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charbear177 · 6 years ago

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September Bookclub Recommendations...10 Great Reads For You And Your Bookclub

If you are like me you love a good book. I read all of the time, but tend to stick to one or two genres and authors. A great way to find new authors and be exposed to literature you would have never considered is by joining a traditional bookclub, or signing up for a book of the month club.

If you are already in a bookclub, but looking for some suggestions I am here to help. Or if you are just trying to figure out what to read next I think I have some great choices for you. I enjoyed all of the below books, albeit some were more satisfying than others, but that's the beauty of reading a book. You never know what you are going to get, or how it is going to end.

10 September Bookclub Recommendations

What Alice Forgot

The Handmaid's Tale

The Silent Wife

Unfu*k Yourself

The Tuscan Child

The Ugly and Wonderful Things

The Mountain Midwife

Small Great Things

The Orphan's Tale

Tell Me Three Things

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty - Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child.

So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over — she’s getting divorced, she has three kids and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes.

Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - After a staged terrorist attack kills the President and most of Congress, the government is deposed and taken over by the oppressive and all controlling Republic of Gilead. Offred, now a Handmaid serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name. Despite the danger, Offred learns to navigate the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life in breaking the rules in hopes of ending this oppression.

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The Silent Wife by Kerry Fisher - Lara’s life looks perfect on the surface. Gorgeous doting husband Massimo, sweet little son Sandro and the perfect home. Lara knows something about Massimo. Something she can’t tell anyone else or everything he has worked so hard for will be destroyed: his job, their reputation, their son. This secret is keeping Lara a prisoner in her marriage.

Maggie is married to Massimo’s brother Nico and lives with him and her troubled stepdaughter. She knows all of Nico’s darkest secrets – or so she thinks. Then one day she discovers a letter in the attic which reveals a shocking secret about Nico’s first wife. Will Maggie set the record straight or keep silent to protect those she loves?

For a family held together by lies, the truth will come at a devastating price.

Unfu*k Yourself by Gary John Bishop - Are you tired of feeling fu*ked up? If you are, Gary John Bishop has the answer. In this straightforward handbook, he gives you the tools and advice you need to demolish the slag weighing you down and become the truly unfu*ked version of yourself. ''Wake up to the miracle you are,'' he directs. ''Here's what you've forgotten: You're a fu*king miracle of being.'' It isn't other people that are standing in your way, it isn't even your circumstances that are blocking your ability to thrive, it's yourself and the negative self-talk you keep telling yourself.

The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen - In 1944, British bomber pilot Hugo Langley parachuted from his stricken plane into the verdant fields of German-occupied Tuscany. Badly wounded, he found refuge in a ruined monastery and in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. But the love that kindled between them was shaken by an irreversible betrayal.

Nearly thirty years later, Hugo’s estranged daughter, Joanna, has returned home to the English countryside to arrange her father’s funeral. Among his personal effects is an unopened letter addressed to Sofia. In it is a startling revelation.

Still dealing with the emotional wounds of her own personal trauma, Joanna embarks on a healing journey to Tuscany to understand her father’s history—and maybe come to understand herself as well. Joanna soon discovers that some would prefer the past be left undisturbed, but she has come too far to let go of her father’s secrets now…

All The Ugly and Wonderful Things: A Novel by Bryn Greenwood - As the daughter of a meth dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. Struggling to raise her little brother, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible "adult" around. She finds peace in the starry Midwestern night sky above the fields behind her house. One night everything changes when she witnesses one of her father's thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold, wreck his motorcycle. What follows is a powerful and shocking love story between two unlikely people that asks tough questions, reminding us of all the ugly and wonderful things that life has to offer.

The Mountain Midwife by Laurie Alice Eakes - Ashley Tolliver has tended to the women of her small Appalachian community for years. As their midwife, she thinks she has seen it all. Until a young woman gives birth at Ashley’s home and is abducted just as Ashley tries to take the dangerously bleeding mother to the nearest hospital. Now Ashley is on a mission to find the woman and her newborn baby . . . before it’s too late.

Hunter McDermott is on a quest—to track down his birth mother. After receiving more media attention than he could ever want for being in the right place at the right time, he receives a mysterious phone call from a woman claiming to be his mother. Hunter seeks out the aid of the local midwife in the mountain town where the phone call originated—surely she can shed some light on his own family background.

Ashley isn’t prepared for the way Hunter’s entrance into her world affects her heart and her future. He reignites dreams of having her own family that she has long put aside in favor of earning her medical degree and being able to do even more for her community. But is it commitment to her calling or fear of the unknown that keeps her feet firmly planted in the Appalachian soil? Or is it something more—fear of her growing feelings for Hunter—that makes her hesitant to explore the world beyond the mountains?

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult - Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene? Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy's counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other's trust, and come to see that what they've been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong. With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion—and doesn't offer easy answers. Small Great Things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game.

