My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher → Start Date: January 24th, 2014

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

Please join Jacquelyn, Gisbelle, and Kathryn in this buddy read!

[Jacquelyn, thebrunettebooknerd]

Woohoo! So excited!

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

Okay guys, Gisbelle and I just picked a date

let me know if it works or if we need to move it around!

I can't wait to read this!

[Jacquelyn, thebrunettebooknerd]

This works great for me!

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

yay! I can't wait!

[Jacquelyn, thebrunettebooknerd]

Me neither!

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

Kathryn wrote: "I'm so excited!"

Does the date work okay?? Sorry, the thread just blew up so I figured I'd get a thread here for us to work with! LOL!

[Audra]

On my list to read, so I will join in!

[Jacquelyn, thebrunettebooknerd]

Woo, Audra! (:

[Vicki]

I'm not officially joining, but I'm going to TRY to sneak it in.

[Jacquelyn, thebrunettebooknerd]

I hope you can join!

[Vicki]

Me too :)

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

wow, lol, go Kathryn. I like to see your 4 star rating! woohoo!

I can't wait to start this one tomorrow!!!

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

okay, I really do plan to start this one today :)
it's been a crazy week but I def. want to read this one )

[Jacquelyn, thebrunettebooknerd]

Trisha wrote: "okay, I really do plan to start this one today :)
it's been a crazy week but I def. want to read this one )"

Ditto! (:

[Audra]

Just got a start on this one myself!

[Gisbelle]

Just started, but I might not read much of this book tonight since I want to finish the other 2 books first.

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

I'm through chapter 11 1/2 way through my book
it's a sad book so far

it's so sad (view spoiler)[ to read how broken their family is (hide spoiler)] and I totally understand his (view spoiler)[ frustration about his dead sister who takes all the limelight from things like HIS birthday. The fact that his mom had him write that horrible story about himself that plagued his whole existence in England makes me so sad :( (hide spoiler)] and that Jas (view spoiler)[ is raising him and probably has an eating disorder....

or she's pregnant (hide spoiler)]

Jas was right (view spoiler)[ even though they are alive, to their parents, it's like they died. and that's awful (hide spoiler)]

I think this book is very interesting to read so far. I really like the way it's exploring this really tough topic.

[Gisbelle]

I'm still in chapter 1. It's crazy that (view spoiler)[ the parents divided the remains like that. (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

ugh, wasn't that awful!!?? It's awful (view spoiler)[ to even imagine. But you find out more....as to why they did (hide spoiler)]

[Gisbelle]

Yes, very awful. I like it so far. I need to finish 2 books first, so I'll catch up with you tomorrow. It's a nice break from NA books :)

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

no worries! I know, I have 2 more to start! LOL!
Good luck on your other reads. I hope they are good :)

[Gisbelle]

Thanks! You too :) Yeah you and those buddy reads lol I can't believe you guys have books all planned out for March already.

[Audra]

So started listening to this one on audio on my way to work... turns out the UK edition is quite different from the American version. I'm almost to Chapter 6.

October 7 (view spoiler)[ In the UK edition the date is September 9. I'm assuming it was changed so it would not be confused with September 11. (hide spoiler)]

Eraser (view spoiler)[ When he said he hoped to at least get an eraser from his mom for his birthday, it actually said "rubber." I was like WHAT?! A 10 year old hoping for a rubber?! Haha, had a good laugh after I looked at my actual copy of the book. (hide spoiler)]

Time (view spoiler)[ Just little things here and there like when it said something about 48 days, the audio had said 2 weeks. There are also other switches in sentence structure. (hide spoiler)]

Either way, I think this book is a very good read and I like the main character a lot. I wish the mother would get her stuff together for crying out loud!

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

wow, and I'm done. This was a very very very well done book.

can't wait to see what you guys think!

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

Audra wrote: "So started listening to this one on audio on my way to work... turns out the UK edition is quite different from the American version. I'm almost to Chapter 6.

October 7 [spoilers removed]

Eraser..."

wow, the differences are really interesting!!! that's cool that you have the 2 version to compare.

[Gisbelle]

Glad you liked it!

[Gisbelle]

Finished chapter 10

Sunya (view spoiler)[ I love this little girl and am so glad that Jamie has her as a friend (hide spoiler)]

The father (view spoiler)[ I hope he gets his act together real soon and see that the kids need him. (hide spoiler)]

[Gisbelle]

Finished and I frigging loved it! What a great way to start a day :)

The father (view spoiler)[ I felt his pain. At first I did blame him and his selfishness, but then at least he was still around when the mother bailed on them.

It was sad that they all lived in the same house, but the father didn't even notice that Jas stopped eating and Jamie wore the same t-shirt for months. (hide spoiler)]

Roger (view spoiler)[ I cried so hard when he died :( And from that point on it seemed like I couldn't stop weeping. (hide spoiler)]

Sunya & Jamie (view spoiler)[ they were my most favorite characters in this book. I was glad Jamie finally stood up for Sunya. That was one of my most favorite scenes. (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

YES! My favorite scene (view spoiler)[ was when he finally stood up for her too!!! I loved it (hide spoiler)]

The father (view spoiler)[ yes...he broke my heart too
I wanted to be mad it him so much...but I just...couldn't. There is no right way to grieve losing a child.
but when Jas says it was like they'd all died.....because the dad didn't even see them anymore - that broke my heart too. (hide spoiler)]

Roger (view spoiler)[ OMG I can hardly talk about it, it broke my heart so much. I can see the significance and why the author did that but OMG it broke my heart. I cried too :( (hide spoiler)]

I'm so glad you loved this one. I really did too. It was amazing and subtle in it's very powerful message.

[Gisbelle]

:) Jas (view spoiler)[ I really liked that part that she talked about the bear that she lost, how she came back home an loved the ones she had left even more.

It was so sweet that Jamie gave her a bear in the end :) And he even removed the eyes lol Thoughtful kid. (hide spoiler)]

I'm glad we read this one :)

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

OMG I loved the bear story (view spoiler)[ I LOVE that he tore out the eyes.

Those two, they were so special. I love that she still screamed at him and still acted like a big sister and didn't entirely take on the parent role.

They were so sad to read about but their ability to stay strong through it all together - it was just amazing to read! (hide spoiler)]

I'm so glad too. I never would have read it if we didn't buddy read it :)

[Audra]

So I finally finished the audio book yesterday! Much different than anything that I've read before.

Roger (view spoiler)[Although it was so hard to watch Jamie go through losing Roger is such an important moment when he realizes he had the same feelings of loss as his family did with Rose. (hide spoiler)]

[Gisbelle]

Glad you liked it Audra.