case.

I loved that it was four, independent girls, trying to figure themselves out.  They stood up to parents, snuck out of houses and generally were up to no good.  I love that some of the girls are good, but end up pushing boundaries and others kind of toned it down.  

The only thing I didn't like (which, is really minor) is that Adrienne has a busted knee and still does all this stuff she just... wouldn't.  She climbs things, walks for miles and all that happens is that it gets a little inflamed.  Take it from someone who has had broken bones: even when the cast is off, things like walking hurts.  So I couldn't see her walking so much.  It really bugged me.

I really recommend this to high-school aged girls.  It's a great book and interesting and the characters are really relatable.

My Bottom Line 4 out of 5

When I finish reading a book and announce that I am done with it, and someone asks me "so, how was it?" and I say "I don't know," that is a bad sign.

Good: Realistic characters.
Bad: Overly realistic characters.
By "realistic characters," I mean characters with believable characteristics who behave in a way you might expect a real person to behave when put into the situations that character faces. By "overly realistic characters," I mean characters who are just as bland and boring and predictable as a person in real life. Book characters are meant to be held to a higher standard of "being interesting" than real-life people. Adrienne (our protagonist, if you can call her that) admits and laments in the first chapter that she is boring and has no real characteristics. Awesome! Tabula rasa! Let's have a coming-of-age story wherein she learns all about herself through the catalyst of the book club and the bonds she forms throughout the- Wait, at the end, she's still the same bland person who happened to do some uncharacteristic things over the summer? Never mind.

Good: Realistic depictions of relationships.
Bad: Putting them next to awful ones.
I love the relationship between Adrienne and her mother in this book. It's the most realistic depiction I've ever read of a mother-daughter relationship. They neither gush over each other like sappy models of the ideal parent-child pair, nor do they despise one another with all the bile of a thousand angry honey badgers. They get along pretty well, but not all the time. They argue and pick at each other, but not all the time. They keep secrets from each other, but not all the time. Then you put that next to relationships like the dominating CeeCee controlling the submissive Adrienne all summer, or anyone talking to Wallis, the social pariah of the group. It's confusing and I don't know what else to say about it, but I needed to bring it up.

Good: Fairly ambiguous endings
Bad: Very ambiguous endings
I adore the type of ending where you aren't sure exactly what happened. I live for unanswered questions at the end of a great book. (If you aren't sure what I mean, think of Inception.) But this book answered nothing. Absolutely nothing. I would cite examples and apologize for spoilers, but they wouldn't be spoilers because there's nothing to spoil. There is one big thing near the end, and it might be sort of a surprise if you aren't too keen on thinking critically while you read, but I guessed it, and I bet Cassy did, too. (She's good at those things.) So if you like closure or answers, don't get hooked on this one. You will be sorely disappointed.

As disappointed as I was in this book, I don't like putting it down so much, so shortly after NaNoWriMo. I know how much work goes into creating a book, and that it is hard to put one's work out there for everyone to see and judge. So I'll end with the two things I liked unabashedly, the goods without bads to counter them:

Good: Clever chapter gimmicks
I really liked this. Each chapter starts with Adrienne's definition of a literary term, which has to do with what's going on in that chapter. The chapter that defines "dialogue" is full of dialogue (more so than the other chapters). It's clever, and I love it.

Also good: Book references
I like when an author can weave other, well-known books into their own stories. I especially like it when I don't have to have read the other books in order to get it. I've read The Yellow Wallpaper and The House on Mango Street, so I knew exactly what Adrienne was talking about when she referred to them. However, I haven't read The Left Hand of Darkness but I still understood the references because they were well-explained and integrated. (Also, I really want to read it now. That's a very good sign.)

Tips for Running a Book Club

As promised on Monday, I'm going to give you a few tips that might come in handy if you want to start your own book club.

First, you have a lot of planning to do and decisions to make.

How big will it be? Review Me Twice is essentially a two-person book club where we tell you about the books we read each week. Maybe you want a small group like us. Get a friend or few and keep it small. Or maybe you'd rather have a dozen or more people. Totally up to you (and them).

