Better Late Than Never - Read-A-Thon Reprise

Well folks, we hope every one has had a nice weekend mentally recooperating from the marathon that was this weekend! We have had such a fun time going through every ones posts and hearing about the books they read, the mini-challeneges, and of course seeing all the support. This event is such a great community builder for the book blog world and we were glad to take part.
Sadly we couldn't be on our A-game this weekend partly to the internet crapping out twice and partly because we live in a college town where there is no shortage of interruptions. With a solid 10 hrs of reading, we had to resort to cheer leading at the end of the night. Next year we plan on locking ourselves away in a quiet, internet having room where we can read in peace!!

That being said congrats again to every one that participated, read, cheerlead, and commented during this weekend. We hope every one had a blast because we know we did.
And extra special thanks and congrats goes out to every one that left us comments! We appreciate all of the time and effort that went into making sure every one felt supported during the wee hours. That being said it is time to announce our winner of the read-a-thon mug!!And the winners are....
Trisha!!
and
Lenore!!
Woohooo congrats ladies! Thanks for the comment and support this weekend. We hope you can relieve all of the fun every morning when you have some coffee!!

Alright folks we are sad this weekend is come and past, we wish there was so much more we had gotten around to doing. Padfoot and Prongs have been a little over worked these days between the blog, school, running a store/business/and trying to sleep. However we do promise we are still up to no good and will have lots of fun bloggy things for you here in the next few days.
-mischief managed-

Better Late Than Never - Read-A-Thon Reprise

Well folks, we hope every one has had a nice weekend mentally recooperating from the marathon that was this weekend! We have had such a fun time going through every ones posts and hearing about the books they read, the mini-challeneges, and of course seeing all the support. This event is such a great community builder for the book blog world and we were glad to take part.
Sadly we couldn't be on our A-game this weekend partly to the internet crapping out twice and partly because we live in a college town where there is no shortage of interruptions. With a solid 10 hrs of reading, we had to resort to cheer leading at the end of the night. Next year we plan on locking ourselves away in a quiet, internet having room where we can read in peace!!

That being said congrats again to every one that participated, read, cheerlead, and commented during this weekend. We hope every one had a blast because we know we did.
And extra special thanks and congrats goes out to every one that left us comments! We appreciate all of the time and effort that went into making sure every one felt supported during the wee hours. That being said it is time to announce our winner of the read-a-thon mug!!And the winners are....
Trisha!!
and
Lenore!!
Woohooo congrats ladies! Thanks for the comment and support this weekend. We hope you can relieve all of the fun every morning when you have some coffee!!

Alright folks we are sad this weekend is come and past, we wish there was so much more we had gotten around to doing. Padfoot and Prongs have been a little over worked these days between the blog, school, running a store/business/and trying to sleep. However we do promise we are still up to no good and will have lots of fun bloggy things for you here in the next few days.
-mischief managed-

Read-a-thon and a Giveaway!?

Update #1

Okay wow folks what a morning. Our internet has been down in the apt. for a few hours so we have been reading/making desperate phone calls to figure out what is going on. Fortunately now it is back and we are ready to update you!!
Padfoot and Prongs have been plowing through our list of
'Back in the Day Books'
This read a thon we are focusing on some childhood classics! Currently Padfoot is 64 pages into Peter Pan, and Prongs is tearing through the 1st Harry Potter. We will be updating within the next 2 hours once we finish both of them to let you know our thoughts. (We are sure every one already knows how we feel)

Update Number 2:
Alright so we are going into our 4th hour of reading. Prongs has DEMOLISH HP 1 and has moved on to The Phantom Tollbooth clocking in at 20 pages. Padfoot is finishing up Peter Pan and has her sites set on Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit. She will be reviewing Peter Pan this week after we have regained our mental strength! We have been moving strategically around the apartment and have been snacking on wheat thins and cheese sticks to keep the energy up.

Here is a nice tip for read-a-thoners: TURN OFF YOU CELL PHONES. It is a huge distaraction when right when you get into a good pace, your phone goes off and you have to check it. At the very least turn the on silent. Can't tell you how much better things are going since we did that. Mk we will be back in another hour to update again! At the end of the night we have a special treat for you all so make sure to keep checking back!

For first timers to the blog...WELCOME! To our loyal followrs, we hope you are having a great read a thon day. Keep focused and we can't wait to go through all of the posts tomorrow.

Lastly, we wanted to make sure every one knew about our GIVEAWAY!!Yes thats right a GIVEAWAYY.
This lovley mug can be yours for the low low price of FREE!!
We are giving away 2 mugs for the read-a-thon to some lucky readers.
You can enter one of 2 ways.
1. Leave a comment on any read-a-thon post that we update today and you will automatically be entered.
2. Sign up or check out The Good Books Club! If you sign up today you will automaically be entered twice into the drawing for a mug. If you sign up though make sure you are ready and willing to participate!

Thats all from us now folks...back to the books.

Read-a-thon and a Giveaway!?

