Megan’s Comments (group member since Dec 30, 2017)

Megan’s comments from the EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club group.

I second Middlemarch and Don Quixote.
Didn’t we read Anna Karenina as a classic last year?

I second Flowers for Algernon, Great Expectations and Madame Bovary

I second Americanah, The Dutch House and The Last Wish

I really enjoyed reading the Neverending Story again. I first read it back in the 80's before the movie came out. I like the movie but was disappointed it stopped with Bastian naming the Childlike Empress. I liked the second part of the book, where Bastian goes into Fantastica. I felt like he did a lot of important growing as a person in Fatastica. In the first half of the book, where he's an observer with the unknown power to save Fantastica, he learned to value his imagination, but he wanted to be someone he was not, and instead of talking to his dad about their shared grief, he was escaping into imaginative realms. Not that there's anything wrong with escapism, sometimes we definitively need to escape, it was just out of balance. He was ashamed of himself and his father, which is a sort of a normal adolescent thing to go thru. In the second half, he got to make himself into his flashy ideal hero and loose himself in his adventures--literally, because he gave up parts of his memory to create things or work strong magic. In his later adventures, after veering into villainy, he learned to value substance over flash and cherished the last memory he had, which brought him back to the "real" world. Because of both halves of his adventure, he's learned inner strength and balance. He's got the power of imagination, has realized he's not the looser he thought he was, and has remembered the importance of his connection with his father.

I also second The Underground Railroad

I second The Name of The Wind and The Name of The Rose

I second Dark Matter

I tried giving a new name to Moon Child too! Sadly, didn’t work

I’ve been meaning to read this book for years! It’s one of my mom’s favorites. I’m listening to the audiobook via Overdrive.

For people looking for an alternative to Amazon for online book purchases, check your local independent book seller’s websites. They may still be operational. I know Prairie Lights in Iowa City still takes orders. So does Powell’s in Portland, Oregon, and they’ll ship anywhere in the US.

Scribd, an ebook/audiobook service is currently offering 30 free days, so there are more options for online reading. https://www.scribd.com/

Thanks Kasey!

I second Siddartha, Night and The Secret Garden

I second Circe and A Handmaids Tale

I second The Dutch House and A Boys Life

I second Clan of the Cave Bear, An American Marriage and The Fault is in Our Stars

I nominate David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens, 882 pgs

I second Les Miserables, Don Quixote and The Priory

I second Washington Black, Homegoing, Station Eleven and Neverending Story

I also second Dark Matter

I second Circe, Anne of Green Gables and A Gentleman in Moscow