Good Book Club is Back! Announcing: Pick # 3 American Gods

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 3:
American Gods

Neil Gaiman

Summary: "The novel is a blend of Americana, fanatasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on a mysterious and taciturn protagonist, Shadow." "The central precept of the novel is that gods and mythological creatures exist because people believe in them. Immigrants to the United States brought with them dwarves, elves, leprechauns, and other spirits and gods. However, the power of these mythological beings has diminished as people's beliefs wane. New gods have arisen, reflecting America's obsessions with media, celebrity, technology, and drugs, among others"

Why we chose this work: This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the release of American Gods (Thanks for the catch). Mr. Gaiman is going on a book tour to discuss his infamous work, and we thought it would be fun to join in the spirit of the discourse. On top to that, this book is considered to be a 'modern classic' and is numerous 'must-read' lists for readers of all ages, interests, and skill levels. We feel that it will provide an interesting and fun platform for getting a discussion going.

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!


When to meet: This month we will be meeting June 25th (A Sunday) at 8:30p.m EST
The limit is 15 people per book. That's right just 15. 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 the club by 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 Book Club is Back! Announcing: Pick # 3 American Gods

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 3:
American Gods

Neil Gaiman

Summary: "The novel is a blend of Americana, fanatasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on a mysterious and taciturn protagonist, Shadow." "The central precept of the novel is that gods and mythological creatures exist because people believe in them. Immigrants to the United States brought with them dwarves, elves, leprechauns, and other spirits and gods. However, the power of these mythological beings has diminished as people's beliefs wane. New gods have arisen, reflecting America's obsessions with media, celebrity, technology, and drugs, among others"

Why we chose this work: This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the release of American Gods (Thanks for the catch). Mr. Gaiman is going on a book tour to discuss his infamous work, and we thought it would be fun to join in the spirit of the discourse. On top to that, this book is considered to be a 'modern classic' and is numerous 'must-read' lists for readers of all ages, interests, and skill levels. We feel that it will provide an interesting and fun platform for getting a discussion going.

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!


When to meet: This month we will be meeting June 25th (A Sunday) at 8:30p.m EST
The limit is 15 people per book. That's right just 15. 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 the club by 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!

Tattoo Tuesday - E.E. Cummings

Hey there Marauders!! It's our favorite time of the week once again!!
For those of you who are new to the site here's a bit of background. Tattoo Tuesday was started by our good friend Tara over at 25HourBooks and celebrates our love of literature plus the people like us who are obsessed enough to ink something literary on their body! Every week we feature a literary tattoo that interests or compels us. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ink.

This lovely tattoo was found the amazing new site http://www.tattoolit.comThe owner said:

This was done 24 hours ago, on 16th May 2011 at Self Sacrifice in London, UK. They are known for their amazing quality in tattoos and I went there highly recommended by many friends. It paid off; they were sweet and I’m so happy with how it has turned out.

It’s my- very polite- fuck you to the haters.

. Wow that is some seriously beautiful ink. We love the positioning, as well as the artwork above and below the quote... then of course the quote itself. What a great sentiment.

That's it for this week, but as always we are accepting submissions via e-mail for any literary tattoos of your own. Untill next time....

Tattoo Tuesday - E.E. Cummings

Hey there Marauders!! It's our favorite time of the week once again!!
For those of you who are new to the site here's a bit of background. Tattoo Tuesday was started by our good friend Tara over at 25HourBooks and celebrates our love of literature plus the people like us who are obsessed enough to ink something literary on their body! Every week we feature a literary tattoo that interests or compels us. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ink.

This lovely tattoo was found the amazing new site http://www.tattoolit.comThe owner said:

This was done 24 hours ago, on 16th May 2011 at Self Sacrifice in London, UK. They are known for their amazing quality in tattoos and I went there highly recommended by many friends. It paid off; they were sweet and I’m so happy with how it has turned out.

It’s my- very polite- fuck you to the haters.

. Wow that is some seriously beautiful ink. We love the positioning, as well as the artwork above and below the quote... then of course the quote itself. What a great sentiment.

That's it for this week, but as always we are accepting submissions via e-mail for any literary tattoos of your own. Untill next time....

Happy End of the World Day!

Hey Marauders. Padfoot and Prongs here, blogging live from the 'rapture'... nothing of interest to report yet, but we will keep you updated.

To celebrate the end of the world we are spending the day working on the HP re-read we are doing since the final movie is right around the corner.

This got us thinking, for those of you who even half heartedly kept a watchful eye on the news today, if you believed the end of the world was impending,

what would be the last book you would pick up to read?

Would it be an old favorite, something new and exciting? Or would you just start throwing out those hail marys fast and furious? We want to hear your thoughts!!

Clearly we have no other desire than to spend our last precious memories with Harry and all our old friends, but that shouldn't suprise any one.