Update #1

Okay wow folks what a morning. Our internet has been down in the apt. for a few hours so we have been reading/making desperate phone calls to figure out what is going on. Fortunately now it is back and we are ready to update you!!
Padfoot and Prongs have been plowing through our list of
'Back in the Day Books'
This read a thon we are focusing on some childhood classics! Currently Padfoot is 64 pages into Peter Pan, and Prongs is tearing through the 1st Harry Potter. We will be updating within the next 2 hours once we finish both of them to let you know our thoughts. (We are sure every one already knows how we feel)

Update Number 2:
Alright so we are going into our 4th hour of reading. Prongs has DEMOLISH HP 1 and has moved on to The Phantom Tollbooth clocking in at 20 pages. Padfoot is finishing up Peter Pan and has her sites set on Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit. She will be reviewing Peter Pan this week after we have regained our mental strength! We have been moving strategically around the apartment and have been snacking on wheat thins and cheese sticks to keep the energy up.

Here is a nice tip for read-a-thoners: TURN OFF YOU CELL PHONES. It is a huge distaraction when right when you get into a good pace, your phone goes off and you have to check it. At the very least turn the on silent. Can't tell you how much better things are going since we did that. Mk we will be back in another hour to update again! At the end of the night we have a special treat for you all so make sure to keep checking back!

For first timers to the blog...WELCOME! To our loyal followrs, we hope you are having a great read a thon day. Keep focused and we can't wait to go through all of the posts tomorrow.

Lastly, we wanted to make sure every one knew about our GIVEAWAY!!Yes thats right a GIVEAWAYY.
This lovley mug can be yours for the low low price of FREE!!
We are giving away 2 mugs for the read-a-thon to some lucky readers.
You can enter one of 2 ways.
1. Leave a comment on any read-a-thon post that we update today and you will automatically be entered.
2. Sign up or check out The Good Books Club! If you sign up today you will automaically be entered twice into the drawing for a mug. If you sign up though make sure you are ready and willing to participate!

Thats all from us now folks...back to the books.

Good Books Club - Month #2

Hey there all of you literary lovers!
We here at Good Books Inc. are flat our tired of reading amazing books and then not having wonderful, thought provoking discussions after we finish. Hopefully, there are those out there who share our sadness, so as a solution to the problem we now happily present you with Good Books Club!

This will be an online book club, which shall meet once every 3 weeks ish, and will be dedicated to reading contemporary lit, and having intelligent and meaningful discussions about the chosen works. The link for the live-chat is located on the left tool bar, and on the night of your discussion you will simply log in and join the fun.

As this is a new idea, we will be working out the kinks for the first few months, but we are really looking forward to providing any one who is interested, with a wonderful fun experience that centers around all our similar love: books!! Good Book Club

Month 2:
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury

Summary: Jim Nightshade and William Halloway are two 13 year old boys who were born only minutes apart. Armed with the values of friendship and an undying curiosity, the boys are thrown into a magical nightmare full of danger, decisions, and the thing which all young boys crave: adventure. The smell of an approaching storm lingers in the air as a sinister carnival blows into town bringing with it carnival characters that are enough to haunt any ones nightmares. With magic carousels, deadly witches, and a dad who dreams of childhood, the ending will leave you pining for more.

Why we chose this work: Ray Bradbury's underrated novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, is a story that will bring out the childhood in any one. 'The novel combines elements of fantasy and horror, analyzing the conflicting natures of good and evil, and on how they come into play between the characters and the carnival,' making it perfect for a discussion. The setting will put you in the perfect 'fall' mood and will be a great way to send off our favorite season. On top of that Bradbury's style is full of so much poetry and passion that your highlighters will be dry by the end.

So now what: So now that you all have the information about the book, it is time to go out and find yourself a copy! We recommended checking around used book stores (we found used copies at half-price books in Ohio for just a dollar). Once you have your copy it is time to start reading! We encourage you to mark, write, take notes, or any thing that will help you keep track of ideas or opinions you have while reading. We ask that every one participating find at least 3 of their favorite quotes and have them for the discussion date, so that we can all share our favorite parts! It would also be helpful if any one participating left comments here and there letting us know your progress, so we can adjust in the future. If a work is too hard or long it is crucial adjust lists of future books. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please leave a comment on this post or e-mail us.

Things to Remember: This book discussion is open to any one and every one of all ages, places, races, and species. (If you can get your dog to join in then you get a prize!) That being said, please remember during discussions to be cautious about remarks that might be offensive to any one. Just be respectful and think before you type. No flaming or spammers, because then we will have to shut the whole thing down and no one wants that!

GBI Group Recipe: Since we all know part of the fun of having a book club is the wonderful food that every one gets to share, we though our online club should be no more the worse for not meting in person. Therefore, we will be posting a recipe each month that you can choose to make or not, but make sure to eat it on the night of discussion! That way it will kind of be like we are all sharing in the fun. If any one has any recipe ideas or submissions please e-mail us and we will have the information up for you 1 week before discussion groups.

