Category — Book Club

Welcome to the sixteenth tour of the Barren Bitches Book Brigade–a book club from the comfort of your own living room. Grab a cup of coffee and start clicking away at the links below.

Just to explain, this book club is entirely online and open to anyone (male or female) in the infertility/pregnancy loss/assisted conception/adoption/parenting-after-infertility world (as well as any other related category I inadvertently left off the list). It is called a book tour because everyone reads the same book and then poses a question to the group. Participants choose a few questions to answer and then post their response on their blog. Readers can jump from blog to blog, commenting along the way.

Anyone can jump aboard–it’s a book club where you can drop in and out as you wish and all in the community are welcome.

Book: An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination
Author: Elizabeth McCracken
Start Date: December 4
Post Dates: January 20
(need an explanation of how a book tour works? Click here to go to a list of posts on the past book tours as well as information about future tours.)

About Exact Replica: A gorgeous memoir of the loss of her son and the time period beyond.

Barren Bitches Book Brigade List (The blogs below are participating on this current book tour. Each day, you’ll be able to jump from post to post to read a plethora of opinions and thoughts on Exact Replica.)

Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters
The Fertile Infertile
The Road Less Travelled
Slaying, Blogging, Whatever…
I Won’t Fear Love
An Unwanted Path
Awful But Functioning
So It Goes
Aurelia Ann
TandCookies
Raspberry Chip
Destined to be an Old Woman with No Regrets
Clio
Baby Smiling in Back Seat
Life From Here
A Little Sweetness

Even if haven’t read Exact Replica…, you can still add your own thoughts on the blog tour or react to someone else’s critique.

Like the idea of being in a book club without leaving your living room? The current group chooses the next book. The 17th tour will be Kazuo Ishiguro’s, Never Let Me Go. It is impossible to describe the book without ruining the surprise and hopefully, you will not Google it or look up information before starting to read it because it is best if you go in knowing nothing, but in case you need a reason to read it, it has won a lot of awards and pretty much rocked my world.

The Details: Tour #17 will start January 21st. Participants will read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. On or before March 4th, everyone will send one question based on the book (to get a sense of questions, click here to see the questions sent for book tour #2) to me. I will compile the questions into lists that will be emailed out to you by March 6th. Everyone will choose 3 questions from the list and answer them on their own blog on March 9th. I’ll also post a master list and people can jump from blog to blog, reading and commenting on the book tour.

If you would like to sign up to participate in book tour #17, leave a comment below or send me an email. I need the title and a link to your blog as well as an email address where you’d like the two or three book club emails sent. If a spouse wants to participate too and he/she doesn’t have their own blog, have them set up a blog solely for book tours (as we did with the Annex) and send me a link to that blog. And if you’re a reader without a blog, now is a great time to set up a space for yourself on Blogger. People will be able to find brand-spanking-new blogs because they will be on the book tour’s participant list. The participants on the Kazuo Ishiguro book tour will choose the book for tour # 18. Happy reading.

Here is the master list for the sixteenth tour of the Barren Bitches Book Brigade. What is the Barren Bitches Book Brigade? It’s a book club from the comfort of your own living room. The book club is conducted entirely online and open to anyone (male or female) in the infertility/pregnancy loss/assisted conception/adoption/parenting-after-infertility world (as well as any other related category I inadvertently left off the list). It is called a book tour because everyone reads the same book and then poses a question to the group. Participants choose a few questions to answer and then post their response on their blog. Readers can jump from blog to blog, commenting along the way. We read both fiction and non-fiction.

Anyone can jump aboard–it’s a book club where you can drop in and out as you wish and all in the community are welcome.

Book: An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination
Author: Elizabeth McCracken
Start Date: December 4
Question Due: January 14
Question List Sent Out: January 16
Post Dates: January 20
(need an explanation of how a book tour works? Click here to go to a list of posts on the past book tours as well as information about future tours.)
Something New: the participants on this tour will vote for the next book we read.

About An Exact Replica…: From Bookmarks:

In Elizabeth McCracken’s heartrending memoir—a love letter to the child she lost and the devoted husband who suffered alongside her—McCracken displays her many talents. Her warmth, candor, crystalline prose, lovely imagery, and attention to detail bring her painful story to life. McCracken’s dark sense of humor ensnares unwitting readers, belying the sadness with which she writes, and she shows very little patience for self-pity and sentimentality. Critics praised her clear-eyed account in a genre replete with syrupy, self-aggrandizing books, though some expressed doubts that its subject matter would have wide appeal. “I’m not ready for my first child to fade into history,” explains McCracken. With this heartbreaking account of his life, there’s little chance of that.