-mischief managed-

Happy End of the World Day!

Hey Marauders. Padfoot and Prongs here, blogging live from the 'rapture'... nothing of interest to report yet, but we will keep you updated.

To celebrate the end of the world we are spending the day working on the HP re-read we are doing since the final movie is right around the corner.

This got us thinking, for those of you who even half heartedly kept a watchful eye on the news today, if you believed the end of the world was impending,

what would be the last book you would pick up to read?

Would it be an old favorite, something new and exciting? Or would you just start throwing out those hail marys fast and furious? We want to hear your thoughts!!

Clearly we have no other desire than to spend our last precious memories with Harry and all our old friends, but that shouldn't suprise any one.

-mischief managed-

Tattoo Tuesday is back!

Hey there Marauders!! It's our favorite time of the week once again!!

For those of you who are new to the site here's a bit of background. Tattoo Tuesday was started by our good friend Tara over at 25HourBooks and celebrates our love of literature plus the people like us who are obsessed enough to ink something literary on their body! Every week we feature a literary tattoo that interests or compels us. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ink.

This week we have a submission from one of our favorite readers! Here are tattoos from the lovely Babycakes: pg.244 "The first book I ever read by Tom Robbins was Still Life With Woodpecker and it made such an impact on me that I went the next week and got this tattoo. The representation for me with this tattoo is simply this, "Be a Seeker", seek out life instead of letting it pass you by and be authentic while doing so. Here is the paragraph that inspired the tattoo: 'How can one person be more real than any other? Well, some people do hide and others seek. Maybe those who are in hiding-escaping encounters, avoiding surprises, protecting their property, ignoring their fantasies, restricting their feelings, sitting out the Pan pipe hootchy-kootch of experience--maybe those people, people who won't talk to rednecks, or if they're rednecks wont talk to intellectuals, people who're afraid to get their shoes muddy or their noses wet, afraid to eat what they crave, afraid to drink Mexican water, afraid to bet a long shot to win, afraid to hitchhike, jaywalk, honky-tonk, cogitate, osculate, levitate, rock it, bop it, sock it, or bark at the moon, maybe such people are inauthentic, and maybe the jack-leg humanist who says differently is due to have his tongue fried on the hot slab's of Liar's Hell. Some folks seek, and seeking, when it's mindless, neurotic, desperate, or pusillanimous can be a form of hiding. But there are folks who want to know and aren't afraid to look and wont turn tail should they find it--and if they never do, they'll have a good time anyway because nothing, neither the terrible truth nor the absence of it, is going to cheat them out of one honest breath of earth's sweet gas. The second one is from Jonathan Livingston Seagull. This book has been a huge inspiration in a lot of ways, but this one line speaks volumes. "We can be free! We can learn to fly!" '

Thank you Babycakes for the lovely pictures!

Remember, if you have a literary tattoo of your own we would love to see it! Just e-mail a photo along with a brief description of why you chose it to:
gbooks.inc@gmail.com

Tattoo Tuesday is back!

Hey there Marauders!! It's our favorite time of the week once again!!

For those of you who are new to the site here's a bit of background. Tattoo Tuesday was started by our good friend Tara over at 25HourBooks and celebrates our love of literature plus the people like us who are obsessed enough to ink something literary on their body! Every week we feature a literary tattoo that interests or compels us. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ink.

This week we have a submission from one of our favorite readers! Here are tattoos from the lovely Babycakes: pg.244 "The first book I ever read by Tom Robbins was Still Life With Woodpecker and it made such an impact on me that I went the next week and got this tattoo. The representation for me with this tattoo is simply this, "Be a Seeker", seek out life instead of letting it pass you by and be authentic while doing so. Here is the paragraph that inspired the tattoo: 'How can one person be more real than any other? Well, some people do hide and others seek. Maybe those who are in hiding-escaping encounters, avoiding surprises, protecting their property, ignoring their fantasies, restricting their feelings, sitting out the Pan pipe hootchy-kootch of experience--maybe those people, people who won't talk to rednecks, or if they're rednecks wont talk to intellectuals, people who're afraid to get their shoes muddy or their noses wet, afraid to eat what they crave, afraid to drink Mexican water, afraid to bet a long shot to win, afraid to hitchhike, jaywalk, honky-tonk, cogitate, osculate, levitate, rock it, bop it, sock it, or bark at the moon, maybe such people are inauthentic, and maybe the jack-leg humanist who says differently is due to have his tongue fried on the hot slab's of Liar's Hell. Some folks seek, and seeking, when it's mindless, neurotic, desperate, or pusillanimous can be a form of hiding. But there are folks who want to know and aren't afraid to look and wont turn tail should they find it--and if they never do, they'll have a good time anyway because nothing, neither the terrible truth nor the absence of it, is going to cheat them out of one honest breath of earth's sweet gas. The second one is from Jonathan Livingston Seagull. This book has been a huge inspiration in a lot of ways, but this one line speaks volumes. "We can be free! We can learn to fly!" '

Thank you Babycakes for the lovely pictures!