When to meet:All discussions will be held the 3rd Sunday every month @ 7pm EST. (So for the first month this means Nov. 15th). The limit is 15 people per book. So hurry and sign up while you can! Just use the MisterLinky and fill out your information to be signed up for this months book! We will give you more specific details about how to log into the chat room when we get closer to the discussion date.We are so excited for this event and hope that every one of you will contribute as much as your literary love as you can, so that we can all get a wonderful unique experience with each book! Happy reading!!

Sign up for Sunday the 15th @7
How to sign up: You MUST do this so that we know you are going to be participating. Just click the Mister Linky banner below and add your name (and if you have a blog the link back to it). If for some reason it isn't working, just leave a comment with your name so that we can add it for you!

Good Books Club - Month #2

Hey there all of you literary lovers!
We here at Good Books Inc. are flat our tired of reading amazing books and then not having wonderful, thought provoking discussions after we finish. Hopefully, there are those out there who share our sadness, so as a solution to the problem we now happily present you with Good Books Club!

This will be an online book club, which shall meet once every 3 weeks ish, and will be dedicated to reading contemporary lit, and having intelligent and meaningful discussions about the chosen works. The link for the live-chat is located on the left tool bar, and on the night of your discussion you will simply log in and join the fun.

As this is a new idea, we will be working out the kinks for the first few months, but we are really looking forward to providing any one who is interested, with a wonderful fun experience that centers around all our similar love: books!! Good Book Club

Month 2:
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury

Summary: Jim Nightshade and William Halloway are two 13 year old boys who were born only minutes apart. Armed with the values of friendship and an undying curiosity, the boys are thrown into a magical nightmare full of danger, decisions, and the thing which all young boys crave: adventure. The smell of an approaching storm lingers in the air as a sinister carnival blows into town bringing with it carnival characters that are enough to haunt any ones nightmares. With magic carousels, deadly witches, and a dad who dreams of childhood, the ending will leave you pining for more.

Why we chose this work: Ray Bradbury's underrated novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, is a story that will bring out the childhood in any one. 'The novel combines elements of fantasy and horror, analyzing the conflicting natures of good and evil, and on how they come into play between the characters and the carnival,' making it perfect for a discussion. The setting will put you in the perfect 'fall' mood and will be a great way to send off our favorite season. On top of that Bradbury's style is full of so much poetry and passion that your highlighters will be dry by the end.

So now what: So now that you all have the information about the book, it is time to go out and find yourself a copy! We recommended checking around used book stores (we found used copies at half-price books in Ohio for just a dollar). Once you have your copy it is time to start reading! We encourage you to mark, write, take notes, or any thing that will help you keep track of ideas or opinions you have while reading. We ask that every one participating find at least 3 of their favorite quotes and have them for the discussion date, so that we can all share our favorite parts! It would also be helpful if any one participating left comments here and there letting us know your progress, so we can adjust in the future. If a work is too hard or long it is crucial adjust lists of future books. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please leave a comment on this post or e-mail us.

Things to Remember: This book discussion is open to any one and every one of all ages, places, races, and species. (If you can get your dog to join in then you get a prize!) That being said, please remember during discussions to be cautious about remarks that might be offensive to any one. Just be respectful and think before you type. No flaming or spammers, because then we will have to shut the whole thing down and no one wants that!

GBI Group Recipe: Since we all know part of the fun of having a book club is the wonderful food that every one gets to share, we though our online club should be no more the worse for not meting in person. Therefore, we will be posting a recipe each month that you can choose to make or not, but make sure to eat it on the night of discussion! That way it will kind of be like we are all sharing in the fun. If any one has any recipe ideas or submissions please e-mail us and we will have the information up for you 1 week before discussion groups.

When to meet:All discussions will be held the 3rd Sunday every month @ 7pm EST. (So for the first month this means Nov. 15th). The limit is 15 people per book. So hurry and sign up while you can! Just use the MisterLinky and fill out your information to be signed up for this months book! We will give you more specific details about how to log into the chat room when we get closer to the discussion date.We are so excited for this event and hope that every one of you will contribute as much as your literary love as you can, so that we can all get a wonderful unique experience with each book! Happy reading!!

Sign up for Sunday the 15th @7
How to sign up: You MUST do this so that we know you are going to be participating. Just click the Mister Linky banner below and add your name (and if you have a blog the link back to it). If for some reason it isn't working, just leave a comment with your name so that we can add it for you!

Good Books Club Round Up - Month #1

Hey there marauders and book clubbers alike. Last night was the FIRST EVERY GOOD BOOKS CLUB DISCUSSION!! In case you are new too our blog, or have been living under a rock, Padfoot and Prongs have started a book club for the modern classic literary lover. Our first month we read Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night and last night we logged into the chat room for some hard core book discussing. For those of you who are interested in the discussion or maybe couldn't make the talk we will give you a few highlights:

1. We had some nice introductions and blog exchanges.
2. We all shared some of our favorite quotes/parts of the story and discussed why they stood out among the rest.
3. We tried to maintain the formal discussion qus. that were given out but like all good book clubs, we got a bit distracted but in a good way of course.
4. Lots more discussion including what the book will be fore next month (announced at 7 pm tonight)
5. Nazi Nuggets?

Here are links to reviews of last nights discussion by the ladies that were there. Make sure to check them out they really made the 1st discussion amazing!! (As well as some links to some real champs who still read the book but couldn't make the discussion!)
This Book and I could be Friends
Strictly Letters
25 Hour Books
Ooh...Books!
5-Squared
(If we are missing any one that has a review out there Pleaseee send us the link so we can add you too this list)
We had such a blast and it went over much more technically smooth that we had anticipated. While there were a small number of us, it really helped to focus the discussion and let every one's opinions be heard. As for the few that were there, they were the lucky firsts to hear about the gifts we will be giving out at that (and future) book clubs!!

Did someone say GIFTS?! We sure did. Padfoot and Prongs have decided that for each book we do, we will design and give away an accompanying MUG to one lucky participant!!
(Month 1's cup!)
Last night as a special treat we gave a mug away to any one that could make it to the discussion so congrats to the ladies who took part. For those of you who were unable to sign up this month or unable to make it last night but still read, you will still be able to get your own mug for sale on our ETSY site! We are giving a huge discount to any one who knows the 'secrete code' (GOOD BOOKS CLUB) so you won't feel as though we left you out. Like we said, each month we will have a new design and beware of the Pokemon effect.... you will want to catch them all. We hope it will be a nice way to remember the books you have read and all the great discussions you took place in!!

Before we go we just wanted to make one small note to all future participants of Good Books Inc. We really are sad that we have to keep the sign up limit to about 15 members each month, because we want EVERYONE to be able to join in. If we have to in the future we will discuss having more than one discussion time. That being said PLEASE do NOT sign up if you are not sure you are able to attend. We COMPLETLY understand that things do come up and plans change which we are more than willing to try and work around. However for the last one we had a few book clubbers who signed up then seemed to disappear. We want to give every one a chance but due to the limited amount of people, we just ask that before you sign up you are fairly-positive that you can make the chat, other wise someone who can make it might be missing out. Ok that sounds harsh and we don't mean to be!! Book love for everyone.

Alright folks that is about it for the wrap up. We had a few people request formal transcripts but unfortunatley we didn't get to save last nights. From now on in the future we will be attaching pdf files of the chats for any one that might have missed it. Make sure to stop back tonight at 7pm when we will be announcing the book for November!!! Thanks every one that read, googled, or was interested at all in the group! We are so happy to be off to a great start!

-Mischief Managed

Good Books Club Round Up - Month #1

Hey there marauders and book clubbers alike. Last night was the FIRST EVERY GOOD BOOKS CLUB DISCUSSION!! In case you are new too our blog, or have been living under a rock, Padfoot and Prongs have started a book club for the modern classic literary lover. Our first month we read Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night and last night we logged into the chat room for some hard core book discussing. For those of you who are interested in the discussion or maybe couldn't make the talk we will give you a few highlights:

1. We had some nice introductions and blog exchanges.
2. We all shared some of our favorite quotes/parts of the story and discussed why they stood out among the rest.
3. We tried to maintain the formal discussion qus. that were given out but like all good book clubs, we got a bit distracted but in a good way of course.
4. Lots more discussion including what the book will be fore next month (announced at 7 pm tonight)
5. Nazi Nuggets?

Here are links to reviews of last nights discussion by the ladies that were there. Make sure to check them out they really made the 1st discussion amazing!! (As well as some links to some real champs who still read the book but couldn't make the discussion!)
This Book and I could be Friends
Strictly Letters
25 Hour Books
Ooh...Books!
5-Squared
(If we are missing any one that has a review out there Pleaseee send us the link so we can add you too this list)
We had such a blast and it went over much more technically smooth that we had anticipated. While there were a small number of us, it really helped to focus the discussion and let every one's opinions be heard. As for the few that were there, they were the lucky firsts to hear about the gifts we will be giving out at that (and future) book clubs!!

Did someone say GIFTS?! We sure did. Padfoot and Prongs have decided that for each book we do, we will design and give away an accompanying MUG to one lucky participant!!
(Month 1's cup!)
Last night as a special treat we gave a mug away to any one that could make it to the discussion so congrats to the ladies who took part. For those of you who were unable to sign up this month or unable to make it last night but still read, you will still be able to get your own mug for sale on our ETSY site! We are giving a huge discount to any one who knows the 'secrete code' (GOOD BOOKS CLUB) so you won't feel as though we left you out. Like we said, each month we will have a new design and beware of the Pokemon effect.... you will want to catch them all. We hope it will be a nice way to remember the books you have read and all the great discussions you took place in!!

Before we go we just wanted to make one small note to all future participants of Good Books Inc. We really are sad that we have to keep the sign up limit to about 15 members each month, because we want EVERYONE to be able to join in. If we have to in the future we will discuss having more than one discussion time. That being said PLEASE do NOT sign up if you are not sure you are able to attend. We COMPLETLY understand that things do come up and plans change which we are more than willing to try and work around. However for the last one we had a few book clubbers who signed up then seemed to disappear. We want to give every one a chance but due to the limited amount of people, we just ask that before you sign up you are fairly-positive that you can make the chat, other wise someone who can make it might be missing out. Ok that sounds harsh and we don't mean to be!! Book love for everyone.

Alright folks that is about it for the wrap up. We had a few people request formal transcripts but unfortunatley we didn't get to save last nights. From now on in the future we will be attaching pdf files of the chats for any one that might have missed it. Make sure to stop back tonight at 7pm when we will be announcing the book for November!!! Thanks every one that read, googled, or was interested at all in the group! We are so happy to be off to a great start!

-Mischief Managed

The Good Books Club - Discussion Questions

Hey there every one.

Hope you are all wrapping up Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night for the discussion tomorrow! We are so excited to be kicking off the very first discussion of what we hope will be a fun, successful, semi-focused discussion of one of the most under rated WWII novels of all time. For those of you who were not able to make the cut off for this meeting, do not fret. We will be announcing November's book on Monday after the discussion.
For those of you who read the book but are unable to make the discussion, we deeply appreciate the efforts that we do know you made to participate, and look forward to having you for future discussions! We encourage any one who can't make the meeting to write reviews of the book that we will be sure to link to when we do a wrap up of the discussion. For any one who has read the book and participates in any way, be it the discussion, writing a review, promoting the book etc, we have an extra special surprise planned for you, so make sure to check back here on Monday after the discussion!


Discussion Questions!
Attn: Spoilers contained in the discussion qu's
Ok folks so now on to those of you who will be participating tomorrow. Here are a few things to keep in mind. The book club starts at 7p.m EST. If you live in another time zone be sure to do the math and figure out what ever time that might be for your city. I'd do it for you but the whole time I lived in Australia I always got it wrong and would call my house at 3 am... so I probably am not help.
Also, it is probably best to try and log into the chat room (located at the very top left hand scroll bar) at least 10 minuts prior to the discussion, just to make sure that we are not facing techinical problems. If for any reason you get kicked out be all you need to do is close the window and re open the chat room and log back in. You CANNOT at any time close the main Padfoot and Prongs window, as it will also kick you out of the chat room.
As well, we have learned it is best not to copy and paste long quotes or sentences into the chat room as tha makes it angry. I know that is annoying especially for those of you who have quotes typed and saved up, so either send them in small lines at a time or just type them out in the room. Annoying I know, we will work to find something better in the future.

Now here are some discussion questions to consider for the talk tomorrow. We will not be sticking strictly to these questions, but they will help to give us a guide in leading the conversation. In the future we plan to get questions up much earlier for the talk but we suck this month.

1. 'We are what we pretend to be. So we must be careful about what we pretend to be.' In the opening of the novel, Kurt Vonnegut openly states in a preface by 'Campbell' that this is the moral of the entire work. Would you agree that this is the most prominent message of the story? Why do you think Campbell/Vonnegut would go to such lengths to make sure the moral of the novel was apparent? Do you agree with the moral and what in this book either confirms or confronts your views?

2. Howard Campbell is a fan of many faces. He is a Nazi propagandist, an under-cover spy, a friend to few and a lover to one. Butcan you be a monster and a martyr at the same time? Who is Campbell to you? Which is these identities do you feel is the most 'true' to Campbell'. How is it possible for someone to be so many people at once, or is it impossible?

Despite acknowledging for a moment the evil behind the people that he served, Howard realized that he had never really seen a fault at all, because the Nazis had given him more than they had taken away. There are multiple times throughout the novel that many of the characters will overlook an obvious flaw to protect some desperate attachment they have to the actions that they are committing. How do you feel about this idea of overlooking obvious moral flaws to gain happiness?

3. How did you feel about the ending of the work? Did you feel that Howard Campbell got what he deserved, or will he gain it through suicide?

4. What were some of your favorite things about this book and the author? What were the Pro's of reading this book including quotes, style, narrative etc.?

5. What were some of your least favorite things about this book and the author? What were the con's of reading this book including quotes, style, narrative etc.?

6. Be sure to have some of your favorite quotes picked out from the story and be ready to share at least one of them, and why you enjoyed it!

That is all for now folks. Like we said, these are only jumping off points for the discussion I am sure we will be straying a bit from these general ideas. The discussion will be lead for 1 hour, 30 mins. If you need to leave before then feel free. If you would like to stay longer to discuss then you are more than welcome as well as encouraged, however we will only be regulating the disucssion for the given time. After that it is a free for all. Any one is welcome at 8:30 to come into the room to discuss the book, Vonnegut, any thing of the sort and we hope to see many of you there!!

The Good Books Club - Discussion Questions

Hey there every one.

Hope you are all wrapping up Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night for the discussion tomorrow! We are so excited to be kicking off the very first discussion of what we hope will be a fun, successful, semi-focused discussion of one of the most under rated WWII novels of all time. For those of you who were not able to make the cut off for this meeting, do not fret. We will be announcing November's book on Monday after the discussion.
For those of you who read the book but are unable to make the discussion, we deeply appreciate the efforts that we do know you made to participate, and look forward to having you for future discussions! We encourage any one who can't make the meeting to write reviews of the book that we will be sure to link to when we do a wrap up of the discussion. For any one who has read the book and participates in any way, be it the discussion, writing a review, promoting the book etc, we have an extra special surprise planned for you, so make sure to check back here on Monday after the discussion!


Discussion Questions!
Attn: Spoilers contained in the discussion qu's
Ok folks so now on to those of you who will be participating tomorrow. Here are a few things to keep in mind. The book club starts at 7p.m EST. If you live in another time zone be sure to do the math and figure out what ever time that might be for your city. I'd do it for you but the whole time I lived in Australia I always got it wrong and would call my house at 3 am... so I probably am not help.
Also, it is probably best to try and log into the chat room (located at the very top left hand scroll bar) at least 10 minuts prior to the discussion, just to make sure that we are not facing techinical problems. If for any reason you get kicked out be all you need to do is close the window and re open the chat room and log back in. You CANNOT at any time close the main Padfoot and Prongs window, as it will also kick you out of the chat room.
As well, we have learned it is best not to copy and paste long quotes or sentences into the chat room as tha makes it angry. I know that is annoying especially for those of you who have quotes typed and saved up, so either send them in small lines at a time or just type them out in the room. Annoying I know, we will work to find something better in the future.

Now here are some discussion questions to consider for the talk tomorrow. We will not be sticking strictly to these questions, but they will help to give us a guide in leading the conversation. In the future we plan to get questions up much earlier for the talk but we suck this month.

1. 'We are what we pretend to be. So we must be careful about what we pretend to be.' In the opening of the novel, Kurt Vonnegut openly states in a preface by 'Campbell' that this is the moral of the entire work. Would you agree that this is the most prominent message of the story? Why do you think Campbell/Vonnegut would go to such lengths to make sure the moral of the novel was apparent? Do you agree with the moral and what in this book either confirms or confronts your views?

2. Howard Campbell is a fan of many faces. He is a Nazi propagandist, an under-cover spy, a friend to few and a lover to one. Butcan you be a monster and a martyr at the same time? Who is Campbell to you? Which is these identities do you feel is the most 'true' to Campbell'. How is it possible for someone to be so many people at once, or is it impossible?

Despite acknowledging for a moment the evil behind the people that he served, Howard realized that he had never really seen a fault at all, because the Nazis had given him more than they had taken away. There are multiple times throughout the novel that many of the characters will overlook an obvious flaw to protect some desperate attachment they have to the actions that they are committing. How do you feel about this idea of overlooking obvious moral flaws to gain happiness?

3. How did you feel about the ending of the work? Did you feel that Howard Campbell got what he deserved, or will he gain it through suicide?

4. What were some of your favorite things about this book and the author? What were the Pro's of reading this book including quotes, style, narrative etc.?

5. What were some of your least favorite things about this book and the author? What were the con's of reading this book including quotes, style, narrative etc.?

6. Be sure to have some of your favorite quotes picked out from the story and be ready to share at least one of them, and why you enjoyed it!

That is all for now folks. Like we said, these are only jumping off points for the discussion I am sure we will be straying a bit from these general ideas. The discussion will be lead for 1 hour, 30 mins. If you need to leave before then feel free. If you would like to stay longer to discuss then you are more than welcome as well as encouraged, however we will only be regulating the disucssion for the given time. After that it is a free for all. Any one is welcome at 8:30 to come into the room to discuss the book, Vonnegut, any thing of the sort and we hope to see many of you there!!

Prong's 15th Review - A Confederacy of Dunces

Hey there all you LOYAL...LOYAL marauders. It feels like (ok it has been) ages since our last post. I feel like we say this a few too many times than is ok, but we are very pressed for time what with opening a business, being full time students, and attending 'over sleepers anonymous.' So once again, we are sorry that the posts have been so few, and the comments on all our favorite blogs so sparse. Now that midterms are about to come to an end, hopefully we will be able to give all our love and devotion back to you all!

So a few quick announcements before we get to the good stuff. First off, for those of you who signed up for the Good Books Club, we couldn't be more excited to have you! Mother Night promises to be a fun read for all involved, and we hope you were able to find a copy. If any one is still having troubles, check out some sites like ABE.com or if you are a book swapper, check around those sites. It is easy enough to find a nice cheap used copy and not have to fork over 15$ to B&N which we never recommend. For those of you who have your copies and have started then hurrah!! Make sure to keep us updated on your progress. We need feed back to be able to adjust for future books. Also be sure to highlight all your favorite quotes because we will be asking every one to share at least 1 quote during the discussion! Only a few more week so get those reading hats on and have fun!!

