Book Club Geekiness

I've talked about my book club before on the blog, but I think you should know the truth about us.  We are not so much a true book club as three friends who use "book discussions" as an excuse to get together and eat massive amounts of food.  We do all love reading (especially young adult books...), but we love eating more. :)  I totally forgot to take a picture of the amazing spread!  But if you had seen it, you would have wondered when the other 30 or so guests were arriving to help us finish.  Nope, just three girls who eat like champs.

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Yesterday we met for a brunch that ended up lasting over 4 hours and resulted with us all laying on the couch in a full-tummy induced stupor, all strugling to stay awake and continuing to eat chocolate eggs no matter how full we were.  Bliss.  We discussed Unwind by Niel Shusterman , a very dark YA novel that I have yet to do a full review of, mostly because rehashing it makes my stomach turn.  (Ever since we read The Hunger Games we have been completely obsessed with YA dystopian fiction.)  It wasn't my favorite book, but it was definitely a good one for discussion.  Set in an unspecificified year in the future, the basic idea is that America has fought a second Civil War between the Pro-Choicers and the Pro-Lifers.  The result of the Civil War is that abortion is illegal, but (as a compromise??) a parent can choose to "terminate" their child's life through "unwinding" between the ages of 13 and 17.  What that means is that the child will be taken apart piece by piece, and all of his or her organs and body parts will be used for donation.  SUPER CREEPY.  The idea is that it's okay because the kids are still living as their body parts and organs are all still in tact...This book was difficult to read at parts.  Again, I wasn't thrilled with the plot and charcters, but it certainly made a statement.

Once we got the dark and twisty book out of the way, we turned the discussion to our other recent reads, Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater.  Read my review of Shiver here.  I loved these books, but after talking about them more, I think we all realized that they are just a better-written version of Twilight with a male-protagonist who is less of a jerk than Edward and Jacob.  Then, we majorly got our geek on and started recording the similarities and differences between Shiver and Twilight--I am almost embarrassed to share that we did this...but then again, it was fun.  I guess I can't hide my inner-geekiness forever!

Seriously, that is a TON of similarities...I still like Shiver more, even if it did rip of Twilight... :)

Book club is one of my favorite ways to start a weekend. :)  Another favorite way is laying in bed blogging past 10am, which I am doing right now.  The sun is ACTUALLY SHINING today though--MIRACLE--and my bike is starting to call my name...

What are your Saturday plans?

I'm looking forward to the rest of this day!  After my bike ride I'm planning to do a little shopping, grading/planning at Caribou, then birthday dinner with my family and drinks later on with friends.  Sounds like a recipe for a wonderful day.