Remember, if you have a literary tattoo of your own we would love to see it! Just e-mail a photo along with a brief description of why you chose it to:
gbooks.inc@gmail.com

Prongs 22nd Review - Invisible Cities

WE'RE BACK!!!!!!

Hey there Marauders!!! Been awhile hasn’t it? Padfoot and Prongs here, same as always ready to bring you the latest in greatest in all things literary. We have been on a brief hiatus while we are both finishing up school and preparing for the next phase in our literary lives. However we have both missed the blogosphere greatly and are beyond excited to be returning to our internet duties.

Before we get started with a brand new REVIEWWWW just a few housekeeping things to take care of .

First, tattoo Tuesdays will be resuming first thing tomorrow morning, so as always, if you have a literary tattoo you would like to share with us, please send us an e-mail with a photo and brief explanation.

Next, while we are poised and ready to take up blogging again, our load posts will still be slightly less frequent due to some major changing’s going on in the lives of P&P. Finishing up college, getting jobs… and most importantly drum roll please……

Padfoot and Prongs are moving… TO IRELAND!!!

That is right our loyal readers. The one way tickets have been bought, and Padfoot and Prongs take Euroland

is scheduled for Oct. 4^th. We are anxious as can be to get across the pond to Dublin, Ireland and to a wealth of literary history. We will be starting up a second blog to update everyone on our adventures, so be on the lookout for that in the future.

Finally, we are happy to announce that we are for the first time accepting ARC of books, as well as previously published works for review. Since schoolwork will be gone in the next few weeks, we finally have time to devote to newer works and look forward to reading new authors. For more information on that, please visit the ‘About Us’ tab.

That about clears all the boring jazz up… now to the good part. Below is Prong’s 22^nd review. Make sure to check out all the gorgeous quotes over in our quote section as well. Hope you all enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!!

Invisible Cities

Italo Calvino

"It is not the voice that commands the story; it is the ear."

I’m so glad that I picked what might possibly be the most difficult book I have ever reviewed as a way to ease myself back into the literary world. As far as ‘novel’ idea’s go… Italo Calvino has certainty left his imprint on the literary mold, combining the best elements of prose and freeverse in his work, Invisible Cities.

The story reads as a back-and-forth between the explorer Marco Polo and the great Mongol ruler Kubali Khan as the men sit discussing the many cities that make up the rulers empire. On his brief visits, Marco Polo describes to the great emperor the destinations that he has come across on his expeditions, with the brief descriptions making up the majority of the novel. As neither men speak the same language, it is possibly important to question exactly who’s account we are reading. Is it the exact depiction given by the romanticized Polo or just the mystifying translations understood by Khan. Either way, as the two great but divergent minds of their time sit in the gardens of a palace, the men seem to find a common ground in the beauty of the multitudes that can only exist in foreign lands.

At times I feel your voice is reaching me from far away, while I am prisoner of a gaudy and unreliable present, where all forms of human society have reached an extreme of their cycle and there is no imagining what new forms they may assume. And I hear, from your voice, the invisible reasons which make cities live, through which perhaps, once dead, they will come to life again.

In simplest terms, Invisible Cities is a story about cities. In the most complicated it’s still a story about cities. However, in the brief 165 pages, Calvino manages to make a story about cities unfold and develop into a complex blueprint for the potential of imagination. With each new city we develop a new passage or corridor of possibilities that before might have been unimaginable. I can only compare his writing to an M.C. Escher painting for the world as a whole, beautiful and bewildering.

Polo describes Valdra, built on a lake where when arriving you see two cities, and where nothing exists or happens in one Valdrada that the other Valdrada does not repeat in it’s reflection. He takes us through Andria, built so artfully that its every street follows a planet’s orbit, and the buildings and the places of community life repeat the order of the constellations.

With his seductive prose, Calvino manages to bring the reader back to a time before Google Maps and Tom Toms, when the mysteries of the world seemed so inexplicable yet tangible. I had to stop every so many pages to sit and attempt to draw out what I was imagining, and I highly suggest you all try the same.

While the cities described by Polo are what gives this read it’s grasp in reality, it is the representation of cities as elements of human nature that make me want to shake Calvino and say ‘HOW ARE YOU SODAMN GOOD?!’ It becomes clear after the first few chapters, we are not only getting the imagery of distant cities, but of human conditions that feel as close as your own hometown. The invisible cities could be your own town, your backyard, it could be yourself.

"Arriving at each new city, the traveler finds again a past of his that he did not know he had: the foreignness of what you no longer are or no longerpossess lies in wait for you in foreign, unpossessed places."