The author was recently interviewed by Tash at Glow in the Woods.

Barren Bitches Book Brigade List (The blogs below are participating on this current book tour. On January 20th, you’ll be able to jump from post to post to read a plethora of opinions and thoughts on An Exact Replica... I will keep adding to this list until 11 p.m. on January 14. The list is currently open)

Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters
The Fertile Infertile
The Road Less Travelled
Slaying, Blogging, Whatever…
I’m a Smart One
I Won’t Fear Love
An Unwanted Path
Awful But Functioning
So It Goes
Aurelia Ann
TandCookies
Raspberry Chip
Destined to be an Old Woman with No Regrets
Clio
Once
Baby Smiling in Back Seat
Life From Here
Life and Love in the Petri Dish
A Little Sweetness
Northern Grin
Excavator

Not on the list and want to join? Drop me an email at thetowncriers@gmail.com. You can add yourself up until 11 p.m. on January 14.

How the book tour works:

(1) leave a comment or send me an email (thetowncriers@gmail.com) saying that you’re interested in participating. I need your blog name, blog url, and email address.

(2) read An Exact Replica… by January 14 (or at least enough of it in order to ask a question to the group).

(3) create a single question that would kick off a discussion (in other words, any question that leads to more than a “yes” or “no” answer where someone can express their opinion) and mail it to me on January 14 (or any time beforehand). I will send you a reminder email close to the date. Click here to see sample questions from tour #4.

(4) on January 16, I will send you a list of possible questions. Everyone will choose 3 questions off the list and answer them in a blog entry.

(5) on January 20, people will begin to post their entry. Each day, I will post a linked list of all the people putting up their entry that day so people can go around and read the entries and comment (start a discussion back and forth in the comments section). Reading the entries and commenting on the posts is the best part of the tour–by the end of the week, you should have a comment from every participant (and maybe even a few new permanent blog readers).

Welcome to the fifteenth tour of the Barren Bitches Book Brigade–a book club from the comfort of your own living room. Grab a cup of coffee and start clicking away at the links below.

Just to explain, this book club is entirely online and open to anyone (male or female) in the infertility/pregnancy loss/assisted conception/adoption/parenting-after-infertility world (as well as any other related category I inadvertently left off the list). It is called a book tour because everyone reads the same book and then poses a question to the group. Participants choose a few questions to answer and then post their response on their blog. Readers can jump from blog to blog, commenting along the way.

Anyone can jump aboard–it’s a book club where you can drop in and out as you wish and all in the community are welcome.

Book: Harriet the Spy
Author: Louise Fitzhugh
Start Date: October 29
Post Dates: December 3
(need an explanation of how a book tour works? Click here to go to a list of posts on the past book tours as well as information about future tours.)

About Harriet the Spy: A return to your childhood–Harriet records her thoughts on everything that crosses her path–from her classmates to musings about her parent’s marriage. Harriet was a blogger before blogging even existed.

Barren Bitches Book Brigade List (The blogs below are participating on this current book tour. Each day, you’ll be able to jump from post to post to read a plethora of opinions and thoughts on Harriet the Spy.)

Stirrup Queens (below this post–scroll down)
Slaying, Blogging, Whatever…
Clumsy Kisses
Our Own Creation
Aurelia Ann
The Road Less Travelled
Working on It
Journeywoman
Here We Go Again (seriously, the woman posted during labour)
The Fertile Infertile
Baby Smiling in Back Seat
All Things Deb
Baby, Borneo, or Bust

Even if haven’t read Harriet the Spy, you can still add your own thoughts on the blog tour or react to someone else’s critique.

Like the idea of being in a book club without leaving your living room? The current group chooses the next book. The 16th tour will be Elizabeth McCracken’s memoir, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination. From Bookmarks:

In Elizabeth McCracken’s heartrending memoir—a love letter to the child she lost and the devoted husband who suffered alongside her—McCracken displays her many talents. Her warmth, candor, crystalline prose, lovely imagery, and attention to detail bring her painful story to life. McCracken’s dark sense of humor ensnares unwitting readers, belying the sadness with which she writes, and she shows very little patience for self-pity and sentimentality. Critics praised her clear-eyed account in a genre replete with syrupy, self-aggrandizing books, though some expressed doubts that its subject matter would have wide appeal. “I’m not ready for my first child to fade into history,” explains McCracken. With this heartbreaking account of his life, there’s little chance of that.