Age and/or education level. Age of your members is really only relevant if you're inviting minors whose parents might have a problem with certain content. If that's the case, be upfront about the books you're choosing and respect the parents' choices, even if you disagree. Having a common education level among the group is helpful: vocabulary, reading comprehension, reading speed... all of these could cause problems in a group with a wide range of education levels.

Sensitivities. This is difficult to explain concisely, but I'll try. Imagine someone in your book club is a former soldier with PTSD. Do you think you should choose a book set in a violent combat zone? Probably not. There's always the possibility that this person would be fine with it, so you could ask, or you could just read that book on your own time (if you were really interested in it) and choose something else for the group. This applies to a lot of different situations, so just consider others' situations and emotions when selecting your books.

Preferences. Unlike sensitivities, preferences do not need to be tiptoed around. If someone hates James Patterson and you choose a James Patterson book, they will survive. They might not have many nice things to say in your discussion, but they will be fine. Try to be considerate, though, and maybe don't choose another James Patterson book for a really long time. Unless you're starting a James Patterson themed book club, in which case that person should probably join a different book club.

Availability. Remember, everyone has to get their hands on a copy of each book you choose. If they all use e-readers, make sure the books are available via e-readers. If none of them have enough disposable income to buy every book you read as a group, be sure the library has enough copies to cover the group (and that they're likely to be available for everyone to get in time to read it before your group discussion of it). Cassy and I do quite a bit of researching every time we choose a book to review, to make sure we can both access it in a timely manner. (I'm telling you, online library catalogs are one of the greatest technologies of our time.)

Planning. Where will you meet? Someone's house, a coffee shop, a library, a bookstore, an empty classroom? Should you meet online instead? (If so, will it be synchronous or more like a discussion board or forum?) Will it change, or always be the same place? What day will you meet? What time? Will that change, or stay the same? How long will you go between meetings? (Will that be long enough for everyone to access and read the books before discussion? Remember your availability issues.) Will you only meet for book discussion or will there be intermittent meetings? Will you have food at the meetings? Who will provide it? What allergies does the group have? Other food restrictions? Does anyone have a pet allergy that keeps you from meeting at certain people's houses? Are kids allowed? If so, will an activity be provided for them to occupy their time and reduce interruptions? This is only a sample of questions you'll have to keep in mind when deciding all the details of your meetings. You might want to wait until you have all your members sorted out before you start making these types of decisions, because they will want to be a part of the process.

Purpose. This is what you need to decide before trying to recruit members. (Or, maybe you have a group of people already and you need to decide together what you'll be doing in this book club.) Will discussions be light-hearted and more social than anything else, or will you be sharing intense, academic discourse? The books you're going to read: trashy romances, scholarly works, teen fiction, horror, mystery, biographies, or a little bit of everything? (Hint: Review Me Twice is the latter. We want to read everything.)

Records. You might want to keep track of the books you've read as a group. I'm sure you wouldn't wind up repeating a book or something, but this ties in with the next bit of advice, which I'll get to in a second. You don't need to be as detailed or formal as we are: I have a beautiful, color-coded Excel spreadsheet for Review Me Twice, where I keep track of the books we've read, all the posts we write, who chose which book to review, genres, authors, and all sorts of other important things to make sure we...

Mix it up. Remember the hypothetical friend who hates James Patterson up in the "preferences" bit? That friend would really appreciate it if you put a bunch of space between the James Patterson selections, but everyone else probably would, too. You need variety! Just look at the archives for this blog. We've only been doing this for two months, and we've already covered non-fiction, graphic novels, biography, teen fiction (one about parent-child relationships, one about being between a rock and a hard place, and one about homosexuality), comedy, fantasy, and even a modernized rewrite of a classic myth. So keep things interesting and try to broaden your horizons. Cassy and I switch back and forth picking our books; maybe you'll want to pass around the opportunity to select the books for your book club, just to keep things fresh and interesting.

Respect. People have different opinions about things. (I know; newsflash, right?) It seems obvious now, but when you're in the middle of a discussion about a book you feel passionate about (one way or another) you might accidentally say something that sounds rude or demeaning or patronizing or any number of other negative adjectives. Be careful about how you say things, but also be sure to contribute your opinions. People go to book clubs to have fun, learn things, and grow (intellectually, emotionally, socially). So be nice and have a good time.