If you are looking for a short but highly impactful read, this book could not come more highly recommended. Read it. Then read it again. Then spend an afternoon doing nothing at all but imagining an Invisible Cities of your own. You might be surprised by how many you already know.

Prongs 22nd Review - Invisible Cities

WE'RE BACK!!!!!!

Hey there Marauders!!! Been awhile hasn’t it? Padfoot and Prongs here, same as always ready to bring you the latest in greatest in all things literary. We have been on a brief hiatus while we are both finishing up school and preparing for the next phase in our literary lives. However we have both missed the blogosphere greatly and are beyond excited to be returning to our internet duties.

Before we get started with a brand new REVIEWWWW just a few housekeeping things to take care of .

First, tattoo Tuesdays will be resuming first thing tomorrow morning, so as always, if you have a literary tattoo you would like to share with us, please send us an e-mail with a photo and brief explanation.

Next, while we are poised and ready to take up blogging again, our load posts will still be slightly less frequent due to some major changing’s going on in the lives of P&P. Finishing up college, getting jobs… and most importantly drum roll please……

Padfoot and Prongs are moving… TO IRELAND!!!

That is right our loyal readers. The one way tickets have been bought, and Padfoot and Prongs take Euroland

is scheduled for Oct. 4^th. We are anxious as can be to get across the pond to Dublin, Ireland and to a wealth of literary history. We will be starting up a second blog to update everyone on our adventures, so be on the lookout for that in the future.

Finally, we are happy to announce that we are for the first time accepting ARC of books, as well as previously published works for review. Since schoolwork will be gone in the next few weeks, we finally have time to devote to newer works and look forward to reading new authors. For more information on that, please visit the ‘About Us’ tab.

That about clears all the boring jazz up… now to the good part. Below is Prong’s 22^nd review. Make sure to check out all the gorgeous quotes over in our quote section as well. Hope you all enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!!

Invisible Cities

Italo Calvino

"It is not the voice that commands the story; it is the ear."

I’m so glad that I picked what might possibly be the most difficult book I have ever reviewed as a way to ease myself back into the literary world. As far as ‘novel’ idea’s go… Italo Calvino has certainty left his imprint on the literary mold, combining the best elements of prose and freeverse in his work, Invisible Cities.

The story reads as a back-and-forth between the explorer Marco Polo and the great Mongol ruler Kubali Khan as the men sit discussing the many cities that make up the rulers empire. On his brief visits, Marco Polo describes to the great emperor the destinations that he has come across on his expeditions, with the brief descriptions making up the majority of the novel. As neither men speak the same language, it is possibly important to question exactly who’s account we are reading. Is it the exact depiction given by the romanticized Polo or just the mystifying translations understood by Khan. Either way, as the two great but divergent minds of their time sit in the gardens of a palace, the men seem to find a common ground in the beauty of the multitudes that can only exist in foreign lands.

At times I feel your voice is reaching me from far away, while I am prisoner of a gaudy and unreliable present, where all forms of human society have reached an extreme of their cycle and there is no imagining what new forms they may assume. And I hear, from your voice, the invisible reasons which make cities live, through which perhaps, once dead, they will come to life again.

In simplest terms, Invisible Cities is a story about cities. In the most complicated it’s still a story about cities. However, in the brief 165 pages, Calvino manages to make a story about cities unfold and develop into a complex blueprint for the potential of imagination. With each new city we develop a new passage or corridor of possibilities that before might have been unimaginable. I can only compare his writing to an M.C. Escher painting for the world as a whole, beautiful and bewildering.

Polo describes Valdra, built on a lake where when arriving you see two cities, and where nothing exists or happens in one Valdrada that the other Valdrada does not repeat in it’s reflection. He takes us through Andria, built so artfully that its every street follows a planet’s orbit, and the buildings and the places of community life repeat the order of the constellations.

With his seductive prose, Calvino manages to bring the reader back to a time before Google Maps and Tom Toms, when the mysteries of the world seemed so inexplicable yet tangible. I had to stop every so many pages to sit and attempt to draw out what I was imagining, and I highly suggest you all try the same.

While the cities described by Polo are what gives this read it’s grasp in reality, it is the representation of cities as elements of human nature that make me want to shake Calvino and say ‘HOW ARE YOU SODAMN GOOD?!’ It becomes clear after the first few chapters, we are not only getting the imagery of distant cities, but of human conditions that feel as close as your own hometown. The invisible cities could be your own town, your backyard, it could be yourself.

"Arriving at each new city, the traveler finds again a past of his that he did not know he had: the foreignness of what you no longer are or no longerpossess lies in wait for you in foreign, unpossessed places."

If you are looking for a short but highly impactful read, this book could not come more highly recommended. Read it. Then read it again. Then spend an afternoon doing nothing at all but imagining an Invisible Cities of your own. You might be surprised by how many you already know.