The author was recently interviewed by Tash at Glow in the Woods.

The Details: Tour #16 will start December 4. Participants will read An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken. On or before January 14th, everyone will send one question based on the book (to get a sense of questions, click here to see the questions sent for book tour #2) to me. I will compile the questions into lists that will be emailed out to you by January 16th. Everyone will choose 3 questions from the list and answer them on their own blog on January 20th. I’ll also post a master list and people can jump from blog to blog, reading and commenting on the book tour.

If you would like to sign up to participate in book tour #16, leave a comment below or send me an email. I need the title and a link to your blog as well as an email address where you’d like the two or three book club emails sent. If a spouse wants to participate too and he/she doesn’t have their own blog, have them set up a blog solely for book tours (as we did with the Annex) and send me a link to that blog. And if you’re a reader without a blog, now is a great time to set up a space for yourself on Blogger. People will be able to find brand-spanking-new blogs because they will be on the book tour’s participant list. The participants on the Elizabeth McCracken book tour will choose the book for tour # 17. Happy reading.

Here is the master list for the fifteenth tour of the Barren Bitches Book Brigade. What is the Barren Bitches Book Brigade? It’s a book club from the comfort of your own living room. The book club is conducted entirely online and open to anyone (male or female) in the infertility/pregnancy loss/assisted conception/adoption/parenting-after-infertility world (as well as any other related category I inadvertently left off the list). It is called a book tour because everyone reads the same book and then poses a question to the group. Participants choose a few questions to answer and then post their response on their blog. Readers can jump from blog to blog, commenting along the way. We read both fiction and non-fiction.

Anyone can jump aboard–it’s a book club where you can drop in and out as you wish and all in the community are welcome.

Book: Harriet the Spy (not about IF, but definitely ties in to blogging)
Author: Louise Fitzhugh
Start Date: October 29
Question Due: November 28 (or send them before Thanksgiving)
Question List Sent Out: December 1
Post Dates: December 3 and 4
(need an explanation of how a book tour works? Click here to go to a list of posts on the past book tours as well as information about future tours.)
Something New: the participants on this tour will choose the next book and will vote on it right before Thanksgiving.

About Harriet the Spy: Don’t you want to return to your childhood (or read the books you never got a chance to read) for a few weeks? Read about Harriet as she records her thoughts on everything that crosses her path–from her classmates to musings about her parent’s marriage. Harriet was a blogger before blogging even existed.

Barren Bitches Book Brigade List (The blogs below are participating on this current book tour. On December 3, you’ll be able to jump from post to post to read a plethora of opinions and thoughts on Harriet the Spy. I will keep adding to this list until 11 p.m. on November 28. The list is currently open)

Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters
A Little Sweetness
Slaying, Blogging, Whatever…
Not-Ever-Still Life with Girls
Clumsy Kisses
Our Own Creation
Aurelia Ann
The Road Less Travelled
Working on It
Journeywoman
Weebles Wobblog
Life After Infertility and Loss
Miss E’s Musings
Here We Go Again
I’m a Smart One
Kir’s Corner
The Fertile Infertile
Divine Secrets of the Infertility Sisterhood
Vacant Uterus
Baby Smiling in Back Seat
All Things Deb

Not on the list and want to join? Drop me an email at thetowncriers@gmail.com. You can add yourself up until 11 p.m. on November 28.

How the book tour works:

(1) leave a comment or send me an email (thetowncriers@gmail.com) saying that you’re interested in participating. I need your blog name, blog url, and email address.

(2) read Harriet the Spy by November 28 (or at least enough of it in order to ask a question to the group).

(3) create a single question that would kick off a discussion (in other words, any question that leads to more than a “yes” or “no” answer where someone can express their opinion) and mail it to me on November 28 (or any time beforehand). I will send you a reminder email close to the date. Click here to see sample questions from tour #4.

(4) on December 1, I will send you a list of possible questions. Everyone will choose 3 questions off the list and answer them in a blog entry.

(5) on December 3, people will begin to post their entry. Each day, I will post a linked list of all the people putting up their entry that day so people can go around and read the entries and comment (start a discussion back and forth in the comments section). Reading the entries and commenting on the posts is the best part of the tour–by the end of the week, you should have a comment from every participant (and maybe even a few new permanent blog readers).

The Barren Bitches Book Brigade fizzled a bit towards the end of summer, but it’s time to inject new life into it again. And we’re kicking it off Old School with a totally non-IF book: