Reading Survey

To encourage reading and exchange ideas, Derek has come up with the following survey. Please take the time to respond to the questions in the comments section (click on the little pencil, bottom right). This should be a fun way for us to find out more about each other and what kinds of things we read.

1. What is your single favorite piece of writing in any genre or format?

2. What book do you think everyone should read before they die?

3. What was the last book/story that made you laugh out loud?

4. What was the last book/story that made you cry?

5. Your favorite guilty pleasure?

6. Your favorite poem/poet?

7. What book have you always wanted to read but haven't gotten to?

8. The book you've read more times than any other?

9. The book/story that you want to read to your children?

10. An author you think people will still read in a hundred years?

Book Suggestions

Here is the complete list of book selections. The books with an asterisk are the final nine.

All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
Before You Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian
Blinding Light by Paul Theroux
*Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
Children of Men by P.D. James
Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson
Dreaming in Titanic City by Khaled Hosseini
Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
Ines of my Soul by Isabel Allende
Jpod by Douglas Coupland
*Lisey’s Story by Stephen King
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
*Persepolis by Mariane Satrapi
*Piercing by Ryu Murakami
*The Corrections by Jonathon Franzen
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco
*The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
*The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
*Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
*What is What by Dave Eggers
Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender

Our First Book! I'm so exicted!

Dare I say the first meeting was a success? Thanks to everyone who attended! I've just finished typing up everyone's book suggestions and I can't wait to start reading. I'll post the complete list with links to Amazon.com very soon so you can check them out too. I'm particularly interested in Juniper's selection My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki. Not suprising considering we both suggested Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus which will be OUR FIRST BOOK. Originally the group had decided on The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Sutterfield but unfortunately it's only available in hardcover at the moment. We will have to read that one at a later date! So go on out and buy the Penelopiad folks! I'm hoping to add a list of English book stores in Tokyo to this blog so if you know of any that aren't listed on the handout we gave out yesterday than post a comment or send an email. The December meeting will also take place at La Clea but we are open to suggestions for the January meeting. I think everyone agrees that it was a little bit too noisy for proper discussion to take place (although they do have the best Royal Milk Tea I've ever tasted). So again any ideas would be appreciated!