We Need You! March Book Club Survey

This month we want you to help us choose our next book club selection! Take a moment to the review the titles below and a brief synopsis of each book. Follow this link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/88ZYJT6 and vote for your favorite. We'll be announcing the winner on Friday, March 8!

Happy Voting!

  

 

 Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

David Sedaris's fourth book mines poignant comedy from his peculiar childhood in North Carolina, his bizarre career path, and his move with his lover to France. Though his anarchic inclination to digress is his glory, Sedaris does have a theme in these reminiscences: the inability of humans to communicate. 

Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs 

Down time" is not a phrase in Tempe Brennan's vocabulary. A string of disturbing cases has put her vacation plans on hold; instead, she heads to the lab to analyze charred remains from a suspicious fire, and a mysterious black residue from a small plane crash. But most troubling of all are the bones. . . .  Tempe's daughter's new boyfriend invites them to a picnic -- a pig pickin' -- in   the North Carolina countryside, where a cache of bones turns up. But are they animal or human? X-rays and DNA may link the crimes, but they can't reveal who is closing in on Tempe and her daughter -- and how far they will go to keep her from uncovering the truth. 

 The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

Travis Parker has everything a man could want: a good job, loyal friends, even a waterfront home in small-town North Carolina. In full pursuit of the good life—boating, swimming, and regular barbecues with his good-natured buddies—he holds the vague conviction that a serious relationship with a woman would only cramp his style. That is, until Gabby Holland moves in next door. Despite his attempts to be neighborly, the appealing redhead seems to have a chip on her shoulder about him…and the presence of her longtime boyfriend doesn’t help. Despite himself, Travis can’t stop trying to ingratiate himself with his new neighbor, and his persistent efforts lead them both to the doorstep of a journey that neither could have foreseen. 

Serena by Ron Rash 

  The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains--but she soon shows herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Together this lord and lady of the woodlands ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of favor. Yet when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out to murder the son George fathered without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning. 

 

 The Watery Part of the World by Michael Parker

Parker's affecting fifth novel mines two historical anecdotes from 1813 and 1970 to draw parallel narratives around island dwellers off the North Carolina coast. When a vessel carrying Theodosia, daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr, is attacked by pirates, she's left for dead on Nag's Head island. A parchment-thin hermit nurses her back to health and protects her as she embarks on a new life with a freed slave while still lamenting the loss of her possessions and her past. And in 1970, Woodrow, a black man, and Maggie and Whaley, two white sisters, are the last remaining residents of the same North Carolina island. 

 Brighten The Corner Where You Are by Fred Chappel

The year is 1946, and Joe Robert is no ordinary schoolteacher. He is a farmer, a hunter, a dreamer and a philosopher whose innovative teaching methods and evenhanded approach to the theory of evolution have irked the local school board--they have summoned him to a late afternoon meeting. His ideals and livelihood imperiled, Robert feels--understandably--apprehensive, and to make matters worse, that day's bizarre series of events (an unfortunate encounter with a treed bobcat, a courageous rescue of a drowning child, and several unsettling metaphysical discussions) have left him battered in mind and body. The meeting is hilarious, if inconclusive. A finely drawn series of minor characters, including stoic farmers and wives, tale-spinning coon hunters and a shrewd local reporter, enriches this modest yet deeply satisfying chronicle.

Sources: 

http://www.amazon.com/Me-Talk-Pretty-One-Day/dp/0316776963; www.goodreads.com 

http://www.amazon.com/Bare-Bones-Temperance-Brennan-Novels/dp/074345300;  www.fanpop.com;heylady.net;http://www.amazon.com/Serena-Novel-P-S-Ron-Rash/dp/0061470848;  http://www.nicholassparks.com/books/the-choice; http://www.amazon.com/Watery-Part-World-Michael-Parker/dp/161620143 ww.buxtonvillagebooks.com; www.shepherd.edu; http://www.amazon.com/Brighten-Corner-Where-You-Are/dp/0312050577