Second, for those of you who have been so WONDERFULLY PATIENT about our dreams of literary mugs, totes, and shirts, your patience is finally about to be rewarded!! Tomorrow night we plan on having a majority of the products up on our band new Etsy shop tomorrow! Look for an update or a twitter post letting you know. We understand this has been a long time coming, and we have been working our hardest to get you the best quality products and designs!! For now we will only have totes and mugs available but that should be enough to tide you over until all of the shirts are finished!! Happy shopping marauders.

Ok so for those of you who were neither excited for the book club or the book items, thanks for hanging in there. Here we go, finally the review you have all been waiting for...
“Canned food is a perversion, I suspect that it is ultimately very damaging to the soul.”
A Confederacy of Dunces
By John Kennedy Toole

Before I talk about the actual story, I thought we’d take some time to share a bit of history behind this modern classic. This book was published in 1980, 11 years after the suicide of the author John Kennedy Toole. Sadly, Toole never got to see the cult following that his story would one day reach, including the post humorous Pulitzer Prize it won in 1981. This novel was only published, due to the efforts of John’s mother to bring the draft to editors and publisher’s, trying to honor her son’s memory. The title is taken from the epigraph by Jonathan Swift: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." This idea plays out in a hilarious, unique, gut wrenching way, as Toole exposes our brains forever to the memory of Ignatius J. Reilly, and the book that would be his crowning glory.

A Confederacy of Dunces is not one of those books that one shouldn't read, if they are missing key components of their anatomy. Specifically; their funny bone. From the start, Toole shows his prouis as a comedic master, as we are introduced to the man, the myth, the legend: Ignatius J. Reilly. We meet Ignatius in his natural habitat of New Orleans’s French quarter during the 1960’s. Ignatius is a character to every one, as his obese ornately dressed body, makes it way through the streets of the French Quarter, causing trouble and hilarity where ever he walks. If you are a fan of the ‘The Office’, one can picture Ignatius as a far off cousin of Dwight, and maybe the uncle to Anne of Green Gables. All three characters have a gift for the melodramatic and love to express themselves as loudly and as overdramatic as possible.

“Mother you are standing on my tablets. Will you please move a little? Isn’t it enough that you have destroyed my digestion with out destroying the fruits of my brain also?”

Ignatius is a man who feels out of touch with the world, a true anti-hero to the core, he passes judgment on all that he can, screams out obscenities at the occasional passerby, picks fights with local bartenders, all the while holding himself in the highest regard. For any one willing to talk to him for more than a minute, Ignatius is keen to berate the listener with the same tragic story of the one time he was forced to ride a grey hound bus, and how damaging it was to his sensitive soul.

Ignatius would like nothing more than a quiet life devoted to studying classic literature, eating a frightening amount of food, and writing his life’s work about all that is wrong with the world. Sadly for Ignatius, a term of events in the opening forces him to unwillingly set out into the world that is perishing from its supreme lack of morals, to get a job.

“In addition, I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional chesse dip.”

It is during his many adventures into the work force that the bulk of the hilarity insures in this work, as many characters try to hold on for their lives, as this hurricane of a man tears through each obstacle he is presented with. Prostitutes, hot dog vendors, communists, this book has it all and what is makes it better is the constant commentary and observations that a man lost to his times makes along the way. The confederacy of characters that he meets through his various jobs, really do conspire around him in a way that really makes you question... 'Is Ignatius really this fat slob of a man, or is he a genius?' Each day that Ignatius is forced out into the world beyond the saftey of his room, proves to be a new and hilarious challenge for him as the reader drags him unwillingly page after page to see what chaos he gets himself into next.

While Toole controls the book with a quick and abrupt humor, keeping the reader in a constant state of shock and laughter; he shows his true strength as a writer in his description of a 1960’s southern world, a place that is unique in time and space to every one but those who lived there. His descriptions of the people, the streets, the buildings can take you back to another time where absurdity and lude behavior was the norm, in fact it was demanded.

“I had a rather apocalyptic battle with a starving prostitute. Had it not been for my superior brawn, she would have sacked my wagon. Finally she limped away from the fray, her glad rags askew.”

This book will not change your life, will not make you a better person, and it probably won’t cure cancer. However, it will give you a new appreciation for all of the characters there are in the world, and you will have a blast while gaining it. If you are looking for a laugh out loud, roller coaster of a story, this is the book for you.

Prong's 15th Review - A Confederacy of Dunces

Hey there all you LOYAL...LOYAL marauders. It feels like (ok it has been) ages since our last post. I feel like we say this a few too many times than is ok, but we are very pressed for time what with opening a business, being full time students, and attending 'over sleepers anonymous.' So once again, we are sorry that the posts have been so few, and the comments on all our favorite blogs so sparse. Now that midterms are about to come to an end, hopefully we will be able to give all our love and devotion back to you all!