The Orphan's Tale: A Novel by Pam Jenoff - A powerful novel of friendship set in a traveling circus during World War II, The Orphan's Tale introduces two extraordinary women and their harrowing stories of sacrifice and survival Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep… When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night. Noa finds refuge with a German circus, but she must learn the flying trapeze act so she can blend in undetected, spurning the resentment of the lead aerialist, Astrid. At first rivals, Noa and Astrid soon forge a powerful bond. But as the facade that protects them proves increasingly tenuous, Noa and Astrid must decide whether their friendship is enough to save one another—or if the secrets that burn between them will destroy everything.

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum - Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help? It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son. In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?

All 10 of these books are great choices for your September bookclub selection, or for just an "any time" read. What are you currently reading in your bookclub? Have you read any of these books? If so, which is your favorite? Please share!

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#Books #Bookclubs #Jodi Picoult #Margaret Atwood #Liane Moriarty #Bestsellers

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herefortheships · 17 days ago

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Y'know, ooth of "the marriage contract counted as a marriage after getting signed"... Betelgeuse never signed it, did he?

Like, yeah, if they BOTH had signed it back then, that would have been a marriage, and said marriage would have been voided shortly afterwards by Code 699.

But maybe the reason why the contract didn't immediately burn up and why they couldn't banish Betelguise was bc that part of the contract stood on its own just with her signature, bc without his signature, the contract wasn't a marriage yet but was a promise that she or the younger Deetz wouldn't banish him + whatever the fine print said (which was likely about other means to get rid of him).

Or the contract hadn't been in effect at all yet and he just used his powers to steal Astrid's voice, idk.

So like, there's another out he gave her. He could have made the contract about a promise of marriage. He could have signed the marriage contract right after Astrid got rescued. He could have cut the MacArthur Park thing a little shorter. And he could have signed it after Astrid pointed out the loophole and gone "Nope, we weren't married yet. [signs] But now we are!"

But he doesn't actually want to force Lydia into marriage (anymore). So, I think what with his intended looking less than enthused while he lip-synced his feelings out, and his not-yet stepdaughter not being all that on board with the marriage (even though B had prevented Rory becoming her step-dad. Ungrateful youth) I think he just burned that contract himself. And then put on a show ballooning up dramatically at the first mention of his name, so Lydia could feel like she vanquished him. Which, like, if you are an immensely powerful ghost courting a living and rather anxious human woman, it's probably a good strategy to make her feel in control.

I love the thought of this, and I agree. It would make sense if he was the one who burned the contract himself, considering it never did until Astrid mentioned it; I hadn't considered that. He was never going to force her this time; he definitely hoped she would fulfill her end of the deal and marry him, but he wasn't going to forcer to do it if she didn't want to in the end. There's just too much evidence for it, considering he had such a lengthy wedding dance, instead of just quickly getting the priest to pronounce them man and wife like he did in the first movie.

I think during the events of the sequel he may have learned that the way to Lydia's heart is to take it easy. He was coming on too strong (it would be funny if he is still coming on too strong in movie three, though lol, even while thinking he isn't, that'd be hilarious), and instead of showing her his intentions, the way he acted just pushed her away even more. Lydia and Delia even locked the attic. Lucky for him, Lydia ended up needing him later (and Delia needed him, too. lol).

The first time seeing her face to face, the first thing he did was to illusorily get her pregnant 😅, and then he was totally going to pull her to him and kiss her, so he was kinda showing her his (totally wild lol) sexual interest right from the get go.

Next time he sees her, though, instead of grabbing her and being a savage, he lets her take the lead after she summons him. She's the one who brings up the marriage deal, as well. So hopefully he learned the way into her heart is not to force himself on her, but to give her space (though it's Betelgeuse, I bet it's taking a lot of restraint to keep himself still around her lol). Now he has made his intentions clear and shown he can be helpful not only to Lydia, but to her family as well (and told her daughter she can call him dad. Hey, I know it was because she couldn't call him by his name, but it's just sweet to me that he's cool with Astrid calling him dad. It was one of my favorite things, ngl).

I'm totally writing a lot just to say that I agree with all of this. Betelgeuse always left her a gap to get out of the contract. Hopefully next time she will say "I do" and it will all be her choice. My fingers are crossed for the third movie. As Tim Burton himself said "it's Beetlejuice, there's always gotta be a wedding" (paraphrasing here; this was in the bts extras for BJBJ), so for SURE we will have the wedding with the happy ending in the end, no doubt. ✨Manifesting 😌✨.

#Beetlejuice Beetlejuice #Beetlebabes #Beetlejuice x Lydia #Betelgeuse x Lydia #@Katoska #answers #questions #💚💜💚💜#Beetlejuice #Beetlejuice headcanons #Beetlejuice 3 hopes

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