Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

Monday, March 16, 2009

is the winner of our poll. So get to the bookstore, or to the public library and grab a copy. Don't have time to read? Grab the audiobook instead and you can listen to the book during your morning commute, or while you wash the dishes. The Washington County library has two copies. (or iTunes has it for $20.95, which is a bit pricey if you ask me. )
What's that you say? You don't live in Washington County and you don't know what your local library's website is? Well, no need to panic. Here is an online directory: http://www.publiclibraries.com/ has the address, phone number and website (if applicable) of every public library in the U.S.

When you've finished reading (or listening to) the book head over to our Forum and tell everyone what you thought about it.

So bad.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

I've been just awful at keeping up this blog lately. I just haven't had the time. But things are calming down, and I should have something up soon for those of you who are still participating. In the meantime, here is a peace offering in the form of some really awesome art made out of books (Which is actually only really cool if I try hard not to think about how they mutilated some great old book in order to make it):



Want to see more? Click Here.
Also: I'm sorry to say that I didn't have a chance to read February's book, but those of you who did are free to start a discussion over at our forum. I'd like to hear what you thought of the book, and I still plan to read it... as soon as I have some free time.

January's book, February lateness and Members.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

January's book: Join the discussion for The Last Lecture in our Forum. Tell us what you thought of the book. Did you write about the book in your blog? Send me the link and I'll feature it here. I wrote a list of my own childhood dreams on my blog.

February lateness: We're having some trouble getting February's book choices, but we'll have the poll up as soon as possible. Sorry for the delay.

Members: We need more members! Our little club is sorely lacking in the discussion department. Please tell your friends about The Mixed Bag, and help us get this thing up and running.

December's Pick

Saturday, December 6, 2008

The poll winner for December is Jonathon Foer's Extremely loud and Incredibly Close.

Some information about the book, from the publisher:
In Brief
Nine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible task will bring Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious, and ultimately healing journey.

Jonathan Safran Foer emerged as one of the most original writers of his generation with his best-selling debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated. Now, with humor, tenderness, and awe, he confronts the traumas of our recent history.

And from Wikipedia:
In his second novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, published in 2005, Foer uses 9/11 as a backdrop for the story of 9-year-old Oskar Schell learning to deal with the death of his father in the World Trade Center. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close utilizes many nontraditional writing techniques. It follows multiple but interconnected storylines, is peppered with photographs of doorknobs and other such oddities, and ends with a 12-page flipbook.

The book sounds very interesting, and I'm excited to read it!

I would also like to thank everyone that participated in the forum discussion for last month's book, The Memory Keeper's Daughter. We hope that more of you will join us at the end of this month to discuss December's book.

Our Forum

Sunday, October 26, 2008

I wanted to remind all of our members to register for our forum, which is located at www.mixedbagbookclub.azureforum.com
There is a permanent link to this forum right above the newest blog post.
The forum is where we will be holding all of our discussions. Discussions can start at any time, and anyone can post a topic. Also, remember to vote for whichever book you would rather read next month. The poll is located in the upper right hand corner of this page. There are only five days left to vote!