So a few quick announcements before we get to the good stuff. First off, for those of you who signed up for the Good Books Club, we couldn't be more excited to have you! Mother Night promises to be a fun read for all involved, and we hope you were able to find a copy. If any one is still having troubles, check out some sites like ABE.com or if you are a book swapper, check around those sites. It is easy enough to find a nice cheap used copy and not have to fork over 15$ to B&N which we never recommend. For those of you who have your copies and have started then hurrah!! Make sure to keep us updated on your progress. We need feed back to be able to adjust for future books. Also be sure to highlight all your favorite quotes because we will be asking every one to share at least 1 quote during the discussion! Only a few more week so get those reading hats on and have fun!!

Second, for those of you who have been so WONDERFULLY PATIENT about our dreams of literary mugs, totes, and shirts, your patience is finally about to be rewarded!! Tomorrow night we plan on having a majority of the products up on our band new Etsy shop tomorrow! Look for an update or a twitter post letting you know. We understand this has been a long time coming, and we have been working our hardest to get you the best quality products and designs!! For now we will only have totes and mugs available but that should be enough to tide you over until all of the shirts are finished!! Happy shopping marauders.

Ok so for those of you who were neither excited for the book club or the book items, thanks for hanging in there. Here we go, finally the review you have all been waiting for...
“Canned food is a perversion, I suspect that it is ultimately very damaging to the soul.”
A Confederacy of Dunces
By John Kennedy Toole

Before I talk about the actual story, I thought we’d take some time to share a bit of history behind this modern classic. This book was published in 1980, 11 years after the suicide of the author John Kennedy Toole. Sadly, Toole never got to see the cult following that his story would one day reach, including the post humorous Pulitzer Prize it won in 1981. This novel was only published, due to the efforts of John’s mother to bring the draft to editors and publisher’s, trying to honor her son’s memory. The title is taken from the epigraph by Jonathan Swift: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." This idea plays out in a hilarious, unique, gut wrenching way, as Toole exposes our brains forever to the memory of Ignatius J. Reilly, and the book that would be his crowning glory.

A Confederacy of Dunces is not one of those books that one shouldn't read, if they are missing key components of their anatomy. Specifically; their funny bone. From the start, Toole shows his prouis as a comedic master, as we are introduced to the man, the myth, the legend: Ignatius J. Reilly. We meet Ignatius in his natural habitat of New Orleans’s French quarter during the 1960’s. Ignatius is a character to every one, as his obese ornately dressed body, makes it way through the streets of the French Quarter, causing trouble and hilarity where ever he walks. If you are a fan of the ‘The Office’, one can picture Ignatius as a far off cousin of Dwight, and maybe the uncle to Anne of Green Gables. All three characters have a gift for the melodramatic and love to express themselves as loudly and as overdramatic as possible.

“Mother you are standing on my tablets. Will you please move a little? Isn’t it enough that you have destroyed my digestion with out destroying the fruits of my brain also?”

Ignatius is a man who feels out of touch with the world, a true anti-hero to the core, he passes judgment on all that he can, screams out obscenities at the occasional passerby, picks fights with local bartenders, all the while holding himself in the highest regard. For any one willing to talk to him for more than a minute, Ignatius is keen to berate the listener with the same tragic story of the one time he was forced to ride a grey hound bus, and how damaging it was to his sensitive soul.

Ignatius would like nothing more than a quiet life devoted to studying classic literature, eating a frightening amount of food, and writing his life’s work about all that is wrong with the world. Sadly for Ignatius, a term of events in the opening forces him to unwillingly set out into the world that is perishing from its supreme lack of morals, to get a job.

“In addition, I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional chesse dip.”

It is during his many adventures into the work force that the bulk of the hilarity insures in this work, as many characters try to hold on for their lives, as this hurricane of a man tears through each obstacle he is presented with. Prostitutes, hot dog vendors, communists, this book has it all and what is makes it better is the constant commentary and observations that a man lost to his times makes along the way. The confederacy of characters that he meets through his various jobs, really do conspire around him in a way that really makes you question... 'Is Ignatius really this fat slob of a man, or is he a genius?' Each day that Ignatius is forced out into the world beyond the saftey of his room, proves to be a new and hilarious challenge for him as the reader drags him unwillingly page after page to see what chaos he gets himself into next.

While Toole controls the book with a quick and abrupt humor, keeping the reader in a constant state of shock and laughter; he shows his true strength as a writer in his description of a 1960’s southern world, a place that is unique in time and space to every one but those who lived there. His descriptions of the people, the streets, the buildings can take you back to another time where absurdity and lude behavior was the norm, in fact it was demanded.

“I had a rather apocalyptic battle with a starving prostitute. Had it not been for my superior brawn, she would have sacked my wagon. Finally she limped away from the fray, her glad rags askew.”

This book will not change your life, will not make you a better person, and it probably won’t cure cancer. However, it will give you a new appreciation for all of the characters there are in the world, and you will have a blast while gaining it. If you are looking for a laugh out loud, roller coaster of a story, this is the book for you.