Our book club had a very long and intense discussion of this book. The Giver (Receiver) is the only one to retain all the memories (both the good, pleasurable, the bad and the painful ones). It is the Giver's job to pass on all of these memories to Jonas, a 12 year-old. What affect does this position have for both of them? How has the community been changed so on one ever suffers and how does this help or hurt them? How are we like or different from this futuristic community today? What happens in the end is left up to you to decide.

Time, it either goes to fast or to slow BUT we always want more of it. How did time begin and how did it affect mankind is the theme of this book. When done with this book you will wonder what you are doing with your time and is it being used in the best way for yourself and you will learn to appreciate your precious time. Even though this is a short, easy to read book, it has some beautiful, thoughtful quotes to think and talk about.

You will have to give yourself time to get into this book. I almost put it down but because it was for a book club I kept on reading. Once I got to page 100 I thought, "this is kind of heavy!" By the time I got to page 200 I was into it. Very thought provoking, lots of issues, ideas and thoughts to talk about.

Very powerful. About the coming of age of a 10 year old Dutch boy who must endure and survive being in a Japanese prison camp. You won't see the end coming. Lots of foreshadowing but you won't see it until you have finished the book and reflected back on it. One of the best fictions book's we have read in some time. All in our group agreed this was a GREAT read.

Why would a doctor give away his twin daughter at birth and never tell his wife or son? How has this decision affected his life and his relationship with his family? At what point does he finally realize that that decision has destroyed him and his relationships. Finally why is it called the Memory Keepers Daughter and what symbolism does his photography play/mean to the story?

Very good effort for a first novel (like most mystery writers first try). It was a page turner but I felt it was taking some large leaps at points. I found at least two errors in the text. Having said that the story does keep you interested and leaves you to question if a true gene is discovered to identify serial killers, then can one be excused for what one does? Makes for a good discussion. Once you find out the reason why the serial killer kills it spins the book into a total different direction. With more fiction writing experiences the author could become the next Lee Child or Clive Cussler, or Kathy Reichs.

This book had so much potential. But about half way through, the book goes from the main character being Gallant Ash to being accused of being a spy and a thief. To me it was all downhill from that point on. The colonel, who knew Ash was a female says to her at one point, "I know your not a spy, or a whore so you must be insane." Yet he knew she was strong and gallant and brave, so how did this all go South so fast and so far. To me it was probably the worse book we have read in a long long time. We found it very confusing, more like a mismatch of ideas.

This is the story of a man born in a North Korean political prison Camp (14). He is the only known political prisoner, born in a political prisoners camp, to have escaped a death camp and to have survived. What is life like in a camp like this? Why is he born and raised there? How is he and others there conditioned or cultural brain washed into accepting their position and conditions. What is life like in North Korea for the people and those who are considered the hostile class? What do you know about North Korea and what do you know about their prison camps? The answers to these questions and much more will be covered in this book. Those who have read this book in our book club have all said they had never heard about how severe conditions are in North Korea and/or about the fact that these prison camps exist (which North Korea claims don't exist, yet can be seen on Goggle maps).

Is the snow child real or not? At what point do you make your decision to the reality of the snow child or not? What is the ending all about, how do you explain it? Is this a total fantasy or not? This is a very descriptively written story, easy to picture the scenery and struggles Mabel and Jack are dealing with. How much of the snow child is just a part of their desire and imagination in wanting a child and how much of it is real is for the reader to decide at the end of the story. If one ever wanted to go off to the final frontier and try to make it this is a good story for them to read.

From the hype I was hoping for much more information on Jane Franklin, but got more about her brother Franklin instead. But, having said that for what little information the author had to work with she wrote an interesting book. If you like reading about history and that time period you will find this book interesting. The reader will learn about life during the mid 1700's to the mid 1800's especially for women. The lack of educational opportunities, the lack of good medical care, the lack of and kind of life for women other than being expected to become wives and mothers. I found the last part of the book dealing with history in general the most interesting part. Our book club spent some time discussing history and it's interpretation and how that has changed with today's technology. Not a smooth read, a little slow, a little boring but still worth a read if you are into history and learning about that time period.

Who or what is Owen Meany? Is this the story of John or Owen's life? A boy who is born small and loud and his best friend are tied together for life. Why and how are to be figured out in the story which you don't really get the full story until almost the end of the book. The story gives you much to think about and to discuss. Everyone in our group really enjoyed reading and discussing this book.

Did Patty Hearst voluntarily join the SLA or not? According to Toobin she did. But back in the early 70's we did not know about Stockholm Syndrome, so is Toobin wrong? It was interesting to read this book and to bring back the memories of the 60' and 70's. One will keep questioning why didn't Patty escape when she had all those chances? But keep in mind John Wayne's comment at the end of the book, if one man (Jim Jones) could get so many to commit suicide why wouldn't one young girl be influenced by the SLA. Even though Toobin says Patty fell in love with Willy, but then later says by today's standards her sex with him could only be rated as rape. So why doesn't he think she could have been brain washed to do what she did with the SLA. Our group had a good and long discussion of the book.

Not your typical book club book but well worth reading. The author talks about books he has read and the meaning he got out of them. Great, great quotes can be obtained for discussion of books you have read and shared. The whole point of the book is to help you to learn that every book has something to learn from it! Even, as the author says. to learn how bad it was compared to all the others you have read. As I said not your typical book club book but well worth the reading and guaranteed to lead to good discussion.