If you do start a book club, we'd love to hear about it! Tweet @ReviewMeTwice or email us at reviewmetwice@gmail.com to tell us about it.

Book Clubs

In celebration of this week's book, The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher, we're going to tell you a little bit about book clubs.

In case you don't know what a book club is, it's a group of people who read the books and talk about them. In that sense, Cassy and I are like a two-person book club (of awesome), because we choose a book to read, read it at the same time, and then come together to discuss that book before we start the cycle over again. This makes us a single-title book club, because we read one book at the same time.

One of the most famous single-title book clubs is, of course, Oprah's Book Club, of which I'm sure most of you have read at least one of the books, whether you meant to or not.  Cry, The Beloved Country; Love in the Time of Cholera; A Tale of Two Cities; all of them have ended up on Oprah's book club list. Originally, Oprah's Book Club was a part of her self-titled talk show. She started it in 1996. Each month, she chose a book for her and her viewers to read, and then the book would be discussed. There was often a huge increase in sales of any book selected for Oprah's Book Club (referred to as "the Oprah effect." because Oprah is a media behemoth.) When her talk show ended on May 25, 2011, so did the book club. Not one to disappoint her beloved followers, Oprah revamped the book club and gave it a new home online, creating Oprah's Book Club 2.0, which began this June.

Online or broadcast book clubs are popular, because you don't have to get together with a group at a set time (and if you don't tell anyone you're participating, then you don't have to answer to anyone if you don't finish the book.  I, on the other hand, have to answer to Alex.  She's a meanie when she doesn't finish book. ;)). One of my favorites (in theory; I don't follow it as closely as I'd like) is from one of the best library-themed webcomics I know: Unshelved.

Then you have local book clubs, where a group of people get together in person to give their opinions and impressions of the book they read together. These can be held at libraries, bookstores, schools, coffee shops, or one member's house.  

The biggest problem with single-title clubs is that it can sometimes be difficult for everyone to get their hands on a copy of that specific book in time to read it for the designated discussion date. This isn't such a problem if you're willing to buy every book, but that is expensive and impractical. Book choices must be carefully selected, taking into consideration many factors, including availability.

There are also multi-title clubs, which help alleviate the problem of availability. Typically, these clubs work like this: Imagine all the members of the multi-title book club sitting in a circle. Everyone starts with a different book. They all finish reading these books around the same time, and pass the book they just read to their left. This continues until everyone has read all the books. There are other ways to accomplish multi-title book clubs, but this is a fairly common practice.

Beyond the regularly-meeting (in person or online) book clubs, there are one-time book clubs. I recently attended a professional conference where the keynote speaker was an author. One of the sessions at the conference was an author-led book club meeting. The idea was that anyone who wanted to participate could read the book before the conference, and discuss it with others (including the book's author, how cool is that?!? Dude, I would have been all over that.) during that session.

There are lots of different names for book clubs, including book discussion meetings, literature circles, book groups, reading group, common reading programs or common reads.

Book clubs are really great because, as Alex and I discovered when we left college (and part of the reason that we started up this blog), often when you read a book, you're bursting with things to talk about.  Do you think she should have ended up with him?  Why do you think the author put children in a book about mice?  Do you think this could really happen?  By having someone to bounce ideas off of, to talk to about books, they can not only discuss the ideas you had, but open up whole new possibilities that you never even thought of.

Alex and I, though (as you see by reading) we have a lot of the same opinions, we have totally different ideas and backgrounds.  For instance, Graphic Novels are really her thing, but by listening to her, I'm learning how to do things like "read" the illustrations.  Book clubs also help you make connections.  Wrote a book but need someone to read it?  Who better than a brutally honest book club to help you out, people you've known for awhile but trust to be honest and insightful with your work?

Now that you're dying to join a book club, how do you find one?

- Check the bulletin boards (or website) for your local library.

- Do the same at your local bookstores (big chains or mom-and-pop).

- If you're in school, ask at the library (or student activities) if they have one.

- Google! Since Google has gotten smarter, it will likely recommend local book clubs first, but you will also find online book clubs.

- Ask at work. (Don't know who to ask? Try HR.)

- Ask your friends! If none of them already belong to one, maybe they'd like to help you start one yourself. (I'll have tips for running a book club on Thursday.)